alligatorob
Respected Member
Today was an interesting day. I got a couple of good hours in at the gym and met with the nutritionist for the first time. It was a strange meeting, she came quite well prepared for me, I had sent her my recent blood work, 3 years worth, my weight history, a bunch of other stuff and she had me fill out some rather extensive online questionnaire things about my lifestyle, how I was feeling, sleep patterns and other things. She had obviously spent a fair amount of time studying it all and knew a lot about me before I got there. All that was good, but she seemed too whole earth or something for my liking, but I decided not to let that prejudice on my part hold me back, I will give this a try. I committed to a 2 week start, what she called a "Rebalancing Diet". This is just a 2 week diet, after which she says we should meet again and reevaluate. Some of the foods she asked me to give up are only for that 2 weeks, not forever. In a nutshell here it is:
She agreed that my weight swings were not normal, but could not offer much reason except that it had to be water weight and if I could get my diet "rebalanced" she expected it would get better. She did not seem overly concerned with it. She thought I was at a good weight, no need to lose or gain, maintaining was the right goal.
We'll see where it goes from here. Tonight was a real struggle, I met with her just before dinner and finding dinner and an evening snack that fit the new plan proved near impossible, with the food I had in the house. An evening snack of sardines with flax seeds was not nearly so satisfying as my usual fruit and yogurt... I ended up at about 1,600 calories on the day, a little lighter than my old goal and a lot lighter than where she said I need to be. Will go grocery shopping tomorrow so I can begin for real.
Upward and onward!
- At least 2 to 4 ounces of protein per meal, but no upper limit. Meat, poultry, fish or eggs are good.
- No dairy products, none at all. This one will be hard for me, a lot of my calories come from yogurt...
- No soy.
- A minimum of 6 cups of non-starchy veggies per day, no upper limit. She really liked the big veggie portions I have been eating, she says keep it up, eat more if I want.
- Some cooked, but some raw everyday.
- No more than one cup of starchy veggies like winter squash, sweet potatoes, yams etc.
- No potatoes or corn.
- Much less fruit, no more than 1 piece a day, maybe 2 for grapefruit.
- No wheat, corn, or other grains.
- No beans, legumes, peanuts or popcorn.
- Nuts, preferably raw or low temp slow roasted and fresh as snacks or additives. Flaxseed, and other seeds are good, particularly raw.
- Increase fats, transfer some of the carb calories I have been eating from fruit to fat.
- No artificial or hydrogenated fats like vegetable oil, margarine or shortening, none.
- Butter and fresh raw oils are good, virgin coconut or olive oil for example.
- Fat in fish, meat and nuts is good.
- No sweeteners, artificial or otherwise. The only sweet thing I can eat is in the occasional piece of fruit.
- Organic and unprocessed foods are best.
- Keep taking the Fish Oil supplements I have been taking and add a couple of enzymes. Digest Gold with ATPro and Beta-TCP were what she recommended. The vitamins and other supplements I have been taking are fine with her as well.
- Let my calories increase to something between 2,000 and 2,500 per day... This one worries me, if I am maintaining at 1,700 I don't see how I can avoid gaining weight if I add 300 to 800 calories per day. I guess I will try this for 2 weeks, but if I see what looks like real weight gain I will cut back down. At first she said don't count the calories at all, but we negotiated a bit and she agreed that for me counting may make sense.
- She had little concern about when I ate, how many meals or snacks, that kind of thing. She just said to do what I was most comfortable with.
- She did not think sodium was a problem for me, she said it was always good to not eat too much, but not to track or worry about it.
She agreed that my weight swings were not normal, but could not offer much reason except that it had to be water weight and if I could get my diet "rebalanced" she expected it would get better. She did not seem overly concerned with it. She thought I was at a good weight, no need to lose or gain, maintaining was the right goal.
We'll see where it goes from here. Tonight was a real struggle, I met with her just before dinner and finding dinner and an evening snack that fit the new plan proved near impossible, with the food I had in the house. An evening snack of sardines with flax seeds was not nearly so satisfying as my usual fruit and yogurt... I ended up at about 1,600 calories on the day, a little lighter than my old goal and a lot lighter than where she said I need to be. Will go grocery shopping tomorrow so I can begin for real.
I probably don't exercise as hard as you do, I have always been better at stamina than sprint exercise. So our calorie burns may be closer than it appears.
Thanks LaMa. On the food I think I will go back to myfitnesspal, the nutritionist likes it and says she will be able to see my food logs there. If that works I will be back posting the food the way I have been for the past year or so.
Hey Gold, good to hear from you! I do a mix, in 2 hours I usually spend 30 to 45 minutes doing warmup and some physical therapy things for my shoulders. The rest of the time is weight lifting, I do a typical rotation, back and shoulders one day, legs the next, and then arms or some variation thereof. It's all good, I think just doing the exercise is the most important thing, doing things that feel good help me keep doing it.I've learned some really helpful things over the past couple of pages of your diary, thanks to everyone for sharing
What sorts of exercise do you do at the gym?
Upward and onward!
