So I'm trying a soup diet this week. Basically, I have a decent breakfast (fruit, yogurt, or an egg and toast) then lunch and supper is going to be some kind of soup, preferrably lower in fat and sodium content than usual soup. Couple that with getting back into my workout program (P90X Lean possibly, or just P90X), I'm hoping to see some dramatic weight loss in 7 days or less. I'm hoping 5-10lbs. I seem to have this barrier where I can't get myself under that 243lb mark. It's annoying. But I'm thinking doing the soup thing, while taking vitamins, and throwing in veggies here and there for snacks, should definitely help fast track that. I'll see how things go. I weighed 246lbs this morning. I have my kids soccer game to coach tonight, and plan on working out tonight after that. See how things are in the morning.
Just one thing. Drastic changes can give you a quick weight loss, but if you don't change your way of eating permanently, you know that you'll regain de weight in a few weeks?
What will you do for fibre and vitamins when your diet will be mostly water and mushy veggies with no nutrients?
Well, I've already changed for the most part. Breakfast is pretty light and healthy. Lunches do I very rarely deviate from a basic sandwich and/or soup. In fact, for the past two weeks, it's pretty much been soup for lunches. It's the suppers and the snacks after supper that do me in. Supper I usually go pretty crazy, and I have a tendency to snack badly after supper and on weekends. I figure if I can get the body and the mind trained in a cold turkey kind of way, it should help me out. Go hard or go home mentality in this case. That way, when I return to a "regular" meal with my family, it will be much smaller portions. Plus, getting back into my workout routine, I'm hoping that will help too. Fresh veggies. Broccoli, celery, carrots, plus for breakfasts now and then, I have been eating 100% whole wheat toast with egg on it, and the occasional soup I will throw in a basic sandwich. And I'm taking multivitamins to help out as well, just to make sure I'm not losing anything in all of this. And eating fruit.
I love soups and stews. This is the time of year to gobble that stuff up. Venison stew for dinner tonight. For roughage, I cook up some winter squash to go with it. We Had a bumper crop of spagetti, accorn and hubbard squash last season.
Slow and steady changes for the better. I agree with Kain, incremental changes are better in the long run, That said, fill up on veggies! Bagged carrots, celery, frozen veggies, etc. You can keep yourself full and reduce calories at the same time. But prepare to eat 4-6 meals a day this way.
Gogo soups! My girlfriend's mom is a few weeks into P90X herself, but she had some free time recently to pre-make and freeze soups for the diet. I'm sure you'll be making the same soups as she did (squash something-or-other, vegetable, miso, etc) so I don't really have any suggestions. Just wanted to let you know that the smelled absolutely delicious when she was making them. Slurp up!
I love soups, but mine are generally not so healthy. One of my favorite comfort foods is a home made soup I used to make at the restaurant I worked at in high school. It is Cheesy Brat Soup. Here's a quick easy recipe. Cut up 2-3 bratwursts into small slices (or chunks, which they usually turn into). Brown in skillet with 1/2 medium sized vidalia onion. While that is cooking, cook up one or two small white potatos in the microwave. When the onion/brats are cooked, drain off grease and toss into soup pan. Add one can of Campbell's Chedder Cheese Soup base with one can of milk. Season with salt/pepper to taste. Bring up just to simmer temperature (not too much, as it can make the milk/cream separate and it will have a weird consistency) and simmer for 2-3 minutes. That is one of the best quick comfort foods I have ever eaten.... Very tasty and filling! Not so healthy, though... ~Will Courtier~
Day one progress report: -Down approximately 3lbs after approx. 24 hours -Ate soup for lunch and supper and had a little snack of some leftover pizza after my P90X workout (I was STARVING!) -Slept like a rock and bright-eyed bushy tailed this morning Had a good breakfast, brought some veggies to work to eat throughout the day. Cooking chicken for the family tonight. Might just take some of that chicken and cut it up to use in cream of chicken tonight. Temptation sucks. After my workout last night, I so wanted to have more than the pizza (it's thin crust stuff, so not as doughy and limited toppings). See how it goes today!
I just finished this and I gotta say it makes a helluva convincing case against eating wheat (in all it's forms). His position is that "healthy whole grains" is a dangerous oxymoron at the root of many health problems that have become common in the last 50 years. Everything from acne to obesity to erectile disfuction to various cancers, diabetes and so on. It focuses on what wheat has become through genetic modification, and how that recent tweaking correlates perfectly with the aforementioned diseases. The book is marketed with a weight-loss angle but the actual scope of what's covered is WAY wider than that. He cites enough studies and first hand experiences with his own patients that it's got me walking right past the cereal, pasta and bread isles in the grocery store now. He gives plenty of guidance on what folks SHOULD eat too, which is nice. I'm not looking to lose weight (well... maybe 5 pounds or something), but mainly I'm looking to preserve my health, and hopefully even improve it. I highly recommend checking it out.
Good day, and welcome to day two. -Lost .6 of a pound since yesterday -Between work and supper, I probably "snacked" a little too much (an apple and some cheese; should have stuck to some yogurt) -Need to just stick to the soup; adding like a quarter chicken breast to the soup made me too full compared to just eating the soup itself -Did 80% of my Plyo X workout last night -Crashed so hard when I went to bed I slept through my alarm but it was a good sleep Tonight, I plan on doing a weight workout AND I have a soccer game tonight. By the time I get home, I'm going to be SO tired...yikes.
Weeeee...day three. Even though I doubt anyone is paying attention, I thought I would log just for shits and giggles. -Down to 241.6 this morning. YAY...broke that 243 barrier....going to head lower now -Didn't workout yesterday as I had an hour of soccer last night, we had one sub to rotate on fullback, so we were playing quite a bit out there So, with the amount of food I usually would consume on a daily basis, my body was finding it rough. With the addition of working out, and not consuming much, my stomach was in a constant state of hunger, up until late yesterday afternoon. I had my soup, didn't take a snack with me for mid afternoon, but my body didn't really want food. When it came to supper, I wasn't really all that hungry, but still ate my soup like a good boy. After soccer, I knew I should eat something, but went home, had sex with my wife, and then went to sleep. And even though I wanted to sleep a little longer, I still got up and I'm actually VERY freshed. Had a 3/4 cup of dry cereal and some yogurt at work. Plan on some P90X right after work, eat, and then sleep. Please with results thus far.
Veggies, veggies, veggies! No reason to be hungry, throw some peppers, mushrooms, and onions in a skillet and make wraps. No or little cheese of course, but splash on some hot sauce and BAM! You're full for less than a few hundred calories.
ROAR...DAY FOUR. -DOWN TO 239.4...I started on Monday at 246.6...that's just over 7lbs lost. WOW! -Fit some veggies, granola bars, and even went out drinking last night! -Breezed through my P90X workout last night right after work...90 minute workout in about 45! Tonight's workout is my dreaded enemy: YOGA. You know it looks so easy, but some of the twisting and turning in it is painful. I MIGHT just switch to the CardioX option instead, but we'll see what happens. I will say this....I've been staying up a lot later getting less sleep, but the sleep I'm getting is GOOD sleep. Usually, without eating well and working out, I would be crashing at like 9 or 10pm on the couch, then I would get up and go to bed, and then wake up groggy as fuck. I guess it's kind of a "Duh" moment here (who would have thunk it...eating right and exercise...unberrievable!). But I've only been doing four days of this, and I planned on a week. I'm looking at it now and soup is DEFINITELY going to be my mainstay for lunches. But suppers...yeah. Having soup is good and I guess adding a little something more couldn't hurt. But I might continue doing this for a couple of weeks. Because I'm taking vitamins, and eating a variety of healthy choices, I might just keep this up for awhile just to see. The biggest thing is my exercise routine. Doing it at night, after the kids have gone to bed and stuff, has worked out awesome. Wife doesn't mind and in fact...she wants to do it too, especially if we're going somewhere sunny next winter...she wants to look and feel better.
So far. The first three pounds after day one COULD be contributed to the fact that I generally was just fluctuating between 243 and 246. But, overall...I'm more alert and awake during the day, more energetic (my wife's pelvis is hurting from all the jack hammering), better mood. I'm liking it.
Just remember, the pounds you lose daily like that are from fluid loss, and will return just as rapidly as they left. True weight loss will be a long slow slog of a few pounds per year. Still that was fluid you did not need, putting a burden on your entire system, so good riddance for bad water!
Personally I think weighing in every day can be counterproductive. As Goofus mentioned the fluid fluctuations alone can give you either a false positive or false negative reaction, making weight loss morale a roller coaster ride. I recommend weigh-ins once a week, at most. EDIT: Also, weight loss happens almost entirely in the kitchen. The exercise is a great idea as well, but good to keep them separated mentally. Increased muscle mass for example can cause the scale to move in an undesired direction, and wreak havoc on your motivation.
I think this sums it up right here: http://waterweight.org/ I'm actually consuming a lot less carbs now than I was before, and as a result, flushing that water weight from my system, especially consuming more water. In fact, the cream soups I bought (with less sodium and fat blah blah blah) I use water instead of milk to mix them. Just because I know I don't need the milk. But I'm sure once I get more and more going with my workouts, in a couple of months, I'm going to be down quite a bit, which in turn makes me happy. I'm sure I'll be down to 220 in a couple of months.
Weight loss is only a matter of math....more out than in equals loss. The fact that you're not consuming copious amounts of the chemicals prevailent in proccessed foods is a total plus. It also could account for the sore pelvis in your better half too :wink:. Even if weight loss wasn't happening, your mood and mental results more than make it a worthwhile pursuit. Keep up the good work!
So...after four days of no exercise (weekend was SUPER busy with kids birthdays and what not), and eating only one soup meal a day, and having a 12oz Prime Rib for supper last night (I was out with clients) I'm still around 240lbs! Soccer tonight, and then back on the exercise schedule tomorrow. And I've deemed Saturday as my "cheat" day or food, but still doesn't mean I'm going to go overboard.
So...just over two weeks into my lose weight campaign, I'm down to 236lbs. That's 10lbs in two weeks. Can't complain! I've been eating lots of veggies, soup, but still eating a little bit of eggs or chicken or cheese here and there. Been exercising usually once a day (evenings mostly). Progress continues!
