23 July 2005

Health Update

Low-carb dieting is not for me, at least not as low-carb as Atkins and South Beach. I stuck to South Beach Phase 1 for four days and my scale did not move a bit. ABM stuck to it for two weeks and only lost four pounds. That is a great weight loss on any other plan, but when the book claims that you will lose 8 - 13 pounds in the first two weeks it is a little disappointing. I expected to at least lose at least two pounds but I didn't lose a thing.

I'm not ready to throw in the towel, though. There were a few changes I made this week that I think will stick. As much as I have badmouthed artificial sweeteners in the past, drinking my coffee with Splenda isn't so bad. I gave up adding hot chocolate and flavored creamer to my coffee a while back, so my cup is now down to about 50 calories. Late-night snacking has also been eliminated. I chafed against the strictness of South Beach earlier in the week, but I think that giving myself a simple guideline like "No sugar, period!" is easier for me than allowing myself to have two cookies. I have to eat my words here because I said that I would never be able to cut sugar completely out of my life but perhaps I can do it "for a season" (as we say in church circles).

On the exercise front, I've done pretty well this week. My lunch buddy NotMissy suggested that we start walking on our AM and PM breaks. Our facility has a beautiful walking trail but it has been much too hot and humid to walk outside. NotMissy came up with the idea of walking the perimeter of our dining hall which is huge. So I got an hour and 45 minutes of exercise this week, which equaled out to about five miles. This was a great idea because I can get my 30 minutes of exercise each day in small increments without aggravating my back.

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