It's Done!

So I have decided not to complete the 30 day no-grains experiment. I am ending it today at 28 days. I have already completely decided that I am going to eat grains, like I have for the first part of this year. I feel the need to return to what has worked. I will measure, count calories, watch percentages, and have high calorie days and low calorie days. And free meals. But still eat clean! 90/10%. This has worked for me successfully for 3 months, so I will return to that method. Once again, the fringe has called me but has failed to make me stay. I was originally going to stick with these 30 days for principle, but why? Just so I can say I made it 30 days? Who cares? I don't! It's my diet dammit! My main purpose was to see if no-grains would work for me. It hasn't. I am going crazy with cravings. I have eaten candy for the past 3 days because I am craving carbs so much. So I will splurge for the next two days, and then settle back down to start my regular diet plan on Monday, May 3rd. Back to what I have done successfully. I think I will still try to a 24 hour fast once or twice a week for a couple weeks just to see how that goes. Maybe do some carb cycling. But nothing too drastic. Slow and steady baby! I will remain with my 5X5 until I hit 10 weeks, then take a recovery week and do something else. All in all, I'm excited about eating grains again! At work I made a list of all the stuff I want to eat! It was fun! I will continue blogging on a regular basis, because it helps me maintain perspective on my diet. I might start including other topics too. We will see! Man, I can't wait until tomorrow! I'm already hungry!

Day Off

Forgot to post yesterday. Decided I was going to post at night, and then forgot...Oh well. Nearly every day is fine. Wasn't too hungry yesterday, but I did have a Snickers bar at work. Bad ingredients, including partially hydrogenated, but still as tasty as ever! An occasional treat is not terrible. But daily is not occasional. I need to bring more food to work for the evening snack. Going from 3 to 9 without eating much is difficult. I want to try the 24 hour fast, but will not try it until this month is over. I am going to try it on my days off, so I'm not hurting at work.

My measurements today were not bad. A slight decrease in weight, and no change in BF. Fine with me. I am going to try to keep on losing BF for 6 months, and then maybe try to bulk up. We'll see. For now, I am just looking forward to pizza.

Finished my Pollan book. One guideline is to stop shopping at grocery stores! He says to use farmer's markets and CSAs. That is just not practical for me. I think I will check out some farmer markets, but the majority of my shopping will be done at Publix and New Leaf. My budget just doesn't allow for a lot more money going to food. I suppose I could reduce out-food, but that is a form of entertainment. I am just going to try to buy more produce and slowly work toward choosing higher quality food. It will take work, but if I work at it a little at a time, I can figure out how to buy quality within my budget. I just have to not stress about it. Pollan has good ideas, and I will listen to his advice. I just need to take it slow. For now, no grains. Next month, another focus.

Daybreak

I am done measuring, recording, and planning my food. I have completely stopped writing in my food log and planning/entering my food in FitDay. I am not eating ad libitum, but I am not worrying about calories or balancing macros. I am just making sure I get plenty of protein, and my daily servings of vegetables. I am eating more fruit, and am happy to have returned to my beloved bananas. That's the thing: I am getting back to eating the foods I LIKE TO EAT. It's a move toward more sensible, healthy eating practices. I have just started the part in Pollan's book where he lays out his algorithms for eating. I am planning on giving them a try, to see how they work out. For now, I am just going to not eat grains for the rest of the month, which is only 7 days away but still a daily struggle. This last week is the hardest of the whole month. But that's it. Just no grains, nothing else. No fasting, no calorie counting, no carb watch, no macro count. Just no grains. I will make it 30 days, and then I will eat grains. And boy will they taste good! I just hope it doesn't tear me up too much. I had a Hershey bar this evening at work. It was pure heaven going in. WAY better than dark chocolate. But, it made me a little ill for a very short time. Totally worth it. I think in moderation stuff like that will be okay. So, this is the first post with no food log. Thank God! What a relief. It is like freedom from captivity. And so a new day dawns on this blog; a day of old, natural eating. Welcome.

Changes In Attitude

Nice day off yesterday. I tried to not worry too much about what I ate, and it went well. I'm becoming less and less interested in keeping up with food journaling. Part of me wants to keep it going until the end of this month, and part of me just wants to chuck it and start eating more naturally. I'm thinking about using FitDay as a occasional tool to make sure my calories aren't way off my estimations. I'm also thinking about using the 1-2 day 24-hour fast plan IF as the means for weekly calorie deficit. I'll come up with a plan for that sometime today.
So I will food journal for the rest of this month, just to stay consistent with my experiment. I am dropping the macros and rounding the cals. When this is over, I am taking a break from food journaling. I still want to blog daily, tho. I am getting in the habit and it's healthy.

Food Log Day 22:

Coffee (Black, ~10 cups)
1oz Organic Valley Raw Jack Cheese
1/4c Strawberries
3 Whole Scrambled Eggs
1tbsp Organic Butter
1scp Protein Powder
1c Publix FF Milk
2 servings Raw Spinach
Chunked Tomato
2tbsp Newman's Own Parmesan Garlic
1 Serving Organic Dark Chocolate 85%
20pc Wing Stop Wings Hot
Multi, VitC, Fish Oil

~2500 Cals

Pain

Yesterday I was hurting. Not sure if it was no grains, low carb, or the daily fasting, but I was freaking out mentally. And I was hungry. So I broke down and got a machine cappuccino from the cafeteria, and then later broke my fast with a bag of vending machine peanuts. The cappuccino was stupid sweet, but I still finished all 16oz of it. I won't get that again. I'm too used to unsweetened drinks. The peanuts made me feel better, while the cappuccino made me feel physically bad (from all the sugar I'm sure). I'm going to go off of daily fasting. It's becoming too difficult. I still am fascinated with fasting, but I think I may try EatStopEat, which is 1-2 day a week of 24-hour fasting. I will still workout this morning on an empty stomach. That seems to be working.

That what I need to always do. Stick with what works, and drop what doesn't.

Reading Pollan really makes me think. I really like his perspective on food and eating. I would love to not worry about calories, macros, and nutrients, and just enjoy my food and still be super healthy and fit. Why is that such a difficult task? I am really going to try to see if I can achieve that.
I will continue with this 30 day no-grains. I want to quit, but I can make it through to the finish. It will not kill me, and then I can definitively make a decision based upon a whole month. One thing I will stop doing is hand-writing my food log. I will continue with FitDay for the rest of the month, and then take a break from all the measuring and recording, at least for a bit. Just to take a break. Ah, my diet is a constant evolution this year!

Food Log Day 21:

Coffee (Black, ~10 cups)
2oz Organic Valley Raw Jack Cheese
1oz Raw Almonds
1.5oz Beef Jerky
1/4c Strawberries
3 Whole Scrambled Eggs
1tbsp Organic Butter
1 Bag Bird's Eye Broccoli Florets
1scp Protein Powder
15oz Rotisserie Lemon Pepper Chicken
16oz Machine Cappuccino
1 Package Frito-Lay Salted Peanuts
Multi, VitC, Fish Oil

2600 Cals: 94g Carbs, 214g Protein, 149g Fat

By The 3rd Week It Gets Difficult

Forgot to blog last night. Still getting used to my new schedule and figuring out my morning routine on workout days. Been reading "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan and it's giving me serious pause about my diligent food recording and measuring. I'm going to stay the course for this 30 days, but will definitely reevaluate in May. I should start to plan it out so that I don't postpone results for too long. I really want pizza after these 30 days tho.
Fasting was a bit hard last night. I didn't have evening coffee to help, so I got some bad bouts of cravings. Succeeded in my fast still. I really believe I am losing BF, so I will stick this out for a little while longer. Since I forgot to post yesterday, here are two days of food logs. You know, it sounds nice not to constantly track what I eat. There must be a middle ground between ad libitum and fitday. Maybe that will be my goal: To find that path.

Food Log Day 19:

Coffee (Black, ~10 cups)
1c Strawberries
3 Whole Fried Eggs
4 Strips Oscar Meyer Natural Bacon
1tbsp Organic Butter
1 Bag Organic Beef Jerky
5 Slices Hormel XL Pepperoni
1 Package Publix Flank Steak Mozzarella Spinach Pinwheels
La Fiesta: Texas Fajitas(Chicken, Beef, Red/Green Peppers, Onions, Tomatoes) Guacamole, Cheese, Pico De Gallo, Unsweet Tea
4oz Hagen Daz Vanilla Ice Cream (awesome!)
1 Serving Organic Dark Chocolate 85%
Multi, VitC, Fish Oil


Cals: ~2500

That may be a little of an underestimate on the cals. Oh well.


Food Log Day 20:

Coffee (Black, ~8 cups)
2oz Organic Valley Raw Jack Cheese
1oz Raw Almonds
1oz Beef Jerky
1/4c Strawberries
3 Whole Scrambled Eggs
1tbsp Organic Butter
1 Bag Bird's Eye Brussel Sprouts
1 Large Red Delicious Apple
8oz Shrimp
1scp Protein Powder
6oz Rotisserie Lemon Pepper Chicken
Multi, VitC, Fish Oil

1900 Cals: 90g Carbs, 168g Protein, 89g Fat

Ahh....Sunday Off

Off today after working a long week. Had to work three 8-hour days, then two 10-hour days. Throw in some serious sleep dep, and I'm very happy about being off! Granted, I have to work tomorrow and Tuesday, but I'm on my new schedule now and I am glad! And better rested. IF seems to be working. My weigh-in was almost 3 lbs lower than last week, and my BF is decreasing too. Still think I'm underestimating my BF%, but oh well. I'm within 2% at least. This 7a-3p leangains plan is pretty easy to follow. I'm going to try to keep with it as long as it's working.

Food Log Day 18:

Coffee (Black, ~10 cups)
2oz Organic Valley Raw Cheddar Cheese
1oz Raw Almonds
1oz Beef Jerky
~1/2c Berries
3 Whole Scrambled Eggs
2tbsp Organic Butter
1 Bag Bird's Eye Broccoli Cauliflower Carrots
8oz Shrimp
1scp Protein Powder
9oz Rotisserie Lemon Pepper Chicken
Multi, VitC, Fish Oil

1900 Cals: 44g Carbs, 182g Protein, 102g Fat