[going2bskinny]

Hey thought I would post this so I can scold myself so I don't do it again. I have been allowing myself to cheat and eat candy and carbs like chips I bought chips from the store thinking I could control myself and just have a little well we know how that goes I binged and ate like the whole bag and not just one day like 4 days. Surprised I didn't pass out with a heart attack from all the salt not to mention I probably gained tons of weight back now I haven't checked yet I don't think I'm going to till after this week of doing good or so lol. I have just been doing really crappy in general haven't been drinking my water eating pretty much whatever I want and way too much again. Haven't been doing any exercise.

So anyways today is my start again I did really good so far and I plan to keep it up the biggest thing I am going to stick to is not allowing myself to cheat anymore. I will be eating mostly veggies and fruit lean meats like chicken, fish, turkey, crab or shrimp. Only carbs I am allowing myself besides the veggies of course is Ak Mak cracker, Ezekiel bread, oatmeal but no sugar kind I will just use some cinnamon and some fresh fruit maybe, beans, or Jasmine Brown rice I have some cous cous I need to eat still but I probably won't buy that again after I finish it I am only going to have one of those a day or I'll skip it all together if I am not craving a carb. I also will be having some cheese but I will keep that to a minimum of like one time a day I have some string cheese and shredded cheese still. So mostly I'm cutting out all sugar no bad carbs keeping carbs to a very low minimum keeping cheese to a very low minimum if I want milk I will make my own almond milk also I will allow myself some almonds for a snack but maybe only a couple times a week or so. There might be a little sugar in some of the sauces I use for the meat I will be cooking but I will keep that to a very low minimum as well for anything that uses sugar.

I am also going to be cutting out anything with artificial flavoring or sweeteners so no diet drinks or even gum I am going to be cutting out which I am addicted to gum lol so that's kinda hard for me lol. For when I am craving diet pop I will have green iced tea with lemon and sparkling spring water I make myself. And for my chip substitute I will be using Roasted Seaweed snacks from trader joes! Love those I have a few sobe lean drinks I will be drinking sometimes but probably won't buy again. As far as I know it doesn't have any artificial sweeteners though it says all natural but can't be too sure with this stuff really so I probably won't buy it again. Unless anyone knows if it is okay for sure or not.

I will be doing 30 mins of cardio a day 10 mins warm up moderate and then 20 minutes of intense interval sprinting just on my rebounder and monday wednesday friday I will be doing light weights and my floor exercises for building muscle. And since summer is coming I will do whatever extra I can outside just having fun.

So that's the plan mostly cutting out sugar and most carbs and just posted some of my ideas for substitutes incase anyone wants to join me on this plan or something. Also does that sound like a pretty good plan? Is there anything important I am cutting out? For anyone who knows a ton about nutrition.

Oh also I will be fasting on Saturday and Sunday only allowing myself green tea water and grapefruit. 1 or 2 of them.

Also will try to drink 1 gallon of water a day.

[Lori Bell]

YIKES! What ever happened to one day at a time?!

In my very humble opinion, I would say to start with something easy and not so mind boggling...say... like counting your daily calories and trying to stick to under to 1800ish a day. Don't worry about anything but that for a week or so, then report back with us.

[sacha]

My humble opinion, as a long-term maintainer.

If we cannot stick with the basics (portion control. not binging. making good choices.) then an "extreme" plan (fasting on the weekend? For what reason? Is it because you can't moderate? Either you will binge or you just starve) is not going to do the trick.

Changing the body starts in the mind. There is a big difference between people who need to set limits for themselves (ie. they binge on cookies so they say NO MORE COOKIES, EVER) and people who set up a huge amount of arbitrary rules to restrain themselves from having to... make moderate decisions and control themselves in an uncontrolled environment

[beerab]

Yeah no offense but I think you are setting yourself up for failure. Why are you going to only eat 1 or 2 grapefruit on the weekends? What's the point of that?

I agree with a sensible plan of exercising a few times a week, cutting out the junk, eating whole foods prepared by you, and taking it a day at a time.

We all binge now and then- it happens- but I think you should figure out why you binged. 9 times out of 10 the reason I've binged is because I allowed myself to get too hungry. Now binges rarely happen for me because I make sure I eat every few hours.

[MonicaM]

I would never consider fasting.

[going2bskinny]

lol that one day at a time idea sounds pretty nice think I'm driving myself nuts here. I was kind of trying to make a grocery list for myself too I'm going to the store tomorrow.

The fasting was just for losing weight faster and kind of a detox I'm trying to combine detoxing and weight loss but something I can stick to besides just a water fast for a long time.

I did some water fasting before I actually liked it I did an 8 day water fast and then a 5 day water fast and a week long green juice fast. As long as I control myself after they are alright I think.

I was doing 1200 calories a day but I really hate counting every little thing I eat all day this way it was pretty much the way I ate already on the 1200 calorie diet and then I don't have to count calories. And still can eat 3 times a day with 2 little snacks. Without having to cook much I don't really have much for a kitchen.

oh and I know why I binged I have been very stressed out lately lol and I just never could control myself with chips for some reason so I won't be buying them anymore been burned by that one over and over again. Other food I do pretty good not overeating with besides pizza won't be buying that either. I just can't do cheat meals or treats basically, it throws me off too bad.

[LisaP916]

I'm sorry, I'm with the others. That's not a healthy plan in any way. You need some balance and like someone else said, you can't change the body until you change the mind. You won't achieve and sustain a healthy weight unless you have a LIFESTYLE you can maintain.

[going2bskinny]

is the eating plan unhealthy or just the 2 days of fasting I thought the food was pretty balanced?

[LisaP916]

Originally Posted by going2bskinny

is the eating plan unhealthy or just the 2 days of fasting I thought the food was pretty balanced?

To me, it seems extremely restrictive. Personally, I fail when I go all or nothing. The second I decide I can't have something, it's all I want. And I obsess about it till I have it then BOOM! Off the wagon again.

Obviously I still have a long way to go this round, but I've done it before.

[going2bskinny]

Today I ate pretty good for breakfast I had 1 egg and 3 whites with spinach onion tomato yellow and orange bell pepper and half a beef hot dog in it with pepper. Cooked with olive oil. And a blood orange.

then I didn't really eat for a long time cuz I was cleaning and later I had some immitation crab and cocktail sauce and a plum

then for dinner I just had a ak mak cracker with cream cheese on it red pepper spread, oven roasted turkey, bell pepper, purple onion, colby swiss lace cheese, tomato, spinach, and romain lettuce. With a dill pickle.

I counted up my calories for the day and I had just over 1200 calories does that sound like a healthy diet for the day?

[going2bskinny]

Originally Posted by LisaP916

To me, it seems extremely restrictive. Personally, I fail when I go all or nothing. The second I decide I can't have something, it's all I want. And I obsess about it till I have it then BOOM! Off the wagon again.

Obviously I still have a long way to go this round, but I've done it before.

yes I do that too but I really want to cut out bad sugars if I can and at least chips because I can't control myself with those. I might make a tortilla pizza sometime or I seen a recipe on here just today for a portabella mushroom pizza I could try. I just need to find healthier alternatives I think to those things. Anyone have any ideas? I suppose I should look into what people use for atkins diet maybe since I'm trying to restrict carbs as much as I can.

Anyone have any good alternatives for chips or pizza

[Brooklynn]

well I was kind of wondering sense you have already lost 76lbs how did you do that? That is a big chunk of weight and if you did that in a healthy way why not keep on doing that? Of course with no binging. I feel that you have to eat in a way that works for you something that will make you feel full and still enable you to lose weight. Try and stay away for processed refined crap and eat more natural things. I find that I do better when I know what I cant have rather then thinking oh yeah I can eat just one piece of pizza and not go over my daily calorie limit. Doing the atkins diet to me is like weight loss for dummies ( I dont mean that in a bad way) I mean that it tells you, you can have this you cant have that, really no thought of if you can or cant. I do best when I know what I can have and what I cant and tend to stick to it. For example chips are a big NO NO for the time being so I dont even walk down that isle at the store there is no point.
I couldn't fast and never really understood it the three times I went with out food for an extended period was before my c sections and I felt horrible and then ate like a horse. but other then that I have no impute on them as I dont know much about them.

[Brooklynn]

If you can still allow your self bread there are these things called flat outs they make a couple different kinds I know one is wheat. When I was just counting cals I used those to make pizza they are really good and work great for a crust. I only have the white ones at home because my kids like those but they are 140 cals 2g fat 24g carbs 3g fiber 8g protein. No trans fats. You can find your healthy topics and go from there to make a pizza. But as an Italian from a big fat Italian family I have to stay as far away from pizza as I can now. me and any Italian foods can no longer be friends. Which makes a family get together a pain!

[going2bskinny]

lol Italian food is the death of me too. I made a tortilla pizza out of some spinach flour tortillas I got from trader joes once it was really good I might make that again sometimes since I still have a lot of the wraps left in the freezer until they are gone at least I really like the portabella mushroom idea though because thats no carbs just wonder if it still tastes good I'll have to try it sometime. Thanks for the idea

Oh to lose my weight I lost so far I did fast a lot or just eat very little and last summer I worked out like 2 hours a day outside I was doing really good but lately I've been on my butt can't wait for it to warm up outside again I will do more exercise then again.

[shannonmb]

It sounds like maybe you have had a bump in the road lately because what you were doing to lose before wasn't necessarily sustainable. I don't know about everyone else, but I can lose weight doing just about anything really restrictive -- I have awesome willpower when I put my mind to it. But the problem is that at some point the willpower fades, then I'm left with not really knowing how to eat in a sustainable, balanced way, and I gain it all back *plus more*.

I have no opinion on the fasting (health-wise), but I will say that if you are not planning on fasting every weekend for the rest of your life, then why do it now? I have really come to view my way of eating now as practicing for maintenance. I may have to cut back a bit as I get closer to goal, but in general, the way I eat now will be the way I have to eat forever if I'm going to continue to lose, then keep the weight off. The greatest thing ever is that I have set myself up, through trial and error these last 10 months with an awesome diet that fully satisfies me.

The food you are talking about sounds good to me. I'm also one who has cut out most sugars and empty carbs, and that seems to keep the cravings at bay. But honestly, I think you could easily add a few hundred calories to your day and lose just as well if not better for the next at-least 80 lbs. Just think, eating plenty of calories of yummy, healthy food so you're never really hungry, and the scale just keeps moving on down. I'm not one to usually chime in on threads with "up your calories", but I definitely think you can afford to do it.

Use this time to really carve out a way of eating that you can sustain for a lifetime, and watch the pounds go down in the meantime.