During the second week of my ITG Diet I didn’t lose as much as I was planning on. I was down 1.2 lbs in 6 days. It’s still a loss, yes, but I could have done much better than that. Even though I stuck to the diet just about every day, I went out and had a few items I shouldn’t have eaten over the weekend. I also did not drink nearly enough water, and I found myself not feeling very hungry and skipping some meals altogether. I was out late over the weekend, which threw my entire meal schedule off. On Friday, Tina (wellness coach at ITG Diet) and I talked about the upcoming weekend and how hard it is to be at home or go out and stick to a plan at the same time…boy, did I experience it! We are kind of lucky here at the office…you see, during the week while we’re working at the ITG Diet office, we are a great support system to each other. We have veggies for snacks, we talk about healthy food and recipes all day, and of course no one is bringing Burger King or pizza in to the office for their lunch break! During our days off, we all need to find that same motivation and have a plan in place.

So here’s my plan: Over the next few days, I’m making sure I stay in the habit of eating on schedule like I was during the first 10 days. I basically refilled my glycogen tank this past weekend, and I have to deplete it again. That is what’s happening now; I am tired and groggy again like I was in the beginning! It’s not a good feeling to go through twice in such a short time, so I am determined not to have this happen again. I know what I really enjoy cooking and snacking on as far as lean proteins and veggies go so I’m keeping it simple and not adding new items to my shopping list. I’ve also been thinking about what I’m going to do for the upcoming weekend.

On Thursday night, while I’m still on a set schedule of eating and sleeping for work purposes, I’m going to spend a couple hours prepping all the veggies I need for the weekend. I’m also going to cook off my lean dinner proteins for Friday, Saturday and Sunday night so that I can just heat up a meal, whether I have plans to do things with friends or not. I bought several microwaveable compartment containers so I can literally pack a dinner in each, including my seasoned veggies, and pop them into the fridge for quick meals. I’ll just nuke anything I am planning on eating and be done quickly without putting any thought or effort into my dinners.

For any of you who have had some setbacks, such as going to work and being enticed by doughnuts and fast food, or hang out with friends who might pressure you to eat the wrong thing when you go to dinner, or you just have a hard time sticking to a plan over the weekend like I did, just remember that it takes that much time plus some to get back to where you were before. It’s not a fun experience to go through on a weekly basis! (Especially when Tina haggles you over your 1.2 lb weight loss all day on Monday!)

 Joe Packo