I wasn't sure if I was going to do this, but....

...here I am! It took a lot of hemming and hawing to get here, gotta tell ya. After so long away, it is hard to come back, especially after gaining weight. But I figured I should stop being a pussy and just DO IT.

So. Yeah. Um. Well. Hmmm. I guess I should just go ahead and tell you (assuming there is still a you out there to read this) how much weight I have managed to gain back in the last year.

40 lbs.

Yup. Nice eh? I was roughly 167 lbs. give or take when I separated from my husband. Now I am 207. Ugh. It sucks SO MUCH to be back above 200 lbs after being below it for nearly TWO years. The worst part is not fitting into all the awesome clothes I bought the last few years and are now languishing in storage bins. Poop. On toast.

So what am I gonna do about it? Well, I will tell you!

I was talking with my boyfriend's mom over the holidays and she told me she would love to have someone do this diet she had read about with her. She showed me the book, and I thought, what the heck! Might as well give it a go. I figured it would be a good way to motivate me and get my healthy eating jump started.

I have become very, very bad a saying no to food. Cookies, chips, pizza were all eaten with little hesitation. I was, however, very, very good at saying no to exercise. That combination made it possible for me to put on over three pounds a month for the last year. I could use the excuse that I had just separated from my husband for a while, and then that I was living part of the week with my new guy and part of the week at my mom's, so no easy way to get back into a routine. But now, the excuses have worn thin, and I have gotten fat.

Which brings me to my plan. The diet I am trying is the 17 Day Diet created by Dr. Mike Moreno. I know, I know, I HATE the word "diet" too. I can't believe I am actually ON one. But, it is something that is helping me eat healthy foods again AND giving me a structure to stick to, so I can say no to eating crap again. For those of you not familiar with the diet, I will tell you bits and pieces as I go, but I recommend you google that shit cuz I am not going into all of it all here. I will wait.

Done? Good. Ok, so I am doing the first cycle of this diet, and I am on day 3 of 17. I am eating lots of veggies, some fruit, yogurt, chicken and drinking green tea and a ton of water. And I am hungry. Well, today, so far not as much as yesterday. I have done very well following the plan the last few days, even when I cam home starving yesterday. I can eat unlimited veggies and lean protein in this cycle, so I am going to try to eat more to avoid the hunger.

So here's a sample of my day:

Breakfast:

cup of hot water with lemon (supposed to aid digestion or some such thing)
cup of green tea
container of fat-free yogurt
medium apple

Lunch:

large salad with peppers, cucumber, tomatoes and 1.5 diced chicken breasts
2 tbsp fat-free Italian dressing
cup of green tea

Snack:

2nd apple
cut up peppers (1 pepper's worth)  and baby cut carrots (3/4 cup or so)


Dinner:

More salad with grilled peppers and large sliced, herbed chicken breast (omg, so yummy!)
cup of green tea (you sensing a theme here?)

Snack:

2nd yogurt.

I can eat unlimited veggies and lean protein from a list of foods, and I am supposed to have 2 probiotic servings (I choose yogurt) and 2 servings of fruit. The fruit has to be eaten before 2pm as a part of the "no carbs after 2" rule. Eggs are also allowed, but I can't have any more than 2 egg yolks a week (I think...don't have the info here). I am also supposed to have 2 healthy fat servings (like flax seed oil or olive oil). Next cycle I get to add more foods to my list, and cycle 3 even more foods get added. The first cycle is the most restrictive, but people say they have lost anywhere from 5-15 lbs in the first 17 days. That wouldn't suck.

As for exercise, I am supposed to do 17 minutes of moderate exercise a day (I choose walking). Moderate because the first cycle is so low-cal, it will drain too much energy to do any major exercise. In the next cycles I will increase my exercise.

With exercise, I did fail yesterday. I went to my boyfriend's and didn't get a chance to walk. I felt bad about it, and I probably could have figured out a way. It is harder to find the time when I am there as we are always busy doing things. I have a treadmill at my mom's now, so it is easy to do that the three days I am there. Going to have to be stronger the four days I am at the BF's house, that's for sure.



So that's the plan, for now anyway. Despite my hatred for the "D-Word" I am hopeful that this will help me get back to healthier eating and exercise and saying no to junk food.

And if you think this diet is crap, you are worried for my health, thank you for your concern, but I think I will be ok for 17 days. I won't be eating so low-cal forever, and the plan will get me eating lots of other healthy foods soon. K? K.

Stay tuned for a weigh-in tomorrow! See if anything has come off yet. ;)

Hope everyone in bloggerland is doing well!

xo