Monday, April 18, 2011

Is it April Already?

I can't believe it's already April.
All your life years and seasons and months are measured in semesters and midterms and school years; but for the first time in my life, I am no longer in school this year. As I started student teaching in the fall of 2009, I thought that although my traditional schooling was over, I would still be on a "school schedule" as a teacher. As it turned out, God was calling me to do something besides teaching and now here I am, mixing up months and losing track of time like the rest of the world.

Anyway, here is what we are focusing on this month in the Autry household:

--Today we started a new diet called the 17 Day Diet. It's really more of a cleanse, which Garland and I could definitely both use. I try to exercise 2-3 days a week for 45 minutes and Garland plays basketball once a week, but we both definitely enjoy some unhealthy food. Ideally, On this diet there are four 17 day cycles, and we are on day 1 of cycle 1. Basically for this cycle you can have veggies, fruit, lean protein (chicken, tuna, fish, turkey), two servings of eggs a day, two servings of yogurt a day, 64 ounces of water, and fat free cheese and condiments. Other than that, most food is off limits (breads/grains, fats, dairy, sugar). I like this diet because at the root of it you can still eat a ton of food, so you're not starving yourself, you're just retraining your body what it should be craving. We will also be working out everyday for 17 minutes (kind of arbitrary, I'm sure they picked it to be catchy with the title of the diet instead of saying the boring old, 15-20 minutes) which will consist of walking and using my elliptical. 


One thing I am not a fan of is diets that get you to lose weight really quick but then you balloon back up once you get off. My goal is to lose 10-15 pounds with light working out and then when we transition into cycle 2 (the second 17 days which allows for some dairy, some whole grain bread/carbs, beans, a little sugar and a little fat) I will amp up my exercise a little more, this way by the time we're ready to indulge a little (which I plan on doing at some point) my body will be ready.  By eating whatever I want and working out 3 days a week I had plateaued my weight and kept myself from gaining any weight for about a year. The problem is that I plateaued at a weight that's about 10 pounds heavier than where I want to be. I am not trying to become some super think waif model, I just want to get back to a place I feel better about myself and keep it there.

So today was day one and I had strawberries for breakfast with 32 ounces of water and then salad for lunch with cucumber, carrots, and light balsamic dressing. For dinner I will be making some sort of grilled chicken concoction which should be pretty normal.

My BMI (Body Mass Index) is at 24.4 which falls in the healthy range (18-25), but I'm at the top end. My goal is to get down to 22.5-23, which is about 10-15 pounds.


More updates to come as the weight (hopefully) falls off!

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