My husband and I are beginning our - dare I say, "traditional" - diet tomorrow. Everyone else probably starts their resolutions on New Year's Day, but we start ours the first day I have to go back to work after winter break. So, armed with 4 books about South Beach Dieting, we begin. Although, if you read the book you will quickly learn that this is not a fad diet...it's a "lifestyle change". What have we gotten ourselves into? After 32 years of living one way, we are expecting ourselves to change?
Well, this diet has worked for us in the past. A few years ago, my husband and I both brought about this "lifestyle change", and had great success. After several months, he had lost 60 pounds and I had lost 40 pounds. I didn't even exercise all that much (if at all). I like to get use to the food changes before I overwhelm myself with the exercise! But that's just me...my husband is quite the opposite, it's all or nothing with him.
Now, we have both gained our weight back and need to get ourselves healthy again. Last time, one of the reasons we stopped South Beach is because we remodeled our kitchen and couldn't cook anymore. (We weren't so good at eating healthy at a restaurant even though we had the Dining Guide.) So, the time has come for us to start again. We went grocery shopping today so we can begin Phase 1 tomorrow.
Phase 1 is the hardest part for me. Maybe it's because I love potatoes and fruit so much, or maybe it's because I don't like being told what I can eat and what I can't. But, if I can endure it for 2 weeks, I know it will get much better after that!
Here is my plan:
My husband and I always plan out our "menu" for the week and go grocery shopping on Sunday. On days my husband works, I cook and on days he has off, he cooks. This is mostly because he works 12 hour shifts and won't get home until after 7:30 p.m. I can get home much sooner than him, if I choose to! He only works 3-4 days per week, so the workload is usually 50/50 over a 2 week span.
As I have already mentioned, Phase 1 lasts for two weeks. Only the no carb items...lean meats, veggies, stuff like that. Which usually means lots of salads!
On the menu this week:
Chicken & Mushroom Soup
Turkey w/ White Bean Chili
Grilled Chicken with Tricolor Salad
Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Spinach & Cheese
Cannellini Bean Salad
Shrimp Scampi & Caesar Salad
Pork Tenderloin w/ Asparagus
Today, to be proactive about this, I decided to take it one step further. Instead of just planning the menu like we usually do, I decided to chop up all of the vegetables. and bag them up for when we need them later. I am hoping that this will make it much faster when it is time to cook. I chopped green and red bell peppers, yellow onions, celery, and leeks. We are even trying some new veggies this week. We are having leeks, radicchio, and belgian endive; I have never had any of these before.
I am excited for this adventure and I hope to come out a much healthier person by the end. Well, and of course, I hope to lose a lot of weight in the process!
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