And so it continues...

Yay! I've made it to Day 4, which according to the book (The 17 Day Diet) is when the cravings for fatty/greasy food start to lessen just a smidge. I have definitely been craving the "good stuff" so I'm hopeful that Day 4 is when that will stop nagging me!


Easy parts so far:

Drinking water instead of coke. For someone who went from having at least one coke a day to absolutely none, it was surprisingly easy! I haven't even really thought about it at all (which is probably because I spend most of my time drooling over pizza/burger/fries/cheese dip).
Finding a variety of things to eat. I havent really eaten the same meal or snack twice. There are tons of great recipes out there for this diet which I just found by googling it.
Yogurt really can be a delicious substitute for a dessert. Say what?! I thought this would be one of the hardest parts for me, switching from my delicious chocolate and ice cream cravings to (ugh) fat free yogurt. BUT so far I've branched out from my usual strawberry and I'm eating Boston Cream Pie, Triple Berry Torte, Strawberry Cheesecake, Key Lime Pie, Citrus Splash, and many other FAT FREE delicious flavors! They are just heavy enough to fill my need to be "full."
I'm more adventurous with herbs and spices. Normally, I am a follow-the-recipe-EXACTLY kind of gal because I haven't ever been confident in guesstimating the amount I need. However, since starting this diet I find myself throwing stuff together in a pan to get a new taste since I'm so concentrated on the same rotation of foods. Definitely expanding my cooking bravery!


Hard parts so far:
I really, really love my "go to" foods. I don't think I realized just how much I enjoyed foods and different flavors and sauces until I couldn't have them any more. I had to sit at cell group last night and eat a bag of carrots while my girls chowed down on delicious pizza! While I think I can make it on this diet for a couple of weeks, I could never do this for a lifetime.
Buying food for this diet is EXPENSIVE. Two things are colliding here to make this so: 1) I literally never leave the fresh produce section of Walmart because we can't eat anything besides fruits/veggies/lean protein. 2) We are eating a LOT because we are hungry about every 2 hours since our food is digesting so quickly. As of 4/20 we are already over our grocery budget for the whole month and we still have 10 days to go!
Nothing is quick and easy for food prep. I got sick of raw veggies REALLY QUICK so I cook every veggie we eat and of course, any uncooked chicken/turkey/fish has to be cooked. On the other hand, this is giving my cookware a pretty good workout! My pots and pans never make it back into the cabinets because I use them so often.


Here is my meal worksheet for yesterday:

DAY 3

Breakfast

Protein: Scrambled eggs

probiotic serving: Strawberry Yogurt

Lunch

Protein or probiotic serving:   Stir fry chicken with lowfat soy sauce

Cleansing Vegetables:  Sauteed Zucchini with Garlic Salt (my FAVE!), broccoli, onions

Dinner

Protein Serving:     Grilled Baha Citrus Chicken

Cleansing Vegetables:   Mixed Green Salad 

Snacks

Fruit serving: Grapes

2^nd Fruit serving:      Orange

2^nd Probiotic serving:   Boston Cream Pie yogurt (fat free)

Other

Friendly fat serving:    Light Balsamic dressing for dinner

Friendly fat serving:    Olive Oil to sautee zucchini

As for results... I have lost 5 pounds in three days! Water weight maybe, but still 5 pounds less!