Just a quick check in, because I feel SO MUCH BETTER today.
A few additional thoughts on my keys to success:
1. Go to sleep, dammit. Not doing so makes everything exponentially harder. It also diminishes your body's ability to burn fat, due to increased cortisol production and whatnot. So, yes, it's worth it.
2. Remember those veggies I mentioned? Super important. As is generally staying full. Drink water, eat veggies -- don't give yourself the opportunity to get desperate and possibly mess up.
3. Chill out about the number on the scale. Remember, it's a function of many things:
* How much food is in your gut.
* How much water is in your system.
* How much fat you're storing.
* How much muscle you're carrying.
So, in a related note, I splurged big time over the weekend, but mostly in volume. I had Pho, which doesn't have a ridiulous amount of calories, but does have an enormous volume of stock. Consequently, for a few days I "gained" weight. Obviously I'm not going to do this every day, or right before a weigh-in, but I also didn't freak out. Because I knew that I had temporarily increased the volume of water in my system, as well as a decent volume of stuff that my system would need to process out.
(Also, I weigh in when it matters in the morning. I need to hydrate throughout the day, and water has weight.)
So, related note: today I'm down 2 pounds!