Rapid weight loss is better than slow?

There's so many conflicting ideas about weight loss, and every time something becomes the accepted truth, another conflicting story comes out.  I read an article in the paper recently that claimed rapid weight loss is better than slow -- and it's confirmed on several online articles as well.  But the conventional wisdom has always been slow and steady wins the race -- especially if you want to keep it off.  What to believe now?

I must say I agree with the rationale in the story that when weight loss is too slow, you lose motivation.  But is it healthy to lose weight rapidly?  I mean -- what would you have to do to keep it coming off at a rapid pace -- restrict calories to extreme levels, or just work out heaps  more?  It's no wonder we struggle -- even the experts can't agree.

Averages for the week ahead

OK so on the Lunch Box Diet, you don't count calories, which is kind of foreign to me.  Normally with every weight loss attempt I'm on Fitday tracking everything I eat.  I mean I use it so much that I've made it really quick and simple by adding in custom meals so I can just tick the specific meals I eat and it does all the calculations for me -- it's not been time consuming this way (after the initial set up, that is).  For the past 2 weeks on the Lunch Box Diet, I've not counted a single calorie, and while I'm not doing the lunch box on the weekends, I still eat healthily as much as possible.  So I wanted to know how it stacks up nutritionally.

I planned the breakfast and dinner meals for the coming week and what's going into my lunch boxes -- I'm still doing the veggie burgers or veggie roast with home made hummus for three days, and for the other two I'll be trying each of those protein sources with my fat-free Italian dressing and a handful of semi-dried tomatoes.  Now when I calculated the calorie count I used sun-dried tomatoes but when I compared the nutritional stats on the jars, the semi-dried tomatoes had much less oil, fat and calories, so I actually bought those instead.  So while the fat content looks a bit high in my weekly averages, it will actually be a bit lower.

So how did the totals look?  My average daily totals came to 1,412 calories, 39.8g fat, 204.2g carbs, and 61.3g protein.  That's 57% carbs, 17% protein and 25% fat.  Not too far off from what i was doing on my own anyway, other than lower in calories.  I'll be anxious to see how this week pans out once TOM is over.

Not a bad loss after all.

Weighed in this morning at 113.2kg (249.56 lb) which is a loss of just .6kg (1.32 lb) this week. At first I was kind of disappointed. For the amount of veggies I've eaten this week, I hoped I'd earned a bigger loss. But then I noticed TOM was just arriving, and that changes everything. Since I usually don't lose much at all, stay the same, or even gain in the days and even weeks before TOM's arrival, this is a decent loss. I'll certainly take it. And hopefully it means a bigger loss later in the week, so here's hoping next week is even better.

Still doing very well on the Lunch Box Diet, getting lots of raw veggies to graze on throughout the week. Friday's box was a bit heavy on broccoli because I'd run out of some of the other stuff, but that's OK, I like raw broccoli. My favorite protein/fat combinations have been the vegetarian roast or the grilled veggie burger chopped up into the box with my home made hummus, but I don't want the same kind of box every day. So while I love hummus, I want to come up with other kinds of dressings for the 10% fat portion of the box. I have salad dressing in the fridge, but it's fat free. Maybe I'll look for a different salad dressing this week, we'll see.

No lunch box today -- hubby is taking me to one of my favorite Vietnamese places for lunch, and tonight we're having a small party at our house so we'll be ordering in pizza. One of the things I'm really liking about this diet is it works SO well for me during the week when I'm at work, and yet I can have normal dinners, and eat normally on the weekends with friends and family, if I want to. I don't have to feel like I'm going "off plan" or "cheating" or whatever. I'm just eating healthy most of the time and having the occasional dinner out. That's doable for the long haul, which is so important!

I'd love to hear from anyone else who is vegetarian or vegan and also doing the Lunch Box Diet, especially to hear what box combinations you've enjoyed. I'm always up for new ideas. Oh, I did get one new idea out of the book when I read it -- sun-dried tomatoes! I love those, and they do have fat in them, so maybe I can still use my fat free dressing and just toss in a small handful of those! I've never tried them in a salad box, but they should be very tasty! I think I'll grab some for next week.

Hope you're all doing well -- I'm off to read some blogs! :)

Today's eating confirms I was meant to graze

So it was my final follow-up visit with the surgeon for my shoulder, 6 weeks on from the surgery. So I took the day off work and headed to Sydney. That meant a long train ride to and from the orthopedic clinic, so I couldn't really do the lunch box today. So that meant going back to three main meals rather than grazing frequently on small amounts of food. Oh I ate a healthy breakfast and dinner, and for lunch we went to a Thai place where I had a vegetarian stir fry with peanut sauce. And though it was only the lunch size portion, all afternoon I felt FULL! When grazing I never feel full, but I also never feel hungry.

Not only did I feel full today, but I also felt fat! You may recall in recent posts I've said grazing throughout the day leaves me feeling thin. Well not today, today I felt fat -- like the fat was actually who I am rather than just a flesh suit the thin me happens to be wearing temporarily. I know that probably sounds weird -- I really don't know any better way to explain it, but if you've ever FELT healthy and thin despite being overweight then you'll know what I mean. Eating three full meals a day makes me feel more like the image on the right, whereas grazing on smaller meals throughout the day makes me feel like the image on the left (even though the mirror still reflects the other image). I just like how I feel better when I'm grazing. So back to the lunchbox tomorrow!

Oh, and the shoulder? Progressing very nicely, no need for any further follow-up visits. Healing faster than predicted and he was happy with my range of movement. His final question -- can I sleep on the left side yet? Nope. I said I'm nearly back to normal in every other regard, but I still can't sleep on my left side, and I ALWAYS slept on my left side, so I do miss it. He said that's always the last thing to come back and it could take 3 months from surgery, so maybe around Christmas. Let's hope so, I want my side of the bed back!

A couple of recipes to share

This first recipe I discovered quite by accident.  Yesterday I had been making my usual 'overnight oatmeal' for breakfast -- it's just plain rolled oats which I usually mix with cinnamon and raisins, then soak in soy milk.  It should soak in the fridge at least half an hour, but it's even better soaked overnight.  Anyway, I had already measured out the 1c of oats, tossed in a handful of raisins and sprinkled cinnamon on, then started pouring in the cup of soy milk when I realized I didn't have a cup left!  What to do -- it's not as good adding water, I've tried that before.  I looked in the fridge and saw a jar of natural apple sauce staring at me -- hmmm.  No idea what that would turn out like, but I mixed it in so it was basically half soy milk and half apple sauce.  I stirred it up and let it soak in the fridge half an hour or so.  Well what the heck -- it was delicious!  Of course apples and cinnamon and raisins all go together well, I just never considered putting apple sauce in before, but it's a great way to use up that leftover applesauce.

Now, the lunch box today was amazing!  For greens I had a spinach, rocket (arugula) and kale salad mix, with a handful of mixed sprouts, snow pea pods, broccoli, shredded carrot, tomato, green pepper, and some of the leftover rosemary roasted sweet potatoes from yesterday (which I'd added red onion to).  I didn't end up making the home made veggie turkey lunch meat because I picked up a vegetarian chicken style roast at the store, which I'd baked with the rosemary mint glaze it comes with.  So I diced some of that in the box, and topped it all off with some fabulous home made pumpkin hummus.  Wow, was this a good mix!  I found the hummus recipe online, and I'll share the recipe here but of course I did things a bit differently.  I used a butternut pumpkin that was just over 2 pounds, and didn't need to boil it as long as the recipe says, it was done in maybe 20 minutes or so.  I drained and mashed it, and it was pretty thick so I didn't need to cook the liquid out of it as the recipe dictates.  Maybe they used a different kind of pumpkin.  In any case, it was probably more pumpkin than I needed for the recipe because of that, but I still put most of it in.  I could probably have added another can of chickpeas to it, but I didn't have one on hand.  It was still a bit thick, so I doubled the lemon juice, and just because I like the flavor of it, doubled the cumin as well.  This stuff is DELICIOUS, lower in fat (I don't add any oil) and cheaper than the store bought stuff, and it made heaps, so I can have it all week.  YUM!  Anyway, you can find the original recipe here.

After (nearly) one week on the Lunch Box Diet

OK so just about one week on with the Lunch Box Diet -- I actually started on Monday, not last weekend, but I don't want my official weigh in day to be Monday. It's easier on the weekends.

In any case -- as of this morning I'm down 1.6kg (3.53lb) from Monday's start weight. I'll take that. It's not the big 7 pound losses I'd read some were having in their first week, but none-the-less, I'm happy with that. The book arrived a couple of days ago and I actually read it in one sitting. It really didn't expand all that much upon the word document I'd found online, so I don't think anyone really needs to read the book to start this diet. Many pages were devoted to different ways to prepare vegetables. I think I've got a handle on that already. LOL Other sections gave advise for those that don't like veggies enough to graze on them all day -- such as only doing the diet a few days a week, or taking the weekends off. I've kind of done the latter -- Saturday is the day hubby and I always go out to lunch together. It's usually Subway or the Thai place down the road, and I didn't want to give that up.

I don't eat breakfast on Saturdays because we wake up later, walk the dogs, do some laundry and then go have our lunch. I have a foot long veggie patty sub with a bag of potato chips, so to keep the rest of the day on track I decided just to have some soaked muesli for dinner. I have a very small amount of that left so I'm soaking that now to have for Sunday breakfast, and then we'll go shopping so I'll probably graze the rest of the day.

As my salad spinner broke recently, we picked up a new one at the mall yesterday, so I'll be giving that a spin today. The first few box combinations had a gourmet lettuce mix, tomatoes, carrots, green peppers, sugar snap peas, and broccoli, and for the protein and dressing/fat portions I used leftover scrambled tofu & veggie sausage, or kidney beans mixed with salsa and Toffutti cream cheese. But the most delicious lunch box I had last week involved a grilled veggie burger cut into chunks and hummus tossed through my gourmet lettuce mix, tomatoes, shredded carrot, and grilled onion and green pepper. Usually all the veggies go in the box raw, but with the veggie burger, I thought it might taste nicer with the onion and pepper grilled, and boy was it nice! Especially with the hummus! I'd like to do that combination more often, so I think I'll make up a batch of home made hummus today. You get more for a lot less money, and I put way less fat in it. It's already got tahini in it (it's kind of like peanut butter made from sesame seeds instead of peanuts) which is enough fat, why do the commercial brands also add oil?

I'm planning to make a batch of Vegan Dad's hickory smoked veggie turkey lunch meat so I can slice or chunk that up for the lunch box. Breakfasts have been no problem, I always have muesli or soaked oatmeal with raisins or blueberries, and usually banana as well. It's dinners I need to work on more. Twice last week I had hot chips (thick fries) with vegetarian chicken-style nuggets, and even though I'm getting a lot of veggies in the lunch box, I still think I could have something better than fries for dinner. Maybe some more of those rosemary roasted sweet potatoes I made last week! Those are delicious and went into two of my lunch box mixes. They're so quick and easy -- since I only used 1 sweet potato in an 8" square pan, I found they were done after the initial 15 minutes, though the recipe calls for baking longer. Anyway, I'll post the recipe below.

So here's to another good week, hopefully -- as I said in a previous post, he's definitely right that I do not get hungry on this diet. As soon as I feel the slightest bit hungry, I look at the clock and realize it's been over an hour since my last graze, so I just bring out the box, grab a few more bites, and I'm good to go. One other thing I'd like to do in the coming week is drink more water -- less diet soda. Wish me luck. :)

Rosemary Roasted Sweet Potatoes
From The Good Carb Cookbook by Sandra Woodruff

5 cups (1/4" thick) peeled sweet potato slices (about 1-3/4 lb or 840g)
1 tsp dried rosemary
1-1/2 tsp crushed garlic
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Place the potatoes in a large bowl. Sprinkle with the rosemary, garlic and salt, and drizzle with the oil. Toss well to coat. Coat a 9x13" pan with non-stick cooking spray and spread the potatoes evenly in the pan. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake at 400 degrees F (205 C) for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 10 additional minutes. Turn the potatoes and bake for another 10 minutes more or until tender. Serve hot or cold.

Day 2 on the Lunch Box Diet

Just finished day 2 on the Lunch Box Diet. This morning I'd lost .4kg (.88 lb) from yesterday, and I must say, I was never truly hungry. Kinda empty sometimes, but not really hungry. Remembering to get the box out and eat something every hour to hour and a half or so is harder, especially when you're not hungry, but I've done it. He says to use a 3-5 liter lunch box -- I have a 5 liter container, but it's huge! So I opted to use two smaller boxes that fit in my insulated lunch tote.

For breakfast I have a small bowl of cereal with soy milk, and add a sliced banana and blueberries or raisins. That's about 7:30. For my lunch box items, I fill a 1.5 ltr container with salad veggies, add a bit of low-cal, fat free dressing and shake it up to distribute the dressing. That's a lot of vegetables; it seems like a massive amount when I look at it in the morning. I could never eat that all in one sitting. But eating small portions throughout the day, it was easy to get through. Along with the veggies I take a small container with some protein and fat. I start eating from the box about 9:30 and have a small amount every hour or so up until 4 or 4:30. Then I eat a normal dinner about 6 or 6:30. Not huge, not small, just normal.

For the protein/fat part of the lunchbox, yesterday I had a bit of leftover scrambled tofu with salsa and a little Toffutti. It's yummy when served hot for dinner, but when I'm only eating a couple of spoonfuls every hour or so, it doesn't pay to heat it up again, so I had it cold. Today I brought some falafels and lite hummus to have with the salad. Again, they'd be better heated, but it doesn't pay when you're only eating one every hour.

I must say I feel quite full now even though it's over 2 hours since dinner. He claims grazing throughout the day rather than eating a large meal at one time will shrink your stomach and lead to smaller meals in the evening as well. I've not purposely tried to eat small portions in the evening, just normal meals -- but tonight I do feel a bit over-full, so I may try having a smaller dinner tomorrow. My problem is it takes a while for my brain to get the message that I'm full -- longer than the 20 minutes or so they usually say it takes. So I often feel like I haven't had enough and then an hour or so later I feel full.

So other than feeling full now, I've actually felt great. Thin, even. What I mean is I've felt like a thin person who just happens to be in a fat body, which is quite different than feeling like a fat person. I don't know if that makes sense to you, but sometimes I feel like my fat is part of me, and sometimes I feel like it's just something I'm wearing right now.

Anyway, I just wanted to check in -- hopefully we'll see another drop tomorrow. I'm not a big fan of salads, I prefer cooked veggies, so to add to tomorrow's salad mix I've roasted some sweet potato chunks with rosemary. That should be yum! I'll either take a veggie burger or some beans and salsa for the protein. I'll check in again soon.

Another video on the Lunch Box Diet

This one helps explain it a bit more. I don't even want to wait for the book to arrive, as I've downloaded a summary sheet online I kind of want to get started right away. I have a box that will work, and today we go shopping for the coming week, so I think I'll see if I can give it a go now. I've already got some ideas for my first week's worth of lunch boxes. I'll post more later after we've done the shopping. For now, have a look at this video, which is an interview with the diet's creator, AND a success story as well.

Has anyone done the lunch box diet?

A Frightful Halloween to you all ...

My 3rd Annual Halloween party has come and gone, and it was very nice. A couple of very interesting costumes, with first prize going to Morticia and Gomez. I am so happy with how my evil ghoul turned out, though he ended up shorter than I'd hoped. But I placed him in the shower with some sort of evil weaponry in his hand (a long staff with a sharp pointy end that had other blades coming off it as well, I don't know what you call that thing) and waited for him to do his thing. Even though you can see ghost lights, a creepy curtain on the window and other assorted evils and nasties as you enter the bathroom, most weren't prepared to find a ghoul in the shower. I got a really good scream out of one of my friends when she laid eyes on him. LOL

So now that it's over I want to get back to eating right and exercising. Yup … starting over again. No matter how many times I stumble, I just start again. Eventually. After the party. After the weekend's over. Starting next Monday. Why is the date I'm going to start taking care of my health always off in the future rather than now? Seriously, all the times I've started a new plan I never said starting here, right now I'm going to eat right and exercise. It's always later. Why is that?

Sometimes I wonder why I bother starting again, but what's the alternative -- quitting? Nup. I think the reason I keep telling myself I'll start working out or eating right Monday or I'll do it when the holidays are over, or when my shoulder is healed, is because I want so much to believe I'm one of those people who DOES eat right and exercise. I want the way it would make me feel because I respect people who do that, and I want to respect me. Yet I always feel like I'm someone who can't (based on past experience) -- so on some level I lose a bit of respect for myself -- cuz I think I can't do it. But I know that's not true, I CAN do it, I just don't. I need to just DO!

Still got plenty of candy in the bowl (with a skeleton hand that slaps you and talks when you take a piece). I'll hang on to that in the event we get any trick-or-treaters, which we rarely do. If none, we'll take the stuff to my sister-in-law's for her kids.  I'll leave you with a pic of my front yard, which of course became a graveyard for the night. :)