Hey guys, and welcome back! I feel like things are just moving along and I am barely able to catch my breath and take it all in. I survived my first six (6) days of the 14-day liquid diet! I am also happy to report that I am down almost 10lbs! For the first three days I sort of used this blog as a diary and wrote down exactly what was happening and my feelings, and then when things got easier (and I didn't need to vent as much) I just wrote the overall impressions for those days. I learned during these six days that I am stronger than I thought. For the longest time I let food control me and allowed myself to give in to my every craving, so this was a real test for me and I am happy that I stuck exactly to my prescribed diet plan and made it to day six. Also during this time I learned that I was not a fan of chocolate shakes! I love chocolate so much, so I was in shock when those just did not taste right to me and I pretty much had three vanilla shakes a day. Let's see what happens during the remaining nine days. I will update sometime next week. Thank you for all the support and the well wishes for a successful surgery, I really appreciate it! 

30 minutes after having my morning shake, I found myself going inside the kitchen to make a croissant sandwich. I am not really hungry but I think I went to make it out of habit and also because the croissants are right on the counter - very much in the open - so I think I was tempted. Let's see how the rest of the day goes. 

I am an hour away from my second shake and I am pretty much counting the minutes until 1pm. I am starting to get agitated and seeing the food out  in the open is harder than I thought. I think I will need to put it away - out of sight out of mind (let's hope). 

I had to rush one of the kids to the doctor, so honestly I forgot about food and how hungry I was. Now that I am finally home, I am having the milk that I was suppose to have at 4pm and I do hear the sounds of my stomach rumbling. I don't think I ever ate less in my life - so this is definitely an adjustment. 

It definitely became more difficult as the day progressed. My energy levels were way off, and I felt weak. I think my body was just used to eating so much more. I had my last shake, gave my eldest medicine for his hives and went to bed and passed out. 

I woke up not very energized this morning, and I literally had to drag myself out of bed. I was excited to hear the alarm (I programmed my phone to alert me when I am suppose to have my shakes/milk) and have my protein shake. I am a bit better now and hope that this gets easier as the days progress. 

Towards the mid day I was not doing so great, so I texted my doctor and asked if I could have sugar free jello or the sugar free popsicles. She said that that would be fine to add to my shakes and milk regiment. I just needed the sensation that I was chewing something, even if that is jello. 

The struggle was real today. I think after having the jello my body was expecting and wanting more, so my stomach was rumbling like crazy. At night, I made chicken soup for the kids and ended up having couple of spoons of chicken soup broth. 

I am feeling a bit sluggish and having these dizzy spells in this morning. I forgot to place my shake in the refrigerator, so I am late having it. Instead I had jello, I am really getting tired of the jellos. I cannot wait to have that cold protein shake.

TMI ALERT: I have been bad about taking my metamucil and today I paid for it dearly. I never had issues with my stool, so I really didn't think drinking some protein shakes would have an impact on me - but boy was I wrong. So my tip is drink tons of fluids, which I am still not great at doing, and take the metamucil! 

Since I was having stomach issues, I was not even hungry or thinking about the food. I drank my shakes and went to bed when the kids went to bed and passed out. 

During the weekend, the things got a bit better. It's like my stomach knew what to expect and there was no real struggle during the day, until I got to the night. I am a night owl, so I stay up late and either work, clean, journal etc while the kids are sleeping, and this is usually the time that I would snack and eat - so it was hard to train my body that that was no longer happening and that I was done eating for the day. 

Also this weekend, the kids wanted pizza and it was very hard smelling it and feeding the younger kid, and not being able to have even one little bite. I think that was definitely my real test. I noticed that I was anxious when I was in the kitchen cleaning or cooking and I just wanted to run away. I think this would have been easier if I didn't have to step inside that kitchen/pantry. Since that was not an option, I just turned my music up when I was in the kitchen and tried to focus on the music instead of the food that was around. 

I am definitely getting used to the liquid diet. I still have my weak moments, but I have been really good about sticking to the plan, but I need to get better at drinking more water, taking my vitamins and drinking the metamucil. I will work on those three things in the upcoming days, and hopefully it gets easier.