The Hollando Diet

My contributions to this chronicle have declined over the past month. To my loyal readers (both of you), I apologize. The reason is actually quite boring: I’ve settled into a routine, and with routine have come fewer notable discoveries, dramatic achievements, or tragic failures worth telling you about. I suppose I could recount my menu each day, but I can’t imagine that would generate much interest beyond perhaps a scolding from my mother for any number of nutritional sins.

As at the end of summer sunbathers leave the beach and return with happy memories to normal life, so too have I left South Beach, at least in any strict sense. That diet continues to “inspire” my meal and snack choices in the way movies are often “inspired” by true stories. I remain conscious of carbs but embrace them as treats. My old friends — bread, pasta, and pizza — have returned and don’t seem to have held a grudge. Perhaps this is Phase 3 of the South Beach Diet; I never got that far in the book. I have also discontinued daily weigh-ins. These, of course, were never recommended, though irresistible to an obsessive like me.

I expected the result of all this relaxation to be stalled progress, if not outright regression. How surprising it was, then, when my clothes continued to loosen. This morning, for the first time in weeks, I stepped on the scale: 165 pounds. The first of my three goals. That makes a net 20-pound loss since I decided to trim down. Certainly progress has slowed. The first 10 pounds came off in two weeks; the second 10 took six weeks. This was to be expected, and far from being disappointed, I feel as well physically as I have in years. And Will is right: positive reinforcement helps. When others notice one’s efforts, it gives one the fillip needed to persevere.

The greatest challenge now arising is the delightfully well-stocked kitchen at my new office, said kitchen being approximately 15 feet from my desk. Food-based procrastination has just become much easier. My strategy is to snack healthily, and as frequently as needed. We’ll see how that goes. I’ll keep you posted as events warrant.

Glad Mr. Sullivan is getting back on the wagon. I will indeed expect daily updates! I’m dealing with a bit of a challenge myself. I left for England on Sunday morning after weighing in at 173 pounds, which is ten fewer than when this all started but still a good fifteen over where I’d like to be. And now I’m in the UK for the next three weeks, and, at least currently, without a kitchen, which is going to make it harder to eat well. Couple that with the fact that Birmingham has some of the best Indian food in the whole world…

But on the other hand, even having lost the ten pounds I’m starting to pick up some positive reinforcement. People have noticed! It’s amazing how powerful that can be. I’ve got a moderate goal for the next three weeks - just to get myself down to 170. There’s a gym near the office, and I’ll probably be able to start going in the next few days, and hopefully by next week I’ll have access to a kitchen so I don’t have to go out to eat every night (it’s harder, here, to find those healthy salad options, although I’m sure it can probably be done).

Glad Mr. Sullivan is getting back on the wagon. I will indeed expect daily updates! I’m dealing with a bit of a challenge myself. I left for England on Sunday morning after weighing in at 173 pounds, which is ten fewer than when this all started but still a good fifteen over where I’d like to be. And now I’m in the UK for the next three weeks, and, at least currently, without a kitchen, which is going to make it harder to eat well. Couple that with the fact that Birmingham has some of the best Indian food in the whole world…

But on the other hand, even having lost the ten pounds I’m starting to pick up some positive reinforcement. People have noticed! It’s amazing how powerful that can be. I’ve got a moderate goal for the next three weeks - just to get myself down to 170. There’s a gym near the office, and I’ll probably be able to start going in the next few days, and hopefully by next week I’ll have access to a kitchen so I don’t have to go out to eat every night (it’s harder, here, to find those healthy salad options, although I’m sure it can probably be done).

Remember that business about “being good tomorrow” and not letting this spare tire get the better of me? Well, I’ve weighed in at 182 pounds recently, and I need to conquer this menace before I interview for jobs. The interviewing process has been delayed a bit, so I may have some time to accomplish this mission. I am holed up in my Waco apartment (compound?) working on writing a paper. So now I have little justification for not consuming tuna and various canned green veggies (spinach, turnip greens, green beans, etc.) This mission must be a success. I wonder how much I can loose in two weeks? Ugh… we’ve heard it before on this blog from yours truly… but I need to loose this weight. Expect daily updates. We need to revive this campaign.

Where are my comrades? Starving bloggers of the Hollando Diet world, unite!

Like Matthew, I had a less than fully successful time of it last week, bouncing back up to between 177 and 180 for a while before settling back to 175 this morning. However, I feel somewhat justified in attributing this to one-time events. For example: last Sunday we had Thanksgiving Dinner.

Now, this isn’t quite as outlandish as it sounds. I’m well aware that Thanksgiving doesn’t arrive until November. However, my younger sister was in town this last week, but she won’t be around again until next year. So my mother decided to have the whole family over for Thanksgiving a bit on the early side, since it’s my sister’s favorite meal of the year anyway. So we had the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and pumpkin pie. Apple pie, sadly, wasn’t quite in season. And actually I acquitted myself quite well on the portions front, even if skipping pie wasn’t an option. No diet regime should ever force one to refuse his mother’s pumpkin pie.

Coupled with another dinner with my sister, and a few miscellaneous events, I’m glad I didn’t do much worse than end up even for the last week and a half (and I expect I’m poised to do better during the upcoming week). I’ve been keeping up with the aerobic exercise, and have, rather gingerly, started the strength training rounds at the gym again, although I’m not sure if I’ll be able keep that up with sufficient frequency for any dramatic effect. I’ve only been able to keep up the aerobic workout because of the machine physically located in my house.

I also noticed another interesting psychological effect over the last week. Socially, it was a light week; other than one dinner out with family I didn’t actually do anything with anyone after work for most of the week, primarily since I ended up working late a bit. I would have expected that this would lead to my eating less, since by not eating out I’d have more control over diet. In fact, the inverse seems to be true. The week before, when I did something almost every night, I had no problem constraining myself to salads and other light fare for dinner. But when it’s just me after a long day, the food becomes the focus and I seem to eat a lot more–and without a conversational partner, much faster, which leads to a higher quantity consumed. Clearly, the solution is to never allow myself to be alone at meal time.

It was inevitable. The human body may be a machine, but it’s run by a very fallible computer. Shortly after I last posted, I decided to proceed from Phase 1 to Phase 2 of South Beach. It was an occasion of weakness. I added back far too many bad carbs, grew lax about calories and portion size, etc. In other words, “Phase 2″ became a personal euphemism for “Diet Break.” Before I knew it, I had swung back to 175 pounds.

After this wake-up call — the whole project was in jeopardy — I managed to work all the weight off again and this morning reached a new low of 167 pounds. The typical approach after falling off the South Beach wagon is to return to Phase 1. But that’s not what I did. Instead, I tried to do Phase 2 right. The result: weight loss and the ability to eat macaroni, pizza, and chocolate. In moderation, of course. Therein lies the key.

Now we’re back on track.

Well, the peanut gallery is awfully silent. I can only assume they’ve all fallen off the wagon and ballooned to two hundred pounds each. No other assumption is truly reasonable.