South Beach, but not the Florida kind

I had first heard of the South Beach diet when my mom was trying to lose a few lb's before her wedding. It was a pretty strict diet, including three phases, trying to rid the body of cravings for sweets and carbs. Through each phase, you slowly add more food groups to your diet. The last phase, phase 3, is intended for it to be a lifestyle. whole grains, tons of fruits and veggies, lean protein, etc. Mama lost a TON of weight and couldn't have looked more beautiful for her wedding day.

^^^on their honeymoon^^^

Fast forward a few years, she wanted to get back on the horse. The diet horse, if you will. I will. Her and my sister, Katie have been doing it for several months now and have lost a considerable amount of weight. When my parents came to visit last month, my mom explained a bit about the foods she eats and how much variety and creativity there is in the diet. I was pretty impressed but detest diets. The more I'm told I can't eat something, the more I want to.

Katie text me one day and told me how much weight she has been losing and how great (and easy!) it is. Her and my mom had even convinced my brother to do it and he lost seven pounds in the first week! Um...sign me up!! I only had about ten pounds to lose to be at my pre-Liam weight and was getting frustrated that I couldn't lose them. I downloaded the app, got a few recipes to try from the South Beach website and loaded up my cart the next day with tons of veggies and lean protein.

The first few days didn't actually seem that hard, to be honest. Sure, I definitely have a sweet tooth which usually kicks in around 2:30 PM and sitting at my desk definitely caters to the snacking lifestyle. But I made sure to pack healthy snacks just for this occasion. Slices of tomato, cucumber slices, a few peanuts and my glass of water and I was good! My body was feeling great! I was full, but didn't feel like the foods I was putting into my body were heavy. After a few days of weighing myself, I began to feel frustrated that I wasn't losing a pound. I text Katie, venting in frustration and she encouraged me to keep going; she didn't lose any the first few days either but then the pounds just started to fall off. Motivation to keep going.

I kept the diet going, eating salmon and other lean meats for dinner, lots of salad, and even more veggies. One morning I weighed myself and had lost a pound and a half. This morning, two pounds! Five days in and I've already lost four and half pounds! The cravings are diminishing and I find myself wanting to eat the veggies more and more. It just makes my body feel so good! It hasn't been easy though. I'm a chocolate and wine lover and the first phase (where you can have neither) is killing me. Not the hardest thing, but definitely a challenge when your husband asks you to smell how good his Chardonnay smells.

So here's to week one! And losing a few more lb's!