Pigs are officially flying

My life as I knew it is over. The day I swore I would never see is here. I am going on a low-carb diet.

So I went out to buy the G.I. Diet book today and upon flipping through its pages in the aisles of my local bookstore I nearly hyperventilated. No eggs? No mayonnaise (my very favorite condiment)? No BUTTER? I had kind of assumed that this diet was like the South Beach Diet, which my entire family went on and collectively lost an entire person. But once I bought the book I realized it is like South Beach, but it is similar to phase one of South Beach. The starve-yourself-and-lose-fifteen-pounds-in-two-weeks-by-eating-nothing-but-fruit-vegetables-and-nuts phase. (And, I should add, I momentarily and mistakenly thought that chicken and turkey breast were off limits. I was like, what kind of psycho diet is this??).

I then made my way to the grocery store armed with my little book. Don't you just love being that person who has her head buried in a diet book while food shopping? I always feel like such a dork (except it's usually a Weight Watchers points calculator I'm discreetly using). So I learned a few things while shopping today: Fruit is expensive. Diet and low-carb foods are expensive. Healthy food in general is expensive. I don't know if it was due to my new medication causing me a constant dull headache or my shock at my new diet, but I walked up and down each aisle in a major daze and before I knew it, I had filled up my cart like it was nobody's business. When it started to get too heavy to push, I knew I was in trouble. So, the total bill came to just under $200, and let me just say I'm usually a $75 kind of girl, at the most.

Here's a picture of all my low glycemic food:



(Doesn't look like $200 does it?!) Some of the food is in the 'moderate' range, but none is considered 'high'. I hope. For example, bananas, pineapple, 70% cacao dark chocolate (you're allowed a couple squares and I will take them up on that offer), low-fat no-sugar-added ice cream, are all 'sometimes' foods. The low-carb pasta, tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries, whole grain bread and lettuce are all in the low category. I'm still learning about all of this, and I haven't read the book yet, so hopefully it will soon become second nature to me.

One thing is for sure - I would NEVER do this to lose weight. As much as I need and want to lose weight, I'm more of a Weight Watchers person. I like to save up points and have McDonalds or Taco Bell once in a while. But if one thing in the world can get me go on a low carb diet, it is a baby. In fact, I was in the ice cream aisle today looking at a low-fat ice cream I really wanted. I could probably have gotten it, it wouldn't have killed me. But what I should get is a low-fat, no sugar added ice cream (not getting ice cream at all is not an option). So I simply asked myself, "Do you want that ice cream more than a baby?" Ha! That's the easiest question ever! I think I'm going to put a picture of a baby on my refrigerator now that I think about it! As much as a beach-ready body is a motivator, I always cheat, and I always give up. But a baby? I'd eat bugs if it caused me to get pregnant (thank God that's not how it works!). As I said to my mother today, it's really weird to think that I'm going on a diet to try to increase my chances of getting pregnant and losing a ton of weight is just going to be a side effect. How cool is that?

My goal is to lose fifteen pounds by my next appointment. Is that nuts? It's a month and a half away, so I think I can do it. My mom said she usually loses around ten pounds in two weeks on phase one of South Beach, so this would be well within that range (by the way, she also commented that perhaps she and my sisters also have this insulin problem since this is the only type of diet that ever works for them and they, like me, CRAVE carbs). It won't be fun (I am NOT a vegetable and fruit person. Could you tell?) but I'm pretty sure I'll feel better and look better in a short time! I'll keep everyone updated!