Should I drink the koolaid?

A friend of mine has lost 40 lbs doing the Insanity program, and has now become a Team Beach Body Coach. She's invited me to her Facebook page and encouraged me to talk about my "hybrid Beachbody workout plan."

I can't seem to get a good pic of my calendar.
I mark off each day with comments about weights I used,
or whether it's better to do that particular workout in the basement

I don't know that I really want to talk about my plan on her Facebook page. Mostly I don't want to talk about it because I feel like a fatty. I've been running for over two years, but even when working out regularly I haven't lost any weight. Much like the start of my friend's workout journey, mine has included a lot of workouts and not so many dietary restrictions.

My friend has drunk the Koolaid. She's also drinking the Shakeology. At $4 per shake, I'm having a little trouble swallowing that one. Sure, they're full of all natural ingredients. So would any smoothie I made from whole foods instead of processed "beet juice powder."

It's working for her.

I've spent an awful lot of money trying to figure out approximately how many calories I expend in a day, and how many I need to consume. I'm better about overeating now I'm staying away from gluten, but I still have a sweet tooth the size of the Grand Canyon. I still have no idea if I should try to subsist on 1200 calories, or if I really need the 1700-1900 I consume most days.

I'm actually inclined to believe the latter. For the past several weeks I've been weighing myself when I get up and when I go to bed, on the days I'm home. Starting Mondays I've consistently lost a pound or two through the course of the week. Then comes Wednesday or Thursday Chinese, then Friday Mexican, and by the end of the weekend I've gained it all back.

I'm not good at wholesale changes. That doesn't mean I'm not good at changes. I'm still working on making the gluten free one stick. I'm planning out how to cut coffee and soda from my diet. I'm not as concerned about the caffeine as I am with the chemicals in the coffee creamer and diet colas I drink daily. The majority of my day to day diet is healthy whole foods. I am slowly working on reducing the calories in while increasing the calories out.

I don't want to drink the Koolaid. I want to be able to eat healthy foods and maintain a healthy weight without all the hype.

I guess we'll find out how well that works for me.

I've taken another set of "before" pictures. I won't subject you to them, but I will say I'm pleasantly surprised to find I have some muscle definition in my arms.