Weight Loss Woes

I've been doing this diet thing.... and OMG it has sucked.

It started being the Dukan Diet. You can read all about it somewhere. Use Google. You'll pull up a ton on it.

At any rate, I started the Dukan Diet last Wednesday. If you've Googled at all, you know it starts with what they call the "Attack Phase" where you eat nothing but protein. You can have all the lean meat and fat free dairy you want. That's the basic principle.

It worked, y'all. I lost 7 pounds on the Attack Phase. Seven pounds in five days. Something definitely attacked something. My pants fit better.

So yesterday and today I moved on to the "Cruise Phase" where you get to basically do the exact same thing as the Attack Phase except every other day you can have veggies.  Yesterday I got to have veggies and then today I felt like I was being punished and had to move back to that viscous Attack Phase.

So tonight after I fed the family sloppy joes and mac & cheese and then fixed myself an egg white omelet with turkey and a cup of fat free greek yogurt for dinner I decided I needed to reevaluate.

I am miserable. I am snapping at the kids. I am feeling desperate for different foods.

You see, I have a lot of weight to lose. It's not like I can just do this Dukan Diet for a month or two, lose 15 or 20 pounds and move on - if I stick with Dukan for the full amount of weight loss, I will not get to eat a piece of fruit for the next year. Is that possibly even okay to do?  And even if it is okay, do I want to be feeling deprived because I can't have an orange for a year?

Nope.

So I revised my Dukan Diet to something I can live with.

Here it is (if you care):

YES LIST:
Unlimited lean proteins and non-starchy vegetables
Unlimited super low fat dairy (less than 2% fat)
One piece of fruit per day
Up to 2 slices of whole grain bread per day
One serving (about 2 ounces) of cheese per day
Up to 5 sugar free treats per day (Jello, a piece of gum, a diet soda, etc)
Two low calorie alcoholic beverages a week
One reasonable celebration meal per week.
Very small amounts of oil for cooking

NO LIST (except for in celebration meal - use discretion with celebration meal!):
White bread
White rice
Pasta
Whole fat dairy
Starchy vegetables
Potatoes
Full sugar desserts

**Must drink 64 ounces of water each day**

Exercise has to be up, too. Walking at least 1 mile per day has to happen. I can also do counter push ups, crunches, and squats every day. When I've lost some more weight I plan to add in yoga. Exercise has to happen every single day. No breaks. Even if it's just a walk, something has to happen.

I'm going to ask The Man to take some before pictures and I might even post them. Later. Like - when I can look back at them and think "Wow, I've come so far."

Not now.

Let's see how this goes.