So, my plan to post every day about my experience on the SBD isn’t exactly working out. I was so exhausted by the end of Day 1 (not due wholly to the diet) that I went to bed at 9:00. And last night I just didn’t feel like it. So here’s a post to make up for my laziness.
So far, so good. I am usually somewhat hungry, but not ravenously so. The mornings are the hardest, mostly because I’m used to eating a rather large breakfast. I also can’t count on my mid-afternoon sugary snack, so I am leaving lunch until the last possible moment to make the afternoon easier to deal with.
On Day 1, I followed the recommended guide for breakfast and ate two of the “egg cups” I made Sunday night. They were singularly unfulfilling. Amy called mid-morning and said she looked up the nutritional information for them and found they each had only about 75 calories whereas for other mornings, a fluffy 2-egg omelette with low-fat cheese was permitted at over 250 calories. Clearly, something was wrong. Nonetheless, I decided to soldier on and wait until it was time for my skim-milk mozzarella stick (at about 10:00).
Just seconds after I hung up the phone, it rang again. It was someone from the Dean’s office letting me know about the surprise bagels-and-coffee party for the Dean on Boss’ Day! Oh joy. I like the Dean very much, so I dragged my starving body up to the office and sat in the midst of sweet, sweet bagels and real, full-fat cream cheese for about 20 minutes or so, resisting the urge to just put my face in the bowl. If the morning of Day 1 is this bad, what are the next 13 days going to be like?
To be honest, the rest of the day wasn’t bad. The chicken-pistachio salad for lunch was filling, and the celery sticks with low-fat cream cheese as a mid-afternoon snack hit the spot.
Amy had a tasty fish dinner ready not too long after I got home, and I did manage to stomach a ricotta-based “dessert” that was sweetened with sugar substitute and flavored with vanilla extract.
Day 2 started off more promising as I had a nice 2-egg omelette for breakfast. The morning was, thus, far more tolerable that the previous day. Today, however, the afternoon was harder; for some reason, the chicken salad didn’t satisfy as well. I also had to face another temptation when a woman from one of the research programs came by with home-made cardamom rolls. She offered me one and I had to politely decline. “Oh, you don’t like cardamom?” she asked. “No,” I replied almost tearfully, “I like cardamom very much.” I had to turn and walk away lest my salivating be miscontrued.
Dinner (lemon salmon with asparagus) was most welcome, despite the fact that Ray was acting like a little crank-monster and I couldn’t really enjoy my food. The ricotta nightmare tonight had cocoa and five whole chocolate chips.
Overall, I have to say that I am appreciating food more knowing that it is available in limited quantities. After leaving a meeting on Tuesday, I had a distinct urge to go get a big load of bad Chinese food from the student union — which, under other circumstances, I would have done. It would have been tasty, filling, and would have given me a big jolt of energy until I crashed down hard again a couple hours later. Since I didn’t have that option, I returned to my desk and ate my salad slowly over the course of a half-hour. I was able to focus more on the flavors, too. I’m also much more likely to take time and eat lunch because I know that I don’t have the safety net of a quick energy fix (read: Snickers bar) later in the afternoon.
The biggest challenge thus far has been planning. Day 1 was fine — all taken care the night before. But since I was so exhausted Monday night, I failed to do any prep and had to rush around like a crazy person Tuesday morning to get every prepared before my bus arrived.
