It's time for me to "get real"...

as Dr. Phil would say.  I've spent the entire day in a sour mood I've taken out on everyone else because what I wanted I didn't get.  The depression and the deprivation and the sheer willpower not to overindulge was overwhelming.  This is not the diet for me.  Especially when I tried to do the diet to the best of my ability anyway, and barely cracked 1000 calories just so I wouldn't go over my carbs.  I'm faced with either eating things like grains, beans, fruits and vegetables or high fat things like meats, cheeses, low carb dressings, etc.  It's just not going to work for me.  When I can't afford a bowl of grapes because I chose to eat a high fiber cereal and added fruit to my cottage cheese, this just isn't right.

It's time to ditch these fad diets and get back to basics.  The eating hasn't been the problem, I need to get my metabolism running and the simplest, most effective way to do that is through exercise.  If I exercised more, I wouldn't have to watchdog my diet and deprive myself of basic nutrition.  I know this, but I'm uninspired to exercise. 

I need to get off my lazy butt and change my activities instead of race around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to manipulate my body to do what simple nutrition and exercise would do naturally. 

Back in January I was walking a mile a day five days a week, riding up to 30 minutes a day on the exercise bike and doing Pilates faithfully every other day.  That's when I saw my biggest success.  Ever since February my activities have gone steadily downhill - and subsequently so has my weight loss. 

Nothing is going to work consistantly unless I start to work it consistantly.  The more I burn, the more fat I'll burn because I've already created a consumption/burning deficit. 

I'm going to do this smart, the way I know it's supposed to work, and that's what is going to make the difference.  And it starts tomorrow.

According to Practical Weight Loss Site - How To Lose Fat and Keep It Off., I should consume 2600 calories in order to maintain my weight at my activity level.  So we're going to shave 1000 calories off of that (to create a deficit that will equal a 2lb loss - in theory).  This will give me a daily calorie requirement of 1600, with no more than 30% fat. 

I'm going to consume 64oz at least of water per day.

My exercise is going to start off slow.  I'm going to do the bike ten minutes five days this week, Pilates every other day and I'm going to walk a mile at least five days this week.  This is a concrete goal, and I will do that.  This is more important than all the rest.

We'll see in a week what works best - a fad diet or that old stand by, "eat less and move more". 

As of tomorrow I'll do my journal entries at night and my stats will be listed there. 

I'm going to look into carb blockers and metabolism boosters, to see if there's a safe natural supplement to help me in those areas - but other than that it's time to get real with my nutrition.  This high protein diet doesn't feel right and it's certainly not something I can realistically maintain.  This is why diets don't generally work.

I've wasted enough time chasing the moon.  It's time to get back to what I know works, and I'm just going to have to grin and bear it.  It's the only way.