If you could Design the Perfect Menu?

[AmyinVail]

What would it be? I'm at a plateau and I think it's because I'm eating too many recipes w/ creative ingredients. Maybe I need to eat more clean? I don't eat fish or straight cheese, so I was thinking of modifying my diet to:

B - mock danish OR 3 scrambled eggs w/ cheddar cheese and 2 slices of bacon or sausage

L - 2 cups of salad w/ hard boiled eggs, green peppers and ranch or olive oil and vinegar dressing

D - Steamed veggies and either grilled chicken or pork

That's pretty clean, right? I REALLY want to lose as much weight as I can in the next 3 weeks and want to reel in my diet. I do moderate to advance amount of exercise; running 3.5 miles 2-3X a week, elliptical, weights and pilates....I exercise at least 5 times a week.

Any help/suggestions is most welcome!!!!!

[KatHavlu]

mmm... your menu sounds really yummy!! Girl you excercise a lot!!

[AmyinVail]

Sometimes I think I may exercise too much??? - and I'm starving my body of needed carbs? Heck, i don't know. I've just found this incredible high intesity interval training (HIIT) where you only exercise for 20minutes, but with 30sec extreme intensity to 30 sec. low intensity...I thought that may help over the longer sessions I currently have.

Either way, I'm a maniac right now about dropping this weight. I just want it OFF. I did Atkins after the birth of my daughter and dropped all my weight in like 4 weeks....taking much longer this time. Is it harder the second time around?

I've been making induction friendly cheesecake and bikergoddess pizza and I think those types of "creative" things are slowing me down? I don't drink coffee, gave up my wine....I'm at a lose? (of ideas! LOL)

[tammytomandgirls]

HIIT is an AWESOME change to the regular long cardio and it really should help you see results!

The thing I'm noticing about your menu is there doesn't seem to be much fat in it...how are the calories? Not under 1000 right? Have you plugged it into fitday or anythign like that?

Keep pushing it WILL happen!! :hug

[AmyinVail]

I've tried to use FitDay, but it just takes FOREVER to input everything. As for fat, maybe I can eat a few devilled eggs for snacks in between? I'm excited about starting HIIT, I'm going to start tonight. Have you seen results w/ HIIT?

[Perry]

Congrats on the amount of exercise you are getting! You don't mention water, though. How much per day? VERY important at your level of activity.

[AmyinVail]

Water.... :sadblinky

I don't drink nearly enough water. I try, though and start each day with excellent intentions. I drink maybe 25-35 ounces of water a day. I've bought bottled water to make it easier to grab and drink and might drink one a day.

do you think that more water would aid better weight loss?

[Perry]

Water.... :sadblinky

do you think that more water would aid better weight loss?

Oh, yes Amy. The single most important ingredient in this weight loss plan is water. PLEASE read this thread...

http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/viewtopic.php?t=55343

...
Muscle requires more water - Muscle is comprised of about 70 percent water, whereas fat is made up of less than 25 percent water. One of the many benefits of exercise is that you maintain and even add muscle weight, which in turn burns fat. As you gain muscle, you require more water and need to replace more of it daily. So water becomes more important the more active you are. Think of it as a cycle: The more muscle you maintain, the more water is held by the body and the more calories are burned by that additional muscle. So the more muscle you have, the more water you must have available.

I can't stress this enough. You should be drinking 150oz. per day or more. Try it for a week. You won't be disappointed.

[AmyinVail]

Thanks Perry - I'll do it! 150oz minimum for the next week to test run it. Silly to make all these changes and not see the full benefit from lack of water :confused

thanks again for responding...now, where did I put my water bottle.....