2 Months Later

Well, it's been almost 2 months, and I've put on all the weight I lost in January, PLUS another 10 lbs, and my face is a all wrinkley and covered with acne and reddish-colored blotches the size of quarters, especially on my cheeks and chin, and I have seem to have grown a 2nd chin which hangs down almost as low as the sagging skin that used to be my neck...


I'M JUST KIDDING!!!!

I've been sticking to the Perricone diet religiously, and while I haven't been doing the day-to-day meals exactly as they are laid out in the book, I have been eating as well or even better than I was during the first 28 days! I haven't lost any more weight, but my clothes are continuing to fit differently. I think the working out is contributing to that as well.
I'm drinking nearly an entire gallon of water a day now, and other than having to pee every 45 minutes, I feel great.

I'm getting seafood delivered to my door every other week from an online seafood company that Dr. Perricone recommends called Vital Choice, which is so convenient compared to going to the grocery store all the time and arguing about where their fish is raised or caught (they really don't seem to have a clue about farm raised vs wild salmon, and I don't believe them when they tell me it's wild! Vital Choice on the other hand seems to be honest!)

Well, I'm feeling great and you can do it too. Please post comments and let me know if I've helped you, as the idea that you all are watching me has sure helped me!!!

Love you all!
N

The End?

Well that's it. First, I'll report on my final day, and then I'll report on the overall Perricone program.
Let's start with Friday, 28 days later I am still excited to be eating bacon for breakfast. I had pretty much cut regular bacon out of my diet before going on the Perricone diet, but turkey bacon tastes better than I remember regular bacon tasting!
Lunch, I ate out knowing that I could get a chicken caesar salad anywhere (but I ate my cantaloupe wedge before I went out).
I went for a long walk after lunch, then had my yogurt smoothie with strawberries and acai berry juice mixed in. Both my walk and my smoothie were cold but refreshing.
Dinner was the chicken walnut salad w/ white beans and artichokes, which was delicious. Instead of eating my pear separately, I dice one up and added it to the salad (That was a nice twist, thank you).
So, here I am, right before bedtime, snacking on about a slice and a half of turkey breast with 3 olives & 3 cherry tomatoes. I cut the turkey breast into about 3 half slices and roll them up, so that with the olives and tomatoes I feel like I'm having a small anti-pasto platter. I'm totally going to start serving this after dinner when I have guests and they will never know that I am eating part of a diet (except I'll tell them!). This combination would go great with a glass of shiraz, but I am off wine until after the diet (tomorrow is after the diet!).
Anyway, the last day was pretty much business as usual, with me feeling full and energetic (thanks, PEP!!!) all day.
I have not planned my meals out for tomorrow, but I am sure I will eat some variation of what I've been eating for the last four weeks. Why wouldn't I stick to this lifestyle? I've lost at least 14 lbs, I'm never hungry, and everybody tells me I look younger! It's true, I've been accused of getting Botox injections, having a facelift, going tanning, and having a lot of sex recently, all of which (unfortunately for the last) are untrue.
Well, I expect to stick to this program for a while, as I am addicted to how good I feel. It will be interesting to see how much effect it has on me now that I am actually taking the PEP food! I mean, I won't go day-by-day anymore, but I will amost always eat meals from the diet and stick to the superfoods. Exercise is not going away either - that's addicting, too! The only hard parts will eating out while on vacation, and at the club where they always have the tastiest rich foods. Maybe I'll cheat a little bit here and there - never say never, but I'll be good.
You be good too; just knowing that you might have been reading this has helped me tremendously, whoever you are. Knowing that I had to type what I ate each day and what I did really helped me stick to this. It would have been a totally guilty feeling if I had to write that I completely blew the diet one day or a few days. Thank God I was able to stick to it just to avoid the embarrassment.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT DURING MY 28 DAY DIET!!!!

And a special thank you to Dr. Perricone, without whom I wouldn't have anything to write about on my blog! Dr. Perricone, you made a tremendous difference in my life in less than one month and I can't say how much I appreciate that! Thank you!!!

Day 27 - Tomorrow I'm Done!

Well, the 2nd to the last day of my journey was typical - I have to give myself a big pat on the back, and anyone who might be reading this a big Thank You! Just the thought that someone might be reading this has really helped me stay pretty much on track through the 4 weeks.
Of course - as I've said before - the great food I'm allowed to eat in this diet has made it pretty easy - Today for example, I had an omelet for breakfast again! How many diets have you ever been on that encourages a 4 egg omelet for breakfast?!?!? Well, Dr. PErricone always says - eat your protein first!, and "the days you don't eat your protein are the days you age the most". Not sure what that means exactly, but it's good if you like eggs (I do) and if you want to look younger (I do, and I do!).
Let me just tell you, if you don't need to look younger or live longer or lose weight, you might want to try the perricone diet anyway just because the food is soooooo good! Dinner tonight was the mediterranean stuffed peppers - they are to die for! Oh, I had the PEP this morning in my omelet and didn't even know I was eating it!!! I put it on top of the eggs and folded the eggs over the powder after the eggs were done cooking, as I was afraid of burning out the nutrients from the PEP (not sure if that could happen, but wanted to be careful because I LOVE THIS STUFF!). Anyway, that worked out well.

Now, for the last DAY!!!

Day 26

Wednesday was good. Started the day knowing that when the day was done, I'd only have 2 more days to go and I would have successfully completed the 28 day Perricone Program. I already feel successful, as my skin really looks younger - it feels tighter (and soooo smooth!!!). Oh yeah, and I lost a bunch of weight as an added bonus. How great is that???

As promised, I mixed my PEP blend with my green tea today (added a little cold water to the tea first so it wasn't too hot). Much better than mixed with plain water as far as being able to drink it. And after the first month of taking PEP, you're supposed to cut the dosage in half ( to 1.5 teaspoons), which should make it even easier to swallow.

Does anyone have any suggestions for mixing PEP blend with something that tastes good in the morning? Let me know and I'll post them here or on that forum site I found for the book at perricone promise.com!

Lunch was the Turkey soup, and it's been so cold that I was very happy to have it. Skipped the walnuts and had almonds instead, and I didn't have any cantaloupe b/c my grocery store didn't either, so I had a couple of strawberries instead.
Rest of the day went as planned, and boy is this PEP still working!!! SO MUCH ENERGY (I was afraid I might crash today after the effect it had on me yesterday, but it is really consistent!)

On to the 2nd to last day!!!

Yuck, then YES!

Day 25 arrived - it was a Tuesday. Started the day with a twist, because I was finally able to try the PEP functional food powder that you are supposed to take every day on the Perricone Program, but which wasn't available until last week.
So, I tried it with warm water as recommended on the label. One full tablespoon. The rep from Dr. Perricone's company warned me it was harsh tasting, so I prepared for the worst. I mixed it in about 12 oz of lukewarm water from the tap, and took a sip. My first thought was "yuck", but only because I was expecting it to suck. However, it really wasn't that bad. The only strange part was the consistancy - I had to keep stirring it as I drank it to keep the PEP food from settling on the bottom of my glass.
Now for the results. I haven't really had any coffee for weeks, and I've been getting plenty of exercise and sleep and eating according to plan for 24 days, so nothing was different today except for the introduction of the PEP to my diet. Let me tell you, I know why it is called "PEP" - because that's what I had ALL DAY after taking this PEP blend food or whatever it's called!
I swear - usually I start to drag around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and I don't usually feel like doing anything like going out or any chores after dinner. But not on this day - no sirree. ENERGY all day long!!! And not the jittery nervous energy I used to have with coffee (which also made me tired if I didn't keep having more coffee!), but a consistent energetic vibe that - oh well, maybe too much energy, LOL!
While the taste wasn't as bad as I had expected - it really didn't even have a taste at all - the consistancy is such that tomorrow I may try mixing it in my breakfast or tea.
Oh, BTW, I ate perfectly fine today except for my afternoon snack - I only had yogurt with berries - not a smoothy as prescribed by the Dr.
Oh well, on to tomorrow!!!

Day 24, Monday

Monday was so exciting - finally getting my PEP blend was so cool, it inspired me to make up for any of the little cheats I had done throughout the first 23 days of the diet; there weren't many, but I figure I could be better for 5 more days! And, with 13 less pounds to worry about (yes, one more pound!!!), why wouldn't I be excited!?!
Started the day by nuking a piece of salmon I had grilled over the weekend, and it was delicious - you would be surprised how good it is to have good food for breakfast. You have to forget everything you were programmed to eat for breakfast - I am convinced that cereal is just a big marketing ploy to sell air in a box (I actually heard that at a business conference on advertising that I attended sometime last year and it stuck with me), and eggs and bacon are just a throwback to the days when everyone had their own chickens on their own farm.
I don't know, maybe I am buying into this stuff too much - but you should see my skin!!! And I can't even describe how great I feel from this program!
Anyway, on to Tuesday!

MY PEP BLEND ARRIVED!

Half way through the 24th day of the program, and (having a good day so far), but I am excited to report that my PEP blend arrived today!!! Why is this such a big deal?
Well, if you read The Perricone Promise, which came out last fall (October or November I think), every morning of the 28 day diet I am following tells you to "start the day with 1 teaspoon peptide functional food powder...". Well, until last week, there WAS NO peptide functional food powder!!!! Not that everybody was out of stock - it simply didn't exist yet!!!
According to the rep I talked to from Dr. Perricone's office (Alexis - she was so sweet), Dr. Perricone had created this PEP blend long before he wrote his book - but it took longer than expected to package and produce it for the masses (us!) or his book came out sooner than he expected - either way, I am glad it's here! I feel like this diet could have been even better (and it's been AMAZING!) if I had had the PEP from the get-go. Oh well, tomorrow morning - on the 25th day of the 28 day diet (round 1, anyway), I'll start taking PEP blend (I'd try some now, but it looks like it gives you so much energy I'm afraid if I take it at lunch time I'll be up all night!!!).

Fri, Sat and Sun days 21-23

Glad I don't live in Cape Cod or Boston. The cold weather and the little bit of snow we got here is nothing compared to the 3 feet they were buried in up north! Still, it was nice to stay inside all weekend with a warm fire.

Friday was a mirror of Thursday - I was good if I do say so myself!
I stuck pretty much to plan on Saturday, but allowed myself two glasses of merlot with dinner. I don't buy into the whole red wine for red meat, white wine for chicken and fish thing. I am an independent thinker :).
Anyway, I had skipped the cottage cheese and apple for my afternoon snack, hoping the calories would work themselves out.
Sunday, I followed the diet to a T, and spent most of the day cooking for the rest of the week. I am now in the final week of the Perricone Promise diet, and I feel fabulous!