No, really, I did learn a few things

Current weight: 285
Current mood: discouraged but hopeful (all angles here!)

My Atkins experiment showed me something about myself, something I am actually proud of. One of my biggest failings in that diet was my mental refusal to accept a diet that limited vegetables and cut out fruit. I have taken class after class about the human body and its needs, and every example of health has included a diet high in vegetables and fruits because the body is more readily able to use vitamins and minerals it gets from dietary intake as opposed to supplements. One of the biggest problems with multivitamins and supplements is that they are often made of starchy, chalky compounds that sometimes do not entirely digest in your system, and they will come out whole again. So there is not a good way to know if you are getting the good stuff you are trying to put in there unless you get it the natural way.

So what this means to me is that, yes, I do have the ability to eat right. I have the instincts, not as dulled as I thought by years of Ben & Jerry's, to know what is best for my body. And I actually like those foods. I miss them in their absence. I did not find myself craving carbs as I thought I would. I assumed I was too Southern to tolerate many meals without bread on the side. But I surprised myself. I missed mango and yogurt and blueberries and strawberries and cantaloupe and fat-free milk. Perhaps it was a sweet tooth disguising itself as "The Voice of Reason" but I will take it. I think that no matter how you cut it, my body was trying to prove something to me.

I got the message.

Back to calorie counting. I know, it's a pain, and it's restrictive, but it makes sense to teach myself better habits by learning what low-cal foods I love and how much is enough. It makes sense to have more freedom to choose my foods. It makes more sense to get my nutrients and fiber from my foods.

So, second verse, same as the first...