March 13, 2013 | Breakfast, Informational
I woke up after two weeks of trying to watch what I eat in order to shed some excess weight and found myself right back where I started two weeks ago. Despite this gorgeous sunrise that should have been inspirational, I felt deflated. I’m not an obese person, just a short person who struggles with keeping those extra 5 to 10 pounds off. It’s enough weight to make me feel uncomfortable and to make my clothes feel snug. And the last thing I want to do this spring is begin my month long adventure in Italy and Ireland carrying around that extra weight. I expressed my frustration on Facebook, and a friend (my old trainer from bootcamp classes) suggested I try something called carb cycling. Well call me enlightened.
It seems I have had some major flaws in my so called “healthy eating” plan:
- I try to cut out all carbs (only to binge because I’m craving them).
- I eat far too few calories early in the day, and by evening I’m ravenous (causing me to binge in the evening).
- I eat too many of my day’s calories too close to bedtime.
- I count calories (a good thing), but try to bargain by swapping food calories in order to allow some wine calories (a bad thing).
- I eat too much animal protein – it’s high in calories so a small amount consumes much of your calorie budget for the day.
- I don’t eat enough vegetables.
- I don’t drink enough water.
So I bought an e-book about changing your metabolism to lose weight through a healthy eating plan called carb cycling. My first reaction was that is seemed like a huge amount of food to eat in a day. But when I plugged it into a calorie counter (I use myfooddiary.com) it turns out that it was about the same calories than I was already eating. Just no wine calories, which allows for a lot more food, and healthier more fulfilling calories. The concept is that you have alternate days that are very low to no carbs with days that are moderate carbs (they call them high carbs, but I find it better to think in moderation). Sunday is a cheat day – thankfully, as my husband and I love to go to brunch on Sundays with friends.
You need to choose foods wisely (not a big surprise) which means lean proteins, healthy fats in moderation, high fiber complex carbs, no sugars. For me, this is more about getting back to eating healthy than dieting – I’m just hoping I shed a few pounds in the process. For my first meal today (I forgot to mention, you eat 5 small meals a day instead of 2-3 larger ones) I had some oatmeal and yogurt. When I tour students through the grocery store for my Cooking Matters classes, I always point out how the flavored yogurts have so much garbage added to them often. So here’s my new easy, delicious, fast yogurt recipe for mornings. If anyone wants to join me on this carb cycling journey just send me a note!
- ⅓ cup fresh or frozen raspberries (no sugar added)
- 6 ounces nonfat Greek Yogurt
- sweetener of your choice (I used Stevia)
- Mash the raspberries in a small bowl, then stir in the yogurt and sweeten to taste with sweetener of your choice. If desired, top with a small amount of all bran cereal for crunch.
I am not sure where you are getting your info, but good topic. I need to spend some time learning much more or understanding more. Thanks for fantastic information I was looking for this information for my mission.
I want to follow you in your carb cycling “adventure”.
How do I sign up?
P.S. – love your site!
WHAT? No wine carbs? I’m with you on everything else
Terry, I’ve tried the wine carbs and that’s been part of my problem! But since you can have either one cheat day a week or three cheat meals a week, I’ll have my wine at the cheat meals.
That sounds delish, i am, too, shocked what companies put into fruit joghurt..
Where can i finde the carb cycling ebook, which plan are you using? thanks for an info
Claudia, I’m using the book Choose to Lose by Chris Powell – I bought it as an e-book from Barnes & Noble.