ABC Journal III, Moving

I mentioned somewhere in a previous post that I was moving out of my current apartment and into a smaller one. It's turning out to be such a freaking hassle...

I'm getting out of a 1400 sqft 3 bedroom 2 bathroom loft and moving into a tiny 300 sqft studio apartment. Despite the size difference, originally I was very happy to make the move. My rent at the big place was a very unstable $900USD/month. (I say "unstable" because my name was on the lease and my roommates were pretty shady, which meant I ended up paying the full $1700USD rent + utilities + cable/internet + insurance on my own. It would come out to around $2,000USD easily.) The rent at my new studio will be a very stable $600USD because it includes all utilities and even basic cable and internet. (It's an apartment complex that caters to international students so they're all inclusive to make things simple for foreigners.) Plus it's the size of a match box. :]

That wouldn't have been so bad if it were just for me. But it isn't. One of my roommates is coming with me because they literally have no where else to go. Their family is in another country and they don't have any close friends here. They're jobless and broke, but we discussed things and I decided that I'll either be paying $600USD to have a matchbox to myself or I can pay $600USD and at least help my friend out. It's not like they're a deadbeat - they're in school and will graduate by the end of this year. The plan is for them to get a job so we can move into a two bedroom apartment together at some point. :/

It's just stressful because I'll be stuck sharing one small room with the same person day in and day out. They'll be right next to me all the time no matter where I go in my apartment. I don't know if it'll affect my updating or not. I'm worried it'll affect my sanity. I'm not worried about my eating habits at all because I won't be home enough for it to seriously matter. It's easy enough to say I ate at work and school all night.

As an update as of August 28th: I've worked out my budget and decided that I can afford a one bedroom for us to share. It won't be so bad since my roommate will be in the living room which allows us both some more privacy.

Ana Boot Camp round three? Yeah, you read it right. I swear I'm never going to give up on this thing until I figure out how to get the results that I want. What motivated me to do it in the first place was that I saw so many people who were able to lose amazing amounts of weight. One girl lost 50lbs / 23kg by doing it!

On my first attempt I lasted all 50 days but only lost around 10lbs / 4.5kg. I think my results were so different because at that point I had already lost around 50 lbs / 23kg and had been restricting for months. ABC seems to work super well with people who have never shocked their system with a drastic cut in calories before. Not only has my body had a lot of time to adjust, but I'm a lot lighter than I used to be. People who see clear results with ABC usually start off pretty heavy (around 200lbs / 90kg.)

With my second attempt I cut down the numbers and mixed around the days. I only made it to day 23 but my results were better. This time I'm sticking to that same modification of the ABC. It's a more extreme version and I think anyone who's trying to climb over that last hill should give it a try. I'm around 120lbs and pretty near to my goal. Hopefully I can get there if I just suck it up and follow the ABC until I make it.

Here is how I modified it...

- Got rid of all the fast days and turned them into super low calorie days (less than 50 for the most part.) I did this because I've learned that at this point fasting just makes me feel tired, unmotivated, and generally bad. It really affects me physically and I usually don't have much to show for it (half a pound at best.) It's not worth it. This way I will at least be able to have some liquid calories in the form of juice or tea with honey to give me some energy.

- Got rid of the 800+ calorie days and traded them for moderate calorie days. I don't think it's feasible at this point to consume that many calories and expect progress, but I know the point of this "diet" is to keep the calorie intake mixed up so I tried my best to stay in tune with that.

- Changed the amounts for any days that had the same calorie count. For example, days 1 and 2 were both 500. I changed one to 400 and the other to 550.

- I'm going to try and plan out my meals this time around. I really liked having the freedom of eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, but now I know I can't stick to that and it's too risky. If I'm snacking a little on whatever is around me chances are I won't keep track of anything correctly.

- A 24 hour day will be considered from 9am to 9am. I work graveyard and go to school at night so it's hard for me to plan in terms of midnight to midnight. On older versions of the ABC I'd catch myself looking at the clock and waiting for midnight so I could start munching on the next day's calories. Not anymore!

- I will bold the days as I go and change them if I alter anything. These are just what I have planned so far.

- I'd like to note that I drink a lot of water and teas (Lipton diet green tea, Snapple 0 calorie Nectarine white tea, etc.) but I don't list them unless that's all I've had for the day. Occasionally I'll add honey or milk and if that's the case I'll record the tea since it would contain calories.

1: 400 calories 133.0lbs / 60.3kg
- Cookies and cream ice-cream (100 calories,) 1 Ham and Cheddar Lunchable without the cookies (300 calories.)

The lunchable scares me because it's small but has so many calories! I want to get rid of it right away before it tempts me later on. My roommate just went grocery shopping with me in mind so I'm going to try and eat away at the actual food I have while I can. The plan for this day changed a lot because they were giving out free ice-cream at school. ]:

2: 550 calories 132.2lbs / 60.0kg
- 1 serving wheat thins (130 calories,) 1 chicken salad (200 calories,) 1 serving cheese (100 calories,) 1 very small serving macaroni salad (70 calories,) 1 chicken with stars soup at hand (70 calories.)

I went to visit some family right when they were eating dinner, so I had a bite of macaroni salad and some cheese with wheat thins from a platter. That was awkward but I got away without doing too bad. I found a pre-packaged chicken salad at the supermarket that was only 200 calories on the way home so I munched that before work. I ate the soup after work and that was my day.

3: 300 calories 132.0lbs / 59.9kg
- 1 sugar free Jello (10 calories,) 1 serving tuna (100 calories) with crackers (60 calories,) 1 chicken with stars soup at hand (70 calories) with broccoli (30 calories.)

I went shopping today and bought a few "safe" foods like the 10 calorie jellos. Hopefully those will tide me over for a while. I also found some individual packets of frozen broccoli with imitation cheese sauce that are only 30 calories each. [:

4: 400 calories 131.8lbs / 59.8kg
- 2 sugar free Jellos (20 calories,) 1 serving tuna (100 calories,) some plain crackers (80 calories,) 1 chicken with mini noodles soup at hand (80 calories,) some assorted vegetables with butter sauce (120 calories.)

There's not much to say about this day.

5: 100 calories 131.2lbs / 59.5kg
- 2 large dill pickles (20 calories,) 1 serving broccoli with cheese sauce (45 calories,) about 1/3 serving of tuna (35 calories.)

This day was hard but I got it done.

6: 200 calories 131.0lbs / 59.4kg
- 1 serving tuna (100 calories) with 1 serving crackers (60 calories,) 2 sugar free Jellos (20 calories,) 2 iced teas with honey (20 calories.)

I think I might fast tomorrow because I'm just not losing weight quickly enough. The numbers are smaller and smaller every day but it's nothing amazing.

7: 300 calories 130.8lbs / 59.3kg
Water (0 calories.)

I was tired of the snail's pace weight loss and fasted on this day. Amazingly it made me lose nearly two pounds. I was 129lbs in the morning so I can see that my efforts paid off!

8: 400 calories 129.0lbs / 58.5kg
Two strawberry iced teas (200 calories.)

I fasted for a good portion of this day (until 7am, which is a long time considering that I count my days as starting at 9am.) I broke the 46 hour water fast with some strawberry iced tea: one while I was on the way home from work and another right before bed. Drinking them back to back really filled me up so I didn't have anything else this day.

9: 500 calories 128.0lbs / 58.1kg
One slice pepperoni pizza (300 calories,) one Shirley Temple with two cherries (200 calories.)

It was a friend's birthday party today so I went and had a slice of pizza and a soda around 8pm. Today was almost another fast day. Someone else who also attended that was sitting at a table across from mine was getting a lecture for not eating anything. She was saying, "I just don't sit down and eat a lot of food at once. I eat little bits throughout the day. I had a lot today. I had a couple slices of bread, some milk..." I couldn't hear much of the conversation because the place we were at was pretty loud but I wanted to rush over and sit by her so badly. I wanted to stick up for her and tell them to get off her back about it. I don't know if she even had an eating disorder, but it's hard to imagine someone feeling like they've eaten "a lot" just because they had some slices of bread and a glass of milk.

I feel a lot fuller today than I have in the past days. It's probably because of the fast and the realization that this is the only solid food I've had in almost three days. I don't like this feeling. It makes me worry about what the scale will say when I wake up. I liked losing a pound a day. The food also tasted a heck of a lot better than it normally does at that place. Have you ever noticed that when you fast everything tastes way more intense afterward? I love it. It encourages me to eat as little as possible. Tomorrow is a 100 calorie day so that shouldn't be too hard.

10: 100 calories ???.? / ??.?
Very small portion of beef stew with no meat (100 calories.)

I weighed myself when I first woke up and almost died when I saw 128.4lbs / 58.2kg on the scale. I know 100 calories isn't a lot but I am doing my best to keep a water fast until I see 128.0lbs / 58.1kg again. Even if I weigh just a fraction less that I did yesterday that's progress and that's all I can hope for at the end of the day. ]: I think I had about six cups of tea before work! I caved and had a bowl of the stew my roommate made before I left for work. I didn't eat any of the meat and avoided the potatoes too. What I actually ate amounted to some carrots, celery and onion in a beef broth pretty much. I felt amazingly full again so that's a plus. It means I won't be tempted to eat at all for the rest of the day.

11: 150 calories
1/2 serving of orange juice (70 calories,) 1 small avocado (80 calories.)

9/29/10: I took a HUGE (maybe a month?) break from ABC while I moved, dealt with a friend's death, break up, car accident, etc. Does any of this justify it? No. But I thought you might be curious. At some point I was down to 110s, but now I'm back in the 120s. I'll post my weight as soon as I can get to a scale. Until then it's just food updates.

12: 200 calories
13: 400 calories
14: 350 calories
15: 250 calories
16: 200 calories
17: 50 calories
18: 200 calories
19: 100 calories
20: 150 calories
21: 300 calories
22: 250 calories
23: 200 calories
24: 150 calories
25: 100 calories
26: 50 calories
27: 100 calories
28: 200 calories
29: 200 calories
30: 300 calories
31: 650 calories
32: 25 calories
33: 200 calories
34: 300 calories
35: 400 calories
36: 25 calories
37: 500 calories
38: 450 calories
39: 400 calories
40: 350 calories
41: 300 calories
42: 250 calories
43: 100 calories
44: 300 calories
45: 250 calories
46: 200 calories
47: 300 calories
48: 200 calories
49: 150 calories
50: 100 calories

Ana Boot Camp, Affects of Cold Medications, First Time Being Sick Since Ana

Decided that I'd bring in the new year by giving the "ABC" (Ana Boot Camp) a shot. I've heard so much about it and all my searching shows that it's pretty successful. I've seen weight loss from 30lbs (13kg) to 60lbs (27kg). These two links are some pretty detailed logs of people who have done it before: http://blogs.myspace.com/thinspire.me and http://www.whyeat.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2416

The rules are pretty simple. Just follow the pattern below. You can have as many zero calorie (water, diet sodas, etc.) additions as you want and you can have less than the suggested calories but never more. I'd like it to be noted that I drink water every single day, but I'm not going to list it here. Water is an essential part of this process.

1: 500 calories
- Fail Soup (35 calories,) 1/4 small avocado (65 calories,) Diet Mountain Dew Code Red (0 calories,) Sugar Free Jello Chocolate Vanilla Swirl Pudding (45 calories,) Sugar Free Fudgesicle (40 calories,) 2 cups steamed broccoli (90 calories,) 1 serving Bunch-a-Crunch (90 calories,) 1 serving Fuze Peach Mango (90 calories.)
- 445 total, 126.4lbs (57.3kg)
2: 500 calories
- Sugar Free Strawberry Jello (10 calories,) 1 cup steamed broccoli (40 calories,) 1/2 chicken breast (70 calories,) 1 drumstick (80 calories,) 1 cup Fruit Punch Powerade (50 calories,) Sugar Free Fudgesicle (40 calories,) 1 serving miso soup with tofu (100 calories,)Diet Mountain Dew Code Red (0 calories,) 1 serving peach pineapple
juice (100 calories.)
- 490 total, 124.6lbs (56.5kg)

** I got sick between days 2 and 3. I started taking DayQuil + Tylenol Severe Sinus Nighttime + Generic Painkillers, so I attribute my condition and the medication to the sudden weight gain. I hope once the sickness passes I'll stop retaining so much water weight. I'll post another disclaimer when I stop taking cold medicines so I can see if that really affects my weight or not.

3: 300 calories
- 3 tablespoons trail mix (190 calories,) 5 Kancho candies (60 calories,) 3oz lean roast beef (45 calories.)
- 295 total, 127.0lbs. (57.6kg)
4: 400 calories
- 5 Kancho candies (60 calories.)
- 60 total, 128.0lbs. (58.1kg)

** I did research and found out that some cold medications can have up to ~60 calories per dosage. That means I could have been having almost 500 extra calories per day. I stopped taking cold medication here, even though I still felt sick.

5: 100 calories
- 2 tablespoons honey (60 calories) in 2 cups diet green tea (0 calories.)
- 60 total, 126.4lbs. (57.3kg)
6: 200 calories
- 1 Diet Mountain Dew Code Red (0 calories,) 1 teaspoon refried beans (42 calories) with 1 teaspoon salsa (15 calories,) 2 tablespoons honey (60 calories) with 2 cups diet green tea (0 calories,) 1 sugar free fudgesicle (40 calories.)
- 147 calories, 126.0lbs. (57.2kg)
7: 300 calories
- 1 skinny steamer (70 calories,) 2 cups diet green tea (0 calories,) 1 serving fail soup (80 calories,) 1 tablespoon ketchup (15 calories) with 1 small serving beef (50 calories.)
- 215 calories, 125.4lbs. (56.9kg)
8: 400 calories
- 2 cups diet green tea (0 calories) with 2 teaspoons sugar (10 calories,) 1 serving tortilla chips with nacho cheese dip (330 calories.)
- 340 calories, 124.0 lbs. (56.2 kg)
9: 500 calories
- 1 cup diet green tea (0 calories) with 1 tablespoon honey (30 calories,) 1 no sugar added yellow cling peaches fruit cup (25 calories,) 1 cup steamed white rice (150 calories) with 1/2 cup chicken curry (250 calories,) 1 chocolate and vanilla swirl Jello pudding cup (45 calories.)
- 500 calories, 123.8lbs. (56.1kg)

** I'm starting to feel totally recovered from the cold. I would also like to note that normally it takes me two or three days to get over these types of symptoms (common cold: runny nose, sort throat, sinus problems, etc.). This is the first time I've been sick since my eating habits have changed and it has taken me about four times as long to recover. ]:

10: fast
- 1 Diet Mountain Dew (0 calories,) 1 cup diet green tea (0 calories.)
- 0 calories, 123.6lbs. (56.1kg)
11: 150 calories
- 1 cup diet green tea (0 calories) with 1 tablespoon honey (30 calories,) 1 Doritos nacho cheese snack pack (100 calories.)
- 130 calories, 123.6lbs. (56.1kg)

** Curse that day ten fast. I never do well with them - it seems like small breaks from food just make my metabolism and digestive system grind to a halt. In my experience, it's best to plan on giving up food for at least three days or just not bother with it at all. One day won't give me the results I want and it screws me up for the next few days. tl;dr: I prefer restriction over fasting.

12: 200 calories
- 1/2 serving Monster energy drink (50 calories,) 1 cup diet green tea (0 calories,) 1 Diet Mountain Dew (0 calories.)
- 50 calories.
13: 400 calories
- 1 serving diet green tea (0 calories,) 1 diet Mountain Dew (0 calories.)
- 0 calories, 124.0lbs. (56.2kg)
14: 350 calories
- 3 servings diet green tea (0 calories) with 3 tablespoons honey (90 calories.)
- 90 calories, 123.4lbs. (56.0kg)
15: 250 calories
- 2 cups white rice (300 calories) with 1 cup chicken curry (500 calories,) 1 Fanta orange soda (160 calories,) 1 scoop green tea icecream (50 calories) with whipped cream (45 calories) and a cherry (10 calories.)
- 1,065 calories, 126.4lbs. (57.3kg)

** The 15th day was my grandpa's birthday. I planned on eating a ton this day and that's why I restricted as best as I could the past few days. I paid the price. ): Normally I try to up my intake if I know there's a day where I'll be eating a lot so I can get my metabolism back in shape. This time I tried doing the opposite and it didn't turn out so well.

16: 200 calories
- 1 cup brown rice (75 calories) with 1/4 cup chicken curry (125 calories.)
- 200 calories, 126.2lbs (57.3kg)
17: fast
- Just water this day.
- 0 calories.

** I decided to fast from day 17 to day 20, making it a four day 0 calorie fast. I am sick and tired of the 120s. I fought hard to hit that goal and I'm not going to sit around watching it come and go. I won't weigh myself until the end of day 20. I want to see how much progress I will make. [: UPDATE: For the record, I lost 3lbs (1.4kg) in 3 days.

18: 200 calories
- 2 cups 0 calorie diet green tea (0 calories.)
- 0 calories.
19: 100 calories
- Just water so far.
- 0 calories.
20: fast
- Just water on this day.
- 0 calories, 123.2 lbs. (55.9 kg)
21: 300 calories
- 1 serving mango gummy candy (180 calories,) 2 cups diet green tea with 2 tablespoons honey (60 calories,) 2 cups white miso soup with tofu (60 calories.)
- 300 calories, 123.6lbs (56.0kg)
22: 250 calories
- 1 small serving lean beef sukiyaki (250 calories,) 1 cup diet green tea.
- 250 calories, 123.6lbs. (56.0kg)
23: 200 calories
- 1/2 california roll (200 calories,) 2 cups diet green tea, 1 Diet Mountain Dew Code Red (o calories.)
- 200 calories, 124.0lbs. (56.2kg)
24: 150 calories
- 1 snack pack bag of Doritos (100 calories,) 2 Diet Mountain Dews (o calories), 2 cups diet green tea (o calories,) 1 sparkling Peach water (0 calories.)
- 100 calories, 124.2lbs. (56.3kg)

** I'm starting to get really discouraged. Everyone tells me that the thinner you are the harder it is to lose. It seems like whenever I eat, even if it's the smallest amount, I go back up a ton. I'm just hovering around 125lbs (56.7kg). I'm thinking about doing another three day fast. I managed to go down a few pounds and stay that way so it might work again.

25: 100 calories
- 2 small dill pickles (10 calories,) 1 Campbell's chicken noodle soup at hand with no sodium (80 calories.)
-90 calories, 125.2lbs (56.8kg)
26: 50 calories
- Just water so far.
- 0 calories, 124.0lbs, (56.2kg)
27: 100 calories
- 1 small dill pickle (5 calories.)
- 5 calories, 123.4lbs (56.0kg)
28: 200 calories
- 1 small serving onion soup (50 calories,) 1 small serving sukiyaki (150 calories.)
- 200 calories, 123.2lbs (55.9kg)
29: 200 calories
- 2 tablespoons A1 steak sauce (30 calories.)
- 30 calories, 123.0lbs (55.9kg)
30: 300 calories
- 1 cup steamed brown rice (200 calories) with 2 tablespoons soy sauce (20 calories) and 1 cup steamed asparagus (25 calories.)
- 245 calories, 123.2lbs (55.9kg)

**I'm going to be without a scale for about a week and a half. I'll start adding in the weight as soon as that's remedied. Being without a scale is making me worry so I'll probably try to fast as much as possible. :/

31: 800 calories
- 1 ham and American cheese Lunchable (370 calories), 1 Vault energy soda (180 calories,) 1 snack pack size Doritos (100 calories.)
- 650 calories
32: fast
- Just water this day.
- 0 calories
33: 250 calories
- 1 Wild Cherry Diet Soda (0 calories.)
- 0 calories
34: 350 calories
- 1 Weight Watchers Beef Chow Fun meal (320 calories,) 1 diet green tea (0 calories) with 2 tablespoons honey (30 calories.)
- 350 calories
35: 450 calories
- 2 Taco Bell supreme tacos (440 calories) and a small portion of Mountain Dew (10 calories.)
- 450 calories
36: fast
- Just water today.
- 0 calories
37: 500 calories
- 1 no sugar added yellow cling peaches fruit cup (25 calories,) 1 small BBQ pork bao (160 calories,) 1 serving fail soup (100 calories,) 1/2 A&W Cream Soda (90 calories,) 1 YooHoo (100 calories.)
- 475 calories
38: 450 calories
- 2 servings low sodium fat free chicken noodle soup (200 calories,) 1 serving fail soup (100 calories,) 1 YooHoo (100 calories,) 1/2 serving beef jerky.
- 450 calories
39: 400 calories
- 2 servings pear Gerber baby food (60 calories,) 1 chicken noodle soup at hand (80 calories.)
- 140 calories
40: 350 calories
- 1 chicken noodle soup at hand (80 calories,) 1 serving Dill Pickle Pringles (150 calories,) 1 no sugar added yellow cling peaches fruit cup (25 calories,) 3/4 serving beef jerky (75 calories.)
- 330 calories
41: 300 calories
- small portion of trail mix (132 calories.)
- 132 calories
42: 250 calories
- leftover small portion of trail mix (132 calories,) 1 sugar free caramelette candy (30 calories.)
- 162 calories
43: 200 calories
- Banana Gerber baby food (80 calories,) 1 chicken noodle soup at hand (80 calories.)
- 160 calories
44: 200 calories
- Peach Gerber baby food (60 calories,) 1 chicken noodle soup at hand (80 calories.)
- 140 calories
45: 250 calories
- 1 cup of steamed spinach (50 calories) with a splash of vinegar (10 calories,) 1 cup steamed broccoli with imitation cheese sauce (90 calories,) 1 lemon flavored lemon iced tea (60 calories.)
- 210 calories

** Having no scale is really starting to bother me. I've been super strict with my eating habits because I'm so scared to gain. I want to see what my weight is for these last few days so I can see what my overall progress looks like. I'll bust into a store tomorrow and use a scale there if I have to. :/

46: 200 calories
- Peach Gerber baby food (60 calories,) 1 chicken noodle soup at hand (80 calories.)
- 140 calories
47: 300 calories
- Peach Gerber baby food (60 calories,) 1 serving lightly salted pretzels (120 calories,) 1 chicken noodle soup at hand (80 calories.)
- 260 calories

** I have this new pattern going on. After I wake up I get my exercise out of the way, usually just 30 minutes of some type of cardio (running, swim, whatever - but mostly riding a bike since it's easiest.) When I go to work in the afternoon I try to eat something small during my break so my co-workers don't suspect anything. They think the baby foods are "fruit cups" or "pudding" and never hassle me about it. They're decent sized portions, taste pretty damn good, and have low calories. If I'm dying for something when I get off work I'll munch on pretzels or have some other small snack in front of my roommates and talk about how much I ate at work. I have night school now and I'm there for six hours. We get a half our "lunch break" and I use that to eat some soup or maybe half a sandwich. Basically I try to eat a little something in front of each group: co-workers, roommates, and classmates. [: The only thing that happened so far was a classmate asking me if I was sick because I ate soup all the time haha. I just told her that I really liked soup and the soup-at-hands are convenient.

48: 200 calories
- Banana Gerber baby food (80 calories.)
- 80 calories
49: 150 calories
- Pineapple fruit cup (60 calories,) 1 cup steamed broccoli (45 calories.)
- 105 calories
50: fast
- Just water this day.
- 0 calories

Now that it's done it's time to deliver some pretty bad news: ABC didn't do much for me. In the beginning it was really seeming to work, but beyond that all it would help me do was maintain the weight I'm at. I'm a bit over 5'7'' (172cm) and hovering around 120lbs (54.5kg.) At this point it's getting really hard to lose anything. Even if I eat a small amount (500 calories a day) I just stay where I'm at. People who started this at a higher weight were very successful. This is a good plan to follow if you need that extra boost or are just getting started.

Maybe my only solution at this point is to supplement my low-calorie intake with periods of fasting? Or drastically cut down my calorie intake (less than 300 a day)? Maybe I should stop eating low-calorie high-portion foods (like spinach and cucumbers) and move on to small-portion high-calorie foods (like sweets and meats)? Should I start limiting my intake based on the weight of food I consume in a day instead of by calories? :/

Once I come up with a plan I can experiment with I'll let the world know with a new post.