We successfully reached the end of the “strict” part of our diet. I didn’t lose as much as I’d hoped—only 1.6 kg, but I slimmed 3 cm off my hips and my clothes fit better, so I suppose that’s just fine.

Now begins a more lenient phase until we reach our goal weight. This goal is a bit amorphous as I’m not sure what I want to weigh, exactly. Should I diet down to the weight I was when I married (that would be 137 lbs / 62.2 kg) or should I allow myself a little softness and go for 141 lb / 64 kg? I’m at 145/66 now, so there’s not all that much to lose, regardless. I’ll see where I am in a couple of weeks, I guess, and call it quits.

To celebrate the start of the next phase, I’ve created another fridge-friendly printout of the allowed foods and when you can consume them.

South Beach Phase Two List 80 K PDF (2 pages, A4).

In this phase, you can eat fruits (but not bananas, pineapple, raisins or fruit juice) and whole-grain starches (still no potatoes). Also more milk products and…red wine! I’m really happy about the wine.

This is such an easy diet to follow and it makes so much sense. Tod & I have conversations about nutrition now. We spent 20 minutes in the supermarket this evening looking at the high-fiber cereals. In the end, we decided they all had too much sugar. I’m going to make my own museli.