Dieting.....ho hum....

Okay here's the new diet as promised......I was thinking that I wouldn't start in Ramadan, but then I changed my mind. Since I am going to be fasting, I worry that when it is time to iftar, that I'll pig out. I did this diet last summer....I started Mar 29, 2005. I printed off a copy of Oprah's boot camp and signed it on my fridge...(that's why I remember the date)....It's a Low Carb Diet.....even if you don't exercise, you WILL lose weight....but exercising definately excels the weight loss and at the same time, tones the body.....I'd do both. I bought a mini trampouline before.....it's a great thing to work out on, it's weight-bearing, so you don't injure your knees and ankles. I did a combination Meat and Egg fast/Stillmans/Atkins diet.....so let me start......

Meat and Egg Fast....this is done for approx 5 days tops.....You MAY eat the following with no limit....
*meat
*chicken (no skin)
*fish
*eggs

Boiled or Baked, use spices sparingly, use mustard as a condiment. Absolutely NOTHING else for the 5 days....drink at least 3 L of water per day.

Let me talk about the science of the Meat and Egg fast. Your body is used to burning carbs for energy. Which is great, except that we tend to overeat our carbs and ending up saving the leftovers. So by doing the meat and egg fast, you make your body burn stored fat. To make sure that your body is doing this, buy ketone strips. It's glucose test strips, where you put them into ur stream of urine....these are the same idea, and sometimes it shows both, glucose and ketones, and you can also just buy ketone strips. In Egypt, I bought the dual strips. So what you do, is by day 2 of the M & E fast, you start checking your urine.....if the little square turns purple, it's weight loss success....your body is burning FAT! That's exactly where we want to be before we start doing a real diet......when I first did this fast, it took my body 4 days to empty itself of carbs......I've heard of people taking 2...and others taking 7. So if you get the strips, you could find out when ur body is burning fat and then start on to the Stillmans' diet. Now when ur body is producing Ketones, we describe it as being in "ketosis".....you don't want those strips dark purple.....that means that there's a lot of fat being burned....but not being excreted....which means you won't be losing weight.....you want them to be light violet. So don't forget...DRINK UR WATER.....water is the secret that flushes the fat. Are you guys still with me?

Okay...so lets say Day 4 we wake up....stick turns purple.....(WE WANT VIOLET PEOPLES!!) so now we are onto Stillmans.......Be prepared that you aren't going to be eating ANY fruit whatsoever for at least a month.....and only diet sugar, okay? If you ate an apple, ur body will jump on the sugar, burn it instead of ur fat and then ur back into the M & E fast again. It's not worth it.

STILLMANS

NOTHING ELSE IS PERMITTED ON THIS DIET--NOTHING! IF IT'S NOT MENTIONED IN THE FOLLOWING LIST, DON'T EAT OR DRINK IT.
Eat all you wish of the following foods to satisfy hunger. If you eat until you've satisfied your hunger but haven't stuffed yourself, and then feel hungry before the next meal, you can eat again, but only from the foods listed here. In fact, you're better off eating smaller meals 6 times a day than 3 bigger meals as is the general custom. But you limit yourself to this extensive list of high protein foods.
1. LEAN MEATS,with all possible fat trimmed off. Includes beef, lamb, veal. Eat it broiled, boiled, baked or smoked. No butter, margarine, oil or other fats or grease are to be used either in the cooking or the eating.
2. CHICKEN AND TURKEY with all skin removed. Broiled, boiled or roasted, with no butter, margarine, oil or other fats or greases. Young fowl is preferable but not necessary.
3. ALL LEAN FISH such as flounder, haddock, cod and perch; SEAFOOD: shrimps, scallops, lobsters, oysters, clams, crabs. No butter, margarine, oil or other fats or greases permitted in preparation or serving. You may have cocktail sauce, horseradish, ketchup-in moderation.
4. EGGS. Hard boiled preferably. Also soft or medium boiled eggs, poached, or any type of fried eggs made in non-fat, non-stick pans without butter, margarine, oil or other fats or greases.
5. COTTAGE CHEESE, FARMER CHEESE, POT CHEESE made with skim milk and no whole milk.
6. AT LEAST 8 GLASSES OF WATER PER DAY, absolutely essential (10 ounce glasses). As much as you want of coffee and tea without cream, milk or sugar. You may sweeten with non-caloric sweeteners to taste. Enjoy all the club soda, vichy and non-caloric carbonated beverages you wish, as often as desired.

You can check out this link for full details.....I printed it..... http://www.lowcarb.org/stillman.html
I did the Stillmans' until I found my body stalling....I was losing regularly....but sometimes your body gets used to what you are doing, so u gotta change it up. The Stillman's diet is CARB FREE. Atkins diet, I was doing 20 carbs a day. Not too difficult like you think. A good idea is to go to www.Fitday.com open an account and start logging ur food. They break it down for you....I love that website.

ATKINS DIET -
Acceptable Foods
Acceptable Foods

These are the foods you may eat liberally during Induction:

All fish,
including ...
All fowl,
including ... All shellfish,
including ...
All meat,
including ... All eggs,
including ...
tuna
chicken
oysters*
beef
scrambled

salmon turkey mussels*
pork fried
sole duck duck lamb poached
trout goose clams bacon** soft-boiled
flounder Cornish hen squid veal hard-boiled
sardines quail shrimp ham**
deviled
herring pheasant crabmeat venison omelets

More detailed info is at this link:
http://www.atkins.com/articles/atkins-phases/phase-one/acceptable-foods
Now here's the most important....EXERCISE....I was doing a daily workout....I started at 15 mins...and added 5 min increments till I worked myself up to 30 mins. In the beginning it was murder and pain, but as my muscles stretched, I started to enjoy it. At least 3 nights a week, I added a second workout that involved me holding 5 lb dumbells.....This was for toning, and I usually didn't take longer than 20 mins. At one point, I started walking....and this is where I really started losing weight.....After Fajr at 6 am, I'd be hitting the pavement, and would take a huge walk. I enjoyed it so much. The early morning solitude, the nice green smell.....I walked for an hour, and walked about 4 km, brisk pace. Sometimes with my walkman, sometimes with my daughter. Did you know that early morning exercising releasing happy endorphins? No, really, I read that. And come to think of it.....I was happy back then.

I stopped consciously dieting in around July.....but was still exercising and started going to a gym.....in 3 months, I had lost 60 lbs. My scale was my new best friend. If I went and slept in another room, I took the scale with me.

Now listen, ur gonna cut out bread, pasta, and rice.....no fruit....just for awhile......after u start Stillmans, I'd give myself one cheat day a week, (eventually you won't need it).....I'd rather know I'm going to cheat once a week and discipline myself, then screw up everyday. I know there is more that I should say.....but let's just take it as it goes along, okay?

# 1 Print out Oprah's Boot Camp agreement.....sign it and put it on ur fridge....it's a great reminder and well worded as well. http://www.oprah.com/download/pdfs/health/health_200502_contract.pdf
# 2 buy yourself those ketone strips.....instructions on pkg
# 3 stock up on protein and diet pop
# 4 JOIN FITDAY.COM
# 5 GET STARTED!!

So do we have a plan here? Before we start, I want to know who is in, okay? I suppose some people would rather wait until after Ramadan....w/e you guys want....but lets start, okay?