Jonesin' for carbs

So, I decided that the day after Labor Day seemed like a good time to start getting back on track with healthy eating. I'd been letting weight creep back on after several years of sort of maintaining weight loss. In the past, I'd lost 30 lbs two different times, once in my twenties and once in my thirties (a few years after having a baby). Now that I'm in my forties, the weight has not been as easy to get off and I've been back in a rut of not wanting to do what I know works, which is to eat healthy foods and controlled portions.

I've heard several people recommend the benefits of the South Beach Diet. I wasn't too crazy about the prospect of giving up carbs and sugar for the first two weeks of Phase One, but I decided that I can do anything for fourteen days, so I decided to try it. I really need something to jump start my body into losing weight again. My type of metabolism (called non-existent) doesn't like any effort to get rid of fat and poundage, so I knew it would need a huge jolt.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday went pretty well. I planned ahead, packed healthy meals and snacks to take to work, and had nary a carb for three days. I didn't miss bread hardly at all, but fruit is another story. I love berries, apples, grapes . . . almost every fruit except for bananas. But again, I can do anything for fourteen days, and then I'll get to reintroduce fruit back into my eating plan.

Well, welcome to Friday! Day Four. My craziest day at the office. I had plans to meet a friend at Starbuck's before work and I planned to get herbal tea or a sugar-free latte with nonfat milk. When I got up to the counter, I don't know what I was thinking, but I ordered a Chai Latte. It was nonfat, but it had sugar. I didn't get a yummy-looking pastry or scone, and after I got to work, I ate the food I had packed for the day (not all at once).

Fast-forward to the end of the day, the start of the weekend! I got home and started thinking about what I wanted to have for dinner. Nothing sounded good, except for things I couldn't have right now. Commercials for pizza and burgers mocked me. I couldn't go to the Greek Festival either, unless I wanted to just look at and smell that delicious food. So, here I am, jonesin' for carbs. I haven't given in yet, but I don't know how long those celery sticks and hummus are going to last. HELP!