alright, so i haven’t posted in many many months. well, now i am coming out of the woodwork again. i have been reading tons and tons and tons of articles about getting lean & mean. that’s right – not losing weight, but decreasing body fat and increasing lean muscle mass. this has been a very confusing topic for me; well, maybe not so much confusing as “unsure who to trust”. here is the summary of what I’ve discovered:
- i should be eating around 1700 calories a day; this is a lot, and i don’t really need to count because of this giant allowance. if i eat when i am hungry, and stop when I’m satisfied, i will easily be in range
- i should be eating 100-160g lean protein (this range is self-prescribed, a lot of sources online say 1g protein for every pound of body weight, but i think that’s too much. if i don’t get the results I’m looking for, then i will stick closer to the 160g a day)
- i should be eating 160g carbs
- i should be ingesting some fattier protein, along with a fat supplement (Udo’s oil FTW!)
- i can eat as many vegetables as i want; i also want the world to know i would be a super happy Jen if i could have 3 red peppers a day! hah! but, i still think too much of even something THAT healthy would somehow end badly
anyway, during my research venture, i looked inside myself, too. i like to eat. i like to eat when i am bored, when I’m lonely, when i am happy, when i crave something, when i watch TV, when I’m with friends, when I’m at Starbucks etc etc – i think you get the picture. for me, i do not see food as “fuel necessary to run my body”, but more-so as a huge enjoyment in life. i spend a lot of time researching or inventing recipes, i enjoy cooking for myself and others, and LOVE to bake. with this in mind, i discovered something i think is going to help me psychologically to “eat right” while still satisfying my enjoyment of eating. it is called carb cycling. no, it is not a low carb or no carb diet… it’s is the daily control of carbs to allow extra carbs one day per cycle! Day 1 is HIGH carbs, day 2 is NO carbs, and day 3 is LOW carbs… the entire point of this is to mentally tell myself that every 3 days, i can have almost unlimited carbs! Sounds good, right?
today is day 2. i started off yesterday with high carbs. quite frankly, my experiences in the past of trying go cold turkey into a new eating plan have resulted in MEGA cravings and therefore BINGES! Bad Jen! Bad Jen! So, this time, I am starting with the fun part 🙂
today is also supposed to be NO carbs. But again, cold turkey does not work for me. I had eggs with cereal for breakfast. Now, the rest of the day is supposed to be extremely limited carbs. I have a super protein and veggie packed day! it looks yummy, but the true test will be tonight between 5pm and 10pm – will Jen reach for the pasta, bread, or cereal? Or will i remember that i only have to wait until tomorrow to have 3 meals with carbs, and then UNLIMITED CARBS ON FRIDAY! Sounds doable – place your bets!
the cycle will start again Friday…
- Friday: HIGH carbs
- Saturday: NO (or very limited) carbs
- Sunday: LOW carbs
jenbacca 