Days 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15

The rest of the carb limiting went fine. I stopped posting because I couldn't deal with posting such boring material. I like to come to my blog and read it and laugh. I am so funny and cute. Ah, not those posts. super boring.
There were some close calls, like deep fat fried cheese curds, cheese and bacon covered french fries, and a hangover day where I went to the grocery store with a hangover. well, honestly, I was still drunk. Shopping while hungry gets a lot of press, but believe me, you don't make good choices when hungover/drunk either.

I noticed some patterns. Excellent for avoiding bad situations:
1) breading on deep fat fried things - my number 1 culprit of carbs. I though that my biggest problem was sweets. I don't crave salty things. I do love me some cookies/donuts/pastries, but you can really avoid them. You just stay away from bakeries and that entire section of the grocery store. But, for some reason breading sneaks in on me regularly. I debread some on my plate, but the breading is so delicious... it breaks me down.
Lesson here: If I want to be good to myself, deep fried things are a bigger enemy than sweets. Particularly because I usually feel bad after eating sweets, but don't feel bad after mozzarella sticks.
2) I have to count and keep track all day. Going with a gut feel is no good. All the things with 1 and 2 carbs, seem so inconsequential, but there you are at 3pm, you are feeling great about your day, but like 10 of your day's carbs are gone! -
Lesson here: I lie to myself. having to write everything down kept me honest.
3) I found my daily carb posting necessary, but felt that you, my audience, must be getting bored. I just didn't have enough carb funniness. not my fault. carbs (or the lack of them) just aren't common comedic material.
Lesson here: perhaps I will start a completely separate blog or just email someone, or do the Stickk.com thing to keep me honest and
4) I lost 5 pounds over the 15 days. This is pretty good since my physical activity was pretty much: trotting through airports, two dog training sessions and one Irish dance class. not triathalon training, that is for sure.
Lesson here: I should keep doing this.
5) I don't seem to want to eat carbs when I can and I do when I can't - for instance, I allowed myself to eat whatever carbs I wanted on day 12 since I knew I was doing a special dinner thing that night. Turns out, I didn't even want anything bad all morning. I happened to be full. However, right now (yes, I am still doing it) I just spent 10 minutes thinking about a Mrs. Field's cookie with a mountain of frosting on it. If I walked over there, I wouldn't even get it.
Lesson here: have allocated carb freedom time each week. This will allow me to eat things that are driving me nuts, or at least tell myself the rest of the week that I will have it during the off time, but I likely won't even eat it then.

Overall, it was a success. In addition to proving to myself that I can do it, I lost some weight and got myself back into the swing of it. I always notice a marked improvement in energy/attitude when I stay far away from sugar and white flour, and this time is no different.