Thursday, October 4. Day Two. Because of better planning, today was definitely an improvement from yesterday. I started my day with a chocolate banana shake - have I mentioned that I love these? In a way I feel like I'm cheating because the shakes are really that good. I had a delicious Granny Smith apple for a mid-morning snack. The annual chili-cookoff at work was today and it pained me not to participate. My chili, "Medina's teeth kicker", is damn good, but there's no way I can make chili and not taste it. Are you kidding me? I love chili and I like it hot, very hot actually. I like it so hot that it makes me sweat and tingle. And I always like to accompany my chili with rich and decadent cornbread (the perfect thing to soothe the flames in my mouth) , but because it's full of butter and sour cream that was also out. So, instead of participating in the tasting & judging, I sat at my desk like a good girl and ate my vegetable beef stew with a baked potato. Once my stomach was full I decided to wander down to check out the competition; I knew I could not go on an empty stomach. So I went and looked and drooled a little and fantasized, but I did not eat. My first victory! It felt great to walk away, well mostly great with a little bit of pain mixed in. For my afternoon snack I brought cucumbers and carrots. I love cucumbers, but I've always had a hard time with carrots. I don't mind them cooked, but even the baby carrots are hard for me; however, I discovered salad spritzers today and boy was I excited! There I was at my desk trying to choke down my little carrots and it just wasn't working so I went in search of something to drown them in. The problem is, it had to be something that was low-fat and had 15 or fewer calories per tablespoon. I found an Asian Silk Vinaigrette spray in the fridge that only had 1 calorie per spray and it did wonders for my carrot problem. Please don't judge me for stealing, I was desperate. If you're reading this and that was your salad spray I used, thank you and please don't be mad. Having two snacks was key for me to get through the rest of my day without daydreaming about pizza and Doritos and beer. For dinner I had beef enchiladas with corn and green beans, and I even had seconds. I could never stay on a diet if I had to starve myself so it's a good thing that I can eat as much as I want on this diet as long as I eat the foods that are approved. For dessert I had a vanilla shake with mixed fruit. I fought to stay awake long enough to down the shake and as soon as I was done I crashed. The last couple of days have been very busy and I was exhausted. Another successful day!