I Hate Being Fat, Round 2 **ding ding ding**

Okay, so the fight is on.  It's Low Carb in one corner, and NutriSystem in another.  I have fought for both sides and against both sides at different points in my life.  I have lost more than 40 pounds at different points using both systems, so both systems work.  I have kept the weight off and sustained each way of eating for about the same amounts of time.  In both cases, my health and bloodwork improved.

So here I am, back up to 215 pounds, desperate to do something to take the weight off.  I'm already hitting the gym 6 days a week (5 at a base minimum in the case of holiday weeks like the one coming up where the gym is closed on Memorial Day).  So the only thing left to do is adjust what goes in my mouth.  I have proven myself to be an absolute failure without a structured way of eating, so an absolute, hour by hour plan is a necessity for me.

I've been doing Low Carb now for 2 months and the total weight loss I've seen so far is a whopping 15 pound weight gain.  I know Low Carb works, so before you start to bash LC, just back off.  It's a healthy, proven way to not only lose weight, but control your health as well.  But, it's not working for me right now, and a change is in order.

So, I'm doing a four month experiment starting tomorrow, depending on when the Big Brown Box comes from UPS.  I am signed up for NutriSystem again.  My plan is to take it one month at a time.  If I lose weight in month 1, then I will continue on to month 2.  If I lose weight in month 2, then I will continue on to month 3, and so forth and so on.  I can cancel anytime (like I did last time), so the instant it stops working for me, I'm done.

Here's the deal: at this point, I don't care if it's something gimmicky, if I can't sustain it, if it's unhealthy, I don't care.  At this point, I HAVE to lose at least 60 pounds.  PERIOD.  I don't care how it happens as long as it's legal.  Can I sustain the strict calorie reduction of NutriSystem?  I don't know.  Can I sustain the strict carb reduction of Low Carb?  I don't know.  All I know is I have succeeded with both plans in the past in losing weight, and I failed to sustain both of them in the past.

I guess the point is that I need your prayers.  My back hurts from the extra strain placed on it by my belly.  My ego hurts from so many people at church commenting to me that I need to lose weight (YEAH, that REALLY happens EVERY week to me.  And believe it or not, most of the time the snide comment is accompanied by a nice humiliating pat on my stomach).  Step number one is to simply lose the weight.  Once I get there I'll figure out what to do next.  I can't deal with that far down the road right now.