Closing the gap!

Wow... despite my MANY cheats this week, my pants are fitting better and there's less wheezing as I ascend the stairs. However, this week I have on several occasions succumb to temptation.

1. McDonalds... Damn, I was so close to executing well on this. Two egg McMuffins without the muffin and then I ordered a sausage biscuit and ate the whole thing, carbs and all. I'm relatively sure that the sausage is not on the menu and I KNOW that the Biscuit isn't!

2. Pumpkin Bread: I had it sitting up in the cupboard and decided to make the mix. It's proved to be a really bad idea. I think I've had a slice every day since I made it.

3. Sushi: Last week was a long week for reasons I won't go into. I needed a last minute meal and that seemed to be closest to what I needed without grabbing a salad. While it's not a terrible meal, it does have enriched rice which doesn't exactly work within the bounds of the SBD (South Beach Diet not "Silent but deadly")

4. This one was the motherload... I really fell off the wagon with this one... Foot Long, Steak, cheese, Pepper & Onion sub and Onion Rings. You may officially call me fatty fat fat fat. This one was AWESOME... but I'm sure that I'll regret it eventually...

I think they key to my success on the Southbeach diet is going to be preparation. Today, I spent almost an hour putting together meals for the week and mapping out the things I plan on eating. I've been introduced to a few meals and snacks this week that ordinarily, I wouldn't have thought of. One that was interesting and fit the bill was the Cucumber Rounds with Smoked Salmon. Good stuff! The only description I can give it is "clean". It has a rich smokeyness balanced with the smooth crispness of the cucumber. It was excellent. Another surprise is the ricotta desserts allowed in the diet. Simple construction, 1/2 a cup of Ricotta Cheese, a sweet & low packet and vanilla extract. It's surprisingly good and does wonders for my late night sweet tooth. I've also been pleasantly surprised with the fish dishes. I don't ordinarily cook fish so I'm still working this stuff out as I go. Other than that, the diet is fairly good, but again requires quite a bit of preparation if you're going to do it right. The costs I complained about last week seem to be negating themselves as most of the recipies are for multiple diners and it's actually saved me a little time this week in the fact that I now have meals set up in ziplock containers.

The one note I'll make about the SBD is the fact that its introduced three things into my diet that I've been missing. Salad, Fish & Dairy. It's been a welcome change to my usual diet of well... CRAP.

Either way, I'm making progress. The one thing I've not incorporated is the excersize. It's not been a good week for starting new things... This coming week, I plan on standing up and doing this full bore!

Good luck to you out there attempting to get in better shape. I'm there with ya!

Rob