Thursday, April 1, 2010

I'm Not Perfect, But I'm Damn Close

Yesterday I received a "challenge" (they were adamant about it being a challenge and not a pitch) from a PR person for the book, The Perfect 10 Diet by Michael Aziz, M.D. The "challenge" being to follow the diet for 3 weeks and reveal my results.

I was intrigued, obviously. If you've been following my blog for any amount of time you know I've moaned about my weight, fought cravings, learned to love exercise (running specifically) and lost a significant amount of extra padding. About 25lbs to be exact. What's funny to me is that this "challenge" would have been so much more exciting to me 6 months ago. Now....well now it seems, not so exciting. The book claims you can lose 14lbs in the first phase or three week period. Dude, if I lost 14 more pounds, I wouldn't look very healthy. I would be skinny, sure. But probably a heroin chic looking skinny.

To put it simply, I am happy with my weight. I could stand to lose 5 more pounds, but that would about be it. Especially for my frame. Everyone is built different and weight looks very different on everyone. But I digress. I AM OKAY WITH ME RIGHT NOW. I feel very healthy. More so than I have ever felt. I can run almost 4 miles without a problem. I eat a very well balanced diet. Let's defer to a quick list of what is in my fridge right now:
  • Lean protein- chicken breasts, round beef steak, shrimp, white fish.
  • Strawberries
  • Avocados
  • Broccoli
  • Bell Peppers
  • Asparagus
  • Spinach
  • Fat free cream cheese
  • Yogurt
  • Skim milk
  • Cheese
  • And in the pantry: whole grain cereal, whole grain bread, wheat tortillas, tuna, beans, peanut butter and so on.

A typical day for me starts out with a choice of peanut butter on whole grain toast, or a bowl of Special K with skim milk, or egg whites with some combination of veggies mixed in. I then have a snack of fruit or cheese or granola bar. Lunch is either lean protein and veggies or a salad with lean protein and low fat dressing and lots of veggies. Sometimes a sandwich if I'm feeling frisky. Another afternoon snack of either fruit, cheese, or granola bar, but sometimes I just have an iced coffee. Dinner is basically a repeat of lunch just a different combo.

Everything is still very flavorful. I just watch my portions. I also track my calories using SparkPeople (because seriously that site has been fundamental to my weight loss). I still drink coffee and lots of it. I just use Splenda and skim milk. I order my lattes skinny. I still eat chocolate, but I eat it dark and only on my cheat day. I still drink alcohol. I just try to balance it in with the rest of my calories and I make sure to only drink wine or vodka and diet soda. Now that could be a problem this summer cause I am a summer wheat beer drinking gal. And rum and coke. But hopefully I'll be running more and putting in more outside activity to equal it out.

What I'm trying to say here is that I know that the diet I have created for myself is working and working well. I exercise enough to offset any diet mishaps I might have and I do have them. There was a night last week during a particularly rough patch of PMS and well, we'll just say some ice cream was involved and it wasn't pretty. But aside from that, I eat well, I eat healthy and once you find something that works, why change it?

I'm very curious to see what The Perfect 10 Diet is all about and I'll be sure to share what I find with all of you.

7 comments:

  1. I'm really excited for you....feeling good about yourself and what you are doing is a great feeling!

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  2. So...you're taking the challenge?

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  3. I puffy heart your self-control...I need a little more of that around here. Meanwhile I'll be watching to see if you take the Perfect 10 challenge! Sounds like you don't need it.

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  4. Wow, sounds like you have got it together, Suga Britches! I might need that Perfect 10 diet, or maybe I'll just have to follow your prescription.

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  5. Atta girl! Being comfortable with whatever weight a person is at is a real blessing. Maintaining is much easier than people think!

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  6. You are an inspiration! Remember our Shredding days back in September? Look how far you've come!!

    My question: Don't you find yourself so much HUNGRIER when you run? I'm STARVING ALL THE TIME.

    It's not even NOON and I've had: pb on flatbread, a cheese stick, a banana and a Fiber one bar!!!

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  7. i can so totally relate to this post. a year ago....i would've considered pretty much anything that anyone half-heartedly endorsed for weight-loss. now, almost 20 lbs. lighter, i am a pretty happy *me*. i also would love to be another 5-10 lbs. lighter, but have come to the conclusion that if i can't do that MYSELF, with exercise and a healthy diet, that it just isn't meant to be. and i'm okay with that.

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Now play nice and for every comment you leave, I'll buy you a pony.