I started at 243 lbs. and am now 238 lbs.

This is not unusual for the start of the South Beach diet, except that I’m not strictly following the South Beach diet.

I’ve been eating Phase I foods (eggs, meat, nuts, cheese, non-starchy vegetables) fairly consistently, but not slavishly. Why? Because I HATED it the first time!!

(For those who fell off the Atkins/South Beach/whoever else low-carb bandwagon and want to get a little back on track, check out The 7-Day Low-Carb Rescue And Recovery Plan.)

Having done it before, I pretty much know the drill and how to best make it work for me. A little less of high-carb foods and replacing white flour products with whole grain stuff. I’m eating very few sweets too, walking a half hour daily with some light calisthetics thrown in for good measure

Part of me still wants to go on a full-pack hike into the mountains or take a day-long cross-country ski expedition. Fortunately, the rest of me knows better.

My take on this sort of thing is this: I believe weight loss to be a negative, self-defeating term and much prefer to think in terms of health enhancement. When you “lose weight”, it involves giving things up, including part of yourself; when you enhance your health, you’re improving and adding value to your life. MA-jor difference, huh?

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These fruit shakes are easy to make and great for breakfast, a snack or dessert. Each is around 200 calories per serving, depending on the type of milk and fruit that you use.

For each serving pour 1 cup milk into the blender, then mix and match fruit and 1/4 package of Sugar Free Jello powder. Just be sure to add the Jell-o last otherwise it sticks to the bottom of the blender container. The following are the suggestions from the magazine but the possibilities are really endless. I like using bananas or peaches with raspberry Jell-O.

This idea comes from the Kraft Food & Family Magazine. It’s a free magazine that’s delivered quarterly and always has great recipes.

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I have always been big on breakfast. If I skip it I get very cranky and we don’t want that! I like just about all breakfast foods - pancakes, biscuits, french toast, bagels with cream cheese. But these foods are not so great for losing weight!

Luckily over the past few years I’ve really come to love healthy breakfast foods too. When I did the South Beach Diet two years ago I got into a habit of 2 scrambled eggs topped with cheese, 6 oz. Picante V-8 juice. Sometimes some ham or bacon to go along with it. (Though I’m trying to stay away from pork these days.) I like this combination because it is both tasty and filling; I won’t get hungry again for several hours. The V-8 juice is very low in calories and has many vitamins.

Cereal is also one of my breakfasts of choice and I’ve tried a variety of cereals. My favorites are Kellogs’ Frosted Mini Wheats Maple & Brown Sugar, Special K Fruit & Yogurt, Kashi Crunch and Raisin Nut Bran. The mini wheats and kashi are the highest in fiber which is best for filling you up. They are also sweeter than the other varieties of Kashi and shredded wheats.

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For the most part, I can account 3 MAJOR contributors to my weight-gain over the past two years. In order of “badness”…

1. No consistent exercise
2. Bread
3. Beer

So… I’m going to be piling on the exercise, and eradicating bread from my diet (at least during the week). What about the beer?

Well, I only drink beer on the weekend anyway. I don’t plan to remove beer from my diet-plan, but to compensate, I’ll up the number of times I go to gym per week. Sound fair?

Water? Well, I’m kinda a water-oholic anyway. I think I consume between 2 and 4 liters a day.

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