Eating clean

[marianimal]

This may be a wishful thinking question but here goes....I am trying to lose about 10 pounds and I am trying to eat clean but I find it really hard to do. If I eat clean say 75% of the time and eat low fat, healthy foods the other 25% of the time, do I get 75% of the benefit as if I were eating clean 100% of the time or am I kidding myself? I was losing pretty well but seem to have hit a plateau.

Any experiences out there in this area? Thanks!

 

[Snazzy]

What has worked for me is eating clean 6 days out of the week, and having a controlled cheat day. On the controlled cheat day, I'd allow myself anything in moderation, be it ice cream, whatever. The further along I get to my goal, the cleaner cheat day becomes....pasta instead of pizza, potato instead of bread.

As far as plateauing, have you tried carb cycling or calorie cycling? An example of carb cycling would be to eat carbs with every meal the first day, carbs with 4 out of your 5 meals the next day, carbs with 3 out of your 5 meals the next day, and so on.

Calorie cycling is just reducing your calories each day for 2 days, then back up to where you normally are for the 3rd day. So, for example, if you normally eat 1500 calories a day, then do that for day 1. Day 2 eat 1400 calories. Day 3 eat 1300 calories. Day 4 back up to 1500 calories.

Both of these methods have helped me break through plateaus. Hope this helps!

 

[marianimal]

Thanks Snazzy--

I used to try the one cheat day a week but somehow one day led to two days to three days...etc. and it seemed I would wipe out all the good I had done to start with.

I had never heard of Carb cycling. I think I will try the calorie cycling first and then the carb cycling depending on the results.

Thanks so much for the help! I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[wendyjpa]

Snazzy,
Do you know of any websites or info on the carb cycling? I heard of this a few years ago, and forgot all about it. I think when i read about it it was very good for gettting the "cut look" when you need to lose the top layer of fat.
thanks in advance,
WEndy

 

[wendymin72]

Carb cycling sounds interesting...I am not cut out for an Atkins style diet or even a continually LOW carb diet as my body thrives on them it seems but the cycling sounds like some thing I could handle...I'll have to write that down for future use! Thanks Snazzy!

Have a great work out!

~Wendy~

I smoked my last cigarette on March 17, 2004 at 10:00 pm!

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?WENDYMIN

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[Logos]

I am very concerned with nutrition, you may want to check the Zone, the website is : www.zoneperfect.com there is a lot information and an online cookbook. Jennifer Aniston, Sara Jessica Parker all do the Zone. It is safe and healthy.

It includes all of the food groups.

In a nut shell:
complex carbs
Whole grains
Lean proteins
Good fats, like olive oil, flax seed, fish oil, etc.
and of course portion control.

Jadore

 

[Snazzy]

Wendy, I get all my nutrition info from Karen Sessions. Her website link is in my signature. She has a forum that has a specific thread for nutrition questions, as well as one for articles she's written. She also has e-books that can be purchased.

The way I learned to do it, is I bought e-consultations from her. She sends me my weekly diet plan, based upon my past week's results. She's helping me get to contest size this way. So I know it works, but I don't have a link to a specific article on it.

Basically, it works like I stated in my original reply, decreasing the grams of carbs every day, then starting all over at the highest level again. The most I have ever cut carbs completely out is 3 days. And that's just "starchy" carbs....green veggies never go away.

I hope this helps some. I'm sorry I don't have more info for you!