Well, I finally discovered why I was on a plateau. .
I sat down with Andre and went over the detail of what I had been eating…I thought my adherence to the diet was good and I was making good choices. . ..oooop! WRONG!
I wasn’t eating enough and some of what I was eating was carb heavy, compared to where I what I should have been eating (edamame? carb heavy? who knew?).
So let’s talk a little about food….i want to pass on what I have earned
What we consume as food is used as energy and to repair the daily damage of existing.I am going to talk about the daily damage consumption and minimum requirements in a separate post..
In a weight loss program, you want to adjust what you consume for energy so that stored fat reserves are called upon instead. So you make a plan! You are finally tired about being overweight and are going to do something about this!!You psych yourself up! You get excited, inspired. . willpower is at an all-time high! The groceries are bought, junk food is tossed, gym clothes are clean and we have a personal trainer and a work out regieme!
Here we go!!
Day 1: Awesome! You feel good, no cheating, made it through a great workout, looking forward to day 2!!
Day 2: You wake up feeling weak, fatigued and lethargic. You Just need some breakfast and some advil to get rid of the headache and you will be okay. You get up from bed and just about fall over from dizziness. Breakfast doesn’t go down well because you are feeling nausea and you suddenly feel like you are going to kill the kids, husband, cats, dogs or neighbors for something that would not have bothered you yesterday. You realize you have not gone to the bathroom in over 24 hours.You barely get through the day without consuming an entire box of Tim Hortons’ doughnuts, a tray of chocolate brownies and that bag of Spicy Doritos.
Day 3: Wracked with guilt, you make it to the gym but blow most of the diet.
What just happened?
Welcome to Carb Withdrawal. This well documented phenomena has lots of press but is surprisingly unknown to those who take up the diet challenge. .Your body is essentially making the switch from carbs in the blood as a fuel source to converting fat. The problem is, our bodies don’t make this switch at the drop of a hat. . it takes a couple of days…so what you are feeling is the lack of fuel to run the engine.
What If you are prepping for a diet, you need to prep for this stage. It is going to take the wind out of your sails. . it will kick your ass and send you scurrying for the potatoe chips..
Water, supplements, water, rest, water . .Did I mention water? Honestly, it will get you through this. You have to accept that you are an addict going through withdrawal and steady yourself for this hard start. Get support from your friends, dig out the advil and coffee, apologize in advance for your crabbiness and tough out the 3 or so days that this will take. .
And don’t cave. . .your body will be screaming for carbs but if you give in, the switch that has to happen, won’t happen.
Check out my next post to see what happens when your caloric intake gets too low!!