Week 4 VLCD

Day 22: Friday

Weight:179.7 lbs (-0.5)

Glad to be down! Focusing on eating potatoes. Want to keep going down instead of bouncing up again! (Very frustrated with the up and down at 180)
Started with coffee because of work. Didn't have lunch till 12:30 just my potatoes with salsa
For dinner I also did potatoes with salsa and some asparagus, which are crazy low in calories 6 spears for 18 calories!
Hubby and I had a movie night so I allowed myself some popcorn

Eating Window: 12:30-5:00 (snack at 7:30)
Total Calories: 485 Cal
Weight: 179.7

Day 23: Saturday

Weight: 179 (-0.7)

Excellent! Finally. Hoping to keep the trend going. Off to work so I took a coffee which I didn't have till 11:15. Brought my potatoes.
My In-laws popped by for my break and asked if I wanted to something from Starbucks, figured a cookie would be fine because I wouldn't be able to eat my lunch. We sat and visited. My mother-in-law asked if I had lost weight :D
On my next break I put the cookie into my counter.... 370 calories!!! WHAT oh my god. Stupid cookie. Grrr.
Between my coffee and cookie I ate my preferred amount of calories. I decided that unless I'm super hungry I won't have anything else. If I'm hungry I'll have asparagus. It's not going to hurt me not to have dinner.
It's amazing how eating is such a social activity and how you can over eat if you're not paying attention. Another thing I've been surprised with is how little I'm actually hungry. People reflecting on my "blogs" might think I'm starving ALL the TIME, but I'm truly not. I'm surprised that I'm not hungry more often, but I'm usually only hungry at lunch and dinner. I think eating and snacks become a habit.
Even now (7pm), with only the cookie and coffee I'm not feeling hungry.

Eating Window: Cookie at 11:15
Total Calories: 475 Cal
Weight: 179 lbs

Day 24: Sunday

Weight: 178.6 (-0.4)

Yay. Down again! Very glad that I was able to make it without eating. So I'm still sticking with the plan not to eat until dinner. I just want to enjoy dinner without having to have less.
I spent the morning helping my mom prep for thanksgiving dinner :)
I was so surprised when I realized I had made it 24hrs without anything (11:30) but I also realized that I would have to go another 7 hours before dinner.
Around 4 I started getting hungry but just busied myself with family and computer.
Once we sat down to dinner around 630, I wasn't as hungry and I was excited to eat. I dished out my planned amounts of everything, which was much less than I would have dished out prior to my weightloss journey. I ate slowly and after I finished I felt very comfortable and happy. I wanted more but I recognized that it was because I enjoyed the flavor, not because I was hungry. I resisted an extra scoop of my favorite broccoli casserole.
I didn't eat as much cauliflower mash, my sister-in-law brought because it was so garlicy.
I originally only had only a couple of bites of pumpkin pie, but after falling asleep and coming out to say good night to family friends who were leaving. I plated the final piece of the pumpkin pie, and ate it. Wasn't plan, enjoyed it, and felt guilty. However, I realized that I wouldn't have it again till Christmas so I accepted it and went to bed.

Eating Window: 630- 845 (31 hr fast)
Total Calories: 876 cal
Weight: 178.6

Day 25: Monday

Weight: 178.9 (+0.3)

Excellent! Obviously not happy about the gain, but I am about the amount. I was sure I was going back up to 180 and I'm so over that.
My husband really wanted to make breakfast for us this morning, I was planning on kindly refusing but he cooks so rarely.
I helped make blueberry sauce and the bacon.
I was originally going to set it aside and just have it at lunch, but I knew he wanted me to have it now.
I calculated the calories for the waffles, not bad at 128. So I had one waffle and a 1/4 c of blueberry sauce instead of syrup; 21 cal instead of 60 cal. All about the small choices right.
I wasn't hungry at lunch time but was at 3, so I had an early dinner. Just my potatoes.
Feeling very happy and accomplished. Looking forward to seeing how much I loose tomorrow, hoping to get to loosing 1.9 this week.

Note: I will say that I'm finding myself tired. I go to bed around 9 and am up at 6. But in the afternoon I could go to bed at 3. I'm planning of getting some energy tea, or keeping my coffee.

Eating Window: 9:45 - 3:00
Total Calories: 349 cal
Weight: 178.6

Day 26: Tuesday

Weight:178.4 (-0.2)

Think about how long it will take to loose the weight. *sigh* If I loose a minimum of 2 lbs/week I'll loose 20 by Christmas, and hopefully be 158 which is the lowest I'll have ever been (160 was the lowest). I'm feeling a bit of frustration with the time, just waiting and wanting to get there. I'm just wanting to meet all my goals, want to get to 170, so I can get to 160, so I can focus on getting to 140. Because I'm thinking about what I'll look like in clothes :)
I've been trying to find full body shots, but like most bigger people there are very few. I'll be compiling them for comparisons.
Started with a coffee this morning, then lunch at 11:45. I had a 1/4 c of refried beans and kale salad with no dressing.
Then my vegetarian borscht with sour cream for dinner at 5:15

Eating Window: 11:45-5:15
Calories: 546 cal
Weight: 178.4

Day 27: Wednesday

Weight: 178.4 lbs

Damn! Nothing. I was really hoping to lose 20 lbs this month. Oh well, I can't dwell on it.
Off to work so I started with my coffee.
For lunch I wanted to get back to basics so I had a potato with salsa, and 1/4 c raspberries. I loved the raspberries and truly enjoyed them. That's the amazing thing about not eating treats, you enjoy them so much more than when you have them all the time.
Dinner I was surprisingly not hungry so I had a 1/4 c of refried beans and sweet kale salad with dressing.

Eating Window: 12:30 - 5:30
Calories: 461 cal
Weight: 178.4 lbs

Day 28: Thursday

Weight: 177 lbs (-1.4)

OMG I did it. -20lbs in a month yay!! I definitely notice the difference and I'm so happy to be down. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and I'm ready to keep going.
Although I've lost 20lbs I can't believe how much more I still need to go. I am also prepared with the knowledge that it's unrealistic to lose 20lbs in this next month. I'm looking for more like 8-10lbs lost this next month. I'm hoping that I'll lose more but 2lbs a week in reasonable and I need to be happy with that.
Today my husband was off so we went to town and did errands. I made it very clear to start that I had a plan for lunch and that was what I was having so we had to be back by 12. We stuck to it, I was late with a 1:00 lunch but only had some hard candies to tie me over.
I made a realization as we were out. I believe that weightloss is difficult because you are always having to say no.
 "I really want pizza" "NO" "Oh look A&W" "NO" "Maybe a hotdog at Costco" "NO" 
It's hard and tiring to always say NO, it's easy to say "YES", however, it gets easier! Soon the longing, turns to instinctive NO, and it helps to make a plan before.

For lunch I had 2 scrambled eggs, asparagus and raspberries :)
Only a few hours later I was hungry again, which bothered me because that hasn't happened lately. So I went for veggies with taziki dip.
I went off to work with my coffee and brought some food but I was hoping to get through without it. Fortunately I did. I was also able to make it through without drinking my coffee :)
That evening I was hungry at 930 while in bed. I knew that if I got up I would eat. I had an internal dialogue about what I would have if I did, even plunked it into my counter. But I said, just go to sleep, you can eat in the morning, you can make it.
If I hadn't fallen asleep or I couldn't hold off I would have had raspberries, orange, and an egg. But I did fall asleep and it's the next day. Waiting, can sometimes be the best aide in determining how hungry you are.

Eating Window: 1:00-3:30
Total Calories: 376 Cal
Weight: 177 lbs

Week Four Recap:

Total Weight Lost: (-2.7lbs)
Total Calories: 3568

Overall Loss: -20lbs!!!