Spent the end of last week working out my meal plan for Week 1 of Shred, made a grocery list, and stocked up.
For those asking, the grocery bill was about $200., but I purchased alot of frozen fruit and bulk items, so this will take me through about 3 weeks at least. Some of the items on the meal plan are items I don't eat very often, like soups and fruit, so I bought a lot of different types of these foods so I can determine what I like and what I don't.
Day 1- Monday, January 7th, the first day of this plan, it was also my first day back at work. This plan is very specific on meal spacing, so it's pretty important to eat when they say to eat. I was totally concerned about this, as I spend my days seeing clients and can't chow down in front of them.
I would need to select foods on the plan that were portable, and easy to eat. There were so many choices, it proved to be no problem at all-- but I did feel hungry at about 10.00am. This has to be totally psychological, as I had already eaten more than I normally do by this time of day.
It was just my brain tryin' to talk me out of doing something healthy. I pushed through it, and was good for the rest of the day.
Damn brain-- change is good! Get with the program!
The worst part of my day had to be the caffeine withdrawal that I experienced. The plan says to limit yourself to one cup of coffee and one diet soda per day. (no regular soda at all, for those who don't drink diet).
Well this girl drinks about 5 cups of coffee and 3-4 diet sodas each and every day, so I don't know what I was thinking cutting down so drastically all at once.
I had the headache from hell, and I can attest that I wasn't the most pleasant girl to be around...
(I think that's putting it mildly. =]).
Dr. Ian talks a lot about the flexibility of this plan, so I am tapering off my coffee and diet coke intake, but slowly. I think he'd approve. '-]
Some good things I learned so far? -- I really like black beans,
By far- the weirdest meal I've had to eat? 1 cup of beans and a serving of veggies.
What in the world?
What type of beans? It doesn't say anywhere in the book. And what constitutes a serving of veggies, and what vegetables are included?
Um-yeah- can't find it anywhere.
So this is where the life-long diet knowledge has to come in to play, right?
I'm playing it safe, with corn, green beans, bell peppers, mushrooms, and brussel sprouts. So, here I sit at my Mac, with a bowl of black beans, and a bowl of green beans. And it wasn't the end of the world- Hallelujah!
After the 10.00am brain trick, I wasn't hungry at all and I think I would have had more energy if I wasn't in a caffeine deprivation coma.
Day 2- It's getting easier to eat every 2-3 hours, and today I got a turkey sandwich for lunch, and a 1/2 cup of vanilla ice cream for a snack.
See people?
This is a meal plan that rocks-- I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.
That -- for me at least-- is the biggest psychological hurdle when it comes to dieting is the deprivation aspect. The prospect of never again being able to eat french fries is enough to bring a tear to my eye. I will say that for both day 1 &2, I cooked my family their normal types of foods (which includes mashed potatoes), and I didn't sneak a bite, nor really even want a bite. That's huge for me.
Oh-- yeah, almost forgot to talk about the exercise. Dr. Ian wants u to work out 5 days a week. That means starting tomorrow I will be hitting the gym. Let's roll.
