What the heck, I'm gonna give this Journal thing a try.

Here's a recap of some of my intro stuff:

I gave up on Atkins and switched to South Beach.

I was on Atkins for over a month, and lost about 1 pound.

Did I cheat? On Atkins, you can only have 3 Splendas (or other sweetners) per day. On some days, I had 4 or 5, but geez, does that mean zero weight loss?

Maybe Atkins only works with zero rule-breaking. In that case, I just couldn't do it.

I felt very disappointed.

Also, about the Atkins failure. I was also exercising a good bit -- a 3 or 4 mile walk, plus 20 minutes on the Stairmaster or Elliptical.

My past -- I was always comfortable at 150 lbs., but I slowly inched up to 193, after working in offices for a couple of decades -- people always bringing in cookies & cakes and junk.

So, I started the dieting at 194, hoping to get down to 150.

Oh, one other note. About 5 years ago, I went on a super low-fat diet, and got down to 155 lbs. Took me about 6 months. It was hard work.

Then I gained the weight all back.

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I'm also just starting to accept the fact that South Beach is not a diet that I will finish and then go back to eating junk again.

The positive aspects of eating junk is outweighed by the negative aspects of gaining a bunch of weight.

Just as, an alcoholic learns that although a cold beer is good, life without alcohol is better.

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Right on T...couldn't agree with you more....well said my friend!

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(Because I STAYED Determined!)

In the main forum, I was talking about Shirataki Noodles a few days ago.

Today I made a big tuna soup with them -- chicken broth, onions, garlic, Shirataki Noodles, tuna, parmesan cheese, dill, Kidoman (soy sauce), a little low fat milk, a few ground walnuts.

It was pretty darn good.

The Shirataki Noodles that I'm using are the Konjac brand. They are are naturally water soluble fiber with no fat, sugar, starch or protein. And contain zero net carbohydrates and zero calories.

Are these noodles really going to work well? I don't know. Guess I'll find out the next time I weigh myself.

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I'm happy to say, I'm now down 10 lbs from my start.

Started at 194, I'm now at 184, with my eventual target being 150.

I keep thinking back to how I could not lose weight on Atkins and how bad the diet "felt."

With SB, it feels so healthy, and it works.

And good lord, there are so many SB recipes and recipe books out there! Which means, I can eat food that tastes wonderful! And, desserts that taste wonderful!

I have to make a confession. I've always adored great french bread, which is almost impossible to find in the U.S. I'm talking about the super crusty, amazingly flavorful french bread that you can only find in some U.S. french bakeries -- usually just in big cities.

I live in Washington DC, and there's a french bakery in Georgetown that does it right. It's called Patisserie Poupon. So good!

Anyway, the point I'm rambling towards is, even with wonderful french bread, I can still enjoy it on rare occasions. I like to think I Saturday night as my cheat time. Even then, I go easy.

Gotta share some pics of Patisserie Poupon...

Attached Images

	bread.JPG (23.5 KB, 4 views)
	bread2.JPG (17.4 KB, 3 views)

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10 pounds is very impressive my man! Way to go! Keep it up...your doing it...and I'm sure you feel so much better even from just the 10 pounds right?....


mmm..well, I might actually fight someone for that sandwich...lol...looks so good...mmm...take a big ole' bite for me will ya?

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(Because I STAYED Determined!)

I weigh every Friday, and today's Friday. I lost 3 lbs. more this week, bringing my total weight loss to 14 lbs. FEELS GREAT!

This was a big cabbage week for me. I really like cabbage, whether it's cole slaw, soup or mixed with other foods.

I like to throw some chopped meat on top of the cole slaw, sorta like you're making a salad. Lean hamburger, fish, whatever.

By the way, this is a non-mayonnaise cole slaw.

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Way to go my man!!!...14 pounds is awesome! Feels great, right?

My favorite way to eat cabbage is to toss it in a pan and fry it up with some leftover meat & other veggies....I LOVE FRIED CABBAGE!...very yummy.

Keep up the great work my friend!

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(Because I STAYED Determined!)

Ah, fried cabbage! That's about the only way I haven't tried it. Great idea!

To me, cabbage has the substance & taste that lettuce does not.

I'm off to fry some up. :-)

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As I weigh every Friday, this week I lost 3.5 lbs. Yippie!!!! That makes for a total of 17.5 lbs. that I have lost. Checkout my ticker below.

I just love this SB diet, uh, I mean, SB lifestyle. :-)

I can see now, the real challenge will not be in losing the weight, but in keeping it off. That's the real hard part for most people.

And tonight, HALLOWEEN! I might eat one bite-size Trix and one Kit-Kat.

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