Day 3 of the austerity (67 days to go)

I started my austerity program, the so-called Newcastle Diet, this past Saturday, and today is Day 3. It's no fun to eat only 800 calories a day, nor is it fun to sit down with MyFitnessPal and do the caloric math necessary to figure out which foods can be paired with which, and in what quantity/proportion. I hate counting calories this way; food was meant to be enjoyed.

That said, I can't say that I'm utterly miserable. As I texted my friend Tom earlier today, I have been practicing a species of austerity since leaving the hospital, and the Newcastle Diet is simply a more-intense version of that. MyFitnessPal continues to scream warnings that I'm not eating enough, but at this point I'm Luke Skywalker, barreling down the Death Star trench and turning off my targeting computer, relying on math and my intuition to figure out how to survive on 800 calories a day without going insane, MyFitnessPal be damned.

My friend Neil wanted to know how I'd be occupying my time since food is now so much less a part of my life. "Book project," I texted back. I'm still reassembling the manuscript I'd lost back when this laptop died last year. Now, though, I can concentrate more on my work, and if last night is any indication, I'm now working much faster. I've set July 31 as the date to have my manuscript assembled, and that's only the beginning. I want to put an illustration at the head of every chapter, and I need to think of a catchy title, work on cover designs and front matter, write up an "About the Author" page, and do other stuff besides. At some point, I'll have to hit up Bowker.com to get ISBNs.

Another 67 days of this. I drew up a food calendar, a way to help myself plan my meals for the next two months. I might change and tweak it over time, but the emphasis is mostly on salads, with some keto meals happening more toward the end of the austerity. Will the Newcastle Diet have helped me reverse my diabetes in two months? I guess we'll find out together, just as we'll find out  how much weight I end up losing.