Tuesday Update, Carb Depletion in Progress
Hi Everybody!
I can’t believe how great I feel, and how much energy I have! I noticed the phenomenon last night when I had a big salad for my post workout meal along with a simple shake of water, Sun Warrior vanilla protein, cinnamon and L-glutamine. No sugars at all, and very little fat, just what was in the tiny bit of salad dressing. And I had energy to burn last night!
Today, I feel almost elated. I am in a great mood, and feeling very positive. I think this high-protein and high-fat diet is agreeing with me. I don’t think I could continue long term, especially with the percentage of fat being that high. But so far, it is working well for me for the goal of depleting carbohydrates and muscle glycogen.
Today I have had a spirulina smoothie, two ‘Muscle Mousses’ of avocado, chocolate SW protein, greens, and stevia, a big salad with a handful of almonds, some creamed jicama, Thai cucumber noodles, and some Spicy Cilantro Soup. Pretty darn tasty if you ask me! 
When I competed before, I was of course on the SAD conventional bodybuilding pre-contest diet. It worked, no doubt. But I felt awful. I was irritable, exhausted, nervous, enduring maddening cravings, had a constant headache, and just generally felt really bad. I couldn’t WAIT to get off of it and gobble up a cheat meal. Can you believe that my cheat meal used to be a whole pizza and a whole ‘grocery store birthday cake’–you know, the kind in the bakery with all the buttercream icing? I could eat both at one sitting. That used to freak my husband out. He thought it was so gross. And it was! (Looking back anyway. At the time, it was wonderful.) No wonder I ended up in surgery having tumors removed, and was fighting diabetes every day. But I thought I was doing the right thing, especially because my body always responded well to the cheat meal tactic.
Funny, but I am not dying for some kind of cheat meal right now. In all my previous contests, I had a cake waiting for me immediately afterward, and then it would be pecan pancakes at Cracker Barrell the next morning. I just don’t have that desperate craving for sugar now. I will definitely have a good time on Easter Sunday, and will probably eat some of my Mama’s good cooking. But I don’t think I will blow it out. I just don’t want to go back to that old way of eating, where I felt and looked so bad. My face and skin used to look awful too. But now my skin actually looks better than it has, and several people even commented on that tonight. Since I have been tanning, it improves my skin alot. I do struggle with acne, but it goes away when I get good sun exposure.
Today I had a posing session with Harrison Greenlaw, who coaches the USC bodybuilding club. He was very helpful, and surprisingly, very complimentary. My friend who hooked me up said he was very critical and would tell me what my weak points are. Which is fine, and I was actually looking forward to it, because you can’t grow unless you know what to work on. I figured he would really nail me on my legs and shoulders, but he said instead that he thought I was pretty symmetrical and had good leg muscle. (I did measure yesterday and I had gained an inch on my quads over the last couple of months.) So I walked out of there feeling awesome!
I then picked up some supplies, got my nails and pedicure done, and then had a spray tanning session called Mystic Tan. I had never done that, and it was weird. I felt like I was going through a car wash, and I smell funny. But it worked! I definitely have a good base to start the ProTan application tomorrow evening.
I worked chest and triceps tonight, in the high rep low weight style. This is to deplete my muscles of glycogen as much as possible, so hopefully they will be very hungry and ready to soak up some carbs come Thursday and Friday.
Someone very near and dear to me said something very interesting to Michael this weekend. This person, and their spouse, are wonderful friends who I love dearly. And I worry about their health so much. They look like ticking time bombs to me–very overweight, lots of health issues, eat terribly, and drink a lot. It hurts to see people you love damage themselves like that, knowing what lies down the road. Anyway, they pulled Michael aside and asked him if I was sick. They said I was ‘too skinny’, had lost ’so much weight’ and had ‘all these veins showing’. I had to laugh out loud. It is amazing that the average person wouldn’t recognize health if it bit them on the butt! Granted, I am thinner than I would normally be, and when someone is in contest shape they may not look so great in street clothes. But still, how can someone who is so unhealthy think that I am the one who is sick? This blew my mind. For the record, I am so happy ‘all these veins’ are showing! I love my veins, especially the one on my biceps.
It is dangerous that our society views someone who is lean and muscular as being ’sick’, but think someone who is overweight is healthy. The average person is very overweight now, even obese, and yet they are ‘average’. How scary is that? Remember when there was a ‘fat kid’ in your class growing up, and everyone else was thin? Now, it’s probably at least 60% of the kids in any class are obese. I was one of the bigger, heavier ones in my class. I was muscular in high school from all the sports, but also a bit overweight due to my country-fried diet. I weigh about 20 pounds less now than I did in high school. And all the other girls seemed so thin and pretty to me. And by today’s standards, they were certainly tiny!
It’s time to take my sick, skinny, veiny self to bed! HaHa! I need to keep good sleep up. Which is hard since I am drinking a lot of water. I can’t stay out of the bathroom! I am actually looking forward to water restriction on Friday. I don’t like drinking water, and prefer to get my hydration from fruit and food.
Be Defiant! Challenge the status quo–look lean and strong!
Christy
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I’ve been working really hard at eating as much raw as possible but I’ve run into an obstacle that I really don’t know how to get over.
Here it is: I really don’t like the raw dehydrated nut burgers, meatball and loaf recipes. I’ve been trying lots of recipes, playing with the ingredients, spices, time in the dehydrator, etc…what I’ve discovered is that it’s the crusty, yet mushy inside texture and heavy, almost greasy taste that really turns me off.
I love the nuts in all the desserts and a few of the sauces and dips, but every “dinner”type recipe involving a “meat” made from nuts I’ve tried ends up in the garbage.
I usually end up eating cooked food because the thought of yet another green smoothie or salad after a day of nothing but that makes me gag.
Maybe I’m doing something wrong when dehydrating that makes the texture so gross?
The only thing I do know for certain is that I will never be able to stay completely raw without some hearty dinner recipes.
Do you know of anything I can try to make the texture of the nut “meat” more palatable?
Hi Becca,
Wow, that is a tough one. I can certainly understand where you are coming from. I am lucky I guess–I love a greasy, heavy taste so I love the nut stuff. Too much. I have had to cut most of it out.
Have you tried some of the non-dehydrated recipes? Like pates for example? The first few recipes I made ended up in the trash, too, if that makes you feel any better. Heck, one of the things I made last week ended up in the trash! But do you like every cooked dish you have ever tried? Have no cooked dishes EVER ended up in the trash?
Also, if thinking of eating another salad or smoothie doesn’t appeal to you right now, be patient with yourself, because you are still transitioning. It may be hard to believe from your current point of view, but eventually you will love salad and greens as much as the cooked foods you love now. I can empathize, if I think back to where I was. But right now, I am having trouble picturing myself as not wanting a salad or smoothie for dinner, as these are my favorite things.
Also, try to release any preconceived notions of what you are ’supposed’ to eat at certain times of the day. Who made those rules anyway? Why are scrambled eggs considered a SAD ‘breakfast’ food? Why not lunch or dinner? Whose idea was that? It just doesn’t make sense, even for the SAD diet. Eat what YOU want, WHEN you want, and to heck with what meal or time of the day that it is. Your body will tell you what it needs.
Keep doing at least one green smoothie every day, love yourself, accept yourself and be patient with yourself. It takes months, or even years, to detox from the SAD diet and establish homeostasis. Your body is fighting a lot of battles, and your brain is learning to operate without its supply of toxins constantly stimulating its opiate receptors. It’s the hardest addiction in the world to battle.
Go to http://www.goneraw.com for tons of free recipes. Look for ones without nuts, perhaps. Or try the non-dehydrated nut recipes like pates. I just LOVE things like Taco Wrappers, where the nut ‘meat’ is just buzzed quickly in the food processor, and not dehydrated. Then you just layer it in a cabbage leaf with salsa or guacamole and enjoy! Or try the bread recipes and make things like living pizzas.
Good luck, and blessings to you! Keep me posted on your progress!
Love, Christy
Christy,
Thanks so much for the support. I tried one of the pizza recipes and it was outstanding! I made a raw crust from raw almond meal and flaxseed. It turned out really wonderful. For now, pizza and veggie pasta will be my dinner staple. I still haven’t run a cross a nut meat recipe that I like…I’m such a texture person. LOL
If I find one I really like, I’ll let you know!