The Best Part of a Diet

I dieted from December 31st to January 9th. 10 days. I also exercised every one of those days (fine, I missed one day...can't I pretend I actually made it all the way to the end?). I felt SOOO good while I did this diet, that I'm convinced that it's the right way to do it. Exercise was essential, but eating the right foods for my 1200-1300 calories per day was important, too.

My diet basically looked like this:

- Food (examples): whole wheat English muffins, tofu, low fat cottage cheese, veggies, low-sodium turkey, low fat, low sodium soups, etc. Low fat, low carb, low sodium are all things to remember. High protein stuff helps. 1200-1300 calories per day total.

- Frequency: I ate about every 3 hours and actually counted calories the first couple of days to get the hang of how to estimate my caloric intake more accurately.

- Simple Eliminations: I eliminated sugar and cream from my coffee and learned to enjoy it black. No sugar in my tea, either (it's funny how much more you can taste of the tea and coffee flavors when they aren't masked). I didn't put a tablespoon of butter on my English muffin when I ate it, and it was fine (who knew it could be).

My exercise was all indoors because it's winter in Colorado and many days this season have been well below freezing and snowy. I used 10 Days to a Better Body, a DVD that I bought on Amazon for about $9 plus shipping. It has 2 separate workouts, one for upper body and one for lower body. You are supposed to alternate the exercises every day.

This DVD rocked. I'll continue to use this. The best thing about doing these exercises is that my waist is slimmer than it was before, so it pulls in and gives me more of an hourglass shape.

Now that I'm done with the strict part of the diet/exercise process, you know what I'm thinking? It's time for a classic Smashburger with jalapenos.

I was surprised how much I actually enjoyed my dieting/exercising phase and have decided to incorporate a lot of the things that I learned into my long term regular diet.