Thursday, September 18, 2008

Some changes

I started my new low carb eating plan in May of 2007. By October I had lost roughly 60 lbs. Since then it's been up and down never going below my lowest. I'd like to say I'm great at counting and recording all my meals and watching my counts like a hawk. I'd like to but then I'd be lying. I've cheated, gone completely out of control, and skimmed by. But even when I'm doing great. Keeping my carbs low, drinking all my water, avoiding diet cokes, seemingly everything I should be doing. I just can't break that number on the scale.

So, I've decided that since I'm not losing anyway, I'm going to make it easier on me. From now own I will cut my carb count down to between 10 and 20. BUT I'm no longer counting any carbs from non-starchy veggies. Yep your read that right, in my book veggies are now free foods. Of course I'll still not be eating potatoes or other starchy foods. But in my book they aren't veggies anyway, they are starches.

When I was a kid growing up, we had a protein source, a starch and a veggie at almost every dinner. Corn and potatoes did not count as vegetables. My mom called them starches, just like rice and pasta. So to me that's what they are, not vegetables at all, just merely starches.

My reasons for doing this are simple. 1) I'm lazy and this will mean less to count. 2) This will ensure that most of my carbs come from healthy nutritious non starchy veggies. 3) It just seem wrong to me to limit vegetables. I know some people say we could live without them, but what kind of life would it be with out cabbage, okra, salad greens and spinach? Not a life I want to live anyway.

So that's the way I'm going to play it from now on. With things like dairy, nuts and seed are anywhere from 1-4 net carbs per serving, or 1 serving of lavash bread being 4 net carbs. This new plan will make it impossible not to get the bulk of my carbs from veggies and that's a good thing right?

I'm so hoping this will work, but the only way I know to find out for sure is to put it into action. So far so good, but I only started yesterday.
Yesterday I had
Breakfast 1: Pork roast ( I know but I just wasn't hungry)
Snack: an ounce of roasted almonds (2)
Lunch: ChocoPerfection bar (2) and 1/2 ounce of walnuts (1) I've almost never eaten a whole bar at once before. But it was just what I wanted. Not the best lunch but it's what I had.
Dinner 2: A bowl of left over chili ( new system net carbs 2) with cheese ( 1) sour cream (1) and lettuce (0) lavash bread chips (4)
So I stayed down to 13 carb + veggies. The chili had squash in it, plus I had a good bit ( at least a cup) of romaine lettuce with it.
Not exactly what I was hoping I'd eat, but I know my carbs were low and I drank a ton of water and tea, no coke at all and even got my 30 minutes of strength training in.
This morning I started my day out with a bowl of cabbage and more pork roast... nummy nummy We'll have to see where I go from there, but if I can stick with my plans for the day, I should have more veggies, and better carb choices, at least that's what I have planned.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just found your low carb kitchen recipes... I'm drooling already!

Former Donut Junkie said...

I think change is good, especially on low-carb plateaus/stalls. I'm all for the 'no counting' thing. I pretty much know carb counts and kinda keep a running total in my head for the day, not overdoing the details. I shoot for 5-10 carbs/day myself, but that's not for everyone. I'm doing better on VLC [Very Low Carb].

Vikki said...

Sadakat,
Thank you so much. I hope you find a few you and your family can enjoy. I'm always trying something new, if it works I post it, the failures just head straight to the trash...giggle
Have a wonderful weekend, and visit when you can.
Vikki

Vikki said...

Ron, your right about change. If nothing else, starting something new has me all energized and excited about it again. And so far it really is working for me. It's only been a couple of days, but it does have me journaling again which is really the only way I can make it work.
The problem for me with keeping a running track, is after a while, I get lazy and the carb creep starts. This way, with me journaling, I should be able to see any carb creep immediately.
I'm just one of those people that really needs to stay right on top of it all the time.
I have to give you kudos for staying that low, I couldn't do it. I do real well at between 30 and 50. Which is just where I figure this new way of counting will keep me.

Former Donut Junkie said...

Well, Vikki we all have to do what works for us. I hate the 'cookie cutter' approach that some folks try to enforce upon the rest of the diet world. You know, those folks who think someone died and left them to be 'king of it all'.

I've personally never done journaling but I can certainly see how it would be very beneficial. I guess I haven't done it because my food list is for the most part pretty short and repetitive right now, and that is totally by my choice. I may blog about that concept sometime.