The Gym-free diet...sorta...

I've been dieting for the last few weeks. That means I'm cooking but my kitchen time is spent on providing nutrition within the boundaries of the diet and not going all willy nilly. I keep thinking about blogging my dieting adventures but it starts to get overwhelming when I think of the things I do each day. Please don't confuse that with me actually doing a lot. There are just several different components I've added into my diet and those seem to work for me.

I started my diet on 9/13. It's 10/6 and I've lost 16.3 lbs as of yesterday morning.

Here are some things I'm doing...

1. Avoid the gym and all exercise. Seriously!!! I had to get traction with my food intake and portion control. I'm bad about letting things slide because I can justify anything if I went to the gym that day. 
2. Once I can get my intake and portion control under control the numbers start moving down. Unless I can get the numbers moving by diet alone the rest is doomed. 
3. I weigh myself every day before I have breakfast (do it with minimal clothing) and I write down my weight and log it online. Screw what other people say. I weigh, I weigh often and I want to see those numbers going down. I have been known to weigh myself 3 times in one morning...removing everything to my skin to see how low the number will go.
4. I took pictures...I want to see the results as other people do. 
5. The first two weeks I did the Total Body Cleanse by Whole Foods. It's just a high fiber supplement taken in the evening...no crazy diet pills. I've found that at least a few pounds should have been "dropped" a long time ago and it's just weirdness clinging to my colon. Besides, I want all of the nutrients of the food I'm eating. 
6. After 3 weeks the numbers stopped sliding downward. They aren't going up, just hanging out. Not cool. I'm sticking to my dieting plan but I'll add in exercise to bump this plateau. Not crazy exercise...walking. I'll try to walk 2+ miles a few days this week.
7. Forget cheat days! I give myself one cheat meal a week. It's Saturday morning breakfast. Next week it will be Saturday morning breakfast and next month it will still be Saturday morning breakfast. If you want to hang out, grab a beer and eat chocolate with me...meet me for Saturday morning breakfast. If I let my cheat meal float I'll have 4 within 2 weeks and use every gathering as a justified cheat. I have turned down amazing meals these last few weeks. I'm bitter and cranky but I'd rather be a bitch than get those 16 lbs back. 
8. You gotta count calories. I keep mine under 1200. 
9. I only drink water (Not really--I don't like plain water so I only use it to take my vitamins), green tea (I make a gallon of iced green tea and take bottles with me everywhere), and coffee. 
10. No artificial sweeteners unless it's Stevia. That means no splenda or nutra-sweet and especially no diet colas.
11. No sugar...none! Not a single cookie or piece of candy. 
12. No carbs...no rice...bread...potatoes...nada.
13. No meat
14. You're scratching your head at those last two, eh?
15. I eat 1-2 servings of fish a day. Not fish breaded or covered in sauce...go for fish with dry rubs and a touch of EVOO or a light marinade that isn't loaded with juice and sugar. Most of my fish is usually baked or out of a can.
16. I eat vegetables...lots of vegetables that are low in carbs. Lots of green leafy stuff and nothing beany or white...except cauliflower. 
17. I make a big batch of vegetable soup and boil some cabbage on the weekends. I make many meals and sides with it or make huge salads with fun vegetables.
18. I carry a cooler almost everywhere that contains: Several water bottles full of iced green tea, Baby carrots, Hummus, Celery, Cubed cheese of a good quality and 1-2 String cheeses of questionable origin, 2 Snack bags: One with almonds and one with pistachios (these usually go in my handbag), Via coffee packets in cast I get a caffeine headache.
19. If there is any chance I'll be someplace that might not have diet approved items I pack an additional plastic container with a salad of some sort (tuna, straight up veggies or maybe a salad with some salmon on top). I'll sometimes add a half an avocado sliced with a teaspoon of Cesar dressing on top of it. These tuna wraps work well...just use a toothpick to keep them from unrolling.
20. I'm cranky and I glare at people who eat yummy food and openly bitch about my hate of diets. Then I eat my celery or nosh on my almonds.
21. I avoid restaurants
22. I eat lots of egg beaters in the mornings and have come up with some pretty yummy breakfast solutions that are about 100 calories each. This recipe is also handy.

I'll post more later including some meal plans and shopping lists.

Now I'm going to make myself a nice veggie burger topped with onions and bleu cheese along with a lovely side salad.