Is There Life Without Bread?

I've lost six pounds since Monday. Oh, yeah! I want to celebrate. But how do I usually celebrate? With some kind of tasty baked good covered in frosting. Instead tonight I celebrated with a small cup of mango frozen yogurt. And it was heavenly. And filled with excellent carbs that I didn't even feel guilty about eating.

Joe and I started the week set on doing the South Beach diet Phase 1. Phase 1 is strict, limited to lean meat/protein, vegetables and lean dairy. But that's pretty much it. Oh, some nuts too. But no fruit, no bread, nothing with sugar of any sort, even whole grains are excluded. We've done it before and were pretty successful, but it's just not sustainable long term.  Because I like carbs. Because Joe likes carbs.
Clearly this has been my downfall.

So I thought at least this would be a good way to shock our systems, get rid of the bad carbs we like to indulge in and kick start our weight loss. And it's done just that! But turns out Joe "doesn't like false bread." What is false bread you ask? That would be lettuce used as a sandwich wrap replacement. And I don't blame him. Lettuce is not the same as a warm piece of toasted bread wrapped around chicken salad.  And this is the problem with the South Beach Diet. It's all fine and good to cut out carbs for two weeks, but I miss fruit and variety and sandwiches.  Last night we were discussing good long term solutions to change our diet and in discussing South Beach, Joe basically said, "I don't wanna." And I totally agreed. So our shortlived two days of South Beach, where we both lost about 4 pounds, is now being modified. As Joe tells it,"We are going with a four pronged approach."

Prong 1- Minimal fast food, and no fries.
Prong 2- More cooking at home, with both of us handling menu planning and cooking. (But not grocery shopping, because, sweet lord, Joe takes forever at the store, nearly twice as long as if I go.)
Prong 3- More fruits and veggies and whole grain carbs, very few white flour delicacies.
Prong 4- Lose It iPhone app usage with weekly check in meeting.

And of course, the working out component which deserves it's own stand alone category.

And for me that includes ZUMBA! The ridiculously fun, dance, aerobics, latin flavored klutz fest that is my new favorite workout. A solid hour of sweaty, hip swiveling, pseudo dance, at least the way I'm doing it currently. Surrounded by mirrors, and partnered up with the lovely Tara, we do lots of goofy side stepping, ass shaking and woo-hooing. It's a fantastic hour. Go sign up right away, you won't regret it. 

So I think we are on target to make this whole weight loss/healthy improvement challenge happen. I've got a great partner, a great workout friend, and I feel like I'm back on track. Thanks for listening, it helps to know you guys are out there cheering me on, and only laughing a little bit at the awful picture below. You think that's bad, you should see how silly I look actually "dancing" in class!

The after Zumba sweaty, drained look