Day One: South Beach Diet Phase I
In general, I am a pretty healthful eater. It's known I have a big sweet tooth and a big appetite but I'm also fairly controlled. Until I'm not.
When I'm not, well...things get messy. I definitely have an all or nothing personality and if I get into the bad habit of "all" I tend to just eat anything and everything and way too much overall.
I've hit that point recently so it's time to pull back and try to detox my bad habits.
Normally I subscribe to the calories in/calories out mantra. I still do. Cutting calories and doing major cardio does wonders for me. But, like everything, it can be hard to do it especially when life gets in the way. For whatever reason I've been having a hard time motivating myself at the gym. Normally working out is my go-to. Exercise isn't supposed to be my problem. Food is.
So when both were posing issues I new I needed to do something to help re-focus my attention back on health. So, it's SBD time. I've only successfully completed Phase I once before and that was maybe 8 or 9 years ago. I tried it again with half a heart after the first go at it maybe 4 or 5 years ago.
I think for some people the low-carb diet does make sense. It just works with their body chemistry. Especially for those who have diabetes or are pre-diabetes. Low carb becomes a way of life. I don't think it's really a good fit for me in the long-run. I tend to the low cal/low fat option which includes a lot of grains.
It's the extras that get in my way. The office parties when they order in fast food or celebrations with pies and cookies. It's the stress eating that turns me to candy and sweets.
Overall, my meals may stay OK it's just everything in between that slips. That's why going on SBD Phase I detox will help me. I'm choosing SBD because it means no cookies, no sweets, no sugar for two weeks. I'm going to re-train my habits so eating crap isn't part of my every day routine. It also gives me permission (ahem forces me) to say no to all the extras.
The thing with Phase I is it works because you are in theory going into ketogenesis; with low or no access to glucose your body is forced to burn fat for energy. So it's one time where cheating really will derail you. It helps knowing that cheating isn't an option otherwise, you're putting yourself through two hard weeks for nothing.
It's mostly psychological from what I recall doing this the first time around. It's not so much that you're hungry or even that you "miss carbs" it's just completely outside of one's normal routine. Although I'm usually eating "better carbs" my diet is very carb based so going to low/no carb is challenging. I'm grateful that the diet allows beans because that is what really makes it work (at least for me) as that is one food staple I eat on a regular basis.
In fact, I started eating beans with the frequency that I do because of going through SBD Phase I the first time through. I had found all these creative ways of adding beans to meal and it became a part of my new way of eating.
Today was fairly easy because I had the day off so I was at home. Tomorrow, at work I think it will be a little harder as that's where the challenges usually occur.
