Day 4

Well, now we're all caught up and I'm writing in real time.  It's the end of the day.  I have filled in my diet journal, the dog is asleep and I'm listening to the Heart and More channel on Songza with a cup of decaf Chai tea, sweetened with a touch of IP Vanilla Drink.  This stuff is much like soy milk - heat it slightly before adding it to hot drinks to avoid separation and yuck.

I was admittedly very tired when I woke up this morning.  I needed to get something into my gut asap.  My dog, Jack, likes to wake me at 4 am for his breakfast, and I noticed my stomach was rumbling, but as usual, I just went back to bed.  By 9 am, I was ravenous.  I had a shake and sent an email to my coach to see if that was handled properly.  She advised I have half a shake at 4 am, to curb the hunger.  Ok then.

Here's Jack:

This program is all about sugar, by the way.  And the maintenance of a state called Ketosis, which is when the body uses fat for energy instead of carbs or muscle.  So in a no-sugar-based carb diet, if you get hungry, your body will go to burn muscle if it feels it's being starved - hence the regular intake of highly absorbed protein (IP).  I am on an 800 calorie intake diet, which sounds insane, but it really isn't.  I'll still be using 2000 calories per day - I'll just be burning 1200 of them from my own fat cells.  Halle-fucking-lujah.  This should result in at least 2-3 lbs loss per week.  Halle-fucking-lujah.  Any variance from the plan - any ingestion of carb or sugar, means less or no weight loss that week.  This is not ok by me.  I want to get to the weight I want as soon as possible.  Not so I can go out and binge on potatoes - the Vital Body method is as much about maintenance as it is about loss - but so I can be at that weight again!  For more info on the VB program and how to lose the weight you want, please check out their website at vitalbody.ca.  They explain it in far more detail and accuracy than I do.

Now, the FOOD!

For breakfast I gently heated a vanilla drink pouch and split my one cup of coffee in two and had two vanilla lattes dusted with cinnamon.  The drinks foam up very nicely - was a decadent start to a Friday.

Lunch was tricky - I made a soup with the Mushroom Soup mix, and added some garlic grilled chard, peppers and mushrooms, used an immersion blender and served it with a drizzle of chili oil for kick.  I purposefully grilled off a double portion of veg and popped it in the fridge so dinner wold be that much easier.

I had about four bites (tasty) when I got invites out to lunch with some friends.  A dither! A Friday lunch turned down?  Oh noooooo.  So I popped onto the restaurant website and checked out the menu - there were a few options I could get away with, so I packed up the soup and headed up the street to meet the boys.

Now, here's the thing about being a service industry veteran - for years I have been on a very particular side of a very high fence.  There are certain customers that we at least mock, if not outright despise.  The finicky diet customer.  Allergies, gluten, carbs, whatever.  My opinion was always - don't bother eating out if you can't order of the menu.

Karma, it seems, is one cranky bitch.

So I awkwardly asked for my salad with no carrots, no dressing, just a side of olive oil, blah blah blah.. Oh, and just a soda water.  Fuck.  But the server was a gem.  She even brought over some lemon wedges for the olive oil so I cold "add some zing", as she put it.  Seriously, I will follow that girl anywhere she goes.  So pleasant.  Even if I suspect she told her colleagues "I've got one of them" in hushed tones.  I am not above judgment.

We hung out for quite some time.  I had tea and only felt a pang of craving for a Guinness or such once or twice.  I headed home and grabbed some grocery on the way...  dinner time!

Is it just me, or does it seem like all I do is eat?  I fit a job in here, just so you know...

Dinner was fun - I got to try making cauliflower puree for the first time.  It was so easy, I think it's amazing.

1 head of cauliflower, cored and chopped.  Boil til toothy - just tender enough.  Food processor blitz, add a bit of olive oil for smoothness and salt and pepper -VOILA!  Looks like potatoes, tastes similar, but who cares - cauliflower picks up whatever flavour you want, so the options are endless.  I made enough for two portions, so I have some for tomorrow.  

With the veggies left over from lunch, I seared a chicken breast, finished it in the over, and tada.... dinner!

I'm just finishing my tea.  Getting ready for bed...after my snack!!

The first weekend on the diet should be interesting...