Stoked About South Beach!

The Back to School Blog Hop is still going strong! Today we’re over at Misty’s blog, Denverista! Check out her post on Back to School Supper Ideas, plus a PRINTABLE!

Okay, well…maybe I’m not exactly “stoked” about South Beach. Right now I’m suffering from a headache. I’m just not sure that “stoked” is it, but it makes for a cool blog title, so I’m running with it!

Almost two weeks ago, my hubby decided on a Wednesday evening that he was going to do the South Beach Diet…the next day. He was going to start it the next day. Which meant that I was going to fore go the menu for the rest of the week and start cooking South Beach. And since I wasn’t about to cook two meals…guess what?! I was going on South Beach, too!

Oh, we had some discussion that night, as I’m sure you can imagine.

Now, let me clarify. My husband has gained about 12 pounds since we got married. And I wish I could say that 12 pounds is ALL I have gained…but that would be VERY wrong. Maybe it was the switch from an active job to a desk job. Maybe it was the cancellation of the gym membership. Maybe it was the birth control. Maybe it was getting older. Maybe it’s that gluten free (which I have to eat) has more sugar in it to make things taste better. Maybe it was just pure laziness. I’m not entirely sure. But I have NEVER weighed this much in my life. I’ve been mumbling about it but not really doing anything about it. And getting a bit frustrated, if I’m being completely honest.

And while I’m being honest, I’m a little agitated that HE wants to lose weight. Because, let’s face it, ladies, men can lose the weight like it’s NOTHING. It really is sickening. We have to work and work and kill ourselves trying to drop a few pounds, and it’s just ridiculously easy for the men! Grrr!!!

Yet, at the same time, I KNEW I needed to do something…or I was going to wind up just plain miserable, and I didn’t want that.

So I asked for some time to do some research on this South Beach Diet thing. Got the book, looked up tons of stuff online, etc. I decided that, having done Atkins before, this probably wasn’t as bad as Atkins, and I could do this! And he started to get all excited that we were going to do something “together”. Aw, isn’t that sweet?! Until I got to thinking about it, and then I  made him SWEAR that he would STOP losing weight after he lost his 12 pounds. I mean, I can’t have him being SO skinny, and me still laboring away, can I?! He agreed that he wouldn’t show me up too badly, and so it began.

Now, I am just NOT one of those people who can give my starting weight, and REAL pic of myself in workout gear, baring it all. My own husband doesn’t know how much I weigh. I can’t do all that! And in the past I’ve started diets and then given up when I didn’t see any results. You know the drill. You get discouraged. So I knew a few things needed to happen in order for me to stick with this. Here’s what I did:

1. I bought a new outfit. And I took a picture of myself in said outfit. Here I am!

Welcome to my office! This is as good as it’s gonna get when it comes to a “before” pic, folks! My reason for this pic is that I can “see” results, in how I look in pictures and in how I look in clothes. I have to be able to see it. If I can’t see it, I give up. I’m not proud of that, but it’s exactly what I do.

2. Instead of looking at the large number of pounds I want to lose, I broke it down by months. I set a specific goal for myself, that I want to be this much less at the end of each month. That way I’m looking at a smaller monthly goal, and it’s much more attainable and much less overwhelming.

3. I chose something that wouldn’t fall apart if I accidentally messed it up. Atkins is great for fast weight loss, and it’s even better for people like me who can’t have wheat gluten. But if you accidentally mess up in the first phase of Atkins, while you’re getting used to everything, you’ve just bombed. You’ve got to start all over, and it won’t work as good the second time! I think (I hope) that South Beach is different than that.

4. I’m reminding myself of WHY I’m doing this. The history of diabetes in my family. The fact that I’m not getting any younger. The realization that if I’m ever going to have kids, I want to be healthier than I am right now. And the stunning and depressing fact that I need to never drink another diet soda again. (That hurts my heart to type it…)

So, here we go! When this post went live I was probably enjoying some turkey bacon, scrambled eggs and vegetable juice. In a few more hours, I’ll be chowing down on some tuna over romaine lettuce. And later on it’s salmon, baked eggplant and salad. Snacks? Cucumbers, cheese sticks.

Has anyone ever tried the South Beach Diet? What did you think? You lost TONS of weight, right?!?! 🙂