Oh, hey world. :)

So.

I stepped on my scale this morning. It's not a digital one . . . because I'm a cheapskate and only paid 10 bucks for it. Also, I find them to be a little more reliable, and calibrating them is much easier than a digital scale.

. . . Rambling.

Anywho. Stepped on my scale this morning, and I'm hovering between 158 and 160. :) I know it's strange that I'm back and forth between a 2 pound range in a matter of seconds, but I've found that when I lean a little bit in any direction on my scale, it actually does make a difference. No clue why. Again. 10 bucks for the scale, not too worried about it.

I'm gonna finish up this last week on Cycle 1 of this crazy diet, and then Monday (7/25), I'm gonna go ahead and start adding my precious carbs back in.

At first, I was a little confused as to what Cycle 2 was, but after rereading my book, it's basically adding back in rice, sweet potatoes and some more starchy veggies, as well as lean cuts of beef, pork and shellfish. I've already been eating shellfish (um, hello . . . 1 serving of cooked shrimp is 80 calories, like hell I'm not gonna enjoy some shrimp), and I've been having some beef on the rare occasion.

Even so, I've really learned some things though through this cycle.

1. Complex carbs aren't everything.

When I used to come home from school (this is high school we're talking about), I always bee-lined it for the fridge and dug out whatever carb-y substance that was leftover from the previous night. Mashed potatoes, pasta, rice . . . whatever it was. I was in it, and gnoshing away on it. I could smell pasta cooking from a mile away. And even in Italy, it was the go-to snack because it was just so damn cheap. Sitting here though, talking about all of this, I'm not craving the carbs. I mean, I had a legit, lengthy conversation with Cara last night about pasta and all the things we used to eat in mass quantities, and I'm not craving any of it. This is kinda huge for me. I love pasta. I'm friggin' Italian. I have marinara sauce for blood.

Yet, here I am, ready to add carbs back into my diet, and not really wanting to. At least, not nearly in the proportions that I used to.

2. GIANT CHOCOLATE EASTER BUNNY? . . . Who cares?

Seriously. I had a day a while back that I was just craving a cheesecake. Or a chocolate cake. Or something deliciously sweet and sinful. But honestly? It was one day. That night, I made my own "chocolate covered fruit" with the cocoa powder and splenda. For something so chocolaty and delicious, it was still healthy. A few days later, I went to the Cheesecake Factory, and I had a piece of cheesecake. And honestly? It was almost too much. I love my chocolate covered fruit, and it really has been enough to keep the sweet-beast at bay.

Another thing I've noticed is that even if I do eat full-fat, movie theatre candy . . . I can't eat much of it anymore. Cara and I went to see the final Harry Potter, and we were planning on pigging out and just being total gluttons during the movie, yet neither of us were. We opened four boxes of chocolate. Now. Generally, during a movie, I can eat a whole box of the Cookie Dough Bites in the first five minutes of the movie. I had a mini Cow Tail, and a baby handful of the Bites. I was set for the entire movie on that.

For the last few days, I've been having some sweets cravings . . . so I'd go into my room, pour out a small handful of these Bites and some Junior Mints, and I'd be set. Seriously, like, not even a full palm-full. I did this last night, and honestly thought I wasn't going to have room for dinner. Even then, all I ate for dinner was a salmon burger (sans-bun), and some of this broccoli salad that had raisins with a bit of bacon.

So yeah, I've had the occasional craving . . . but I'm not binging. And it's making me feel awesome.

3. Weight never comes off the same way twice.

Now, this is a little frustrating, but still . . . I'm not complaining because the point is, the weight is coming off. I always do notice that when I try to lose weight, one of the places that it always comes off first is in my face/neck/shoulder region. No clue why. After that though, it just kinda chooses to come off wherever it damn feels like it. The first time I lost a significant amount of weight, it came off from my belly. The second time, it came off from my legs, the third time, it seems to be coming off more evenly in all areas, but mostly my upper torso.

This morning, I tried on my size 8 jeans. Now, once upon a time, 158 was where I was at when I was in a size 8. This morning, however, I was a little less than pleased to find out that I could barely button them. I got my butt in them, but the fit in the thighs was a little snug, and I had a slight (and I mean slight, enough to be annoying, but not grotesque) case of muffin top. What I did notice, however, was that my belly wasn't attempting to cascade over the top of them nearly as bad as it had been trying a few months ago. Needless to say, I very quickly took them off and put on my 10's, which are actually starting to really loosen up.

My belly is definitely my biggest area of concern, right up there with my arms. Getting my butt into those jeans though and seeing that it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be when trying to button them made me actually feel a lot better. It made me realize that yeah, it's coming off, but by doing it this way, and keeping up what I have been doing, the weight really is coming off more evenly, it's not going to be spotty, and when I get down to my goal weight, everything is really going to be okay.

That being said . . . everything is still moving. All in the right direction, and all where I want it to be. This shit really does work. And it's not impossible. I feel like a rockstar . . . and it only keeps getting better. :)

Well I'll be damned. It really does work.

Well, sweet world, I am happy to annouce that after a full, uninterrupted 16 days of doing this crazy 17 day diet thing I'm officially 8 pounds lighter. :)

When I started this whole shabang (before I went to maine on June 23rd), I was 168 pounds. Then I went camping, ate kinda like crap, but still managed to keep the 3 pounds off that I had lost before I went on holiday.

After Maine though, I decided I was going all out, hardcore, and taking this shit seriously. Granted, I was eating a few things on the list that may not have been exactly what the book said (soy milk, a little cheese, and some veggies that weren't on the list) but I stuck to my guns. No complex carbs.

Being 2 pounds and one day away from the end of the cycle, I've decided to stay on cycle one just until I've hit the 10 pound mark.

Also, I have a feeling I would have hit the 10 pound mark a lot sooner if I had actually worked out like I should have been. I've been more active than I was, that's for sure, but things have slowed down significantly for reasons that shouldn't even be reasons at all. Basically, I have no excuse, and I know that.

Anywho. I'm happy. Very  happy with where things are, where they're going, and the progress I've made. :)

There I was, at the beginning, back in March

And here I am, armed with a plan and determination, 10 pounds lighter. :)

. . . Oh. My. Word.

I officially want to douse every piece of fruit known to mankind in cocoa powder and splenda.

10 o'clock spark of genius? I think so! :D

Also, I just realized how picture-baron this blog is. I'll be changing that very soon. :) Post some pictures of my heavenly new steamer, some chocolate covered fruit and progress on the bod. :)

Let me tell you.

Vegetables? They're fucking boring.

Yeah. I went there. This new diet thing is workin' out great, though I haven't been workin' out much, which needs to change . . . anywho.

I still have ten days to go of this "Oh hey. You wanna eat? Here. Have a piece of lettuce," stuff.

I've been good too. I've resisted s'mores. I've resisted the offer to have someone go buy me a cheesecake. I've even stared longingly at a bag of zap-it rice, and I still managed to walk away from it. I'm in it to win it, dood.

Last night was bad though. I was literally looking for every possible concoction on the interwebs that would allow me to have a healthy, low calorie, low fat, chocolaty, fluffy dessert. That didn't work out so well. Only made me want those complex carbs even more.

Finally, when making my lunch for the next day, I just stood in the kitchen pondering. I'm allowed to have fruit. Twice a day, and before 2:00pm, preferably. Then I went into the pantry, pulled out the cocoa powder and read the back. 10 calories for 1 tablespoon. 2 grams of fiber. 3 grams of carbs. A lot of protein too. So . . . the chocolate isn't what's bad for you . . . it's the other shit they add into it that gets you up there in trouble.

That's when the idea struck. Why not make chocolate covered fruit? I took a peach, my roomie took strawberries, we cut them into bite-sized chunks, I put a whole tablespoon of the cocoa powder on and a tablespoon of Splenda. I don't know how much she used for what, but holy shizznit. Her strawberries? Friggin' delicious. I have yet to have my peaches today, but I'll get back to you on that one. :)

Now that I've figured out how to work chocolate into my diet . . . I just need to figure out how to make veggies more yummy. Grilling is delicious, but it gets a little boring. I bought a new steamer that works like a DREAM, but they're still just . . . cooked veggies. Sans flavor.

I have ten more days. Ten more lunches. Ten more dinners. 20 meals total. I've got this.

Oh. And Lean Cuisine? Yeah. They need to make more sans-potato/stuffing/pasta/rice dishes. I found two. Turkey with green beans, and steak tips with broccoli. Two. Come on. If I can make seven days worth of meals so far, you can make more than two.

Silly Lean Cuisine.

Anywho. That's my update. Chocolate covered fruit, and death to all veggies. Hahaha.