The Hollando Diet

It didn’t take me long to get down to 178, but once I got there I managed to stop for a while. In the last few days I finally seem to have broken through that plateau, and hit a new low of 176 this morning, down between six and seven pounds over the two weeks since I started. Which, all things considered, is not bad at all. My energy level is up from the exercise, and while I haven’t eaten as much of my favorite foods as I used to, I haven’t suffered intensely from the lack, either.

I even had a slice of pizza last night, which sounds like diet treachery, but compared with the four slices I would have had this time last month really isn’t all that bad. I’m not treating this as a diet, anyway. It’s no good if I can’t keep it up, and that means learning to go to a pizza place and order one slice rather than the whole pie. So while six pounds in two weeks isn’t Atkins level results, it’s nothing to sneer at and I’m in much less danger of catastrophic failure than I would otherwise be.

I’ve toned the exercise regimen down a bit, and I’m now doing half-hour interval training on the elliptical four or five days a week. Because the interval setting changes resistance up and down during the course of the workout, the body has to work harder to compensate, rather than settling down to maintain a set level of effort as efficiently as possible. And I’ve started incorporating other kinds of exercise as well, using a few free weights and an exercise mat, all purchased inexpensively at my local Target. And I’ve started to get a little weekend use out of that expensive gym membership.

Next time: how I learned to love carrots.