something new

this biggest losers contest is depressing the shit out of me. I thought it would be a good motivator, but those folks on the leader board are losing, like, 5-10 lbs a week! I, on the other hand, keep losing and gaining the same pound and a half.

(whine)

Why am I not losing 5-10 lbs. a week?

(/whine)

I'll tell you why. Because I have been doing this for 5 months, and I also have been totally slacking off for the past 3 weeks. It's time for a change, time for something new. Not to mention (and yet I keep mentioning it over and over again, ad nauseum) The Wedding is just 9 months away. And even sooner than that, I've got the end of the Contest With No Name between Robert and me. That ends at the beginning of December, and I was planning on being at 150 by then. I can't even seem to break 190, and there's only 5 months to go till the deadline. I must beat Robert, at least, even if I have no hope of being the biggest loser in the blogosphere. Beating Robert is a moral imperative...besides, I can't really afford Super Bowl tickets.

So, what to do? Over the course of this journey, I've come to realize that when it comes right down to it, food is really my problem. I don't do well when trying to stick to a strict diet, but I fall apart when there's not enough structure, too. I can't win. I'm totally bored with Weight Watchers now, and I can't stand the meetings. I like the points counting, but lately I haven't really been doing that either. I have just two more coupons left in the 10 weeks I bought in advance, so I'll be out of there in 2 weeks. I'm debating signing up for just their online tools. That's really all I need, and I can use my own scale for weigh-ins. I can also go back to using nude weights, which I prefer. I hate having to find the clothes that I wear for the weigh-ins so that I can stay consistent. I just don't do laundry often enough for that shit.

So anyway, I've been casting around the fitness journals, looking for a plan to try. Atkins is out, because I have some kind of weird aversion to that. It's not that I think it won't work...it's just I've been telling people for so long that I am NOT going to try Atkins, that I've backed myself into a corner. Now I can't try it even if I wanted to. Which I don't. REALLY. :)

I've seen some mutterings about Bernstein, but I don't know what that is, and it looks like it involves clinics and dues. I don't really want to bother with either of those things. Body for Life is a little too stringent for my liking...I'd get too discouraged and give it up entirely. I could go back to counting calories, I suppose, but then I'd get into that thing where I was eating nothing but ice cream and pizza. Nutrition would be a factor.

So I've given it some thought, and I've decided to give the South Beach Diet a go. I've been reading Heather's experiences with it over at Chrysalis, and it looks like it might be just the thing for a little pick-me-up. It's also a way to do a semi-low carb diet without giving in on my stubborn refusal to try Atkins. Win-win, baby!

So today over lunch, I'm going to find a bookstore and buy a book on the South Beach diet. I'll read the book thoroughly this week (no, really--I will. No skimming through to the good parts, like the last 10 diet books I've read), then start that diet next week...which--behold!--coincides with a new 4-week period.

I have no satisfactory conclusion for this entry. So, um, woohoo! New plan!