It was the week before a work event in Miami when I decided to try on the dresses and suits that I was planning to pack for the trip. As I suspected, my clothes were snug so I made my way to the mall in search of a couple of pieces but found nothing that flattered well enough to justify spending the money.  Truth be told, I was in major panic mode as I was driving away from the mall empty-handed.  That was when I thought of doing a liquid diet – a last-minute and desperate attempt at a quick fix.  I had overhead a colleague talking about a juice diet for a wedding and so I thought, why not a liquid diet for my work trip? I quickly detoured to the closest Target only to find out that the store did not carry the brand that I was looking for.

Disappointed yet again, I had an “aha” moment.  Instead of a liquid diet, why not do the South Beach Diet?  This diet has a special place in my heart – it was the key to my fitting in the most important dress I have worn to date – my wedding gown.

That was years ago and I remember going from one bridal salon to the next to try on wedding dresses and feeling frustrated with samples that seemed to only come in a size 0.  Nevertheless, I found “the one” at the Vera Wang bridal salon in New York.

The first fitting was just as disheartening – the dress was a size or two too small. Worse, I was seriously questioning my sanity for choosing a strapless number to wear on THE one day when all eyes, like it or not, were going to be on me.

I asked the bridal consultant if sleeves or a matching bolero could be added to hide my apparent bad judgement.  Sure, she said – for about $2,500.

So we compromised.  The bridal salon would add spaghetti straps and I would lose 20 pounds.  Sounded reasonable enough, right?

Feeling defeated, I drove back to Philadelphia and shared my plight to my fiancé.  My ever so supportive husband-to-be offered to do the South Beach Diet with me.

He pulled out the book, made a shopping list, shopped for the ingredients, and prepared all the meals for the next six weeks until our wedding day.  My only job was to follow the program which I gratefully did.

It worked!  I dropped the weight (and more!) to the point that my bridal consultant had to tell me that I might want to stop losing more weight as we were getting close to my wedding day and there won’t be any more time to alter the dress.

Fast forward to three weeks ago, I was back to following Phase 1 of the diet again.  I had one week before the Miami trip and my only goal was to lose enough weight or inches to fit in my existing dresses and suits.  Anything more than that would be a bonus.  Guess what, South Beach worked – again!  Crisis averted, I managed to lose enough pounds and inches to comfortably wear the clothes that I own.

This month’s realizations:

• I am a goal-driven dieter. I am motivated to lose weight when a big event is coming up such as my wedding, a reunion, a trip, or a work event.  Just like so many, I become hyper-focused and disciplined leading to a deadline.  The downside is that oftentimes, when the event or goal have come and gone, so do the motivation and will-power to stay on track.
• Procrastination is potentially costly.
• Nutrition is huge. Most will argue that it is the most important piece of the weight loss equation.
• Weight loss is personal and individual and it is up to us to pay attention to our bodies to figure out what works and what does not.

So onward I go with this weight loss journey.