Week One

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 Phase One day 2
Boy was I tired last night – slept like a rock. This morning I felt tired as well but got myself out of bed and off to the church to met friends for our walk. I had a spoonful of cottage cheese before I left. Back home I ate a bowl of cottage cheese for breakfast. My morning schedule had a conflict. Mom & I were reserved at the pool at 8:00 but I had boy scouts coming over at 9:00. I asked Sonnet if she would take Mom to the pool for me. She did of course. So no swimming this morning but that’s OK.

Later that morning I wanted something to munch so I grabbed a stock of celery. That was less than satisfying. For lunch I cooked up bacon and eggs. Sonnet came in and made a little deli plate for herself. Three different cheeses, some ham and a few olives. I added three squares of cheese to my plate…yummmmm.

After lunch I ran a couple errands but when I got home I went up to take a nap. Actually I went up to read. The nap part came later. I feel so tired. I think it is the diet. I just read back a year ago to see if I made any mention of fatigue during Phase One, week one last year. Nope. No mention. Oh well, I do have another theory though. This is summer - I do not have to get up and go to work. I don’t have to do much of anything and that is why I feel the low energy. Last years entries were full of dashing off to work, or a funeral or something else that required my attention. It was April after all and my schedule was different.

Now Stephen just got home and is lying down, I hear Sonnet downstairs in the kitchen. I am sure dinner will be wonderful. I think she has a fancy salad on the menu ……sure enough we ate green salad with chicken and avocado. Tonight Sonnet has Institute and Steph has YM/YW. It will be a quiet night for me.

Thursday, June 4, 2009 Phase One day 3
Slept in today – ahhh. When I did get up I decided to have some cottage cheese and get ready to go into the office. That was great. I accomplished a lot. I knew I would want something mid morning so Sonnet suggested I take string cheese. I did and it hit the spot. Wanda & I lunched at the Knotty Pine. I ordered a chicken salad with blue cheese dressing and a side of avocado. I very much liked the salad.

Sonnet says some kind of fancy pork chops are on the menu tonight. I’ll tell you all about it after dinner…..I was right. They were called Chipotle Pork chops. They were very good but a tad spicy for me. She served the chops with a delicious salad. The salad had an avocado lime dressing. I cut up my pork chop and folded it into the salad. The dressing covered it enough to take the bite away. It was a delicious meal. After dinner I wanted to move. I have noticed flab on my hips and tummy that remains even when the pounds drop. I think my body composition has changed because I have dropped the gym classes in which I not only had an aerobic workout but strength training as well. Without weight work as well as my push ups and ab work my body tone stinks. Tonight I set out on a walk but it turned into a walk/jog. I love it when that happens. I am not a runner but sometimes when I am alone and out on the trail, I will just break into a jog. I guess it was the cool evening and nice breeze that inspired me.

Friday, June 5, 2009 Phase One day 4
Up and out the door this morning and very surprised to see that it rained during the night. A very fresh morning. Walked with my friends then came home for some cottage cheese. I showered right away and now am off to the office. I am taking boiled eggs as a morning snack. Maybe I’ll add a pickle……big mistake. Around 10:00 I headed into the office kitchen and got out my pickle. I took a bite expecting the vinegar taste of dill but to my surprise and distaste I bit into a sweet pickle. Phewie! I threw it away – I really do not like sweet pickles not to mention it is a definite no-no on my diet. The eggs were great and stalled my hunger until after 12:00 when I went back to the Knotty Pine with Doreen for another chicken salad. I worked late then headed home.

For dinner Sonnet cooked chicken lettuce wraps. They had chicken, red peppers and onions cooked in a light sauce. They were tasty and it was such a nice touch to have big lettuce leafs to wrap it in. We added cheese and they were quite good. Stephen & I were going to clean the patio this evening but we got a call to tell us a friend, Marie Whitfield, was in the hospital. We went to the visit her and ended up staying a while. Doug and Rinez came by to visit as well so we had a nice time and I think cheered her up. When we left, Stephen said it was a shame to end the evening without some ice cream so the four of us went to Wendy’s. I was so good – I had a cup of water while everyone else had a frosty and fries. It didn’t bother me in the least. Now that’s what I call a success!

Saturday, June 6, 2009 Phase One day 5
OK, Sonnet off to the Larsen’s and Stephen off to the temple with the youth for baptisms. Today was the day I would tackle the patio. It was a great day. The weather was cool with spats of rain from time to time. Nothing that stopped my progress though. I ate cottage cheese to get me started then went to work. It felt to good to be busy and active. I worked for a good three hours. Sonnet ended up coming home mid morning because the Larsen’s plans changed. When I was ready for a lunch break I suggested we go out to the Sugar Mill for steak salads. Those steak salads are so good. We had a very nice lunch together.

We stopped by Home Depot on the way back to the house and got supplies for the patio. Sonnet helped me put up new shade screens. I kept at it and finished right on time. I needed to finish at 4:45 to take my shower and be dressed and ready to leave by 5:30. Stephen & I had a retirement dinner to attend. The dinner was catered by Mossman’s but I was very good in the line. I only accepted the chicken and salad – that meant no huge, dense, delicious looking roll, yummy potatoes, or fresh fruit. Actually it was easy. I did grab a roll to take to Marie in the hospital. Yesterday while we were there she was saying how lousy the food was. The only good thing she had had was a big piece of white bread. When I saw that fresh bread in the dinner line I knew I’d take one and stop by the hospital on our way home. So that’s what we did. She laughed when I brought it in. At the end of the dinner they served cake but Stephen & I just headed out. After stopping by to take the bread to Marie, we made our last stop. The Neville’s were having their annual party and we did not want to miss it. It was late but the party was still going strong. We visited with many people then said goodnight. Mossman’s catered the Neville’s as well. Sonnet said she only had the tri-tip. Wow, we only had chicken at our dinner. On our way out I snatched a piece of tri-tip from the serving table – it was scrumptious. Good Day.

Sunday, June 7, 2009 Phase One day 6
Good Morning. Today is Fast Sunday so no breakfast before church. Choir, Sacrament Meeting, Sunday School and Relief Society were wonderful. I started feeling the hunger on the way home. Our Walkie-Talkie buddy, Taunie Thomas, came to town for a short visit. Shannon had us all over for a potluck dinner at 5:00. When I broke my fast I ate some cottage cheese and downed a couple bottles of water. I was very thirsty.

Sonnet & I decided to bring Chinese Chicken salad so we would be sure there was something there we could eat. I am very glad we did. The first thing I noticed when I hit the door was the delectable smell of cookies. Sure enough Shannon had made cookies and Texas sheet cake. Jami brought Blondies. I knew I was in for trouble. I leaned over to Sonnet and said, “I will be faithful but I want you to know this is going to be very hard for me.” She told me that she just sat through a ‘Break the Fast’ YSA dinner of Spaghetti with garlic bread and only ate some salad – And is she could do that, I could do this. She was right. The dinner entrees collected were chicken casserole, yummy potatoes, frog eyed salad and a giant bowl of superb looking pasta salad. There was one other thing – hot dogs. So….Sonnet & I were glad we brought the salad. She did tell me we could have hot dogs so I ate two of those with my salad. I think I went back for more salad and had another hot dog. The hot dags were a mistake – at least the last one was. Too much.

Back home I finished off the last little bit of salad. Tomorrow I go to San Diego with Steph so I will weigh in tomorrow morning. After tonight’s hot dogs I do not have that much hope – probably about 2 pounds. That’s not much for a first week. We will see. I am extremely proud of myself for getting things going again. I am proud of Sonnet also. She is amazingly strong when she is committed. She did say it started getting hard last night and was pretty rough today, but, we made it through and look forward to more success. I think I will post early since I will be gone tomorrow. You will just have to wait in suspense until next week to hear how we did.