A friend invited me on Sunday night to join a group she was pulling together to tackle the 17-day diet. I decided to jump in and give it a go. So, I started on Monday, here we are at day three and this morning I was down 3.5 lbs. Sure, most of it is prb water, but I'll take it - especially after the plateau I had hit after losing 10 lbs from hitting the treadmill every night.

Sure the first 17 days are a bit of a cut back... no booze, no sweets, no bread, no corn, no pasta, no red meat. But in addition to the immediate response from my body I can also say I've not been hungry (aside from when I didn't take anything for lunch yesterday and quickly realized nothing in the cabinet was okay save an apple and some carrots). I can also say that it encouraged me to try Kefir, which is basically like a drinkable yogurt and delish, as a means to hit my two probiotic intakes for the day. The other shift is to try and get two fruits before 2pm. As with any recommendations for health they want me to drink way more water than I can get in at this point, but I'm working on it.

Now, the second set of 17 days bounce back and forth between the phase 1 diet and a day when you can eat some red meat, beans, corn, and other items that are sliced off the top for the first 17 days.

Truly, the win here is "diet" sounds like forever. While I know it has to be a lifestyle change after I get to the weight I want, these small "bites" of harsh reality are good. Now, my only question is: how am I going to survive the work picnic and turn down the cotton candy, sno-cones, free alcohol, and other goodies?