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Week 14 Monday Meeting (April 5th)
Congratulations! You’ve completed the New Year’s Challenge. Whether you’ve reached your weight-loss goal or are halfway through, give yourself a pat on the back for sticking with the Challenge over the last 14 weeks. Now’s your chance to be eligible for the grand prize trip to sunny Miami, Florida to meet Dr. Agatston and his team! During this week, to be considered for the grand prize, we ask you to submit an original 500 word essay that should describe:
1. How your lifestyle (including eating habits, motivation, and outlook) changed from the beginning to the end of the Challenge
2. The specific ways in which the South Beach Diet contributed to this change
3. The three main obstacles you faced when following the Challenge
4. How you overcame them (whether through the support of family and friends, through using the site tools or information, or other methods)
Essay must be e-mailed to: editors@southbeachdiet.com by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (“EST”) April 11, 2010.
You should also post a photograph of yourself from no earlier than April 1, 2010 to this week’s weigh-in thread. Your photographic submissions are required in order to be eligible for the Challenge prizes.
On behalf of Dr. Agatston and the entire South Beach Diet Online team, we wish you continuing success.
Also...since we don't have a special guest today, I'd encourage you to share some of the thoughts you have about how the first quarter of this year has been - does the SBD way of eating "work" for you? What is easy about it? What is hard? Are things like a holiday weekend as much of a challenge as they used to be, or are they easier?
For me, holidays are easier to deal with than they used to be. Thank goodness!
What habits do you feel like you picked up (or got rid of) during the past 13 weeks?
For me, the consistent eating of breakfast was a new habit I picked up from SBD. Also, more eating at home and less eating out!
What about you?
I find too that when I now choose to eat off plan items I consume less. I remember a night a month or two ago when I cooked an 8 oz steak and gave myself permission to eat as much as I wanted. I did, weighed the remainder -- amt eaten: 4 oz. I cracked up laughing! There are definitely weekends when that number is 5 oz or when I have a little too much cheese on the WW pizza, but I am soooo much healthier in WHAT I eat now that I really don't worry about it. I can do moderation...who knew?
I have learned to eat so many new veggies on this plan and am very proud of that. This website has been terrific for encouragement and ideas. I think the change that has worked best for me (the one not dictated by the plan requirements) is that I tend to eat my veggies first. Eating them when I am hungriest means they taste better and in the end I have less room for protein, dessert etc. Dessert used to be a frequent thing .... now it is very rare.
Holidays though....still a challenge!
I agree about eating vegetables first. I've been known to have my plate full of vegetables and no protein, having to squeeze in a bit of room for that at the end! My dessert is almost always yogurt/fruit...sometimes SF jello or a fudgesicle. When I started out, the ricotta cremes were my favorite. But when I decided that I didn't need so much cheese, I made those more like occasional treats.
Ricotta is almost like hummus or peanut butter...I need single-serving containers!
Looks like it is just me & you today .... I took a 1/2 day today to extend the Easter weekend but getting ready to head to work. Did you have a good holiday?
My daughter is ready to hit the after-Easter 50%-off sales. I will be steering her away from the half-off candy, and toward the half-off squishy stuffed animals, which is what she really wants anyway.
I'm using the lull to plan the rest of my meals for today, and the week. We have leftover protein and non-beach-legal starch (that the rest of the family will eat), and plenty of hard-boiled eggs. And lots of asparagus.
What about you?
I ate at my cousin's so no leftovers here. Just finished the last pre-holiday leftovers from my fridge for lunch, so guess I will be cooking again. And asparagus was on sale for $1.29/bunch so I own lots of it....I suspect that's on the menu tonight.
Heading out now....have a good one!
Have a great week...see you on the message boards!
I learned a bit more about how to deal with stress eating during this quarter. My dad became seriously ill and passed away in February, and with his illness and then dealing with the hospice side of it at home and the death and funeral -- it was like constant stress for a month and a half. Plus, we are southern, so during the week and a half we were home with him people were bringing us lots of food. (I tried my best, but just had to have some homemade chicken and dumplings LOL.) Then, or course, we were also inundated with lots of good, homemade food items in the days following his death and funeral. Food is always a solice to a southerner -- we are raised that way, so it is extremely hard to break that habit -- it's like going against your genetic roots. At any rate, I think I did OK. I gained 2 or 3 pounds and have finally lost them and have broken into the 180's (woo hoo). Also, I was thinking about change during this time, and just realized I rarely eat bread anymore. I have always been a big bread eater -- any of kind of bread -- I like it all! I can't remember the last time I bought a loaf of bread or had a sandwich. Today, I brought leftover deviled eggs ( I made them so they are SB friendly), lettuce, 3-4 thinly sliced deli ham pieces, and three 1 x 3 pieces of swiss cheese. That is my lunch -- I am full without feeling bloated from the bread. (Which I didn't miss!) I brought an apple for snack later. I think I have learned a lot during the challenge and look forward to learning more!! Thanks for all of your help and encouragement!!
L
Are holidays easier to deal with? Hmmm.... Yes and no.
Yes, because I just eat a lot less than I used to. Especially yesterday, because I proudly wore my skinny(er) jeans, which are still a little tight in the waist, so there wasn't room to overeat. But no, because all the favorite traditional foods are still there. I made small changes where I could -- not glazing the ham with the pineapple juice/brown sugar glaze, light mayo in the potato salad, veggie tray as appetizers instead of chips and queso, adding a big tossed salad, whole grain wheat rolls instead of crescents, etc. But the ability to eat smaller portions and say no to certain foods (desserts) will be more valuable skills in the long run, as opposed to completely changing the menu and cooking only "safe" foods. There will be times when there aren't any SB-safe foods around and I must learn to eat "normal" foods at those times without losing control.
