My One Week Anniversary

With several comments on my previous South Beach Diet entry, I figured this would be the perfect post to commemorate my one week anniversary on the South Beach Diet!

For those of you familiar with SBD, you know that means I only have one more week to go before I start reintroducing carbs and sugars back into my life.

Originally, I started on a Monday. Monday went really well, as did most of Tuesday. At least until Tuesday evening, when I fell off the wagon at Ladies Bible Study.

It was my own fault, as I hadn’t had dinner and neglected to pack a SBD-friendly snack. So, it was either eat or pass out from low blood sugar. The choice was easy.

On the plus side, I got to sample some of the best bean dip EVER courtesy of Becky Holmquist!

I hopped back on the wagon on Wednesday and have been faithful ever since.

Before I get into specifics, let me tell you why I decided to try SBD.

First of all, I want to say that I have tried only two weight loss plans in the past.

The first was Weight Watchers - which I still wholeheartedly support, appreciate, and endorse. I lost over 85 pounds in high school thanks to Weight Watchers.

Plus, I gained wonderful friends and found a support group of amazing people who shared the same problem I did.

My second weight loss method was the diet pill, Metabolife - the bad kind they had to pull of the shelves because it was killing people - when I was in college.

I was very angry when they pulled the drug, since it worked wonderfully for me. The pounds simply melted away.

I had endless energy. I was never hungry – in fact, food (the love of my life) actually disgusted me. I eventually made it down to my fantasy, a Size 10. And one day I even fit in a Size 8 pair of jeans.

I was in heaven. Then they pulled my drugs, and the weight came bounding back.

I tried going back to Weight Watchers. Multiple times. With Mom. With friends. And, for some reason, this time it just didn’t work for me.

So, there I was, just getting fatter and fatter and waiting for the fate that killed my father – a heart attack – to take me. Literally, I thought every day, “Today could be the day.”

I began to pray in my daily devotions that God would direct me in His path.

As a believer, I know my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. I know I can do NOTHING to change the length of my time on this earth. God alone had determined how many years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds I will be here.

But He commands us to take care of this earthly temple for as long as we have it. And that means TAKE CARE OF IT.

I knew I hadn’t been taking care of it. I had let myself go with no concern how I was treating the body God gave me.

So, like any desperate child, I asked for help. And waited.

Then, at a lia sophia jewelry party, He sent direction. My cousin’s wife was the consultant. She is also newly pregnant.

As I was filling out my form (for a $50 ring I don’t need), we got to talking, and I shared our infertility story.

She was incredibly sympathetic and told me she ALSO suffered from PCOS, endometriosis, and infertility. Her OB/GYN had recommended SBD as a natural fix for the blood sugar problems that plague PCOS victims with infertility.

She and her husband followed the diet. A year later, they got pregnant.

Again, I KNOW I will only get pregnant IF it is God’s will.

But, I also know I asked God for direction, and He brought my cousin’s wife into my life at the exact right time. God’s ways are higher than mine, and (in this case), I’ll not question.

My cousin’s wife also shared tips, tricks, and the true fact that SBD is NOT a hard diet to follow.

I decided to take the advice as clear leading from my heavenly Father.

The next day, I went to the library and checked out The South Beach Diet, The South Beach Diet Cookbook, and The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook.

I read The South Beach Diet book first, cover to cover. It was a basic nutrition book, very easy to read, and covered the basic points of the diet.

As I read it, I felt a strange little tingle up my back, and I thought, “I can do this.”

The next Monday….and then Wednesday….I started Phase 1.

Phase 1 only lasts for two weeks. You give up breads, pastas, cereals, rice, potatoes, sweets…basically ALL carbs.

However, with my two cookbooks, I found MANY breakfasts, lunches, and dinner substitutions which didn’t make me feel at all deprived.

True to the book’s promise, after the first few days, I found my desire for carbs and sweets completely diminished. I no longer craved bagels and cream cheese or my 10:00 a.m. pack of Now-n-Later’s.

That part still amazes me. I used to love those darn Now-n-Later’s.

The book explains a lot about how our bodies break down carbohydrates and the craving, addiction, and over-indulging that result. There’s so much more than I can recount here.

Suffice it to say, it’s worth the read, folks, and I’m not kidding.

After my second full week, I’ll re-introduce carbs slowly back into my diet. They will be healthy carbs, though. I’m making certain of that.

Brett loves the new diet. This is both a pro and a con for the diet.

The pro is that my husband loves my cooking, and comes home eager and excited about what new dish I’m trying for dinner. Plus, we are both eating better.

The con is that this diet DOES call for a LOT of cooking. It’s simple and easy cooking, but cooking none the less. So, I’ve had to invest a LOT of time in preparing food. But, I’ll be honest, the results have been pretty darn fantastic.

Our favorites so far include the Mexican Chicken Soup, Pesto Chicken, Turkey and White Bean Chili, Spicy Chicken Fingers with Cilantro Dipping Sauce, Tuna Pistachio Salad, Ribbon Salad, Balsamic Vinaigrette…I could go on.

To satisfy my sweet tooth, I have sugar-free Jello, candy, fudgesicles, and popsicles – limited to 75 calories a day.

But the truth is…I don’t crave sweets like I used to. Just a taste now and then – something a sugar-free hard candy or bowl of Jello will satisfy.

Although, I am looking forward to re-introducing fruit into my life. Yum.

The second major change is that I’ve decided not to weigh myself during this diet. I don’t want to feel pressured by numbers going up or down. I want to measure my success with how I feel and how my clothes fit.

I know I sound like I’m high on SBD. But I want you to know I am fully aware it’s always easy to start a diet – it’s just hard to stay on one.

I also know it’s ONLY been a week. But what a week!

Yesterday, I was singing in the shower, and I realized that I felt absolutely phenomenal. I felt good inside. It was like my body chemistry was all lining up inside.

And that felt fantastic.

So, that’s my story. I promise to stop preaching on SBD, at least until we see how I like it in the long run.

But, in the short run, I’m very impressed.

I’m also very grateful the Lord pointed me in the right direction…toward South Beach, Florida!