Days 1 thru 7
Today I had a good cry. I wept for myself. Wept because I have had to make these hard decisions about food. Crazy food!! Not decisions about work, or my relationship, not family, not any other normal decision….FOOD!
I realized that today is the first day that I have truly ever said no to myself. Usually, I give myself an escape hatch. The last six days have been tough following this new regime. Usually while on a diet I would have given into my cravings by now and run for a pretzel or a chip but today I said no. No, to the “innocent” nibble of food that is off limits at the moment. No, to the cracker and no to the pretzel…
And by saying that definitive “NO!”, I felt very sorry for myself all day. Near tears. Ready to run (if I could) screaming to the cupboard to salve my wounds with food. It made me mad, it made me sad, and I wanted to stomp my feet like a toddler.
But today I said no.
I have committed myself to 6+ months of nutritional counseling which includes diet instruction, vitamin and nutritional supplements, spa therapy and more. This may be the first time that I have ever really spent money on my own self-care. Strange to think of it after these 60+ years that I haven’t given myself this level of self-care.
A quote from Mel Robbins showed up in my feed today. It said, “Doubting yourself is normal. But letting doubt stop you is a choice.” I am choosing not to stop, which is one of the many reasons that I am making a blog entry here. I need to hold myself accountable. I am not courageous enough to put all of this on TikToc or Facebook or YT but that may change.
To explain: For the next 36 days, I have chosen to give up wine (boohoo!), all sugar & sweeteners, wheat & other grains, dairy, caffeine (not quite there yet), starchy vegetables, beans, fruit, processed foods and processed meats.
So, what’s left? A lot. All the vegetables that you can think of except corn. And lots of chicken & fish. Limited amounts of beef, lamb and pork. I can eat up to 4 eggs per day. I’m a good cook so this list of items should give me enough to make some great meals. I can eat as much as I want until I am full.
The tough part has been saying no to the list of items to avoid. Wine was difficult for the first few days. Today doesn’t feel so bad without it, however I know at five o’clock tomorrow I will be like Pavlov’s dog salivating for a drink.
I’m now preparing for the first five-day fast. The fast is preceded by two days of only vegetables and then finishing with two more days of vegetables at the end. The five days are in the middle. Two friends have gone through this program with successful results. One has lost 100 pounds, the other successfully lost 35 pounds for her wedding day. And they have kept the weight off.
The results for this week has been 6.5 pounds lost!! WooHoo!!! It won’t come off as quickly in the future but this is a great way to kick start the new episode of life.
Wish me luck…. Cheer me on…. Pray for me….. I will need all the help that I can get.
And if you’re on a similar journey, let’s connect!
