So I finally read the book...

So I started carb cycling a week and a half ago without ever reading the book about it, just skimming the blog post on Chris Powell's site... Today I finally read the book. 

Overall the book is ok... however it wasn't the amazing, life changing thing I was expecting.  First, it has a lot less information than I was anticipating.  There are a lot of success stories.  While I think its a creative way to start each chapter, all the success stories are these depressing, my life was in shambles and I weighed 400 pounds stories.  The book doesn't really address people like me who are pretty fit and just looking to loose a few pounds.  I just don't know that carb cycling is what I'm looking for long term. 

I think in the last week and a half the good things it has done for me are paying attention to serving sizes and macro nutrients (carbs, fat, protein).  I've also eatten A TON more veggies then I usually do (I tend to stick to fruits).  Some good things I anticipate it doing for me: quick workouts every morning to get the day started.

So let me start by telling you that I have not been doing things right:

- You're supposed to start each week day with a 9 minute workout (and he actually provides 20 different workouts so you never have to repeat one all month)

- You're also supposed to do cardio 5 days a week... just not possible with my time schedule

- I have been eating fats (mostly peanut butter) everyday instead of just on low carb days

- I have not been having protein with every snack

- Some days I only have 4 meals instead of 5 (they are still 3 hours apart but I just don't get to the 5th one because I wake up late and still go to bed around the same time on weekends)

Going forward things I am going to try to commit to:

- Doing the 9 minute workout in the morning

- Planning more carefully to avoid fats on high carb days (mostly- sometimes a girl just needs cheese on a piece of chicken or a sandwich) and getting in more protein

- Cardio 3 days a week 

I like that Powell has different carb cycling options in his book "Choose More, Loose More for Life."  I am going to stick with the classic for now (high, low, high, low, high, low, Reward day) but will probably switch to the easy cycle (same as the classic but you get 1 reward meal on each high carb day) or the fit cycle (high, high, low, high, high, low, reward) once I loose 5 to 10 pounds.  I get the science behind carb cycling, and I also just think it makes good sense to flush out your system with more veggies and less carbs every few days.  I'm just not sure that its going to be sustainable for me.  I need wine and ice cream and chocolate on a fairly regular basis. In the short term, I definitely need to get more creative with my planning.  I'm really bored with chicken and brown rice.  Last week I did ok with BBQ chicken and chicken parmesean but I need to do a little bit more (turkey burgers, maybe tofu, burritos- which means I need to buy whole wheat tortillas).

Saturday's are my reward days so I really only have 3 days left to plan for this week.  I've kind of been muddling along since Sunday. Ok.. tonight I'm going to plan for wed- fri.  Starting tomorrow I am going to do the 9 minute missions (that's what he calls the workouts in his book) in the morning on week days.  I am going to attempt to get in 3 runs a week, but will not beat myself up if I don't since I still have boot camp, power hour at the gym, and hiking with friends. Tomorrow I had planned to run but since its still snowing its doubtful that will happen... I would have to run in the street since sidewalks are not cleared and I would probably fall on ice and break something. Hmmmm. Will keep you posted tomorrow. :)