Second KOPIK Meeting: Pre-Carb Depletion Week

Crackers,
We are getting some great feedback from those ladies that boldly began the CD week 7 days early due to scheduling issues. I think it is wonderful that we are all looking at this program with the mindset that we will succeed if we make it work according to our lifestyle and busy schedules... It will be the difference for reaching the goal.

Our meeting yesterday, gave us the opportunity to discuss proper portion sizes of protein and possible speed-bumps that will arise throughout the week of Carb Depletion. My analogy equated the experience to running a marathon in a week. You will carb deplete and as in a marathon at about the 20 mile mark you hit the wall... everyone does... and it comes down to the mental and physical fortitude that you draw on to make it to the finish line. Your "20 mile wall" may come on Wed or Thurs or maybe you will glide to the finish line. We are all unique in how we adapt and tackle the challenge, but the important thing to remember is that you may experience the "wall"... be your strongest to fight the urge to turn to carbs. Reach out thru the blog for support and be sure to prepare your protein bucket for the week and lean on it when you need to.

Meal Spacing is crucial since you do not want to get behind the Calorie Curve. Skipping meals throws your body into a state of survival mode. Elimating carbs from your intake is plenty of manipulation for your metabolism, you want to give your body the guarantee of regular intake on the clock so that the fuel is available to keep the engine moving along.

Get your journals to record your daily weight and food intake , take your body composition photos, purchase your commissary items, precook your proteins and store them in a glass container. (i.e.: hard boil eggs for a quick morning egg whites source, cook all at once your chicken or lean steak etc)

Remember, the norm for most of us is to fill our tank full of carbs daily to the point that carbs spill over in abundance... sort of like overfilling your gas tank to watch the gas flow onto the ground under your feet. This Carb Depletion Week is going to take your full tank and run the needle to "E". We will use up all the gas in the tank this week and then in Week 2 begin to manipulate the carbohydrates that go back in. As with our car, we will be putting only 1/8 of a tank in, just enough to fuel most of our daily functions and use it all up. With exercise, we will use extra calories and teach our body to tap into the "reserve" (fat) supply once the main tank is used up. That is why we must also combine this program with an exercise program as well. It will allow us to tap into that reserve more often than ever. Since most of us have always had a full or overflowing tank daily, the most we may have used is the top 1/4 of the full tank... only to top the tank off with the very next meal. It was nearly impossible to deplete our glycogen stores of available energy to ever start converting our stored body fat for energy. Now with this coming week, the Crackers are resetting individual carb thresholds so that we can then learn where our body's threshold is. In the weeks to come, our goal will be to keep just enough carbs in our bodies to fuel our mental and physical activities and to keep our metabolism firing at peak performance but at our minimum threshold so we can dip into fat conversion for energy when necessary.

So look upon this week as the challenge of not putting any gas in the tank eventhough you may be on "fumes".... let your KOPIK Sisters be the spark that keeps you going when you feel you may just stop... so freely talk about the week as you experience it!!

Good Luck and I will see you all on Friday Jan 16th at 11:45am at the MP Library Conference Room.

Always,
TT

PS: Posted is a photo of 3 oz of steak on a bread plate (not a dinner plate). It is weighed on my digital food scale and I also placed a playing card on top so you could see the relationship of size to amount. A fist or a playing card... as long as you are quantifying the amount of what is going into your body, you will succeed!