Beach-Bound, Baby!

I know, I haven't posted in forever, and I apologize. It's been crazy-busy and, frankly, I haven't been focusing on my eating, exercising or weight loss goals. No, I haven't given up or lost sight of my goal, but the pursuit of a shapelier body has taken a back burner to other things. No excuses, it just is what it is. However, even though I haven't been actively trying to lose weight, I am still maintaining and might have even lost an ounce or two, as evidenced by the once-tight jeans I'm now able to get into. I'm not sure if it's the weather, the atmosphere, the different feel of it up here or what, but ever since we've been spending weekends at the Ormond Beach house something has changed in me. I'm naturally moving more, snacking less, and since I have little else to do when I'm home alone, I'm doing some thinking. It's almost Samhain, after all, the Witches New Year, the time of deep reflection, of death and rebirth. I'm figuring out what I want overall in my life, where I want to be in the coming year, how my body size & shape fits into that picture and what I need to do to get it that way. I'm also remembering the last time I was really successful at weight loss, what it took to get to goal. It's been interesting, this self-reflection, and I think I'm ready to make some changes.

I have some more pondering to do and some of my plans require the assistance of others, but in the meantime I'm working on what I can control: Me. My diet. My exercise. My happiness. All of that depends upon me, doing what I need to do to make my personal dreams a reality.

So, with that in mind I've decided to return to the eating plan that really worked for me back in 2002/2003: low-carb, no white stuff, lots of veggies & lean protein and, oh yeah, a glass of wine or two at the end of the day. *smile* I took off 25 pounds on that Way of Eating and kept it off for about a year when I got lazy & sloppy and thought I could go back to bread, pasta, etc and still stay a size 6. Anyway, at the time I formulated that "diet" I hadn't read much about South Beach but now I understand that I was in fact following a modified version of that very plan. Unlike Atkins which is a bit too meaty for me, SB focuses on vegetables & healthier protein, even a vegetarian could do it. It just makes sense to me and I feel good when I'm limiting those empty-calorie "dry carbs" and gobbling up more green stuff. So, back I go to the Beach, again with my own twist, doing it My Way. I'm sorry, Weight Watchers, you really are an incredibly great system that works for many people but apparently not me. Perhaps there's too much freedom in the food choices and certainly too much discipline in counting Points, I just can't do it anymore. Apparently, I am one of those people who simply can't eat white stuff on a regular basis, no matter how few Points is in it, it just doesn't work for me.

I'm still working all of this out so bear with me as I adjust my thinking and eating, once I get a week or so under my belt I'll post stats but in the meantime, I'm Beach bound, Rapunzel-style! Feel free to join me!