I survived day one!

I managed to stick to the plan yesterday and even worked out for half an hour. I munched on some pickles and downed two glasses of Crystal Light after the gym, which gave me just eneough energy to watch The O.C. and crawl into bed.

Overall, it wasn't quite as hard as I expected, but I was hungry pretty much all day.

I weighed in this morning at 188.4, which is pretty disappointing since I weighed 182 a few weeks ago. I know I've been eating too much junk, so it's not a huge surprise. Hopefully that number will start to drop... and soon!

I am completely exhausted today and actually feel kind of sick to my stomach. I am starving but food is not appealing to me at all - at least not the foods I am allowed to eat! I sure could go for a bagel! I could hardly hold my head up most of the morning, but I can finally feel my energy level increasing little by little. Many people told me that days two and three are the toughest, so hopefully they are right and it will start to get easier next week.

Here is the plan for today:

B: omelet, raw veggies (I could only stomach a couple pieces of cucumber and some baby tomatoes)
S: 15 almonds
L: California Wraps (recipe below) and raw veggies with hummus
S: celery w/ reduced-fat Laughing Cow cheese, 3 baby dill pickles
D: leftover Balsamic Chicken and Sesame-Ginger Asparagus (recipe below)
D: same as yesterday ~ it was so good!

"California Wrap"

1 leaf red or green lettuce
1 slice turkey breast
1 slice ham
1 thin slice tomato
1 thin slice avocado
1 tsp lime juice
1 leaf watercress or arugula
1 tbsp sugar-free Ranch dressing (I'm using Renée's)

Fan the lettuce on a plate and top with turkey, ham and tomato.
In a small bowl, combine avocado and lime juice, then spoon over tomato.
Top with watercress or arugula, roll up and secure with a toothpick.

"Sesame-Ginger Asparagus"

1-1/2 lbs thin asparagus, trimmed and cut diagonally into 2" pieces
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger
1 tbsp lighte soy sauce
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sesame seeds

Bring 1/4" water to a boil in a large non-stick skillet over high heat. Add asparagus and return to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 5 minutes or until tender-crisp. Drain and cool briefly under cold running water. Wipe skillet dry.
Heat conaol oil in same skillet over high heat. Add asparagus, ginger, soy sauce and red pepper flakes and cook for 2 minutes or until heated through. Remove from heat and stir in sesame oil and sesame seeds.