second verse, same as the first

Sheesh, a girl could get whiplash from all the sudden plan changes 'round here! You'd think that after over 2 years of this, I'd know what the hell I'm doing. But no. 111 weeks and counting, and I'm still grasping at straws and jumping to faulty conclusions over here. I think the only (sane) things I haven't tried are Atkins and good, old-fashioned giving up. Neither of which I plan to try anytime soon (No emails about how great Atkins is, please. It's not for me. Thanks anyway).

So. What's it going to be this time? I've used the calorie calculator, I've ridden the weight-watchers wagon to South Beach, I've gone to the Core, I've come back. I've shunned carbs and fat, I've embraced them. I've eaten too much, I've eaten too little. I've exercised once a week, I've exercised 7 times a week. I've been doing this so damned long that I don't remember what worked the best...and by "worked the best" I don't necessarily mean "lost the most weight". I can go back and look at the logs to see which plan had the best average results (but I haven't). I mean which plan was the best trade-off in the big 3 categories--expense, results, and simplicity.

There's an old joke about a mechanic who posted a sign saying "We're FAST, GOOD, and CHEAP: Pick 2 out of 3." I think chosing a plan is a lot like that for me, and probably for others, too. I can go with a plan like South Beach that's fairly cheap, has good results, but virtually eliminates convenience foods. Or I can go with something like Jenny Craig, which is all about the convenience, gives good results (I've heard), but is expensive. And then there's weight-watchers or calorie counting, which have reasonable expense and simplicity, but haven't been giving me any kind of results.

Well, no, that isn't really fair. If I followed the WW plan to the letter, I'm sure it would work. I just don't. It's not that I can't...it just seems to suck every ounce of joy out of my life when I try. Everything starts to be about food, and how I could totally eat that whole pint of ice cream if I could just live on zero-point veggies for the last 3 days of the week. You know?

The thing is, I know that this bouncing from plan to plan every few days isn't really doing me any favors, either. I've got my body so confused right now, it doesn't know whether to shit or go sailing. I need to pick something and stick with it for at least a month before I flush it and start something new. Either that, or just relax and eat like a normal person.

After much soul-searching, and taking into account the babyquest, the PCOS, and the budget, I've decided to go back to WW's Core plan for a while. A WHILE. Like, more than 2 days, less than a lifetime. Right now, I'm thinking till the end of March.

Why Core? Because it's less restrictive than South Beach, and has less potential for obsession than flex. I'm going to make some minor modifications to the Core list to fit better into my lifestyle (nuts and 1% dairy are okay), but other than that I'll use the program as designed. We eat most of our meals at home now, and I don't mind going to the grocery store a lot. The PCOS diet books all recommend avoiding the refined sugars and processed grains. I've been eating a lot of candy lately, too, so easing off the sugar is a good idea. Lunches are going to be a struggle, since Lean Cuisines are not Core foods. But I think I can work something out. I'm willing to give it a go, anyway.

And I'm not giving up on it till April, no matter what.

Good for you! And good luck on Core.