Apparently it has been since January since I did a WIAW post. Since I basically eat the same things daily other than the weekend, I guess I haven’t found much reason to participate.
A couple weeks ago, I decided to commit to a low carb diet. Actually I will first admit, I didn’t look up what a low carb diet meant in terms of how many carbs, but rather I did lower my carbs and actually track them. Brian gave me to the goal of trying to stay under 100g a day. I didn’t 100% commit to this, but tried to not go over 100g too much. Most of my carbs also came from veggies and fruit and since I didn’t weight things after the first two days, it has been estimates since then. I did however pay attention to adding more fats in my diet and getting at least 100g of protein a day. I was surprised that I didn’t have to make too many changes other than my breakfast. I love my oatmeal for breakfast, but oatmeal has a good amount of carbs, so I decided to experiment with making some breakfast burritos, which didn’t include eggs. I try to not consume too many eggs due to knowing my mom developed an egg allergy and I have already become lactose intolerant (or I assume I have) and my mom is also sensitive to dairy products.
I plan to eventually post a breakfast burrito recipe, but on this particular day (Saturday), I made banana protein pancakes. Of course, whenever I have a banana, my carbs for the day easily goes over 100g, but I believe bananas are good for you and have helped me to lessen muscle cramps.
I slept until 7am and then made the pancakes: 1 small banana, 1 egg, 1 egg white, ½ tsp of baking powder, a scoop of protein powder and a tablespoon of dairy free chocolate chips. I got the baking powder idea from a recipe I found online and I have found it helps to fluff up the pancakes a bit more. I used to do just 1 banana, 1 egg and scoop of protein powder. I find this recipe easy to make and contains a good amount of protein to keep you full for a while. [Note: I realize it contains eggs, but I find eating eggs one to two times a week is fine. I just don’t want to eat them everyday.]
After going to the grocery store, I came back and had some Spark and half of a Quest bar before the gym.
I dropped off my car and headed to the gym next door (so convenient so I don’t have to wait around for my car). After my swim, I ate the other half of my Quest bar and drank tons of water and picked up my car.
I got home and had a nice workout carrying my snow tires into the apartment and was sooo hungry. I didn’t really have anything prepared so I decided to make a quick steak and salad.
I was still a bit hungry after that, so I had a rice cake and peanut butter (forgot to take a picture because I pretty much inhaled it).
I snacked on some honey roasted almonds then I made dinner early since I was a bit hungry. I decided to make Katie’s creamy tomato pasta minus the spinach, but to keep it low carb, I used pasta zero noodles. I find them next to the tofu section in my grocery store. The sauce was sooo good and completely dairy free and higher on fat due to the nuts, but delicious.
After dinner I snacked on a piece of chocolate and a bit later decided to eat some kettle chips I had from Panera leftover. My carbs went a bit over 100 but overall my percentages were pretty good for the day.
Thoughts:
As I am in week 3 of this lifestyle (I don’t like the word diet), my body is adapting. I have been more mindful about when I am actually hungry. The first week and a half I had slight headaches some days. Sometimes I felt like I wasn’t eating enough, but I wasn’t really hungry either. I lost about 4 lbs in the first week and another pound and a half in the second. This is approximate though as I only weighted myself once a week at the gym. I am eating approximately 1600 calories a day. I do believe I am losing fat and since I am consistently working out, I see that I am also gaining muscle. I also feel much more energized, but I do believe the sunny days have helped my mood improve too.
I did this because I did feel like I was holding onto a few extra pounds, by no means do I think I am fat. I know I am in pretty good shape with how much I exercise, but I wanted to see more of a difference on a few areas of my body and I knew that that had to correlate with my diet more so than my workouts.
I don’t know if I will stick to this lifestyle or not but plan to go for at least another week. I miss my oatmeal in the mornings so I’m thinking of bringing that back after week 4 at least a few mornings a week (note: I ate a bowl of oatmeal sunday morning but stuck around 140g carbs).
My grocery bill did go up a bit which is due to the extra veggies and meat. I also started to order a monthly subscription of a box of Cookies and Crème Quest bars and a jar of my favorite cinnamon raisin peanut butter by Wild Friends (since Wegmans has been out) from Vitacost.com. Peanut butter is by far the best after dinner snack especially since it contains a good amount of fats. I sometimes add a sprinkle of chocolate chips or chia seeds with it as well.
It has been an interesting experiment and think about what food I am eating more. I find I do pretty well as long as I don’t go overboard on the carbs which is why I wanted to try this. It has also helped me to practice portion control and realize what a portion size looks like.
I forgot to take an actual before pic so we will use my picture from April 1st even though I didn’t start this until April 11. So this is my first week progress. I need to take some updated photos this week.
In summary, fat doesn’t make you fat. Also this article reading the section “What do you eat to stay in shape?” was an interesting read as well.
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