After the glorious vacation comes the moment when your jeans feel very, very tight--in fact, you really can't wear them anymore, and a trip to the scales shows the dreaded 2.5 kilo gain (over five pounds). The spectacular food on that cruise--the cheese platters, the shrimp with a dash of sesame oil, the hot waffles with chocolate sauce, milk chocolate, white chocolate, and dark chocolate chips plus the mound of whipped cream . . . that I ate every day. I used the cross trainer on the ship, which made me feel virtuous and provided the illusion that I was burning "a lot" of calories.
So now comes the diet, and because my husband gained the same amount, as did our fourteen-year-old, we have all decided to suffer together, me on a reduced calorie diet involving loss of fats and wine, and my husband on the same, with a nod to certain favored dishes on the Metabolic Balance diet (http://de.metabolic-balance.com/)--a German thing, but American versions of it exist.
So for breakfast I go wild: two or three pieces of toasted bread with a spread mixing vegetable oil with butter; a huge cup of café au lait with two tablespoons of sugar; an orange.
Things get tougher around lunchtime. Yesterday I had a soup made of pulverized cauliflower, chicken broth (the fat-free kind), and scallions, over a plateful of spaghetti. Dinner was broiled fish (covered in tomatoes, scallions, herbs, and a half-tablespoon of olive oil, a huge helping of steamed broccoli, and less than a cup of brown rice.
It was good. I felt full for a few minutes. Crabbiness, occasional headache, slight nausea, and sleepiness are all side effects.
I dream of chocolate-covered waffles and piña coladas. I dream of hunks of cheddar on water biscuits with a glass of red wine and a few slices of perfectly ripened pear. I dream of coconut chicken ("Put de lime in de coconut"--also the ginger, the cilantro, the garlic).
On weekends, I will have one glass of wine. Not two or three. And maybe on little gob of dessert made of frozen berries, a dab of sugar, lemon, and yoghurt. See the food network for low-calorie videos.
First world problems! And they seem so very severe, too!
I hope you'll see positive results soon -- you're definitely trying hard. About two months ago, I changed to a pescatarian diet and have been cutting out starch. I've lost a little weight and have been feeling much healthier without the meat in my system. To keep myself from feeling hungry, I focus on proteins, so two eggs (fried, scrambled, whatever) for breakfast with a fruit smoothie (usually bananas and grapes with either apple sauce or almond mlik – fruit is so expensive here!). I've started eating less just because of this focus on proteins, like my stomach won't stretch as far anymore. :) Anyway. Good luck with your diet!
ReplyDeleteThanks . . . the headache is gone anyway!!
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