It's time for a change

It's that time of the year when I like to reflect on my diet and see what changes I could/should make going forward. Not only I can see the numbers on the scale going up as the workout volume is going down, but just like the previous times that I gave myself challenges, I know what my issues are and once more, I need to get the upper hand on them. I have talked about my sugar and carbs intake before, and while it's nothing too alarming, I know that these two don't play nice with my body. Besides, even though I may be in the best shape of my life (fitness wise), it's not an excuse for filling my body with empty calories and this is the one trend that I am trying to reverse. I have friends on every diet spectrum possible and while their efforts in sticking with a method are really inspiring, I do not believe that I could make such drastic changes without making it so much harder for my family. We also have no medical reasons for changing anything that we're doing right now (but neither should we wait for them), plus I do not believe that one particular diet is better than other (I am talking in terms of lifestyle changes, not weight loss). We have a fairly clean diet, varied and devoid of fast food, pop, processed foods, artificial sweeteners, colorants and other chemicals. We try to buy as much local/organic food as possible and limit our eating out. Despite my sweet tooth, I have been able to maintain a stable weight throughout the year and I even saw my fat mass decrease.

As you can see, nothing wild happened over the past 12 months. I am exactly at the same weight as a year ago. So now that's out of the way, let's talk action plan. I need to make some changes in order to eat at least 5-7 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, while reducing my carbohydrate intake (Tim Hortons, I am looking at you). I checked out the Paleo diet and I know that it is not feasible for me, because I have no desire to completely remove wheat, dairy and grains forever (everything but the cheese, please!!). There are enough populations out there that live to a hundred years (Okinawa Island, Crete etc.) on diets that are very different from Paleo to convince me that this is not the only answer out there. If I had a chronic illness that would justify it, why not, but I am healthy as I've ever been and it's not for having eaten Paleo everything. However, the fact that this diet forces you to eat more veggies and be more creative with your cooking, it is a good enough reason to try following its principles at least half a day, each day.

So this is what I decided -
From breakfast to lunch included, I can eat like before (including bread, homemade banana bread, french crepes, croissants, toast etc), but in moderate quantities. I will not eat my cheesecake or pizza for breakfast, rest assured. Bottom line, I will not move meals around just to justify eating junk.
Lunch can have carbs/starch or not, but I will try to have more often veggies than mashed potatoes or rice.
After lunch, I will stop eating:
-sugar/sweets
-dairy
-grains
-legumes
-carbs (as in bread, pasta, rice, quinoa, baked goods, pizza etc.)
-alcohol (only one a week, in the weekend)
-other sweet drinks

The idea that I can fight a craving until the next morning instead of the next month is much, much more appealing to me. Plus, most likely the craving would be gone by next day = win!

To keep me motivated, since these changes should also lead to some weight loss eventually (I put on 5lb just in the last 2 weeks, mostly due to marathon carb loading), I signed up for Michael's Diet Bet challenge. This will be my second attempt and I hope to be successful, unlike the first time when I plateau'd after losing 3lb.
I find the off season to be the perfect time to experiment with dietary changes. There is less pressure to eat enough calories to sustain a high intensity workout volume and I have more time to improve my cooking skills. I think this way of eating would benefit me from many points of view. But most important, it feels right for me.

After a weekend of binging on desserts (the Moulin de Provence bakery in Ottawa is deadly!!), it is now time to stop the madness. Not only I got really sick and bloated from eating all these sweets, but I also questioned my motives. I had none other than "gourmandise" (greed sounds like such a bad word). I started making changes right away, on my way back home when we stopped for dinner.

This was my plate at Swiss Chalet. No more chicken noodle soup, mashed potatoes or bread bun. An hour later I was hungry again, but I ate a fruit cup. I am on my third day and I feel that I already ate more fruits and veggies than in an entire week.
At lunch yesterday, despite not bringing anything with me, I went to the cafeteria and bought this:

I had beef with cauliflower and carrots in teriyaki sauce, and I asked for double the broccoli and zero the rice on the side. I also bought a cup of pineapple and put together a small salad (cucumber, tomato, egg, no dressing) for snack. It took me through the day alright, although I felt my stomach asking for food sooner than usual. In the evening, I made myself an egg white omelet with spinach, chicken and red peppers.

I went for a run and ate a banana afterwards.
So it's now the third day, I even went swimming this morning and I see no change in my energy levels and I had no cravings. This feels very doable in the long term and I believe that it can only be good for my health. I made those changes the first step in my "40 Steps to 40" (OMG I'm turning 40!!!) set of challenges over the next year. Now I only need to come up with the other 39.

It's never too late to try again

Remember DietBet? Yeah, that bet that I was feeling so confident about... confidence lasted for about two weeks, as I managed to lose 3lb pretty quickly, but then it went onto plateauing and that was the end of it. The bet called for a 4.5lb loss. So close, yet so far! I thought about not eating for a day, then sweating for 2h on the bike, then stepping on the scale, but I knew that was cheating, because I would have put everything back on the next day. Plus, knowing myself, it wasn't even guaranteed to work. So I took my 3lb loss and made peace with myself and my wallet. It's still a good start. Now, I am still 5lb over my last year's lowest, so I'd love to go back there, and lose some more, ideally to get down to 125lb before Ironman Muskoka in September. That's 10lb in total. That's a lot by my body's metabolism and my cranky thyroid. And let's face it, living with two kids and a husband with a sweet tooth (I still love you!), doesn't make it easier.

So, looking back, the DietBet challenge coincided with me starting a new training plan that calls for up to 12h of workouts weekly. Despite doing all the workouts and more, my weight loss has pretty much stopped, so I decided to crank it up a notch. Without going back to obsessing about tracking down calories as in the good old days when I was weighing 50lb more, I have set myself new rules for the month of April, thanks to an initiative of one of my friends on Facebook: eating "clean" for the month of April, whatever "clean" means to you. Since I am not a vegetarian, vegan, paleo, pescaterian or smoothie junkie, I will be continuing to eat close to my regular diet, but remove all "sweets and treats", as a general rule. I never really binged on those anyway, but they more or less contribute to my sugar addiction and I feel like a prisoner. I need to free my body and mind from the idea that I need those to live happy.

I found this graph that represents very well what sugar does to your system (food for thought):

Now, let's not get ahead of ourselves, I will never be able to remove all sugars, neither I should, after all, I am an athlete in training, but if I can minimize their intake to the absolute necessary, or eat only what I make at home with my own ingredients, it would be a great start. Here are my rules for the month of April. I've listed them on Facebook as well, but the more visible they are, the more accountable I feel. So, thank you in advance for the motivation that I get from you reading this commitment.

THE RULES:
-No desserts or treats of the sweet kind (cakes, ice cream, chocolate, candy, pastries, halva).
-No junk food (pizza, hamburgers, fries, hot dogs, chips)
-No pop (stopped drinking pop 3 years ago and haven't had a single one since). Irrelevant, but I thought I'd mention it, just because I'm damn proud.
-Red meat no more than once a week.
-Fish at least once a week.
-As little as possible white bread, pasta or rice, ideally no more than twice a week.
-At least 2 fruits a day
-At least 2 veggies/greens a day
-No more than 1 coffee a day (with raw sugar)
-Takeout or restaurant food no more than once a week, within the same set of rules.

EXCEPTIONS:
-Gatorade no more than once a week, use Metagenics Endure instead when needed.
-Homemade energy bars, when needed.
-Energy gel, Gu Chomps or Clif Shot Blocks when needed (I don't have any long race, so I should be ok for April)
-Protein bars (Honey Stinger), when needed.
-Dried fruit in moderation (apricots, raisins, figs, cherries, cranberries, prunes)
-Homemade banana bread, no more than once a week.
-Homemade french crepes, no more than once a week.
-Tea with honey
-Honey or organic jam for toast

That's about it. Limit the bad stuff, while increasing the good stuff. I generally have a "clean" diet since I had my gallbladder removed anyway, but I know that some details count. Being able to resist temptations is really what I am trying to achieve this month, and if weight loss or additional health benefits come with it, then I'll take them, it can only be for the better! I can do this!