BLE Day 1! Time to get honest.

Here is where I am going to get vulnerable. I am going to share with you my measurements and weight for the start of my Bright Line Eating, BLE, Day 1 of my 14-day challenge. People have always told me that I carry my weight well so sharing this makes me feel very exposed. I hope my honesty will help others be honest as well.

This is my heaviest. If you have read all the blogs on The Joyful Dazzle you know that 2020 was a rough year. We lost our dad and emotionally the 2 years before were no picnic with his cancer diagnosis. So emotional eating was strong for me. I was not surprised by my number. I did know I wanted to make a change and BLE, Bright Line Eating, came at the right time. 

BLE Day 1 – Food Plan!

When I first started learning about BLE the food plan seemed crazy. In the videos, Susan talks about how the 4 bright lines are the most important. The food plan is based on science and studies but if you have medical or other reasons for needing to follow another plan that just sticks to the 4 bright lines for whichever way you choose to do the food plan.

Well, I figure what the heck, everything I have done before hasn’t worked, and even though looking at the food plan BLE laid out seemed like very little food I figure I would give it a try. Here are the food plan guidelines again plus my food journal for day one.

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Breakfast: 6oz strawberries, 4oz, potatoes, 1 egg + 1oz cheese, 2oz salsa, 2oz oatmilk + tea,

Lunch: 4oz ground beef, 6oz broccoli slaw & onion, .5oz Asian dressing, 6oz apple,1 tsp five-spice, 1 tsp of soy sauce, rice vinegar

Dinner: 4oz shredded pork, 6oz roasted vegetables, 8oz salad, 2oz avocado, 1oz balsamic vinegar, iced tea

Almost exactly!

I followed the plan almost exactly. When you look at my journal you will see writing in pencil and then I wrote over everything I actually ate with a pen. I made my plan but based on how things worked out the items that are still in pencil are what I didn’t do. You will also see from above that I crossed out the oat milk and tea. I have been drinking coffee first thing in the morning with loads of sugared cream for as long as I can remember in my adult life. I decided to try something different and it was not good. So it is crossed out because I dumped it out after 2 sips.

Also from my journal you will see that I wrote down from grocery items I purchased that were on plan and what meals I could make from what I had. This was really handy moving into planning the rest of the week.

Now the question I am sure you want to ask

BLE Day 1 felt easy. I wasn’t hungry and I felt like both lunch and dinner were a lot of food. In fact, at dinner, I think I made the mistake most make when it comes to making their salad. I used way too much lettuce. Here is my first tip: when making an 8 oz salad I would strongly recommend no more than 3oz of lettuce. I did 5oz this first day and I felt like I was eating salad for 45 minutes. Now eating slower is definitely helpful to make you feel full but that is a little much. 

Tip #2: Mix mashed avocado with balsamic vinegar, I like white better than dark, to make a yummy salad dressing.

If you have changed your eating for weight loss you probably have had a similar experience for day 1. That day you are motivated, have a plan, and are all ready to make it work. Be sure to read my next blog to see if that feeling lasted for days 2-7.