Throughout every week I will usually be thinking about this blog and what I plan to write about. It usually helps me stay focused on my goals for my diet. This week I really didn’t have anything come to mind that struck me as a great topic to write about. Maybe that is because this diet is becoming so normal to me that new obstacles aren’t really coming up as much anymore. Obviously you know I haven’t been perfect this time around, and that could be part of it also. So I have a few different things to mention this week, no real theme though.
This diet works. I know a lot of people hate the term “diet” and think dieting is a waste, true change only comes with life change. Well, that is the point of this “diet” (short term). This short term diet, is meant to heal and train so your diet (long term) will also be affected. I’m not really proud of the fact that I cheated a bunch for the first half of this thing, but I do like the fact that I learned a few things from it. One, I know I can continue this diet and allow small amounts of sugar in without going overboard. I also found out, that I can maintain, even loose weight while eating this way which was also an encouragement. So it has worked in that fashion, in that Its trained me to have a new long term diet.
The short term, strict part of this diet really works too. Since getting back to strict, I’ve felt great again and have seen weight start to drop more consistently. I’ve heard from a lot of you doing this straight 60, and its really awesome to hear how you’re dropping weight and feeling great too.
The other thing I’ve thought about this week, is that the difficulties of this diet have been pretty much the same thing all the way through. Its other people, at least for me it is, and its usually people that are important to me. I mentioned my small group last week. This week it was my in-laws. It was great having them for the weekend, but it made it more difficult to stay our path. They were aware of our diet, and they would support us, its not like they were trying to get us to cheat. I think the issue is simply that they weren’t doing the diet too, so didn’t completely understand the things we’re cutting out. So, we did cheat on something, chicken noodle soup. My mother in law made us some delicious chicken noodle soup one of the days she was here. She kept the noodles separate for us because she knew we weren’t eating pasta. But, I’m assuming here, she had no idea we aren’t eating carrots either. It makes sense to me that she wouldn’t even think carrots would be excluded. So Amanda and I chose not to say anything and enjoy the sugar rush of the carrots in the chicken soup. The other people that tend to make this whole thing more difficult are my cute little kids. I’ve mentioned this before, we aren’t making them follow the diet like we are, although I will say it does trickle down to making their diets better. Anyway, my kids are so generous and they know my favorite candy is Reese’s, and they have been offering them to me left and right. Its hard to turn them down, but they are well aware of mommy and daddy’s diet, and they don’t get too upset that they get to keep it for themselves.
The last thing I’ll briefly mention, is how this diet changes the way I look at food. Pizza is one of my favorites, I enjoy making it, the dough and everything. It was a pretty regular item in my diet. I have no plans to avoid pizza. But, I can see it for what it is, a treat, to be enjoyed once in a while. It should have never been in my regular meal rotation. I’ve gained the ability to be patient. I’m looking forward to having some pizza from back home in Lockport over Christmas break but until then I’m content.
This week has been pretty good. As I mentioned above I got back to being pretty strict. I could tell the difference in the way I’ve felt and on the scale. I’m down to 202 lbs. now. I’m looking forward to the coming weeks and what’s ahead for me. Thanks for reading
-Dr. Mark