Day 1 (Accelerate Cycle)

147...

That's what the scale said this morning.  Normally I would NOT be pleased to see that number, but today is the last time she's going to say that to me.  Supposedly I will drop between 10 and 12 lbs in the first 17 days.  That would be lovely...


Goal-setting time!


Number One: fit into the awesome white shorts and cream-coloured pants that I bought several years ago that are just that little bit too tight right now.  Hopefully this will happen at the end of Cycle 1...
Number Two: buy a new swimsuit that doesn't include a tank-style top and baggy swim-short bottoms.  Hopefully by the end of Cycle 2...
Number Three: the scale should read between 120 and 125 lbs.  Hopefully I will be here by the end of Cycle 3...


Dr. Mike encourages you to weigh yourself several times during each cycle, so I've decided that every 3 days I will check in with my friend the scale -- I will update as I go along as to whether or not we are still speaking to each other.  Unfortunately, I didn't fit in my two 17 minute workouts today -- will have to get on top of that tomorrow.  This is going to be the hardest part for me -- remember the part where I'm lazy??


People who have been interviewed about their experiences on this diet report that they never felt deprived of food.  I didn't believe that could be possible -- it's mostly salad and veggies right now.  However, I'm happy to report that, at the conclusion of Day 1, I have definitely had enough to eat -- I still got to have my morning coffee at work and I didn't miss my morning bagel with cream cheese all that much...

Today's menu:

Breakfast -- 2 scrambled eggs, 1/2 grapefruit, cup of green tea, probiotic supplement
Mid Day Snack -- Granny Smith apple
Lunch -- large green salad with mushrooms, red pepper, onion, tomatoes, cucumber and tuna topped with dressing made with extra virgin olive oil & balsamic vinegar, cup of green tea, probiotic supplement
Dinner -- baked chicken breast (cooked with lemon slice and poultry seasoning), steamed broccoli
Evening Snack -- nothing -- I'm still full!!

Oh, yeah -- 64 oz of water is A LOT of liquid...

Getting ready...

T-minus 18 hours...

Did I mention that I hate cooking?  And I'm not overly adventurous when it comes to trying new things?  This should be interesting...

Looking through the list of permitted foods for Cycle 1 was fine -- lots of things on there that I like.  There's more salad meals than I'm used to, but whatever -- it's for a good cause!  Then I got to the part about the probiotics.  Good grief!  What the heck is all this stuff -- Kefir, Yakult, Tempeh, Miso??  Acidophilus milk??  Kimchi and sauerkraut??  Not going to happen.  Yogurt??  That's not going to happen either -- pregnancy #2 took care of all things dairy for me.  Where does that leave me?

Thank goodness for the little box on the next page that says sure, go ahead, buy a supplement & use that instead.  Being a literal thinker, I was confused because the breakfast menu says to have protein OR a probiotic for breakfast and I was thinking that I was going to be pretty hungry if all I was having for breakfast was a piece of fruit, a pill and some green tea.  So I ran it past my sister, who is so much more clever about this healthy-eating thing than I am.  Her advice -- take the pill WITH the protein, not instead of it -- dummy.  Oooohhhh...   Problem solved.

Next hurdle -- menus and how to manage my irregular work shifts.  Sample shift menus are provided but the solution is quite simple:  plan ahead and eat your dinner at lunchtime -- dummy.  OK -- another problem solved.

So, now I'm off to prepare my veggies and make a batch of the turkey chili (minus the beans -- not sure how it qualifies as chili with no beans, but whatever...) that should last for a few meals...