Do overs! Or is that start overs? In any case I've failed miserably living up to my promise to blog daily, as well as to my promise to diet. After telling my friend, the author Lizzy Shannon, that her blogging was a miserable failure (which prompted her to blog frequently and eloquently) I find myself with that awkward sense that I can teach and preach but not learn. So, from the shame and guilt I have decided to give it another go. It took 8 tries to quit smoking for good so maybe this one will stick. Speaking of smoking, my daughter, Jeanne, who quit smoking 20 something days ago, says I need a calendar where I can mark off 28 days because it takes 28 days to break or build a habit. I was going to argue that I'd heard it was 21 days but...I did mention Jeanne just quit smoking, right? This is not the time to start any kind of argument. That said, I am counting today as day 1 of a 28 day countdown.

DASH did not work for me. Trying to go back to Atkins didn't work. Too many choices and too much time in the kitchen. Oh, and we don't have a kitchen since we're in remodel hell. We've been living on fast food all week. I lost 5 pounds the weekend of Norwescon and regained it in three days of McDonalds and Wendys. Sigh.

So, back to the diet that set off my gallbladder attack and ended with its removal. Back to the "poor person's Medifast." I lost 13 pounds in two weeks last time. It was easy because there were NO choices. I ate a healthy dinner every night and had desert. I can do this. In fact I've already done this. Had my Zone Perfect Strawberry Yogurt  bar for breakfast. They smell wonderful. Just finished off my snack, a Slim Fast bar that tastes like a Butterfinger, and I'm not hungry. Looking forward to a Zone Perfect Fudge Graham bar for lunch and since I don't have to waste time I think I'll go for a walk or run some errands at lunch. I also packed some gum and three sugar free Werthers in case I just have to have something. Anyway, this feels good, easy, doable. Like I'm eating candy bars all day. I hope the countdown really works and I get to day 0 weighing less, but more important, feeling like I'm in control.

Oh, and just for laughs. A friend shared that she had a dream about me last night. I was blacking out, then coming to, but finally slipped into a coma. She and my husband and then the EMT's worked to bring me back, and couldn't. Now I don't know if my friend is psychic. I sure hope she is not. But maybe this is a warning, one of many, and it's time to start paying attention.

APPENDED: My darling daughter just sent me an article citing a study by the UK Health Behaviore Research Centre  that found it took 66 days to form a habit. Well that explains a few things!