Food Choices and Plateau Breakers - Week of April 23, 2007

This week was a challenging week for me. Restricting myself to 1200 calories a day started out as a novelty but now has grown to be a chore. The cravings have been difficult to contend with and my appetite seems to have highs and lows. I have gotten in the habit of weighing myself daily. I can't help wanting to see my results each morning. Most diets tell you to weigh yourself weekly. This is hard for me because part of my motivation for the day includes seeing if I've done well or not.

It seemed I hit a road block this week. I managed to stay "by the book" until Thursday even though my weight fluctuated by a pound up and a pound down. I talked to another girl that is on this diet at work and she said it happens. I was in hopes that I was going to be able to lose 8 more pounds this week, but as you can see on this week's weight update I only lost 3. I'm still happy with that but I plan on changing a few things up this week.

Saturday I bought a new Gazelle by Tony Little (infomercial item) at Wal-mart for about $85. You can burn around 100 calories in about 10 mins. on this, but you certainly feel it in your calves. I'm walking around today feeling like I have "charlie horses" in both calves. Once I get started walking though, they warm up and I can't feel it any more.

Another strategy I'm doing to break the plateau is to consume just a few more calories. I had an extra piece of fruit, and a variety of 100 calorie snack items.

1. Quakes

(90 - 100 calories)

2. Slim Fast Peanut Butter Crunch Bars

(120 calories)

3. Creamsicle

(70 calories)

Another item I ate this weekend that I think may have gotten me out of my slump is to eat a lunch at Subway. I had a Turkey Breast Sub with just 310 calories and 4.5 grams of fat. It was very satsifying and I think just what I needed to change things up enough. This was the first time since I started this diet that I actually ate out.

(310 calories)

Last and certainly not least, I had a small slice of Veggie Lover's pizza from Pizza Hut.

(200 calories)

Just some ideas to keep in mind to economize on calories without sacrificing taste. Another item I added, starting this week, is a multi-vitamin from One A Day.

Good Luck this week!

RD 2.0