We have entered Week 2 of Joy's LIFE Diet.
This diet is actually pretty tough.... I don't really like diets that seem unrealistic to real life eating (Atkins, South Beach, Cabbage Soup Diet, etc), but this one seemed pretty good. In the past I did ABS Diet - and I really liked it. In fact, Matt and I have basically been living the ABS Diet (from Men's Health Magazine) for a while, and doing well -- but I wanted a good kick in the bum. And this is a 4 week thing, so at the 4th week, you're supposed to be eating like you would everyday.
Week 1 of the LIFE Diet is the hardest - no sugar or salt, no starches in the evening... It's supposed to be a "cleanse" week, breaking some bad habits. What was really hard for me - was not using salt. I never realized how often I reach for the salt shaker. I didn't really miss sweets too much - but noticed toward the end of the week I really needed some sweet - so I cheated & added Splenda to my tea.
Week 2 allows for a little more -- but a confession -- Matt and I ate at PF Changs on Sunday for lunch, and no, I didn't get a bowl of steamed vegetables.
Actually, you know what's crazy? On Sunday I ate a bowl of cereal, drank a Skinny Latte (skim milk), had PF Changs (Lettuce wraps, moo goo gai pan, lunch portion with some brown rice), and some carrots with hummus later in the day. Matt and I were SO full from lunch, we didn't eat dinner.... I had weighed myself Sunday morning, and then weighed myself again on Monday morning and I gained 3.8 lbs! What the hell? Do you think it was because of the salt from the PF Changs, especially after almost no salt the entire week?
Anyway - weighed myself again today - and I'm 1 lb away from where I was on Sunday morning.
Speaking of that... here's what I'm eating this week:
Breakfast: Bacon, Egg white (mixed with flax), tomato, light cheese on an english muffin.
Of course - this Glutino english muffin has more calories than I was supposed to have, but again, this diet needs to accommodate my real life - and finding anything gluten free that resembles an english muffin that is under 140 calories just isn't happening.
Today's food: Turkey sandwich (lettuce, tomato & hummus), spaghetti squash with 2 tbsp organic tomato sauce, bag of carrots to snack on, a few pickles, a
prune (yum! that's where I get my sweet craving fulfilled, they're like candy), and finally a huge bottle of Sparkling water, that I will refill at least twice with water from the bubbler.
And there you have it -- hopefully I can keep this up!
After cutting out all sweetener & a lot of sugar from my diet for two weeks, I didn't think it would make a difference - but it did!!! I usually put a packet or two of Splenda in my tea, and used to drink Diet sodas and flavored waters that use Aspartame (I KNOW! It's sooo bad)... this week, we can start incorporating sweetener back in - so I had some flavored waters I got at Wal-Mart... BLECH!!!! TOO SWEET. I literally cannot drink it! Weird right?! And after only 2 weeks without. 
