by Marcia Purse
Day Two
Diet-wise this was a spectacularly bad day. Breakfast and dinner were okay - an Atkins shake for one, hamburger, asparagus and (late) a tossed salad for the other. But oh, in between I did not do well!
My schedule was odd today. I woke too early from a nightmare that our house was on fire! It scared me silly, and I didn't want to try to go back to sleep.
I had planned to stay home from the office for a day. Two different techs were coming to work on our computers. The first was here from 10:00 until about 1:15. For me this meant a lot of standing around while he worked - I had to be available to answer questions - and well - the chocolate was THERE. 200 calories worth of it. After tech #1 left I was exhausted. I told Kim, via ICQ, that I was going to have cheese sticks for lunch and go lie down for a bit. She talked me into heating a can of green beans, too - so I ate green beans and a cheese stick or two for lunch, then had about 30 minutes' rest before the second tech arrived and I got to stand around again. I think in the afternoon I had two or three more mozzarella sticks and one of those little cans of V8.
After dinner, before salad, the chocolate habit hit again. This time it was four York mints and more Hershey's Special Dark - about 300 calories of pure delight, all told. I need Chocoholics Anonymous!
I went to bed quickly after finishing my salad, and thought I was going to get past the midnight munchies - but no. Reading in bed seems to trigger hunger! I wound up ending the day with four more mozzarella cheese sticks.
Hmph.
Day Three
What I Ate
Breakfast: Atkins "Rich Chocolate" (NOT) Shake.
Midmorning Snack: Lucerne part-skim mozzarella cheese stick.
Lunch: Chicken-Feta Salad again - I ate about 3/4 of it today.
Midafternoon Snack: Once again, I forgot this. Was so hungry on my way home from work that I ate the remaining lunch salad at stoplights!
Pre-Dinner Snack: 200 calories of Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate.
Dinner: Hamburger, an oat-bran English muffin, lowfat mayonnaise, and green beans. I know I'm not supposed to have grains in Phase 1 - but I got up from an exhausted nap and there it was on my dinner plate. My mom is forgetful and I have confused her by switching back to Phase 1. There are 27 grams of carbs in one muffin, 2 of fiber, 2 of sugars, and 5 of protein. Total is just 130 calories - not too bad.
Dessert: 200 calories of Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate.
I had set a computer alarm to take my meds at 9:00. My goal was to get a head start on sedation so that I'd want to go to bed at 10:00 and turn out the light soon after. I took the meds at 9:15, in fact.
About 9:40 - ate the usual tossed salad.
10:35 - took a single cheese stick with me and went to bed. Started reading, ate the cheese stick, got hungry again. ARGH. This time I grabbed something Mom had bought, a Think Thin Low Carb Diet chocolate bar. This product boasts "20 grams of protein, only 2 effective carbs!" I'll have to investigate how they get away with this. The bar contains 24 grams of carbs, 2 of fiber, 2 of sugars, and yes, 20 of protein. Apparently they are saying that 20 grams of protein creates 20 grams of "non-impact" carbs. This is a new concept for me and I'm not sure I buy it. However, at least I didn't eat anything more after that! But it was another 230 calories.
How I Felt
I was in a great deal of pain most of the day. There is no way to tell how much is from carbohydrate withdrawal, which did plague me for a couple of days the first time I went through Phase 1, and how much is from doing too much the last few days. I suspect, given where the pain resides, that what's happened is that I have overdone it, but am also more vulnerable to pain because of the change in diet. I plan to stay home and be pretty much an invalid tomorrow, so I can work 6 hours on Friday.
Sneak preview: Wonder of wonders! At the beginning of Day 4, if I squinted at my old scale right, I'm down to 177 pounds!
Next Page: Day 4/Day 5
