Yes, I’m on a diet. No, I’m not going to tell you how much I need to lose because it would depress ‘me’ too much. I was embarrassed just telling one of my critique partners. :-O (I told you the picture was OLD.) Anyhow, to jump start this new ‘lifestyle change’, dh and I decided to order Atkin’s Home Delivery. We needed the extra help given our track record. :-/ What does that mean? It means the fine folks at Atkins prepare a week’s worth of meals and deliver them every Friday. No grocery shopping involved for at least a month. Yah!!!
I honestly think this is the first time I’ve ever eaten appropriate portions. If you live in the US, you know the size of portions here at meals. It’s been quite an adjustment. I have been slightly hungry, but not ravenous. No headaches, thank goodness. We started this ‘lifestyle change’ on Saturday and I’ve already lost 6 pounds. I know most of it is probably water weight, but I’ll take it. The vitamin supplements are easy to keep up with. (You have to take those if you EVER go on the Atkin’s diet.)
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food. (I’d braced myself for the worst.) It’s been nice and quite flavorful. The first two weeks keep you at 20 carbs or less for the day, then the next two weeks move you to 40 carbs. I’m sure it’ll feel like we’re hitting an all-you-can-eat buffet when we move to the 40 carb a day meals. LOL! We’ve decided that after this month is up, we will renew for one more month. Need to keep that weight loss ball rolling.
Have you all ever tried a ‘diet’ that didn’t really feel like you were on a diet? If you’ve lost a substantial amount of weight, how did you do it?
July 27th, 2005
Good luck with it, I stay on low-carb all the time! You can get advice and support at the lowcarbfriends.com site, which also links to a low-carb ordering site.
I had started to do very well last year on Atkins, but stopped around the holidays (dumb, dumb!) If you think of it as a WOE (way of eating) instead of a diet, you will do fine. The inches tend to come off before the pounds, but it does work!!
by Robin July 27th, 2005 at 6:07 pmI’ve never had much success with strictly dieting. I find that boring old exercise and healthy eating works best. And NOTHING burns calories and builds muscle like kickboxing! It’s also a great stress reliever.
Since kickboxing’s a little too vigorous for me right now I’m actually starting pilates to get back to pre-baby shape. Let you know how that goes.
by Charlene July 27th, 2005 at 6:09 pmThanks for the website, Robin! I’m trying to change the thought process to WOE. It’s very difficult to curtail all those years of bad habits, but I’ll do it.
by Jordan July 27th, 2005 at 9:45 pmCharlene, Kickboxing is a blast. I took Krav Maga for a year. It was wonderful. I loved it.
by Jordan July 27th, 2005 at 9:46 pmNo, I’ve never been on a diet that didn’t feel like a diet. If I wasn’t allowed to eat sweets or drink regular coca-cola—it was a diet.
I tried Atkins for a bit, but got SO tired of eating so much meat. But hope it goes well for you, hon. The delivered meals sounds great! Keep us up to date!
by raine July 27th, 2005 at 11:02 pmOver here, we have Slimming World Clubs, which I know have been very successful. The aim is to separate carbs and proteinous foods. So basically you choose which day you want to be on. Green days are days where you really bascially only eat carbs, e.g. pasta, rice etc, but you are allowed a certain amount of meat/fish.
On Red days, you can eat as much meat/poultry/fish as you like.
if anybody’d interested, you can visit their website http://www.slimming-world.co.uk
Personally, I just try to eat healthily, and me and my hubby try to go to the gym at least 3 days a week. I prefer running, so I try to do a thirty minute jog at least twice a week.
We’re travelling to Florida in September, so I’m trying to tone up in preparation for wearing bikini’s, lol!
by Karen Scott July 28th, 2005 at 5:08 amGood luck with Atkins! It worked for me when I did it - and I’m all for someone delivering meals right to me *ggg*
by Steph T. July 28th, 2005 at 5:37 amHI JORDAN!
I lost 30 pounds a while back. I did it with a low fat diet.I counted fat grams and used the book the T-Factor diet. I like to cook so I just cooked from low fat books that gave fat grams and I lost weight quickly. I had about 5 breakfasts and 5 lunches that I simply alternated, didn’t ask myself :WHAT DO IA FEEL LIKE EATING” every day. Also, I learned to EAT BY THE CLOSK..hungry or not, I ate my breakfast lunch and dinner andn THAT kept me out of the cookie jar!
The most important thing I found: After reading T factor I realized I HAD TO exercise, not just 3 times a week, not just 30 minutes, but ONE HOUR A DAY for weight loss. I learned to LOVE the treadmill and alternated that with one hour walks in my neighborhood EVERY DAY except one day a week off sometimes.
The weight FLEW OFF and stayed off till I had a little car mishap and got completely off the exercise and started eatinig poorly again! (DUH!) But it was pretty easy to maintain the loss with good eating and exercise.
I am in the same boat as you now, I have to lose the weight — am going to go back to what worked before. It’s GETTING STARTED and getting MOTIVATED that take the most work.. perhaps all those clothes in my closet I cannot wear will do it..
Atkins should do it for you if you are a meat eater– but DO THE EXERCISE–it was the MAGIC BULLET!!
MADDIE
by Maddie July 28th, 2005 at 7:27 amHi Jordan,
About 2 years ago I drastically changed my diet because I discovered that I’m insulin resistant. I basically went on Atkins but didn’t do the first two weeks. I don’t eat any refined sugar and any carbs I eat I try to make sure they have a lot of fiber in them. I lost 30 lbs and dropped 3 sizes. The first couple of weeks I lost 11 lbs. I was amazed.
I never felt like I was on a diet because I’m not all the big on potatoes, pasta, white bread or rice. But the sugar is what I missed. However, there’s a lot of good sugar free chocolate out there, and no sugar added icecream!
by Trace July 28th, 2005 at 7:34 amRaine, I have a serious sweet-tooth too. :-/
by Jordan July 28th, 2005 at 10:26 amKaren, That sounds interesting. They’ve had various food combining diets over here too. I tried one years ago and it seemed to work. It required you to eat fruit until noon. I’ve never heard of that gym, but I’m sure my relatives in the UK have.
It’s great that you guys have a routine. I’m sure you’ll be more than ready for bikini weather.
by Jordan July 28th, 2005 at 10:31 amSteph, We’re kind of lazy that way. If the meals come to us, we’ll stay on the diet. If we’re left to our own devices, then things get tricky. LOL!
by Jordan July 28th, 2005 at 10:33 amSigh, Maddie. The clothes in my closet that do not fit don’t seem to be enough of a motivator for me. (You’d think looking at them and getting depressed would help.)
I am slowly adding exercise into the mix. I won’t be doing an hours worth anytime soon. Way too out of shape for that. I shoot for 30 minutes at 3 times a week. My goal is to consistently do that for a month, then up the days to five. Good for you for finding something that works for you.
by Jordan July 28th, 2005 at 10:39 amTrace, That’s great! The home delivery is doing the induction for us. We move out of it in another week. Potatoes and bread are the biggies around here. We do eat sushi rice on occasion, but not very frequently. It only takes about two weeks to get over wanting potatoes. It takes a little longer with bread, especially if we’re around the good stuff at a French restaurant. (mouth waters just thinking about it) We just HAVE to make a change. Fat isn’t working for us anymore.
by Jordan July 28th, 2005 at 10:44 amWhy is exercise so damned much work?
by Cece July 28th, 2005 at 11:55 amCece, I don’t know, but I keep hoping I become like those people obsessed with it. Although I fear I’ll be much more like Oprah, hate it, but do it anyway. LOL!
by Jordan July 28th, 2005 at 12:08 pmI’ve lost about 30 lbs and lowered my blood pressure alot on the dreaded Dash diet(low sodium.) I do eat alot of fruit and veggies, and portion sizes count alot! It works for me because I’m not a huge meat lover, and usually I like my meat covered with some sauce.
My hubby, on the other hand, is diabetic. He keeps his carbs under 50 and his blood sugar does great. He has lost almost 100lbs, and weighs less than he did back his football days.
by Anonymous July 28th, 2005 at 2:53 pmOops, the last comment was from me.
by Becca July 28th, 2005 at 6:50 pmBecca, That’s great! It’s wonderful that you were both able to do two different diets at the same time. I know how tough that can be.
by Jordan July 28th, 2005 at 7:46 pmI put on a lot of weight when I lived in Europe, I ate whatever I wanted and didn’t exercise. I was in terrible shape. I’ve pretty much stuck to a healthy lifestyle for the past 4 years. I restructured my life, started eating healthy and really watching myself in the beginning. I counted calories and stayed within a 1,500 calorie a day diet. I’m not as strict anymore but I do eat healthy, watch portion size and not snack when I’m bored. I exercise 5-6 days a week, alternating between stationary bike, treadmill, running, elliptical and videos. As long as I keep it interesting I keep my focus. I also do ballroom dancing which in a couple of hours burns beaucoup de calories.
The main thing to remember is that dieting, fads and the like tend to work in the short-term. What it really takes is changing your lifestyle and relationship with food. I love food but I also love my body, so I eat the good things and do the work to take care of mind, body and spirit.
by Shannon July 29th, 2005 at 3:11 pmShannon, That’s wonderful that you got everything back under control. I agree much of it does have to do with your relationship to food. I’m still working on that aspect. I’m surprised you actually didn’t lose weight in Europe. There is so much walking that takes place over there that I’d think it would be unavoidable.
by Jordan July 29th, 2005 at 6:10 pm