The Lunch Box 28-day Diet Plan
Week One: Day Four
Well folks I’m back to give my daily update and review of this the Lunch Box 28-day diet plan, and I can tell you straight off that it is actually working and I am beginning to lose weight.
Go on, take a guess at my weight today! Do you think I might have lost another pound, or do you think I’ve stuck at 10stone and 12 pounds?
Well, I am very pleased to report that ……………………………….another drum roll please…………
I have lost a whopping
3 pounds
My weight is now, wait for it
10stone and 9pounds
That’s a total of 5 pounds of excess weight lost in 4 days
How pleased am I? You can imagine how motivated I feel right now. However, despite my rapid success to push the scales in the right direction, I have had really strong cravings for carbohydrates today. I could have easily wolfed down a packet of biscuits or half a loaf of bread with bread and jam. But don’t panic – I didn’t! I have been very good. Mind you, I have used another of my coping strategies, which you can find more of on my website (plug). I have constantly had to try and distract myself from plundering the depths of the cupboards in order to find high fat, high sugar snacks. I really don’t know how I have done it to be honest with you. It would have been so easy to succumb.
Anyway, let me regale you with my food intake for the day.
BREAKFAST:
I enjoyed a bacon roll, two rashers of smoky bacon grilled on a white roll with some added ketchup. Not really that healthy but very nice.
MY LUNCH BOX TODAY consisted of:
Roasted vegetables; parsnip, carrot, sweet potato, squash, swede (I was very good and roasted it yesterday evening in readiness for today’s lunch box)
EVENING MEAL:
Steamed salmon
Pasta
Cheese sauce
Small slice of Apple and Rhubarb pie with cream
My activity today has been:
leg raises x 50 each leg
crunches x 100 completed in sets of 20
squats x 50
push-ups x 50 completed in sets of 10
side stretches x 40, 20 each side
and I used light weights to complete; 50 shoulder lifts, 50 arm curls and 50 circles holding my arms straight out to my sides.
Nothing I did really raised my heart beat. I took my time to complete each exercise because I haven’t done any for ages and I didn’t want to overdo it on the first attempt. It did feel good though to be doing something. I might even do another exercise DVD this evening. I have a new dance exercise DVD which I would like to dust off and have a go at – I must have bought it over 6 months ago. You know, those purchases which are made with all good intentions.
Back to the book. Today I thought I would take a skim through Simon’s book to look at what he has to say about Carbohydrates. Chapter 5 is where I found the answers. Simon tells us that the reason for limited carbohydrate in the Lunch Box Diet is to do with ‘working out what your daily calorie requirements are’. He does go on to say that if you wish to lose weight, the equation (what goes in must go out) must be adjusted accordingly without sacrificing important nutrients.
He does say that when on the Lunch Box Diet, you should stop craving junk food (refined carbohydrates) such as biscuits, crisps, crackers, white bread, etc. He goes on to say that a lot of the carbohydrates that most people consume are empty-calorie foods. Admittedly they do provide satisfaction in terms of flavour, but in terms of nutrition the do nothing for you. We do get reminded by Simon, that all the veggies we are eating during the day, are actually carbohydrate, but they are good types. I feel so much better now!
Simon boxes the Good Carbs, the Bad Carbs and the Ugly Carbs so that it is easy for us to recognise which is what! The good carbohydrates include; veggies, fruits and wholegrains. The bad carbohydrates include; cereal made with refined white flour, crackers made with refined white flour, pasta and packaged pasta dinners, white rice or packaged rice dinners, stuffing made from refined white flour, non-wholegrain breads and non-wholegrain noodles. The ugly carbohydrates which Simon strongly tells us to avoid at all costs include; biscuits, crisps, cakes, sweets, chocolate bars, pastries, fast food (such as burgers, pizza, chips), deep fried food (such as fish and chips, fried chicken), full english breakfasts and creamy, sugary desserts.
Oh dear! I think I should have read the book more closely before starting the 28-days. My free meals, breakfast and my evening meal, have all included something from either the ‘bad’ or the ‘ugly’ group of carbohydrates. I am beginning to feel my motivation wane! The free meals are what keep me going. However, I hear what Simon is saying, and I should try to make the effort to prepare more healthy breakfasts and family meals. This, I can see, is going to take a bit more planning than I usually make.
Simon does, at the end of the chapter, say that you can’t ever, ever have any of this stuff. He says that now and again you can, but just not every day. He says that the Lunch Box diet is designed to retrain your taste buds so that you enjoy foods that are nutritious and good for you. He suggests that if it proves to be difficult to cut out these foods from your daily diet, then you should try to eliminate one at a time.
Oh well, the man tells it like it is! I feel that I have heard it all before though. Diets are diets when all said and good, and they all really follow similar rules, calories in versus calories out, daily exercise will buy you a few extra nibbles per day and certain foods contain good calories and certain foods contain bad calories, it is really up to the individual to be strong enough to make the right choices and cheating is only cheating yourself.
Well, I think I might go for a late evening walk, the weather is cool but pleasant and I feel like I need to escape those ugly little carbs that are still calling to me.
Till tomorrow then, sleep well my friend
Chezzymac
easiestwaylose10pounds 