Fast Metabolism Diet week 1 update

As you may be aware, last Monday I started a new diet: the Fast Metabolism Diet.  My starting weight was 202.2.  The diet had me weighing in every day as there was a spot for my weight every day of the meal plan.  Every day except for Friday and yesterday, I showed a loss of at least a pound.  WOW!  Per the letter of the diet’s book, you are to drink half your weight in ounces of water each day (example: if you weigh 200 lbs, you need to drink at least 100 oz of water).  By Friday, I was craving water, water and more water.  I just couldn’t seem to get enough.  And it was regular water (well, the tap water in my apt is horrible, even filtered, so I’m drinking bottled water)…not the sparkly waters I usually drink.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ll still drink those and enjoy them, but what first comes to mind now is regular bottled water, no bubbles, no flavoring, no nada.

Let me take a minute to talk about the food.  OM-NOM-NOM!  That’s Cookie-Monster speak for “it’s super delicious!”  I cannot say enough good things about the food on this diet.  5-bean turkey chili, chicken & barley soup, beef & cabbage soup, pork roasts, broiled steak, at least 3 different varieties of tuna salad (none of which include mayonnaise, btw), homemade hummus, loads of veggies, a good balance of fruits.  One of my favorite breakfasts is the strawberry French toast.  Plus, I’m branching out and trying things I never would have tried (mainly because I had never heard of them before this diet), like brown rice fusilli and sprouted grain bread.  Also, there are 3 phases that you cycle through each week so you rarely eat the same thing twice in one week.  And, right now, I’m following the sample meal plan that is provided for you in the book, so I’m not even eating the same thing 2 weeks in a row.  So, what I ate last week, I’m not eating this week. 

And that takes me to my next topic in this post: freezer space.  You see, each recipe for a dinner entrée makes anywhere from 4 to 8 servings.  You are obviously not going to eat more than one or two servings of that particular item in a week, so therefore you need to freeze it or it will go bad and you will have wasted all that money and time cooking it.  So, I portioned everything out into Ziploc freezer bags, then I bagged those baggies into the larger, gallon-sized freezer bags and labeled them so I know what’s in the gallon bag and then stuck them in the freezer.  Well…now my freezer is FULL!  Like, nothing-else-will-fit-in-there full.

So, I’ve decided I need to buy a small chest freezer.  I’m looking at a 5 cubic foot sized chest freezer.  I found one at Sam’s Club for $170.  A coworker said that he thinks he remembers seeing the same sized one at Fry’s for around $140 (plus they’ll deliver it for me).  And then another coworker said he’s got one and has discovered it’s not big enough to suit his specific needs and wants a larger one, so is looking to sell his.  He has to check with his wife to find out how much they want to sell it for (he will also deliver it and help me get it up the stairs to my 3^rd floor apt).  If I buy my coworker’s freezer, he can bring it over this weekend, but if I buy from a store, I have to wait until I get paid, on the 30^th…and then wait a few days more before they’ll deliver it (if I get it from Fry’s, that is).

So, I teased you at the beginning of this post with my weight.  I told you that every day except for 2 in the first 8 of the diet, I have shown at least a 1 lb loss.  Well, all those days of showing at least a 1 lb loss adds up to a 9.6 lbs weight loss!!!  That’s right!  I’m down to 192.6 now!  I’m only 20-ish pounds away from my goal!  About a third of the way there!  I’m so excited.  I know, based on reading the diet’s book, that dramatic initial weight loss is normal.  Also because of reading the book, I know it will slow down…and I’m fine with that.  the part I’m trying to get a handle on is my terror that the scale will start reversing and I’ll start gaining…like I did in January/February on the Shred Diet.  I stuck to it 100%, lost 10.5 lbs, and then started gaining again.  (update: I wrote this last night at work and have weighed again since...I'm now at 190.6, so that's a total loss of 11.6 lbs and I also remeasured...down 5 inches over all my measurements.)

Some non-scale victories from the last week.  I have said “no” to numerous free/offered foods at work.  My favorite non-scale victory came when I was grocery shopping over the weekend at Whole Foods and walked past one of their buffet-style food “kiosks” (not sure what to call them…but you know what I’m talking about) with prepared foods like potato salad and whatnot.  I looked at the food it offered and noted to myself that it looked pretty yummy…and that was it.  I kept on walking.  Previously, I would have been all like, “I need some of that!” and it would have been a fight with myself to not buy any of it and then scarf it down the moment I got back home…if I even waited until I got home and didn’t stuff my face in the car in the parking lot outside the store. 

A funny way I measure my weight loss progress is by how my fingers feel.  And, right now, my fingers “feel skinny” when I lace my hands together.  Weird, I know, but it’s something that helps me gauge my progress.  Same thing with crossing my legs.  If I can comfortably cross my legs, then I’m doing good. 

Also among the non-scale victories would be that I’m not obsessing over food anymore.  I can go 2-3-4 hours without eating and not be all like, “oh no!  I must shovel food in my face!”  If what I ate previously keeps me feeling full and satisfied (which on this diet, everything does), then I find that I’m not even thinking about food at all.  It’s awesome.  This is definitely one of my favorite victories so far.  There are really just so many pros and pluses to this diet.  I mean, I know I’ve only just completed the first week of the diet, but I really can only sing its praises.  I hope I continue to drop pounds and that the scale never reverses and goes up.  I just have to take it day by day, and, week by week.  I can’t get too far ahead of myself or I will feel overwhelmed.

On this diet I’m trying all sorts of things I’ve never tried before…things I’ve never even heard of!  I’ve never heard of brown rice fusilli, yet I love it.  It’s delicious!  Also, so far, I’ve had tuna salad prepared 3 different ways, none of which involved mayonnaise and all of which are delicious!  I love the food prep I do on Sundays.  I have always loved cooking and now, I’ve done it for like 10 hours straight 2 Sundays in a row!

The diet book has a sample meal map in it and that’s what I’m basing what I’m eating right now off of.  I bought the cookbook that pairs with the diet book and while thumbing through that the other day, I discovered that it has its own sample meal map that is completely different than the one in the diet book.  So, I’m going to finish out the first 28 days with the meal map out of the book, then for the second 28 days, I’ll use the one in the cookbook.  By then, I’ll have loads of foods built up in my freezer, ready to go, and I can make my own meal maps and not have to buy anything except for the fresh fruits and veggies and bread.

Something I discovered with the sprouted grain bread is that it starts molding FAST.  Regular bread takes a couple/few weeks before it starts molding.  Sprouted grain bread starts molding within a week!  So, what I’m now doing is taking out how many slices of bread I need for the week and sticking them in a Ziploc baggie and leaving the rest of the loaf in the freezer so it keeps longer since it’s not exactly cheap.