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I am truly enjoying this program. However, I think I am sabotaging my efforts with my eating habits. December was pretty much terrible, I got back on track for the first two weeks in Jan, and I just spent a four day weekend out of town and went nuts again.
Is anyone else having trouble? I would like to suggest a mini goal of eating clean for the next three weeks. We can try to hold each other accountable. We can post our progress here every few days or so. If we are not doing well, we can try to encourage each other. If we are sticking to our individual plans, whatever they may be, we can congratulate each other. Sound good? We don't have to post what we are eating, or how many calories, (unless you want to) just how we are doing overall. If there is an issue you want to bring up - like - I'm trying to keep carbs to 40% and I went crazy today!!! - that would be fine.
Doing this, along with posting our measurements in one of the other threads I just saw, might help us stick to our goals. Any one interested?
I'll start. I just did workout 1A in Stage 5 today. I just finished lunch and am on track for the day. Hopefully I can report that I staid on track in a day or so. Good luck. Looking Forward to hearing from you all.
How has every one been doing? I fell off the wagon. The kids were off from school 3 days last week and we were stuck home a lot. Then since I had a bad Mon, Tues, Wed, I hardly tried on the weekend. So I started again Mon. I had a good Mon and Tues this week. I really wish I could get this eating under control. I have been having such good workouts. But I think nutrition is more important than exercise when trying to burn fat.
I have been doing alright but just having the hardest time fitting in the workouts 'cause for some reason I've been at work late every day this week and I get home EXHAUSTED and crash on the couch, and I haven't done my workout since Saturday. 
I'm not going into work until 12:00 tomorrow so that I make sure I do it in the morning. Eating has been really good the last 4 days which is great. I am still feeling okay but I need to work out!
Well...I have to say, this was a bad weekend! I am trying to cut my calories down to 1400 on non-workout days, and a little more on workout days, and even though I stayed in my range, I ate crappy food this weekend! And...I jinxed myself when I said we had such great weather. :( It's been horrible so I didn't go out and do anything this weekend! Oh well, tomorrow is a new day! How's everyone else doing?
What does "eating clean" mean? Is this a new label for an old ideology..... Here's a link to a super good thread on the subject!
http://caloriecount.about.com/clean-eating-gr ocery-list-ft128616
Have a Healthgain Day!
~Julie
To me clean eating means staying away from processed foods and eating as much whole foods as possible. However, I don't have time to make my own bread, and I love a good bowl of ceral now and then so I allow lots of wiggle room. I've posted around this group quite a bit lately so you will see that I am not doing so well with clean eating or staying within my calorie limits. But I keep fighting and I am staying positive. Aside from December being a bad month with the lifting, I have been lifting faithfully since Sept 15. So even when I am feeling down, I remind myself that I am making progress. I really want to attain my fitness goals by the summer.
Has anyone read "The Eat Clean Diet," by Tosca Reno? I'm finally ready to kick my own butt into a better way of eating and found this book, and another that is more recipe oriented, on Amazon. I hate the title and the cover because it appears very much in the vein of fad diet marketing. However, when I read the reviews I saw that this is very much the same principle written about in the New Rules books.
I bought the books - I'm curious to see what's in them and I need the recipes. I do okay for breakfast, well at lunch and for snacks at work, and then I totally revert to bad habits at dinner and evening snacks / beverages. If you've read them or use them, could you post your experience?
I haven't had any experience with the books, but let me know it works out for you. Eating healthy is a constant up and down battle for me. I can't seem to find the key to consistency.
Here's the update. First, I've been eating well for the past two days, and well into today. By "well" I mean, dramatically reduced intake of processed food, added sugars, and sodium. I've skipped the dinner glass of wine, that easily turns to two and a half, for two nights, and I think I'll be successful again tonight. I'm such a creature of habit that I had to give myself a replacement - so I bought a variety of herbal teas yesterday from a lovely tea shop in my neighborhood. This is a big accomplishment for me so I'm feeling pretty good.
Also, I received the books I mentioned in my earlier post and they have some good ideas. I'd say "The Eat Clean Diet," is essentially the introduction of nutrition and diet principles espoused in NROLFW. The author is a significant advocate for weight training, and a lot of the book is about her personal experience combining weight training and nutrition to lose a significant amount of weight in her forties - she's a hottie now! If you know what you should eat to serve your body best, but don't eat that way, this probably isn't a book that will offer new information.
As for "The Eat Clean Diet Cookbook," I haven't delved too deeply into it yet, my first take is that the recipes will be good, but there are a lot of items that I don't have in my cupboard already. I went shopping today and stocked up on some healthy foods, mostly from my usual list but I did add a few items so I can try some of her recipes.
I'll let ya know what I learn upon further investigation (that's sly talk for EATING)!
Investigations continue, but here's what I've learned so far. First, the recipes in the Eat Clean Diet Cookbook are hit and miss. I love a few of them, my favorite is the chicken cooked in parchment paper. However, the cooking times aren't always trust worthy.
I've also just purchased the Gourmet Nutrition 2 cookbook, which is by John Berardi, a nutritionist. He writes a lot for T-nation and has his own commercial nutrition program. My sweet, sweet, husband is cooking up a veggie dish from it as I type and the smells are awesome. What I like about the book is that it offers small and large portions, the recipes are more versatile, and I already buy a lot of the ingredients. The only new item was coconut oil, which I've never used, and coconut milk which I've only used in Thai food.
YUM!! I've never been big on cauliflower and I'm officially converted. I think what I am appreciating most about all of these books is what I am learning about how to use spices. This dish combines carrots, peas, cauliflower, walnuts and some sweet spices and I'm already devising plans for how I'll eat the other serving.
There are also a lot of fun recipes for protein shakes. Some of them are too high in calories for me, but there are new ideas for ingredients. I'd never thought of using tea instead of water to add extra flavor.
So....my nutrition efforts have been going pretty well - not exceptional, certainly not 90%, but maybe 80%, which is an improvement over February.
How's it going for everyone else? Any new discoveries lately? What are your favorite cook books or recipe sources?
I've been doing OK. I did most of Fat Loss II in March with a deficit. Then I went nuts for a week over spring break and lost ground, did great for four days, then bad for three, and I just logged 5 good days in a row. So overall, more good days than bad. I guess I'm about 80-85% for March/April.
I've been using pictures to track my progress these days because the scale is so jumpy. I took pics with a tripod on March 25 and then again today. I made a little progress. It's not earth shattering. You have to look hard to find it, but it's there! I've been eating pretty clean. I finally found a source of greek yogurt near me and I love it. Same calories as regular yogurt, thicker than regular yogurt, and twice the protein. That helps. However, I also just discovered diet cherry Dr. Pepper. I love it!!! I'm not a soda drinker regularly, but something about this soda I just love. What's the verdict on diet soda? Is is harmful to a fat loss program? I know it's not the healthiest thing in the world, but right now I just want to cut fat - I have to have a few indulgences.
Anyway, good for you for experimenting and branching out. That is great. Your recipes sound delish. Keep up the good work. I am aiming for 90% for the last half of April into May. So far so good. I will post here if I have a major setback. Maybe the thought of doing that will help with accountablity. Good luck to you.
Laura, that all sounds really positive.Way to go! I especially appreciate how you know yourself well enough to recognize what can bring on a binge and have adapted your calorie intake accordingly - and it's working!
I don't drink soda much either, it's not considered helpful to a diet - but I agree that indulgences are important for keeping us happy and sheilding off worse digressions. I may even have to look into this diet cherry dr. pepper - I used to LOVE cherry coke, back in my six sodas a day life :) Now I have a soda about once every two or three weeks.
Keep up all of your good work!
KMK & Laura - congrats on doing so well eating! When I finally get a job I will have to remember that book! I am not a huge cauliflower fan either.
I have been lucky I guess. I gained 4 pounds after easter by eating badly! Then a few days ago, I started drinking lots of water & no diet pepsi and dropped 2 pounds the next morning.... today the other 2 are gone. Must have been water weight I guess or maybe the fiber one cereal helped too! lol
Original Post by yogagirl6853:
KMK & Laura - congrats on doing so well eating! When I finally get a job I will have to remember that book! I am not a huge cauliflower fan either.
I have been lucky I guess. I gained 4 pounds after easter by eating badly! Then a few days ago, I started drinking lots of water & no diet pepsi and dropped 2 pounds the next morning.... today the other 2 are gone. Must have been water weight I guess or maybe the fiber one cereal helped too! lol
What do you know about diet soda that I don't? I am lately enamored with diet cherry Dr. Pepper. Will it interfere with my goals of cutting body fat?
By the way, good job dropping the extra weight brought to you by the Easter Bunny, even if it was just water weight.
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