~*~ Cyn's Exodus ~*~

[Lurchy]

This has been a difficult month for me. I'm not the kind of person to just read a book and adapt an eating plan that could have very serious consequences if not done correctly. I also did not have the benefit of getting my questions answered when I ran into trouble by other than hints from others on what worked for "them". I was left feeling out of sorts, questioning, and did not know WHAT plan to follow. They all have good points, great points, and some bad points... just which one is right for me?

Today, I found a website that answered all of my questions. It was so in depth and informative! I am finally ready to jump in once again and am thankful to the author(s) for all their research and articles.

I determined that I wanted a BMI of 20. At my height, that will equal a wt of 130 pounds or 59.09 kg. At 10 calories per pound (assuming a sedentary lifestyle) that gives me 1300 calories a day to work with. The author states that protein consumption should be 1-1.5g per kg. So, midrange for me would be 74g of protein daily. He also states that carbs should be 10% of the daily total which works out to 30g net for me. I found that fiber consumption should be 20-25g (although some sources say up to 35g). I am using the middle ground of 23g. What is left over will be consumed in fat grams.

A typical fit day looks like this:
Total: 1281
Fat: 93 839 67%
Sat: 47 419 33%
Poly: 7 60 5%
Mono: 33 299 24%
Carbs: 53 119 9%
Fiber: 23 0 0%
Protein: 74 296 24%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%

Today's Foods
Food Name Servings Serving Size Cals Fat Carb Prot
Spinach, raw, 1 cup, 7 0 1 1
Tomatoes, raw, 5 cherry, 18 0 4 1
Cheese, Mozzarella, part skim, 1 oz., 79 5 1 8
Olive oil, 1 Tbsp, 119 14 0 0
Egg, whole, raw, 2 large, 149 10 1 12
Asparagus, raw, 5 medium spears, 18 0 4 2
Cream, heavy, 3 oz., 308 33 2 2
Chicken, breast, meat only, cooked, roasted, 1 cup, 231 5 0 43
Beans, string, green, 1 cup, 34 0 8 2
Butter, stick, salted, 2 Tbsp, 204 23 0 0
fiber one cereal, 1/2 cup, 59 1 24 2
Strawberries, raw, 1/2 cup, 25 0 6 1
whipped light cream, 4 Tbsp, 30 2 2 0
Totals 1281 93 53 74

[Lurchy]

My meal plan will look like this:

B: 2 eggs, asparagus, coffee w/1oz cream
S: coffee w/1oz cream
L: spinach salad w/mozz cheese, tomatoes, olive oil
S: coffee w/1oz cream
D: chicken, green beans, 2 Tbsp. butter
S: strawberries, cereal, whipped cream

It will be easy to substitute out similar foods to vary the menu. Naturally, I may have to decrease the calories when I get closer to goal and/or increase exercise to maintain a deficit.

[Lurchy]

Dr. Groves straightened me out in my understanding of his low carb plan. He also did not recommend that I add in the fiber cereal.

50-60g carbohydrates

1.-1.5g per kg (2.2 lbs) protein
most all meat is 23g protein per 100g of meat (about 27g per oz)

He stated that:
I think that a BMI of 20 is probably too optimistic. In my experience, getting down to 25 is probably the best you can realistically expect. Having said that, you might like to know that a BMI between 25 and 30 (officially 'overweight') has been found to be the healthiest weight range. (Flegal KM, Graubard BI, Williamson DF, Gail MH. Excess deaths associated with underweight, overweight, and obesity. JAMA 2005; 293: 1861-1867.)

So don't try too hard.

I'm trying to get this right! So... if I leave my protein requirements where they are (59-89g) as that amount is based on a lean weight (BMI 20) but up my goal weight to 163 pounds (BMI of 25) and adjust my caloric intake accordingly, I get 1630 calories per day. That's 2-3 oz. of meat daily. (assuming all of my protein actually comes from meat). He does not recommend protein powders because they leach calcium from the bones.

Carbs 50-60g! Much more liveable IMO. I'm off to fitday to get this figured out once again, lol.

[Lurchy]

My brain hurts too much to do any more calculations, but boy have I learned a lot! I "have" to figure this stuff out for myself and really understand what any recommendation means and why. I want to make the right choices for my body on this weight loss journey. I also understand that this party isn't over once I reach "goal". The entire journey has to make sense to me or how can I live it?

I've come to realize that calories DO count. I don't care what anyone says. Even on a low carb plan, my body will use carbs first (and release insulin), then proteins(takes longer to digest), then fats(provides satiety). We only "need" a small amount of actual protein for certain body processes like growing hair, nails, etc. and we don't actually "need" carbohydrates at all. We have tastebuds for "sweet" but consuming carbs is just fluff to add excitement to eating. A basic amount of CALORIES are required to fuel what we do each day.

1 gram of carbs = 4.2 calories
1 gram of protein = 4.25 calories
1 gram of fat = 9.2 calories

Eating should be fun to some degree. We shouldn't live exclusively to do it though. 50-60g of carbs is enough to keep us reasonably excited as long as we don't bolus ourselves with a huge amount of simple carbs all at once. That would release too much insulin and if we aren't currently expending that many calories, we have no business eating them because the excess WILL be stored as fat. Our ancestors nibbled berries and I imagine it was a nice treat. So don't load up before bed or consume a lot all at once. Remember to "nibble" your carbs and you'll be fine.

Protein is over rated. We don't need to be gluttonous and eat huge steaks, a turkey leg, or a rack of ribs. Protein should really be thought of as a condiment. In a stir fry, as shish kabobs, or a small steamed fillet of fish. Too much protein will also be converted to glucose and used the same way as any carb would be used. Besides, why be wasteful of an animal's sacrifice so that you might live? Eat what is truly necessary and no more.

Fats are really the ticket to staying well-fed. They provide satiety and fuel. After carbs and proteins have been used, our bodies will then turn to fats to meet their energy requirements. The nice thing is that any excess will be excreted as benign ketones and not stored.

So calories DO count in the sense that your carbs and proteins should never be above your BMR. Once you know that they aren't, feel free to consume fats to your heart's content.

Happy eating!

[Lurchy]

I was just reading another post where someone was being tortured with temptation over a chocolate cake that a coworker had brought to work. It made me think about this past Mother's Day when my family had gone to a nice little lunch buffet. There were many choices so I had no problem feasting on roast turkey, ham, cranberries, and a couple stawberries. But even today, THREE days later, I am still pissed off that I didn't get to have a huge helping of the fluffy white mashed potatoes and luscious chicken gravy. That ONE food haunts me and I can't get it out of my head once I see it, smell it, or know it is near. I feel stupid typing this outloud even... for some reason I am addicted to that item... it's my numero uno comfort food. On more than one occasion, I have passed on it's guilty pleasure, and then binged on everything else around me in an effort to fill the place that those dang potatoes would have. It isn't like one taste would have satisfied me either. I would have eaten them until my tummy hurt and still wanted more.

The other post had some mantras to repeat to yourself in a similar situation.

"Take the time to imagine the "feeling" this partaicular food will leave you with. If we think beyond the moment, we would all make different decisions. If you think about how eating the cake made you feel about yourself first thing the following morning, you would be pretty disappointed in yourself wouldn't you?" ~ fawn

"Hips in the larvae stage." ~ twyla

"Just say no to the more accurately renamed: Chocolate Cellulite Thigh Cake! Repeat that name to yourself every time you pass by it and pretty soon you will no longer feel tempted, just mildly repulsed by the idea." ~ joy

"Nothing tastes as good as thin feels, nothing tastes as good as thin feels..." ~ lisa

Thanks ladies! I can't wait for the day when my mind is retrained over how it thinks and feels about mashed potatoes and gravy.

[Lurchy]

Okay, got a sample menu into fitday:

S: coffee w/ 2 oz heavy cream, sf syrup
B: 8 oz plain whole milk yogurt, 1 scoop seven essentials, berry flavor
S: coffee w/ 2 oz heavy cream, sf syrup
L: Sandwich made w/ 2 oz wp tuna, 1 T mayo, 2 sm green onions, 2 green pepper rings, 1 slice ww low carb bread, a 1/2 c tomato bisque soup, and 1/2 of a 3 oz cream cheese package (cut into cubes)
S: coffee w/ 2 oz heavy cream, sf syrup
D: Stirfry w/ 3/4 c chicken breast, 1 oz macadamia nuts (broken), 1/4 c each green and yellow snap beans, 2 T butter, and a 6 oz V8 juice

grams cals %total
Total: 1580
Fat: 120 1078 68%
Sat: 57 509 32%
Poly: 10 90 6%
Mono: 44 398 25%
Carbs: 65 199 13%
Fiber: 15 0 0%
Protein: 74 297 19%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%

[Lurchy]

Ugh... TOTALLY forgot my packed lunch at home this am so had to wing it at work for foods. I have no idea how I came out on nutrients.

B: 3 sausage links from the cafeteria, diet pepsi
L: Hamburger patty, a bit of grilled peppers and onions on top, about a 1/2 c of lettuce with crumbled HB eggs and mushrooms, ranch dressing, diet pepsi
S: small coffee from the cart made with half and half and sf white mocha syrup
S: cottage cheese and three lil pieces of pineapple, diet pepsi
S: carton of 2% milk and 2 T peanut butter
D: crab meat, butter, low carb Fuze

I survived and it coulda been worse.

[Lurchy]

Two pounds gone as of yesterday morning, decided to wait till today to see if it would stick. It did. One more to go and I can say adios to the 270's. I haven't measured myself since mid April to check on any inches I might have lost. Gonna do that today. I've also been slacking on my "formal" exercise. However, I have been busy. Working, cleaning, humping the stairs (2 flights) to do laundry, haul groceries in, garbage out, etc. And it's raining outside again today. Excuses, yeah. I know that exercise will more easily be ingrained in my lifestyle if I keep to a formal exercise plan. Also, the additional stuff that I do on a normal weekly basis will be bonus calories burned.

I'm feeling the need to paint something. It's spring... things should be fresh and clean! I guess I'd need permission from the landlord to do that. I want to get the carpets professionally done too. Ummm... and a new garbage disposal and a washer/dryer in my apartment. Hey, a girl can dream, right?

Keeping busy keeps my mind off of food. So it's all good!

[Lurchy]

...haven't gotten the measurements done yet.

Did get 2 of my 3 orders today. First one from Davinci's. Sugar free white mocha, spices, lemon, and watermelon. White mocha for coffee, spices and lemon for flavored drained yogurt (not at the same time, lol), and watermelon to have flavored ice shaved icees with my son when it is warm.

Second, my order of E7. I got berry and apple cinnamon for me and chocolate for my son. I can't wait to try it! It is a whole food supplement and comes in powder form. Enzymes, vitamins, trace minerals, protein, essential oils, fiber, and probiotics all in one scoop!

My order from Netrition should be here tomorrow. Woo hoo, then I can make the harvest muffins I've been wanting to on Saturday. Gonna try out the new almond breeze in them.

Having a good week so far!

[Lurchy]

Got my Netrition order today! My son busied himself with popping all of the plastic bubbles in the box, lol. Looks like I am still learning about nutrition requirements as far as protein goes. I guess the literature Nero found states between .45 and .8g per kg. Yeesh, so many sources with conflicting info!

I was also intrigued by the yogurt thread and would like to try it out.

For the coming week, I'm going to have two yogurt meals a day (full fat) with sf syrup and splenda to flavor it. I'm also going to consume 2 servings of the E7 and add 5000mg of Biotin that I picked up today.

My dinner will be one jumbo ww harvest muffin with butter and a spinach salad with cherry tomatoes and olive oil. I'm inclluding 2 Tbsp daily of flax seeds but haven't determined yet if I should put them in the muffins or sprinkle them on the salad. Will have to taste test them first.

This will get me 1415 calories, 99g fat, 100g carbs minus 25g fiber, and 51g protein. I'm also thinking of a 5 day on and 2 day off schedule. Meaning I am on plan 5 days a week and do maintenance for 2.

Still need to get the measurements done... sheesh, maybe tonight after the lil guy goes to sleep.