Emily W.'s first post

Hey girls, I have just wrapped up Day 3 and have come to a few conclusions:
1. Three days of not eating much has felt like two weeks.  I can not imagine how long a month will be.
2. However, I am very surprised at how much I have gotten used to feeling a little hungry.  I realized that on a normal day, the second I feel a pang of hunger (or even just think I might be hungry in the future) I eat. This has been a good lesson that I don't need to eat nearly as much as I do.
3.  Just like Beverly said, I have realized how much I reward myself with food and drinks.  I reward myself with coffee in the morning, an Oreo at lunch, a Coke Zero at 3pm, another Oreo for dealing with a crying child, a glass of wine for getting through the day and another Oreo just because. I knew I rewarded myself some but I never realized to this extent.  Unfortunately I have not made it to Beverly's admirable goal of, "I want to turn my eyes to Him who is able to do all things and find my reward in Him" Thus far, I just keep thinking, "I miss my coffee, I miss my Coke Zero. I know God can satisfy all my needs but I have a very earthly craving for Coke Zero. I would prefer to be praying while drinking coffee."
4.  All of that being said though, I am really surprised that I am not very tired.  I thought I would have a major caffeine withdrawl but I haven't.  I think the healthy foods are helping out a lot.
5. I am amazed by how much time I have now that I am eating only simple meals and not snacking at all.  The only problem is that since I am used to rewarding myself as I do things, I have the time to do more but no drive to do it.  My Things to Do List is more dreadful with a hungry stomach and no reward.  I actually found myself taking a nap today with the boys even though I wasn't very tired -- I just didn't want to address my TTD list!

I have tweaked this month a bit to suit my personality.  The week leading up to when I started this I had basically worked myself into an anxious, angry tizzy at the thought of being hungry.  I live and breathe for food.  I can tell you almost every thing I have ever eaten because I remember food the way men remember sports statistics.  I had gotten myself into such a funk before I even started this that I decided to alter a few things.  I eat one cup of brown rice and 1/2 cup of beans for one meal a day.  The other meals I eat only healthy, real things (nothing processed) and I don't snack in between meals or drink anything besides water. Over the three days so far I have eaten eggs, toast, strawberries and chicken. Even doing those things I have still felt hungry all day and each day I have still come up 200 calories short so I need to be more well rounded in what I eat.

I have lots more thoughts but my stomach is growling so I want to get to bed!