In spite of (mostly) regular training for the past two years, I'm still a bit.. um.. let's say fluffy. It's annoying more than anything.  I know karate is a great workout and I try to really go as hard as I can when I'm in class (even on the don't wanna days) but my weight is really out of control.    I have to do something.  I can't bend over and touch my toes .. not because I'm not flexible enough but because this darn belly fat is in the freaking way.   Color me frustrated. Many years ago when I (~thought I~) was fat, I tried Atkins for those "stubborn few pounds"... it was awesome.. I got to eat bacon every day!  That was my breakfast.. three slices of microwaved bacon.  I'd drive to work with that bacon, swaddled in papertowels, on the passenger seat and just nom away.. Guess what... I didn't lose those 10 pounds...  and they found friends.. about 45 of them.. so now here I am at 170 wondering what happened.  I've tried eating better but I get lazy.. chinese food, pizza, take out all fell into my mouth with abandon. Enough. This has to stop.  I'm unhealthy.  Sure I can go 90 minutes in the dojo but I'm exhausted.  I bruise easy.  I'm sore for days. I look like I'm going to pass out after 20 minutes.  I'm tired.  20 kicks and I want to fall down. Enough already. Karate should be fun! LIFE should be fun!  I need more energy for myself, my partner, my dogs, my job and my life. On January 18th, we started the South Beach Diet.  After my Atkins experiment, I didn't think low carb was a good idea.  But I did some reading and realized that we are probably both insulin resistant as well as dealing with yo-yoing blood sugar levels.  South Beach deals with this.. two weeks of no grains.  Carbs only come from certain veggies.  (Phase 1) And then you slowly add back in "good" carbs.  (Phase 2) This.. I could do without fear of my arteries slamming shut from saturated fats. Shel went through the pantry and wiped it out of stuff we aren't going to be eating on Phase 1.  She put potential Phase 2 foods up on a HIGH shelf.  Everything else..  to the local food pantry, my office kitchen or the squirrels. The pantry looked woefully empty. But the fridge is STUFFED.  We have so many veggies in there!  Stuff I never thought I'd like or that I'd forgotten I liked. Swiss chard, spinach, broccoli, zucchini.. So far, we are spending a lot of time preparing foods.. which makes it hard.  Last night I made dinner and then Shel made dinner for tonight because there is very little time to cook between coming home from work and heading out to the dojo.  Tuesdays and Thursdays were "frozen pizza for a snack night".  And then we would eat a full sized dinner when I got home at 9PM. No wonder we're fluffy. So far, I'm feeling great.  I'm snacking on good stuff all the time.  I feel like I'm constantly eating. (because I am!)  and my karate classes are going SO much better.  I think it's all the water that I'm drinking. I'll be tracking my weight here once I find a plugin that will do it. And find the time to install it!  We are so busy cooking! And eating.. I swear I'm eating every 2 hours. In other news: Socks! I made these cool socks for LB .  Straight Vanilla sock pattern but evidently I wasn't paying attention because one is 1/2 shorter than the other.. oops! And these are what I'm working on for me! The Pattern is Show-Off Stranded Socks - Ravelry.com Link and it really does a beautiful job showing off the variegated hand dyed yarn. Which, by the way, came from Jess at Weaving Rainbow. I totally need to finish her dog collars. I'm so far behind I'm embarassed!