I have to say, I'm really pleased with myself for managing to stick to this diet for so long, something I've never managed to do with any diet for more than a week or so, ever. And I"m pleased that it's having such good results.
I'm noticing that the weight loss is slowing down a bit. Last week I didn't lose anything, and this week I lost one pound, to make it 14 pounds lost, total. I've also lost in inches - some of my clothes are now too big! I've lost 3 1/2 inches from my waist and from my hips, too. How cool is that?
It's becoming more of a habit to follow the diet, as well. Once I decided that beans were out for me at breakfast, mornings improved immeasurably. I usually do some sort of scrambled eggs, mixing in onions or mushrooms and garlic, or spinach - whatever I happen to have on hand. I also discovered the most delicious maple chicken sausages at Whole Foods, made by Applegate Farms. I have three of them and a couple of eggs, and I'm seriously not hungry till noon or 1 o'clock. I used to be starving by 11, so that's been a nice change. The fact that I don't eat pork or beef limits some of my choices, but having poultry and fish seems to be working just fine.
One thing that I have noticed is that preparing meals is more time consuming, and I do have to plan things out to make sure I have things I can eat, particularly to take with me to work for lunch or dinner. It was sure a lot easier when I could just have a bowl of cereal (or three) and a banana for lunch.
My favorite lunch involves a salad that includes beans, usually great northern, and sometimes I'll add some salmon and avocado, or some tuna and olives, and I make it a really, really big salad. I also make lots of soups, usually vegetable soup with beans, sometimes spicy, sometimes not, and while I can't say I'm always thrilled to have the soup or salad to look forward to, once I start eating, I'm generally quite happy. I do have tons of energy these days, without spikes and dives the way I used to.
I could never make it through this without the cheat day, though, which I've taken to calling my "eating day." (As though I don't eat the rest of the week - ha!). If it weren't for the fact that I have Sunday to look forward to, I'd have given this thing up months ago. It has been particularly difficult this summer as so many of my favorite fruits have become available at the farmers market. Today is a cheat day, and so far I've had two amazingly sweet and juicy peaches and a huge bowl of delicious dark cherries. Yum! It is such a nice change to be able to eat whatever and however much I want without any demoralizing guilt! It is worth it to me to be able to do that, so I honestly don't mind so much avoiding certain foods for 6 days. It goes pretty quickly, and with the inches lost, and the weight I've lost, it inspires me to keep going.
My goal from the start has been to lose 20 pounds. I have 6 more to go, and then I will have to figure out some sort of maintenance plan - that's something that seems to be lacking in the book. There is a ton of information online, though, so maybe I will find some ideas there.
I can never go back to the way I ate before - and that realization would have once terrified and depressed me. Now I honestly feel great about that. I am confident that I'll be able to do a modified version of this diet to maintain my weight. Maybe I'll do two eating days. Maybe I'll just add some forbidden foods a few times a week.We'll see how it goes!
