Costco Shopping- blueberries, raspberries (daughter favorite), Brussel sprouts, spinach, green beans, Portabello mushrooms, eggs (for cheesecake- last baked treat), pineapple, avocados (husband’s Mediterranean diet request), papayas, celery and carrots (for the soup), a roast chicken, plain Greek yogurt.

Already on hand- 4 ears of corn, milk, tsatasiki sauce, more blueberries, salad mix (that actually had gone bad), potatoes, four onions, and garlic, mint, loads of spices, a bit of cheddar and parmesan, some frozen breaded chicken strips, frozen meatballs, and frozen fruit.

I am a rather particular eater and that is why the recommended website meals never seemed like they were going to work for me. There is always something in everyday that seemed unbearable that would get turned into some leftover, that was going to be eaten for two days in a row or some more or less exotic ingredient that was out of my budget and our area or something with a terrible texture that was completely unpalatable to me.

Breakfast is important to me, except when needing to go into the office, where I have a tendency to snack, but generally not on candy. There is a nut-based trail mix and peanut butter and crackers at my desk; I bring my own water bottle and usually one or two small additions to make an ok lunch. For Covid- I visit the office two or three times a week. A Wendy’s is on the corner as an emergency, with a Panda Express down the street.

On Saturday, I had half a papaya with lemon and some peanuts with a 5 oz class of 2% milk with a teaspoon of chocolate Quik. We went to Costco, bought all that stuff and the teen was starving on the way home so we stopped at Wendy’s for her. I had nothing- normally, might have had a chicken sandwich- no mayo, don’t like it. Came home and went to work. Two hours later, by 5 we had a pot full of chicken and dumplings. The other teen made the dumplings from scratch and we had a few bites of biscuit dough as a snack. At about 8 pm, wrapped it up with some blueberries and whipped cream. Total-2 fruits, 2 vegetables- kind of onions, carrots and celery in the soup. Thought it was a pretty good day.

Sunday, Day 2, half a papaya and a chocolate honeymooner at our favorite bakery. The day before the kids head out. Oh well, this was the transition. For dinner, beef stroganoff made with full fat sour cream, dash of milk and ground beef. I did sneak in an entire finally chopped Portobello mushroom, a family favorite- and I think I managed a very basic salad. And later for dessert, some of those raspberries and resisted the whip cream, but had a bit of chocolate ice-cream. Total- 2 fruits, 2 vegetables

Monday, Day 3- Taking kids to the airport and we promised them breakfast out. We went to a local cafe and although I could have ordered the English muffin with sprouts and egg and cheese- which might have been better calorie-wise, I opted instead for a breakfast burrito and roasted potatoes. The burrito had scrambled egg, cheese, onion, potatoes, and my add-on item was spinach! Felt pretty good about that. Shared a quarter of it with a kid and left feeling satisfied, knowing my dinner was going to much smaller.

Dinner was tiny and my appetite underwhelming. Opened the bag of spinach, added, a quarter of an avocado, a handful of carrots, some chia and flax seed and added some olive oil and vinegar to the tzatsiki sauce. Then ended the meal with one of those leftover ears of corn. My husband had also made a trip to Costco on the weekend and he bought chocolate covered raisins- exactly what I didn’t need or maybe I do- they are countable and generally, I have enough self-control to manage little things like this if things are going well. With two teens on summer vacations somewhere else- there were a few less household demands. Total- 4.5 vegetables, not enough avocado to count as a whole serving and yes technically it is a fruit. Not sure if the raspberries got finished on Monday, so not including them.

Woke up hungry and tired after waiting for the arrival confirmation call. Hooray, the kids got to their destination safe and tired. The first three days were looking pretty good diet wise- exercise, not so great, rest terrible, but I felt pretty satisfied with the transition into the experiment. Weight- stable, about 1.5 pounds heavier in the evening than in the morning. Let’s see how it goes.