Oh Cookies, How I Miss Thee

     Before I begin my explaining my diet routine, a quick update on my supplement progress. I’ve noticed half an hour after taking the CLA I get really hot, I’m guessing due to the fact the pill is supposed to raise your core body temperature in order to burn more stored fat. I’ve also regained 4 lbs. but I’m contributing that to water weight and/or hopefully muscle. I’ve also discovered that the NoXplode stuff is great for hangovers! Who would have thought… oh and another interesting thing I did was put all of my daily pills into the 28 day multipacks we use at work and distribute to our patients in the direct services department.

 Isn’t it pretty?

           

  

            Onto the diet regiment I keep getting asked about. I found it easiest to use a system as a basis for the rest of the diet, that way you can tinker and tweak it until it fits your needs. Here are some tools to help out with that. 

Cardinal Rules – There are a few vital rules I set for myself in order to make this diet successful. Those rules are as follows:

• The 7:00 Rule – Eat nothing past 7:00 p.m., only water. This is a pain in the ass to initially get used to but it really helps in the long run with regulating eating habits and weight loss overall.

• The Scale – Personally I have a scale I weigh myself on every morning and write it down in a log book. This helps me with realizing whether or not I am eating correctly or not. Plus it feels kind of badass when you lose 5 lbs. in a week and manage to keep it off and you have it all written down.
  Disclaimer: You don’t HAVE to do this and from what I’ve read this is also one of the first steps to causing a fear of food and eventually anorexia, so be careful. Usually it is suggested to only weigh yourself once a week, but I’ve found that didn’t work for me. 
• Potato Switch – I am part Irish and as such, I love my potatoes, specifically French fries. It’s much easier (and healthy) to eat a few potato chips instead of French fries, and it helps curb the craving (that plus depending on how much you cut back on your grease intake the fries start to really mess with your stomach).
• The Cheat Day – My favorite and most important part of my diet plan: my cheat day. You can only gain so much weight and one day, plus it keeps your metabolism from slowing down while on your diet routine throughout the week. I always have mine on Saturdays since I can actually splurge at good restaurants and then kind of half ass diet on Sunday (which usually consists of sushi and fruit salad).

MyFitnessPal - By far the biggest help throughout this entire process (sadly) has been an app on my phone called myfitnesspal. The best way to describe the app is it is a food journal that counts calories and can pretty much find any food from a restaurant or store. It can even scan bar codes for nutrient facts. It also lets you put your weight in and charts your progress, readjusting your allowed calories and workout goals as you progress. Oh, and it is free, becauseI’m cheap and believe you should be able to achieve this with only a gym membership, at maximum.

My Basis – Here’s my food regiment that I stick to pretty religiously Monday through Friday. It has worked phenomenally thus far. 

Meal	Calories	Total Calories
Breakfast		(514)
-3 Eggs	210	210
-2 Pieces of buttered Wheat bread	120	330
-1 slice of turkey	34	364
-1 glass of sweet tea	70	434
-Wild Nova Sliced Smoke Salmon (3 oz.)	80	514
Lunch		(245)
-1 banana	75	589
-1 Danon Light & Fit Yogurt	80	669
-1 Granola Bar	90	759
Dinner		(273)
-3 Pieces of Turkey	93	852
-4 oz. Cottage Cheese	180	1,032
Treadmill 45 minutes	-650

     

     Granted you need to eat at least 1200 calories or your body goes into starvation mode and your metabolism slows down, but having the flexibility of 200 calories allows me to not feel too bad when someone at works brings in cookies and I eat one. The Cottage Cheese is one of the newest additions to my diet due solely to a protein produced in it called Casein. “The protein reduces catabolism, a process in which your body breaks down muscle tissue instead of fat, while you sleep. Retain more muscle and your metabolism will speed up over time, causing you to wake up leaner than when you hit the pillow.”

     I’m sure I forgot to mention something so when I remember it halfway through next week I’ll make sure to mention it.

Until next time, kids.

Will

\m/