Yes, Adriann and I are participating this year in Nano, and I’m dying to get Angel to as well! I’ll bug her until she does, anyway. Nobody has time for it, but everybody should give it a shot. I’ve decided that October will be my month of preparation. I will craft detailed character profiles and biographies, draw a plot outline, and come up with some general information about what needs to happen and when and how.

I am turning my old short story series American Boys into the novel, but in all fairness of the NaNo rules, I’ll be starting from scratch. When it’s over, I’ll consider adding the other parts I’ve previously written in, but to start, nothing. 50,000 words in one month. I know I can do it.

It is my birthday on Friday, by the way. It’s a little daunting to think of that, actually. I’ll be 24. To me…that’s so old. :( I think yesterday I was 19 and I know I still feel 19, so what makes years go by without us taking stock of them? I sometimes wonder if working 40 hours/week is a good thing, as it makes the time pass all-too quickly. I miss lazy, neverending school days, even if I hated them then.

Gay Day Disneyland is this weekend, which is great! Deana, Lauren, Kyle, and Kyle’s boy are spending the night on Friday and we’re all heading to Disney early to have a full day of Gay festifities . There’s even an indie movie playing that night, which I’d love to see.

In South Beach Diet news, I made cheesecake last night. Excuse me, Phase 1 Cheesecake! It was suuuuper yummy and we turned it into muffins and hate one apiece for breakfast. The only bad thing is that I’m tempted to have more than one and that’s definitely against the cream cheese count for the day. But one/day is perfect, so a little self-control is necessary.

It’s time for me to sign off. G’night kiddies.

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With one hand high
you’ll show them your progress
you’ll take your time
but no one cares,
No one cares

I could be so much more than this.
I want to be so much more than this.

…Good good-bye,
I’ll be fine.
Good good-bye,
good good-night.
-Jimmy Eat World

Adriann and I are both kind of bored with the food choices. I wish I wasn’t such a picky vegetarian. I think I’d like to try making eggplant lasagna (with all the right fat-free, sugar-free ingredients - I found a recipe somewhere for it) and there’s a good recipe for broccoli-cheddar soup on Phase 1, so maybe there’s hope. Breakfast is just getting kind of old, and my stomach has a hard time digesting all the eggs. @_@

Yesterday morning, we tried making these “cinnamon omelets”, which sounded SO good, but I was unable to even finish mine. They were actually pretty disgusting after the first few bites.

Tried making the chocolate-peanut butter cookies again with the right kind of PB, but they ended up being SO dry. I think it was the sugar-free chocolate. So next time, no chocolate added. More vanilla, less PB, and more sweet n low.

In conclusion, so far:

Pros of the South Beach Diet
1. It’s healthy!
2. All the eggs you want :)
3. Lots of broccoli and soy foods, which I already love!
4. Lots of new cooking options — I’ve baked more than I ever have before this past week.
5. Lots of beans. Yum.

Cons of the South Beach Diet
1. Food limitations - i.e. no bread :( I don’t exactly “crave” it, but when I ate egg salad without bread, it was kind of weird.
2. PEEING. Omg, I spend half the day at work in the bathroom.
3. Lots of beans = gas. :(
4. Lots of baking = no time for anything else, as all our free time is spent around food.
5. No fruits! I miss fruits, though I know I’ll get to have them in 1.5 weeks.
6. It’s expensive!! We’ve literally bought $100 worth of stuff for the diet.

There are probably more pros and cons alike, but I’m kind of tired and unable to think of them. At any rate, no real weight change, which is killing the awesome happy buzz I had going yesterday and the day before about this diet. We’ll see, though. If I’m eating healthy, adding exercise in should help me lose some of the 45 pounds I need gone.

A couple years back, I remember complaining to Vickie, while we were in line at St. Louis Bread Co no less, about diets that limit your carbs. I proclaimed myself a carboholic and said any diet that wouldn’t allow me to eat bread and pasta was pretty much sent straight from the depths of hell.

Well…consider me better-informed now.

Because of Deana’s awesome success with South Beach, Adriann and I decided on a whim to give it a shot. The diet works in three “phases”, so we thought, why not just give Phase 1 a try and if we don’t like it we can stop.

It is now day 4 of Phase 1, and I haven’t had a piece of bread, shred of rice, even a bowel of cereal, since Sunday. It’s actually…a lot easier than I would have previously thought. Sure, we’re more limited to what we can eat and how, but it’s nice waking up early to have a big breakfast, and we’re actually discovering new recipes for sugarless foods. We’ve been making these sugar-free, carb-free pancakes the past couple mornings, and they are DELISH. Basically, they’re just eggs, vanilla, ricotta cheese, and cinnamon. Sounds gross but tastes just like regular pancakes! We use sugar-free syrup and have been making omelets (lowfat cheese, eggs, and broccoli). I’ve even attempted to drink V-8, which I never thought I’d do! That was actually the worst part of the past 4 days lol.

Well…to be honest, Tuesday afternoon, I was feeling GROSS. The lack of sugar affected me I think. I was dizzy, headachy, and nauseous. But I also think that had a lot to do with the fact that I didn’t have enough veggies for breakfast and lunch. Wednesday I had three sips of V-8 and I felt 100% better. Today I’ve had my full servings of veggies (lots and lots of beans, another semi-bad side effect due to um to be frank, gas), had a little milk and cheese, and had a TON of protein — eggs for breakfast, half an egg in my salad for lunch, soy chicken (basically chunks of protein) in my salad, and egg salad for dinner. Yes, lots of eggs. ^^ That’s the one good thing — there’s no limit to the amount of protein you can have, even the yolks in eggs are OK.

Last night I also discovered a recipe for sugar-free, carb-free peanut butter cookies!! OMG they were good. I accidentally used the wrong peanut butter, so we only ate a couple apiece, so tomorrow I’m gonna make a ton with the right kind and eat up. South Beach encourages dessert, as long as there’s no sugar or carbs.

The carb-free, sugar-free stage lasts for two weeks. So far, I know I can do it! It’s really amazing actually, because right now I’m incredibly full and it’s all healthy stuff inside me. Beans, eggs, and…I’ve been meaning to talk about it, tuna.

Off topic a bit, a couple months back I decided to introduce tuna back into my diet. Not because I was craving it (because I’ve overcome those cravings before) but because Deana’s sister mentioned that eating some fish helped bring her hair back, and she’s a veggie too. I don’t eat it all the time (in fact, I’ve only had it maybe 5 times since I started again), but occassionally like tonight, it’s good and very filling. The first few bites were hard to get past, but I find that if I think of it like egg salad, I feel much better. Adriann actually mixed some eggs in with it, which was good!

So in short, I’m actually enjoying the South Beach diet. I don’t know if I’ve lost any weight (they say you’re supposed to lose between 8 and 12 pounds the first two weeks), but I feel healthier and I know it’s good for me.

I also added a nifty little widget to my sidebar! Check him out: