Bachelor on the Cheap

By Mike Thayer

Being on a 'diet' doesn't mean you have to sacrifice great flavor or nutrition.  Yes, you too can eat breakfasts like bacon and eggs and lose weight!

Pictured right, a veggie egg scramble (mushrooms, onion, black olive) topped with American cheese and a side of pepper bacon.  That's right, the bacon is the side.  What's missing? Nothing.... I used to eat something like this with a side of hash browns and toast.... but not anymore and the weight is coming off.

I'm going to use the cliche' here, eat right and exercise and the weight will come off.  It's a true statement.

I'm not following some fad or trendy diet, I'm just eliminating some bad carbs from a few meals.  I used to eat bad carbs, breads, potatoes, rice, noodles with every meal of the day, plus snacks. Toast with breakfast, chips for mid-day snack.  A sandwich made with a good bread for lunch, perhaps some fries to go with it.  For dinner, some kind of rice or pasta dish and perhaps some cookies or a piece of pie for dessert.  That's flat out too many bad carbs! 

So now in trying to stay under 60 grams of carbs per day, that means no toast or hash browns for breakfast today.  If I behave at lunch and stick to a protein and a veggie side, then it's going to be OK to have a 1/2 cup of rice in a stir fry for dinner.  That keeps me under 60 grams of carbs for the day. 

Here's the challenge... Trying to maintain a diet that's too strict on bad carbs isn't going to last.  The human body craves carbs, it's undeniable. Compounding that issue for me, is trying to diet while also trying to do food reviews for BachelorontheCheap.com.  I have to work my low carb meals in with sampling the latest sandwich from a fast food/fast casual joint or doing a meal kit review.  And while eating the bulk of your carbs earlier in the day is preferable so you can burn those carbs off with the physical tasks performed throughout the day, that's not always possible either.  That's why a diet has to be flexible, it has to have variety, it has to be fun in order to stick with it. Every once in awhile, you need a cheat meal - NOT a cheat day - and then get back on the diet routine with the next meal. 

And remember another plus - possibly a financial motivator - to losing weight by eliminating bad carbs is the savings you'll see at the grocery store.  Not buying breads, noodles, rice, potatoes, chips and replacing them mushrooms, peas, nuts and cheese and the like saves money.  Don't pay money to do some trendy, fad diet, pay yourself with savings and smarter shopping at the grocery store!

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