Oh, the weather outside is …

beautiful! In an ethereal, dreamy, foggy kind of way.

Yesterday morning we woke up to low clouds and thick frost. See?

Today it's clear and crisp with frost covering everything on the northeast side of the house, but barely coating the stuff on the southwest side. Not sure how to explain that. And it's not nearly as picture-worthy as yesterday's icy morning greeting.

Looks like we're in for some cold, cold nights, with daytime highs gradually cooling as the week wears on. High today of 53° and sunny, so an outdoor walk is on the agenda. The rest of the week we descend into winter. Finally. I hope the daffs survive.

I've now been South Beaching for four weeks. My weight stayed the same this week, but the trend since January 1 has been two weeks of losses and one week of staying the same. Jen noted recently that she experiences a similar pattern. Not that I'm Jen, but it was instructive to read that and it helped me be not quite as bummed as I would have been in the past. Jen also is using a scale that tracks body fat. I have a scale that does that, but I'm not using it. Maybe it's time. (My body fat percentage was so scary-high I put the scale away and haven't looked at it in more than a year. Seriously!)

My old thinking would have had me jumping off the wagon at this point. I've been really good about this plan that promises big losses the first two weeks and a steady two-pounds-a-week after that. I can stay the same weight eating all kinds of crap. I maintained the same [too-high] weight for several months last year, eating pretty much whatever I wanted.

Rather than ditch it, I plan to stick with South Beach. Nothing about eating protein and vegetables is going to hurt me, and avoiding sugar and refined flour has already helped. I feel much better emotionally.

There's also the gym factor. I've been faithfully showing up there thrice-weekly for two weeks, spending at least half an hour on full-body weight-training and another 45 minutes watching Glee on the treadmill. I am a sweaty mess when I get done. On the days I'm not in the gym I try to walk outside or do the elliptical here at home, although I have missed either three or four days of intentional activity.

The interesting thing about skipping a day is that in the old days I could easily justify skipping another and another and then just falling back into the not-working-out habit. Now I just tell myself that because of circumstances, I need to take a day off. ONE day. Not a week.

Consistent healthful eating plus consistent workouts will theoretically yield results. There's a poster on Pinterest (naturally I can't find it now, sigh) that says (regarding weight loss) it takes 4 weeks for you to notice, 8 weeks for friends and family and 12 weeks for everyone else.

I guess I've still got time. Heh.