My husband Richard and I began the 6 Week Body Makeover 3 days ago. Overall, I think we're both doing pretty well on it. Not much noticeable change at this point, but like I said....we're only in the middle of day 3.
Saturday was sort of hard, because I felt lightheaded, dizzy, shaky and weak for nearly the entire day. Keeping track of my meals on www.livestrong.com/myplate I realized that I consumed close to only ONE-THIRD of my usual calories. I found that so hard to believe. I mean, you eat 5-6 times a day on this diet! Then yesterday, I felt better on the plan. I had to resort to eating some Craisins because we were late for our lunch and my blood sugar was low, but that didn't screw me up too badly and I still averaged out much lower than usual. I also hit my goal of drinking over 100 ounces of water yesterday.
Today is sort of a mixed bag. I woke up with a headache, and in my experience, unless I take something for it relatively soon, it gets worse. It doesn't just go away on its own. I'm really hesitating on reaching for the Excedrin, though, because I really want this diet to help me out with the headaches. Besides.... I don't really even know what is in the Excedrin.
There's a line in the 6WBMO Book that says something like, "Eating a meal that someone else has prepared is like handing over your checkbook to someone else." There is no control. I don't know what they put in it, or how much. That made me really think about things. I love to eat out, especially when we're celebrating something. But that book is right. At least when I was cooking, albeit it very unhealthily, I knew what was in it.
Something good about this diet: It eliminates added salt/sodium. I didn't believe it would happen, especially by the second day, but I really have noticed the natural flavors of the foods I'm eating...and I'm enjoying them! I had a potato with lunch yesterday and I didn't miss the butter, sour cream, cheese, or salt....it was really good on its own! The spaghetti squash we had with dinner was wonderful and again, I didn't miss the butter or salt. I know this isn't going to work with every food, especially since I'm one of those whose snacks were nearly always on the salty side. However, I do see a change in myself. And I like it. I also appreciate the complete lack of dairy, since even though I am allergic to milk and lactose intolerant, I always ate it anyway and paid the price later. My stomach is happy today.
This diet requires a lot of time in the kitchen, especially if there's more than one person on it. It's sort of a pain to plan around all the meals/snacks (you eat like every 2.5 to 3 hours). Also, the measurements are confusing at first, at least for me. But so far....I think this is something that Richard and I can sustain and make it through. It's a huge help to me that he's doing it with me, and I appreciate that.
I know that we're always going to be the type of people that love food. That's just how it's always been, and how it will probably always be. But there's no reason why we can't be healthy and love food too....and have that food that we used to love *all* the time....that didn't love us back...be a very occasional treat.
I'm excited about this experience, even as I'm hesitant to get my hopes up. But even just realizing that I need to be a whole lot more conscious about what goes in my body is a big step. Buying things approved for this diet (read: No Salt Added) is sort of difficult. Everything contains so much more salt than you probably realized. It's going to take a lot of work to reach our goals. But you know what? I think we're finally ready. And we're just going to have to take it one day at a time.
Saturday was sort of hard, because I felt lightheaded, dizzy, shaky and weak for nearly the entire day. Keeping track of my meals on www.livestrong.com/myplate I realized that I consumed close to only ONE-THIRD of my usual calories. I found that so hard to believe. I mean, you eat 5-6 times a day on this diet! Then yesterday, I felt better on the plan. I had to resort to eating some Craisins because we were late for our lunch and my blood sugar was low, but that didn't screw me up too badly and I still averaged out much lower than usual. I also hit my goal of drinking over 100 ounces of water yesterday.
Today is sort of a mixed bag. I woke up with a headache, and in my experience, unless I take something for it relatively soon, it gets worse. It doesn't just go away on its own. I'm really hesitating on reaching for the Excedrin, though, because I really want this diet to help me out with the headaches. Besides.... I don't really even know what is in the Excedrin.
There's a line in the 6WBMO Book that says something like, "Eating a meal that someone else has prepared is like handing over your checkbook to someone else." There is no control. I don't know what they put in it, or how much. That made me really think about things. I love to eat out, especially when we're celebrating something. But that book is right. At least when I was cooking, albeit it very unhealthily, I knew what was in it.
Something good about this diet: It eliminates added salt/sodium. I didn't believe it would happen, especially by the second day, but I really have noticed the natural flavors of the foods I'm eating...and I'm enjoying them! I had a potato with lunch yesterday and I didn't miss the butter, sour cream, cheese, or salt....it was really good on its own! The spaghetti squash we had with dinner was wonderful and again, I didn't miss the butter or salt. I know this isn't going to work with every food, especially since I'm one of those whose snacks were nearly always on the salty side. However, I do see a change in myself. And I like it. I also appreciate the complete lack of dairy, since even though I am allergic to milk and lactose intolerant, I always ate it anyway and paid the price later. My stomach is happy today.
This diet requires a lot of time in the kitchen, especially if there's more than one person on it. It's sort of a pain to plan around all the meals/snacks (you eat like every 2.5 to 3 hours). Also, the measurements are confusing at first, at least for me. But so far....I think this is something that Richard and I can sustain and make it through. It's a huge help to me that he's doing it with me, and I appreciate that.
I know that we're always going to be the type of people that love food. That's just how it's always been, and how it will probably always be. But there's no reason why we can't be healthy and love food too....and have that food that we used to love *all* the time....that didn't love us back...be a very occasional treat.
I'm excited about this experience, even as I'm hesitant to get my hopes up. But even just realizing that I need to be a whole lot more conscious about what goes in my body is a big step. Buying things approved for this diet (read: No Salt Added) is sort of difficult. Everything contains so much more salt than you probably realized. It's going to take a lot of work to reach our goals. But you know what? I think we're finally ready. And we're just going to have to take it one day at a time.
1 comment:
Yay! Good work on day 3! I know you'll do it! Keep it up!
I think the main thing in Excedrine is the caffeine (although I know there's other stuff.) But I used to take excedrine at least once a day for headaches and stopped because I was afraid I'd get a caffeine addiction and make the headaches worse. I've realized my main problem: not enough water. Since drinking more water it has really helped the headaches. I hope that yours go away soon- maybe it is just your body is getting used to the sudden change and will get better with time.
Also, I love your header picture! You guys are so cute!
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