VLCD Day 1, It's HOW Expensive??, and Expectations

As I sit here typing this, I'm slowly winding down my first day on the VLCD diet of 500 calories. It's been an enlightening day, lemme tell ya.

I guess when I started researching this, I really was picturing those gourmet plates at the five star restaurants that are, like, $45 a pop, with five little crackers, some pate, and a pretty little green onion for garnish. In today's world, serving sizes are completely obscure, and it's easy to think you're eating a single serving, when you're really devouring a whole week's worth. I'd gotten so used to eating a full plate, and thinking it was normal and okay, that the idea of a meal under 250 calories was beyond my comprehension.

I wish I'd taken a picture of my lunch yesterday when I made it, but it hadn't occurred to me that I'd want to photo document this whole shindig. After shopping yesterday for all my personal care products, and the food I'd need for dinner, I was pretty fed up with the expenses I'd already shelled out to date. $200+ for the product and kit, another $80 for the scales, tape measure, and binder, and then another $80 for the personal care products and food. I was frustrated, until I started weighing out my food.

The two main staples of the VLCD are chicken breast and lean ground beef. I bought two pounds of ground beef, and two packages of Foster Farms chicken breast, four pieces to a pack. The allowed portioning for the protein is 100 grams. A single chicken breast is just shy of 200 grams!! In the two packs of chicken breast I purchased, I now have enough chicken for sixteen meals! And the ground beef - one pound equals out to just shy of 600 grams. That's almost six meals. So now I've got twelve meals' worth of beef, and sixteen meals' worth of chicken. All for about twenty bucks. Now that I know, I kinda feel like I should smack myself ^_^

I made my lunch yesterday, and was beyond surprised when I cut up my asparagus. The portion sizing for the stalks is two cups, raw. I pulled out two stalks figuring that'd be at least half a cup. Nope. Needed fifteen stalks, I think was the final count. I ended up boiling the the asparagus in water, then draining the water, added the chicken, some oregano, and sauteed the mix in a little bit of water until the chicken was cooked all the way through. Between the 100 grams of chicken, the two cups of asparagus, an apple, and two pieces of melba, I was beyond full at lunch time. Took me almost an hour and a half to get through the entire meal, and even then I didn't finish the whole apple. It was a giddy feeling that I absolutely loved!

Tonight was the real challenge though. I had to make dinner for myself and BF, and seeing as how I wasn't prepared for the calorie counting, dinner was on a pretty limited ingredient list.

Basically, you have to make sure that between the two meals you spread out 500 calories. It's not as simple as eating the same thing for lunch and dinner. You have to make sure that what you eat doesn't go over the 500, which I wasn't prepared for. Dinner for me ended up being 100g of lean ground beef seasoned with cumin, a pinch of curry, and garlic powder, over two cups of raw lettuce, five wedges of grapefruit, and a single melba round. It didn't look like much, but it's definitely a decent amount of food.

BF's dinner was a bit harder. I ended up doubling the ground beef, added a whole egg, 1/2 cup red onion, parm cheese, worchestershire sauce, and tapatio. He ate his 'burgers' in two hollowed out steak rolls, with shredded cheese, ketschup, mustard, and some pickles on the side. After he was done making his plate, it was as big as our normal dinner sizes. I felt immensely better knowing that he would have plenty to eat and I'd still be able to make my dinners without conflict. The hardest part for me? Resisting the snacking. I'm so used to eating on the stray piece of veggie, or tasting the meat after it's been cooked. A piece of BF's burger fell back in the pan and before I realized what I was doing, I'd snagged it. I have a feeling most of this will be all habit, and the rest will be easier.

BF liked his dinner for the most part. He said it was a little weird, but I saw that coming, what with the no oils or fats or anything remotely close to unhealthy being in the meat itself. He was full, and I'm still snacking on my grapefruit, so all told, it's been a very successful dinner. I even made my lunch for tomorrow so I'm good to go. And after working out the portion sizes, I'm realizing I'll be saving waaaay more money than I spent to get this all started. Again, with the smacking.

I think the most eye opening aspect of today was the expectation, and the failure to meet it. I'd gone into this expecting this to be hard, and feel like I was in severe starvation mode all day, every day for the next month. Instead, I'm fighting my normal hunger pangs, with no intense spikes, and I'm completely satisfied after each meal. I doubt, in a week, if I'll feel the same way about being satisfied, but the hunger's just not there. I am feeling more and more confident that I'll be able to pull this off, seeing as how I'm already three days into the drops and I'm learning, and staying open, to the possibilities. I'm excited for what's to come, and I don't know that I've ever been able to say, or feel, that way about a diet or weight loss. Ever.