Day 17 & 18 & 19

Day 17 (Wednesday)
Day 3 of my 4 hour window eating.
I woke up fine and made it to noon fine. I had a piece of cheese and two hard boiled eggs and I could hardly finish my second egg because I was full! This blew my mind because my last meal, or basically snack, was the day before at 4 pm and only consisted of a couple pieces of cheese! I was feeling good, had great energy and was beyond belief at what was going on.

Afternoon: I took my lunch at close to 3 and didn't eat my salad because I wasn't hungry for it, but my chicken sounded appetizing so I ate only that and again, was fine after. Was that my body telling me I needed protein or am I just not ready for my salad? My stomach started to hurt after I ate and I knew I had to go to the bathroom. Without TMI, it was a good needed bowel gone bad. I think I need to add my greens. I wasn't very hungry to eat at 4, so my last meal then was at 3 pm.

Something that really surprised me.... I didn't even think about the candy dish that day or the piece I put in my desk the day before. Wednesday was definitely my best day in how I felt.

Evening went well and I didn't go to bed exhausted.

Day 18 (Thursday)

I woke up and I decided I was gonna do my workout this morning. I started late, but I only ended up doing about 4 strength workouts. I felt tired, but I love that I can feel my waist now when I do ab moves. I am feeling so good about all of this and I even had to take a photo to show my challengers my progress. I know ketosis and intermittent fasting are playing a part in this, but I think the bigger deal is dropping the soda and the majority of processed foods and fast foods. I guess I really was eating more than I thought which has slowed my progress in the past.

Afternoon: I made it to noon fine and only brought one hard boiled egg after yesterday. I also had cheese and my old bay sunflower seeds.

Day 19 (Friday--Last Day 4 hour window)
I woke up okay. My ketones are high and have been at this level since Wednesday morning. I think I was at moderate level on Tuesday. My belly grumbled a little bit this morning a few times. I did feel hungry. I think I know the difference now of being hungry and thinking I'm hungry. I'm hungry when my body feels it. I wanted to eat earlier today and move on with easing back into it today and talked myself out of it. This is my last day. Why stop now? I decided to make my high fat Shakeology with strawberries, and yogurt, and organic whole milk to have as my first meal today. I was craving it last night. I haven't had it for two weeks because I had chosen other foods for my protein intake. I was getting too much protein with all of them together.

Afternoon: I made it to noon for my first meal (my shake, yum!) just fine. I'm not sure why I wanted to quit this morning, I think because it's so close to the end, but I made it all right. There's so much mental behind all of this. What we've been told is good or bad. What's right and what's wrong. It depends on the person.

Final Results:

Day 16

This morning I decided again to not do a workout. (I have forgotten to set my alarm back to 4:30. It's still at 5:30 from the weekend.... I'll take care of that right now. Good to go.) I didn't stress about not having time to do things and enjoyed the morning again. I still need to work on not rushing out the door though. I had my water for my drive to work which replaced my normal habit of drinking my Shakeology and that worked out well. I don't remember having urges to eat anything before noon, but I was ready to have my eggs and sunflower seeds snack. I find that if I think I'm hungry, or I feel tired, if I drink some water, it makes me feel better.

Afternoon: I took my lunch at 2 and enjoyed some more rotisserie chicken, broccoli salad and sharp cheese. Tomorrow I'm going to have a salad with cheese and ranch. I use Artisan lettuce. I needed a break from it which was why I had the broccoli salad a couple days and that didn't take me out of ketosis, but I should get some more greens going in me again. I felt very full after my lunch today. For my snack around 4:00 (last meal of the day), I had two pieces of sharp cheese, water and felt kinda full. I pulled a Dove dark chocolate from my co-workers basket and it laid on my desk. I went to grab for it and just didn't feel I needed it. I was full. So interesting to me. I had the urge to grab it to bring to my desk. I decided I would eat it if I wanted it after I had my cheese. I just didn't. I didn't even want sunflower seeds a little after. I was good to go.

In the evening I was much better than last night and was not irritable. I feel like I could move my workouts to nights if I needed to. Usually I am so tired by the evening I don't want to. My husband made some popcorn chicken around 8:00 for his dinner that he added cheese and ate in flour wraps and it looked really good, but I didn't feel the need to have to eat it (usually I take a bite or two). I had energy and didn't feel overly tired like I needed to just go to bed. I explained a little to him about how I was eating and I think he went through sad mode like I have recently, but what I've been eating though has been so satisfying. I won't say I'd live without EVERYTHING I ate before, but I'm definitely willing to continue to live without less.

Day 15

I didn't want to get out of bed this morning. It's Monday. I sleep so well except the dreams are just too vivid right before I wake up. Yesterday morning I dreamed that I was in a car accident. My car flipped a few times when I drove over a board that was propped off of a tailgate in the middle of a wet road. I prayed through the flipping asking Jesus to be with me or take me with him. My car ended up landing right side up and I went on my way and didn't want to tell anyone what had happened. My car was messed up, but I was able to drive it. Then I had trouble seeing out the right side and I thought it was crushed, but it turned out my vision to the right just wasn't good. Anyway, those are the kinds of dreams I'm having and all I've done is change what I'm eating and when I eat.

I opted out of a workout today and decided to just enjoy the morning before I got ready for work. I had short-term fatigue on the way to work and almost grabbed my water to help, but I didn't because it wasn't as bad as recently.

Afternoon: I made it til almost 12:30 p.m. to start my 4 hour eating window. The plan is to not eat anymore after 4 p.m. I had my snack at that time of two hard boiled eggs, sharp cheddar cheese, and my sunflower seeds. Kept watching the clock for 2 o'clock to take my lunch break, but I've enjoyed having it that late. I noticed I got bored between that time and wanted to eat.

I had my lunch break and it filled me up. Leftover rotisserie chicken from yesterday and broccoli salad. I had my snack at 4 to hold me over til tomorrow, sharp cheese and sunflower seeds. I'm not sure if I was hungry or not, but I wanted it because I'm not eating anymore today and I had it with me to eat.

Evening: I was irritable with the kids and felt a little bloated, but I think that may also have to do with that time of the month starting up. It's very common for me to be irritable. The bloating I never really paid attention to if it happened normally or not. I felt a little tired, but I didn't feel the need to eat. It's difficult to determine the difference between when I'm hungry and when I just think I'm hungry. I can definitely tell when I'm thirsty!

Day 14

I'm down 9 pounds since my weigh in on Monday morning 5/1/17. Usually I weigh myself on Fridays and I gained 5 lbs over the weekend cuz we had lots of carbs like Pizza and soda. I normally lose whatever weekend weight I gained, but then maintain my weight from the previous Friday. I'm not sure if I should include those temporary 5 lbs, so if you don't think they count, then I've lost 4 lbs in the 2 weeks. Very healthy weight loss.

I've lost 2.5" in my waist at my belly button. 1/2" in my hips (but photos seem to show more). 2.5" in my chest. 3/4" in left bicep. No change in right bicep. 1/2" in right thigh. 3/4" in left thigh.
That's 7.5" total. And only technically 4 lbs? Maybe I should count the extra 5 because I probably had major inflammation from that weekend also!
I'll put my measurements below.

Friday night I started logging my ketones. I had a trace. Saturday morning a trace. I don't think I tested later in the day, but if I did, it was at a trace. This morning I was up to small amount. This afternoon for lunch I had rotisserie chicken (even snuck a few bites of skin), broccoli salad and a piece of sharp cheese. I later had a snack of my sunflower seeds and two pieces of cheese. My ketones are up to large. I thought maybe it was at moderate because of the lightness of the color, but it's definitely more of a plum tint than skin tone. This is pretty cool. Looking forward to dinner tonight for Mother's day! My husband is making steak and I'm gonna cook cauliflower mash with butter and whole milk and cheese to flavor it up to replace mashed potatoes. If my ketones go down, at least I'm still in ketosis. This will work great if I keep it up for my 4 hour window week.

My energy level has been fine today, but I definitely can tell when I need water. Going for a walk today with the kids and my husband. That was my mother's day request, so I'm looking forward to that after our early dinner so we don't have to rush home to eat!

               5/1/17                          5/14/17
Weight:  161.5 (or 158)           152lbs
Bloating: 10.                             1
Waist:      37"                            34.5"
Hips:        36"                            35.5"
Chest:      36.5"                         34"
Bicep:       R: 13, L: 13.25.       13, 12.5"
Thigh:       R: 23.25, L: 23.25.  22.75, 22.5"

Day 12

Woke up this morning feeling fine. My daughter has decided to wake up super early now every day. At least all this week, so she was up by 5:30 before I could really get into anything. I let her roam the playroom while I had my quiet time. Normally she's beside me in her jumper. I took some measurements this morning. I've lost 2" in my chest so far, nothing on my hips and my waist is the same from the last update on it. I also lost another pound. Even though my waist is measuring the same, I'm going more off of how my body feels. I notice my jacket that I wear that's fitted, lays a lot better on my hips. When I pull it down, it doesn't take much effort. I fit in a little ChaLEAN Extreme Lean Circuit 2 this morning. The Lean phase is my favorite and most transforming, so I'm at it again! The beach will be here so soon on 5/2!

At one point before I got ready for work, I felt a little hungry, but then I forgot about it. I held off eating until noon to start my 6 hour window today through Sunday. It worked out really well and my days are going faster.

Afternoon: I had my snack at noon. String cheese and my old bay seasoned sunflower seeds. Yum! They have gotten better every day! I went to lunch at just about 2:00 and I wasn't hungry, but I needed to take my break. I decided if I got hungry later that I would take my shorter break before I left work and eat then. I ended up deciding that I was hungry about 20 minutes into my lunch, so I ate my chicken, butter, cheese and bruschetta lunch. It was tasty. I had no candy today even though the dark chocolate caramels looked delicious. I actually didn't really think that. Just thought, I've had my share during this time, now it's time to move them out.

I'm glad that I have done this experiment as I have to work my way up to this point. It's been pretty easy, but if I would've started out this way, it may have been more difficult. I've had time to adjust habits to get where I am and I can't believe that I'm not more hungry. The first day of my 8 hour eating window, I kept staring at the clock waiting for 10:00. It's gotten better since. It's really helping me to figure out habits. Reaching for candy because it's there, associating when to eat by what time it is. Yesterday on my way home from work I thought about AC&T's fried chicken. I usually have thoughts like that on my way home from work and I then try to figure out how I can make sure to have it very soon if not that night. I didn't feel the urge to go get some like usual, but I would still like to eat it. That and Friday's I associate with ordering out.

Day 11

This morning I woke up like normal. I still struggle to have myself out of bed by 5 a.m. It must be mental. I will continue to work at this until I finally accomplish it because I know I can do it! I made my way downstairs at about 5:20 and even said a little prayer before I got out of bed because I was that awake. I had my water and my quiet time and did about 20 minutes of strength training this morning. I made the decision after last night that I'm not ready to complete Insanity Max: 30. I am going to finish out my strength training with ChaLEAN Extreme this month and try to get toned up. I've concluded that the high energy stuff isn't going to work for me with my experimenting right now. I'll earn my shirt later.

I kept pretty busy this morning at work and got my first meal in at around 10:30. I skipped my shake today and just had the whole organic milk. I'm not a major milk drinker and I really don't like whole milk, but I must say, organic whole milk is delicious!! I sure do wish a half gallon didn't cost as much as a gallon of the processed milk! Couple hours after my full fat meal, I felt I was hungry, but I'm saving my lunch until 2. Imagine that right at a couple hours. I really do have my mind trained to do that. I ended up enjoying Dove dark chocolates, but it's time to step away from that stuff all together for a bit.

Afternoon: Lunch was delicious. I should probably add a salad to it to get my leafy greens in. I may try that tomorrow and top it with the bruschetta. I'm really glad that drinking water is no longer an issue for me. I'd much rather drink it as it is than add stuff to it. I'm thankful that I don't like the aftertaste of any sweeteners! It's not difficult for me to down water whenever and it's a part of my daily routine like nothing. Dropping my shake for now has put me where I need to be for carbs and by the end of the day I will hit my fat intake spot on!

By evening I had my steak and eggs meal and I wasn't feeling tired. I had some motivation to do a couple things before bed and I had no headache or any discomfort.

Day 10

When I got up this morning, my headache was gone and I felt fine. I lost another 1/4" in my waist and the scale is back to my weight last Friday. While this isn't really about losing weight and more about speeding up my metabolism, I still like to track these things. I did not do a workout. I slept later than I had wanted to. My routine has adjusted a little without my energize, so it just seemed off. I am thinking about trying to go back to weights again instead of the intense cardio. I was hoping to finish it the whole way through again, but I haven't yet decided.

I wanted a dark chocolate candy bar before I could eat at 10 and did not.
I'm noticing that having my shake (breakfast) not until 10, that come lunch time usually at 11:30, it still feels like morning. Not in a bad way, but I've got energy and it's like I'm focused the way I would be if it were 9 a.m. which seems to be me at my best normally.

I've decided that tomorrow I'm going to take out my shake that includes strawberries and whole organic milk to reduce my proteins and carbs and see how that affects me. I will still have the whole milk to be sure I've still got the fat. I'll have to find something else to replace my yogurt fat, so maybe an extra string cheese.

Afternoon: Held lunch off til 2:00, but I had a few almonds and water at 1:00 when I hit the 2-3 hour mark and felt hungry. Was I hungry or was it just habit? I was satisfied after the little bit, so maybe I didn't really need the snack and the water was enough. I must say that lunch was DELICIOUS! I usually have a chicken breast with bruschetta on top, but the last time I ate it, I was dissatisfied. Since I had to eat it again, I heated it with butter and melted some cheese on top then added the bruschetta. Perfection.

Evening: I was feeling pretty good. I think I had a moment of trying to stay awake on my drive home. After dinner, I realized since I had just eaten, I could have my Energize and get a workout in. So I did. I did not want to do anything intense. After starting a couple workouts and stopping, I finally settled on doing upper body strength training. Either from the Energize or not, I had a good night after. No headaches or feeling of exhaustion.

Day 9 (yesterday)

This morning I woke up and didn't feel bloated much. I felt slimmer. My couple pounds from the weekend are gone. I didn't have my Energize and ended up not doing a workout. Didn't need to eat anything, but noticed that on my drive to work this morning I had fatigue. At 8:00 I was ready to eat something, so I got some more water in me right away. I made it to 10:00 til my first meal of my Shakeology and wanted to eat more, but knew that I just had a meal. My mind is thinking because I haven't eaten that I need to eat more. I then was thirsty, so I did get more water. I ended up snacking on some homemade chocolate chip cookies and was satisfied after, so I'm thinking I need to have something else with my shake like cheese or some sunflower seeds to add more fat.

Afternoon: Usually I'm so hungry by 11:30 and I just have to eat. Today I didn't take lunch til 1:30 and I still wasn't hungry, but I did so because I had to leave work early and it's required to take a lunch. I didn't have to eat, but I chose to do so. The purpose of this is for me to learn how my body feels and to eat only when I'm hungry. Not eat every 2-3 hours.

By evening I was ready to eat my dinner. I noticed I was out of breath when I walked fast up the stairs to fetch my toddler for dinner. I made sure to eat by 6:00, so I was in my 8 hour window. Steak and eggs are just so yummy. Not long before bed I was feeling awful. I've noticed I have some focus in taking care of myself in the evening and the last two nights I washed my face and brushed my teeth before bed. Last night I tried plucking my eyebrows and it was just exhausting, so I didn't finish. Not long after 8 p.m. I was ready for bed. I couldn't take it anymore. I had a little headache, I felt tired and just needed to lay down. I went to bed and tried to send some messages and my internet wouldn't work on my Kindle. I was going to read some personal development and did not because I was frustrated and my head hurt more. I decided this at 8:35 p.m.

I also woke up at 1 a.m. to go to the bathroom and noticed my headache still there, so I took Tylenol.

Day 8

Woke up tired like a normal Monday. I was told I'd remember my dreams better, well I would rather not remember them. Ha. I woke up pretty good at 4:30 when my alarm went off, but decided I needed to end the dream better and while going back to sleep I had to remind myself that it wasn't real. Thank goodness.
The scale is back up a couple of pounds this morning. I had steak for dinner last night with a salad and steak Saturday night. It's fine to eat, but I'm guessing I need to reduce my portion size. My body fat has gone down which I can feel in my sides, but my belly is still seeming to be bloated. I also was hoping my skin would clear up in my face, but I feel like it's not any better if not a little worse. Maybe it has to go through this process before clearing kinda like I hear after a facial it's normal to break out before it clears. I'm not taking anything. This is all on how I am eating right now. Today is only week two. Yesterday I don't think I had enough water which caused me to be very tired and just not feeling like myself, kinda miserable, but not sick.
I can tell there must have been inflammation in my hands because my rings fit more loosely in that I have to keep adjusting them to be centered.

Afternoon: I was busy on a call, so the time went by that didn't make me hungry. I'm feeling good in my jeans today. Usually on Monday it takes a little stretchy and they feel better on Tuesday. I'm aware of what I've lost in my thighs. I was not incredibly tired after my lunch, so that's gotten better I think and I wasn't unmotivated to do anything. I got hungry again an hour after my lunch for something like a candy bar.

This evening I decided I was going to start to fast after the last I ate at 4 p.m. I failed. I got really hungry when I watched Master Chef Junior and they were making steak, so I had my steak and eggs. I was feeling really good in my waist. I'm going to aim to fast until 8 a.m. tomorrow. If it goes well--which it should except it will be hard to not have my Energize--then Wednesday I will fast til 10 a.m. I will be sure to have my last meals at 6 p.m.

Day 6

I didn't have any calories until almost 9 a.m. When I had my brunch around 11 a.m. of eggs cooked in butter with whole fat organic milk and bacon without nitrates, I craved a Pepsi after. Breakfast seems to trigger that in me. I love having a Pepsi over ice with my breakfast. I did not drink any, but I'm making note of the craving. The weekends I eat less, but consume more calories. I could go for some popcorn chicken right now, so I should probably have a snack and some water. My next meal will be my Shakeology and I think I'm going to add my PB2 to it to see how that feels after. Hold off on the strawberries today because tonight for dinner we are going to go out to eat and I'm going to get a steak and a salad, maybe some asparagus depending on where we go. Normally I'd get mashed potatoes or fries.

I am down 2.5" in my waist, a 1/2" on each leg and lost another pound. I'm really looking forward to more progress ahead as I continue working on boosting my metabolism to help me lose the excess from my pregnancies and be able to tone again, but also doing this to be aware of my eating.

Day 5

So this may seem silly, but something I noticed last night was when I would move to roll over, it seemed easier to do. I mean, I'm not as overweight as I was when carrying my baby belly, but I still have some extra that I gained from the pregnancies that is hanging around. I felt lighter moving last night. I don't know if I would've noticed it if I weren't logging everything.
I measured this morning and I've lost a total of 6 lbs and 2 inches in my waist at my belly button. I didn't measure anywhere else except my hips and I didn't lose any there yet. I'm feeling pleased with how I feel though and that's important. Again, only 10 minutes in my workout because I waited too long to start it. On my way to work I was feeling a little sick and got better after I was drinking my shake with strawberries, whole fat greek yogurt and whole fat organic milk. My energy level was low walking up the steps at work, so I tried adding water. For some reason my water has to be really cold this week.

Afternoon: One of the things with this test I'm doing is to not do anything that will drive me insane. Today at work, a bunch of us brought in Mexican food for Cinco de Mayo. I made my chicken dish, but instead of using brown rice and beans, I kept those out and tried cauliflower rice. It basically just dissolved. Everything else in it was fine for me to eat. A co-worker brought in chips and salsa. While I'm not eating carbs, I allowed myself to have some chips for snack so that it doesn't drive me crazy all day. For my lunch, since there wasn't much substance without the rice and beans, it's more like a sauce or dip to put over nachos, so I took a few nachos and ate some of it like that. I was still hungry after, but was thinking I was content, but don't want to overdo it. I don't need to be full or stuffed. I did avoid donuts and homemade chocolate chip cookies. Though I love both, I know the salt is better for me right now than all that sugar.

I can tell my belly is a little bloated, but that's why I'm doing this, so I can tell how my body reacts to foods. There aren't any other special occasions scheduled for the rest of my experimenting, so I only suspect more progress. I get to make my own rules and one cheat meal is okay with me.

Day 4 -

How do I make this interesting for you to read?
I'm not a writer.
I don't like to read what people did step-by-step in their day when they post it on Facebook.
So why would you want to read everything I went through throughout my day to share my progress in this test I'm doing?
I'm not sure, but maybe I'll figure something out eventually.

I slept pretty good last night, but still woke up tired. I was slow this morning in my routine and only did 10 minutes of my workout. My body felt tired doing the moves. I maintained my weight from yesterday, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing. I think losing a ton of weight in a week can lead to failure, so I'd like my body to lose the weight it needs to. When I think about why I may have maintained, it might have been because of the bacon I ate last night. Maybe it's a combination of having bacon for dinner and pork for lunch. I'm not really sure, but that's why I'm doing this test. I also don't want to fully rely on the scale, but more rely on how I feel mentally and physically. My belly did not feel rounded this morning which would be from bloating or inflammation. It still needs to trim down, but for now it is making it's way which is a good thing.

Afternoon: I had the same lunch as yesterday and I didn't feel as tired afterwards. I wanted to eat outside so I could start setting my goals for this month, but it's cold. Inside with people eating at lunch it is a distraction. I instead looked back at goals I set for myself last year and I could see the drive I had. The ideas that were alive. I think I need an accountability partner to keep me going, but how do I find one I can relate to? I want to laugh again over silly things like I used to with my best friend. I am happy to have matured, but those goofy times and inside jokes are also food for the soul. I miss it. I don't like to get close to people because they eventually go away, so I don't allow myself to get to know people enough to want to hang out with them on occasion. I accept more aquaintances than friendships. I also don't see people on a regular basis who are my age. My husband used to tell me he liked how I was when I was around my best friend. Not that he didn't like me when I wasn't, but I think it was a side of me that was chill and stepped away from being serious for a little bit.

I'm not sure why I just shared all of that, but I listened to a Team Call last night and it was about the 5 Second Rule which is if you have a thought about something, take an action on it within 5 seconds of thinking it. When we don't write something down or do what we were thinking, we put it off and most of the time never go back to it. So there you have it. That's what came to mind and I shared it. Maybe it's something I need to put out there to make a new connection.

As for the evening, I ate eggs cooked in butter and whole fat organic milk with a pork chop. Those eggs were delicious! No wonder they taste so good when my husband makes them. He must use a good bit of butter. Usually I'm easy on the butter or use olive oil cooking spray. It filled me up nicely and I'm not tired this evening.

Day 3

I didn't sleep well last night because my husband's snoring kept waking me up. Every time I woke up I could tell I was sleeping well, but since it was interrupted so much, by morning it wasn't a good night's sleep. Usually when I get out of bed I'm fine when I get to the bathroom, but this morning it was painful turning on the light.
I stepped on the scale and I have lost the 5 lbs I gained over the weekend. This is nice to see because usually it takes me til Friday to lose the weight I gained and maybe even another pound, but mostly just maintain.
I had good energy again in my workout, but I didn't get to finish it all because I started too late. My muscles are also aching from my workouts yesterday and today. Mid-morning I'm feeling like I have a minor headache that reminds me of the kind I have when I have a cold that makes me feel a little groggy, but not enough to need Tylenol. I then realized that I hadn't had any water since I woke up. It's a struggle to get through eating my almonds. I just don't look forward to them. My string cheese on the other hand, YUM!!

Afternoon: After the snack and water, I was feeling better. Lunch filled me up with a pork chop and salad with cheese and a little ranch, but was feeling like I could go to sleep and just had no desire to do anything. After lunch I wanted a candy bar, but wasn't hungry. Must be a routine to grab one at that time. Had some sunflower seeds late afternoon and they were not appetizing. I'm not going to give up on them, so I'm going to add some healthy fat of olive oil, sprinkle old bay on top and roast them for a couple minutes and try them that way!

Evening: I had some more of the egg casserole and cooked bacon (no nitrates). Added a little bacon grease to the casserole and it didn't really help it. Ate all the bacon I made that I was going to save til tomorrow, but needed more fat. Problem is adding that fat also added more protein. Was fine the rest of the evening not needing food. Kept busy folding clothes, sent my messages and listened to a team call.

Day 2

This morning I was feeling better around my waist. I had nice energy for my workout too. I really enjoyed it. Lately it seemed like as I was working out, it was more of a struggle. I'm looking forward to see how much better I get as I've mostly been maintaining in my progress. I also had a hard time getting out of bed, so I'm really hoping that this change in my diet will give me better energy and help me to be more alert sooner in the mornings.

I lost 3 lbs when I stepped on the scale this morning, but I am not surprised by that because I can really tell how inflamed I was yesterday not only from my carbs over the weekend, but also from the muscle soreness I had after the 5K run on Saturday. I could barely walk up and down stairs yesterday which means that my muscles were fatigued and inflamed. Today I'm still a little sore, but I'm having no trouble on the stairs or even standing up out of my chair.

Afternoon: I gave in to a Crunch candy bar after my unsatisfying lunch. It was a fine lunch yesterday, but I added cheese today and it wasn't more appealing. Broccoli Spinach Egg Casserole. I can make my own rules, so I allowed myself the bite size bar and I'm happy. The decision is to not have anymore for the rest of the day and hopefully not for the rest of the week. I am used to eating out of that dish at LEAST three times a day and many days more. My goal is to get better and last week I had already started. I'm just being real with you and myself. It seems as though I get hungry not long after lunch, but then once I get over that hump, I'm not really hungry for anything healthy, but if there is junk to eat, it sounds good. Since I'm not eating it, I'm fine not eating anything.

Evening: Didn't have an afternoon snack. Felt a little tired on my way home from work, but not like yesterday. Ate later than I wanted to after 7, but only had a half of a chicken breast and one stalk of asparagus cooked in butter. I was planning to make pork chop, but I wasn't hungry for anything. It's made, so I'll have it for my lunch tomorrow. Didn't feel the need to snack on anything tonight.

Day 1

Today is day one of my experiment of learning what works best for my body. I woke up like I did last Monday. I didn't want to get out of bed and felt so sluggish. My meals consisted of pizza and other carbs over the weekend. I had a 5K run on Saturday that still has me feeling very sore, so I'll be doing a stretch workout from my Insanity Max 30 this morning.
Inflammation from high fat carbs and muscle soreness.
I took my measurements and it's more reason why I need to do this. Not only for myself, but for those who are watching my progress. I want to be able to show people you don't have to be on and off diets. I can't wait to not feel so "puffy" anymore and see my hard work of exercise paying off. Time to remove the excess that's on top of my muscles.

Afternoon: A co-worker has a candy dish I have to walk by to get to my desk. Today she has my favorite candy bar--Crunch. It's not difficult right now to avoid with just starting today, but I'm hoping this test will take away cravings and the need to get it just because it's there. It's not just about the body, but the mind.
Felt hungry about an hour after my spinach and egg casserole lunch. Is it in my head that I'm hungry?

Evening: Forgot about eating til around 3, so I ate some almonds. Passed the candy bowl before I left work and just looked at it. I got home and I wanted to eat mints in the fridge. Ate my dinner and wanted a soda. I'm finished eating by 545 pm. Feeling little less bloating than I did this morning.