Two days a week

My son was reading a readers digest article to me.. it claims that dieters who dieted only two days a week lost as much weight as someone who dieted 7 days a week.    Since I am frustrated with the lack of flexibility on Atkins, I have decided to give this a try.   The article suggested Monday and Friday.   My question is/was how to do those two days and what to do the rest of the week.    I have decided I will do a low calorie, high protein diet on those two days.   I am researching other more flexible diets for the rest of the week.

2 things I will keep up:

- morning flax muffin
- dinner spinach salad.

Some of the diets I am looking at are:

Weight Watchers - can I do this without joining and paying the expensive monthly web site fee ? I can
only eat about 12 points a day with this.    My morning flax muffin comes in at 4 points.. which seems
like a lot for a 200 calorie item.  Spinach comes in a 0 points.  It seems like most low carb tortilla's are about 1 point. This is good.

Mediterranean Diet - Still need to learn more.

Volumetrics Diet -Eating foods that have a large water content.

Why I am keeping my flax muffin:

I would like a diet that includes healthy oils.  I know the Flax seed oil is a healthy oil.  Flax seed lowers cholesterol, it helps fight cancer( lignans).  It has more omega-3 oils than my fish oil vitamins and it tastes a lot better.  And supposedly flax helps with menopausal symptoms.  Flax is the richest known plant source of phytoestrogens.   I have not felt these yet.. but a bit of preventive measure can't hurt.

I find I feel better when I eat some lean protein in almost all of my meals.  So I think a true vegan diet is out for me.. plus I really like chicken.

Easy Breezy Easter

Made through Easter without too much hassle.  Did some high carbohydrate baking for family and a little low  carbohydrate baking for me.  This helps a lot.   I have come up with a morning muffin recipe.  I find making it in a coffee mug works the best.  It is a variation on the low carb bread.  It tastes great and is filling and full of fiber.. and not too high calorie.

In the mug, - I mix 1 egg( 75 calories)
                           1/4 cup flax meal ( 120 calories.. no net carbs.. about 8 grams of fiber)
                           1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
                           spenda to taste.(more if you like it really sweet)  2 Tablespoons
                           mix well.. if it is a little dry add some water.

I microwave it on high for 1 minute.  I put a paper towel underneath just in case it overflows.
I let it sit a minute then I run a knife around the edge and plop it into a bowl.  

Sometimes I add a tablespoon of cocoa.  This adds 2gs of carbs but gives it a nice chocolate taste.

For about 200 or so calories you have a great healthy breakfast food. It goes great with coffee or tea.

You can try using soy flour instead of flax meal, it has more carbs but less calories.  In this case you might want to increase your cocoa a bit, to get rid of the overwhelming soy taste.   You get a much cakier muffin.. more filling(at least to me), definitely you will need more water, I think the soy absorbs the liquid more.


Its fun to make and really helps with cravings.

Exercise... oh bother

Exercise makes me feel great.. it is get started that is hard.   Finding the time to do it and then just doing it.    I have found a couple of decent routines from Prevention Magazine.   This is a magazine that my mom got years ago.. then if I remember correctly it had mostly nutrition.. now it has a lot of exercise information.   The routine I am trying is "Blast off your belly in record time" - http://www.prevention.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-tips/lose-weight-fast-fat-blasting-workout
  The exercises use resistance bands and weights.  The most interesting one is a take on the old fashioned curtsy.   Who knew doing a bunch of good old curtsies could give you a work out.   At least the first couple sets were great.   I find holding the curtsy a bit helps the burn, and it is easy to remember.    The other one I like is the side leg lift cruch.. adding the resistance bands really helps to boos this simple exercise.  Try this routine.. it is relatively simple and kind of fun.

awesome brownies and pizza crust.

I made some incredible low carb brownies yesterday.  They are terrific. I like them best either chilled or heated in the microwave.   They are a bit crumbly.. even my dad liked them.  Here is the recipe
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/desserts/r/miraclebrownies.htm    The erythritol is expensive but worth it.  You will get a big batch.  With treats like these it makes the ongoing weight loss phase of Atkins a lot easier.  I have also been experimenting with low carb pizza crusts.  I have found that the ones made with flax meal, eggs, oil, baking powder, and a little bit of low carb coconut flour(optional) to be the lowest carb.  They are not terrific but definitely eatable and if you have great toppings you don't notice much that you do not have a white flour crust.  This pizza is extremely filling ..all the fiber from the flax.. You will have a tough time eating more than 2 slices.

I find that when I mix this stuff with the regular salads and protein and vegetable meals.. the situation is a lot nicer.  Remember to use the brownies as a treat.. not a meal.  I cut mine and put them away in pieces. that way I am less likely to eat extra big pieces.

Progress..slow but steady

Well my progress has been slow but steady.  So far I have lost about 5 lbs.   2 inches off of my waist.  Yeah.  1.5 inches off of hips.  not too shabby.   I have found some great low carbohydrate recipes.  
This one rises beautifully http://www.food.com/recipe/best-low-carb-bread-bread-machine-102631   While it is not the same as good old white bread, it is OK tasting.   I have also come up with a great chocolate cookie recipe

Cravings still there

Its been over 2 weeks and I must confess I still miss potato chips, french fries and bread.  In the evenings when these are the strongest I have come up with a couple of things that help.   Keeping my hands busy helps a lot.  I do this by knitting and or doing crossword puzzles.   I prefer the knitting because it actually produces something.  Put crossword puzzles exercise the mind a little.   My favorite way to do crosswords is on my sons nintendo ds that he does not play with as much.  I imagine all of the smart phones have apps for this.. but since I don't have a smart phone and this was free..  I also use the newspaper.  I find with my hands and mind busy I don't miss the snacks so much.  Watching TV without keeping my hands busy is a recipe for disaster for me.. just too easy to munch.    So other things to do would be crochet, macrame, carving with a knife.. if you are into that sort of thing.

Baking withdrawal blues

Lately I have really missed baking.  Pre low carb, I would bake at least two or three times a week.  Most of the times sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies and homemade bread for my gang.  They can go through more than 6 dozen of cookies in less than a week.    It had been a while( ok maybe just a week and a half) since I had made them cookies.    I gave it a shot the other day.  First I started out by making some low carb cookies that I could eat.   They turned out beautifully.  I got the recipe from http://www.ticklemysweettooth.com/blog/?s=pumpkin+cookies&x=0&y=0   They are terrific.    The batter is a little strange but  for low carb the cookies are terrific.  Doing this first gave me the willpower to make the 6 dozen of cookies for my gang.    If you want cookie give these a try.. you can order the coconut flour from Amazon.com if you don't have any in your local stores.