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Well, I have now finished the first week of My Weight Loss Plan. How did I do?

Quite well, actually, thanks for asking.

I started the week at 198 pounds, and today I weighed in at 194.5 pounds, for a loss of 3.5 pounds on the week. I of course realize that some of that loss is water weight, but I’m happy; I wanted to lose weight, and that’s what I did.

How did I do it?

First, I gave up carbs for breakfast. Every morning I ate eggs (you can read my egg post for more details). For lunch and dinner I ate a lot of vegetables and chicken and salads. There are lots of things you can do with those foods, so it wasn’t boring at all.

Second, I did a moderate amount of exercise. During the week I went for one 30 minute walk, I did one cardio session (30 minutes of walking and jogging on my Precor 9.33 treadmill). I also did two twenty minute weight training sessions.

Why only 20 minutes each? Because I knew, since I’m just getting back into it, my muscles would be tired and would need time to recover, so I didn’t want to over do it.

Also, one problem with exercise is that it makes you hungry, so I wanted to exercise enough to get the benefit of exercise, but not so much I just had to eat more to satisfy my hunger. (I’m using the Turbulence Training concepts discussed here earlier).

Week one was a success, let’s see how we do in Week #2.

Yesterday I talked about my plan to lose weight, and I said that as part of My Weight Loss Plan I am going to eat eggs. Here’s what I mean:

To lose weight, I want to keep my carbohydrate intake low, and focus only on good carbs. Therefore, during the week, I’m going to skip having cereal for breakfast, which is high in carbs and sugar, and replace cereal with eggs, which are high in protein.

Today for breakfast I took one whole egg, and three egg whites. (I buy the egg whites separately; it’s easy, and I’m not wasting the egg yolks. I like one whole egg for flavor, and the egg whites for volume with fewer calories.) Today I chopped up some fresh spinach, some feta cheese, and some black olives.

I mixed the egg and egg whites, poured them into a frying pan coated with olive oil, and made an omelette. Once cooked enough to allow for flipping, I flip in over and dump on the spinach, cheese and black olives. I fold it over, and put the pan to the side of the stove for one minute (I don’t want the eggs to cook so much they get rubbery, but I want the spinach limp and the cheese somewhat melted).

Then it’s put it on a plate and eat.

How hard is this? It’s easy, because I do most of the preparation the night before. I chop the spinach, feta cheese, and black olives and put them in a Ziploc container, so in the morning all I need to do is dump them on.

One word of caution: I find that with this diet I need to nd drink lots of water to counter balance the salt in the olives and the cheese, and to keep me regular.

Tomorrow, some thoughts on exercise.

One of the greatest secrets of success in every weight loss program is to fill up on low density foods. A low density food is a food that has fewer calories in every bite.

For example, a piece of cake is loaded with dozens of calories in every bite. A vegetable has relatively few calories. You would need to munch on a lot of carrots, or beans, or broccoli to get the same number of calories as you would find in a small piece of cake.

Eating low density foods works as a weight loss technique because if we eat a vast quantity of food we can trick our brains into thinking we are full. A big heaping salad looks filling, even though it contains few calories.

So start your meal with a soup or salad. Drink lots of water or tea (without sugar). And eat lots of vegetables to fill up and jump start your weight loss program.

This tip is a no-brainer. Every single book about how to lose weight will tell you the same thing: avoid junk food.

Soft drinks are nothing buy sugar and water. They provide no nutritional benefit, but are loaded with calories. Fast foods like fries and hamburgers and milkshakes are the same: lots of calories, no nutritional value.

Instead of drinking soft drinks, drink water or tea. Instead of getting a burger and fries, order a sandwich. For more information, read about weight loss and Wendy’s.

And remember, you can bring a snack of carrots or beans to work; you don’t need fries and a soft drink!

Beans are great. They are full of fiber, which makes you feel full faster, and maintains a more constant blood sugar level, all of which promotes weight loss.

Unfortunately, baked beans are served in a sugar sauce, and that’s bad. You eat the beans, the sugar hits your system first, and it’s game over.

Stick with plain red kidney beans, and throw some hot sauce on them for extra flavour.

Have you ever eaten a salad and felt unsatisfied because you didn’t get to crunch anything? Croutons don’t have a lot of calories, and they add a satisfying crunch to your salad.

However, croutons are really just toasted bread, and are often devoid of anything nutritious.

Instead, try slicing up some roasted almonds, or put some pine nuts in your salad. That will give you a crunch, and provide some nutrition as well.

Tomorrow: yogurt

Have you ever eaten a salad and felt unsatisfied because you didn’t get to crunch anything? Croutons don’t have a lot of calories, and they add a satisfying crunch to your salad.  And eating salad  is a great step towards your weight loss goals.

However, croutons are really just toasted bread, and are often devoid of anything nutritious.

Instead, try slicing up some roasted almonds, or put some pine nuts in your salad. That will give you a crunch, and provide some nutrition as well.

Tomorrow: yogurt

English muffins have fewer calories than bread. One English muffin, both halves, has about half the calories as two slices of bread.

Unfortunately, they are so heavily processed that they have very little fiber, protein, vitamins, or anything else that’s good for you. They are high in carbohydrates, which raises blood sugar, and raising your blood sugar will not help you lose weight.

If you must eat English muffins, go for whole wheat or muffins made from sprouted grains.

Tomorrow: croutons

Granola bars are very deceiving. They are made with whole oats, which are both nutritious and high in fiber, so you would think that by eating them you would lose weight.

Unfortunately, they stick the oats together with sugar, in the form of high-fructose corn syrup, honey, and barley malt. As with pretzels, this can raise your blood sugar, which can increase hunger, not curb it.
If you must eat a bar, go for ones that are high in protein, and low in net carbs to minimize the impact on blood sugar levels.

On Monday: English muffins

Pretzels taste great, and are even better after a workout when your body craves sodium (salt) to replace the sodium you just sweated out. And one ounce of pretzels has just 110 calories, so it seems like a snack that will promote weight loss.

However, pretzels have one of the highest glycemic indexes of any food, even higher than ice cream and jelly beans. When we think glycemic index we think sugar, and that can raise your blood sugar, which just makes you crave more sugar when you come down from your sugar high.

As good as they taste, go for fresh fruits or vegetables as a snack instead.

Tomorrow: granola bars