Day 2: Tossing and Churning

Those who have tried to diet after a lengthy spell of bulky eating may nod in recognition at this. Despite having turned in at 3 AM last night, it still took me about two hours to nod off. While in bed, less than an hour after my third and last meal of the day, my stomach growled for the first time.

I found, though, that accepting myself as being fat, and having a liking for what got me there, has a soothing effect that makes dieting easier. I'm beginning to feel something akin to nostalgia for my earlier gorgings. It's as if I had had to move from Fat County to Diet County and am beginning to have fond memories of the former. Remembering the good times, I've found, also keeps me from going fanatical, and has mostly quelled the headaches.

Of course, there are still the stomach aches. I've continued drinking water copiously as a food-substitute, and have found that at times it makes the achings worse, but at other times it doesn't. How you react to such a pain is likely to determine your success in sticking to your diet.

Another side effect of drinking a lotta fluids: it makes your colon act in a manner similar to getting a case of diarrhea. Enough said about that.

I'm past the first day on a 850 calorie/day menu, and I have a couple of tips that might be helpful to anyone starting out:

Tip 1: Prepare for the possibility that you won't get much sleep the first night of your diet. If you sleep with someone else in the same bed, this may mean taking to the couch or a spare bed, or at least warning the other person in advance.

Tip 2: I haven't felt any metabolism slowdown, because I've been swamped with work. It's too early to say definitively, but I have a hunch that beginning a diet at a time when you're swamped with repetitive tasks which you're already good at - but not new tasks - might counteract the metabolism slowdown. It certainly helps get you through the day after a near-sleepless night.


Weight as of approx. 6 PM today: 259 lbs. This lack of drop between yesterday and today doesn't bother me for two reasons: first of all, I can attribute it to the water intake, as I saw my weight go up 3-4 pounds earlier today after gulping down several mugs' worth; secondly, I tightened my belt up a notch relative to where I wore it as of the end of last month.