Shedding for the Wedding

So your wedding is around the corner and you want to shed a few lbs? I did. I promised myself I would lose 40 lbs. before my wedding day two years ago. “Forty pounds no biggie, I have over 2 years to lose it! I could do two lbs. a month and be good!” Ya, somewhere between the cake tasting and the afternoons spent with the caterer, I realized that a year and a half had passed and I hadn’t moved a pound on the scale—in the right direction.

Losing weight is hard enough, add to the recipe (no pun intended) stress, lots of pressure, lots of celebratory drinks and cakes, a full time job of wedding planning on top of the day to day stuff- it can be difficult. If you are like me, add to it a thyroid problem and a hefty schedule of not-your-own wedding related events (other people’s showers etc) and a fiance that loves pizza and beer—it can be extremely difficult.

Months ago I decided to exercise more and start eating less . I felt better on the inside, I had more energy and felt like I should weigh 102 lbs…but when all was said and done I hadn’t lost a pound. When I hit my “100 days“ to my wedding mark, I decided to really kick it up a notch. I asked my fiancé for his support and started on the 17 day diet. It hasn’t been easy, and I haven’t weighed myself to see what (if anything) I have lost. But my fiancé has lost 6 lbs and we feel better. Not to mention, I feel like we could go back to our old “foods” and eat them in a more moderate way (side note: I’ve always eaten pretty healthy just TOO much).

Basically Dr. Mike’s 17 day diet is this: two servings of probiotic a day, lean meats, some fish, and lots and lots of veggies + fruit before 2 pm. It’s all about calorie cycling, so you change your caloric intake and foods every 17 days.

The first week we stuck to it pretty strictly. I will provide our week one menu below. Then we went ahead and had a “cheat” weekend (more on that later) and this week we are back to it, with some “moderations” (again more on that below).

Ok so here’s the deal—I downloaded the 17 day book, but I found most of my help on blogs regarding the diet. I don't really feel deprived and I'm not really craving carbs, I just want to be able to have more variety-- so we have cheated a bit adding avacado and having a bit of cous cous on Sunday night (rounding out a cheating weekend)...but I have made better choices: IE no bun on Saturday with my sandwich!

**Disclaimer: I do not recommend doing this diet without first checking with your Dr. and we HAVE moderated it a bit- so please if you are a 17 day dieter, don’t judge--by day 5 I needed a half a glass of red wine

Week 1 Menu:

So as I said, basically for week 1 you eat only veggies, protein, and two servings of probiotic. Since I basically eat the same thing all week, I did the first three days.

Day 1:

B-  ¼ cup Cottage Cheese, ½ granny smith apple

L- Super salad (they talk about this in the book, its basically loading a salad w veggies)- lettuce, green pepper, red pepper, LF cheese 2 tbsp, grilled chicken, hotties, tomatoes, onions, celery-etc

Snack- Orange (before 2 pm)

D- Grilled Chicken and Roasted Zucchini and mashed cauliflower (really easy to do! And once you are back “on” carbs you could easily add ONE baked potato and do the rest with cauli!)

Snack: Plain Greek yogurt, drizzle of honey

Day 2:

L- Chicken Vegetable soup- homemade. 1 box of low sodium Swanson broth, 2 cut up carrots, 2 cut up celery, ½ cup of chicken, as much onion cut up to taste, ¼ cup cut up mushrooms

Snack-Orange

D- “Taco” salad. Lettuce, tomatoes, chicken, lf sour cream, salsa. I also made a side of "slaw" basically coleslaw mix with some cilantro, and some olive oil for a dressing.

Day 3:

L- Super Salad again with homemade tomato soup (diet approved, so easy: take one can of diced tomatoes with basil and oregano- put it in a blender, and mix it with 2 tbsp of plain Greek yogurt!)

Snack- Cottage Cheese and Granny smith apple

D- “eggplant parm” (recipe to follow)

Snack- Cottage Cheese, plain with Pepper

By Day 4 we had to go out to eat, we had grilled buffalo chicken salads at our fav pizza and calzone place, Angelo’s. It was pretty delisc. I did stare down the kid with the penne pink vodka at the table next to me—but in reality, I wasn’t really craving a carb.

Eggplant parm on the 17 day diet is a sham. Ok, it is decent, but still. I read one blogger who said her husband from New Jersey said it was the best he had. I’m not sure where in New Jersey he is from but it must be a town in Kansas called New Jersey…because honestly, its filling and its edible and tastes goodish but it isn’t any eggplant parm form Luigi’s.

Here is the recipe:

¼ cup egg whites

¼ cup non-fat parm cheese (the only non-fat parm cheese I could find was the grated kind in the plastic can)

Cut the eggplant into ¼” rounds. You can’t get the excess water out with salt (sodium content) so try to leave them out with a plate on top to get it out.

Dip the rounds into egg white, then parm chese.

Bake for 25- 30  minutes. (I baked it on 375 and guessed). FLIP ONCE (really important I forgot to do this)

Top with LF marinara (I made my own, since most sites mention using low sugar, low fat marinara and obvi they don’t know this can be achieved through making your own very easily). and a Bit of LF cheese, and put back in the oven for 2-3 min. Serve with a side salad.

The other recipe I tried and failed at was a cauliflower pizza crust.. It came out eggy and weird… and thick and kind of mushy and gross. I feel that other people got it to come out crunchy.

I can’t figure it out…. If someone does, please let me know- I followed the recipe to a T

Our “cheat day” aka the downfall. Let’s just say we had a wedding so we called it our cheat day. Earlier in the day I heated up a Kayem Chicken Dog (ok on the diet…I think) and some roasted zucchini I had leftover. TJ wanted to really “do it up” on cheat day so he made a box of kraft mac n cheese. I reluctantly (OK... not so reluctantly) took a scoop full. It was the worst decision. I told my friend Mox about the scene at our house and she reminded me of the scene in Sex and the City when they both eat something bad and fight for the bathroom. It was THE WORST. We went sweaty and sick to our stomach to the wedding- where we didn’t cheat so bad, except with a trip to the dessert table and a bad case of drunk MnM eating.

So this week we are back on track.

Our dinners this week have been:

Taco Salad, with ground chicken with fajita spices, and tomatoes, LF sour cream and salsa
And Tuna wraps…

Lunches have been cottage cheese. I did cheat and have some avocado!! Avocado you are my weakness L

So far, I haven’t weighed in, but I do feel better. My skin looks healthier and my hair is looking better too….I won’t weigh in until after memorial day weekend…See my next post for healthy BBQ fare J