Not only do we not like what we see in the mirror, but our clothes don't fit, we can't sleep well, we have no energy, our muscles ache and we generally feel miserable. Even my shoes don't fit, making daily life even more miserable. And that's not the worst of it - our health is probably taking the brunt of all that is wrong with our current lifestyle.
So back to the drawing board. This picture has got to change.
Where do we start? Well, we re-read the first (and most important) part of The South Beach Diet. It's the only diet book/plan that ever made sense/worked for us.
We both did this diet a few years ago and found it to be purposely easy, not difficult or stressful to follow as with many other diets, and it produced noticeable results in a short period of time.
And wouldn't you know it, we picked that worst possible time to make the decision to go on a diet - Thanksgiving is only ten days away. And we're having family over for the holiday and that means two days of food and more food. And four weeks later we will be in New Orleans for Christmas and another round of 'food.'
But we're determined to make this work and get us back down to a reasonable size, so we'll be going light on all the things that make Thanksgiving what it's known for - food.
If things go well over the next ten days we will be smaller by a few ounces, if not pounds, and we will feel a lot better both literally and about ourselves.
I'm keeping a record of my weight and blood pressure starting this morning. I want to be able to see my progress on a chart that I can share with my cardiologist and my regular doctor, both of whom are encouraging me to lose weight.
If we keep to it like before, we will both notice physical changes in our bodies within a couple of days, followed quickly by weight loss. But we know this fast weight loss is not to be confused with real weight loss. It's mostly water. But we also know that as our body adjusts to the daily lack of carbs and becomes more accustomed to matabolizing food that is healthy without the heavy penalty of carbs, we will begin to see noticeable changes.
By two weeks we will be able to re-introduce carbs back into our diet. Only we won't be craving them as we do now. This is the key to the lifestyle change South Beach promises and lives up to. And it works just as they say it will.
Last time, after the initial two week weaning off carbs period, I was consistently losing two pounds a day and felt good about it. I didn't miss my bread or potatoes or grits or any of the 'white' foods I was so used to eating, more out of habit than anything else. I was not hungry either. And I could have skipped the mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks entirely but I was determined to stick with the plan. I'm glad I did. My blood pressure settled down, I had more energy and stamina, my brain functioned better, my muscles didn't ache and I slept better. And more important, I was losing weight instead of adding it.
So now I'm off to weigh and take my blood pressure after having my scrambled egg, orange juice and coffee breakfast.
I'll keep you posted...
Update: 11-21-13
Here's what the diet results are as of this morning:
Date Blood
Pressure Pulse Weight
11-19-13 118/52 68 311.8
11-20-13 123/59 71 309.2
11-21-13 124/62 76 304.6
11-22-13 120/57 72 303.0
11-23-13 114/52 76 301.0
11-24-13 125/64 73 299.4
11-24-13 125/64 73 299.4
Uh Oh! Looks like Thanksgiving got in the way of my diet.
11-30-13 127/66 72 301.2
Back on track
12-05-13 116/61 69 295.2
12-06-13 120/58 78 296.2
12-07-13 119/60 68 295.8
12-08-13 124/54 72 294.2
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