Diet.... check! Excercise.... um... what?

So my diet is going great half way through day 3. I know that I will have a couple of drinks this evening as I am heading to happy hour with my girls... but I have cut my wine consumption way down and I have been eating super healthy. It is not as if I drink and get drunk all of the time. I just like to have a glass of wine or two at the end of the day while I am cooking dinner. But those glasses will have to be put to the side for a while... oh how I will miss them.

I am following The South Beach Diet. I am not here to say it is the best diet. I have lost weight on this plan before, and I am counting on it again. To be completely honest, I think that all of these diets are a bit of a rip-off. There isn't a real secret to losing weight. You just need to eat healthy and exercise. Now, I am surely not saying that this is easy... just saying that the consumer machine is making billions off of our need and want to lose weight... to try and make it easy. 100 calorie snacks-prepackaged meals-shakes-sugar free-fat free-pills- it can be dizzying. The best information that I have learned about food has been from Dr. Andrew Weil's "Eating for Optimum Health." His web-site is www.drweil.com and it is full of great information.
We need to get back to the garden. When I was growing up we planted our vegetables and ate them all summer. We need to go back to the farm. We don't need pesticides, hormones, and these factories of meat, vegetables and the like producing our food. Our food is so full of preservatives, who even knows what we are eating these days.

I am not someone who gained weight eating McDonald's and candy bars. Although everyone enjoys these convenient foods now and then, I really love both Southern and French cooking. I like my own fried chicken, pizza, fish, steak... southern yumminess. What is Southern Cooking without bacon? Fried Food? Butter? I like just about every fish, chicken, vegetable. My basic eating habits are not so bad, I just eat too much of it and prepare it with too much fat. I love steamed mussels, which are not so bad... but a big crusty loaf of french bread goes so well with them. If I were to spend money on a diet plan, it would be "fit for foodies." I am from the school that if you want ice cream, and you eat "fat-free 100 calorie frozen sort of yogurt" you are going to finish that and think, "wow, I really want some ice cream." So I need to learn moderation. A crust of that beautiful bread... not a loaf.

So, right now I am just trying to get all of that sugar, all of those preservatives, all of that WINE out of my body. I am sticking to vegetables and lean protein and things are going great. Once I get back on the eating right track I will indulge a little more in those things that I started to enjoy a little too much. But for right now, I am on the straight and narrow.

And then there is... exercise. I need to do it. A lot of it. I am super active. I take the bus to work most days and get off at the stop at the bottom of the hill vs. next door. I live on the 4th floor of a building with no elevator. I walk my dog all the time. We live in the middle of DC, I cannot really just open the door and let her roam. City Living is ACTIVE. But it is not enough for me. Maybe for those blessed with skinny genes... but not for me. I need to run, lift weights, do yoga, pilates and PRAY that it will work. It is just how things are. So, God help me. It is time to get back on track.

What is your favorite excercise? I have always been a runner, but I find myself unnaturally huffing and puffing and it is so hard. I just need to, well, start.