I just began my third official week, with three whole weeks before that of preparation trying to gear myself for not having coffee. I used to say my coffee with half & half was non-negotiable. Funny, but when we really have to make good changes, we can. I like how you describe your first week. It gets so much easier. This is an opportunity to treat yourself in ways that are a departure from the past. I used to hate spending money on expensively-priced fruits or vegetables, but never hesitated to spend on ingredients to make delicious desserts. Weird, I know. Now, instead of spending on sugar (or coffee!!!), I look for great seafood and new recipes for chicken. As I said yesterday in another post, I made a fish stew with a saffron/tomato broth base, and I used large, beautiful scallops as one of the ingredients. I never made that soup before. I can make soups out of anything and make them delicious, but boulliabase was something I had never tried. Turns out, I found my new favorite way to have seafood and soups help stretch the food budget, so it was a winner all around. So, think of foods you can have and perhaps never tried before. It won’t be long until you hit your stride and begin enjoying the dietary plan. It doesn’t have to be bland, boring salads and proteins. Indian spices(curry, coriander, cardamom) can jazz up something as simple as egg salad(made with spicy brown mustard). I use cumin, cilantro, and chili powder and jalapenos in salmon salad and it is low-cal and great tasting. Spices can really make a difference. So, now is the time to experiment and try everything new! By the way, I bought my spices from bulk containers at the grocers this past weekend and saved loads of money. With the exception of cardamon, which was over 3 times the cost of other spices I bought, I spent less than a dollar for each spice and had enough to fill up my spice jars-green, too!