Diet, Day 2 - NO SUSHI FOR YOU!!!

Today was a little difficult, but not because I was hungry or anything. Just because I went out for sushi with the MINI club and I could only eat sashimi. I like sashimi, but sashimi is like an appetizer. Sushi has so many wonderful flavors to offer. *sigh* Lucky for me, that's only the start of my day. Or night, depending on how you prefer to look at it.

I am still feeling more energetic than usual today, even after only getting 4-5 hours of sleep yesterday, since I had to get up early to go to dinner. Might just be the B12 doing its thing. And for the 2nd day in a row, my food intake was spot on, and I am not hungry. I can't necessarily attribute that to the appetite suppressants just yet, as I have been known to go for days without eating more than one meal per day. If this continues into next week, I will definitely credit the supplements.

Today being Day 2, it is time to start testing to see if I have hit ketosis. In order to do this, they supply you with some test strips which you need to urinate on. They start out about the peachy color of Children's Aspirin and are supposed to turn somewhere between pink & purple if you are in ketosis. Here's a blurry camera phone pic... unused strip on the left, and the one showing I appear to be in ketosis on the right.



The good thing here is that this means I get to add some veggies (and fruit) to my diet now. 6 servings, to be exact. I listed some of the protien sources that are allowed in my previous post. The veggies count as one serving per cup if raw, or one serving per half cup if cooked. Among the highlights for me will be bell peppers, mushrooms, celery, cucumber, asparagus and broccoli. Asparagus is the only one of those I would not eat raw, although mushrooms are often tastier when cooked. I would just as soon leave all the others raw.


Of the 6 fruit/veggie servings, up to 2 of them can be fruit. Fruit servings are more complicated than veggie servings. A serving of fruit is:

1 small apple, orange, or peach
6 strawberries or raspberries
12 grapes or cherries
1/2 grapefruit.
1/4 cup of blueberries

I'll plan to skip the blueberries (prefer them cooked) & peaches (don't like 'em) and probably do a lot of oranges & grapefruit.

Starchy/sugary veggies, such as beets, carrots, corn, potatoes, lima beans, tomatoes, yams & squash are not allowed. I'd really like to be allowed corn, taters, limas and tomatoes, but I will live without them.

On the other hand, I get to add lettuce, diet gelatin, and dill pickles as "free selections," meaning that they do not count as servings. Sugar Free Jell-O ain't half bad, and could cure any sweet cravings, so I will have to get some into the pantry. I can also add up to 2 tbsp low fat salad dressing or 1/2 tbsp olive oil & vinegar (vinegar was already allowed in stage 1).

So this will add some variety right away, which should help keep me from feeling too trapped.

Unfortunately, I did not weigh myself at home on Monday when I went to the doctor's office, so I cannot yet adjust for any difference between the scales. And I am not going to weigh myself daily, but maybe 3 times a week. I stepped on my home scale today & it read 296. Since the doctor's scale read 306 just 48 hours ago, I figure there's a little discrepancy there- not likely to have lost 10 lbs that quickly. And my scale doesn't do the body fat trick, but maybe I will splurge & upgrade soon.

Because blood pressure can vary so much from minute to minute, I think I'll just let the doctor's office check that weekly for now. Changes in BP will likely come more slowly than changes in weight & body fat.


Today, 2/25/09:

Weight: 296 (pending home scale adjustment/calibration)

All supplements taken as directed .

Drank nearly 1.5 gallons of plain water (it was a long night) .

Meal 1- 4 oz. Tuna Tataki @ sushi joint. (4 servings)
Meal 2- 8 oz. pre-cooked shrimp with Old Bay seasoning. (8 servings)
Meal 3- 2 hard boiled eggs with hot sauce. (2 servings)
Meal 4- 1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese. (2 servings)

Total: 16 servings very lean protein

Notes: Tuna Tataki is fresh tuna cut into strips & lightly seared, served with soy sauce. Normally, I see the soy sauce on the side, but this place served it all in a bowl together. So I removed the tuna from the sauce & put it on a side plate to let it drip dry a little. Oh, and the shrimp was from Sweetbay Supermarket. Considering it was visibly coated in Old Bay seasoning, it was pretty darned bland. I have one more 8 oz package of it in the fridge, then I think I'll just get raw shrimp in the future & season it up myself when I cook it.