Today was day 1 on my diet. It went surprisingly well. There were a couple rough patches, but I toughed them out. Before I delve farther into my day, I should probably tell you all the plan I created for myself and how I created it, and why, because I'm a lot about process. So without further ado: the story of The Gourmet's Diet?
So when I decided to go on a diet, the first thing I did, besides give myself carte blanche to eat an entire order of sweet n sour chicken and with a side of an undetermined number Nacho Cheese Doritos dipped in ranch dressing, because, hey, the diet doesn’t start until January 3, was try to figure out which diet I was putting myself on. I have tried the Abs Diet and EDiets.com before, both with success. The Abs Diet, I gave up on during a particularly rough finals period when I didn’t have the time to pay attention to anything besides the 800 pages of Labor Law reading I missed during the semester. It was my favorite diet so far because I hadn’t felt deprived of anything, but there were too few rules for me. I’m a stress eater, so I would rationalize eating a whole CPK pizza because it had a salad on top, chicken, and I ordered the honey wheat crust. In other words, calorie counting or portion control was not emphasized enough for me.
I used EDiets.com during my junior year of college and had a lot of success. I lost 20 pounds in 3 months and felt great. Unfortunately, I gained all that back, plus some, for several reasons, mostly because I stopped calorie counting (as as much as I hate calorie counting, it works for me). I can't go back on EDiets.com though, because of one simple fact.– the Ediets recipes can't hold my interest for more than a day. They work within what I call a chicken with steamed vegetables model -- in other words, obviously healthy food that has no chance of offending anyone. Nothing against those recipes, because they obviously work for weight loss, but I prefer more variety in seasoning, cooking techniques, and types of cuisine than they provide. So what changed in the past 5 years, between my junior year of college and now that makes EDiets.com a more unattractive choice? I got a bit more serious about practicing my cooking skills.
I love to cook, and while that has been fostered and encouraged by my mom and grandma's awesome skills, it's only been in the past 5 years that I've really started working at it, creating my own recipes, exploring new cuisines, and putting a pasta maker on my birthday wish list.
So in order for a diet to work well with my current lifestyle and preferences, I need to be able to search Epicurious.com for “mushrooms” or "steak" or "polenta" and feel free to choose the most awesome recipe that comes up. I know I have to give up some things (no homemade macaroni and cheese for me), but that doesn't meat I have to give up everything I love about how I experience food. I like easy and I like convenient, but above all, I want the food I eat to feel decadent! So I went searching for a diet book that would give me that experience and surprise, surprise, none existed. I could not find a diet plan that was actively encouraging me to cook and explore and try new foods.
I had two choices (well, three, but not dieting isn’t one of them because I’m already about to bust out of my fat pants…and I bought 2 new pairs of fat pants because apparently my fat pants size is my current size):
1. 1.. Go to the Abs Diet or EDiets.com and suck it up until I get into those pinstripe pants
2. 2. Realize I’ve read enough diet books to know what to do and create my own.
Before I go on, my inner J.D. wants to stipulate something – I have no formal training in anything diet related or health related, and cannot be considered an expert in any formal way. I have, however, been on plenty of diets, have read a lot of diet books, and know my way around a kitchen thanks mostly to my mom and grandma.
In French, the word “gourmet” can mean a person who savors and enjoys food, but not to excess. And that is a quality I want my diet to embrace. So without further ado, here is The Gourmet's Diet:
I'm following 5 simple rules:
1. Have a daily caloric limit
a. I admittedly have a portion control problem (because I really love food), so I diet best if I count calories fairly religiously. I chose my caloric limit based on my estimated basal metabolic rate, or the number of calories I burn in a day by just existing. I figure if I eat only what I need to just exist, and because I do more than just exist every day, I should lose weight. If this doesn’t work, I’ll adjust downward. Anyway, my daily limit is 1600 calories.
2. Divide that caloric limit up evenly
a. If I don’t eat consistently and evenly, I will eat crap at the end of the day. It happens. Here are my breakdowns:
Breakfast: 300-400 calories
Lunch: 400-500 calories
Snack: 100-200 calories
Dinner: 400-500 calories
b. So my range, following this, is between 1200-1600 calories per day. That sounds healthy. I’ll count those calories with a Livestrong.com Daily Plate tool.
3. Exercise at least 5 days per week, for at least 20 minutes per day
a. Self-explanatory, I think. Plus, I really do enjoy working out.
No eating at a restaurant during the week - cook!a. How would this be The Gourmet's Diet without a cooking requirement? Cooking will not
only allow me to count my calories better, but will help me enjoy my food more because at
each meal I savor the fruit of my accomplishment.
4. Plan ahead!
a. This is the most important rule. This rule will help me follow all the other rules. How?
i. Weekly Menu – at least one night a week, I will plan to cook something large and elaborate so I can have it for lunch and dinner throughout the week. The day per week will be determined each week so I can plan around my schedule.
ii. Prepare meals and portion sizes ahead of time so I’m never grazing (or so hungry I buy buttermilk ranch pretzels and eat the whole bag while I’m cooking…true story). I will have food waiting for me so I can enjoy it.
iii. Freezer meals – instead of frozen dinners, I will make extra servings of food I make throughout the week, specifically so I can freeze them and defrost them when I am just too busy or tired or lazy to cook. Et voila! Instant tasty dinners that are leaps and bounds better than anything Lean Cuisine makes.
And that is The Gourmet’s Diet. It’s an experiment, and I’ll be tweaking it as time goes on, but fingers crossed that week one, at least, proves a success!
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