Weighing In

I’ve been asked a few times lately how the 17 Day Diet is going. Well, I was really good at sticking to Cycle 1, and I did lose some weight rather quickly. Then Cycle 2 allowed me to have carbs on alternating days. Not a good idea since I’m definitely a carb addict, but it did confuse the body enough to allow me to lose a few more pounds. However, I never did get into the swing of the menu plan for the second cycle and was off the diet as often as I was on it.

There were lots of meals out, and they were special celebrations, so, no I wasn’t eating salads with a vinaigrette dressing on those occasions. I had a special birthday, quickly followed by Mother’s Day. Then I had 3 really great Red Hat functions to attend. The menus for those had already been decided on, before I started this diet, so I just tried to be good the rest of the week, when those events came along.

I don’t think you can say I’m actually on the diet anymore, but I learned a few things along the way. I don’t eat as much bread or potatoes or pasta as I used to. At least not on a daily basis.

I’m down a total of 12 pounds and two holes on my belt, so I have to say, I still think this was a worth while experiment. I have not gained back any of what I’ve lost, even though I was at a Pizza Party this week, on the same day I had another big meal including apple strudel for dessert at the Red Hat Queen’s Council Luncheon. I’d definitely recommend the 17 Day Diet to anyone who wants to kick start a weight loss program.

Perhaps a Slight Change of Plans

As of Saturday I have been on the 17 Day Diet for a week now, and I’ve lost 7 pounds so far. My hubby is not on the diet, but he has lost 10 pounds in the same time frame. He’s eating what I’m eating, plus the usual carbs in his oatmeal at breakfast, sandwich at lunch time and potatoes or rice at supper. But since I’m trying to lose weight, he thought he’d try too, and he’s cut back on cheese, desserts, and cereal at bedtime. I said cut back, not eliminated, and yet he’s lost 10 pounds. I don’t quite understand this.

I know why I’m losing weight. Carbohydrates create energy. The body needs this energy to function. When people eat less carbohydrates, their bodies turn to fat for energy. It doesn’t matter if it gets the fat from something you just ate, or the fat around your middle. If you didn’t eat any fat, then your body starts using what you’ve stored and you lose weight. That accounts for my weight loss. If I could figure out what accounts for his, I’d include some of the extras I see him eat.

Actually, on Sunday we had to go somewhere and ended up eating at Wendy’s. I chose a salad that came with chicken, while he had our usual chili with his side salad. The pecans that came with my salad came in a bag, and while I tasted them (they were sugar coated!) I didn’t put them on my salad. For dinner we had a chicken stir fry. I was supposed to just put garlic and ginger and soya sauce on that, but I made our usual sauce, which contains, amoung other things, cornstarch and brown sugar. I even got into the rice a bit. Hey, I’ve been good all week and 7 pounds in one week sounds wonderful, but seems like an unhealthy drop to me. Well, sure enough, my weight is up a couple of pounds this morning.

I’m also a bit dizzy, so I think I’m going to have a carb included day today, and eat the rest of the stir fry for lunch. I love seeing those numbers on the scale go down, but it won’t do me any good if I’m not healthy when I’m finished. Checking things out on the web, I find that low carb diets are good for lowering blood pressure. That’s the last thing I need, as mine is considered low to start with. It would likely explain the dizziness though.

I’ve enjoyed my meals on this plan though, so perhaps what I’ll do is skip ahead to the next 17 day cycle, as various carbs are included in that one. It’s still a weight loss plan, just not so accelerated as the first 17 day cycle is. I’m not giving up, just modifying the plan to suit my own body.