It's not about the food

I had a post completely proofed, spell-checked, sliced, diced and done, hit the "publish" button and it disappeared. Damn!

Basically, I was answering Vickie's question from yesterday's comments. She wanted to know:

"…what is different about this plan vs what you were doing before? More food? different food (how so)? different combinations? eating smaller more often? eating larger less often?"

All I can say right now is it's not about the food. Anyone who follows the link from yesterday's post can get the gist of the food plan, which looks to be mostly plant-based, light on protein and heavy – heh – on satisfying fiber.

I'm ready to begin reading Chapter 6: Metabolic Motors. Since I've spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about, crying over and bemoaning my own broken metabolism, I want to give this chapter my full and undivided attention. Meaning it's probably not good bedtime reading.

When I first mentioned ordering the book, several of you said you were going to start reading your own copies. What do you think, so far? Or do you want to do book club after you've finished reading it?

Several of you also said you were loathe to buy another diet book. I can't tell you how many times during the past year I've picked this book up and put it back down after a cursory glance, saying to myself, "Puh-lease! Not another diet book!"

My collection of nutrition and diet books rivals that of the local library. But I hope I will always be teachable, and I give Laurie the credit for inspiring me to finally order it and give it a chance. The plan I've been on for more than a year is not meeting my needs. Something needs to change, and since I'm the only part of the equation that can make that decision, I guess it's up to me to do the changing.

Here's the part of the book that hooked me, from page 10 of the Introduction:

"… using this plan, you will train yourself to never think about how much you're eating, never think about getting on a diet or worry about coming off one, and never have to figure out formulas, zones, or, for the love of (fill in the deity of your choice), place a chicken breast on a food scale."

Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? And we all know things that sound too good to be true usually are.

I hope we're wrong about the good doctors YOU.

My treadmill and I have become best friends this winter. I tried the new shoes out yesterday, for six miles, accompanied by that venerable and wonderful Valentine's Day film Sleepless in Seattle. It took 81 minutes, and the shoes felt great. The middle four miles were supposed to be at a 12:30 pace, but I was confused and thought they were supposed to be 12:23. I had to stop and rest for a few seconds here and there, but overall I think my time was pretty decent. If you've ever seen me, you know I wasn't built for speed!

Seventy-two days until race day.