Days 1, 2 & 3: 6 Week Body Makeover Plan

Day 1
Tuesday May 27, 2008

I had gone grocery shopping on Sunday and the only protein food I had in the house was eggs and canned tuna fish. I had a head of iceberg lettuce and I was anxious to get started on my plan.

My first day was extremely boring since I didn't have a lot of fresh fruit or veggies in the house. Who can afford them these days? Prices are so high, I have to resort to canned. What I do with those is rinse under cold water to try to rinse off any sodium that was added and any heavy syrups. I'm fairly certain not 'all' of the sodium is washed away, but I'm hoping the majority of it is.

You are given three choices - easy, gourmet or rapid results or you can go with the infinite menu planner choices to customize your plan ( this offers many more choices of proteins, veggies, fruits and carbs).

This day I went with the rapid results for each meal ( did not do the evening snack which is optional). For all 5 meals I ate 2 oz. tuna ( in water) and 1 cup salad with squeezed lemon as my 'dressing'. I got through it ok. No problem other than I had to force myself to eat when I wasn't hungry. The meals have to be eaten every 2-3 hours - and not over 3 hours to keep the metabolism working. The book claims that if you aren't hungry after 3 hours, your metabolism hasn't kicked in yet. It may take a few days.

Tom and Nicki had hotdogs on the grill and pasta salad. I LOVE hotdogs with peanutbutter ( Skippy) & melted cheese and I LOVE pasta salad. I was not tempted to eat any of this.

After the first six weeks if I've lost all the weight I want to, I can start introducing other carbs like pasta, and bagels in to my meal plans. If I want to keep my metabolism working I will have to watch things like sodium and fat content. Instead of eating a whole bagel, eat just a half and compare brands to see which ones have the least amount of sodium and fat. I will also be able to start eating red meat - but sparingly. If I still have more weight to lose, then I just continue on the six week plan.

Day 2
May 28, 2008

I wasn't hungry at breakfast time but I forced myself to eat the 2 oz. tuna and 1 cup salad which was the rapid results plan. By midmorning snack, I couldn't do that again so had the easy plan instead. 2 oz. chicken breast and 1/2 cup pineapple.
The plan calls for grapefruit, but I'm on Zocor and the label says I can not have grapefruit or grapefruit juice at any time. It will interact with my medication. I had some canned pineapple in juice so I measured out my 1/2 cup and put it in a colander and ran cold water over it for several minutes, in the hopes of washing away some 'sugar'. Pineapple is on the food list, but it should be fresh. I have to make-do.

For lunch I couldn't do the fast results plan either. Just couldn't do tuna again. I had 2 oz. chicken breast, a very small baked potato ( no butter or sour cream, just black pepper) and 1 cup lettuce with lemon. I was ok with the chicken and potato, but the lettuce is getting to me. It was iceberg, all I had. The least nutritious of the leafy greens. I won't be going shopping again until the weekend so I made do again.

Still not hungry when it was time for the midafternoon snack. The book did say that if you simply cannot eat the full amount, you can cut in in half, but both protein and carb should be the same amount. So I had 1 oz. tuna and 1/2 cup lettuce with tomato and sprinkled some white wine vinegar over it. Liked that much better than the lemon.

For Dinner I had 2 0z. chicken, lettuce and tomato with the wine vinegar again. I had to force that. I just wasn't hungry.
The plan claims you MUST eat all the food in order for it to work. It claims that if you aren't hungry.......the metabolism hasn't kicked in yet. Once it does, I will be feeling hungry every 2-3 hours.

Susan called me to see how it was going. I told her about the tuna and she said she had that problem too. What she has been doing is buying low sodium turkey breast from the deli and having them cut it an inch thick and then she can either cube it or cut it in strips for stir fry. She buys it every week in a different 'flavor'. One week plain roasted turkey, another week mesquite roasted turkey. I told her I'd buy some when I went shopping this weekend. She also asked if I'd eaten any oatmeal for breakfast yet and all I had in the house was the prepackaged kind - cinnamon bun. Can't have that one, just regular oatmeal. Susan eats that every morning for breakfast at work. She'll make it at home and put it in a microwave container and then heat it at work when she gets there. She adds cinnamon and sugar substitute at home. She admitted that she will add about 2 tablespoons of milk even though we aren't supposed to. She still lost weight.

Tom and I left at 6 pm to watch our 5 year old grandson play T-ball. When we got home a little after 7, there was a bag in our front door with a box of Quaker oats and an inch cut slab of mesquite turkey breast. I called Susan to thank her and ask her what I owed her and she said it was a 'gift', she wanted me to have them now, so I wouldn't get discouraged and give up. That was so nice of her. There was also a container of non-fat yogurt to put away in case I should get the urge to have something sweet and she said it's better to eat that than to grab a cookie or two. I always have cookies in the house for the grandkids. So far when I've wanted something sweet I've just made myself a cup of hot tea and added sugar substitute.
So far it's worked.

Day 3
May 29, 2008

I actually woke up hungry this morning! I couldn't wait to have some oatmeal. I had my 1/2 cup ( measurements are for cooked foods) with 2 hard boiled egg whites with pepper.

I wasn't really hungry when it was time for my midmorning snack, but I wasn't feeling like I did yesterday and went ahead and had 1 oz. of the mesquite turkey and 1/4 cup pineapple.

I had to take my grandson to his speech class at noon. Afterwards I took him and his baby sister to the park. I could not wait to get back to have lunch.

Lunch was 2 oz. mesquite turkey, small baked potato and 1 cup green beans. Was supposed to have greens...but still can't do it. I rinsed off the green beans.

Midafternoon snack was 1 oz. turkey and 1/4 cup pineapple.

Dinner was 2 oz. turkey, 1/2 cup mashed potatoes ( no butter, no milk, no salt) and 1 cup of green beans.

I know this all sounds very bland, and it is. The book does give some recipes for homemade salsa which can be added to an egg white omelette, top a baked potato and a few other suggestions. There are recipes for marinades too, but I don't have all the spices yet.

I fixed Shephard's pie for the family. When I was mashing the potatoes, I took my 1/2 cup out before I added milk and some salt. To my potatoes I sprinkled some garlic powder and pepper on them, and added 1 tablespoon of non-fat Italian dressing just for flavor. They weren't bad. The Italian dressing isn't on the ok list, but Susan has been using it on her salads and she's still losing weight. She puts her salad in a tupperware container, adds 2 tablespoons of the non-fat dressing, puts a lid on it and then shakes several times to coat the lettuce. She said I'd be amazed at how little you really need on a salad. I admit, I used to go overboard on dressings.

I'm actually looking forward to some oatmeal tomorrow for breakfast.