Lose 10 pounds before our 4th of July Cruise!

I just got back from Hawaii and of course, as usual I gain weight when I am on a trip but now I am looking forward to my next trip, a Caribbean cruise! Losing 4-5 pounds would put me at my average weight since I had  my major weight lost of almost 30 pounds between September 2013-March 2014. So here it goes again and I feel very confident that I will do it!

This is my plan:

Time	Meal	Food	Bites (Points)
Wake up -- 12:00	Breakfast	1/4 cup bran + ¼ cup oatmeal 1 cup milk	3
	Smoothie	Cucumber, spinach, celery Pineapple, ½ cup OJ	1
12:00-3:30	Lunch	Mixed Veggie soup	2
	Snack	Veggie Cream soup, smoothie, raw veggie salad	1
3.30-5:30	Mid meal	1 egg, 2 toast, 1 TBSP cheese	3
5:30-Bedtime	Dinner	Carb (2), veggies (1)	3
	Snacks		1
			14 total food
Activity: Walk 2-3 miles/day, Plank 5 minutes, 50 leg lifts			-3
Net Total			11

Principles of this Plan

1. Routine: Routine is important, we really don´t need a lot of variation in our diet, get used to the same breakfast, decide upon 2 or 3 options that you always have on hand.
2. Break your day up into 4 periods for the 4 meals, just focus on getting through each period of each day, congratulate yourself as you do so. Refocus when you don’t.
3. Come up with your own eating plan, something that will work for you. Use TRACKBITES to make sure that it has the amount of point that you can eat and still lose weight, you really do need a system to somewhat let you know the amount you can eat. You don’t have to track everyday if you plan what you will eat ahead, sometimes focusing too much on tracking can be counterproductive.
4. Come up with a natural appetite suppressant such as:
1. Some herbal tea like green tea, etc
2. Creamy Veggie water (put cooked veggies in a blender with water, bullion cube, and 1 TBSP cream for each cup of soup, 1 point for cup)
3. Natural supplements
4. Avoid DIET PILL! They are addictive and may affect you in other ways.
5. Don’t stress out, just try as hard as you can, try a little harder every day, never give up, keep on trying EVERY DAY, this will work!!!!
6. Just ease into this, you really can't fail at it because it is so flexible and adaptable.
7. Go through your house and throw away or give away all the unhealthy food, chips, candy, cakes, pies, etc. Put your small pieces of chocolates in the freezer to be used sparingly as treats at the end of the day along with the 90-calorie individually packaged brownies.
8. Know that this really works! Believe in yourself and believe that God will help and strengthen you as you pray and ask for his help. "In the strength of the Lord I can do all things!"
9. Think of ways to deal with stress and disappointments other than eating, for example:
1. Create mantras such as: "I will try to change what I can and whatever I can't change i will just try to live with."
2. Know that even if you are trying to do good in your life, bad things will happen, you will still have trials and difficulties but God blesses the pure in heart so even though you have difficulties, you will be strengthened and you will be able to endure and/or overcome.
3. Focus on being POSITIVE! Read scriptures, conference talks, and other good books that are uplifting and edifying. Think happy, positive thoughts, dismiss the negativity in your life, refuse to have others (and their problems) bring you down. Enjoy and savor the simple things of life, the beautiful sunsets and sunrises, nature, talks with family and friends, doing small acts of kindness for others, good shows on TV (you really don't have to watch the news or be involved in controversial things!).
4. BE PATIENT! You will mess up and "pig out," but you will have success as well, it will come and you will feel so good about yourself.
10. Be content with slow, consistent weight loss, it will be permanent and you will achieve your goal little by little. As you begin to do this eating plan and to stick to your routine, right away you will begin to feel good about yourself, you will have confidence in the future, and you will want to continue.
11. Don't make your life about food, think of all the other things you can do:
1. Visiting with friends
2. Developing talents (playing the piano, singing, art, crafts, etc.)
3. Trying to have a clean, orderly house and feeling good about that. When you clean a room or organize a drawer, look at your finished product and congratulate yourself for a job well done, you will feel happy in your heart.
12. Regardless of your success at losing weight, know that you are always a worthy and beloved person and that God loves you no matter what.

Again, the trick to this is maintaining a routine for most of the day and for one meal have variety