Battling the bulge

Ok, today i need my blog, more than it needs me. I know i have neglected it for the longest time, but now i need its help.Wondering how, well i need to loose weight, you ask whats new? , well i have started on a diet and want to be accountable to someone...and after a lot of thinking, i figured i can be accountable to all those who visit me blog( not that that's a great number!!) but in any case, the thought that someone is reading my achievements might give me that extra push to get leaner.

Down to business, i started on the south beach diet on Sunday( binged on biryani on Saturday!!!) , its a three phase diet, phase 1 apparently the hardest, no fruits and no cereals and grains, must include lots of protein. when i first read, i said to myself, how hard can this be...and there is a long list of vegetables allowed and to be avoided and what fruits allowed in what phase, the book has a pretty exhaustive list i must say, and with every revised edition, some modifications are made, earlier dairy was not included in phase 1, now 2-3 cups per day of low-fat and fat free daily is allowed.

To begin with, i must say, i am a very conscious eater, i don't eat a lot of junk food, away from the aerated drinks, try to eat well, but for more than a week i entered my meals in sparkspeople.com and realized i was eating very less protein and most of my meals were filled with carbs, though good. i don't eat white bread, always whole wheat or multigrain, i eat rice 2-3 times a week, eat quinoa,broken wheat. But the problem was the amount of protein was far less than it should be.

And the exercise part, you may ask, well i go to pilates class once a week, and try to do leslie sansone walking atleast 2-3 times a week, but with little one at home, its hard to get the exercise. I know i need to be little more disciplined if i were to loose weight,

I am hoping, getting on this diet will jumpstart my weightloss.

Before i proceed, i must set my goals, so at the end i know if i met them.Recommended BMI range is 19-25 and i am 28.3, so technically i am overweight. And my ideal weight must be within 104-137. I know 104 is un-realistic for me, 137 is on the border , so i am aiming at 125 pounds

My current weight - 155
Goal weight - 125
Total Weight loss - 30 pounds

Apart from tracking weight loss, i intend to track inches lost, i will do that on sparkspeople and will post it when i reach my target weight.

As per the book, most people loose from 8-13 pounds in the phase 1. I am not going to weight myself until the end of phase 1.Actually i have about 3 luncheons/dinners to attend in these 2 weeks, so will add a couple of days more and weigh myself on Oct 12 2010.And plan to start phase 2 on Oct 13 2010.

South beach phase 1 - Week 1

Day 1 , Sep 25, 2011 - Sunday..ate eggs for breakfast, chicken for lunch, snacked on almonds and towards the end of the day, not having rice was getting to me. I was offered chips, pop corn, i ate one of each(couldn't resist, had to taste them) . Snacked on roasted almonds. I had actually baked 3 chicken breasts previous night and freezed them. so on days when i too tired or busy to make lunch/dinner, i have my protein. Overall was not so bad yesterday, but i found myself, checking the book every time i had to eat something.
Good - pretty much ate according to the diet.
Bad - did not have salad. This diet recommends lots of raw veggies, as they need to burn more calories to be digested and hence you loose weight quicker.

Day 2 , Sep 26 2011 - Monday morning, woke up with really bad ear ache, must be the cold air i was in the previous night. Decided to take sick day and rest, i couldnt have concentrated on way anyways if i went to office. ate, omlette with one whole egg and a egg white, added some roasted veggies....i was hungry in about 2 hrs, i wondererd it was filling breakfast, how can i be hungry. snacked on roasted almonds...was feeling dizzy, couldnt get off the couch, not sure, if it was my ear ache or the lack of carbs that i was feeling dizzy, for a fleeting second i wanted to abandon this diet, i took a deep breath and said, it was for my good health, i had to stick to it, only the first 2 weeks are hard, then it'll get better. Had unsweetened black tea...then about 4pm, had another cup of tea, this time decided to add sugar. i know i am not supposed add sugar , but could use sugar free, but i dont beleive in them. I'd rather not dump chemicals in my body in the name of sugar free. Had salad for dinner.
Good - included raw veggies
Bad - 2 tsp sugar

Day 3 , Sep 27 2011 - Tuesday. Feeling better, my ear ache is gone.Dint have time to make breakfast, darn i should have planned last night. i am gonna make some breakfast options i can freeze. after coming to work, ate some chickpeas and fat free cheddar cheese slice. was very filling, dint feel like having my mid morning snack...lunch i had brought some tomato juice,chickpeas, roasted veggies and baked chicken. i was surprised i couldn't finish the lunch. other days, i could have finished it in a jiffy. Mid afternoon had cup of fat free buttermilk and dinner was baked fish and baked vegetables. i have to make sure, every meal has some protein in it. that's the idea behind this diet.
Good - included raw veggies, no sugar in my tea
Bad - ate late breakfast

Day 4, Sep 28 2011 - Wednesday .Woke up feeling a little hungry....don't know if i hadn't had enough dinner last night. Ate peanuts first thing in the morning and had one whole boiled egg and an egg white. today was a busy day at work. my lunch was interrupted by a meeting. ate celery sticks with fat free yogurt dip and the leftover from last night. Almonds for mid afternoon snack.Dinner, its veggie soup with some shrimp. I had a big bowl of soup and an hour later, i was feeling hungry, had another medium bowl of soup.Oh, forgot to mention had regular coffee,mid morning and added sugar free...darn i was too afraid having regular sugar will blow my diet.Feeling little low on energy. I wonder if i am not eating as much as i should.I am not hungry, but just not very energetic.
Good - Did not have the sugar
Bad - not enough veggies. Feel low on energy

Day 5, Sep 29 2011 - Thursday. Today is a vegetarian day and had to plan ahead to make sure, i have my bases covered, don't want hunger to prompt me to eat whatever is available. Ate celery sticks and cucumber dipped in fat free greek yogurt with a dash of chat masala...actually i love chat masala, for me it makes any food edible.Had mid morning coffee, added one pack sugar free and one pack brown sugar ...for snack, i had forgot to replenish my almonds stock in office,so had only 4 almonds left :( . Lunch salad and tofu . mid afternoon snack, small cup of cooked lentils with some 1% cottage cheese added.For dinner, tofu again. added some cucumber ,raw onion , lemon juice and chat masala, so it basically became tofu chat. and a glass of very diluted buttermilk..(remember i cant exceed 2-3 cups daily intake restriction)
Good - Woke up feeling light
Bad - still am having sugar...

I couldn't resist getting on the weighing machine...have lost 3lbs...it has given me encouragement to continue and stick to the foods this diet recommends.

Day 6, Sep 30 2011 - Friday Had leftover tofu for breakfast, D flatly declined to even taste it, he said he would have nothing of it. So i had to finish it. I forgot to bring my almonds, so had to skip the mid mornign snack and did not have my coffee either, for lunch, ihad chicken breast and salad at office cafeteria, ate salad withou the dressing.Made pesarattu for dinner. beans are allowed so mungs are ok, but the challenge was i am allowed on 1 tbsp of oil in a day and it will only last for one pesarattu. so i alternated my pesarattu and D's, on his i put little oil and mine none, the oil on the tawa was enough to cook it without getting stuck.{no, i dont have non-stick, i threw away all my non stick pots and pans 2 yrs ago, i have iron tawa} To go with it, i had made some ginger chutney.
Little A had some pesarattu too and D dint complain either..
Good - still on track
Bad - missing my snacks and still have not given up sugar 100%

Day 7, Oct 1 2011 - Saturday, come weekends, all the routine is gone. woke up late. had pesarattu for breakfast and tea made from 0.1% milk. had about 3/4 tsp sugar...am still not able to part with sugar. Weekends means going out, grocery shopping. laundry, playing with A, tolerating D...in all this meal planning gets pushed in the back. For lunch, i had some chickpeas and some frozen baked chicken i made earlier in the week. Had almonds for snack and for dinner..ah..well ..did not have dinner..it was too late by the time we came home and i dint have the energy to make any dinner and the thought of eating salad at the late hour dint look appetizing.
Good - dint get tempted when we went out.Was feeling tired, before going out, but i felt a surge of energy later, maybe fresh air did the trick.
Bad - missed dinner.

Day 8 , Oct 2 2011 - Sunday. Today is the party day. Breakfast had some chickpeas and veggie omlet, D made coffee, he forgot to use my 0.1% milk and used 2% instead and instead of 3/4 tbsp sugar, he put 2tbsp...well i dint complain..just had my coffee..Lunch was at a party, ate rice and sweet both. gave my dessert and ice cream to D. Came home, had ripe bananas dint want to throw them out, so made whole wheat banana and blue berry muffins for A and D and made healthy quiche, lots of veggies, 7 eggs and 5 egg whites..and got about 12 quiches. i could freeze them for quick dinner or breakfast. Had a couple of quiche for dinner.

Good - Hmmm...
Bad - ate carbs and 3.25% fat yoghurt.

I told myself, that i am not going to use the fact that i blew my diet at lunch to discontinue my diet...there is a couple more parties next week, cant avoid eating there, but at the other times, i am going to stick to my diet...and hope and pray that i still loose weight.