2 Day Diet: It's Working Out, and So Am I!

Beginning weight 11/3/13: 209 lbs.
Height 5'8" Age: 61
Goal weight: 165 lbs.
Total loss goal: 44 lbs.
Beginning waist size: 43 in.
Current waist size: 41 in.
Weight end of week 7: 194 lbs.
Gain/Loss this week: -3 lbs.
Total Gain/Loss: -15 lbs.

I came in from a bike ride yesterday, December 21, in the middle of a cloudy afternoon and it was 73 degrees in Charleston, WV. It was my first bike ride since October I think! I was wearing bike shorts and a t-shirt and I felt great. Bike riding has been my favorite form of exercise for a few years. Before I started the 2 Day Diet, I'd already been exercising regularly, so adding to my exercise regimen was not part of my weight plan, but continuing it is.

I started exercising pretty regularly when I started dating Rita (now my wife) in 1994. She was a runner then and in an attempt to find some things I could do with her since she was somewhat of a workaholic, two things were exercising and cooking. The running didn't last too long--she was out before daylight, not fun in January, and I couldn't keep up. Also, I was a much better cook than I was a runner. Soon our joint activities were cooking, eating, and sleeping together. But I did keep walking at least a couple days week, and after an episode with a stiff neck that required physical therapy, I continued using the exercise machines at the YWCA that were most like the exercise machines the PT had had me using to strengthen various shoulder, arm, chest, stomach and back muscles. Plus I added a few more strength exercises and every other day spent a half hour on Stairmaster or the elliptical strider to round out my workout. Bike riding during these years was something I did occasionally on my mountain bike, riding easy to moderate trails.

A few years ago I learned that I'd developed high blood pressure. Since there's significant heart disease in my family (my uncle died of a heart attack before the age of 50, his brother, my father, had bypass surgery twice before he died at age 82), it scared me enough that I started really exercising: making sure that I reached the target cardio heart rate for at least 20 minutes two or three times a week. After I retired a year and a half ago, I had more time and have been either riding my bike an hour in my hilly neighborhood or going to the Y and spending 40 minutes to an hour or more on the machines, getting my cardio 5 or 6, sometimes 7 days a week.

The only difference since I started my diet is that it's getting easier since I'm carrying less weight. In fact, I've noticed that the number of calories the machines claim I've burned has gone up, often by about a 100, so I guess I'm pushing harder and staying a few minutes longer. I'm sure that is helping in the weight loss, since I do not reward myself with food after a workout (sometimes a cappuccino at my favorite coffee house, though!).

Yesterday, I heard "What Do You Know's" Michael Feldmen, ask what most people would be resolving on New Year's. The answer, to lose weight. He followed up by asking, "how many of you have lost weight after a New Year's resolution?  Very few hands went up. I'm feeling pretty proud of myself and confident that my ongoing resolution to continue losing weight in the new year will be successful. Having lost 15 pounds already through the holiday season, which we all recognize is the hardest time of year to avoid eating too much of the right and wrong foods, I am going to continue using the basic guidelines of the 2 Day Diet: avoid all carbs for two days a week while eating a healthy Mediterranean diet consisting of small portions of lean meats, low fat dairy, vegetables, and some fruit. The rest of the week, add a few whole grain carbs in. I'm no longer counting portions or servings or snacks. I eat three meals a day, have one or two small snacks as needed: an apple and some hummus or cheese, a glass of V-8, a few crackers with low-fat cream cheese, some yogurt and fruit. I put one 3-5 oz. serving of protein on my plate at a meal and on carb days a portion of probably around 3/4 cup. I have as much salad and green vegetable as I want: green beans, peas, spinach, broccoli. I eat slowly, chewing my food, putting my eating utensil down, waiting for an empty mouth before taking another bite. When I've finished eating, after 20 to 30 minutes, I'm no longer hungry nor am I full. I'm satisfied, and I clean up.

This is a sustainable way of eating. If I continue losing 7 pounds each month, I will reach my goal some time near my birthday at the end of April. I think I'll want strawberry short cake with real whipped cream, but only one piece!