Saturday, September 14, 2013

17 Day Diet - Cycle 1, Day 1

So I kind of fucked up already.  This is a no soda diet - but I had some diet soda still around, and I didn't want to toss it. So I drank it today, along with my required water and tea.  Probably not the best way to kick things off, with a ton of chemicals, but if this is the worst that I do to myself, then it's probably okay.

I had to start my day off by going to buy all the food stuffs I needed to get this show on the road.  Grocery shopping in the suburbs on a Saturday was not a great idea.  So I got home to eat "breakfast" around noon.  This contributed to why I wanted the soda.  But here is the menu that I consumed today.

Breakfast (or lunch if we are being honest): 6 oz fat free Greek yogurt, flavored with two tablespoons of sugar free strawberry jam.  This was actually pretty good, though it could use a little more sweetness.  I will resist, in an effort to curb my sweet tooth, which is the villain.

Lunch (eaten at 3:00 pm): A weird cheese enchilada dish.  It had chicken, peppers and onions, cream cheese and enchilada sauce.  I ate it with some salsa.  Not having it with tortillas or rice was weird, and I didn't especially enjoy it.  Lucky for me, I still have three servings left!  I am tempted to toss it, but I don't like to waste food or money.

Snack: Green tea!  I missed my fruit opportunity by a few hours, so I guess I will save that for tomorrow.  Not really jonesing for apples yet anyway.

Dinner: To be determined.  I bought some asparagus and Parmesan that I thought I might make.  I also have a soup recipe I wanted to make (chicken and green chiles - yum!), but after my failed cooking experience earlier, and the fact that I still have enchiladas in the fridge, I feel like that is a no.  So it is still to be decided.  I am also supposed to have another yogurt serving, so I am considering a kefir smoothie, but that would need fruit, which is now verboten as it is 4 pm.

Choices, choices.  I will update once I have decided.


Is the 17 Day Diet a Good Fat Fighter?

So it has now been nearly four years since I initially started this blog.  And I only ever posted it on it once.  Ah, the flighty attention span of a 23 year old nanny.  Quick life update: I finished nannying, went to graduate school at Harvard, and now I am a high school teacher.  I am also about a month away from turning 27.  So things have absolute changed.

Except for my weight.  Incredibly, it is exactly the same.  I am nothing if not consistent.  I am still weighing in at a cool 208 lbs, which remains way too much for my frame, my health, and my confidence.

In the intervening years, I have had moderate success with Weight Watchers, but nothing really seemed to stick.  So I have been doing some research, checking sme books out of the library, and I have decided to embark on the 17 Day Diet.  The 17 Day Diet is not some crash diet that you only do for 17 days - rather, it is a cyclical diet, where each phase is 17 days, and you hopefully end up with a clean eating lifestyle that focuses on whole foods and healthy carbs.

I am starting in Phase One, called Accelerate.  In this phase, carbs are limited.  Now some people are probably wondering why I can't just do the good old "calories in versus calories out" thing.  I could do that, but I have recently come to realize that I am a carb addict - all of my favorite foods are refined carbs, and I eat a ridiculous amount of processed carbs and sugar.  When I am not thinking about my diet and really making an effort to eat healthfully, I am all carbs all the time. Breads, candy, pasta, pretzels, pierogi, pizza, lo Mein, etc.  It's rough.  So I have decided to go with a plan that initially limits carbs, and encourages a healthy addition of them in a controlled way.  Hence, the 17 Day Diet.  I am not hardcore enough to go Atkins, so I figure this is a good compromise.  So that is the plan.  We will see how it goes.  If I post again, then we will know it is working!