2.5 lbs.

Whoo-hoo! I've actually managed to lose some weight! Seeing as this blog started out with my weight-loss attempts, I have to share my breakthrough. Just over a month ago I was reading something online and they mentioned Bob Greene's Best Life Diet. They talked about how it eased you into dieting instead of forcing you to count calories from day one and follow really strict plans where they told you exactly what to eat day-to-day. I've decided that diets like that don't work for me for two reasons. 1: I get really gung-ho about the new diet initially but after only a week, the time-consuming meal planning and preparation takes its toll and I find myself no longer interested in keeping up with the plan. 2: I lead a very busy life, even more so now that fall has arrived meaning the beginning of choir rehearsals again. I just don't have time to be cooking dinners every night and then prepping for lunches the next day. Even on Sunday afternoons, I can spend some time cooking for the week, but not enough to make separate meals each night.

I decided to give the Best Life Diet a go. You get the first month, or more if you need it, to ease yourself into the thing. You are supposed to just exercise more than you were when you started the diet, so if you were maybe working out once or twice a week for a half hour- kick it up to 3 times a week. That's not too difficult and I have managed to to that in the month I've been on the diet. The next point is to stick to 3 meals a day with one or two snacks and to not eat within 2 hours of going to bed. I have done really well with the not eating close to bed. It's been difficult, but it made me realize just how many calories I was taking in during those hours while I sat watching tv at night. Finally, you need to cut out 6 food groups: alcohol, soda, trans fats, fried foods, full-fat yogurt and milk, and white bread. A few of these I have already mastered- I rarely drink soda, always buy skim milk and light yogurt and wheat bread. However, when I go out to eat, often I will have something with a plain white bun and fries. I did ok with cutting that out. I was opting for the fruit salad or veggies instead of fries and finding items that were served on something other than a white roll. So, that leads me to the one group that I had major difficulty in eliminating- alcohol. Now, I don't drink daily. I live alone and don't drink by myself, but august was full of events where I was with people and everyone was drinking. I currently do not have the willpower to completely eliminate the alcohol. However, I did try and opt for the new lower-calorie beers if I had the option. I'm guessing that's why when I weighed myself after one month on the program, the loss was only 2.5 lbs (Bob Greene estimates that you will lose about a pound a week during stage 1). I figure I will continue on stage 1 for one more week and see if I can manage to lose any more weight. If I do, I'll stick with this stage until I plateau and then move to stage 2. I'm hopeful that this sticks and I am really determined to lose the weight this time. I have set a realistic goal for myself. I want to lose just over 20 pounds by June 1, 2010. That's about 2 pounds a month, which is definitely within reason. So, wish me luck, I'm starting up with a big push here. And I'll try to post more often about what's working and what's not.