what i learned from bob greene

before i started on the south beach diet, i went through other diet plans, and tried them out for a few weeks. dr. perricone's diet was way too expensive, what with all the supplements he recommended. so i just took a few pointers from him (choosing colorful vegetables only, and taking lots of salmon oil) and moved on to others. bob greene's total body makeover was one of the most sensible i've ever encountered.

he recommends 4 cornerstones that you need to have before you start on the program: honesty, responsibility, commitment, and inner strength. this was his deal -- take however long you need to be honest with yourself, assume responsibility for your actions, make a commitment to change your life, and use your inner strength to help you stick to your resolve. then, you move on to the 12-week body makeover program. as you can probably imagine, the honesty part was the hardest for me. i've been deluding myself about my weight for the longest time, and finally facing the awful truth was very uncomfortable, to say the least. but i did it.

his diet plan wasn't all that hard, actually. once you get past the cornerstones, it's pretty easy to stick to the program. he has 5 simple eating rules:

1. have an eating cut off time. preferably 3 hours before bedtime.
2. eat a nourishing breakfast. it stops you from overeating the rest of the day. it also revs up your metabolism.
3. drink a minimum of 6 8-ounce glasses of water everyday.
   
4. eliminate alcohol.
5. make eating a conscious act. when you do something consciously, you know what you're doing and why.
   

the rest of his program involves sets of exercises that you can actually do at home or at the gym. and that's the part i wasn't able to do. i got too lazy. so for the two weeks that i tried a combination of dr. perricone's, weight watchers, and bob greene's diet plans, i lost 1 inch around my waist. it could have been more, but i didn't exercise enough. and i gorged on some really starchy food whenever i got tired.

so now i'm on the south beach diet because i want to eliminate my craving for starchy sugary food. and i want to jump start my weight loss. if i see results right away, i am more likely to stick to a program. i'm also increasing my exercise load. let's see where this goes.