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On February 22, 2012, the first day of Lent, I gave up eating dessert (for myself) and red meat (to be supportive of my husband's Lent sacrifice).
On February 23, 2012, I met with a personal trainer for the first time and he convinced me to take my dessert sacrifice a bit further and give up all carbs.
"All carbs?! Are you crazy?!" Lol. At least, those were my initial thoughts and my husband's initial exclamations. My husband, who has never met my personal trainer, immediately thought this was too extreme and that he would never be able to adhere to a diet of no carbs...and that he didn't like this guy, haha. He has since reconsidered, as we have both been able to drop 4-5 pounds with virtually no exercise.
I know that the weight would probably drop off faster if we were to implement a more regular exercise routine that includes not only cardio, but also strenuous anaerobic exercise and weight lifting. In fact, my personal trainer stressed that I should be doing less cardio and more weight lifting followed by strenuous anaerobic exercise THEN the cardio. However, he is out of town the entire month of March 2012 and failed to show me any proper lifting exercises before he left. He wants me to spend this month focusing on getting my diet straight so that I am not ravenous all the time when he starts working me out.
With all of that said, I must confess -- my husband and I did modify our "no carb" diet slightly, finding that quitting cold turkey was not working for us. We went a full week existing solely on lean protein (turkey, chicken, and eggs), vegetables, and fruit before we found ourselves really "jonesing" for some bread and ended up eating french toast for dinner. What we have decided is that we can have a small (2/3 cup) portion of carbs with one meal a day, as long as we exercise that day. If we are not going to exercise, we cannot eat the carbs. We also realize that, some days, it's just impossible to find the time to exercise. So, we have made the exception that if we cannot exercise the same day we consume the carbs, then the next day we are able to work out, we are not allowed the "reward" of eating carbs.
So far, it seems to be working for both of us. We are quite content to continue existing on our strict diet of lean proteins and produce, so long as we know that we can have a small break once in a while. In terms of Lent, however, we are very careful to only break our dessert and red meat fasts on Sundays, as is allowed during Lent as small celebrations leading up to Easter.
I'm happy to announce that, as of this morning's weigh-in, I have finally broken through the plateau of 176 lbs. for a weigh-in of 175.6. Here's hoping that the weight continues to slowly melt away. =)
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