Just in case you are new here, or haven’t been here in a while, you may be wondering what’s up with all of the low-carb posts. If so, you may want to go back and read my post on the new focus of my blog.
I am way behind on getting this post out. I have written and re-written it, but I finally managed to finish it. So, we made it through the first three weeks (now four) of eating low-carb. I’ve been calling it a low-carb diet, but I don’t really think of it as a “diet”. I like to look at it as just a new way of eating.
Most of the low-carb diet books that I’ve read had an initial period of what they called a “detox”, which eliminates eating legumes, grains, and simple carbs. Then, the diet plans said that you could add some of those items back in little by little. The initial three week “detox” period stretched into four weeks since I am really late in getting this post out.
I never really craved cakes or pastries before, but I could go through a bag of Red Vines or Twizzlers in record time. Since I have been eating low-carb, I haven’t had the cravings for candy that I used to have. I also haven’t craved pizza or bread (except on really tough days) like I used to.
In the last few weeks, I’ve lost about 6.5 pounds, and my husband has lost 9.5 pounds. Not a bad start, but we still have some work to do. I still want to lose about 3 or 4 more pounds, and my husband still has more that he wants to lose. I want to lose the weight, but more importantly, I want us both to maintain that weight loss once we reach our goal.
I have some summer clothes that I haven’t been able to wear in the last few years that I’d really like to finally get back into. Actually, I can get them on, but they don’t leave much to the imagination, if you know what I mean. 😉 I will need to lose some inches around my hips, thighs, and stomach in order to be able to wear them.
I have been weighing myself on the scale the last few weeks for the sake of my blog, but I don’t normally use that as my guide. I go by how my jeans fit me, and mine had gotten tighter and tighter on me. I had to finally admit that maybe it wasn’t the washer making them that way. 🙁 The scale confirmed it.
I’ve been reading a book called Ultimate You: A 4-Phase Total Body Makeover for Women Who Want Maximum Results. It is co-written by Dr. Brooke Kalanick and Joe Dowdell. Dr. Kalanick is an Naturopathic doctor and Joe Dowdell is a highly sought-after fitness expert and owner of Peak Performance gym in New York.
Here is a basic description of the book:
“Ultimate You is not a weight-loss plan. It is a fat-loss plan with the revolutionary concept of metabolic disturbance at its core. Metabolic disturbance revs up fatburning hormones during your workout and creates a post-workout “afterburn” that torches calories for hours after you leave the gym.”
Inside the book, they show you a simple guideline to follow in the form of a “food plate”. I will be using the Ultimate You food plate as a guideline when I prepare our meals, with the exception of breakfast. Dr. Kalanick does recommend that people who are insulin resistant ( I feel like we both probably are) not have starchy carbs at breakfast.
I like that this book tackles weight loss from a hormonal standpoint, and that it focuses on whole foods. Dr. Kalanick specializes in treating patients with PCOS and hypothyroidism, and she actually has PCOS herself. Since my husband has hypothyroidism, and I have PCOS, I am hoping that her suggestions will be helpful for both of us.
My shin splint issue seems to be better, so I started running again on Friday. I also did some resistance training after my run. I’m not the biggest fan of lifting weights, so sticking to that kind of workout long term just hasn’t happened. I’m going to try and change that. I’d really like to not have my arms jiggle when I wave. 🙂
As far as the workout section of the Ultimate You book goes, it looks a good one, but I had already decided on a different workout plan before finding this book. I had done some searching online for a workout plan that was based on specific body types. This is one of the books that I found.
This is the Fit + Female book written by Geralynn Coopersmith, who is a exercise physiologist. This book explains the different body types, and if you need a little extra help in determining your body type, they have a questionnaire inside the book.
Once you have that part figured out, you just find the section where it gives the workout for your specific body type.
This book recommends that people with my body type, which I believe is a Meso-Pear, lift heavier weights with less repetitions. I’ve always done the opposite, and maybe that’s one reason I never saw the results I hoped for. I guess we will see. I have taken my measurements and will update you on my progress.
Have you or someone you know tried the Ultimate You plan or the Fit + Female plan? If so, what were their results?