Scarsdale Diet

So I'm on this diet. I've never dieted before in my life. What inspired me to diet? Being in Europe and seeing all the slim and healthy people there. I think that everyone does a lot more walking and they have this healthy diet. I don't know what it is. They eat at what we would consider weird times of the day. Although every country is slightly different, basically they eat lunch later in the day and then dinner between 8 and 10 at night. Maybe this helps them to stay slim. When we were there, I think we had wine with every meal. After awhile, I started just drinking water because I was getting sick of the slightly heady feeling that wine usually gives me.

Before leaving for Europe, I thought that I would lose weight while I was over there because of all the walking we were going to be doing. Well, we definitely did get our fair share of exercise or maybe more but we also ate very, very well. So all in all, I don't think I gained weight but I didn't lose any either.

So, not to bore you with the details but when we returned I was determined to become healthier in my eating habits and my weight. My mom had tried the Scarsdale diet before and it worked so she found the details again and she, my husband, Reuben and I all started the diet last Monday, June 4. The diet claims that you are supposed to lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks. That's a pretty hefty claim!

I now have only 4 days to go including today and I definitely haven't lost anything close to 20 pounds but I feel lighter, I think. I didn't weigh myself when it all started because the weight doesn't really matter as much as the way I look and how my clothes feel.

The good thing about the diet is that it tells you exactly what to eat for each meal but doesn't restrict your portions. The bad thing is you can't snack and there isn't a lot of dairy. They do say that you shouldn't stay on the diet for longer than the 2 weeks and this is probably why.
Our fridge has never been so stocked full of fruits and veggies and I haven't eaten so much protein in my life. So that's all good but I do miss the carbs and sugar tremendously. Although I haven't cheated at all. Even when my stomach is growling I just can't bring myself to have something that's bad for me because I know it'll go straight to my waistline. I'm not sure how I'm going to feel come Monday though. I don't know if I'll be able to stick to grapefruit and toast for breakfast instead of a yummy bowl of cereal. I think for our dinners we will stick with the diet only we will add some whole wheat pasta or brown rice. We definitely won't be eating such big portions of white starches anymore. We will be looking for healthy alternatives for a lot of things and our one sweet thing will be Sunday coffee time because it's really hard to have carrot sticks after church in the morning instead of a gezellig piece of cake.

Well, that's the saga. Hope you enjoyed the journey.