Bringing the snark back to snacking

Bringing the snark back to snacking
Lots of things taste better than being thin feels:
A gooey, cheesy, greasy pizza
A chocolate eclair
Ice cream and gelato
Movie theatre popcorn with extra butter
What's yours?

Monday, August 6, 2012

What works - what doesn't work?

I'm about to finish my second week on the Four-Hour Body's Slow Carb diet. The scale isn't showing much of a change, but my pants are noticeably looser, and I know I'm gaining muscle from strength training 2-3 times a week.

I'm still struggling with the diet -- the same problems I have with any low-carb diet. I get so physically ill eating the same high-protein foods over and over. I'm doing all right in the mornings with my eggs and turkey bacon, but I'm having trouble facing chicken and salads. I feel like I'd really rather throw up than eat the allowed foods.

I've been tracking my foods in MyFitnessPal, mostly so I can make sure I'm getting enough nutrients, proteins and carbs, and I'm generally eating 1200 calories or less. Just because I cannot eat any more.

Why am I keeping this up? I'm giving it a full month, until the end of August, to see how I feel and how my body is doing (btw, my abs? TOTALLY THERE. Ablicious!). I like this diet because I do believe carbs and processed foods are harmful and slow carb forces me to eat real, whole foods. It's also easy: there's a list of foods I'm allowed to eat, and that's it. There's control. That's really the bottom line. If I can't control my diet, then I am out of control and on a binge.

I had great success with Weight Watchers from 2006-2009. I tracked my points carefully, often plotting out everything I would eat for the day in the morning before leaving for school or work. The problem with this plan, and the reason I'm hesitant to try it again? I was eating almost exclusively processed foods. It's difficult to count points with recipes (this was before recipe calculators that are popular now), and I don't have a food scale. While frozen foods and packaged snacks tell me exactly how many calories/points they contain. I know even if I was just counting calories with MyFitnessPal, I would still be tempted to fall back on processed foods instead of eating real foods.

It's still healthy even if I can't pronounce over half the ingredients, right?


And so I stick with Slow Carb, at least until August 31. I'm looking forward to seeing my measurements at the end of the month!

What works for you in your way of eating? Do you need to have the control, and how do you include more whole foods in your diet?