Man that old journal was gettin' old and long! I think its about time for a new one, and I've got a good reason for it too!

For the next two weeks I will be on a very strict carb-free diet. According to the South Beach literature, this is because all of the carbs - good and bad - that people usually eat so much of creates a bit of an insulin resistance in most people. This can become a precursor to diabetes, but mostly it makes it so that we need to eat more carbs (and sugars) to get the same amount of insulin and therefore energy out of it. Going completely without carbs for two weeks supposedly 'recalibrates' your body so that you can get the most energy out of carbs so that we don't get cravings as often. There's a lot of science behind it (which is what drew me to the diet in the first place), but I won't get into it here. The extended literature is available in the book, and I'm sure you can get the basics of it online. In functional terms, all grains and fruits, as well as a few vegetables (corn, peas, carrots, and tomatoes) will be off-limits. I'll be eating primarily (whole) eggs, lean meats, leafy green veggies, and small amounts of cheese. It'll get boring, but I'm sure I can make it through!

After the two weeks, I'll be on 'phase 2' of the SB diet, which involves gradually reintroducing carbs and being very selective about which ones are being eaten. All veggies are given the green light, as are most fruits except the very sweet ones, like pineapples. I will have to be very picky with grains because there are a lot of variables that indicate whether or not they're okay, but in general, the whiter the worse. I'll have to find an easy-to-use glycemic index to help me out here.

Phase 2 lasts until I get to my goal weight, so this is going to be somewhat long term. Phase 3 lasts forever and is just the basic tenents of eating well and not stuffing your face with over processed things like canned pastas or even white pasta.

I'm going to use the SB diet in conjunction with calorie counting so that I make sure I'm not under eating from a lack of variety or overeating to make up for the same lack. I am also going to make the effort to get up half an hour earlier each day and exercise at the beginning of my day, instead of the end, so I can get the most out of it!

Weigh-in will be tomorrow morning, and since this is the beginning of a new plan of action, I'll be posting my weight to the nearest tenth (well I think my scale goes by fifths, whatever), as well as measurements (in centimeters) for my breasts, upper waist (smallest part of the torso), lower waist (around the belly button), and hips.

I wish you the best of luck Beagle - you're going to do awesome!!
I'll come back later to see what's up but I hope you're having an great day!

Good morning! I really hope you like this South Beach diet, and that it works great for you.

Good luck with the South Beach diet! I dont know much about it, but I know a lot of people are finding great success with it. I think cutting out the carbs really does help with the cravings. I know it did when I was on Atkins a year ago.

Best of luck. Look forward to hearing how you like the diet!!

Morning Beagle.. good luck girly.. this sounds like a good plan for you!!

Alright guys, here I go

Starting:
Weight: 189.2 lbs
Measurements:
---Bust - 103cm
---Waist (upper) - 88cm
---Waist (lower) - 105cm
---Hips - 110cm

Goals:
Weight: I want to drop at LEAST 5 more pounds over the next two weeks, but as I understand it, chances are I could lose up to 10.
Measurements: No real number goals, but I would definitely like to make my two waist measurements a LOT closer together! I've been told most of the loss on SB is on the belly anyways so I may get my wish

You'll do great!!

i put my 73 year old dad on the south beach , it has done wonders for him,
really he is like a new man,i went to the store to get everything my mom will need for him, and i do not let him cheat.
three weeks ago his suger was 500--now thats about as high as you can bring it with out takeing a dirt-nap,
he was up to two inslin shots aday at 80 mg a time--, now that he has been on south beach his suger has been at 129 for the last three days and his shot is once a day around 40mg,although we are still trying to get that all
regealated,so i hope you do really well on it.

You know I was never really good at measuring myself - I cheat... if the number isn't right I slip it up a little haha... but I bet you'll do awesome I'm so excited for you - can't wait to see those results? How are you doing by the way? Haven't really 'spoken' to you in a while! Hope everything hunky dory as I Mom used to say Cheers hun

You will do AWESOME Bailey SB sounds very reasonable and a healthy route to go I KNOW you can reach your goals

Food News:
First day seems to have gone pretty well, but that's because I'm not bored of it yet! Breakfast was an Egg Creation omelette - cheddar and chives. It was pretty good except that I put too much pepper in it, it was all I could taste! Probably about 150 calories. I took a salad for lunch to school, but until I get more info, I'm not sure which dressings I can use if any so I had it dry. I put chopped turkey and cheese in it though so it wasn't plain tasting at all, actually I liked it better than dressing I guess about 150 again, maybe 200. I'm in the process of frying up a fish filet and cooking some veggies, I don't htink it's more than 300 calories though. So at most I'm looking at 650 calories. I'm not that hungry, but I know I should get more calories in. But all the snacks in the house are 'off limits', I don't know what to eat! I didn't do very good shopping on sunday because I didn't really look into specific foods that are good for the diet Maybe I'll make another salad in a couple hours.

Workout News:
Well, Josh and I signed up for Gold's Gym today! We got a Grand Opening special, but it still seems a little expensive - $27 every two weeks. The other option was $18 every two weeks and a $200 startup cost - really it works out to the same amount over the one year contract, but I don't have to slap down the $200 at the start. Gold's has a pretty impressive set up though! All the cardio machines have TVs on them, and they have tons of weight-training equipment, which is what I'm most interested in because I can't effectively build muscles myself at home. Josh and I will go together at least twice a week after work (so at like 11pm), and I think I'll drop by myself at least one more time a week.

This morning I got up early as planned and got in a 20 minute cardio workout! I only did the 'beginner' one because I wasn't feeling very energized, but by the end of it I felt like I hadn't done enough, but didn't have time for another. Tomorrow I'll do the 'hard' 20 minute cardio

Life News:
There really isn't much to tell, Liz, sorry! Almost all of my spare time the past week or so has been spent doing homework. On one hand, my major assignments are actually kind of fun to research and do(or maybe I'm just a giant nerd ) but on the other hand, I have a lot of trouble focussing on something for long periods at a time so I find myself getting bored very easily. I'm just about finished my swedish assignment which is due on Thursday. I'll probably finish it tonight and still be able to get a good start on my sociology paper, which is on narratives and storytelling in video games.

Other than homework, homework and more homework, all of my life news revolves around dieting! Sorry to be so boring!

okay so I didn't get my morning exercise in today, but I wasn't entirely surprised. I was up until roughly 1:30am with homework, and if I were to exercise, would have had to be up at 6:30. Not happening. As it is, I slept in a little, and have to run out the door in 15 minutes and am still in my pj's (sorry, no time to check other journals this morning!).

I did have another egg creation, and I really didn't enjoy it this morning. Maybe it was because I peppered it so much yesterday I didn't taste it, but ALL I could taste this morning was preservatives. Yech. I choked it down though, with the help of a lot of water. About 150 calories. I think tomorrow I'll make real eggs.

Packed a tuna salad for lunch, which will be about 300 calories, I used a whole can of tuna - didn't really make salad as much as I thought. After school I'll probably have more fish and veggies - I actually cooked it really good last night! Just need to cook it a little longer tonight to crisp it up on the outside and I'm golden I think I'll melt some cheese onto the veggies too for some extra flavour.

So, lunch wasn't very filling at all, I'm still pretty hungry. I have no idea what there is for me to eat here at the school though. Hm, actually I think I saw one of the mom-n-pop places with chef salads! I could go get one of those, and eat it dry, since I'm pretty sure the dressings they have aren't made with real olive oil, which is permitted. I don't mind dry salads so much anymore though - especially if they have meat and cheese in them!

Yeah, I think that's what I'm going to do

Also, today after school I'm stopping at the mall to buy some *good* workout clothes! I figure if I'm going to start going to a gym and working out in public, I can't very well do it in my pyjamas! Then I'll be meeting Josh at the gym when he's done work at like 11 and we'll get started!