South Beach Diet: Week 11

Current weight: 190.5 [-20.5 lbs.]

Progress was a little slow this week - Lauren's birthday and a couple happy hours and parties had me cheating a bit.  But, I've been extra good the last few days, so I'm back to my all-time low today.

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If you can read this, it works!

For anyone who doesn't know yet, we're having a baby boy, due June 2.  His name will be Nicholas Robert, the middle name is my father's name.  We're registered at Babies R Us and Target (wink wink).

Current weight: 193 [-18 lbs]

Still chuggin' along...  I still haven't had any white potatoes or hardly anything fried (I'll snag a french fry from Lauren or share some buffalo chicken strips once in a blue moon...) and I'm still going strong.  18 pounds baby!  I can really see the difference myself now, so I know I'm doing well. 

Current weight: 200 [-11 lbs.]

Well, I'm 4 weeks in, and I couldn't be happer.  The pounds keep coming off and I feel great.  Here are some of the meals I've been eating:

Breakfasts:

• Cheese EggBeater omelette
• EggBeater omelette with bell peppers
• Regular eggs over easy with canadian bacon
• Instant oatmeal (Not ideal according to the book, but I only have it once in a while to break up the monotony of all the eggs.)
• Coffee and/or V8

Lunches:

• Quizno's honey mustard chicken salad
• Chipotle burrito bol
• Tropical Smoothie - Strawberry-kiwi-low-fat-yogurt smoothie and buffalo chicken wrap
• Panera bread - turkey w/ mozzarella and pesto on whole grain bread, apple
• South Beach Diet box lunches (like Lunchables for adults - these are actually really tasty and come with Jello for dessert.  I've had the caesar chicken wraps and the southwest chicken wraps.)

Dinners:

• McDonalds - Club chicken sandwich (toss the bread), side salad w/ vinaigrette dressing
• Seasoned pork chops with mixed veggies, 9-grain bread with spread
• Baked salmon with lemon juice and parmesan cheese, veggies
• Cajun-seasoned catfish with veggies
• Any sit-down restaurant: I usually order some kind of roasted or grilled chicken or maybe a lean steak like sirloin and have them substitute extra veggies for the potato.

Desserts/snacks:

• Sugar-free Jello
• Low-fat string cheese
• Fat-free vanilla yogurt
• Cashews/peanuts
• South Beach Diet snack bars (I've only tried the chocolate/peanut butter ones and they're really good.)

So as you can see I'm not exactly starving.  Here's to 4 more weeks of success!

Current weight: 203.5 [-7.5 lbs.]
Meals today:

• 2 eggs over easy with 2 slices canadian bacon, V8, coffee

Well, I gained back about 1.5 pounds, but I'm not worried - I've seen this before.  It usually happens before another big decline in weight, so it's all good...

Current weight: 204 [-7 lbs]
Meals today:

• 2 eggs over easy, V8, coffee
• Chipotle burrito bol - chicken, pinto beans, tomato salsa, sour cream, lettuce
• Handful of peanuts
• Low-fat string cheese
  
• Sliced chicken breast with veggies and tomato sauce (Lauren had this over pasta) (yum)
• Non-fat vanilla yogurt
  

Current weight: 202.5 [-8.5 lbs.]
Meals today:

• Cheese EggBeaters omelette with salsa, V8, coffee
• Strawberry/kiwi smoothie, 1/2 chef salad with thai peanut dressing
• Claim Jumper: 8oz. sirloin steak with grilled veggies, seared ahi tuna appetizer

Current weight: 203 [-8 lbs.]
Meals today:

• 2 eggs over easy, 2 slices canadian bacon, V8, coffee
• Quizno's Honey Mustard Chicken Salad
• Baked salmon w/ lemon juice, herbs and parmesan cheese (yum)
• Sugar-free creamsicle
  

Meals today:

• Some sort of eggs (can't remember), V8, coffee
• Tuna w/ mayo
• Grilled boneless pork chops w/ lemon juice and herbs
• Fat-free vanilla yogurt
  

Meals today:

• Salsa EggBeaters omelette, V8, coffee
• Quizno's Honey Mustard Chicken Salad (yum)
• Panera Bread steak and bleu cheese salad, vegetarian black bean soup
  

Well, that's the end of the first week of Phase 1. I'm 6 pounds lighter so I'm right on track with the book's estimate of 8-13 lbs. by the end of the second week. So far it's been real easy to stay on the diet - I can still go to the restaurants and fast food places I like, I just order different stuff, and it's good stuff. I really don't miss the bread and potatoes and pasta - there's plenty of other food to choose from. I can't wait for Phase 2 so I can start having some fruit. I never thought I would be so grateful to have fruit!

Current weight: 205 [-6 lbs.]
Meals today:

• EggBeaters salsa omelette, V8
• Roasted chicken, green beans, and a little clam chowder
• Chicken caesar salad
  

Current weight: 207 [-4 lbs]
Meals today:

• 2 eggs over easy, cooked with Pam, 2 slices canadian bacon, V8, coffee
• Baked salmon, vegetables, broccoli cheese soup
• Chipotle Mexican Grill - Chicken Burrito Bol w/ lettuce, sour cream, cheese, tomato salsa, black beans
• Sugar-free Jello
  

Current Weight: 207.5 [3.5 lbs. lost]
Meals today:

• EggBeaters mushroom omelette cooked w/ Pam, V8, coffee
• Chef salad (lettuce, ham, turkey, cheese, tomato) w/ balsamic vinaigrette, diet Coke
• Turkey Sausage with mixed veggies, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray
• Sugar-free Jell-o snack cup
  

Current Weight: 207 [4 lbs. lost]
Meals today:

• 2 (real) eggs over easy cooked with Pam, 2 slices canadian bacon, coffee, V8 juice
• Steak pho (sliced lean steak, broth, some veggies, hot sauce), diet coke
• Vegetable soup, cauliflower, small (~2oz) piece of steak, chicken and green beans South Beach meal
• Low fat string cheese
• Cashews

Current weight: 208.5 [2.5 lbs lost]
Meals today:

• EggBeaters (2 egg equivalent) with salsa and mushrooms, V8 juice
• Low fat string cheese
• Rib roast, shrimp, cauliflower, vegetable soup
• Cashews

Meals yesterday:

• Salsa omelette (EggBeaters), V8 juice
• Low-fat string cheese
• 1 can tuna with 2 tbsp. mayo
• Handful of cashews
• Tropical Smoothie Cafe: Sesame chicken salad, fruit smoothie (didn't realize I was cheating - this is fruit - till I had finished half of it.)
• 3 Fig Newtons (I know, cheating again, but it was a matter of survival - we were down at the Strip on New Year's Eve, I was starving, and that was the only food around.)

So far, so good...

I'm a little weary of eating nothing but EggBeaters for breakfast every day, but at least it's only for the next 2 weeks. It seems like the only breakfast food with protein and no carbs is eggs. Oh well.

Weight: 211
Today's Meals:

• Breakfast: EggBeaters (equivalent of 2 eggs) with mushrooms, 1 tbsp margarine

• Pre-lunch snack: handful of cashews, low-fat string cheese

• Lunch: South Beach Diet frozen meal - pork with green beans (wasn't the greatest)

• Dinner: Lucille's BBQ - smoked chicken (only ate the breast), vegetables

I decided (well, more like was told by my doctor) to try the South Beach Diet. My bad cholesterol was too high (about 260), my good cholesterol too low and my triglycerides (a risk factor for heart disease) were too high. So Lauren got me two of the South Beach Diet books - the main one, and the one for dining out. I officially started Phase 1 today. Phase 1 is similar to the Atkins diet - no carbs or sweets, not even fruit, for the first two weeks. It's a sort of detox process to rid you of your addiction to unhealthy, processed carbs and sugars. Phase 2 lets you start working in some good carbs and fruits after that. Phase 3 is supposed to last the rest of your life - that's when you've gotten used to eating healthy and you automatically choose the right foods because that's your new lifestyle. According to the book, after Phase 1 I should be 8 to 13 pounds lighter.

I decided to keep track of my progress in this blog so I can see how well I'm sticking to the diet. Plus it's also a sort of motivational tool when I take the time to examine what I've been doing - it helps me hold myself accountable. Well, here goes nothin' - wish me luck!

Current weight: 211 lbs.
Today's meals:

• Breakfast: 2 eggs over easy (cooked with Pam), coffee
• Lunch: Some sort of beef with bell peppers and a little bit of broccoli cheese soup (they were the only choices at the cafeteria today, and weren't very good anyway)
• Dinner: Miso salmon with sauteed vegetables
• Late nite snack: 1 stick of low-fat string cheese
  

According to the doctors, we'll have our baby on June 2, 2007.  Wish us luck!

Hi there.  I'm trying out these Live spaces.  If it works out I'll retire my old website, since this thing is a hell of a lot easier to maintain.  Enjoy!