Today is day #3 of the 17 day diet. I am doing pretty well I think. I am not weighing myself until Friday so obviously I don't know if I'm losing any weight, but I've been following the diet and it's not that bad. Having the fruits before 2 pm really help with my sugar craving. However, I do have to confess that I made some Sugar Free Fat Free pudding and I've been eating that for dessert. Just one serving each night, so 80 calories I think. It's ok. If I only lose half of what the books says I'll be happy.

Have you seen the movie "Fathead?" OMG, I just watched it over the last 2 days and it's a real eye opener. If you liked "Supersize Me" you'll like "Fathead." Well, maybe I should take that back because the guy in Fathead basically shows that the guy who did Supersize me was full of crap.

I didn't like Supersize me. I thought the guy was overdramatic and wasn't realistic. I don't remember much more of the movie, so I'm going to watch it again in order to have some examples of why I thought that because I don't remember specifics at this time. (If you have Netflix, both movies are on that)

Anyway, the guy in Fathead basically says that eating animal fat is not a bad thing. That we ate it for hundreds of years and were healthier than we are now. He says A LOT in this movie and of course talks to "experts" who back up his claims, but it was a real eye opener for me. Basically, he went on a fast food diet for 30 days (actually 28) and lost weight. He didn't gorge himself on food like the guy in Supersize me did, but he did eat a lot of burgers. What he did was keep his calories to 2000 a day and his CARBS to about 100 a day. His main point is that CARBS are the enemy, NOT fat. Hmmmmm. When you watch it, it makes sense.

It does make me feel better that I am on the right track with what I've been eating. The 17 day diet is a very low carb diet, but it's also low fat.

In a future post I will give more info about both movies. I just wanted to make sure I recommended seeing Fathead before I forget! Yes, I have mommy brain! I forget everything!

Well, I failed miserably yesterday. I went to a charity scrap book event and the food and drinks were coming all day long, and boy did I take advantage. I paid $30 to be there so I had to stuff my face! At least that's what I kept telling myself. I felt physically ill when I left there at 10 pm and was ill most of the night. It has been a long time since I have eaten like that and I hope it's another long time until I do again. Ugh.....

And, I'm almost embarrassed to say this, but I'm going to try ANOTHER diet. Sigh....... The story of my life right? This one is the 17 day diet that Dr Phil has been promoting. I wasn't going to buy the book. I have a TON of diet books and no matter how intrigued I was, I wasn't going to give in. Then I got a $20 gift card to Barnes and Noble that expired on April 1. I went to the website to redeem it and there is was. The 17 day diet book. So many people on Dr Phil have had success so it's gotta work right? I gave in and bought it dammit. At least I didn't spend "my money" on the book.

The 17 day diet is 4 cycles of 17 day diets. Each cycle has a different diet you follow. (I haven't read the whole book yet, but have skimmed though and gotten the basics) Cycle 1 is called "Accelerate" It's supposed to make you lose weight quickly. Supposedly new research is finding that losing weight quickly is the best way now. I won't go into all the why's of everything, I'll just give you an overview of the diet.

Cycle 1 is a lot like the South Beach diet only I can eat fruit! YES!! And Fat Free Yogurt! YES!!! However, I have to eat the "low sugar" fruit by 2 pm everyday. That will give my body the rest of the day to burn off the sugar. The yogurt is to give your digestive system probiotics. There's lots of reasons we need those and thank goodness I like yogurt now. I was thinking that if I could only have fruit on the South Beach diet I would have done well on Phase one. Well, this seems to be the answer to that complaint. We'll see how it goes.

I won't be starting the diet until a week from tomorrow. We have to go out of town for a funeral on Tuesday and I am not even going to attempt to do such a strict diet while out of town. I will only be gone for one (very long) day, but then when I get back I need to get the foods and finish the book so I fully understand what I will be doing. If I am able to start it sooner I will, but I'm not going to put pressure on myself to start it sooner.

Another thing that I will have to do is exercise at least 17 mins each day. That is going to be a tough one. Not the 17 minutes, but EVERYDAY.

The baby is crying so I have to go. I will update on my progress once I start the diet. Wish me luck!

In limbo

I'm kind of in limbo right now as far as my diet goes. I'm tracking my food but I'm not really on a "diet." I don't know what my problem is. That no carb diet just really put me off diets in general.

I read a lot of blogs about food and dieting and it's really depressing how just about everyone has their ups and downs. Mainly downs lately. I wonder if it's the weather or what, but nobody is doing great. Maybe it's that everyone is busy right now and just doesn't have the time. I know I keep thinking that "tomorrow" or "Monday" things will fall into place. It's not happening though.

I don't really have much to say, I'm just floundering right now and I'm not sure what to do with it. It's hard to muster up the enthusiasm or motivation to do anything at this point and I'm not sure why.

Well, I blew it. Not totally, and I actually don't feel bad about it at all, but I stopped the no carb diet today. I was supposed to go through Monday, but I stopped today. I stopped because I felt physically ill today. Not in a crabby, whiney way. But I felt nauseous and sick all morning. I couldn't tolerate another egg. I am not a fan of eggs anyway, but eggs are all I've been eating for breakfast for 11 days. I really struggled with this over the past few days. I have been miserable and crabby. I have no idea why week #1 was easier, but it was.

I wanted to quit 3 days ago. I was ready to kill someone. But, I stuck with it and pushed through all those feelings. Today was different though. Today was a physical feeling, not emotional. I knew that this wasn't working for me anymore. I've lost a total of 5 pounds and I can't see me losing another 5 over the next 3 days.

My friend told me that I shouldn't feel sick when trying to get healthy. I should feel good and energized. At least physically. I know dieting isn't easy, but she's right. I should feel better physically, especially after 11 days. I feel good about my decision to stop. I gave it a lot of thought and didn't want to blow my whole weekend feeling bad.

Back to the drawing board. I did learn a few things from doing this. One is that I do an awful lot of mindless munching. When I get my daughter chips, I pop one in my mouth. I grab handfuls of various foods here and there that I don't need. Another thing is I realized that I don't *need* carbs, especially the candy variety. I haven't had anything sweet in 11 days and I missed fruit the most. I ate a banana today and it tasted so good! So I will be limiting my intake of desserts from now on. I've actually gone days without the sugar free variety simply because I forgot to eat them. I haven't proven that I don't need a fourth meal each day called "Dessert."

I'm going to continue eating healthy this weekend and either starting the old WW program or counting calories on Monday. Keeping track of what I eat does work as long as I DO IT. I need to start measuring things, like coffee cream and counting out chips. I would much rather do that then give up all carbs again.

I know I stopped early for the right reasons. I have been giving this a lot of thought and I don't feel like I have in the past when I've given up on various diets. I think that I gave up for the right reasons and I'm not going to go out and binge this weekend. I'm not giving up on losing weight. I'm just giving up on losing weight by not eating any carbs.

I am also happy to report that I worked out today. I have realized that working out must be a part of my whole effort to lose weight. I got about 28 minutes in before the baby started crying. I have to try each day. I might get 20 mins one day and 45 the next. Even if I only get 20 it's something and I can always continue after my husband gets home from work and do another 20 mins. I have to figure out how to do it and again, I'd rather bust my a$$ working out then giving up carbs. Yes, it was THAT hard!

One last thing. I'm getting an iPad 2 today and couldn't be more excited! I've wanted one for a while but my husband wanted to wait until the "second generation" came out. He's on his way to the Apple store now to wait in line to get it. This weekend is going to be fun playing with that and working out each day. I feel good right now, much better than I've felt for the last 2 weeks.

Have a great weekend and please keep the people that were affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in your prayers! As much as I complain about being overweight, I am safe, my family is safe and I am pretty damn thankful for everything that I have!

Day #4 of Phase 1 of South Beach

I really can't believe this. I'm waiting for some kind of withdrawal. I'm having NO withdrawals at all. Either my body has stored up so much sugar it's still burning it (LOL) or I wasn't as addicted to sugar as I though. I was eating a lot of sugar though. Not only candy and sweets, but breads and other "bad" carbs.

This diet is not "hard." It's only more time consuming because I actually have to make my meals. No drive thru's or processed foods. I'm not used to making all my meals and that took some adjustment.

And now for the big news..... I am down 3.5 pounds since Tuesday! Yep, I am SO HAPPY about this. This is the kind of results I wanted from WW. I realize this won't continue on a daily basis. Eventually my weight loss will slow down. But, with the radical changes I've made cutting out carbs, I expected big results and so far I'm getting them. Seeing the numbers go down on the scale makes it easier to follow this diet.

The weekend might be tougher because my husband will be home, but so far he's been eating whatever I give him. He hasn't complained about not eating carbs at home. I have a feeling he's been stocking up on them all day at work, but he doesn't really have any weight to lose. I told him not to tell me if he does lose weight. I will be pissed if he loses 15 lbs just from eating healthier dinners. Men are like that. They just think about losing weight and drop 5 lbs.

Today is a good day and I'm looking forward to seeing the numbers continue to plummet on the scale. I am ONE pound away from my pre pregnancy weight. I should be there by Monday!

Day #1 of Phase #1 of the South Beach diet

Well, it's almost bedtime and I have survived day 1 with no carbs. This diet is a "low carb" and low fat diet, but the first phase is basically no carbs.

It was about 1:00 I realized how much mindless eating I have been doing. Because I was restraining myself today, I didn't just pick little things up and put it in my mouth. I really didn't think I did that. I know I ate when I wasn't hungry, but I didn't realize just how much mindless eating I was doing.

I also hit a snag about lunch time. I let myself get too hungry and was afraid to eat because I wasn't sure what I could eat. The "letting myself get too hungry" was because I hadn't gone to the fruit market yet and didn't have the vegetables to make lunch. Then when I got home the baby needed to be fed so I had to wait. Because of this I felt weak, but I ate my salad with tuna and felt somewhat better. About 20 mins later I still felt hungry so I had a stick of celery with some Laughing Cow cheese and a handful of cashews. After that I felt much better.

I haven't been having a strong desire for carbs. Sure, I'd love a cookie that I have in the kitchen, but I'm not going to do it. I wish I could clean my house out of the sweets, but I do have a 5 year old and a husband that aren't fat. I really thought I'd be a big crab ass by this time of day #1, but I'm not.

Today is March 1. I was supposed to go to the gym and get my membership back. I'm still nervous taking the baby there, but I really shouldn't put it off any longer. She will get used to it. Today I felt too weak to work out. (Yea, another excuse but this one is really true) I think after a few days of getting used to this diet, I will be able to work out.

One thing I can already tell is that once I can go back to eating carbs, I'm going to choose the "good" ones. I have a feeling I will be able to have a piece of fruit to satisfy my craving for sweets instead of a cookie. Right now a strawberry would taste just as good to me as a piece of candy. That's progress!!