August 21, 2018 – 37 days ago (on July 16th) I started a diet. It was a bit extreme – to say the least. 3 protein shakes, 1 protein bar, and 1 high protein yogurt per day. If I got hungry I ate some grape tomatoes. I had 2 cups of green tea in the morning and drank lots of water.
My “cheat day” was having a garden salad and a chilli on Saturdays for lunch. My friend laughs when I refer to that as cheating. I did have a couple of slices of pizza a few times.
I weighed myself this morning and I have lost 20 pounds! It’s a big milestone for me. I’m not going to say that this hasn’t been hard work – because it has. But it wasn’t as hard as I thought. Eating very limited things removed all of the choices and decisions – namely what to eat when I’m on my diet. There really wasn’t much to think about because the answer was always “a shake, yogurt, or a protein bar”. Simple.
Sometimes the food smells at work would get a bit much. Sometimes seeing my mom’s container of jujubes would call out to me, “Just have one!”. There was the employee BBQ lunch I had to shop and prep for. Yes, buying burgers and chips and snacks for 30 people when you’re sipping a shake was a lesson in willpower. Doing the food prep for the BBQ was also a challenge. I kept telling myself that the food wasn’t for me. I got through it. My boss actually apologized to me and paid me a complement – saying how sorry she was that I had to go through that and that I was really tough for getting through it. So maybe “simple” doesn’t give me as much credit as I deserve.
I’ve transitioned from 3 shakes a day to 2 shakes a day and a protein and vegetable meal for dinner. I’m going to follow this for another 30 days.
I’m happy. It’s a milestone. I’m feeling great. My knee doesn’t hurt. It’s easier to bend down. I feel lighter. The jeans are baggy. I now have jeans that I’m going to be donating. Tops that were a bit tight are looser. I’m getting into some things that I couldn’t wear a month ago. I’m writing all of this down so that I can go back and read this when I’m having a challenging day.
Diary of a DOW 