Tuesday, September 19, 2006

What's on My Mind

Today is the first day of the South Beach Diet I'm trying out. The work involved is very time consuming. I had to shop, cut, chop, marinate, grill, measure, mix, blend and plan yesterday and today. I still have to do some more work for tomorrow's menu. And there's the fact that I cannot and will not use sugar substitutes, so the ricotta and vanilla extract dessert things they are famous for isn't really cutting it for me.

Many people that I've spoken to that have done this diet say that it works. And I need something that works. So I'm on the South Beach Diet and I hope to lose at least 5 lbs quickly because I can't stand the way I feel.

I work out 5 times a week at Curves, and practice yoga stretching quite often, yet the weight is creeping up on me.

There used to be a time in my life when gaining weight was something that I could not do no matter how hard I tried. For example, the day after I gave birth to my twins, 7 lbs and 5lbs 15oz, I weighed 75 lbs. When I was in college at age 30, I couldn't get past 94lbs. I clearly was too thin most of my life.

And clearly, my weight and food is on my mind way too much. Especially since all I can think about is how tomorrow for lunch I am allowed to have a.v.o.c.a.d.o in my tuna salad......and Yew Nork Babe hearts avocados.

What, if anything, has been on your mind too much lately?

8 comments:

Lala's world said...

I agree about not eating the sugar substitutes! I think the chemicals are worse then the calories!!
good for you for being proactive about your health and have to say that my chin dropped to my chest when I read your weight the day after you had twins! Like oh my gosh!!
I went for a walk after dinner with the girls tonight! I feel lazy and had a 2 1/2 hour nap this afternoon!

rena said...

Can't answer that...this is a family friendly blog.

Hope the South Beach works for you.

Theresa said...

Oh, the joys:Yes, SUGAR, yummmmm.
Lala: that's a lot of napping time, in fact, that's a good night's sleep for me!
Mugwupmom: YOU ARE TOO FUNNY!

Dawn said...

I wrote a long comment, sent it, and Comcast dumped me at that precise moment. Rats!

I'm thinking about my weight all the time, which leads to thinking about food all the time. I'm so disgusted with myself. I don't know what women think is so great about being huge on top! I hate gaining weight there. Nothing fits right.

Looney Mom™ said...

Stevia: that's the solution to the sugar/artificial sweetener. I love that stuff. "Google" it for more info like how to cook with it, and where to find it.

I'll be emailing you.

Shalee said...

Okay, I'm a supporter of the SBD because I've done it. The first two weeks were the hardest for me, but I got through it. I am not a diet freak, so please understand that these are just things I've learned over time.

Suggestions: Spend a day doing lots of prep work. Cut onions, green peppers, whatever your recipes will call for. You can do a lot and freeze them. Just pull out what you need for later.

Learn to like Splenda. I had to anyway. After a while, I couldn't tell the difference.

Drink only water or tea. It really does help to cut out the other things that add sugars to your body.

I prayed that God would change my mindset about vegetables. He has. Now I usually like eating them.

I didn't care for the ricotta desserts either, so I tried other things. I really enjoy the sugar-free Jellos and puddings. Try the white chocolate pudding. It's to die for! Also, I allowed my sweet tooth to be satisfied with the sugar-free fudge popsicles. They taste exactly like the sugar ones. Trust me. I'm a connoisseur of all things ice cream.

Lastly, concentrate on cardiovascular workouts. Stick to 1/2 hour and stop. Going longer is not a benefit to your body, contrary to popular beliefs. And running, biking, aerobics will shed weight quicker than weight lifting.

Hopefully this will be a help to you. Feel free to contact me about any questions about SBD. I don't know everything, but I'll help where I can.

(No, this was not a paid endorsement.) =)

Shalee said...

"Thank you for commenting on my SBD post. I have been doing the book's daily menu to a TEE for 3 days and I have lost 4 lbs. but am I doing it right? Do I have to follow it exactly for the first 2 weeks? I ate the shrimp lunch today and am having steak tonight....it is a lot of food for me."

If you've lost weight already, you are doing it right! If you feel full, stop eating and know that you can have your allowed snack later that night. (celery and pb, moz cheese stick, etc.) I think you're doing a great job, so stick with it. If you find that you are tired of the recipees, you can go to the SBD website and find some new ones to try. We found some delicious, easy-to-prepare meals to add. By Phase 3, you won't even recognize that it is a diet. It's rather a healthy way of life.

Shalee

Monica said...

Know what's on my mind? How much I hate having to have this on my mind! So, a lot of times, I just with the flow. LA Weight Loss works for me but I do it my way which means sometimes I lose the optimum 2 pounds per week that I know I can do and sometimes it's only 1. As far as I am concerned, as long as I am losing, I am happy.

I hear you on the veggie cutting. I tend to take it day by day but theire recipe book, which I like, is all single-serve recipes, which I also like because I never know what I'm in the mood for day in and day out and I just hate planning beyond 2 days from now.

But you know what I was going to say? I was watching Oprah not too long ago and her trainer was on talking to women who had been working out and working out and still unable to lose that last 5 -20 pounds. He told them to vary their regimen and step it the pace because their body is used to what they are doing. And then he said something that made sense that I never thought of: He told them not to fear the hunger. He didn't say don't eat your 3 meals or whatever you do but he said the body is in weight loss mode at those times we think we may want a little snack so instead of eating when you really aren't hungry, let your body eat that fat! (I'm paraphasing, of course.) Made sense to me because of course the body looks to itself if you aren't going to feed it. That's when the weight loss happens.

Now this is all I'm going to say on the subject for the rest of the month because you know I hate the weight loss game. I'll be glad when I get to maintenance.