infusedwithextract's Notizen, 02 Okt 07

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Well, I'm officially off the South Beach Diet. I suppose you could say I'm in phase III, but honestly, I'm doing whatever I please at the moment. This of course involves going to the gym 4+ times a week doing cardio and weights. I'm a size zero now which is great. I'm still about 10lbs away from my target weight, so I'm wondering what I'll be wearing then. I have plenty to go on the backside and thighs anyhow.

My newest diet that I plan to start in two weeks is called the Cheat to Lose Diet by Joel Marion. Basically, you go low-carb for two days, then slightly higher carb for two days, then even higher carb for the two days before your "cheat day" which is essentially when you carb-load (i.e. eat your heart out on foods that you crave - cinnabon rolls, cheesecake, pizza, frappucino's, you name it.) The concept is that you are manipulating your blood leptin levels. Leptin is what tells your brain to either slow down or speed up your metabolism depending on how much starvation you are going through. For example, on the South Beach Diet phase I, you are consuming far fewer calories by virtue of eating few carbs and closely monitored other foods. Now, under the low-carb rule, or even a low-cal diet, your body initially loses weight, but then your brain goes into survival mode telling your body to slow down the metabolism or otherwise you may shrivel up and die (okay, I exaggerate slightly).

Like the author, I had speculated about this theory before. Afterall, I had lost oodles of pounds (carb pun intended) on Southbeach only to plateau at 116.5 for quite some time and go back up to 117. It after a week back home when I threw caution to the wind and ate whatever desserts I pleased and lots of food. When I returned, I finally hit the coveted 115lbs. Then again, on a similar splurge a few weeks later, I went down to the even more coveted 113.6. Do you see where I'm going with this? Thought so.

So in two weeks, I start this fantastic diet. I have started incorporating the interval workouts into my routine, so it's almost like I'm started half the diet, only the part not related to eating. We'll see how it goes.