Weigh in, 2 weeks

Two weeks into the South Beach diet. I'm cooking more at home so we're saving money. I'm not starving at all, in fact I'm always rather full. I don't feel as tired anymore. I'm -not- exercising or changing anything other than the foods that I'm eating. Last night I used Tish's scale to weigh myself. Now, the numbers aren't important in and of themselves, and Tish's scale is not digital, nor is it in any way guaranteed to be calibrated to Dave's scale.

With that said, I started out 2 weeks ago at 299. I weighed in last night at 282. It took us a little while in the party to actually do the math, but four drunk adults at a party finally figured out that this means I lost 17 pounds in 2 weeks.

The first 10 pounds is all water, and the diet slows down from here. Which is fine by me, really. No, seriously. I was a little surprised at how much I'd lost, and got worried for a moment that I was dropping too much at once. I know. I know... everyone wishes the changes to their eating habits had such a thing to worry about. But my goal is overall health. And 17 pounds in two weeks seems to be too fast.

But I assure you, I feel great. I'm looking forward to the spring so I can get back into the gym again in the mornings. See how things go from there.

I'd love to start hiking. Seriously. Maybe do the camping thing, too. Overnight hike into the woods. Not just for the idea of hiking, but also to fuel my art. Get out into nature and see. And get a nice digital camera so that I can collect photo studies for later art pieces.

Maybe a hiking trip would be some kind of reward for this. I was just gonna say "Maybe the digital camera would be a good reward for this." Maybe a year anniversary gift. But I think that if I can do this for one year, then I should go on a hiking trip ... with the camera. One year. Doesn't have to be a tour or anyplace fancy. And I give myself permission to wait until the summer for it, too. ;)

So there we have it. South Beach diet 1 continuous year from now, no matter what phase. I'm planning on cheating for the Christmas holidays. Last 2 weeks of the year. But I'll cheat responsibly... if I get all the way there I won't want to wreck what I've accomplished. But if this is a diet then it has to survive falling off the wagon. If I do it intentionally, then I know that I can maintain it. So that's a good test...being able to get back on the diet January 2, 2008, after 2 weeks of "Phase 4". :-) Then back into Phase 1, which isn't bad. At all.

I really like this food plan. I think this might actually be a complete lifestyle change for me. Funny that it comes right on the edge of deciding to actually be different, to be an artist, to take chances and make statements. Could it be that I've been resisting this for so long that I was indeed a blocked creative? HAH! Wow... this is pretty .... intense.

But in a good way.
-Adam