August 8th, 2011 - Day 30 of 60

For my last day of the liquid-only portion of the Reboot I decided to go with just water and lemon/lime/orange as a garnish.  Beats me why, but I guess I thought it was fitting.  Perhaps the simplicity of the sustenance reflects my attitude toward the end of the first half of the Reboot?  I wish I could say, "Oh, it was such a struggle and I am so proud of myself for being able to get through it".  The truth is, it was pretty easy.  Sure, the first few days are always odd as you don't know how your body will react, but I can honestly say it has been really wonderful and really easy.  I was at the point where even though I ate a good diet generally, I had allowed myself to indulge far too much in treats (mainly on beer, potato chips and chocolate).  That adds up quickly.   All my pants were getting too tight and I just didn't feel as good as I expected. I was really sick and tired of it.  After a few days, I was feeling absolutely wonderful.  That made it a piece of cake.  Considering how much weight I needed to lose, I lost a lot of weight very quickly (maybe too quickly).  We'll see how that goes.  But as this part winds down and the next part begins, I am starting to feel a bit of trepidation. I am starting to think that the next phase might be more of a challenge than the first part.  I've been thinking about my food for the next few days and I am pretty sure I know what I am going to do:  I'll probably just eat fruit, nuts, almond butter and salad for the last part of the Reboot.  That has been my plan from the start, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, I didn't want to lock myself into anything if my body thought otherwise.  I was always sure that 30 days was my goal for the juice/smoothies-only part, but I wanted to give myself a bit of grace in case I wanted to stop sooner or continue longer.  I am starting to feel the social friction with my family over not eating, so the combination of my excessive weight loss and family pressure makes my original goal of 30 days with the liquid portion a good one. 

So, probably a smoothie early, fruit through the day with a smattering of nuts or nut butters, another smoothie later and a salad for dinner.  Between the smoothies and the salad I should have more than enough veggies even though I'll be doing less.  Of course, for a day or two I might give myself a treat and skip the smoothie so I can learn to chew again. :) I'll have to try and find a smoothie I can stomach with an even higher veggie-to-fruit ratio. That will be the bulk of my second half.  To many it may sound boring, but to me it sounds like heaven.  My only concern is the possibility of overeating.  I am hoping the last 30 days will have changed me in such a way that less food is enough.  Then, of course, there is the concern of gaining the weight back.  That will only happen if I don't watch what is happening.

And, of course, now that the next half of the Reboot starts tomorrow, I'm allowing myself to look beyond to the end of the Reboot and to "normal life".  My feeling is that I'd probably continue on, in general, with a diet similar to that of the second half of the Reboot except my dinners would be a bit different.  Two smoothies a day (larger emphasis on veggies and less on fruits and fewer ounces to drink) will still be there, but I will have to find some kind of variety for dinner so my wife doesn't murder me.  So, I'll use the guidelines in Dr. Fuhrman's book and see how that goes.  I may mix Dr. Fuhrman's information with Macrobiotics and see how that works out.  There will be a bit less fruit in the cold weather, but I do enjoy my fruit, so we'll see.  I think I can get my wife on board easier with the beans and lentils and some rice now and then in there.  If she knows she can cook something and it isn't all raw she'll be more likely to jump on the bandwagon. 

So, for now, as I sip the water from day 30 I'll just have to trust myself and my body to do the right thing for the next 30 days.  If I need help, I'll put a shout out to the Rebooters.  I know you'll be there.

Progress:

I am 50% through the 60 days.

Weight: 145.8 lbs.

Food: Water with a few squeezes of citrus.