Diet Never Tasted so Good!

I never had to think about dieting in my younger years. I was a skinny pre-teen, and an average teen, and an average newly married woman, and a slightly round first-time Mom. And after my first child, I lost the baby weight fairly easily. I never got back to pre-first-desk-job weight, but I was healthy and my clothes fit. But then I had second child, and not long after that, third child.

And ugh, now I weigh frighteningly close to what I did when I *birthed* first child. But I just don't do diets well. I tried Slim Fast for two months, and after having four weekends spent in bed with severe vomiting, I discovered something in the diet wasn't doing it for me. Then I tried Weight Watchers (I pilfered my mom's instructions). That worked when I really paid attention, and exercised like a maniac. Only I'm not a maniac. I'm a homeschooling mom and I have other things to do than jog on the treadmill every single day. I'd work at the diet/exercise thing faithfully for a few months, lose maybe three pounds, and feel so disheartened that I'd give up on both.

But now I'm trying again. And although I thought the Atkins diet was strange (we tried it briefly when I was working at that desk job - it was horrible, both the job and the diet), a relative of his diet, the South Beach Diet, might be worth a try.



Here's how it works: for two weeks I can have unlimited lean protein (well, I shouldn't gorge myself), fresh low carb vegetables (i.e. not corn, potatoes, or other "sweet" vegetables, and only certain beans. Like I can have black, but not pinto), and limited cheese. What I can't have is bread, pasta, starches like potatoes or corn, or fruit. Obviously deserts that are sugar-sweetened are a no-no too. I think I'm limited to one tomato per day (or the equivalent), used in juice or fresh or in a soup or chili.

After the first two weeks, I can introduce (gradually) a maximum of two servings of fruit (avoiding the super sugary pineapple, watermelon, and bananas), and two servings of whole grain - so brown or wild rice, whole grain bread, etc.

So I'm going to keep track of how it goes. I actually began yesterday and this is what I enjoyed:
Breakfast: 1.5 eggs with peppers and onions.
Snack of nuts
Lunch of meat and cheese and lettuce rolls (like a wrap without the bread) and radishes.
Snack of nuts (I know, getting bored here)
Dinner of "mock" gyros (lettuce replacing bread). The meat was a delicious "meat loaf" that is then sliced and lightly heated in a skillet, served with feta, cucumbers, green peppers and hummus. Amazingly delicious!

And today:
Breakfast: eggs with ham and onion and tomato juice.
Snack of nuts
Lunch of leftover gyro meat on salad with leftover cukes, feta, etc.
Snack of meat and cheese roll
Dinner will be rosemary and garlic sirloin, steamed broccoli with a dash of lime juice, and fresh cucumber salad (cukes diced and marinated in olive oil and vinegar)

I love not having to count anything - carbs, points, calories. And I can eat until I'm sated, unlike Weight Watchers which left me feeling severely deprived. And it was too easy to eat a pop tart and just count the "points" of it, as if that is real food.