*drumroll*

So, the new jeans, which required a hop to yank them over my bum, and a little bit of sucking in the gut to get them done up when I bought them 10 days ago, are now slightly loose.

We started on the "strict" phase of South Beach on Saturday: for two weeks no starches, no sugars (even fruit), meals are lean protein and veg, snacks are low fat cheese or small portions of nuts. We even CHEATED by sharing a bottle of wine on Saturday, and I had an oat bar thingy while studying at Starbucks on Sunday, though my drink was virtuous unsweetened black tea. We have both been bending the rules with low fat yogurt, which I suspect is only banned because some people might go overboard on it, and lots of low fat yogurt have mucho sugar in them.

I have lost 3.8lb. Matt has lost 6-9lb! (He can't remember his start weight)

This South Beach Diet thing is working pretty well.

On and off for the past few years I have been reading up on truly healthy eating habits (good fats, nutrients from whole foods rather than supplements, that kind of thing), making those small changes that add up to bigger ones, thinking up simple rules of thunb to follow. Rules like "limit starches to one meal a day", and "eat regularly throughout the day to prevent blood sugar spikes and dips". But it has always been hard to stick to ALL of them, or even remember all of them. I know all this useful nutritional science stuff, backed up by my biomed background and reading up on blood chemistry, hypoglycemia and mood swings, but I was having such a hard time putting all that knowledge into action. It never seemed to formulate into a PLAN, with reference charts and simple guidelines. I had a picture of healthy eating for life in my head, and I kept hearing things about the South Beach Diet that made it sound pretty similar to the picture in my head. Finally, when we realized that we had each gained about 20lb in the past 4-6 months, Matt and I made a pact. The Blubber Stops Here. I checked the book out of the library.

I do not have the tweaky crazy feeling I get with schemes that require everything to be counted or tallied up, I am not fighting off hunger pangs. I feel mildly odd, the sort of boredom-initiated mild urge to go obtain something chocolatey that is a real problem for me, but because I have a PLAN, and have this plan drawn up for me in a handy book, I am able to chase this idle fancying of sweets off before it turns into a full on brownie obsession.

He's been doing better with exercise than I have, but I pulled something in my shoulder last week. I go back to the cardio kick thing tomorrow.

notes on current happenings

May or may not become fleshed out into a real post.

new trousers

7 days of exercise: cardio-kick thursday followed by hiking saturday followed by ouch followed by (brief) yoga tuesday and back to cardio-kick tonight skipping cardio-kick because of a funny muscle twinge in my armpit

it wasn't snowing there yesterday...no wonder that wind was so cold

south beach starts saturday

Edinburgh + London + San Diego = Philadelphia/NY?

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Northeast Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The Midland
Boston
The South
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I am a flawed human being

Why is that so hard to admit?

In my tarot deck, one of the cards that speaks to me so much I almost had it done as a tattoo is the Princess of Swords. First off, a lot of decks don't have a Princess, they have King, Queen, Prince and Page (or Knight), my deck has Prince & Princess, which makes more sense to me as a set with K&Q, besides being more balanced gender-wise.

Anyway, the significance of the Princess of Swords in my deck is "control". She is kneeling upright in a field, with stormy clouds behind her, holding a sword up in front of her face, holding it by the hilt, keeping it upright with both hands, the sword seems to be creating a bright rift in the storm clouds above her, as though she is using it to gather or dispel the storm (I can never decide which). You don't see her face, just her long hair flowing out from the center line, like everything else in the image. The trees behind her are bowed sideways, their branches whipping about in the wind. Her spine and the sword make a strong line up the center, from which everything flows outwards. I feel her fighting to keep that upright line, feel the tension in her legs as she kneels, the strength in her shoulders as her arms reach to hold the pose and keep the sword upright. Active, engaged muscles, not just tightened and cramped. Everything in her body is reaching and focused towards the tip of the sword, channeling her energy into whatever spell she is casting (or force she is fighting).

For a long time I have been convinced that this card means so much to me because it is what I seek. Control over my life, emotions, surroundings, destiny. Over the past few days it has begun to dawn on me that this card means so much to me, not because it is what I need, but because it is what I need to let go of. What I am most afraid to give up. Even though I know it is an illusion.