You know how you jump into a new meal plan or diet full force and are SO excited, determined, and motivated to make it happen??  You go to the store, get all the stuff you need, make plans, chop veggies, tell people about it, etc., etc.  Then you get through the first day (maybe) and into the second.  By the evening of the second day, you are SO darn hungry and craving EVERYTHING?  Even the stuff you don’t normally even really like?   Just give me some carbs and throw some sugar on them!!!  And then there’s that headache from carb and/or sugar withdrawal if you don’t succumb to the cravings?? Maybe that’s just me……

Well, THIS time I DID all of the excitement and planning part, but I decided not to write my first real post about it all until after I had gotten into Day 3.  I didn’t want to be all sunshine and roses about my new eating and living plan until I had a couple of days under my belt (no pun intended).  Now, I’m willing to talk about Days 1-3, what I’ve eaten, what I’ve done, and what I’ve learned.

FIRST of all, I’m doing okay.  I made it through Day 2’s crazy late evening hangryness  without losing my mind and eating everything in my pantry.  Huge victory for me!  Then I got up this morning and went to the gym as I had planned.  Another huge victory though it made me realize how truly far my fitness level has fallen.  I’m not going to dwell on that part though—the part that matters is that I went.  I didn’t try to go crazy on the first day.  I did 45 minutes on the treadmill varying the incline from 1-5 at a rate of about 3 miles per hour.  I went.  I did something.  I got my heart rate up, and I sweated.  Victory.  I wanted to take a nap, but I didn’t.  Another victory.  I wanted to eat a whole sleeve of saltine cracker, but I didn’t.  I drank my smoothie and ate some good protein.  Got through the afternoon slump on Day 3.  WOOHOO!!!!

I’m also learning and using my new Fitbit which I’ve connected to My Fitness Pal app, so I can keep up with my food and water intake.  The Fitbit annoys me when I don’t make my hourly step goals, but it makes me happy when I do.  Today, I’ve hit every hour’s goals plus my daily goal already, so I’m feeling pretty good.  I also like the little heart and the tiny footsteps on the display.  It’s the simple things y’all!

Now, on to my favorite part: FOOD!  Before we get into my eating habits, I need to tell you that I’m not one to follow a set schedule.  I don’t like to eat the same things at the same time every day.  I’m one of those people that doesn’t do things the same way all the time.  I’m weird.  I prefer to call it spontaneous and flexible. I don’t always drink my coffee the same way, go to bed at the same time, get up on the same side of the bed, or even eat the same condiments on a sandwich or burger every time.  I’m not going to do a diet or lifestyle change the same every day either.  I also don’t usually follow recipes exactly.  I substitute, add extra, throw this or that in, and know it’s done when it looks and/or tastes right.  That bothers some people immensely, so for all you people, just know that it’s all right.  I’m fine.  And if you want to follow anything in here that I do that works, you can easily adapt it to fit a schedule!  And I  PROMISE to try to post accurate recipes!  That’s why I’m going to use Cookie and Kate’s website and cookbook!

A short version of what I’ve eaten Days 1-3:

Still drinking coffee because 1) It has almost 0 calories. 2) I really like it. 3)I don’t think that it’s all bad as long as it’s kept in moderation.   I am cutting back from about 3-4 cups (that’s a 12-14 oz. mug in my world) to ONE cup (12-14 oz. mug).  Sometimes I drink it black and sometimes I add about 1 Tablespoon unsweetened vanilla almond milk or 1% milk and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

I drink at least 2 oz of  Ningxia Red, every day.  This is what I believe keeps me going and boosts my immune system.  It’s the only product that I ever remember taking every day for as long as I have (almost 2 years).  I love this stuff!

I make smoothies almost every day because they are such an easy and quick way to get lots of nutrients in.  Plus, you can tailor them easily to your own personal taste.   I will share some recipes, but I usually just throw things together.  Protein powder ( YL’s Pure Protein Complete Vanilla Spice is my favorite), frozen bananas, berries, mango, pineapple, and cherries, homemade juice (easy to do with a juicer, but you can also buy COLD PRESSED fresh fruit and veggie juice), spinach, kale, avocado, unsweetened Greek yogurt, & almond milk are some of my favorite ingredients.   I also frequently add Ningxia Red.  Here is a Pineapple Coconut one that I made today that is a little different from my norm.

I drink lots of water (my goal is 100 oz per day).  I just made that up as a good goal for me.  I happen to really like water and have always had a lot of good luck losing weight when I drink more.  I put slices of fruit in my water or  a drop or two of  essential oils (Young Living oils are the only ones I trust to ingest).  I like grapefruit, lemon, lime, and tangerine the best.  I also like plain sparkling water A LOT.  Just a note here:  check your city’s water report.  Most of them are SCARY.  I use a filter on my refrigerator, and I also have a Berkey which is SO much better and economical than all those bottles.

I made up a bag that has roasted cashews, dried wolfberries, and raisins in it.  Quick and easy pick-me-up snack!  I really have to watch my portions with this sort of thing because I love it, and it’s way too easy for me to eat the whole bag.  Kills that calorie count when I do, but great snack choice when I stick to one portion!

The Creamiest Scrambled Eggs (with goat cheese) from the Cookie and Kate website was excellent.  I halved the recipe, and I have some left that I think will taste delicious rolled up in a tortilla for another day.  This was an EASY recipe, and I basically followed it exactly (!!!!) with one exception.   I didn’t have any sundried tomatoes, but I DID have my favorite sundried tomato pesto, so I substituted 1 teaspoon of the pesto for the chopped sundried tomatoes called for in the recipe.  As Kate states, this would be an easy recipe to change around by adding different veggies.  I also think it would be good with other types of cheese.

The other recipe I made was from the “Love Real Food” cookbook.  “Fresh Taco Salad with Creamy Avocado-Lime Dressing” is on page 56.   Because I do not want to steal someone else’s work, I will not be including the recipes I make from the cookbook unless they happen to be available to the public on her website as well.   If you love good salads and even better salad dressings, Kate’s recipes are for you.  I enjoy making fun salads with sometimes surprising ingredients.  She has done the work for me.  The Creamy Avocado-Lime Dressing is a winner because it has avocado (I love this stuff), lime (see my statement about avocado), and a kick from fresh jalapeno.  I’m going to have the leftovers from this dressing tonight!!

There we go—Days 1-3.  Although, I know it is mostly “water weight”, and in my mind, that isn’t real, I’ve lost 6 pounds.  Why isn’t that real weight??? How does that all work anyway??? Never mind, I’ve done this enough to know that it will be back in a nanosecond if I don’t continue eating right and drinking that water, but it’s a start!