I apologize for being absent for the past month or so from blogging. I have been under a lot of stress recently, both from my parent's divorce and work. I have also been crazy busy with work, keeping the house clean, taking care of Stanley, traveling, etc. and just haven't had a whole lot of time. Now that work is starting to be on a regular schedule again, I hope to be able to blog a little more frequently.

Although, I'm not going to make any promises.

Today (if it stops raining) is the first day of tennis practice (the other sport I provide care for). I have a nice two month overlap between basketball and tennis. I don't think it will be too bad as I only have to cover home tennis matches (no practices or away matches), and I will be getting help covering those from my co-workers. Regardless, I think my level of business is going to get worse before it gets better.

Also, you are probably wondering about my one week cleanse. I didn't get a chance to weigh in on Day 7, but on Day 6 I had lost 3.5lbs. Don't worry. Despite the fact that I was sick all weekend and hardly ate anything, I still managed to gain back 2.5lbs. Losing weight is a silly thing.

The cleanse wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

The easiest goal for me was drinking 64oz. of water a day. I didn't feel like it was any more than I usually drink. I think for me the problem is that I exercise a lot for distance running and triathlons, but I still only drink 64oz. of water those days. I need to work on drinking an increased amount on work out days instead of maintaining the 64oz. a day that I drink on the average off day.

The hardest goal was surprisingly limiting my caffeine intake. I typically have a 16oz. thermos of coffee in the morning and a Diet Coke with dinner, so in comparison to other people (or in comparison to my college self), its not that much, but the withdrawal symptoms are still brutal. Plus, its just a habit to throw together a cup of coffee with my quick and easy Keurig in the morning. I was kinda expecting it to be more difficult to give up sweets knowing my sweet tooth. I honestly didn't think about sweets that much until they were standing right in front of me. It was hard going into the kitchen wanting a snack without a thought of what I felt like eating and then seeing the left over Christmas cookies.

What I took away from this is that I am most definitely a grazer (I had a pretty good idea about this already). I feel like I would be pretty successful with dieting if I had a food plan. Its easy for me to say no to something if I know it strays away from "The Plan". But when diets leave food choices up to the dieter (like say Weight Watchers), its harder for me to say no to bad foods, essentially screwing myself over when I've eaten a day's worth of calories for breakfast.

The best part about this diet is that I didn't have to count calories. Keeping tracking of caloric intake/output can getting confusing and stressful. There are plenty of other things on my mind that the last thing I want to think about is "So, did I eat that granola bar this morning or yesterday morning?" or "Exactly how many calories are in an apple anyways?" I think this diet work despite not counting calories for two reasons. When I made eating a certain number of fruits and veggies and drinking a certain amount of water a priority, I felt more full sooner. I didn't have as much room in my stomach for more calorie dense foods. Second, I typically have a pretty unhealthy diet (I'm a triathlete, I can eat whatever I want, right?). When I replace bad food with good food, my body will naturally respond positively and will gravitate towards a healthier weight. Ben and I have discussed in the past what a healthy weight for me should be. He keeps telling me that the weight I was meant to be is the weight my body wants to be. With my unhealthy diet, my body likes 130lbs. With the healthy diet, my weight plummeted 3.5lbs. in 6 days. Just think where it could be if I ate healthy all the time! Not that 130lbs. is unhealthy for my height (BMI = 22.3), but if eating unhealthy maintains my weight at 130lbs., maybe it isn't healthy for me.

I have 14.5 weeks left until the cruise...and 11lbs. left to go!