May 18: Day 7 of RFL

five pounds.
six days.


oh, yeah!

The magic of RFL is kicking in.  This morning I got up to discover a total weight loss of five pounds.  I got off the scale and got back on.  Then I got off and made sure it was set correctly.  Yep.  It was true.  FIVE POUNDS!!!

This made me happy for more than the obvious reason.  It dropped me from Category 3 to Category 2, and it's always nice to drop down into a lower weight category.  It's like dropping a dress size.  The other cool thing is I actually get to eat more.  Because my body fat percentage is a bit lower now, I get more protein.  Chickens, beware.

So, what did I eat with my increased allowable intake?  Pretty much the same stuff in different formats.  I felt better today so I was a bit more creative.

For breakfast, big shock, an egg white omelet.  Today I flavored it with garlic, steamed asparagus, thyme and Parmesan cheese. Yummy!

Lunch, surprisingly enough, consisted of chicken breast.  However, I added a twist today.  I whipped up a dressing in the food processor from onion, spices, sweetener and cider vinegar.  I tossed it with some shredded cabbage mix and the thinly sliced chicken.  It was delicious, and I would eat this if I wasn't on this diet. (Of course, when not dieting this strictly, I would add some heart healthy olive oil.)

Supper was not very creative.  I had leftover roasted chicken breast and steamed cauliflower and broccoli sprinkled with my favorite stand-by, Mrs. Dash.

Remember how I've been scouring the city for diet Orange Crush?  Well, hallelujah, I found some and it made the yummiest protein float yet.  It does taste very much like Creamsicles.  I accidentally put too much ice in it so it was the consistency of sherbet.  I'm going to bed happy after downing this drink!

I won't lie to you.  A diet this restrictive is hard to stick to.  The results make it all worthwhile.  If you decide to try it out, take care to be creative with your food.  It will make all the difference in the world to your ability to stick with it and have superior results.  Your hunger will fade away after the first few days, but getting through those first few days, the hunger is intense.  Now I'm really not very hungry at all.  I'm mostly eating because it's time to eat.

I've gotten some feedback about losing weight this quickly being unhealthy and unlikely to stay off.  We'll look at these one issue at a time.

First of all, it is very restrictive.  It is stripped down to the essential nutrients.  Vitamin and mineral supplements are strongly recommended in the book and I religiously take every single one of them.  This is not a long term plan that is going to cause some type of malnutrition.  The longest I will be on it is six weeks, at which time I will take a full diet break, eating at maintenance calories.  I believe I've learned a lot about healthy eating habits and I'm confident that I will be able to return to those habits without a problem.  Further, being overweight takes a great toll on every system in the body.  The sooner I am at a healthy weight, the better the health I will enjoy.

Secondly, I don't expect to regain the weight.  I'm sure, once I am not this restricted, 4-5 pounds will come back on.  I'm not sweating that.  But again, I have spent the last 6 months developing the eating habits and exercise habits that I intend to stick with for the long term.  I have done a lot of work  to combat the emotional eating that made me heavy to start with.  As tough as it is to stick to this for 6 weeks, isn't it harder to stick with a more moderate diet for a year and a half?  I'm going to leave you with a link to an article regarding the pros and cons of rapid weight loss plans.  Check it out - it's very informative reading.