Day 1

So HFFC is underway, but on a lower setting than intended. I still have a few things to do to finish preparing for the next few months - I have appointments with several of my doctors to examine where I am now and better help me to monitor myself over the course of my program. HFFC probably won't begin in earnest until Saturday, when the bulk of my appointments are behind me, but that doesn't mean I'm putting off the rest of the changes.

The meeting with the nutritionist, Holly, went very well; she was all geared up to give the basic "this is the food pyramid" speech, I could tell, but when Mom busted out her giant Bag O' Diet Books, Holly realized we were already pretty well-educated in this area. Between the three of us we debated the merits of several different eating plans but finally settled on using South Beach as a base, changing ingredients as necessary to meet my particular needs. Once I drop some weight I can actually switch in some more carb-friendly meals, which was welcome news to me - one of our biggest concerns was combating insulin resistance, but Holly said that the simple act of losing weight will allow me to do so. I can't overindulge in carbs, obviously, but neither do I have to excise them entirely from my diet. In addition, we agreed I can have one free meal a week where I can indulge any craving that's really been riding me. I'm definitely feeling more encouraged now after meeting with Holly.

After only one day of my new eating habits, I can already tell it's gonna be a challenge. That's not to say everything I ate today was bad - it's just different. The hardest things to handle were the 10 oz of V8 I had to drink with breakfast (I ended up standing over the sink drinking it in little sips and repeating, "I'm drinking cold tomato soup" between every sip) and the salmon for dinner (it was incredibly fishy, and the sauce was primarily Sriracha - the hottest stuff you can get. Mom didn't know better). I managed the V8; the salmon was abandoned as a lost cause, and I ate two slices of deli turkey to fill my protein for the evening.

I also behaved myself very well tonight - I went to a bar in the River Market to celebrate a friend's 21st and managed to resist both ordering a drink and indulging, unsupervised, in awesome bar food. It was very tempting, but I stuck to Diet Coke (which, when the waitress overheard my circumstances, was free) and came home to eat a tablespoon of low-fat peanut butter to take the edge off my craving. Feeling pretty gratified to have shaken off the siren song of both chips and salsa and cheese fries - didn't even sample one!

Between the errands and the appointments, the only workout I managed today was a Zumba class. I'd never tried it before, and it was damn fun - a little bit club dancing, a little bit ballroom steps, and all set to some really excellent music (worked out to Shakira and Fergie; Jules, you would've loved it). Now granted, I was by and large the biggest chick in the room - the rest were toned cougar-types or little pom girls - and thus my shimmy-ing had a lot more wiggle behind it than I would've preferred, but I kept with it all the same. It'll get better with time, as I adapt to the steps and work off more of my wiggle; I could definitely do Zumba as a regular workout.

Overall, I'm feeling good ... but impatient. Watching my body wooble around in the mirror during Zumba was annoying, and a bit embarassing - I'm ready for results now, damnit! I know it's impossible to see a change after one workout and a few healthy meals, but it doesn't make me any less anxious to make the days pass and keep up what I'm doing so I can see a change.

For now, though, I need to get my butt to bed. Tomorrow's starting out early with an endocrinology appointment, and I've got three workouts planned for the day. Probably shouldn't have stayed out quite so late considering all that, but it was a really fun evening. Totally worth it. G'night all!