1 week and 8 pounds later...

I know you have seen/heard it.  There are hundreds of ads and commercials that state you can lose up to 10 pounds in a week, or month.  They really used to irritate me.  Mostly because it seemed that the rest of the medical community says losing 2 pounds a week is the "healthy" way to lose weight.  Although, I don't disagree that super fast weight loss may not be healthy, its probably not a good way to sustain a healthy weight.  

And then I lost 8 pounds this week.  I weighed in last sunday at 187.5 pounds, and now I'm sitting at 179.5.  If it was anyone else, I would probably call their bluff.  Last month I started doing P90X with a buddy from work.  I tried to eat better, mostly trying not to eat out as much and cut back on soda.  I had already gone mostly vegetarian since last Feburary, but I was eating tofurkey and other meat substitutes daily.  I did lose a bit of weight, maybe 4-5 pounds in that month.

Just to make things easier I'll give you a list of the things I did eat.

Any fruit or vegetable at the store that was organic

Whole wheat bread 

Whole wheat pasta

Whole wheat pizza crust

Ezekiel "tortilla" Shells

Raw milk cheese

Other organic canned sauce, beans, and veggies

Sea salt (table salt is refined and really bad for you)

Organic Beer (Bison IPA is really good)

Carrot juice, black tea, and water

Take a look kids.  Think about what you ate last week.  I pretty much ate the same dinners ( 2 nights of pizza, pasta, couscous with vegetables, burritos, and salads with roasted potato/veggies) that we normally do.  All we did was swap out ingredients.  I fully don't expect to lose 8 pounds a week, I really think this week was more of a detox than anything.  

And I don't want this month to be about losing weight either.  I never really felt like I was starving (sometimes at work I wanted a snack, but didn't have anything I could eat), I pretty much ate until I was full, and I didn't skip any meals.  I actually starting eating more for breakfast and snacked in between meals with chia seeds or fruit.  Some of the dinners (especially the couscous) made me feel full after less than a bowl full.  The "experts" would say I felt full because the foods we were eating held much more nutrients...I'd have to agree.

This week has me excited for next week.  I don't really have to be hungry, I can eat pretty much the same meals I ate before, I can wear shirts that were too tight to wear before (super pumped to be wearing my Ray LaMontagne shirt again).  My wife hasn't started to jump my bones daily, but maybe after next week things will change.

Are any of you reading this doing a healthy resolution?  If so, give this a try for a week.  I really think it will work for you.  It takes slightly longer to get through the grocery store, but I think it's worth it in the end.  If you try it (and I hope you do), let me know how I works out for you.