South Beach Diet - The Start!

Alright, I said in a previous post that I hate "fad" diets.  That hasn't changed.  But I have been feeling that I need to change my routine up a bit, sort out my eating habits and I desperately want to lose weight.  So for inspiration, I read through the weight-loss post of my fave fitness blogger, Fitnessista - this chick is awesome, she always posts inspirational things and lots of pretty pictures about yummy foods etc, and she also managed to lose 40lbs a few years ago.  So I found her weight-loss post here, and I noticed that she mentioned the South Beach diet.

It's not one I'd heard of before, but I was interested enough from the things Fitnessista said to read up on it - and it actually sounded like the kind of thing I was looking for.  In a nutshell, it's not one of these diets that's designed to help you lose weight then that's the end of the story, you can go back to your old habits.  Here's what I like about it (without sounding like I work for their marketing team) - it was written by a doctor, has 3 different phases (phase 1 is the shortest, lasting 2 weeks & designed to kick-start your metabolism & get rid of cravings, then phase 2 is about slow & steady weight loss by making healthy food choices, then phase 3 is pretty much the rest of your life - according to the book, by the time you've reached your goal weight you should know what's good/bad so there's not really much in the way of what you can/can't have at this stage) and it's basically designed to teach you good eating habits you can keep up for life - definitely my kinda diet!

So now that I've explained my reasoning behind trying this diet, I'll be blogging about my progress - but not in a "You have to try this diet!" way, just really to see if it works and if anyone is interested in trying it out then it might give an idea of the positives/negatives.

Watch this space...!

Screw Fad Diets, Do What You Want!

Having a bit of an "off day" today - slept late, don't feel inclined to do any of the housework I'd planned on doing...and I've decided it's a Comfort Food kinda day.

Pic sourced from resourcefulcook.com

Not really decided what comfort food I actually want - but it's blustery, grey weather outside, so thinking along the lines of either egg & chips (I have an Actifry - so the chips are pretty much as healthy as I can get them!) or perhaps baked potatoes with cheesy beans (and a few drops of Tabasco for my spice fix).  And it led me back to the conversation I had with the person who upset me a couple of days ago - about what "eating right" entails.  They think that to be fit & healthy, you have to be at the gym 7 days a week and live off salad....but to me, that's way off the mark.  Where do you get all the different nutrients your body needs?  You need proteins, carbs, vitamins, minerals, fats....and you can't really get all that if you live off nothing but lettuce-based meals!