I've got your Shred Diet right here Doc!

While I was in the waiting room yesterday "The Doctors" was on the TV. First, isn't that a little ironic? They dispense more advice than my actual doctor and they happened to be talking about a new fad diet called the Shred diet. The guy they were interviewing had been on it for about a year and had lost like 100lbs. One of the things he gave up was drinking 4 GALLONS OF SWEET TEA per day and he attributed this to trying this new diet. Are you f@#$%^ kidding me???? That success had nothing to do with the fad diet! If I drank 4 gallons of sweet tea per day and stopped suddenly I bet I'd drop a ton of weight too. I just can not conceptualize how someone can't figure out that drinking 4 gallons of a sugary drink every single day is contributing to their weight problem without the help of a fad diet. What irritated me most about this story was that this was part of their advice on how to lose weight. As someone who only drinks water or 0 calorie beverages how the hell is that advice supposed to help me? I feel like it implies that if you're having Trouble with the Curvy it MUST be because you're all hopped up on sugary beverages. That is simply not true. 

Yesterday I had my 6 month check up. I weighed in at 195lbs from 203 in July. I like to use my Dr. Appointments to measure progress because it is a long window. I started my journey at 212lbs in June, was 203 in July and now 195 in January. The holidays really had something to do with it because I've fluctuated quite a bit in the 7 months I've been at this. Seeing how little progress has been made as a net over the 6 months between appointments really inspired me to get my ass in gear.

I've eaten so well this week. Lots of veggies and not a lot of starch. I went to Zumba twice this week and I felt like I should have shed like 5lbs just from doing well consistently but that isn't what the scale reports. While the scale seems stingy I do notice changes in the shape of my body. I am attributing this to losing fat and gaining heavier muscle. I don't know if that is actually true but it does make me feel better. There is nothing worse than feeling like you're doing all the right things and seeing now results so I think it is important to play mind games with myself to keep the morale up!

I don't want to sound like a fitness mean girl because I know how hard it is to give up things you LOVE because they aren't good for your weight loss goals. I also don't want to undermine the struggles others go through but they made it seem like if you just stop drinking sugar you'll go down to a normal weight by doing nothing else. In all fairness I'm sure he did more than just change his drinking habits but the showed just made it seem like if you're a chubster it is probably because you're making wildly stupid decisions like drinking 4 gallons of sweet tea per day.

I keep calling this Shred diet a fad diet because the segment left a bitter taste in my mouth (pun totally intended!) I have not read the book and I don't know all there is to know about it so I should not be so quick to judge but other parts of the segment described how the plan varies the amount of calories youre allowed to eat per day and that it should only be "short term" because eating so few calories isn't sustainable. Maybe I'm just a fitness snob but I am not interested in starving myself in order to lose weight. I just keep wondering how this diet can promise 6 weeks, 4 inches, and 2 sizes when it has no idea what habits I currently engage in? If one of my habits is drinking 4 gallons of sweet tea per day then, um.. yeah.. I think I could lose 4 inches in 6 weeks. But if I only drink water and don't want to starve myself, what other ideas do you have?

Perhaps I should in fact read this book but frankly I just don't have an appetite for bullshit (pun intended again... I know I'm sooo punny).

<3 Katie
Day 219
192lbs
Feeling like I could take this Ian K. Smith Fella... I mean I've already taken on a shark so....