Hi, everyone! 

I'm just now breaking the fast that I started on Saturday night (a vegan protein shake and a bunch of applesauce) and I feel great. I'm sharp and clear and calm-- I love the way fasting makes me focus on something other than my emotions and experience. It's amazing for my depression. 

I also made an interesting discovery tonight as I was making my smoothie. I took a bite of the soy vanilla yogurt I've been adding, and the taste was... not good. And I think the soy yogurt might be the real culprit for the icky aftertaste I've been blaming on the protein powder. I'm definitely going to play around with the way I make it-- maybe I'll try coconut yogurt instead, since there's a brand of vanilla coconut yogurt that I know for sure I like, and see if that helps. My local Kroger does seem to carry that specific yogurt in cartons, too, which is lucky for me. I've come up with some other ideas, too, of how I might make this daily shake taste a bit better-- adding raspberries or strawberries instead of just the banana, maybe trying the vanilla flavor from the same brand, adding chai spices-- and I'm looking forward to experimenting. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Well-- most suggestions, keeping in mind that I'm extremely allergic to all nut products, and no earthly tongue contains a word strong enough to express how much I hate sunflower butter. My current smoothie situation doesn't taste bad per se, but I am excited to mess around with the recipe and find ways to make it actually taste good. 

Other than that, not much going on. I'm pretty sure Spring Break is next week, and my plans are to do as little as possible (probably some housework and other equally exciting stuff.) I'm not traveling or anything-- I'll see my family (and hopefully also some friends) this summer. 

And that's actually something I've been thinking about lately. The last time I saw my friends in North Carolina (where most of my friends live-- I went to undergrad there) was in mid-January, when I was there for my best friend's solemn monastic vows. I weighed 320 pounds. The next time I see them will likely be June or July. I wonder where I'll be weight-wise then. I wonder if my weight loss will be visible by then. I hope so-- it would be amazing to get some compliments on all this hard work. I will almost certainly be under 300 and maybe even close to or under 275. So that's cool to think about. I hope I can make the people I love super proud.

On that fluffy note, I'm going to get off here and go rinse out my blender cup. 

Until next time,

Simone

Weight: 315.7 lbs. (143.2 kg)