I'm pretty close no south beach diet for macro ratios... I just adjusted them until I got something realistic for how I eat. My goal is to eat 1gram of protein per pound of my goal body weight, which required protein set at 35%... that took a lot from carbs moving it down to 35% and left 30% for fat.

I don't always hit my protein target, actually I haven't HIT it in a while, but as long as I get over 100 grams of protein in a day I'm satisfied and unlikely to reach for snacks... but if I go under I want to graze on everything I can find.

Fitness I've been restricted on what I could do, but have received the all clear to return to a routine so I'm starting with swimming I am going to go at least 3x a week for the rest of February. Then my at home stuff is all body-weight exercises. That takes the onus off of "getting to the gym" and removes my excuse of I couldn't make it.. .because my gym / equipment... since it's my own body it's always with me. Soldiers etc do a lot of body weight exercises... pushups pullups etc and I've not seen too many out of shape soldiers so there's something there. I'm looking into geo-caching to maybe get me out walking more often here in the city. Having a point to the trip may motivate me more than just walking around the neighbourhood for the umpteenth time.

I eat bacon, I eat steaks, I eat sometimes 3 eggs a day... all of this comes from my own animals, and isn't processed like the stuff we get in the store, the steak is from pastured beef, not force-fed corn / grain... the pigs get to exercise by rooting up the area I intend to garden next year for some of their food and entertainment, and the chickens control the pest population near the garden... I benefit and they do too. They give me some of the richest coloured yolks I've ever seen!

the macros for southbeach that I've seen are 40% carbs 30% protein and 30% fat. Beyond that there's a whole "program" probably like weight watchers etc that I don't subscribe to. Why should I? MFP is free and works. It just happens to be how I eat... I eat a lot of meat... farm raised meat... and my carbs tend to come from processed stuff like bread etc though that's getting better with me baking bread at home... 4 or 5 ingredients is all bread "needs" to have, not the 10 lines of chemicals they so often have.

You can customize your macros under my home > goals > change goals > custom

I've changed my sodium to between the 2 extremes of suggestions (low being 1500 high being 2500 so I aim for 2000) fiber I customized to 40 grams a day though I definitely don't always get near that.

Self-sufficiency is great but there's still stuff you just don't have time for. I buy coffee, haven't been able to raise it yet.. but I'm trying to find a good source for green coffee beans... green will store for about 20 years... roasted they last 6 months... I haven't had a great yield from my sunflowers for producing my own oil on site so I still buy olive oil etc. But certainly if you can do it yourself and opt out of the system in certain places go for it. I'm looking into propane powered appliances including fridge and freezer... $2000 price tag vs $500 and up for electrical but as long as your tank is filled you've got what it takes to run your fridge/freezer.

I am learning to can more and more of my produce, losing the freezer once was more than enough good thing it happened fairly late in the storage season. If you can your produce it only needs to be kept out of the sun rather than frozen (depending on what it is) ie freezer jam should be frozen

I do grow a lot of my own veggies in the summer, haven't had enough of a harvest yet to make it all winter without buying additional. Potatoes, beets, carrots etc. Have strawberry, raspberry, blueberry plants and rhubarb. All should be very low maintenance... ie plant them, establish them and enjoy the product from them for many years to come.

Acacia -

I am currently aiming for 2000 calories a day - do you think that is too high?

I am glad to hear that someone struggles with the same issues that I do. Makes me feel like I belong... These are not exacty things that most people talk about openly. However, it won't be long and this will not be a problem for us!

Sounds like you have well balanced plan!

Geo-Caching is like a scavenger hunt for adults. It every city, there are geo-caches that people have hidden, and then posted the coordinates on a website. Using GPS or an app on your phone, you track down the coordinates to find the cache. It can be as small as a cuff link, or as large as big ammo box. Most common size is a film container or a pill bottle. Inside each cache there is a place to sign and date your find, and random things that people have left behind. (Anything from a pencil,to a token, to inexpensive toy figurines... really there could be almost anything.) You take some token of your own and put it in the cache, and in return you take something, that was previously left. It is a lot of fun, and sometimes REALLY frustrating... but you can walk A LOT, without even realizing it.

Happy Hunting!!!

Katie (Kamalalue)

I eat 1900 calories on days I don't exercise. When I exercise I eat my exercise calories. I've been losing weight so its obviously a reduction from what I was mindlessly eating before, but I've put aside the potato chips and chocolate bars and hot tamales (corn syrup based candy)
I WILL buy the odd scoop of chocolate covered almonds when I really get a sweet but I buy a small scoop not a big full bag that I'd mindlessly snack on. Eating wholesome foods prepared at home is making a huge difference. I make big batches, like last night the oven was on to cook chicken breast, I also threw on some garlic bread, and a couple fillets of fish, it was on anyway so I made use of the heated space... now it doesn't need to go on again until Thursday... actually probably not even then I'll do something Friday for dinner and Saturday is a birthday party I will be attending so no point cooking stuff at home for those meals to just go bad.
I make a BIG batch of pancakes, and freeze the extras... if eggo's etc can be frozen so can my home-made pancakes for a couple weeks.

Acacia -

For me, not counting fruit and vegetables was a slippery slope. I chose to eat a lot of fruit, and it threw my blood sugar out of whack... I was in WW at the time and they told me that sugar was sugar.

I am currently not active - but I want to be! I was just trying to locate a place near where I live, where I can go swimming. It seems that the time spent, versus calories burned - it is my best option. I am thrilled, because I really love to swim!