Pre-op Diet.

Here I am on day 5 of my pre-op diet. It really hasn't been that bad. I don't see how people can do Atkins long-term, though; I'd get awfully tired of eggs and sausage or bacon. I don't love eggs. I'll eat them scrambled with cheese, in an omelet or occasionally hard-boiled if it's in egg salad or on a salad. So I've been eating omelets all week. Jimmy Dean makes frozen omelets with cheese, sausage and cheese or ham and cheese. Those are very convenient because I can just pop them in the microwave at home (or at work if I'm running late). They taste pretty good, too.

Lunch has been some variation of salad and meat almost every day: salmon, roast beef, ham, tuna. I did have hard-boiled egg on my salad on Tuesday. I am getting a little burnt out on cold lunch when it's cold outside, though. I think I'll cook something this weekend to take for lunch on Monday and Tuesday of next week.

A bad side effect of my new dinner is that my husband Beau is eating potato chips every night with his meal. I've been eating vegetables that he doesn't like -- the only non-starchy one he really likes is green beans -- so he's had meat (hamburger patty or grilled chicken breast), occasionally salad and potato chips. Whoops.

The other night I was really craving something salty, so I got some pork skins at the grocery store. A couple of them and I remembered that I didn't care for them that much the last time I did Atkins. I got some jerky too -- being careful to make sure it wasn't barbeque or some other sugary marinade. That helped.

I've also been tracking everything in SparkPeople.

I have had a few head hunger type moments but realized that's what they were. I certainly do like to snack a few hours after dinner, but I've been able to just go for a sugar-free popsicle or jello.

I wanted to start exercising this week. I thought I was off to a good start on Tuesday, when I elected to walk to my lunch meeting. I forgot how uphill part of it would be, and I ended up twisting my ankle. Not too badly, but badly enough that walking long distances is painful. Stupid me. I overdid it, I believe.