Thursday, August 21, 2014

Protein Power.

Over the past couple years, it seems that I've acquired this spare tire.  Having battled with weight all my life, this doesn't throw me into a panic.  It does pose some inconveniences, though.  Namely:  the vast portion of my wardrobe that no longer fits.  (I'm stubborn, not to mention on a very tight budget, so haven't run off shopping yet, or anything.  Did make myself a couple skirts, though, so I'd be able to vary what I wear somewhat.)

After watching Tom Naughton's "Fat Head" a while back, my housemate decided to do a bit of research into low-carbohydrate / high protein diets to see if this might be an interesting course to follow.  He ended up losing around 30 lbs in a few months, having a life-long acne problem clear up, and seeing a serious abatement in this weird gut - migraine sort of problem he'd have fairly regularly. 

As the house has a decent library on the subject, have been reading a fair bit on the theories behind why all that bread / pasta / sugar is not good for us, as well as some of the different takes on low carb, be it the Eadses' plan, Paleo, Primal, etc.  Am currently kind of loosely following  the Thirty Day Low Carbohydrate Solution, and finding it not difficult at all.  It sort of reminds me of the old Weight-Watchers before it got kind of loosey-goosey and started pushing low-fat in general, their products specifically.  

The only thing that's been kind of weird has been no oatmeal / muffins / tartines for breakfast.  Still, resourceful sort that I am, am managing to find ways to not get tired of eggs for breakfast.

This morning's breakfast:  a bit of avocado for the potassium, veggies and a couple of deviled eggs.  Made them with homemade mayonnaise (surprisingly easy to make - here's my go to recipe, with a couple tweaks:  1.)  I use all olive oil.  2.)  I use the whole egg.) and some dill from the garden.  

2 comments:

jo said...

I lost 40. Been bad over the summer tough as I wanted corn, fresh dug potatoes, cornbread with my BBQ.
I've promised my self a 'back to school' return to the ultra low (less than 20g) and hopefully another 40 will leave. We shall see

Be said...

I'm pretty good about keeping myself under 60g. Also, what has helped the metabolism a lot is the periodic "liver cure" that the Eadses advocate at the start of the program: that is, two weeks of no caffeine and alcohol. Very limited fruit sugars, as apparently the liver doesn't distinguish between them and the alcohol.

I love my glass or two of wine with dinner, not to mention the occasional lager, so this is tough (though not as tough as kicking the several cups of hot coffee or tea in the morning).

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An occasional cob of corn or potato isn't bad, if one isn't having it every day, no? I had roasted beet chips the other night. Heavenly! Sweet!

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Really need to ramp up the exercise program, too. The best I've ever felt was when I was doing 20 or so laps a couple times a week at either the Camb Y or Brookline Public Pool. (Then there was the time when I was visiting the Swisshotel gym, as it was nearby to work and they offered a discount membership to neighbors). Camb Y's gotten prohibitively expensive (to me), I don't feel like schlepping out to Brookline to swim, now, and I don't know that hotels offer gym / pool memberships anymore.

Am thinking of visiting the Camb Public Pool this weekend just to get my sea legs back. They have beautiful facilities, and they're not *too* expensive.