I wake up hungry.

"Hunger is good. Being hungry is better than being satiated and fat. I never, ever want to be fat again. "

I repeat this every morning--my mantra. I don't want to become one of the cattle I see on the sidewalks of Washington, D.C., with rear ends that remind me of a lumbering semi-wide trailer panting up an incline. I've lost 20 pounds since Easter in a modified, low-carbohydrate diet. I look better, I have more energy, and I have a superiority complex when it comes to overweight persons. You can have all of this too.

Breakfast this morning: An egg-white omlette with mushrooms and sharp chees and a ice-heaped glass of Crystle Light ice tea.

I'm JAM--James Aloysius McTague. Jam, by the way, is not a part of the diet-- to many carbs. Carbs in quantity are a poison. You think that the Chinese are the only ones trying to poison you and your pets? Look at the labels. Any serving size with more than 25 grams of carbs is as bad as fish laced with mercury in the House of JAM!

I limit myself to 75-100 grams of carbs a day. I have one slice of whole-grain, seeded bread from Trader Joes--that's a dessert; three mini-pretzels; and ocassionally, one piece of unsweetened gourmet chocolate, which can be very delicious, dark chocolate lovers, if you buy the premium stuff. I have a two-pack of Fig Newtons for a snack.

I have a chef's salad for lunch. Chicken and fish and a salad for dinner, except for tonight. I'm home alone for a few days. I made an egg-white omlette with Canadian bacon and mushrooms and cheese. The pounds fall off like bricks the first few months and your appetite diminishes.
I started on Easter Sunday at 198 pounds, size 38 waist. Today I hit 180. My size 36 pants are a bit loose. My goal is 170 pounds and a size 34 waist.
The last ten pounds no doubt will be the hardest because I will reward myself with a piece of strawberry shortcake at a local restaurant if I can maintain 180 pounds for a week. You can stray ocassionally--once a month. As for booze, I'm sorry to say that I'm down to three glasses of wine a week. On the other hand, my acid reflux seems to have retreated!

The diet creates a virtuous circle. Your energy levels increase and you get more from exercise. I used to walk two miles per day and I lost no weight. I still walk two miles per day. But now I also bike several times a week. I live near one of the most beautiful bike trails in the world.
My normal rise is about eight miles, and I lollygag, taking an hour. I don't pretend to be an aspirant for La Tour, though many bikers do so, creating hazards similar to those you find on the interstate. Friday evening a week ago I set off from Alexandria along the Potomac for a short jaunt and I felt great. Before I knew it I came across a sign that read "3.5 miles to Mount Vernon," the home of George Washington. I went for it. The distancre out was 11 miles, so round-trip was 22! I'm age 58! I had never ridden anywhere near this in my life.
I arose early Sunday and set out north a;long the river for an eight-mile trip, up and back, which takes me past the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument. I figured there would be little bike traffic at that hour on the path, which is only about five-feet wide, if that. What I did not expect was an army of walkers, most of them obese, walking two abreast and totally blocking one side or the other pf the pathway. They will not yield. There's something obstinate in their refusal to step aside momentarily and share the path.
A ride becomes like a giant game of Parcheesi with fat persons at time straddling the pathway fpour abreast, two headed north, two headed south, nearly causing the Greg LeMonde wannabees to pile up. I generally go off on the grass and peddal around the great land-bound whales. I feel like stopping and preaching the merits of the low-carb diest. obviously these poor people have arisen early to exercise, to begin a regemine that they believe will help them shed copious amouns of weight. It won't work! CARBS IN LARGE AMOUNTS ARE POISON! America's food manufaturers are killing you off. You ever wonder why people go off to slaughter without a fuss? You are those people going off to slaughter. That omlette I just consumed with a teasponn of organic ketchup was superb. I think I'll have another glass of Crystal Light, change, and go for a leisurely bike ride