Birthday gain and new weight loss help

Last Wednesday I had my 44th birthday. It went well, I had an enjoyable day and as would be expected, I ate more than I usually do. That's fine. I usually don't put on much weight on my birthday (Christmas is different - I usually add just under a kilogram). I'm losing that gain now, there aren't any problems with that.

I have asked a workmate if she could help me with my motivation for losing weight. It's quite obvious that the camera in itself is not enough motivation - it's too far away. I'll go back to what has worked in the past - paying someone when I do not live up to weight loss expectations. I've tried this in the past - using someone else on the Internet, but this time I'll use the support of someone in real life, someone who I've actually met and can talk to.

The plan is simple - pay her money each time my weight goes above a line on my weight graph. At the moment, the graph drops by 50 grams each day, not a lot I'd admit, but I want to start with an easy loss then speed things up later on. Because of the birthday gain, I am giving her money, but that's ok, the maximum I'll ever give her is $7 a week, about the cost of a Big Mac combo. My weighings should be under the line in about 3-4 days.

As for an update for saving for the camera here is what I have so far:

Christmas 2006
Dad owes me $25

Christmas 2007
Dad owes me $25
Becky owes me $30

Birthday 2007
Becky owes me $20

Birthday 2008
My brother owes me $64
Cash from various sources $70 (I must quickly convert to vouchers otherwise I'll end up spending it)
Dad owes me $25

Bets I've won $13
Weight loss paymenths $100
Mall voucher $50

Which totals $422, the camera costs (without warranty $545) so I need to save about $3 a week. Easy.

Protein, protein, protein

It is no secret that protein can control my appetite, I've known about that for years. What is difficult however is actually taking it, I'm sure that I could quite easily exist on 20g of protein a day. I've never been a big meat eater, and usually have to remind myself to eat it.

Given that I'm trying to lose weight, I've decided to try this routine:

3 units (20g) of protein a day

Breakfast: Special K and an egg (yes, Special K is full of sugar but it's about the only breakfast cereal that I like that has lots of protein in it)

Lunch: some type of fish

Dinner: whey powder

Cost is an issue, whey powder is expensive but it's easier than fish to eat. Protein is the most expensive thing about being on a diet, and I'm trying to stick to a budget. $20-$25 a week on protein is a lot of money, I'm hoping when I finish this diet I can go below $60 and my average will slowly drop to that value.

I'll try that for a while and see what happens. Also, I've decided to reduce my carbohydrates and see how that goes. If you've read the previous post, you'll be disappointed that I've pretty much not gotten into that scheme, but I think I'll try the protein first and see how that goes.