Evolution of a Diet ( part 2, cont. from 1/4)

Last time I wrote about this subject (1/4) I started with food journaling. And because I didn't food journal my first year, I'll be going on memory as to how my diet evolved that first year.

When what works in the beginning stops working or starts to slow down the speed of success it's time to re-evaluate your diet. Depending on how much weight you want (or need) to lose will dictate how much food you need to eat tolose that weight. What kinds of foods you eat can also affect your success.

I started out my weight loss (Jan. 05 - April 05) with this basic menu;

2 cups coffee w/2tbl. heavy cream each cup
oatmeal w/2% milk
apple
spinach salad w/grilled salmon (6oz) and lemon herb vinegrette
apple
traditional dinner w/extra veggies, for example; 1 serv. pasta, 1 serv. protein, 2 Tbl. parm. cheese, lots of extra veggies (mostly spinach in the begining)
No food after 6:00pm

I walked at least 5 days a week for 2.5 miles, and 1 day a 4 mile walk. No KBs yet. All food was prepared by me. And I'm guessing my calorie count was around 1600-1750. And I always had a cheat day on Sat. consuming 2500-3500 cal. followed by an apple fast on Sun. (coffee in the morning, of course w/cream, and 4-5 apples, about 600-700 cal. that's all!).

After the first 3 months and a 45lb. weight loss (remember I started at 245lbs.!) I knew I had to step it up and tighten my calories even more.

I dropped the oatmeal because I realized I wasn't hungry until around 11am. My theory was the fat in the cream (in my coffee) was holding me until lunch. I changed my lunch 1/2 of the time to a yogurt shake. I also started eating a salad (spinach, cabbage or broccoli as the base veggie) for dinner 1/2 of the time alternating traditional dinner w/extra veggies. Here's an example of my new updated menu;

coffee w/2tbl. heavy cream
yogurt shake w/blueberries and fiber
apple
salad w/pasta,or barley, protein (chicken, beef, fish etc.) and oil and vinegar dressing.
apple
No food after 6pm

I continued my same walking routine and added in KB in May 05. Basic KB swings for 15-20 min 2 days a week (sometimes 3 days). All food was prepared by me and I lowered my calories to 1200-1400. I still had my Sat. cheat day followed by a low calorie day on Sun. I eventually found it difficult to only eat apples on Sun. so I changed that to traditional calorie counting keeping my calories that day und 900.

Over the next 3 months I dropped an additional 25-30lbs., now weighing 170 by July!

Around that time I had noticed tone and definition in my shoulders and arms and knew it came from my KB workouts because I had never in my life had that kind of shape! I bumped up my KB workouts to 3 days a week 20-25 min. I was even more motivated to continue this progress. My goal weight was now 145lbs. And I knew I could do it!

The next 3 months were basically the same. I was still losing weight at the rate I wanted to (5-8lbs a month) so I didn't feel the need to make changes. By Oct. I was closing in on my goal and attained that goal by Thanksgiving. That's the time Mark wrote the article in Vitalics about my success.

My KB workouts were now consistly 3 days a week 30-40 min. In Dec. I added Bikram yoga to my workouts and knew I wanted to work toward my KB certification in April 06. I also set yet another goal weight of 132lbs. At this time I changed my diet to more of a Warrior Diet style.
Not eating until 2-3pm and still stopping by 6pm. I started eating more raw vegetables in the form of salads.

From Jan. 06-April 06 I started my food journal. I was doing Bikram yoga at least 5 days a week, walking 3-4 day a week and KB 3 days a week 40-50 min. I made my new goal by the April cert.

I also want to add that I was "perfect" on my diet only about 75% of the time. In other words 25% of the time I wasn't able to feel as if I could control myself. I gave into emotional eating and had my share of "a bite of this, a bite of that", "the candy dish at work" to an all out "mini binges". As well as snacking on little things after 6pm.

Over the last 9 months I've been able to fine tune my diet and now find myself being able to deal with my emotions about food. Now that I've established 2 years worth of good eating habits, I can now focus on my feelings around food. Up until now I tried to focused on the choices I made about food which I think comes first. To be cont...

Interesting facts about my diet

No fast food for over 2 years now
I've prepared 95% of all food consumed in the last 2 years (not including candy and cookies and ice cream!)
I've eaten bread less than 10 times in the last 2 years.
I always (100% of the time) take my own lunch to work