Alive and kicking

I woke up at 4 AM - not that unusual, but I felt kind of crappy - sort of an inner shakiness. I decided not to stay in bed and stew about it so I got up, had 2 cups of cold water and put in the Dirty Dancing DVD workout that just came in the mail. I made some passion fruit tea, with a tsp of raw honey (you're allowed to have that if you feel lightheaded -- or before you exercise, and I did a 30 minute warm up routine where they teach you a bunch of dance steps. The concentration did the trick (and maybe the tea) and I felt much better. I"m nursing a broken ankle back to health, so I was very careful.

At 5 my husband gets up and I make his lunch. Today it's BLT, so I'm smelling bacon and cutting up watermelon, putting pretzels in a baggy and cherries in a cup. Believe it or not, this is okay with me. I do this every week day and I'm used to not eating or picking at the food too much -- okay the fruit, usually.. To be honest, its nice to smell the food-- I love smells - they are very satisfying.  Last night I watched two people eat a great smelling, garlicky shrimp and chicken dish while I drank ice water. They kept asking me if I wanted a a little bit (knowing I was dieting)  but I said no and I was fine. Conversation was enough. And the food smelled great- like a perfume. You don't eat perfume, right?

It's now almost 8 AM, I have had 4 glasses of cold water and a cup of hot tea and I've got 4 more hours till I can eat my veggies and fruit. Maybe I should go back to bed!!

No, this is always a productive part of my day and I've often gotten busy and forgotten to eat till lunch time --- well -not OFTEN, but it happens and I'm not aware of suffering. Of course, right now I'm detoxing so that's a little different, but I think I will go take the dog for a leisurely walk around the park and pull some weeds. Then get to work. (I'm a writer)

I was surprised to see that I dropped 2 pounds. 192.6.
 Now that's my Set point weight. I go over that and under that very occasionally and my weight comes back to 192 -- for the last 17 years, about. Actually for the last year or so its been stuck more like 194. Recently I broke my ankle and had some oral surgery that caused a lot of residual pain -- I couldn't move much and I stuffed a lot of sugary comfort foods down my throat. I gained about 8 pounds. That is now gone (I did Atkins for 10 days before starting this protocol.) This is where the rubber hits the road. Going below 192 has always been hard, 10 years ago,  I lost 10 pounds and got down to 182 for my HS reunion --through very vigorous exercise, heavy weight lifting and a the "Body For Life" diet plan. But I hurt my back doing the heavy weights and after the reunion my resolve fell apart.  Other than that, I can't remember losing more than a pound or two no matter what I've done -- counted calories, exercised every day, followed the Peanut Butter Diet or the Coconut Diet -- you get the picture. Here I am. The Last Diet.

My phone counselor told me that a lot of people she works with enter into The Biggest Loser challenges at their workplace. She says if they do this diet correctly, they always win. I like that idea -- and they don't even do coffee enemas or fracture their shin bones working out, like folks on the show. Lots of people on the biggest loser gain the weight back. They just can't keep up that kind of grueling exercise when they get home.