The Unintended Diet

I don't diet.  I mean, I eat pretty well, and my plan of attack has always just been to eat pretty well and get some exercise and that has pretty much worked for me.  I mean, I'd like to be slimmer or more in shape, but honestly, it's not something that I want enough that I am willing to stop doing something else that I am doing so that I can start doing more exercise.  You know how time works...in order to start doing something new in an already booked schedule, you have to stop doing something that you are already doing.

Anyway, I have been wanting to lose more of the weight that I put on with Jesse, but I just haven't gotten around to really putting the time into making that happen.  So, although I have lost a lot of the weight, I have hit a plateau that is a number (that I will not divulge here! :P ) and have pretty much just hovered around that mark for the last few months give or take a pound and a half or so.

This Christmas, I was talking to my mom who offhandedly mentioned that she was 'dieting' as in changing her diet to fit her lifestyle better.  Not dieting as in eating a regimented amount of food in order to lose weight.  She is in very good shape and walks miles a day as well as goes to the gym several times a week.  But she said that she had been hitting a slump every day in the afternoon where she just wore out and often ended up taking a nap, which would then disrupt her sleep in the night time.

So she said that she had cut out all carbs in the morning and afternoon only eating carbs in the evening with dinner.  But, she assured me, she made up for the lack of carbs in the day with her evening meal!  She said for breakfast she would eat yogurt with chocolate chips and/or fruit, ham and cheese or chicken or whatever in the afternoon for lunch and then a 'normal' dinner in the evening with my dad.

I, too, had been feeling that afternoon slump, and I was tired of trying to combat it with just plowing through irritably or downing some coffee to keep me going.  I knew that something wasn't right if I had to depend on a drug like caffeine to get me through the day.  I didn't want to get addicted so that I 'couldn't function' without it or I got headaches if I didn't get it.

So, I decided to try my mom's plan.  I am, after all, my mother's daughter, and so what works for her just may help me, too.

And it really does!  I still indulge in a coffee now and again, but it is more for fun than a necessity, and I completely avoid carbs all day til dinner.  Well, I guess I should say that I avoid breads and grains til dinner.  I know I still get some carbs in other food I eat.

But this has had an unintended side affect.  I have lost 1.5 pounds in 2 weeks, I don't get as ravenously hungry like I did before when I would eat cereal for breakfast and a sandwhich for lunch, and I find myself making healthier choices.  Now I know that instead of reaching for a slice of banana bread, I have to/can/will grab a yogurt or an apple or something else instead.  I shop differently now, too.  I plan ahead to be sure that I will have good food on hand like eggs to boil, lowfat yogurt, good cheeses, and lots and lots of veggies and fruits so that I have something yummy to look forward to.

And that has an unintended side effect, too.  Now there are even more fruits and veggies in the house so it can be the go-to snack for the kids and I can be sure to pack extra broccoli in Jimmy's lunchbox.  (This guy will not eat any fruits but bananas, and very few veggies, but he likes broccoli.  I''m not complaining, but go figure!  Who'da thunk?)

I think that the way that this works for me when other 'diets' didn't is that I know that I can eat my banana bread in the evening.  It is not that I am eliminating tasty snacks from my diet, just putting them in their place.

Yum!


(Insert picture here of a yummy spinach salad with a sliced egg and crumbled cheese on top.  I would insert it for you, but the computer won't read the camera card right now.)