Starting Day 4 of the 7 Day Diet

Here we are beginning Day 4 ... this is the day I have been worried about.  Bananas and milk.  Scary.

Day 3 wasn't bad at all - it was veggies and fruits.  I was pretty satisfied all day long, though I must admit I was hungry quickly after eating, but that just meant I ate more.  The grapes were probably my favorite thing yesterday, but the green beans and asparagus were tasty too.

I am down to 193.2 - that's 5.8 lbs lost so far.  Hubby didn't lose yesterday, which is really odd given how little calories we ate.

So on to bananas and milk today!  I've had one banana so far and 1/2 cup milk.  I'm comfortable right this minute and for some reason I'm in a really good mood.  I don't know if there is a correlation or not, but given that I have a long court calendar to deal with, I SHOULDN'T be in a good mood.  Then again, seeing that number on the scale, which I haven't seen in a very long time, IS pretty sweet.

Luckily I'll be in court for most of the afternoon, so I'll be distracted for most of the day!  Tonight will be difficult.  It would normally be a date night for us, but with the diet, we aren't going to do the Mexican food and alcohol, but will probably watch movies or something.  Watching movies is HARD to do without food!  Am I right?

I'll check in again tomorrow!

Starting Day 3

Yesterday (Day 2) was much easier than Day 1.  I was actually worried that I might gain weight because I felt so full all day.

The baked potato was heaven, to be sure.  We ate:  cabbage, squash, baked broccoli, green beans and our baked potato for dinner.  Honestly, I was full and comfortable all day.  Whenever I got hungry, I went and got more squash.  Tasty.  Hubby also said it was an easy day for him.

I'm down to 194.4 this morning.  Having started at 199, that's 4.6 lbs lost so far.  Hubby is down a total of 5.6 lbs (!!??).

I know it's water weight, but it sure is nice to see a number on the scale that I haven't seen for a while.  It's a great way to kick off getting back to my healthy eating.  And a cold turkey on the sugar really helps.  I have found that when I eat sugar, I eat everything.  Somehow sugar kicks me over the edge.

So today is veggies and fruits.  I still have mushrooms and artichoke hearts to cook.  I also have some turnips, though I usually cook those with bacon and butter, so I'm not sure how to cook them for this diet.  We also have baby carrots to munch on and we can eat fruit again - we still have the cantaloupe, watermelon, grapes and peaches.

Tomorrow is the day I'm dreading.  8 bananas?  8 glasses of milk?  Okay, I like milk, but I'm not the biggest fan of bananas.  Especially over ripe ones.  We haven't gone shopping for those yet since I wanted to have fairly green ones.

This is an interesting crash diet, to be sure.  So far I'm not missing the sugar or starchy carbs.  But let's be real, it's only the beginning of Day 3.

I've seen some other variations of this diet on the internet.  Some say you can eat the Day 7 soup every day.  Some say you can have beef rather than chicken.  Beef sounds pretty heavy right now, so I think we'll stick to chicken.

I'm wondering how much I'll gain back after this ends and I go back to my healthy eating.  I'm hoping I won't gain any back because I plan on getting back into the weight lifting and bike riding as well as staying away from the sweets.

My only issue (and one of the reasons I'm doing this crash thing) is that our anniversary is next weekend.  That means I will imbibe in alcohol and lots of food, but I will have had 3 days of normal healthy eating prior to that weekend, so maybe I'll be okay.

I will continue updating!

Day 2

So, yesterday (all fruit) was harder than I expected.

I ate a lot of fruit, but still felt hungry.  I ate cuties (the little oranges), apples, cantaloupe, watermelon, and grapes.  I really thought those things would be plenty to make me feel full.  Then again, it could have all been in my head!  These fad diet things make me hungry just thinking about them.

So I lost 3 lbs last night.  I'm sure it was all water weight from the horrible choices I made up in Virginia during my mother's open heart surgery.  At any rate, I'm down to 166.0.  Hubby is down 4 lbs this morning (why do guys always lose more weight doing the same things as we do?!).

Today is all vegetables.  I made cabbage and squash this morning.  So far I've only eaten cabbage, which actually is filling.  I had to steam it and I did add a mall amount of fat free chicken broth - don't know if that will kill this diet thing or not; it says we can cook our veggies, but not how we can cook them.  I know we can deep fry them or anything like that, but I'm not sure where the line is.

I have mushrooms and artichoke hearts to grill.  I have fresh broccoli that I'm going to bake crispy for snacking.  I'm allowed to have a baked potato with butter so that will be saved for dinner.

We shall see!  I'm getting nervous about the banana day.  Luckily I have court that afternoon, and it is a big calendar, so I'll be distracted for that time period.

I will keep you guys posted!!

Jump Start

I'm trying something a little different to get myself going again.

My mother's heart surgery went well, but it was very stressful and there weren't a lot of great food choices to be had for that week.  So I'm up in weight and I don't feel all that well.  Of course, I got a nasty cold while up there and it's lingering on ....

So I'm trying a 7 day diet just to get started on my path again.  Here it is:

I know it's probably not the healthiest way to go about things, but it doesn't look horrible, and I think I can do it and it's only short term ... plus my hubby is on board with me so I'll have a partner while doing it!

I'm hoping it will get me back on track and help get all the icky out of my body from the last few weeks.  

I am 199 today (I know - almost back at that big 200!!) though I know a lot of that is from the junk I've eaten and will drop back off.  I was 196.8 on Saturday, so a bunch has got to be just water weight.  That might give a false reading on the weight loss I may get from the "diet" so I will have to keep that in mind.

I will report in as we go.  I imagine it's not going to be pleasant, but since I can eat as much as I want of things on their day (mostly) maybe it won't be so bad.  Looking at it, the banana day is probably going to be the hardest day.

I will keep you posted!

Repetition = Habit

The more I do healthy things, the easier it gets.

Whenever I falter on my healthy journey, it's always soooo hard to get back on track - even when I was doing so well so easily before the fall.

But if I persevere and keep on doing the good stuff, it gets easier every day.

I've done really well for two days and that's saying a LOT because my hubby has been out of town for a week and my little one has had the flu (throwing up and diarrhea - yay) and I'm trying to get work all tied up so I can go to my parents' house to be there for my mom's open heart surgery (yikes!).  So, needless to say, lots of stress and I've managed to be good.

And today was easier than yesterday.  So I'll keep repeating and hopefully I will get back into the habit of eating right and exercising and it will be easy again!

I know I'll have some moments in Virginia with eating out - or worse - eating hospital food while my mom is in the hospital, but I'll try and make decent choices.  If I can keep it up, I know it will just get easier.

Here's to trying.  Every day ...

Back to School

It has been a loooong week.  It was the first week of school, which meant a whole shift in my scheduling.  I am so tired!!  I kind of feel like hiding!

I'm afraid to come out and face the horrible choices I've made this week.  I had court and we had family with surgery in addition to the kids being back in school with afterschool activities already...  We ate out a lot this week.

I had expected to jump right back into the school schedule with getting up at 5:15 to ride the bike, planning meals (and actually cooking them!), etc.  Aaaand, it just hasn't happened.

I'm hoping to get myself back in gear over the weekend and start next week off right.  Then again, I have court on Monday, so it may be a rocky start.  Hopefully I can get hubby to help me stay on track.  I still have my college daughter at home and the urge to spend some quality time with her tends to lead to eating out and other bad choices.

My 3rd daughter is on the quest to make the perfect chocolate chip cookie.  Did I ever mention I have willpower issues???  I have been unable to stop "helping" her taste her batches to see what needs to be changed.  Like I said ... rough week.

My fitbit is also acting up.  It's getting old, and I may have to break down and get a new one.  But that might not be a bad thing - I get excited by my gadgets, so maybe that will be a help in ratcheting up my zeal for getting on track.

It's not that I'm too badly OFF track.  My weight is fluctuating, but it's staying within the 190 - 198 range, so I haven't topped over the 200 mark again.  Not that I should be making excuses and thinking that 198 is GOOD.  I'm just glad I haven't totally gotten myself so far off track that I can't find the road again.

I have discovered a way to stop the snacking at night.  I really enjoy art, so I have bought some art journals and while I watch TV at night, I doodle in them.  Keeps me occupied and from hitting the snacks.  We'll see if it's a long term fix for my issue or not.

Last night I was feeling frustrated, and I'll leave you with my journaling page:

"With Help"  Hee!  

I guess we all need a little help sometimes!

Garden Goodness

Well, I am back from vacation and am getting serious about my health again.  I came back at 198 lbs on Monday morning and am now 194.6 on Friday morning.  Not a bad week.

I have started up the Bowflex again and have been doing stomach crunches every morning.  It's my stomach that has me the most upset about myself, so it's what I'm focusing on right now.

Meanwhile, our garden is in full swing!  We have had so many veggies come in that we have already been freezing things!  It has also been great for having healthy food!  It's been fun coming up with different ways to cook everything so we don't get sick of it all!

This is a stuffed 8-ball zucchini (I forgot to take a picture before I cut it all up).  It was stuffed with spinach, smoked Gouda cheese and Parmesan cheese.  It was soooo good!  And it felt so decadent even though it was good for us!

Last night I made zucchini chips in the oven - lots of red pepper - yum!!  I did determine that I have to cut the zucchini very thick in order for it not to just wither away to nothing.  Of course, I was using the 8-ball which makes the chips large with a lot of seed filling in the middle.  But they were so good!!

I also made a cheesy yellow squash casserole the other night - I am telling you - very good stuff!

And we have tomatoes and cucumbers so I've been making "salads" with them - pretty much just tomatoes or cucumbers (sometimes both together) and a vinaigrette of some kind (which we make from olive oil and vinegars we bought up in Helen this spring - some amazing flavors! See their website HERE).

Tonight, however, is date night - Mexican food and alcohol - so I'll be up a bit in weight tomorrow, no doubt.  I must say I am looking forward to some chicken wings tonight.  I think I'm craving protein due to the weight lifting.

I'm pretty proud of myself this week!  Hopefully I can keep it up.  Next week will be stressful due to court dates, and stress always makes me want to eat more, so it will be a struggle.  It will also keep me from the time to create in the kitchen, which may also lead me to eat not-so-good choices.

One day at a time!  For now ... Happy Summer!