Already to Week 4- Down a total of 17.6 pounds in 21 days!

Day 22: Weight 199.4. I am up .4 today. Okay, confession time. I cannot believe I am still in ONE-derland. I truly don't deserve to be. I cheated yesterday BIG TIME!! For lunch yesterday, the gang from work went to a Mexican restaurant. I should have just stayed at my desk, eating my 250 calories, but how depressing would that be?! So I went with them. I LOVE Mexican food, but resolved to be as good as possible. Since I wasn't really hungry, it helped, but man did that stuff smell good. So I ordered a chicken fajita taco salad, with no cheese or sour cream. I only ate about 3-4 chips TOTAL (a big accomplishment for me, who used to down 2 baskets by myself) and ate the chicken with the lettuce, the guacamole, a little of the beans (yes, with lard I'm sure) and about 1/4 of the yummy, crunchy shell. Not too horribly bad considering the deep-fried chimichangas a few of the girls had, Mmmm. I felt okay with my decision, but was certain I'd pay for it today. Okay, not a huge cheat, but IT GETS WORSE. I actually thought about NOT posting this, but decided hiding in a closet won't help matters. At Wal-Mart, in the long checkout line I decided I could eat one, only one, Reese's Peanut Butter Egg. So I bought one. And I ate it soooo slowly, and savored every tiny bite. I was so happy!! Then later, at home I'm not sure what happened. I think I blacked out, lol, as someone else took over my body and ate some of the boneless General chicken chunks from the deli, a good-sized piece of cake with buttercream icing and a cherry pop-tart. This was all over the course of a few hours, but WTF?!?! I drank 2 cups of hot tea and hoped I wouldn't be back over 200 pounds, but felt it was worth it if I was. And here's the amazing part- besides NOT being over 200, I don't feel the massive sense of defeat that I have when I cheated on any other diet. I am not tempted to just throw in the towel and quit. I am also not going to make that mistake again- I really want to maximize my losses while on this phase of the diet. For lunch I had my spinach scramble- hoping for a miracle!! I am skipping both fruits and only eating the protein for dinner. This is all advice I pieced together from the forum I visit. Oh, I also skipped my injection today, as some of the members of the forum say it helps against immunity and stretches your money a wee bit further. The hCG stays in your system for 3 days, so I should be okay. For dinner I ended up eating chicken and cabbage. I made a teriyaki sauce from a P2 cookbook and it was really good. I only had a tiny bit of cabbage, and no fruit today.

Day 23: Weight 199.8. I am up ANOTHER .4 today. I should have expected it...they say a cheat costs 3 or 4 days of progress. Hopefully the scale will start moving down again tomorrow. I am going to eat an apple today for sure, I think it probably helps more than it hurts. My mother is spending the weekend with us, so my dh is taking me out while we have a sitter. I want to go to IHOP and order the tilapia with broccoli. Sounds nice to just get out together.

We ended up going to a movie, and didn't have enough time for IHOP, so we went to McDonald's right before the movie. I ordered a grilled chicken patty and 2 side salads. They only charge $1 for the patty, which usually I get the sandwich for $4 and throw away everything else, so good to know. We saw "It's Complicated" and it was sooooo funny. Probably the funniest I've seen in a while :) I ate an apple for a snack, and for dinner I ate tilapia and cucumbers.

Day 24: Weight 198.2. WOW!! I dropped a pound and a half!! Yeah! That day of cheating cost me a couple days progress, but I'm making headway again. Even after eating a McD's...I thought for sure they put something in their chicken that would make me gain- like corn syrup or something. It seems to be hiding in EVERYTHING!! For lunch today I had fajita chicken on lettuce with lots of salsa. I ate an apple in between, and for dinner ate a ground beef patty and cucumbers.

Day 25: Weight 198.6. Up .4?!?! I'm not sure why, I pretty much stuck to protocol yesterday. I did drink the Yerba Mate tea, and the one I bought has vanilla oil in it. The kind folks on the forum said it probably isn't enough to matter, but I was up a little last time I used it to. Also, I did a lot of walking yesterday- out selling Girl Scout Cookies with my girls. Maybe I over did it? The cookies come in on February 13, so I am going to have a really hard time when they arrive. I LOVE the peanut butter patties, and can eat them by the box full. Lord, please have mercy...

Even though I am up a little today, I am going to go a little off-protocol. For lunch I brought some tuna mixed with WF mayo, and a "thin bun". My colleague told me about them, and I figure they are not much worse than the melba toast. We'll see how they taste, as well as my weight tomorrow. The thin bun was okay, would definately work if I were craving bread. Dinner was chicken and a little butterfinger bar. Darnit!! Why does chocolate call my name so loudly? Damn TOM!!

Day 26: Weight 198.6. The same. Well, I will take a stall over a gain anyday!! I am just glad I am still in one-derland. I hope the butterfinger doesn't cause my weight to go up tomorrow. Today for lunch I tried a Jay Robb egg white skake. It was surprisingly good. I added a few drops of vanilla creme stevia and it was even better. I think if I were to put it in the blender with ice it would be super yummy!! I ate an apple, but didn't have time to eat my cucumber. I started an internship and lets just say this is going to be a long 16 weeks! For dinner I am going to have filet mignon, not sure what veggie yet.

Day 27: Weight 198.4. Well, I'm just going to "ounce" my way down I guess. It is TOM, so I'm not too worried. I think I'll have a really big loss after the weekend to make up for this. I made a new pot of chili last night. I found some buffalo meat at the store and it was on sale, so I made my chili with that. We'll see how it tastes. It is super fine in texture, instead of the bigger chunks like the ground beef. I also have a half grapefruit to eat with it. Too bad I can't have my saltine crackers with it. I used to eat an entire sleeve with soups and chilis, so I guess it's a good thing!! I have absolutley no idea what I am going to have for dinner. I need to plan ahead so I don't get myself into a bad situation!!

Day 28: Weight 197.2. Down 1.2!! I stopped at McDonald's for dinner last night after class. I got the side salad, grilled chicken patty and apple dippers. Today I brought a Jay Robb shake for lunch again. I am having a grapefruit and cucumbers as well. I can't believe this is wrapping up 4 whole weeks on the program. I had hoped to be down a little more, but that's what I get for cheating...