Day 1

I should let you know. . . about 60 hours before I began this diet, I had technically already begun a diet that is probably the most important step of all --- no sugar, no caffeine, and LOTS of water!  I had a lot of fatigue and some headaches at first, but today was awesome -  I got up around 9:30, made and ate breakfast by 10:30, (we'll get to that in a moment), and cleaned house until about 2:30.  After that my husband and I went for a leisurely swim, I took a shower, and this is the first that I've really sat down all day, except for meals.  And it's 6 pm!  Woohoo!

Okay so breakfast was a yummy 2-egg spinach omelet (cooked in 2 tbsp of olive oil) and served over slices from half a tomato.  I seasoned the omelet in the pan with a little bit of salt and pepper, but I am also trying to watch my sodium, so I used Mrs. Dash at the table.  It was fantastic!  And, I have to say, pretty satisfying in terms of quantity.  Isabel recommends eating the entire egg, not just the egg whites, in case you were wondering.  I also took a daily multivitamin with my meal.

Here's a pic:

I tried to space my meals out evenly, so the next meal was at 1:00, a snack of slivered almonds.  I think I was supposed to eat 20-24 whole almonds, but slivered was what I already had, so I just went with those.  They tasted so good!  I can't exactly say they were sweet, but I ate them ravenously, as if they were a candy bar, and really tasted every bit!  I also drank a full bottle of water (16 oz) as I ate them.  (They can dry the mouth a little if you don't hydrate.)

At this point you might be wondering, "Just how big is this chick?"  Well, my 'naked' weigh-in this morning put me right at 182, but here's the weigh-in pic from when I realized y'all might kinda want to know my size.  I had already had breakfast, 3or 4 bottles of water, and the almonds by the time I took this, though.  The scale puts me at 183.2 by that time.

Size-wise, I am an easy 14, a snug 12, on the bottom.  (Definite pear-shape --- think J-Lo)  On top I am a 34D with a noticeable waist.  The belly has definitely gotten much bigger in the last 10 years ( yay, 30s!), but it's not tooooo bad.  My actual waist measures 33".  (As we all know, the real "belly" part, the intestines, are much bigger, but I don't know how big, because I didn't take that measurement.)  My butt and hips are at 47".  

So, it's 6pm, and I've told you how the day shaped up.  The only thing I forgot to show you was lunch.

Make a salad out of those ingredients.  I used abut 3 celery sticks.  You can also use bell peppers and cucumbers, if you like.  I can't eat bell peppers because they give me indigestion, and the cucumbers at the store were too soft, so I didn't buy any.  Use only 2 tsp of olive oil, but all the vinegar you want.  (I would suggest maybe 8 tsp?  You only use half a cup of the garbanzo beans.  Put the rest in the fridge.  Also, the two small cups are salmon, if you can't tell.  You're only supposed to have 4 oz.  So, since they come in 2.8 oz packages, I used 1 and a half packages and refrigerated the rest.  Again, I used Mrs. Dash at the table.  Yummy!

I don't have pics of the "post-workout" meal, but it was pretty yummy - cauliflower, turkey breast, and sweet potato.  Well, the cauliflower and turkey breast were yummy.  I didn't plan ahead and the sweet potato is still cooking.  I'll eat it soon.  Probably with cinnamon.  NO BUTTER!  NO BROWN SUGAR!  ESPECIALLY no brown sugar!  Eventually, when my mood and weight are regulated, I might try a little vanilla Stevia and some crushed pecans and a Tbsp of REAL butter (don't use the fake junk) on top, with the cinnamon.  But, for  today, it's just cinnamon.

 That's the half of a sweet potato with cinnamon!  Gotta say, not always my favorite vegetable.  I was imagining it with butter and pecans, but it still wasn't terrible just plain with cinnamon.  Kind of a treat, like one of those so-called nutrition bars that you don't LOVE, but it's better than nothing.  Just kinda takes the edge off.

I gotta tell ya, by this point, I was pretty stuffed.

But, there was one more meal to be eaten:

Man, this was YUMMY!  Best thing I ate all day, actually.  And I get to have it for lunch again tomorrow!  I should have prepared more, but I forgot.  Plus, Isabel says not to microwave, so, might as well prepare it twice anyway.
4 oz. ground beef; about 6 baby carrots, thinly sliced; 2 celery stalks, sliced; 2 slices of onion, diced; 1 tomato, diced; juice of one lemon; 2 Tbsp olive oil
I heated the olive oil in med to med-high heat, then added all the veggies except the tomatoes.  I covered those and let them cook while I cut up the tomato and juiced the lemon.  Then I added the beef and covered again.  After about a minute, I added the tomatoes, covered again, and turned down the heat to med-lo.  I cooked for a minute or two longer, then poured into a bowl and poured the lemon juice on top.  Sooooo yummy!  Basically, a lemony chili.  No salt needed!

So, now I've brushed my teeth, got my jammies on, and I'm ready to watch a bit of TV with Hubby before going to bed.  Tomorrow I plan to get up at 5:30 am, do about 15-20 minutes of walking, and have breakfast around 6 am.  See you then!