South Beach Diet Day 1

The primary reason for this blog is to share my opinions. However, I am on a personal task and want to track my progress. The next two weeks will contain journal entries. No debates or options will be expressed. I will be taking the leap into the world of diet and exercise, noting both my progress and my failures.

Jasmine, my daughter, is going to be 10 months old on May 6, 2006 and I still have to lose 20 pounds before I reach my pre-baby weight. Granted, I did gain 75 pounds during my pregnancy, so I have lost a great deal, but these last 20 pounds have been really hard to drop. Sometimes I lose five pounds, but I always gain it back and it is my own fault. I don’t exercise enough and I eat all the wrong foods, too much junk food and not enough vegetables.

Well, I have finally decided to do something about it, other than just complain. My biggest issue will be giving up chocolate. Some people are addicted to drugs, I am addicted to chocolate, doesn't matter if it is milk, white, dark, or truffle. I like them all, especially high quality chocolates. I can drink water in place of other beverages easily, I can give up potatoes, chips, white bread and white rice, but chocolate...it is going to be hard.

I have been on the Atkins diet before, stayed with it for a year and lost 30 pounds, but I was never really satisfied, and I was emitting this strange odor, which was bothersome. Several of my co-workers are on the South Beach Diet, from this point forward referred to as SBD, or a least a modified version of it. All of them seem to have drops pounds and inches. To find out if this diet was for me I bought the SBD paperback and have read the book from front to cover. Actually, it really isn’t that much reading, a large portion of the book consists of recipes and menus for each phase of the diet.

Yes I said phases, there are three phases of the diet, similar to Atkins, the difference is that you can eat good carbohydrates and are not limited to portions on most of the acceptable foods. As with Atkins, the first phase is the strictest; you have to cut out all fruits, sugars, baked goods, breads, rice, and some of my favorite vegetables. This phase last two weeks and will be the hardest for me, but I am suppose to be able to lose up to 13 pounds, which is very appealing.

Phase two allows you to start introducing fruits and whole grain products slowly and with more portion restrictions. I will continue this phase until I lose the desired weight amount, which means I will be on it for a while because you lose only 1 to 2 pounds a week.

Phase three is for life and is more of a life style than a diet. Moderation and portions are important here, but you are allowed to bring back most of your favorites. I can even have chocolate, not as much as I would have eaten before, but at least I get a taste.

Monday, April 24, 2006 was my first attempt at the diet. I was hungry most of the day even though I was constantly eating some type of acceptable food. Still, it was easy to stick to, well that is until I got home. I saw chocolate and down it went. Bad me.

Menu
Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs
Snack: 20 peanuts
Lunch: Krafts SBD Phase 1 meal
Snack: Cheese stick
Dinner: 2 pieces of chicken thighs
Snack: Chocolate (BAD)

In addition to the dieting, which I did not stick to for the entire day, I am also exercising. Today I walked a mile. I need to increase that to one and a half miles to ensure I am getting at least 30 to 40 minutes of exercise a day. Still I dropped 1 pound, which of course could be water weight, but we will see.

Come back tomorrow to see my progress!