Going back to the Strict Diet?

Being on a strict Diet is realistically never an easy thing to do. Ups and downs are part of the game – a mandatory learning curve, almost impossible to avoid. This is my experience so far, I'm learning what I want for my health, my body, for myself to feel comfortable with how I look (that not necessarily is the same as the one perceived by others).

My Dr. Bernstein Diet has been inspiring to me, very helpful; I learned beyond my expectations, also about myself and my weaknesses.

The reality is that when you approach this type of Diet, it's really hard to succeed the very first time. You try, you lose weight and you feel fantastic. But then you crave food, you want to be rewarded for such privation…and you gain back – if not all, some. It's here that you realize that you have to try again, that this is part of the learning process on how to make your everyday diet better, healthier and how to stick with it.

I found myself gaining weight only having 2/3 tbsp of peanut butter with my celery, I noticed on how my body complaints every time I eat processed food. I'm thirsty all day long and I learnt how to drink big amount of water in less than 60 seconds!

But me too, with all my love for sweets and chocolate, I'm going back to the strict diet. Sometimes I think that I'll be paying like $100 per Kg that I want to lose, is it worth it? Why I can't do it myself?

The answer is only one for me: no I can't, I might be able to maintain what I have, struggling on what I eat but I'm not able to lose 5 Kg by myself.

My experience so far is positive at the end. My love for cooking is hyperbolically increased and I'm craving organic fruits and vegetables every day. I don't even consider the idea to go back on eating junk food, and if I do – seriously – my stomach hurts like I'm dying!

My biggest challenge so far then it was, not the junk food, but the portion control; being in maintenance with this unlimited-vegetables pattern really did not work for me, switching between the different week of Maintenance program it's just a stupid thing. This is the only negative part I can tell about the Dr. Bernstein Diet plan; they should re-visit Maintenance – unless it's a marketing idea to have customers coming back for the strict diet!

I'm still going to the gym, like 3 times a week, I'm wondering if I will be able to still do it when I'll be back on the strict Diet, but I really hope so. Building muscles and exercising is a boost for the mood and the scale. Everything requires time, my job, my age surely doesn't help my weight loss program; but hey what can I do?!

I recently signup on one of those Organic Delivery Programs that some company/farmers do here and there, it's really nice and the taste of the fruits and vegetables is amazing; but the weekly family basket lasts only 2 days for me…and I'm single. This is because – at the end- the whole I eat are vegetables and fruit, with small amount of proteins to compliments my vegetables. I don't have any processed food in my apartment; in the freezer I only have my fish and some frozen vegetables, in the fridge tons of vegetables and some whole wheat/grain bread. I don't even remember what I used to store in my fridge when I was eating junk food? Maybe a frozen pizza? Maybe real eggs instead of my egg whites cartons.

But I do have my weaknesses now and then; I believe that a life without chocolate is not life at all. So sometime I buy the dark chocolate chips and I add them to my Plain 0% Greek Yogurt – it's super delicious – but again what's not delicious with chocolate in it?

Maintenance Month 2

I'm back on my blog to tell more about my journey, after a terrible behaved Maintenance period.

After I finished my strict Diet I found myself literally obsessed with food. The only thing I could think of was eating, and having a "free eating day" was ending on eating till I was sick. Indeed the worst way to end a Diet.

I do still enjoy having my healthy food and hopefully this will never change. It is definitely changed the way I do my grocery shopping and the way I drink and consume calories.

I signed up at the gym about 10 days ago, hopefully this will help me to build some muscles and increase my metabolism. I don't feel weak anymore, sometime a bit dizzy but not comparable to the strict diet period. One thing that happened though is that it's been almost 3 months that I missed my period. They did all the tests at the clinic but all negative, so I'm not really sure what happened and why I'm missing it. Eventually I should go to a gynecologist to check if everything is ok.

I obviously gained 3Kg since I stopped my diet, but I've to say this weight is due to specific events. I went to the Apple Pie Trail for few days with my (now ex) boyfriend and we basically eat every moment something sweet apple based, I think I came back with 4Kg more only for that trip!

I also had few Holidays parties in the office and the food was always great, especially the sweets so I could not resist temptations.

Now Christmas is coming soon and the idea to be on a strict Diet is unrealistic so, I'm trying to contain myself on eating too much and still enjoying the holidays.

I've to say what I'm not missing are carbs, I usually have my regular serving portion per day, no more no less; but what's contributing to my weight gain is the amount of sugar – specifically chocolate  that I'm having lately.

Things are not going very well for me - which it might be only an excuse that's true – but my concentration and motivation is very low. I ended recently my relationship, at work things are moving slowly and not in the direction that I was hoping to. I tried to get a cat but – after the difficulties I had to adopt a pet from shelters – I'm having second thoughts and I put on hold this idea for now.

I'm seriously thinking to go back to the strict Diet in January, just the $600 are making me undecided about it! I want to go back to where I was when I started my maintenance and try again. I got obsessed at the end of my Diet and this did not help me to stay on track with my Maintenance, I did not realize that I need to live my food in a different way, my body is not ready to eat too much, a small amount of food more than the allowed one and I gain weight. My belly is growing again, and I hate it.

I don't feel motivated in the same way anymore, but I still want to believe in the Dr. Bernstein Diet because for me is the only one that works, the injections are miracles on my fat, the ketosis is a genius idea but everything belongs to a learning curve and I might need to do it again and again before I really learn what I'm doing with my Diet and with my life. 

My first week on Maintenance

I'm almost at the end of my unofficial Maintenance Program, yesterday I had my single weekly injection and today my weight was somehow less than what I was expecting, could this be connected with my injection? I was happy for my weigh-in anyway.

I'm not really following the Maintenance Program to be honest; I'm still more towards the strict Diet with an open mind on my vegetable intake. Saying unlimited vegetable does not seem realistic for me, I don't think eating 5 avocados a day or 2 Kg of zucchini will help maintaining my weight, quite the opposite. Everything should be in moderation and I think they should have a limit for the vegetable even during the Maintenance Program, maybe increasing it with the weeks but not let people go nuts eating Dill Pickled or cucumbers all day, and trust me when you've been on a Diet for so long you want to eat whatever it's allowed to.

Yesterday I had a couple of concerns to tell to the nurse, since I went down with my Potassium I'm experiencing dizziness and I had light headache for the whole weekend. Asking the Dr. Bernstein doctor is pretty much useless; he comes back to me always with the same answer/question: why don't you ask your family doctor of why you have this dizziness, headache, weakness feeling... Why are you here exactly? And why am I even talking to you? Those would be my questions to him.

I went downstairs in the PATH today to look for some herbal teas and I finally found a whole package of my Celestial Black Cherry Berry Herbal Tea, I use to find it only in a multi-flavours package, now I've the whole deal, I also purchased a full package of blueberry herbal tea from the same brand. I'm getting addicted to these herbal teas and they are delicious, I don't really need anything else to drink in the morning, well actually through all day, they help me a lot with my desire of eating a snack or something.

I decided to go for brunch this coming Saturday as well, I am actually thinking to go for brunch every Saturday from now on, if I don't see sensible weight gain during the week, I'd like to be always in the 53-something Kg for my weight and keep it to this level for the whole Maintenance Program and obviously even after. This is the weight where I feel more comfortable with. I thought if I can manage to have this weight for the whole week I can reward myself with an unhealthy brunch with French toast, Pancakes and sunnysideup eggs with a cup of coffee!

Eating healthy

Eating healthy is definitely now my lifestyle choice, not just because I'm forced to stick with my weight but because I enjoy it. I love my salads, I love my Jell-Os and my cinnamon warm apple, I don't want to give up my healthy cooking habits for a double cheese-burger and French Fries, my stomach does not like it an neither do I.

I'm going to buy again the Ketostix and try to go back into ketosis to consume the fat that I gained with my sweets. It's clear that those sugar could not be processed properly by my body and it will be stored as fat, since I don't want that I'll try again to get rid of it going into ketosis. This morning I could already see my belly increased! No!

Today I'm supposed to start officially my Maintenance Program, but I won't, I might start during the weekend with the lower dosage of Potassium, without being in ketosis apparently, it's not good for my heart. I decided that I will continue with the strict Diet till I reach again my goal of 53.5Kg, after that I will eliminate one fruit from my servings and eat a bit more vegetables. Just this new habit, for sure, will increase my weight I know, I like too much zucchini or bok choy to resist of an unlimited temptation! 

My Birthday on Diet

So my birthday passed, with 1 more Kilo on my waist line. As I thought I gained 1Kg in 1 day for the chocolate brownies, my marshmallow square and the amazing dinner I had at night; totally worth the extra pounds but not happy about it. When you struggle so much to lose weight, you really don't want to do all over again. But at the same time I think: I want to have a normal life, I want to eat healthy but sometimes it's nice to go to a restaurant for a fancy dinner or a brunch. How can I manage to have both? Well I don't have a perfect answer for that. The only thing that comes in my mind right now is the gym.

For me the only way to manage the extra calories that I want to have in my life, it's consuming all – or almost all - working out. The reality is that muscles consume calories even when you sleep, when you walk, all the times, the more I will build muscles the more my metabolism will increase and my calories consumption will be higher. I don't want to give up too many things in my Diet or I won't stick with it, is that simple.

I had almost all week many moments where I felt very weak, due to my birthday excitement coming up, the idea of ending my Diet, I'm not sure exactly why but I had way too many extra chocolate protein bars in these days.

Yesterday I was looking forward to go back to my salad, yes because having the first sweet – on my birthday – was less enjoyable than I thought. I went to Starbucks to buy the Double Chocolate Brownie that I use to eat, I added an extra Marshmallow square that I like so much. After having my brownie my stomach felt funny, noisy, I didn't feel good at all. It was like a sugar-reaction from my body complaining to such unhealthy delicious food. It did happen something similar when I had a Dr. Bernstein protein bar once, but I didn't think it was for the processed-sugary food itself. 

My last Double Injection

Today I had my last double injection before starting my Maintenance in 2 days. I'm satisfied with my results beyond the expectations I've to say it.

Tomorrow is my birthday so most likely I'll gain 2Kg just with my double chocolate cheesecake that I planned to have, and something else more with the Italian schiacciata that I'm dreaming to eat since days. Strangely I'm looking forward more to the schiacciata than my chocolate birthday cake.

I've been having a bit more protein in the past few days, an extra protein bar or my portions a bit more than the allowed amount. I can't' believe I'm saying it, but I don't want to lose any more weight for now, plus this constant dizziness, lack of energy and headache is killing me. The doctor suggested me to have an extra protein serving for my constant feeling of hunger, so I'm kind of following his advice. I did not experience any weight gain so far, but if I'm having something more to eat, I'll choose it from the allowed food list, rather than buying junk food here and there.

On Sunday I had to come in the office to finish some work and after I was done I decided to stop by a metro grocery store to try to find my Cherry Black Berry herbal tea that I cannot find anywhere. I did not find it but I bought the berries one that I also like, while I was there I stopped by the Protein/Energy bars isle, it was full of different type of energy bars, all tempting really, I had to buy one for my chocolate craving so it took me some time to decide which one. I bought one called Solo by Gi brand, it was the only one I found with less calories and 10g of proteins. While I was going home after my grocery shopping I ate the bar while I was walking, that was the first time, since I started Dr. Bernstein Diet Plan that I was eating something outside the strict food list! The energy bar was absolutely delicious, giving that - as I always say - with 600/700 Calories per day, lots of things taste delicious.

Regarding the Maintenance Program, the portions are not clear to me; they base everything in ounces, which is just confusing. It should be from 7 ounces to 8-10 per day. What about egg whites? They're 9 ounces already! Now how much it is? I tried asking the nurses but they don't know either, they just suggested me to take a look at the booklet. The Maintenance little booklet is not the same as the Strict Diet one, which was very precise on portions and food types. The new booklet it's just a discussion on the benefits on keeping this healthy weight and things I can do now that I'm skinnier.

It mentions that vegetables now are unlimited, but not all of course, I can't have still potatoes, corn, peas or rice, which is ok, I really don't miss so much them, now that I've bok-choy and my mixed greens I'm super happy. Talking about vegetables I've to give all the honors to just one vegetable for my diet: Asparagus. This green un-tasty vegetable gave a consistent boost to my sad Diet; it made me lose weight fast and kept my bowel movement like a Swiss clock! Now I know that every time I need to manage some pounds off of my weight, I can count on it.

Quitting soon defeated

My Dr. Bernstein strict Diet is going to end very soon, to be precise in 5 days. I decided to go on Maintenance no matter what. I should lose another Kg – based on my personal goal - but my motivation went down to the drain so it's either a Kilo less by Tuesday or maintenance with a Kilo more. I could always manage to lose that Kilo during the maintenance program, also…I don't think so. Losing weight is more difficult than I thought; fluctuations are on a daily basis, even with such a ridiculous small amount of daily calories.

What's pushing me to stop the strict Diet is this constant state of weakness and starvation. I am always always hungry. I wake up in the morning starving with my stomach desperately growling for food. I cannot stand it anymore. I barely walk sometimes, I feel fainting very often, and I cannot enjoy strong physical activities whatsoever. This is not a normal life and I don't feel fabulous as the Dr. Bernstein doctor told me I should feel.

Tomorrow I've my bi-weekly doctor visit at the Dr. Bernstein clinic, I will tell him my physical situation and the reasons why I'm going on Maintenance starting next week. It will ok for them because I already reached my goal – based on their chart.

Yesterday I still had some traces of Ketosis in my sample, but I don't have that much fat left on me, I've to admit it. All my clothes are not fitting me properly now, apart from my skinny jeans. But I can't afford to change my whole wardrobe so I'll suck it up and wear oversized stuff for now. Maybe I'll buy one or 2 items, just for the office. Some people started to recognize my weight loss.

Next week it's also my birthday and I'm already dreaming of the double chocolate cake that I'm going to have. For just one day I won't care at all about the Diet or the calories intake. I'd like to have the delicious schiacciata that I use to love when working at the Italian bar. So far I've only these 2 wishes for my birthday.

What bothers me the most is my lack of strengths, it's something that I cannot stand, but I don't even have a way to react. I literally need to quit defeated. I cannot fight against it, I'm not strong enough anymore. Yesterday I was playing ping pong with my boyfriend and I had to force myself even to hit the little ball, to move left and right, WTH this is not me, I'm a full of energy person, I cannot stand this weakness anymore.

Another thing that I believe should not be the case in a Diet is this feeling hungry all the time, how can a normal person continue with it for months? Is there something wrong with me? Is my mind that it's making me think that I'm hungry but really I'm not? I can't come out with a logic explanation, so I guess it's just because I have only 600 Calories a day?

Lately I'm having 2/3 more Jell-Os than the allowed amount, one is 5 Calories that's why I'm not too concerned about it, and I can tell that it's not holding my weight loss so far. I love Jell-Os and it's the only thing that I look forward when I'm eating.

Almost there with my weight goal

Another week passed for my Dr. Bernstein journey. So far so good, finally I found a Diet that really works, strict true but which Diet allows you to eat chocolate and cookies? If you find it, please let me know.

This week I didn't lose much but it's ok, the scale this morning was displaying 54.7Kg (123.2lb for the clinic) and I literally don't recall last time I saw the number 54 when weighting myself on a scale! It could be during my years in University. That's a great motivation, yesterday my sister in law told me that I look 20 again, it might be not true ok, but I'll take the compliment anyway.

I'm craving sweets lately, in particular chocolate, I knew since begin of the Diet that I cannot attune myself to a life without chocolate, I simply cannot. So I bought another package of the Dr. Bernstein Protein bars today at the clinic. I personally like the Chocolate Decadent ones, but apparently the most popular one is the Peanut Butter Bar, I might like that too but I found Peanut Butter strong as flavour and will go cover my desired chocolate taste too much. It could also be that I'm European so Peanut Butter is not really in my genes as flavour.

Today I had my injection – for the second time – on my hips, I hope to lose some fat in that area, as woman with a job that requires an 8-hours sitting effort, it's the darn place where the fat mostly accumulates.

Their goal it's for me to go down MAX to 120lb but mine is 116lb / 117lb which is around 53Kg. I am still burning some fat; obviously I don't have the same amount as before, but still traces of Ketosis every morning. This lower goal weight will help me during Maintenance to manage any additional pound that I could gain – due to the new food amount intake. Let's be honest, this strict Diet definitely slows down your metabolism, if I go back on a semi-normal eating habit without being in Ketosis, how can I possibly maintain the same weight? I already gain pounds from one day to another just because I had 50g more vegetables than the recommended amount! I can only imagine with an unlimited veggie allowance.  

My body will need some time to re-adjust its metabolism, but I'm ok with that, I'll have the supervision of the Dr. Bernstein program, not without sacrifices I'm sure, but I'm confident that I can do it.

If you're reading this blog maybe you're thinking to join the Program or already into it, my opinion is that it works. No doubts period. If you don't feel strong with food restrictions or sweets/junk food then this Program is NOT for you. It is a strict diet, you need commitment, you need to be focused on your goals every day, and you need to be patience, avoid temptations, and accept a new eating life style, totally healthy. Everything you do in this Diet will soon make sense, it could become an obsession at begin, since you feel in need of food constantly; but it gets better with the weeks.

A month is passed for my Diet

My latest updates on my Dr. Bernstein Diet are all positives. I'm almost there in terms of goal weight, although in the past 3 days I didn't change not even for one single gram but it's ok, I don't want to pressure myself too much. I'm having one or two more Jell-Os in the evening – it is just 5 Calories at the end but it's my only treat for my extreme-sugar-tooth – and sometimes I put a bit more vegetables than the allowed amount, not too much like 10/20g more. I'm still eating less than 600 Calories per day at the end. But hey, this believe it or not could affect my weight loss.

My weight is down to 55.2Kg (124.4 lb based on the scale at the clinic) as per this morning. I can see myself skinnier in the mirror, sometimes a bit too much, I guess my eyes were used to see my big butt and now I'm kind of deflated, of course the gym would help eventually. I have only traces of ketosis lately, I'm not sure if it's because of the low amount of fat to lose left, or because I'm having so many herbal teas during the day. They really help me to fight the hunger, I'm discovering a total new world with those herbal teas; my favourite are the berries' ones.

Last weekend I was really busy and basically I had only a good breakfast and a good lunch, both Saturday and Sunday I had supper with just a bunch of sliced zucchini warmed up in the microwave, oh well of course my 2/3 Jell-Os – even if I'm dying I will never miss my Jell-O!  I had both days 100g of Cod Filet with mixed vegetables for lunch, I lost lots of weight in those 2 days, it might be the fish, it's very light and I was also pleased of the taste of my meals. To bring it in the office it's a bit difficult for me, I'm not really crazy of the idea of Microwaved Cod Filet, neither of the day-before-cooked Cod Filet, so I've to stick with something easier to warm up and bring at work. If I could only work from home sometimes, it would help me to manage my meals in a better way. Let's hope for better days.

Since I didn't reach my goal weight yet, today I purchased another 2 weeks of the strict diet – so for $310 I'll have 3 injections per week. Hopefully I'll be done soon; I won't lose my injections in case I reach my goal within 2 weeks timeline. Today I asked the nurse to do the injection on my hips instead of the abdomen; lately I didn't see any improvements on my belly fat, so I decided to switch somewhere else where needed, although the injection was not nearly painful, now I've my right hip all sore.

Sometimes I think on how will be my Maintenance program and how my body will react with the food amount change. I hope I won't gain weight or I would need to start again the strict Diet. At the begin I thought I would only need the single month of Maintenance included in the Plan and after that I could go forward by myself with all the insights I learned with the Dr. Bernstein Diet. Now I see things differently. I don't want to lose what I achieved with so many sacrifices, if this means staying in Maintenance for 1 year, I'll do it. But I'll decide on my way I would say, roughly I think I'll be on Maintenance a minimum of 3 months. 

Second Doctor Appointment

Since today is Friday I went to the clinic for my usual weigh-in and injection, I also had the doctor appointment. I was mentioning to the doctor that physically I feel weak all the times and, although I'm very pleased with the results, I don't have my usual strengths to do things I use to do. I use to walk to go to the clinic in the morning, now I don't feel having enough energy so I take the streetcar. He told me that it shouldn't be like this and I should feel just fabulous from all points of view. Which it sounds really nice true. So he decided to change my Cal-K pills from 6 a day to K-Lite 2 a day – one divided between lunch and afternoon snack. This K-Lite is a fizzy tablet that becomes really carbonated in the water with a colour and resembling taste of orange, he said like a FANTA, but I wouldn't believe that.

I tried the tablet and I almost throw up for the disgusting taste and gas that this thing emanates. It might works in terms of giving me energy, but it tastes awful and I can't drink it without feeling sick. I could have 40 pills a day but don't let me drink poison or I won't take it.

So I'll skip this K-Lite for now and stick to my 6 daily pills of Cal-K, during Maintenance I'll be down to just 2 pills a day, since I won't be any more in ketosis.

Since yesterday I cut one of my apples out and got back to the strawberries delight, they have way less calories than apples and my scale this morning was confirming me this thing as well, I'm back on 56.2Kg, which is my minimum so far.

I feel hungry all the times, I drink almost 3L of water every day and tons of other liquids, nothing helps when you're hungry, I don't believe in the theory that water makes you feel full, well then my water is defective.

I decided to eat every time I feel starving, if my stomach growls then I'll try to have something to eat. Ok the starvation and ketosis but I can't stand the growling part during a meeting, it's terrible. Of course I won't go over the allowed portions for the strict Diet. Vegetables are the only friends in this Diet, the total daily serving is 460g, which for a leafy green vegetable is a lot so when you're dying for some food or snack it comes handy having few grams of anything you can eat. Proteins and Fruits go very fast and the quantity is very limited so it's hard to help the cravings with those 2 servings. I don't even mention the Bread substitute ones, since they are almost inexistent. 

Maintenance Consultation

Yesterday I went to the clinic for my Maintenance Consultation. The nurse was kind of bored to go through the information regarding the plan but hey I guess it's her job. She was basically reading the little booklet – which she gave me at the end – any question I was trying to ask her was answered with a: "it's explained in the booklet for you to read…", I guess they could save some time to these nurses and just give us the booklet!

Anyhow, the Maintenance Program re-introduces some new types of allowed food, slowly, week after week. I'll be down to one fruit serving though, but the Protein intake will go from 7oz to 8/10oz, possibly divided in 3 portions during the day with a 4 hours interval between each other. Positive thing of the maintenance Program is having unlimited vegetables, not any type of vegetables of course but lots that I like, even eggplants in the first week.

One smart thing mentioned in the booklet is that is better to separate all the meal in many small meals during the day, rather than 2/3 big ones. It makes sense, having a huge lunch or dinner will not help maintaining the weight, it makes more sense to eat every 2 hours or so or whenever I feel hungry, of course without exceeding the recommended portions.

I'm happy to know that I can still have my 250ml of Jell-O and a new addition will be a free 110g of Plain 0% Yogurt that I could have for breakfast with my warm apple and cinnamon. I can now enjoy a bit more the rest of the Protein serving through the day.

I'm not ready to go to maintenance yet though, I want to reach my goal first, for them is around 120 pounds but for me is 53 Kg which should be just a bit less of that.

One of my daily Menu

I went to the clinic this morning for my usual injection and their weigh-in showed a weight increase of 1 pound. Unbelievable or not, I gained 200g based on my scale. I think it was something that I drunk yesterday, maybe too many teas with Splenda made me retain some water. Hopefully it's not going to stay; today I'll try to drink tea as less as I can.

Another thing that happened today is my new food discovery, this time it was not a mistake but a purposely decided breakfast choice that resulted in a delicious meal! I brought with me in the office my food for the day and for breakfast I had half of my usual asparagus omelet and – as additional dish to eat – I had the Plain 0% Yogurt where I added a warm apple cut in small pieces. To be honest I never had yogurt with apple before, I always preferred berries but the taste of the warm apple in my cool yogurt was absolutely delicious. Tomorrow I'll have the full serving instead of half of it.

Here's my menu for tomorrow:

BREAKFAST

•         175g LIBERTE' Yogurt Plain 0%
•          1 tsp Vanilla Extract
•          1 Apple – cut in small piece and warmed up

LUNCH

•          5/8 oz Egg Whites
•          150g Asparagus
•          ½ slice Wonder Bread Light
•          80g Steamed/Boiled Broccoli
•          PAM spray

DINNER

•          4oz Shiritaki Noodle Fettuccine
•         230g Baby Bok Choy
•          PAM spray
•          18 Goldfish Whole Grain

SNACKS

•          2 Jell-O Kraft – 92g each
•         1 Apple
•         Herbal Teas with Splenda

At the moment I'm having 2 apples a day but I'm thinking to buy a cantaloupe to give some variety to my sugar intake, I feel apples can be heavier at the end of the day.

My Side Effects to Dr. B. Diet Plan

I decided to recap my side effects with my Dr. Bernstein Diet, just to give an idea on what to expect not only for the positives – which there are of course – but also about the negatives and having a better understanding on what this Diet Plan could cause.

Usually in the morning I'm always starving, but the Ketosis is basically this: making your body in a starvation mode so the ketones will send messages to the brain to use the stored fat to save the whole system.

Since I'm dehydrated in the morning, extremely hungry and weak, I can barely walk to go to work. I use to walk to go to the clinic the first week, after that I decided to take the streetcar, definitely too long walk for my weak strengths. So Weakness is one factor that it's constant in my Dr. B. Diet experience, I'm usually a super active woman, I have – outside this plan – the energy of a 5 years old. But not now with the little amount of Calories that I take every day. I go to sleep way earlier than normal; I'm slow in doing almost every physical activity, maybe due to the low sugar intake. For this reason but not only, having a regular workout is out of discussion.

If you're a woman expect to have your period messed up, most likely absence of ovulation. It is obviously normal; the human body is a perfect machine so there's no chance to prepare the system for a pregnancy when it's in starvation trying to survive!

Hair loss is another common factor of malnutrition, although is medically supervised this Diet allows an average intake of 500/600 Calories, it can be considered malnutrition so your hair may fall down quicker than usual, fish oil could help to prevent this, but it's just fish oil and not a miracle pill.

Less relevant - but still not a pleasant experience for me - are the bruises. Three times a week injections will causes you bruises here and there from time to time, especially when the body fat starts to be less.

Dizziness is another random side effect that I experienced during this Diet Plan, it is clear for my body, that it happens when I'm physically tired, hungry or I simply didn't have my supplement pills yet. I did not find a logic explanation for that, rather than the malnutrition.

I feel always cold, although it seems an unrelated symptom to the Diet, I noticed that lots of people following this Plan had the same issue. I'm not sure if it's the lack of body fat, lack of energy for the body to produce heat or something else.

Overall they're all bearable side effects; the only one that makes my life a bit different is my lack of energy and strengths. It prevents me to do many things I used to do and I enjoy; like hiking, running, going for long walks on the lake, and so on.

7 days left

I've 7 days left in my paid month with the Dr. Bernstein Diet Plan, I'm not sure yet if I'll be able to reach my goal in just a week, I'm planning to lose another 3 Kg and it doesn't sound realistic in only 7 days, but I'll have a better idea on what to do in the next days.

As backup plan I was thinking to buy another 2 weeks and after that going in my free month of maintenance. Some people avoid maintenance thinking that now is easy knowing the Diet Plan and the amount of calories necessary to keep the body in starvation. But I'm concerned about the injections of B6 and B12 that will not absorb fat from my body anymore if I stop doing it.

This morning I had only trace of Ketosis in my sample at home, I assume is normal – women have these up and down periods during the month. Everything is hormones for us and it sucks.

I'm down to 56.2Kg this morning on my scale, and I feel great about this value! I don't recall last time I was so skinny, nobody really noticed my weight loss yet. Here in the office I assume is hard since they see me every day, but I'll have a proof this coming Saturday at my niece's birthday party. Last time I've seen all of them was before starting my Dr. Bernstein Diet.

A good Wednesday with my Dr. Bernstein Diet

It's a good Wednesday today, since the scale signed 57 Kg this morning! I went to the clinic for my usual abdomen injection and they reported a loss of 1.6 pounds, great result. I'm in ketosis almost every morning; today I had with me my evening urine sample and the nurse said that I'm burning even at night after 2/3 hours dinner, which is a positive thing since is the excess fat that I want to lose and keep it away from my body. I feel great I have to say it, very weak maybe but great in terms of motivation. Who knew that I would only need to end my tomatoes addiction?! Now I see results every morning, I'm enjoying food a bit more because I know it's good and won't let me hold on my weight loss. I'm following the Diet religiously, I'm definitely always starving when I go to bed, but it's a strict diet and I knew this. I stopped at Longos after my visit at the clinic and I bought a bottle of water of 1.5L, it's big but it fits my purpose, I don't have to go to the kitchen every half hour to fill up my small 500 ml bottle with the freezing water that we have here in the office; plus I can control better how much I'm drinking. I've already had my 2L of water and it's not even 1PM.

Today I did an incredible "discovery"! Well at least it is for me, I like to believe so.

By mistake at Longos this morning I bought a box of - what looked like to me - sliced cucumbers, to discover, when I was already in the office, that they were sliced zucchini, oh well I said, I'll have it anyway, I always loved zucchini at the end. So I did some researches online to see if it was ok eating raw zucchini, and apparently it's great and the skin contains good antioxidants. Since I don't have anything here for cooking I put 10 slices of zucchini into a small plastic container and microwaved for about 1.5 minutes. The zucchini came out deliciously tasty and with the right softness. I loved it! I'm planning to use it as healthy snack when I'm craving something in the office. My theory is that when you can eat only 500/600 Calories per day then well everything tastes good. But knowing myself, I usually get bored of everything after having it for too long. I guess it's normal for many people; variety is the key, fascinating to me that animals can eat the same exact thing over and over again. But for now, zucchini is my best discovery snack for craving moments! The good thing is that when I'll be on maintenance I can have unlimited vegetables! Forget potatoes – it's not a miracle maintenance program…alas.

Another week with Dr. Bernstein Diet

Today starts another week with my Dr. Bernstein Diet. I was happy this morning to see that I went a bit down my 58 Kg's plateau finally! I see things more positively now, this Diet really puts you in a starvation stress and the only thing you can think about is food and weight loss.

So I went to the clinic this morning for another abdomen injection and the nurse told me that, since I reached the goal they set for me, I'm now eligible to a 4 weeks Maintenance program for free.  It is great to know that I can continue without paying for Maintenance, but I'm not done yet with my weight loss so I'll continue till my month expires and I've lost all I need to lose.

I had few days last week, where I was not losing anything, I actually gained 1 Kg one day, and there's nothing more un-motivating - in this such strict Diet - than gaining weight while following the Plan exactly as required.

For me the solution was avoiding tomatoes, or at least this is what I changed in my Diet so far. I added asparagus, never been one of my favourite vegetables so I never actually had it in the past. I guess my body reacted to this unknown vegetable. Who knows? But in any case the nurse told me that usually asparagus, cabbage and celery are the vegetables that do the trick.

It's been 3 days in a row now that I'm checking my Ketones in the morning and the Ketostix is showing a moderate to high trace of it in my sample. It was confirmed by the nurse this morning as well, she told me it was the darker ketostix she had today so far.  I noticed that it's good in the morning, till after breakfast and then there's no trace of it in my urine samples. It could be due to the water intake that dilutes the ketones or the food, not sure really.

My lunch today was a bit different than usual, I'm becoming really good in preparing omelets so I decided to bring one in the office. Since the day-before-omelet is not really appealing to me, I cooked it this morning. I had the asparagus ready, cleaned and cut in a little bowl and all I needed to add was the egg whites, so I did it. This morning I mixed all the ingredients together with some garlic powder, salt and pepper on a PAM sprayed pan and cooked. It was a nice lunch, warm and healthy. I'm thinking to do a similar one for breakfast, like with zucchini e for dinner I can just have my delicious Shiritaki noodles with some vegetables. I found better results if I don't have my proteins at night.

Gaining weight

So this morning I weighted myself home and – believe it or not – I gained 400g! I know it's nothing and it could be just small water retention but still. I'm having less than 600 Calories per day, I'm not losing any weight, and I even gain pounds! WTH is happening I don't know.

I'm hungry often during the day; if anyone tells you that you don't feel hungry with Dr. Bernstein Diet, it's not true. Yes you could feel that a meal is a lot after a while, but I'm not happy about that, I mean this could be just because my metabolism is slowing down. My body is protecting itself trying to store everything it can.

The nurse this morning suggested me to change something in my food list, like eating asparagus, never been a fan of it but I guess I will try, for the cause. I'm having broccoli today and I'll try to avoid anything that is processed for this coming weekend. If I'm not losing weight by Monday I'll be in serious depression!

I had another abdomen injection today; she was telling me that it's better to stick for a month on the same spot for the injections, to see results. I personally would like to end the Diet within a month and then go on maintenance. Obviously I planned all that when I thought I would have done with the losing weight part by then. Let's see how things will proceed in the next days. I should not evaluate my weight loss based on a single day. I'll try to recap the overall Diet by the end of the week.

I'm thinking of joining a gym soon, possibly close to where I live so I will not find excuses when I have to go and exercise. Considering that I've the gym in my building and I never go, it's a sign on how much disciplined I am in this matter. But I'm always worried about my knee injury to be honest; joining a gym could give me the chance to exercise in classes where the impact on my knee is different compared running.  The only annoying part is the until-you-die-membership type of thing that they have here in Canada. Only for that I avoided the gyms in the past years, don't you think they lost money for that? I think so. I would be willing to pay month by month, maybe a bit more but I'd prefer it, rather than a long year of membership that you cannot withdrawal unless you pay an unfair fee.  Oh well, I'll give it a try and evaluate the pros and cons.

2 weeks with Dr. Bernstein Diet Plan

It's been almost 2 weeks that I'm officially under Dr. Bernstein Diet Program Plan; so far I lost 6 pounds based on their chart. Although I'm following strictly their Diet plan, losing weight never been so difficult for me, I'm starving myself every day with only 500/600 Calories and still nothing that I'd define as remarkable results. But I don't give up and I'll continue to follow the Program until I reach my weight goal.

Yesterday I had my first appointment with a Dr. Bernstein's doctor, it was just a 10 minutes visit to see if I had any question or concerns regarding my Diet; I really did not have anything to ask or say to the doctor, apart for my discouraging slow weight loss. He suggested me to remove tomatoes from my diet for at least 2 weeks and see how it goes. It is unbelievable to me how 230g per day of such a light fruit plant can stop me to lose weight. Also removing tomatoes from my diet leave me basically with very little choice of vegetables that I do like or enjoy eating. Hey but when you're in this plan you would do anything to reach your goal weight!

Last night I had a rough night, I believe my spinach were not cooked properly and my stomach did not like it at all so I spent all night in pain and I'm still very dizzy and weak. With this Diet the amount of daily energy is very limited, can happen anything to put you down immediately, well at least that is what happens to me and my tiny body, but I'm not sure is based on the size of the body though. I mentioned the issue to the nurse this morning, when I went to the clinic for my usual weigh in and injection. She suggested me to have 2 servings of apple today as fruit, but I have only 1 apple with me today and ¼ of a cantaloupe, but I'll try to have a soup tonight for dinner, to help my stomach feeling better.

My today's weigh in was disappointing, 3 times in a row that I'm on stable 131 pounds, WTH! To be honest I don't care that much how much their scale displays, I see it at home, and I see it with my clothes. I still have fat to lose and it seems harder and harder when you arrive close to your goal.

Yesterday I tried on one of my old pants, hoping to realize that at the end it fits! Well no, it did not fit; I could not even close the zip or the buttons. That's ok; it's been only 2 weeks with a slow pace weight loss so I couldn't expect the miracle pants.

With the Ketostix that I bought the other day at the pharmacy I'm checking often my ketones, I've constantly only trace of it, which is the first coloured mark, very bright. I guess it is correlated to the fact that at the end my weight is not changing anyway so there is not that much to show on the Ketostix. Hopefully I'm out of my plateau and I will continue to lose a bit more in the next days.  

Monday - weigh in Day

With an average of 500 Calories per day I am still not able to lose a single pound! I can't explain myself what could be. The nurse this morning was telling me that it could be normal, due to water retention…well nothing else, she actually did not give me any other logical explanation to that.

Their scale said I lost some weight from Friday; but I don't find it relevant for the daily food intake that I'm having. Tomorrow I've my first visit with a doctor at the Dr Bernstein clinic, I will mention to him this thing as well, and I'd like to see his suggestions too.

 Yesterday I skipped 1 serving of fruit and 1 serving of vegetables, I was starving when I went to bed, I even had 3L of water and I was working all day around the house as well as shopping here and there, however this morning my scale displayed the exact amount as yesterday. I regretted not eating all my servings though, this will slow down my metabolism and a slow metabolism is not good, ever!

One thing that I decided to buy is the Ketone sticks (Ketostix), I did a research online and they are available in any pharmacy for few bucks and no prescription required, I'll try monitoring my ketones during the days that I don't go to the clinic and between evening and morning to see if I'm burning fat or not.

Today I also decided to take a different approach with my food, spreading all that I eat during the day, even if I'm still enjoying what I'm eating and I'm not full at all, I'll stop and save something for later, I'll try to plan to eat every 2 hours or so if I can, like with a piece of fruit, a raw vegetable or simply some of the Goldfish that I like so much. Maybe pushing my metabolism higher is the key!

I had another abdominal injection this morning and strangely – well at least for me – the nurse asked me if I had already started to do some exercises to improve my abdominal muscles. Although it made perfect sense for me this question, I was surprised, definitely I felt ashamed of my lack of exercise but eager to have a different answer next time someone will ask me this same question.

I've to say that they do not suggest doing any weight lifting, only simple exercises and low-cardio workout, I did went to a Yoga class on Saturday!

Injections in the abdomen hurt like hell, why deny it, but I'm hoping to lose my stubborn fat in that area, so far I had 3 injections on my belly and, apart from the first time, I did not see any improvement, most probably I'll go back on doing injections in my butt; they're definitely less painful and I've lots to lose there too.

One thing that I'm noticing with this Dr. Bernstein Diet is that really the food becomes an obsession, only I can think now is cooking, Dieting, extra kilos on my body and injections. I'm not going crazy, or at least is not Diet's fault if I am, but the privation of such an innate pleasure really gives you internal frustration. I would go all day without eating if I was working hard and not even noticing, even more if I was out shopping. But with this diet you look at food differently, you're tempted by EVERYTHING. Lately one of my cravings is nachos with guacamole, who could ever tell?! Me, a chocaholic that is craving for chips? I never liked chips but now, every time I see a commercial or a sign showing nachos I think about my avocados and how I'd love to dip into a big bowl of guacamole! Crazy yes.

Too much food

Yesterday, for the first time since I started my Dr. Bernstein Diet, the food that I prepared for dinner felt too much. I had an omelet with mushrooms with no bread or anything else but I barely made it to the end of it, and after that I regretted. Yes, because one of the suggestions that the nurse gave us during the consultation session, was not to eat if we were not feeling hungry. Which makes sense to me, don't force yourself, if your food intake is going down is better your hunger goes down too.   

Since I basically lost 0 pounds in the past 24 hours I decided to use a different approach, so today I'll have my protein servings between breakfast and lunch. A yogurt with berries for my breakfast and a veggie burger with tomatoes for lunch, in this way my dinner will be lighter and maybe I'll have few pounds less tomorrow for my weigh in.

Another thing that I'm really happy about, it is the results on my belly – after the abdomen injection. It seems smaller, just a tiny smaller ok but I see an improvement. It might be due to the weight loss, I'm not sure but I'm definitely having another painful injection on my belly tomorrow!