For most of us, we are seeing Carb Deplete Week in the rear view mirror... and we have accomplished just that~ depletion. Now lets bring the carbs back in to find our threshold... a threshold where we can continue to use body fat for energy but consume enough complex carbs to retain the much coveted muscle and keep the metabolism revving high.... remember, if we continue to deplete~ our metabolism will wise up to our strategies in about another week and simply slow down to a snails pace to conserve and survive. We will stop progressing in converting fat and we do not want to stop that process... that I am pretty sure of:-)
I have attempted to simplify Wendy Chant's directives on Weeks 2, 3, and 4. So check and see the photo inclusions below.I have recoded so that you can look at the code and intuitively know what day it is... I hope this helps. Please refer to the pages in the book that I have cited so you can be very clear on portions sizes and foods of choice.
Since our Crackers group has grown to incredible proportions, I have been having difficulty with sending out email to you all. My Internet Service Provider will only let me send out distribution lists of 25 or less. So my emails to KOPIK Club are coming back undeliverable... to fix this problem, we set up a subscription list that will allow me to batch email and it will also allow you to unsubscribe from my KOPIK emails... be sure to respond if you wish to be removed from the list of 60+ members of KOPIK. Now that my email list problem is resolved, I will send out the word document below via email so that you can have a nice clear copy to tape to your kitchen cabinet:-) Thanks for your patience with this!!
Have fun this week with carbs on board and do pay close attention to how your body reacts with them in the system. Blog and share your observations. Weigh yourself today (Monday) and not again until next Monday... as we know, it is all about the "gauge pants" and how you "feel in your physique". Remain focused... the hardest part about bringing carbs back into our diet is that the chemical reactions that come with carbs make us want "more carbs". So with that awareness, be sure not to fall victim to the carb cravings that may ensue. Realize the possibility and put protein in instead and always have water to drink...
Have FUN Gals!!~TT
22 comments:
Never in my life have I been THIS grateful for oatmeal!!!!
I lost 6.4 lb this past week, HOOAH, and plan to stick to the plan like glue to see my goal of some more lost and inches gone.
I hope that our other crackers have seen similar successes!
Busy with grandbaby day today so no gym, but WILL be trackin tomorrow!!!
Tracey, I cannot thank you enough for ALL your hard work. (((TRACEY)))
okay, where IS everyone?
Busy on a day off I suppose.
Tracey, LOVE how you made the code easier to figure out! Thanks!
Feeling a whole lot better than last week and looking forward to a week of working out. Yoga and pilates tomorrow evening, starting at 5:15. Would love to have any or all the crackers and kopikers come out and play!
goodnight all!
Well, Crackers...We did it! Week one is gone!!! Lisa and I are pretty proud of ourselves as we survived and over night ski trip with tons of temptations!!! We were both so ready for a beer when we got there, but by the time we were skiing and made it to the food court, all we wanted was water!!! Lisa found the low carb soup for us to eat and the breakfast buffet had eggs and other protiens and salad, and we packed out own snacks for the bus, so we survived!!!
I have also lost atleast 6 lbs and feel good about it. I am enjoying the change in eating habits but miss my wine and fruit. I am ready to start adding my cantelope and grapes back into my life......
Thanks to all of you for the support we share!!! It is so much easier having friends on the ride with you....Tracey, you rock! Thanks for alll you are doing to help us live a healthier life!!!
Crackers!!
I am so inspired by each and every one of you! Thank you for your appreciation... you words fuel me to invest more and more into our 61 ladies who are cracking the code...
I am so glad that my recoding has helped quite a few of you demystify Wendy's code in the text. As many of you know~ I am all about making things easy enough to use so we can use it forever. By making the code intuitive is the first step to making it simple and doable.
Please let me know if there are any other areas that I can help with with regard to the book.
Now that we have cleared the Carb Deplete Week, I am going to post on a weekly basis now and simply reply to all that you write to the post...
Thanks for the hugs!
Tracey
OK, Who bought all of the cottage cheese and egg whites????
Hello Crackers:
I'm back and I really feel so proud of myself is amazing I had 5 days with out use a scale and I use this morning and incredible I lost 6 Lb since monday that is great and plus the other 4Lb I loss in my pre-program I'm so sorprise how this thing work. I fell great, more energy, more desire for keep changing my life. I can not thanks enouhg to Tracey and all of my crackers sister never in my life before I feel that way with more than a hope, really is happening.
Today the more cute thing happend when I when to the school and pick up my kid, my dougther when she look at me she says " Mom when you get skiner" just 5 days I been away from her after that what else can I ask for it? I'm feel so happy and ladies we did it!!!!!!
But is still some more week to go and at the end all of us we are going to be the winner.
Kristi,
It wasn't me since I have worn cart tracks in the dairy aisle on a daily basis waiting and hoping... but if I ever do see it on the commissary shelves again.... I am buying 10!!
:-) TT
Congrats to all the Crackers...here..there..and everywhere!
11.5 pounds down. I am sticking to the plan but I find that I am HUNGRY now. Is it the carbs? The exercise? I am sticking to making good choices when I feel this way.. easier done now that I have rid the house of just about anything I shouldn't be eating anymore. THanks Tracey for all the encouragement. You ROCK!
Karen,
It is all you and your effort my dear... as is all of the success being seen by our Cracker Clan. It is about having the motivation from within and also the external encouragement that comes from a group of super ladies to keep you "focused" until the process becomes second nature. We are all talking about it in the gym, around the community and it is making a huge impact on our lives and the lives of folks around us. Our spouses may not have totally embraced "the code" but just thru our lifestyle changes, many spouses are beginning to eat cleaner and see the direct benefit of meal spacing and carb macronutrient manipulation. Our way of life and the quality that it brings is gaining speed with each passing day!!
To Karen and to all of the Crackers, I say YOU ARE MY HEROES!!
Stay strong and focused!!
Always,
Tracey
PS: Karen, if you are hungry~ put in protein! and Yes, it is your newly re-introduced exercise regiment and also your body running on different fuel that is taking more energy than normal... all adding to your calorie deficit. You just want to be sure to get in enough so that your body does not perceive the deficit as starvation and then slow down your metabolism. We want to keep everything revved, so put in those foods that your know your body requires to rebuild the muscle that is being torn down in the gym...
See you at 5am:-)
FYI....The cottage cheese has returned as have the egg whites....
What time is the meeting Friday?
Hello Crackers:
Today was an ok Day a lot of energy but know I'm hungry. Probably is because I didn't eat that much for dinner I coook something for my friend Teresa she is flyng tomorrow :( But well was all food than is no goog in our program so just a eat a little bit. I have a question can we eat yogurt? Is any number about the fat, carb than we need to respect?
or is just small portion? I'm not sure is an doing the right thing. Well see you all around. And for all of you are adict to weigth yourself the best thing than you can do is put the scale in your storage room and take it just one day a the week. :)
Kristi,
I will be at the library at noon on Friday... hope to see loads of crackers there!
:-) TT
Viv,
I have had ladies asking for clarification on portion sizes and how many carbs can you have on carb days? Since I haven't found definitive guidelines on it in the book... and maybe I just keep missing it so if you have it then please share it! What I usually do is take 1/4th of my current body weight and this is my portion size of carbs in grams per meal. So on an E2 day like tomorrow... I need to take in 35 grams of carbs at each of my two early meals. (My body weight of 140 divided by 4 = 35... along with my 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight...
So if you continue to lose weekly, then keep this ratio. If you are losing or if you are gaining more than 1-2 pounds per week...then we need to adjust your macronutrient ratios in accordance to your needs.
For now, use this formula as a way of quantifying your needs until your body tells us otherwise.
Hope that info helps...
Always,
Tracey
Hi everyone. I am on day 12 and feel really good. The two days with 2 servings of starches made life seem back to normal. I have made the power pancakes more than once, and while I would not exactly call it a pancake it is really good. I also added protein powder to it to up my proteins and it still tasted pretty good. THe cinnamon and nutmeg are key. Thanks for the carb count Tracey - my numbers were pretty close to your percentages when I added them up, but then I have the miscellaneous veggie carbs and milk carbs that I also have to add in from later in the day. So my numbers end up going higher - I guess the scale will tell me at the end of the week if I am eating too many carbs. Thanks for the support and I can't believe there are 60 people doing this - that is so awesome.
Laurie
Hey Gals!!
I just had a moment to look ahead on our weekly plan and both Saturday and Sunday are L2 Carb Up days... weeeeeeeee! Just remember to keep your carbs in proportion by dividing your weight by 4 and then eating that much in grams of carbohydrate at each of your 2 late servings.... and really try to keep the carbs complex and clean. Air popped pop corn... the PX sells the Presto PowerPop Microwave Multi-Popper with the powercup concentrator disc that pops nearly every kernel.
I place my handful of popcorn on the powercup disc and then I spray it liberally with Parkay Butter spray and then I sprinkle it with popcorn salt and then I place it in the microwave until the popping starts to fade... What a wonderful treat on a Friday or Saturday night and you add no fat, oils or butter. Nothing but popcorn with butter flavor and salt.
Nutritional Breakout:
1 cup popped:
Jolly Time Popcorn / Pop Secret
Calories: 20 / 35
Total Fat: 0g / 12g
Total Carbs: 5g / 17g
Dietary Fiber: 1g / 3g
Protein: 1g / 3g
Average serving size = approx 4 cups.
Have 4 cups of the Jolly Time in a Presto PowerPop and you are staying within your carb threshold.
Enjoy!
TT
my dear Crackers,
I am so overwhelmed by all of the good news stories that I am hearing from you all. The neat thing is that it is going beyond our little group and touching many other people in different ways! I will drive on with this plan as I travel from now till the 3rd, knowing full well that ya'll will be on this blog and I can keep in touch with you.
I have a few ideas up my sleeve for when I get back, so stay tuned. In the meantime, keep on doing what you are doing and blog, blog blog!
If anyone needs anything while I am away just shout!
giant hugs to ALL!!!
I had some serious questions ref some types of food so I went onto Wendy Chant's website and read some of the blogs. Here are two quotes from Wendy that I find interesting:
1) The first one was reference soy, peanut butter and yogurt - "We say no Soy on our plan. Soy promotes Estrogens that don't bind to receptors and float in the body and attrack more fat and raise your risk of cancer. As far as peanut butter goes if you want to get FAT peanut butter is the fastest way to gain weight. PB has lots of saturated fats but also a little known fact is PB also blocks the digestion of proteins which is the real problem. Yogurt you can have on carb up day as long as it is organic." If soy equates to soy milk, tofu and edamame I am really bummed because I use all 3. I also LOVE peanut butter so I am bumming about this too.
The second question refered to bad fats and how many fat grams to have in a day. Her answer: "I wouldn't worry about counting - think of each day this way
Carb down days - keep fats to a very mimimum to none
Baseline days - keep all fats low to moderate - you can have red meat, butter on your veggies but go easy on the cheese and mayo
Carb up days - you can have a little more fats and include some cheese and nuts but it you have more than 30lbs to lose I would really keep bad fats out of your food plan until you drop some more weight. " I have personally been eating low fat cheese and a few nuts so I guess I need to cut back. What I am finding is that I really have to think hard about what day it is and then what the ultimate goal is for that day. I think I might be analyzing this too hard, but I want to make sure I don't lose ground.
Laurie
Great Cracker Meeting Yesterday at the Library. Happy it was a day off for me so I could attend.
Thank you Tracey for your willingness to give so freely of your time to assist all of us in this journey.
Karen,
Your courage and fierce determination, along with all of the Cracker's, is what makes my role in helping each and everyone of you, so incredibly enjoyable!!
I am amazed with everyday to see the spirit of ladies with a mission:-)
TT
Laurie,
I am always thankful for your blogging and vivid insight to all that you are doing in order to learn you body better.
I have found that soy indeed doesn't not work for me on many levels... I find that when I use it as my protein source... it falls short to supply my body what it needs. Now when we are trying to maintain muscle and actually build more... tofu, edemame, soy milk are not high on my list of foods to put in place of the "solid" packed proteins like fish, beef, poultry. Animal based proteins seem to do much better than plant based proteins for me. Now if you like them... I would say try to convert to a different type of protein for 1 of your soy inclusions. Try regular skim milk instead of soy and keep your occasional tofu and edemame portions.
Peanut Butter... now we are talking the danger zone here! As with any carbohydrate modified program... you will find that your body will actively seek out a substitution for those calories and I find that fats are the wanted subsitute... as many of you ladies may be seeing in the coming weeks~ if you haven't already!
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE PEANUT BUTTER~ and with that said, I understand what Wendy is conveying but also have to be realistic. There is little to no way I could or would want to eliminate PB from my intake. What I try to do is make sure that it is a "stand alone" intake. In other words... I try not to "waste" a perfectly good source of protein by overindulging in peanut butter with it. By now we are all starting to realize that it is not the way we do business any longer~ we dont overindulge in any one thing. Now mind you, you are being supplied with the Essential Fats that the peanut butter gives you so I have always kept it in my diet in strict moderation. I find that it is the one food that if I let it, it can add fat to my frame in a heartbeat. So take it slow and read your physique in relationship to your intake.
As with all of what we are doing~ you can take the chemical interactions of foods in relationship to our wanted outcome to the extreme. And what I keep coming back to is~ what is your goal? You must always realize that if you are going to continue to fuel your body in this manner for your life, then you must make it "fit" you. If stepping out onto the competitive bodybuilding stage is your goal, then by all means, take the chemical science of nutrition to the limit to achieve the physique you quest for to be competitive. If you want to live a healthier, stronger life in a body that is well and fit??? Then make this way of macronutrient manipulation and intake, a way of life that is easily done. Ultimately, I want you (...and You want You) to look at it and not even think twice about your choices and why you are making them.
Laurie~
You are right on target with the way you rationalize the modifications and inclusions in your daily intake... simply watch the scale and let your body tell you what works and what doesn't. You just have to learn that knowing exactly what is going in and your body's reaction to that fuel is the key!!
So girl…try to keep your frustration to a minimum by adapting the intake to your lifestyle and stay in the game... continue to be a stalwart of the Cracker blog... I love your questions and I hope I can lend clarity when needed:-)
Always,
Trace
Thanks Tracey. I had a great workout today and felt great. I am sending my workout logs to my workout partner in VA. She is preparing to enter a bodybuilding contest so she does not cut me any slack.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I find it really interesting to figure this stuff out. I have been re-reading my Eating Clean books by Tosca Reno and am able to use some of her recipes.
I looked for the Presto popcorn popper but can only get it from Amazon so will have to wait for it until next week. So while you suffer from the cottage cheese and egg white shortage at the commissary, your PX actually trumped the real world of Walmart and Target over here. Hope you enjoyed your popcorn!!!
Laurie
Laurie,
I am so pleased that you are enjoying the whole process of learning the science of your body...
It is something that I have found to be the most challenging part of manipulating my physique. It is pretty amazing how we are put together...
and the idea of our Post Exchange actually carrying a product that Walmart does not~ WoW! I hope your Presto Popper comes soon:-)
Keep on Pressing Forward and let me know all that you are accomplishing:-)
~TT
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