Day 7 of Phase 2

Day 9 of a 42 day program
Weight: 214.4

I have officially survived a week on phase 2. I know it sounds silly, but I think it is a huge accomplishment. It has been a lot of mind over matter. I have had to convince myself that while I feel hungry, I don't NEED that extra amount.

Over the last week, there are a few things that I have figured out:

1. Don't settle for small apples. If the grocery store you go to only has the smaller versions, take the extra time and gas it takes to get to the next store. The small apples will not help, as a matter of fact they will leave you feeling hungry. The larger apples fill the need for something sweet and have enough substance to keep you going and stay off the hunger. The protocol won't all two small apples in the place of one large one. You get ONE and that is it, so make it the right size!
2. A lemon, 1/2 gallon of water, and 1/2 cup Stevia = GREAT LEMONADE! This has been a great, refreshing way to get more water during the day. Drinking Iced tea is also a great substitute, but there is just something so great about this combo!
3. Positive Thinking Yields Positive Results. A lot of the last week has been mind over matter. I have had to convince myself that I am not hungry when everything inside of me was screaming that I was. Ultimately, as the week went on, it got easier and the easier it got the more excited I was to be able to get through another day. 

A funny thing happened today. I almost forgot to eat. I was not hungry at all. It was like I hit the one week mark and Voila, I lost my hunger. I actually did not even eat lunch until almost 2 pm. That was odd to me, because for the majority of last week I was counting down the minutes until 12 noon so that I could get something into my stomach. Today was kinda a nice change. The only problem is I ate lunch on the fly so I did not get my veggie or fruit with that meal. I did have an apple as a snack later on, so that made up for part of that. Still - no hunger.

As I sit here writing I started to try to remember what I had for dinner and I just realized that I didn't. This is not good, and it is 10pm, too late to eat tonight. Of course thinking about it now my stomach has started to growl and I feel slightly hungry....only slightly. Ohhh, so I need to add a number 5 to the above list: Remember To Eat.

I did go ahead this afternoon and make up some chicken burgers (3.5 Oz grilled) and veggies (1 cup) and out them together in baggies and froze them. Quick lunches for when I don't have time to make something in the mornings. I also bought more diverse proteins for meals during my grocery store trip today so we will be having a lot more seafood and no beef this week. I ate too much beef this week. They say (online) that I should eat less than 93% beef, and I would say that I ate closer to 45-50% this past week. Maybe that is why I lost only 1 pound a day (on average).

One of the things that I had been worried about was how I would feel once I did some physical labor; i.e.: yard work this weekend. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer for that question. Time slipped by me this weekend and it was the one chore that I did not get to. I will have to do it on Wednesday, so I should have the energy report in 3 nights.

So my total loss for the last week was 9.6 pounds. That is from the 224 that the Dr.s office has me weighed in initially. Although I still think that 222 would be the more correct start weight, since that is what they have on record, that is what I am going with. I'm excited for the next week! Hopefully it will go by quickly and I am able to keep strong.