Breakfast #2

Ok, this morning I had to have the high protein, low carb breakfast. It was 2 eggs, 2 egg whites, and feta cheese scrambled with salsa on top. Now, on the rare occasion that I eat eggs for breakfast, it's usually 2, maybe a 3 egg omelette, but never 4. I couldn't finish all of it. I ate most, though. I felt pretty good. Took my quizzes for the next 3 hours and the earlier scores for how I felt were higher than with the bagel, but not significantly higher. I guess when I repeat this next week, we'll see. I'm really hoping that when this is all said and done, I can eat some rice and bread during this diet. Anyway, it was a good day. Had a Hawaiian Luau at work to celebrate having a great inspection on monday. Watching the VP hula-hoop was hilarious. 

The Perfect Body Diet

Ok, so I had no intention of starting a blog, but I think it was Loricious that once said that she thought the knowledge that her diet failings would be out on the internet kept her at least slightly more motivated. So, I'll try it. 

I'm not one to hop from diet to diet. While I do a lot of research on new diets, I don't necessarily follow-through on most of them. I currently sit about 15 pounds heavier than I was when I finished college. Not horrible, and at 125 pounds at that time, I was thin. And happy. Not that I'm not happy now, but I think I would be happier if I felt a little more confident in my weight again. Unfortunately, most of my pants are rather tight these days and I get the dreaded "muffin-top" in more than a few pair. I figure if I can get back to the old weight, I'll fit into much of my old wardrobe and it'll be like a whole new wardrobe again:) Aside from the vanity issue- I have a health concern with this, too. Heart disease runs in the family. I desperately want to stay healthy as far as that is concerned. Plus, I run a lot and the extra weight puts a huge amount of extra strain on my knees and other joints.

I put on some weight during my first year out of college. I was in an intense PhD-track program and had little time for anything other than studying. In the free time I did get, instead of exercising, I was partying with friends from college. Didn't help the weight matter. Back then, losing the weight was not too difficult. I stopped snacking so much and cut out most of my McDonald's runs. Unfortunately, it's not so easy anymore. Over the last probably 4 years, I've been fighting a battle with the same 10-15 pounds. Only twice over that time have I fully dedicated myself to a diet. About 2 years ago, I friend of mine was working with a trainer who practiced the Zone Diet. She convinced me to try it and we had mixed results. I felt great during it, but didn't really lose a ton of weight. A few pounds, but not a lot. I think that may partially be because we excused the beer we had after a workout by following the Zone and since it was a carb, we had to have protein and fat also, so we would add some string cheese:) Pretty much defeating the calories lost during exercise. Then last year, I decided to give Weight Watchers a try. I wound up losing about 8 pounds on WW using the online membership. The main problem was that WW isn't really set up for people under 150 pounds. The 20 points that I get a day was not very much and really difficult to not go over. Plus, now that student loans have started coming due, I can't afford to pump money into WW each month. 

This leads me to the newest adventure. I subscribe to Women's Health Magazine and they have come out with a book called the Perfect Body Diet. After reading quite a bit about it and doing a little research, I decided to give it a shot. My goal is to be back down to my old weight by the time I head out to New York on vacation at the beginning of July. I picked up the book at Barnes and Noble and started reading. 

So, in the first couple of chapters, they explain how this diet is tailored to each women depending on a couple of factors. First, I had to figure out what body type I am because that will determine some of the exercise regimen. Now, we all know about the apple and pear body types, but Women's Health introduces a new body type. Avocado. The avocado woman gains weight in both her abdomen and thighs equally. I am an avacado. It's based on your waist-to-hips ratio. The plus about being an avacado is that they say when an avocado loses the weight, they can become a banana. Now don't we all really want to be a banana? (hence the title of the blog) I want to fit in with all the other thin little bananas walking around in New York this summer. 

The other aspect of diet is dependent on how well you metabolize carbs. There is a little test that you do over a few days at breakfast. One day you eat a high carb breakfast and record responses to a questionnaire over the next 3 hours. The next day, you eat a high protein breakfast and fill out the questionnaire again. You repeat this again for two days of each type of breakfast. Your responses to the different types of breakfasts determine whether or not your body can metabolize carbs well. So, this morning I had a big bagel with raspberry preserves. It was ok, but I'll know better after tomorrow which one was better.

Well, now it begins. Here's to becoming a banana!