Bright Line Eating 14 Day Challenge

What is Bright Line Eating? Now that I have followers, I suppose I should explain the program I'm following.  It's called Bright Line Eating, and it was discovered by Dr. Susan Peirce Thompson.  She bases it on overcoming food addictions.  She has 4 Bright Lines that are established and must not be crossed.  The Bright Lines are: 1.  No Sugar 2.  No Flour 3.  Eat only 3 meals a day 4.  Weight and Portion all food It may look complicated but it's actually very simple.  Here's the food plan: Breakfast: 1 grain, 1 protein, and 1 fruit Lunch:  1 protein, 1 vegetable, 1 fat, and 1 fruit Dinner:  1 protein, 1 vegetable, 1 salad, and 1 fat Here's an example of what that looks like: Breakfast: Greek yogurt (4 oz) and 2% milk (4 oz), Fiber One Cereal (1 oz), and 1 banana Lunch:  Chicken (4 oz), Roasted peppers and mushrooms (6 oz), Cashews (.5 oz), and 1 apple Dinner:  Tilapia (4 oz), Asparagus (6 oz), Salad (8 oz...

WHO AM I? I am having an identity crisis.  I don't know how to answer people when they ask me if I like chocolate.  I would always respond with a very passionate YES!  Now, I stop and think about it.  My automatic reaction is yes, but do I still love chocolate?  Is that who I am anymore?  Have I really stopped eating it forever and removed it from my list of favorite foods?  Or am I only not eating it for a while? I really don't think about it much anymore.  I definitely don't crave it like I used to.  In fact, it's actually not that hard for me not to eat it.  My kids have even been eating Easter candy around me and it doesn't phase me.  But for some reason, I still feel like I have to act like it does because that's who I've always been. Whatever the outcome, I will keep plugging away at this.  I love it!!

I have two exciting things to report for Day 16! 1.  It wasn't difficult for me to turn down chocolate being offered to me by a student.  I always worried about offending them, so I always said yes.  But, this time I just told her that I couldn't eat sugar anymore and thanked her very much for offering.  It wasn't difficult or awkward at all!! 2.  I noticed on my drive home from DMACC that I don't always think about food now!  Usually on my way home I would be thinking about either what snacks to pig out on or that I wasn't going to be able to eat anything when I got home.  Last night, I wasn't thinking about either.  I was thinking about what I want to DO when I get home.

I DID IT!!!!  WAHOO!!!  14 Days.  I loved it!!  I really hope I can do the boot camp now.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!  For St. Patty's day I ate A LOT of green veggies!!  I didn't end up eating what I had written down, but I did observe my bright lines!  I love this way of eating!  I really do want to continue doing this.

Wow!!  Day 12!  Things are going great!  I just watched Susan's video about changing my identity.  I don't think I'm there yet, but I definitely want to be.  I want to be a Bright Lifer!  "I don't eat flour and sugar" instead of "I can't eat flour and sugar right now."  I'm looking forward to the day when I make that shift.

Day 11 was a very enjoyable day!  We went to the zoo, and I figured we would be out for lunch.  So, I took my own lunch of Cashews, raw veggies, and an apple.  I thoroughly enjoyed it in the car after sitting at Popeye's with the family while they ate fried chicken.  Then, Shane and I went out for dinner and then to see, "I Can Only Imagine."  An incredible movie by the way.  Anyway, we ate at Texas Longhorn.  I got a pork chop, vegetables and a side salad with vinegar.  It was delicious!  There was a brief moment when I was afraid I was killing some of the fun because I didn't want to eat an appetizer, but it wasn't a big deal.  We still had a great time.

Day 10 was the first one where I really felt tempted to screw it up and eat whatever.  Thanks to God I did not!  I came home tired and slightly stressed.  We had just spent a bunch of time at WalMart getting some things and the card got declined because there wasn't enough money in the bank.  So, we just came home, and I wanted to eat pizza and sweets.  I also had not written down what I planned to eat, so I think that almost tripped me up as well.  I'm so thankful that I didn't veer off course though.  I've almost made it through 14 days!  I don't want to jinx myself or look too far ahead, but I really hope I can stick with this.

Day 9 was actually the second day of Spring Break.  I took the kids to see Peter Rabbit at the movies.  I'm so excited that I didn't even feel tempted to eat popcorn or candy.  I took my lunch with me in a baggie and ate it during the movie.  I had cut up chicken breast, peppers, tomatoes and carrots and a few cashews.  We really enjoyed the movie too.   It makes me happy that I can still enjoy these activities without feeling like I have to pig out.

Day 8 was a wonderful day.  I actually didn't eat anything while my family ate McDonalds in the car.  I had a few moments when I thought about eating some of it, but for the most part I didn't want it.  It was actually a good time for me to play Homescapes.  LOL I'm really getting the hang of this and I LOVE how simple and delicious it is!! Thank you, Jesus for Bright Line Eating!  This is a gift from You.  I thank you so much for Susan Thompson and what she is doing for so many people.  Please, help me to continue living this way.

Yay!!  I've made it through one week! I have no regrets.  I feel happy and healthy.  My stomach feels so good.  I'm enjoying my food. We ended up sleeping too late to make it to the church brunch and I burned the oatmeal, so we didn't go.  I completely changed what I ate yesterday too, but it was still all within Bright Lines. I feel so good that I made it through my first weekend.  I feel very positive about making it through spring break too.

Day 6 was great!  It was a Saturday, but I still stayed on plan.  I even went out to eat with Kristi and Danielle!! I had the MOST delicious salmon and vegetables with a huge side salad.  I'm so happy with how I feel physically and mentally. Now for Day 7 we're supposed to go to brunch at church.  I'm not sure how this is going to be, but my plan is to stay on plan.  That is....if the kids ever wake up.   Ah!  Time change....spring ahead.  Also, it's snowing today!!  Love it.

Day 5 was Friday, so it was a little challenging in the afternoon and evening.  PLUS...I still let the kids have pizza which is usually what we do on Friday nights.  I ordered the pizza, and then I cooked myself some chicken and vegetables and made a salad. I also made my Plan of Action for when I feel tempted.  Here it is: 1.  Play with the kids 2.  Love on family members 3.  Breathe deeply for a few min 4.  Pray 5.  Knit 6.  Drink water or hot tea 7.  House cleaning 8.  Bible study 9.  Homescapes or Facebook 10.  Play the piano I'm a little nervous about the weekend and Spring Break, but I can do this!! We're also having brunch at church tomorrow.  I'm thinking I'll make some crockpot oatmeal and then bring a few of my own things to add to it.

Day 4 was a little challenging, but I made it!! The first challenge was when a student brought me a cappuccino that had sugar in it.  I just took a few sips because I didn't want to offend him. Later in the evening, I didn't go to DMACC because I still felt sick.  So, I sat around all evening and had to drink a lot of ice water because I wanted to snack really bad! I'm a little nervous about the weekend and spring break coming up, but I'll just take it ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Day 3 was a good day as well. I was actually looking forward to my fish and green beans with butter for lunch today.  I still get a little hungry before lunch, but if I keep drinking water it goes away.  I'm really happy with this plan so far.  I've already lost several pounds and my stomach feels SO GOOD all the time!!   Now, if I could just get the rest of the family to stop eating so much sugar.

Day 2 is in the books!!  It felt so good to put that big green X on the calendar!! I didn't feel as hungry today. I really liked the mantras, "That's not my food!"  "That's poison!"  They are very helpful when I'm walking past a bunch of chocolate. I really enjoyed eating with a friend today too.  I like this plan so far.  I even liked my salad with only Balsamic vinegar.  I do think I need to find another vinegar that could complement it and tone it down just a little though. Weight today: 217.7!

Weight: 220.9 3 Things I'm Grateful for today: 1. I made it through Day 1. 2. I finally got my hair cut yesterday. 3. Gulbahar asked me about teaching an EXIT class starting in the fall. Yay!  I made it through Day 1!  The food tasted good to me, but I felt hungry much of the day.  I know from experience that it takes a few weeks for the appetite to shrink.  I'm also sick with a cold, so I'm not sure if that's working in my favor or not.  Usually when I have a cold, I don't crave junk food, so it feels good to eat healthy.  I like having all my food planned out the day before.  I really like not having to make decisions all day about what to eat or not eat.  It made me happy to sit down and eat a healthy dinner with the kids.  They ate tilapia and cabbage with me. My only complaint is that I need to figure out something to put on my salads that tastes good but isn't a fat serving.  1 Tbsp of Ranch dressing was not enough for my s...