Joshua Encinias

Today’s the big day! No fanfare, please.

I started the morning off with 20 minutes of cardio. Tomorrow I will do a set amount of sit-ups, push-ups, etc. I’ll let you know how Monday’s diet went on Tuesday’s blog.

To be successful at anything you need a community’s support. The President of the United States, people in AA, scholars, scholars in AA – anyone trying something for the first or 100th time need some kind of support. It’s just the way it is.

I’ve found some interesting 17-Day Dieters out there. Like this lady. Honestly, the Youtube community isn’t substantive enough. How is a vlogging community going to hold me accountable to my goals? I need people who will in some form or fashion keep up with me, and notice the small changes. That’s real community. Not someone who just vlogs, wants my comments, and doesn’t have anything to do with my life outside of the internet.

On Saturday I found out that my friends Eric and Alex (a great couple set to be married this summer!) will start the diet next week. I’m excited that I have real friends who are working through the diet at the same time as me. No offense to Youtube lady, if you come across my blog.

I hope Youtube lady ain't even mad.

I haven’t found a good support community on the internet (not good for me anyway). But there are plenty of sites that document people’s 17-day diet experience. Here are some of the most frequently recommended foods:

Eggs, turkey breast, chicken breast, seafood, yogurt, grapefruit, berries, lettuce, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, tomato, cucumber, asparagus, green tea.

That doesn’t sound so bad to me! Yesterday I bought a mix of these foods for the first week of my diet. If you throw in a bigger variety of fruit, and uh, pizza, there you have my normal diet. I think phase one of this diet will taste fine. What I need to watch is how much I eat, and when I eat. I’m setting a food cut-off for 6pm, barring any unforeseen circumstances. Thank the Lord today is Superbowl Sunday… I can enjoy pizza one last time for a long time. But I’ve done it before, I can do it again, and “I can do all things through him who gives me strength.”

I found a beginners diet plan as well. My diet should look something like this:

Sample 17-Day Diet Meal Plan

Breakfast
Scrambled eggs
Grapefruit
1 cup green tea

Lunch
2 boiled eggs
Large salad with lettuce, carrots, broccoli, onion, tomato

Afternoon Snack
Yogurt with fresh berries

Dinner
Turkey breast
Steamed carrots and asparagus

Hitting my goal by graduation is going to be the best. I’ll be happier than this pup-pup, dressed as Sherlock Holmes, and live it up.

Cheers,

Josh