Evaluation: It's been three weeks

Tomorrow will complete three weeks since I began (again) to diet. I decided to do an evaluation of my progress and my methods and tweak things a bit:

Slow is working for me:

First of all, I highly recommend SLOWLY reducing the calories. I have to say that starting at 2000 calories a day and finishing at 1600 calories a day over three weeks has been painless. Yes, you read that correctly. Counting calories has been fairly easy, and being aware of the amount of calories in the foods has sort of empowered me. I know that I can have some of the things I want (zero deprivation) as long as I work it into the total for the day.

Deprivation breeds rebellion:

In the past, when I've followed a particular diet as it was laid out, I found myself being a bit of a martyr. "Poor, poor me. I can't have this and I can't have that. Blah. Blah." My best effort at a diet that required major levels of my opinion of deprivation (not getting what I want!) was when I followed the Fat Flush Diet for 2 1/2 months. I lost 23 pounds. I loved the result, but I was flat out grouchy and pathetic. Finally, I caved and began to rebelliously binge on anything I wanted. Guess what happened?

Exercise alone won't provide weight loss. Neither will diet alone:

About two years ago I exercised six days a week, three using weights, and three doing aerobic exercise. I did that faithfully for 16 weeks. I didn't lose and ounce or an inch. Not even one. The reason? I didn't change my eating habits at all. This time I have reduced my calories faithfully. I have exercised twice. I've lost three pounds and two inches, but I know that I would see better results if I would------exercise AND diet.

You get less calories in nutrient dense food:

I already knew that. I think everyone knows that. It certainly was highlighted this week when I had a day of 1395 total calories thanks to two large Mexican salads as part of my food intake, and had a day of 1798 that got that high thanks to 280 of the calories coming from a Snickers bar. On the day I had all that salad, I also had 9 chocolate Kisses. My chocolate needs were satisfied, and my tummy was full--but of good things.

Water is my friend:

I've discovered that the more I drink water, the more of a taste I'm developing for it. I'm aware that "studies have shown" that adding lime or lemon juice to the water actually makes it work better in our bodies. I'm not there yet. I like the clean taste of fresh, filtered water. Perhaps as the weather changes I'll give the citrus a try.

Starting Monday, my new calorie total cap will be 1400. I intend to exercise to see if I can increase the effectiveness of reducing those calories. I'm feeling pretty excited about it!