Challenges are... Challenging!

So I was supposed to start my 18 week challenge today! But..... I didn't, well not yet anyways, I plan to start at dinner time. I know, I know... PATHETIC that I can not even start when I planned to but the reasoning behind this is because Anthony and I received a box from Puerto Rico yesterday containing 6 large avocados and he REALLY wanted to make a very large Spanish meal. So we made the meal and it took all the energy out of me and I was much too tired to chop veggies for salads afterwards. So I will do my chopping later today when I get home from work!

I have also decided to change my challenge up a little bit because sometimes life hits you in the head... like yesterday, I went to Publix to buy all the stuff for my salads I am going to be eating and I FORGOT to get the fat free turkey! So Anthony suggested I just cook up some chicken and throw it in there, I thought about that and then realized what would be the big deal? This challenge is more about self discipline than it is about losing weight. So if I go over calorie limits or don't lose weight, it won't matter just as long as I stick to the guidelines (which I changed).

Before I was going to be eating the same thing everyday in the same amounts, with little variation depending on what vegetables and fruits are on sale. I had it all set up per oz and everything to where I would have a good amount of calories for losing weight, but now I am not so much wanting to focus this on losing weight as I just want to focus this on eating healthy and getting my gastric issues under control.

So now, I am using the following guidelines and not worrying about the amounts I eat or the calories I consume as long as I ONLY eat what is in this list I will feel like I accomplished what I set out to do.

Here is the list of the things that I will be consuming over the next 18 weeks -

*Vegetables (fresh only, no canned or jarred or frozen or processed)
*Fruit (fresh only, no canned or jarred or frozen or processed)
*Dressing (in small amounts only)
*Gatorade
*100% Fruit/Vegetable Juice (NOT from concentrate with NO additives what so ever)
*Water
*Brown Rice
*White Rice
*Tri-Color Pasta (with salt and pepper only)
*Whole Grain Pasta (with salt and pepper only)
*Whole Grain Bread
*Turkey (fat free lunch meat)
*Chicken (cooked with nothing but salt and pepper)
*Tuna (packed in water only)
*Soy Sauce (low sodium only)
*Coffee
*Non-Dairy Creamer

And there may be things added to the list along the way if I feel that they are healthy enough to eat. It seems like I keep thinking about more and more things that would be okay to go on the list or things that I HAVE to have on there, like coffee. But never the less, the challenge is to eat healthy and within the guidelines for 18 whole weeks and if I see good results with my stomach issues, I may just even stay on this diet forever. Because I have been searching for a diet that works with me. And I would really love to eliminate as much processed food from my diet as humanly possible. (Yes I know dressing and Gatorade are proceed but those are things I just HAVE to have).

I also decided that not only am I going to be tracking my stomach issues but I am also going to be tracking what I eat everyday so I can see if there is a link and if a certain food or food group is irritating my stomach. I decided to to this on my email calender so it can be digital, because it is REALLY hard for me to keep track of stuff on paper, but it seems digital is no problem.

The fun starts at 5:30 PM today! :]