Dieting

I'm not much of a dieter. Most of my life I've been pretty thin and could eat whatever I wanted without consequence. A bucket of red vines, no problem. French fries and a shake for dinner, no problem... And then I had twins. At first I was loosing weight pretty easily. I wasn't nursing, but pumping provided the same weight loss benefit. But then I stopped pumping, and while I *was* only 8 lbs over my prebirth weight, I'm inching back up to 15lbs over. Is 15lbs going to kill me, no. Do I like the way I look? No. I have a belly and I'm not too happy about it. So I've been doing a lot of research. I already eat pretty healthy, so I'm not entirely sure what I should do. One thing I've noticed is that I'm always hungry. In fact, I've always kind of been like that. I graze all day, and eat small meal portions. I started running, but that hasn't helped at all either. According to different sights, I should be eating around 2000 calories to maintain my current weight with my current level of activity. Since I want to reduce my weight, that amount should drop to 1500. According to low grain diets, I shouldn't need more than 100 grams of carbohydrates a day, and if the Palio diet is to be believed, I should be able to get this all from vegetables and fruits. I like some of the ideas behind the paleo diet because you don't have to count calories, and you aren't supposed to get hungry as often. I've thought for a while that our grain intake doesn't match a sustainable food model, but let's face it, bread is soo good. Not to mention muffins, pies, cookies, even just pie crusts! No, I can't entirely believe that the Palio diet is completely right. I wouldn't want to give up everything that I love. Sure, for a few weeks, but long term... I think not. Plus, why is coconut butter alright on this plan, but peanuts aren't? I think there are a few flaws in the system, and a few compromises that paleo experts don't want to admit. Let's face it, cavemen weren't using olive oil any more or less that they were drinking cows milk. But I like the idea of a 80/20 plan. 80 percent of the time you eat within the confines of the diet and 20 percent of the time you splurge. in a traditional diet I would get 300 grams of carbohydrates a day. I think that gives me 200 grams of carbs a day that I could play with, at least 2 out of every 10 days, right? So I think I can't really go wrong if I: A) keep calories at 1500/day B) keep carbs at 100-300 grams/day C) save grains for every 4 days D) go back to drinking raw milk/raw milk products E) keep exercising. 3x + a week Now how to keep track of it all?! No way am I joining weight watchers for 15lbs. I don't like their point system anyway (my cousin had a pickle for dinner so she wouldn't go over her points when she had a beer later that evening, and point wise she was fine...). Maybe if I just make a meal plan and stick to it? I think this is going to suck. But I really, really want to stop the weight gain before it gets worse!! So here goes nothing.