I'm back......armed with a new attitude and a new eating plan.

My daughter, Amy, came over for dinner last Sunday. I hadn't seen her for 8 days. She walked in and my jaw dropped. "Wow, you are getting skinny" I said. My son in law responded "She sure is, tell your mom about the skirt". Amy replied that she had bought this skirt 3 weeks ago and it was waaaay too small, on this day she put it on and it was even a little loose. I knew she had been following The Fast Metabolism Diet and she informed me that she was on the last day of the 28 day program and had lost 13 lbs. during that time period.

I downloaded the book to my nook that evening and decided that I was going to give myself a week to read it and get ready. The book is an easy read and it makes sense, especially in light of how well it worked for Amy. The premise of the book is that we use diets that starve our bodies, making it impossible for them to function properly so they shut down. They stop burning fat and start hoarding the fat. The liver, adrenal glands and hormones are stressed to the max and don't work any better than we do when we are under stress. Haylie Pomroy has developed an eating plan that has you follow 3 phases of eating a lot of food in each week for a total of 4 weeks. She claims the plan, by limiting the types of foods you eat, allows your body to heal and function properly.

A couple of things have me nervous about starting this plan.

• I have a house full of company
• I am not allowed any coffee
• I am not allowed any alcohol 
• I must eat every 3-4 hrs.

 Here is why I figured now is as good a time as any.

• My company is my family who are very health conscious and will help me in this endeavour.
• I find that I only drink more than 1 cup of coffee if I am sitting around in the morning being lazy. As soon as I get moving, my coffee gets forgotten. I will just get up and at em immediately upon awakening. This will work out better anyway since my first meal must be within a half hour of arising.
• I drink way too much alcohol anyway and it is not going to be easy for me regardless so when I start this plan I will just have to plan, plan and plan some more.

Today is my first day following the plan.  Phase 1, today and tomorrow, is the high glycemic, moderate protein and low fat phase.  Since we are carbing up on these 2 days this is also the time period where we include cardio exercise into our routine.

After a breakfast of steel cut oats, blueberries, strawberries and rice milk. I went for a 3.5 mile brisk walk.  When I got home I snacked on watermelon.  Lunch was 5 oz. of water packed tuna over a bed of  spinach, red pepper, cucumber, apple, carrots and celery sprinkled with some balsamic vinegar.  

I have preplanned my afternoon snack of peaches as fruit is the required snack for the next two days. For dinner I will be having chicken and broccoli  over brown rice.  Should I be up longer than 3 hrs after dinner, I am required to have another fruit serving.

My starting weight is a whopping 184 lbs.  Most of that weight is in my midsection which is, of course, the worst place of all.  This eating plan is supposed to target belly fat so I am hoping to end up healthier and more comfortable in my body by the end of this 28 day period.

Wish me luck!!