"Week" 1 complete.

Saturday is my new weigh-in/check-in with the weight loss clinic. Given the previous holiday weekend and my proclivity towards gluttony, I didn't start right away. Not until Tuesday. So it's been a whopping 4 days on the diet. Granted, the beginning is the worst part. Some slight headaches, anxiety, boredom, and energy lapses that couldn't be cured with a delicious meal.

Today has been significantly easier than previous days. Hopefully I'm at the part where my body has adapted to the new lower caloric intake and my brain can figure out new ways to handle things without a nice bowl of carbs.

My weight loss clinic wasn't able to do the body scan that tells me my makeup of fat, muscle, water, etc., so I don't know any percentages. I'm down 8 pounds. Hopefully most of it isn't muscle, but I won't know until next week.

From here, I want to lose 40 lbs to get to my goal of being at my lowest adult weight. I definitely wasn't perfect and I remember thinking I still needed to lose 20-30 lbs, but taking off the 40 lbs is my first goal. It's a lot to think about, but if I break it up into 20 and 20, hopefully it's more manageable to work through. Luckily, my boyfriend is also doing the program and my lovely best friend is doing Weight Watchers. So, it's good to have people around that aren't talking about chili dogs all day.

Exercise begins on Monday. Oh, joyous occasion.

Really, this time.

I've left this blog to rot for the last four months, but I'm back to it. No one reads this shit, but it does give me something to do besides think about, shop for, and eat food. I went back to my OptiFast clinic on Saturday. Weighed in, got my shakes and bars, and waited until the holiday weekend was over until I devoted myself to today (Tuesday) to start up. In my dieting hiatus, I put back on all but 6 lbs of my original weight loss. I guess that's better than being higher than before, right? 


My memory of the program is that the first few days are misery and it wasn't until a week or two in was I able to be totally adapted and not need to pop a Valium just so I could deal with the anxiety I wasn't eating away with late night popcorn. I'll miss you, clarified butter and sea salt. I feel prepared for it, though. Despite my adoration of unhealthy food, I just don't feel good after indulging in things that provide little to no nutrition. 


By next week I plan to have a fitness routine in place. I've ordered some DVD's and other supplies that are supposed to help me avoid needing a gym membership. I have to wait for them to arrive, but a week to adapt to 800 calories a day before getting in a relationship with cardio and resistance training is probably a good idea. Fridge is stocked. My brain is as ready as it can be. Let's hope it's not brutal. 

Off I go... 

Real Food.

It's been a couple days since the doctor told me to eat one meal per day to up my protein intake. Can't say I'm loving it. I finally was at the point where food didn't even look good, now I'm back to weighing and measuring...and doing dishes again. :( 


Last night I went to my friend's house who was having a little dinner party for a couple of our friends. One of our friends is gluten-free, so I made these flourless chocolate souffle cupcakes with white chocolate mint cream for her. I'd been wanting to try the recipe for a while anyway. As a baker, it feels like a cardinal sin to not try one of my creations before feeding it to a group of people, but I managed. It's a little challenging to not lick your finger when you have $28/lb melted chocolate on it, but I wiped it off instead. 


At the party I had mostly meat and veggies. A friend made Baklava and never got around to pouring the syrup over it. I definitely munched on too much of the Phyllo dough, despite knowing it's not the best option. When I was a kid, my mom owned a bakery and she'd make huge sheets of Baklava. I'd go rob the top layers of the crispy Phyllo dough shards. I'll blame my bad decision last night on childhood regression. I had less than 1/4 of my own cupcake, just out of curiosity on whether the recipe was worth making again or not. It is definitely worthwhile.  


I'm not attempting to justify the bad choices made yesterday. I chose some bad stuff. I am also typically asocial and don't go to these dinner parties when invited. So, it was a special occasion and I wasn't really worried about it becoming a regular thing. Not to mention that the food I have at home is not of the carby/sugary/delicious variety. It's all protein and vegetables. 


Today, on the other hand was better, of course. I had a couple shakes. I had about 3.5 ounces of chicken breast that I had braised in chicken stock and spices. About 1/2 cup of roasted Brussels Sprouts. I had planned to eat about double that (6oz of chicken and 1 cup of sprouts) but I got way too full too fast. 


I'm using my calorie counter on my iPhone again. I was using it during my 100% OptiFast program because drinking shakes is a bit monotonous and I'd forget how many I'd had. So, now I'm keeping track of the meal with the goal of not exceeding 800 calories per day. 


I rode my bike for a couple miles (gotta love living at the beach) and I didn't get the amount of dinner in that I had intended, so I'll be sure to have another OptiFast before bed. 


I'm curious to see how this week will go at Tuesdays weigh-in. It's a good motivator to stick to the plan and not give in to the desire to snack and carb.