Day 7

Last day of the easy week. I went for a splendid and long hike up Camel's Hump in Huntington, VT. I thoroughly enjoy hiking alone, as it is probably the longest I ever spend without communicating with other humans. It gives my mind time to relax and think freely. It also allows me to teach myself to motivate myself. Completely winded, with no real incentive of continuing, it can be tough to keep moving without a break.

Admittedly, I had a bit more fruit than usual today. I missed my normal lunch and was stuck volunteering for 5.5 hours and the only thing we had there I wanted to consume was fruit, and I was completely out of energy from the hike. I am feeling a bit better now though, after having some dinner.

At the Blood Drive one of the donors said "I think I'll just have some Cheez-it's" to me. The manner that he said it in immediately reminded me of the movie Idiocracy (worth a watch). I always feel a little ill when I think that it's exactly the direction society appears to be headed in, in which processed snacks are what you'd reach for over a fresh apple or pear after your blood is depleted.

I'll need to go buy food tonight... I'll be picking up meat (fish, only), and milk, two things I haven't been consuming for quite a while. I think I'll be needing more eggs as well. Maybe an eggplant too.

Day 6

Well, day 6. It's almost been a week! I'm proud to say I've not only stuck to the half diet well, but made healthy choices during this time.

Today at work I got a tip by way of 5 Ben & Jerry's free pint coupons. I've already given three away. I wonder if I'll want ice cream at all when this is over. It's too tempting carrying them around...

Tomorrow I'll be driving to a mountain to go hiking immediately after my workouts and breakfast, then volunteering again at an American Red Cross blood drive for 6 hours. At the very least I'll get to test out my new day pack! I'll also get to play with how far and fast I can hike on a light diet without the urge to consume a lot.

Day 5

Well, today I'm at the lowest weight I have been at since I was 18. I think it's largely due to paying attention to it so much. We have this postal scale at my job that we utilize for measuring the weight of e-waste (dead computers, etc). My entire time working there, It's never been able to take me. But it did today, with my clothes and such on. (I would hope so, being at work and all) So this made me ecstatic to finally seem to break free from the exact weight I've always measured at, even by a couple pounds.

My shoulders are definitely feeling the burn, I don't think I've done push-ups this many days in a row, ever. I love it.

I've been making sure my egg cooking skills are up to par, and that I'm not just scrambling them. I think it's coming along nicely.

This morning for breakfast I fried an egg and had half a diced tomato and 1/4 cucumber. I didn't put pepper on my egg this morning, to try to get more used to the taste. For lunch I had some rice, veggies and beans, and tofu. It was about 2 cups of food. I plan on eating something similar for dinner.

Local sustainability always excites me! I've been drinking a soy milk that's made in Vermont and certified organic by VOF (Vermont Organic Farmers), and today I just looked at the bottom before recycling the bottle and found the container is made just two towns from me! I like to find companies like this. Also, today I became a member at my local food cooperative. I realized in the coming weeks I'll be spending a lot of money there, and wanted to help support them better.

Day 4

Through a long and strenuous thought process, I had determined that I wasn't eating enough to feel healthy. After speaking to my housemate, we agreed that I should up my servings a bit, since I was already eating near-healthy portions before this started. So today I made more and better food.

I still feel hungry though.

Seabass also pushed me to eat a small chocolate/peanut butter treat and I finally obliged, unwillingly.

I've started cooking with tofu again and I had missed it. It's a good source of protein while I'm avoiding most meats. I should pick up some fish, but per pound the tofu is sooooo much cheaper! I honestly can't wait until the end of this week, as I'm feeling a little lost diet-wise and I look forward to a more instructed diet.

Today I spent a lot of time paying attention to customer's apparent physical fitness at work, and I've found it's very rare to find someone that appears to be in "peak" condition. This just makes me more interested in working toward it!

It's taken a bit to figure out exactly how to do the workouts, but my housemate's been a great help in the matter. Now to find a spot to mount that pull-up bar...

Day 3

I've been writing these pre-dinner, but my dinner has been very basic half sandwiches with a few veggies.

The hunger is definitely starting to get to me. It's not unmanageable though, and I'll get through it fine. The biggest thing I noticed was that unlike yesterday, today's lunch didn't satisfy in the same manner, despite being near identical in size.

This morning I started doing something Seabass had described, which was using a life counter die from Magic: The Gathering to count my jump rope sets, rather than keeping track of the sets in my head like I usually do. It definitely helped add a sense of precision to my workout.

Now I shall retreat to a video game for a bit, and have dinner.

Day 2

So... day 2 is near a close. It's odd being a half day behind everyone. Today I had an egg, 1/4 cucumber, half an apple, and a half cup of soy milk for breakfast. I made 3/4 of a cup of rice, and had half of that for lunch, with the other apple half. I also had only a couple of my trail-mix chunk snacks today. I'm learning to deal with the hunger better. Now to have a light dinner (which is usually sparse as it is).

The workouts are fun. While the jumps are easy, my abs are not so appreciative of the attention at the moment. I'm sure they'll learn better though. I find myself looking forward to tomorrow's exercises.

I've found two things that have really helped my eating less. One is to chew everything completely and slowly, and to eat slowly. The other is drinking a lot of water in-between meals. I don't drink coffee, and rarely tea, but I go heavy on the water. Video games are also great if you have a solid block of free time and are focusing on the hunger. Just get absorbed in it and you'll see the time fly by.

By Request...

Before:

After:

I probably wouldn't have noticed my head was misshapen if you hadn't asked for pictures! Crud.