Diet 2: Electric Foodaloo

Wow, I really did abandon this blog, didn't I? Time to brush the ol' dust off it, I think.

Well, I'm on the diet again, and my husband decided to join me, since he's gotten a little too used to the American way of life, if you catch my drift. Only this time, we're not doing the Releana drops, but a generic brand my mom's friend has been using with roughly the same results. And since we are dirt poor and still have no health insurance whatsoever, it was either pay $200 for the drops, take several long trips to see Dr. Gimenez and get billed heavily for that, orrr just pay $40 and supervise ourselves.

Hmmm, what to choose, what to choose?

I still had my folder with all the diet instructions and such, and I know the ropes this time, so I figured I could keep an eye on my husband well enough. So far, it's been a success. We're sharing the single bottle of drops, which means we'll be on the diet for about 20 days total.

Erm. I reallyreallyreallyreallyjustwantfood. Which is part of the reason I'm un-abandoning this blog for the moment, because putting my food cravings into actual words on a screen helps me see how stupid they really are. :P

Going back on the diet was infinitely easier than starting it the first time. I was hungry, I looked covetously at my brother and my sister-in-law's dinners, but I was okay with it. Now, after two weeks, I'm beginning to get tired of it though. Funnily enough, first time around, I craved dairy more than anything, and didn't miss bread much. This time, I'm craving bread big time, and dairy...not so much. Especially pancakes. I really, really want just a big freaking stack o' pancakes right now, drenched in melted butter and maple syrup and all delicious and everything...Anyway.

My husband has done great so far as well. Obviously he struggled at the beginning more than I did, but he had no idea what to expect. He's gone through at least two packs of gum so far, I believe. But he's brave for sticking with it and not cheating, which is so tempting to do.

So far he's lost about 19 pounds, I believe. I've lost 16, I think. I don't have the chart handy. I mean, I KNEW because he's a man and his metabolism is better than mine that he'd lose more, but it's still annoying. My goal is basically to get down to where the weight on my driver's license is no longer a lie. I need to lose just 6 pounds more, but I'd be okay if I lost 20 overall.

Also, I was dreading starting this diet because I thought I'd gained back so much weight since last time. I think it was just 10-12 pounds (our scale is a little different than my parents'). Which...I think most of that was gained back when we got put on Food Stamps, because we have to eat very cheaply (paying for the food on this diet has been throttling my already half-dead, comatose bank account). Cheaply = POTATOEZ LOL.

So, basically, I don't actually feel bad about gaining that much back, mainly because I thought it would be at least twice that.

But now I'm lighter than I was for my wedding, able to comfortably wear a pair of size 14 shorts I haven't really fit into since high school (granted, they're BIG for a 14, but still!), and feeling good. No leg cramps this time, although for some reason I'm, er, staying a little TOO regular, if you know what I mean. Blech. I've only had to do one apple day this time (though I could only choke down two instead of six), but I am NOT doing any more! I can't! It's torture.

It's really sad that all I can think about is all the fattening stuff I want to stuff in my face when I get off this. Clearly I have the discipline to control my weight for short periods of time...It's just that whole long-term thing I haven't figured out yet. Sad.

Day Something...(Independence Day?)

So it's been a while since I've updated this, but just to recap quickly, I lost around 30 pounds on the active diet and my weight seemed to go up and down a bit in the three weeks of stabilization. Cheese was what did it for me; I ate gobs and gobs of Adams 100% natural peanut butter but it didn't make me gain an ounce. If I had cheese though, it was a different story.

When it got to the point where I gained more than two pounds, I could either take an apple day (which was out of the question, blech) or skip my main meal and have a big steak and either an apple or tomato for dinner. Obviously I opted for this! I had to do this only twice, thankfully. I even bought Walden Farms calorie free barbecue sauce, which is a little sweet for me, but still better than nothing.

On my brother's birthday last Sunday I made the mistake of having half a raspberry margarita at the Mexican restaurant we went to. The sugar, combined with the alcohol, totally shocked my poor sugarless, mostly alcohol free system, and lets just say I saw my dinner again about a half hour later. I thought at least some of the sugar would've absorbed, but surprisingly I didn't gain weight from that. I also reaffirmed for myself how I could never, ever become a bulimic. I'd rather overeat and get fatter than make myself throw up.

Then, last Tuesday, I had my tonsils out. I told the hospital I couldn't have added sugars, but for some weird reason they had no sugar free yogurt or anything. It's a good thing I'm not diabetic, sheesh. So I had a few bites of it after the surgery, but I'd already barfed on myself once in the recovery room, so that was all I could manage. Plus, even the morphine wasn't making it easier to swallow. Then, that night I had chicken broth, some cooked mushrooms, and a little bit of cheese. Then I drank tea, and as soon as I stood up to take the mugs back into the kitchen...Uh oh. I ended up seeing my dinner again...again...in the kitchen sink. And to top it off, even though I threw up most of my food, I still gained about half a pound!!

The next couple of days I gained weight (about a pound altogether) from yogurt and fruit smoothies and such, but then, yesterday, my last day of stabilization, I had beef broth for lunch, then we went to town and I had a little cup of chocolate ice cream from Safeway, then I sneaked a bite of my fiance's Cinnabon (which I had to chew up really, really well), then I ate half a bowl of thick clam chowder (which has potatoes, which were still forbidden) and ate a tiny bite of Elmer's orgasmic cheesy biscuits. And then, since I bought some sugar free ice cream too, I figured I might as well sample that last night as well.

And this morning the scale said I'd lost over 2 pounds. So I figure I'm finally getting stabilized. Ironically, this is Independence Day, and also my first day off the diet!

Not that it really matters, because I can't hardly swallow anything anyway. But still.

(...Seriously though, I went through two jars of peanut butter in two weeks. Peanut butter and apples became my new vice.)

Day 22...I think...

So after a depressing plateau, yesterday I decided to eat only six apples, as my Releana guide suggested.

It. Sucked.

Pretty much, even if I was told I could only eat something like bread for one day, and nothing else, even that would taste blah by the end of the day. I baked one of the apples with cinnamon for dessert, but it really didn't help. In the end I couldn't even force down the sixth.

Oh well, at least it worked. I lost about a pound and a half because of it. Hopefully I will keep losing now, because I really don't want to have to do another apple day.

Today I had egg whites on some of that organic lettuce-y stuff (which, depressingly, has started to get slimy and has since been thrown out). I bought some more bananas at work and had half one of those, and for dinner I had a roasted chicken breast and canned green beans.

It's funny...When I started the diet, I'd weigh out the portions, look at my plate and go, "Is that all I get?" And now, when I look at my plate I say, "Is the scale broken? Did I accidentally put too much on?" This diet has really given me a new perspective on portion sizes. My eyes are shrinking down to the size of my stomach! I hope to keep my portion sizes smaller than they were before the diet.

Day...19?

So, I've missed a few days. I went to a wedding this weekend. No, I didn't get any cake. And to add insult to injury, it looked like really, really good cake, and was cut into the biggest pieces I've ever seen at a wedding. Humph. And I was sure I cheated a little because I had the salmon and it was the best thing ever. It was so hard to stop eating it and I think I had a little more than 3 1/2 ounces. XD

I lost three pounds over the weekend, then another pound, and then I gained .4 pounds by this morning, which is always annoying. But that means that altogether I've lost about 21 pounds! I've still got a week and a half to go, too. I probably won't lose as fast as I have so far, though.

Also, I've started work, which is actually really good for this diet, because I'm too busy working to think about food...except that it's at a grocery store, and people keep coming through with massive sandwiches and fried chicken and potato salad and pseudo-Chinese food and the smells are just agonizing. But other than that, I'm too busy to eat other than on my breaks and lunch anyway.

Day 12

Yesterday I lost 2 pounds! Though, counting the .8 I gained the day before, it was actually 1.2. For lunch I had canned tuna on salad, topped with that Asian dressing. Very yummy. I had half a grapefruit as a snack, and for dinner I made some chicken breasts with lemon, pepper, and sage. I also had some salad with vinegar and pepper. And for dessert I had an apple. Really wasn't a very eventful day or anything.

Day 11 - Meals

For lunch I had canned chicken on some organic greens (a bunch of types of weird froofy lettuces and such, you know, that comes in that plastic box thing) topped with Walden Farms Asian dressing. It was pretty good, I have to say. I had what turned out to be a kind of sour apple in between lunch and dinner. For dinner I had baked fish of some sort (swai something. Some weird name like that) with lemon, dill, and pepper. Also, some more greens topped with vinegar and pepper. Good dinner! On this diet, I've had the most fish I've ever had in my life. It's a good thing I like fish, or this would really suck. Anyway, I had an apple (also kind of sour) for dessert. My dad and brother baked brownies. The whole house smelled of fresh chocolately goodness. **sob** And now I'm about to fall asleep on my keyboard, so it's time for bed.

Day 11 - Weight

Apparently eating all of my allotted foods was a bad idea, because when I stepped on the scale I found that I had GAINED .8 pounds. I know it's not even a whole pound, but it's basically wasted all the progress I made yesterday. So...yeah. Just a little discouraged about that.