Crunch Time

OK, so that Tracy Anderson diet didn't last long. Turns out it was only about 600-800 calories a day, and so I was so hungry on it I almost gobbled up all the papers sitting on my desk one day. And excessive hunger just leads me to binge when I get home (very, very bad).

So, on to something new. Or, on to something previously tried and liked (and it worked!), but abandoned due to pure laziness and lack of motivation.

Suzanne Somers.

That's right. That Thighmaster, Home Shopping Network, Chrissy-from-Threes' Company blonde chick. She has developed a food-combining method called Somersizing. I own all the Somersizing books and have done it before. And liked it.

What I liked about it: great recipes, great food, and you can eat until you are satisfied and comfortably full. It's also easier to eat in restaurants. Once you get going, the pounds melt away quickly and you don't feel like you are being deprived.

What I didn't like about it: It involves a lot of cooking, which I enjoy, but it takes time, and fresh ingredients, which means frequent trips to the store and lots of cash. It also involves planning ahead to ensure you have the right ingredients at the right time. Ugh. Sometimes the food combining rules become a little unwieldy (especially at a family gathering where there are tons of foods that break the rules).

I am going to do it for the month of May and first week of June in order to prep for a vacation in June. I'm hoping to drop at least 10 pounds (although I could stand to lose 20-30)

Here are the Somersizing rules:

• Eliminate sugar, white flour, and funky foods (processed, fried foods, foods high in starch, or anything that can't be classified as (1) Protein or fat or (2) Carb or (3) low starch veggie or fruit)
• No sugar, caffeine, alcohol
• Eat proteins/fats with veggies (no carbs)
• Eat carbs with veggies (but no fat)
• Carbs should be whole wheat (pasta, bread, bagels, etc.)
• Eat fruit alone or on an empty stomach
• Do not skip meals. Eat until satisfied and comfortably full

So, you can eat proteins/fats with veggies (think steak and salad, seafood and veggies, full fat salad dressings, as long as they don't have any added sugar)

And carbs with no fat (whole wheat bagel with fat free cream cheese, Grape Nuts cereal with nonfat milk, whole wheat tortillas with veggies and fat-free cheese) Suzanne recommends eating the carbs in the a.m. so you have all day to burn them off. While it is easier to eat Protein/Fat/Veggies meals all the time, you do need to get the carbs in - they are a good source of fiber.

So, as an example, yesterday I had:
Breakfast: Grape Nuts cereal with nonfat milk
Lunch: Salad bar veggies with oil and vinegar, 1 piece of roast turkey (no gravy!)
Dinner: Piece of grilled chicken with steamed broccoli

and today I've had:
Breakfast: veggie omelet with swiss cheese & bacon (Pro/Fats & veggies)
Lunch : salad with grilled shrimp, scallops and calamari, saffron vinaigrette dressing (Pro/Fats & veggies)

I've also gone cold turkey off the fountain Cokes. I'm drinking flavored seltzer water instead (0 calories, 0 sugar). I hope I develop a taste for it.

Tonight will be a challenge. We go right from work to my son's T-ball game, where there is a concession stand offering hot dogs and pizza. This is where the thinking ahead comes into play, and I'm not good at it. A soft pretzel would be a fat-free choice but not whole wheat.

I do enjoy eating this way. I don't feel bloated, feel satisfed after a meal, and at the appropriate time, hungry for the next one. I don't feel tired or sluggish in the afternoon. And, weighing myself this morning, I looked to be down about a pound and a half. (Could be just water weight though!)

I'll weigh back in on Monday, hopefully with results.