I’ll confess—I took July off. Several (fun) things happened last month so I ended up taking a total of almost three weeks of vacation. And I ate.

And ate.

And ate.

But I also walked—a lot. So my net gain was only three pounds. I can live with that.

Now that I have no more vacations on the near horizon I’m going to get back on track. And to jump start everything I’m going to try the Fat Smash Diet. I mean—Phase 1 is only nine days. I can do anything for nine days, right???

Hey BoiseShan,

I guess we'll find out!

Good luck! Hang in there!

Jay

So I started my “food detox” today. Actually, it’s just the detox stage of Fat Smash. Yeah, I was out of bed for all of about five minutes before I blew it! I just can’t/won’t not drink coffee. I only have one cup a day first thing in the morning. Truly, I had good intentions, but it’s hard to maintain self control at a bleary-eyed 5:45am.

Then I followed it up with a spoonful of brown sugar on my oatmeal. It’s about half of what I’d normally use. Baby steps, right?

I have planned out my meals for the rest of the day, so I should be OK. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Your original post sounds a lot like me. Just replace "July" with "2008" and "last month" with "this year" and you've got it.

But I'm back on, so I'll cross my fingers for you if you do likewise for me.

I sort of took July off too. Not really on purpose, but it's my birthday month and I was going out of town, so I guess I gave myself permission to slack. So I'm sort of starting over along with you, and it feels really good to recommit to my plan (two pounds down so far!).

I tried Fat Smash awhile back, but I couldn't get past the second day. I just felt so weak the whole time, whether from the caffeine withdrawal or the low calories I don't know. I think I tried too hard to keep my workouts up to the usual level on too little fuel.

Anyway, I hope your results on that plan are more successful than mine! Making small adjustments so that you can get through the detox is a lot smarter than what I tried (and failed) to do with sticking 100% to the program.

Hey BoiseShan,

Tell you what--if you aren't going to follow the Fat Smash plan as written, maybe you should find another plan before you try to go any further. One that you can follow better.

All of these plans expect that you'll follow them as written, and not play around with a little here, a little there. Otherwise, the results are unpredictable.

If you just can't stick with any plan, then perhaps simple calorie counting would work for you.

Good luck!

Jay

You're on!

The second half of yesterday was much easier--no slip ups. So far my second day has been better. Still drank coffee, but only 1/2 a spoonful of brown sugar on my oatmeal.

Feeling good about the rest of the day.