Cheat Day

Yesterday was my long awaited cheat day.  I surprised myself and didn't totally binge.  I didn't really have the urge to.  I ran 3 miles in the morning and then had my normal breakfast: a Paleo smoothie.  We went to church and then headed to my niece's birthday party.  I ate a section of a Publix sub with turkey and cheese, had a handful of tortilla chips with guac, and some watermelon.  I then of course had birthday cake complete with ice cream.  Don't get me wrong, it was good, but not as good as I had anticipated.  I think my anticipation for it was much better that it really was.  Actually, my anticipation was higher in week 2 of the challenge than it was yesterday.  Hmmmm....maybe I really did rid myself of poison and addictive substances.  I didn't eat again until our group cheat/celebration meal at Pozole because I was so full.

It was so nice to see everyone that had been supporting each other.  We met some new faces and got to talk all about our struggles and what was next for each of us.  It was a great group.  We started the celebration with a pitcher of jalapeno margaritas.  They definitely had a spicy kick and were very tasty.  We also had chips and salsa and cheese dip.  I went with the nachos for my entree because I love them and it was my cheat day :)  I think normally I would have polished them off even though it was a huge serving.  However, I could only eat half.  Also, I would normally want something sweet to finish everything off but I really didn't this time.  It was totally amazing. 

I ended up winning the challenge which was an extra bonus!  Kristen purchased a caveman looking hammer for me that had Paleo Goddess on one side and Paleo BA on the other side (I guess depending on how I'm feeling that day).  It was awesome.  I plan to keep in my office as a reminder for when I start to struggle.  The next cheat day is set for Saturday.  I'll be at the Georgia vs. Tennesse game.  I was supposed to cheat this Friday because it's cake day, but I think Saturday will be harder than Friday so I had to make a choice.  Besides, I had cake yesterday.

This morning, I am back at it.  Not a big deal.  I don't feel restrained.  I feel in control.  That makes me happy and proud.  I hope to keep up this kind of control - God willing (and he will).  Stay tuned.  I'll keep you updated now and again. 

Until...

The Results Edition

So this morning I did the official post 30 day weigh and measurements.  No, that's not me above...unfortunately, but fortunately, it wasn't that drastic.  I did take before and after pictures but have no fear, they will not be anywhere in a blog or close to Facebook.  You're welcome. 

Here are my results.

Lost 9.4 lbs total
Lost 1.5 inches in my hips
Lost 3.0 inches in my waist
Lost 1.5 inches in my bust (for the record, I'd like to move this decrease to my thighs...)

Lost 0.5 inches in my thighs
Lost 0.0 inches in my arms (I'm sure this is because I've been building up my guns in CrossFit...)

 

I'm still not a 36-24-36, but I'm also not 5'3'' :-) Sorry Mom, you probably won't get that reference...I'll fill you in

 

Well, I'd say it worked!  There you go.  I'm the proof.  You can do it too :-) When does your challenge start?

 

Until....

Day 30!!!!

Yes! I made it!  30 long days.  As you know, I'm going to stay strong until Sunday and then I'm going to have some fun.  Maybe I'll have some brunch.  Or perhaps, I will not eat breakfast and plan to eat at Mellow Mushroom for lunch. It's a tough call. Sunday is also my precious niece, Emma's birthday so I shall have cake!  Then, we are having a celebratory end of the diet cheat meat with the whole Paleo group at Pozole in Midtown.  It's a Mexican restaurant so it can't be bad.  If cheese is involved, it will be all good.  The bottom line is that on Sunday, I will not be paying attention to what goes in my mouth.  Then, on Monday, it's back to it.  And for the next week, my cheat day will be Friday.  Why you ask?  Because it's CAKE DAY!!  That's right.  I will strategically pick my cheat days.  Then maybe it will be date night and I can go to 2 Dog and have a glass of Pinot.  I know.  It's sad how much I'm looking forward to this.  The key will be eating clean until my cheat days.  I think it's doable, I really do.

Today was good.  I started out with my smoothie.  I definitely think I'll keep those in the menu rotation.  I had some almonds for snack and then the temptation began.  We took Anna and Mike out to Mellow Mushroom.  Mike (from Las Vegas) had never been to Mellow Mushroom!  I know, I know!  It's a sin for the Sin City resident.  So, of course we had to take him.  I resisted one more day.  I had a nice salad.  Then, Nova wanted to go to Gimme Some Suga bakery for cupcakes as if I hadn't already been through enough temptation. I went in and breathed in the sweet aroma....and left without a cupcake.  Surprisingly, I was ok.

Gimme Some Suga Bakery in Suwanee Town Center...Yummy!

I can't believe 30 days is over.  Thank you so much for reading, for supporting, for sending me advice.  You have been my biggest motivation.  Just knowing that I would have to come home each day and be honest with what I ate during the day has kept me going.  I mean, take tonight.  I am home alone on the last day of the challenge for me.  I technically could cheat and no one would know.  But I could not live with myself if I ate what I wanted and didn't tell you.  Thank you so much for being my accountability partner.  I will keep you posted now and again on how life after the challenge is going.  I'll definitely let you know all about Sunday.  I'll also let you know how I feel on Monday ;-) I don't think I'll go too overboard.  I'm still fearful of the scale creeping back up.

Until....

Days 28 and 29...1 to go!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen....I have arrived!  One last day tomorrow!  Ok, really, I'm going to go to Sunday, but officially, only one day.  I really can't believe it's almost over.  And....as of this morning, I've lost 8.5 lbs!  Maybe God just wanted to see if I'd stick with it to reward me.  For like 20 days I had only lost between 3-4 lbs.  Now, I've lost 8.5 lbs.  I'm kind of nervous to brag about it because I'm afraid when I get on the scale tomorrow that I will have gained some back.  After I weighed myself this morning, I reset the scale and weighed again just to be sure.  Phew....same number.  Maybe it's my realization of the 340 calories in the muffins.  Maybe it's me just paying more attention to how much food (no matter how whole the food is) goes into my mouth.  This burning more than you eat is a novel idea.  I mean, it's the most basic piece of nutritional advice you can get.  I learned that in 6th grade from Coach McCord in Health.  The truth is, we all know the answer.  We all know what to do.  We always have.  It's no secret.  It's no special diet.  It's about having self control.  It's about not eating crap.  It's about caring about yourself.  It's about believing you are worth it.

Inspired?  I am.  At least today.  I can't tell you how I will be on day 43, but I really hope I can remember how I feel right now.  I hope I can remember how it felt for my once too tight jeans to be a little too loose.  I hope I can remember when I resisted cake on cake day; when I resisted pizza at Napoli's, when I resisted the tortilla chips at Cinco.  I hope I can remember that I can be strong and that no one is forcing food down my throat.  All those feelings are so good.  They all build confidence.  The feeling of confidence lasts a lot longer than the taste of a chocolate chip cookie.  It's so worth it.  While I'll probably modify my eating a bit from the Paleo diet, I really want to continue eating clean.  I want to continue eating whole foods and watching my refined sugar intake.  If you know me, you know I love sugar and I was an addict.  If I can do this you can too.  Just start tomorrow.  You don't have to wait until Monday.  You can start immediately.

Ok, enough heart to heart.  That's a little much for me.  Today was good.  I knew I couldn't work out because I had youth group tonight.  So, I ate a light breakfast; just a banana.  I snacked on almonds.  For lunch, Anna, who's on my team, is in from Las Vegas so I took my team out to lunch.  They chose Hibachi.  I cheated a little....I had the chicken lettuce wraps and I'm sure the chicken had Teriyaki sauce on it.  Not a bad cheat, but a cheat.  I'll be taking points off for that.  The good news is that the portion was pretty small.  Also, the crazy chef kept trying to give me the extra fried rice.  I had to say no thank you 3 times.  So I think I did pretty good.  Before church I had a muffin.  Yummy.  For dinner I had turkey and guacamole.  Oh, and at church, I gave all my girls Airheads.  The Airheads actually came from a ginormous box that Tracy bought for me from Costco because I love them.  Apparently, I hid them from myself and I found them the other night and knew I had to get them out of the house.  So, I gave them to the 7th grade girls.  Their parents are probably hating me right now.  Of course, they each had about 5 instead of just 1.  But I had none.  I had leftovers so I gave them to Kiersten.  A total win.  A good day.  One to go.

So, until tomorrow....

Day 27...3 to go.

Oh dear, I think I just figured out why I might not be losing weight.  So, you're familiar with the Morning Glory Muffins by now.  They are pretty much amazing and I kind of feel like I'm cheating a bit by eating them.  I'm totally not.  They are Paleo legit.  All ingredients I can eat.  The sweetness comes from the carrots, raisins and apples.  If you recall, I ate 3 in one sitting last week.  Oh dear.  Tonight, I decided to make one last batch before the challenge was over.  After reading my book about having a negative energy balance, I decided to figure out how many calories were in each muffin.  While making the batch, I wrote down the calories for each quantity of each ingredient.  Then, I added up all the calories and divided the total by 12 (the number of muffins each batch makes).  Oh dear.  Each muffin is 340 calories!!  Yes, and I had 3 in one sitting last week.  I was having 2 for breakfast!  That's a 680 calorie breakfast!  Oh dear.  No wonder I'm working my butt off running, biking and crossfitting and not losing any weight.  I'm maintaining my weight pretty well, but I'm not losing that much.  Ok, so it's ok.  Now I know.  I will stop the insanity.  Even though I just took a fresh batch out of the oven and they smell heavenly.  I will limit myself to one a day.  I have to.

Other than the muffin revelation, I had another revelation.  After work, I went to Kroger to get some final ingredients to make my muffins.  Today, I was feeling pretty good about myself because when I got on the scale this morning I was down 6 lbs!  So, I was feeling confident.  I wore some jeans that I haven't been able to wear in awhile.  Then came the Kroger monitor.  I know you've seen it as you walk in and walk out.  It's the security camera monitor that hangs in front of the door.  I'm not narcissistic, but I look at myself in those things and in store front windows and I know you do too.  When I looked, I expected to be happy about what I saw.  Instead, I was so upset.  That camera added like 20 lbs I swear.  I did not look that fat in the mirror this morning.  Just to make sure I wasn't seeing things I looked again on the way out.  Yep, still fat.  Good Lord.  If you want to maintain confidence, do not look up at these monitors in Kroger.  It scares me because I feel like you never know what you really look like.  Maybe the mirrors are lying.  Maybe you are really as big as the monitor makes you look.  I'm sitting here watching the Voice and I see Christina Aguilera  go up and hug these people and she's wearing this horribly unflattering outfit for her current shape.  I'm sure she looks better in person, but everything looks really big on TV.  You have to think that a superstar like that had to look in the mirror and feel good about what she looked like before she went on national TV.  But what if the mirrors are lying.  What if we all look like Christina Aguilera (minus the over-exposed cleavage)? Oh dear.  That's scary.  The scariest part is that I'm sure if I stood next to her in real life she'd be as big as my left thigh.  So if she looks big, I will look like a dinosaur that could eat her for dinner.  My new goal is to look good in the Kroger monitors.  When I do, I will strike a pose for the poor soul reviewing the tapes.

So, I started the day off good.  6 lbs down.  I had good intentions of eating very well.  I brought a sweet potato and vegetables for lunch but Nova made me go out.  So I ended up having a hamburger lettuce wrap with asparagus.  I'm home alone this week so I had good intentions of grilling chicken after my run, but I just didn't want chicken.  So, I made my smoothie and had a nice hot calorie-rich muffin.  Yea, I could've done better today, but tomorrow is a new day.

In case you want to try the extremely healthy but calorie rich muffins that I've been raving about, the recipe is below.  You can thank Tracy for this.  Just control yourself.  Just have one a day.  It can be your one treat.  Enjoy.

Until tomorrow...

Morning Glory Muffins
2 1/2 cups almond flour

1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated carrots
1 large apple peeled and grated
1 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
1 cup raisins
3 eggs
2 tablespoons honey (optional - I did not use it and they were still good)
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-Preheat oven to 350
-In a large bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt. Once combined add carrots, apples, coconut and raisins and mix well.
-In a separate bowl whisk together eggs, honey (if using), coconut oil, and vanilla (in case you haven't read my other blog post, you must microwave the coconut oil in order to "whisk" with the eggs.  Make sure it cools before you add the eggs or you'll have scrambled eggs). Add this to the "dry" mixture.
*Note the batter will be very thick
-Grease a muffin tin (I used some more coconut oil but I have to say this did not make them nonstick)
Spoon the mixture into the muffin tin. (These to no really "rise" so sort of overfill the muffin hole. They cook in the shape you leave them)
-Bake 40-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Tips:
The smaller the grate of the carrot and apple the better
Allow batter to rest for 30-60 minutes before spooning...they will be more moist.

Days 25 and 26...4 to go.

This was a pretty good weekend.  Saturday I got up early to ride the gaps.  Unfortunately I had to go without my riding buddies.  Wendy got sick, Kristy was busy winning her age group at the Tri2Remember triathlon, and Tracy was still boycotting her bike and the gaps.  At 5:45 on Saturday morning I decided to go alone.  Probably not the grandest of ideas but I really wanted to ride and I really wanted to do the gaps because the official 3 gap ride is only a couple of weeks away.  I woke Marcus up to tell him my plan and he said that it was a bad one.  I asked him why and he said because I didn't know how to fix my bike.  This is true.  But, I told him there are plenty of other cyclists that would be up there and I'm sure they would be willing to help one of their own.  Then he asked me why I was asking him if I was going to go anyway....I told him I wasn't really asking ;-)

My beautiful view on the tail end of my ride in Suches

So, I set out alone.  I'm not sure if was nervous or really excited to do it by myself but I had an extreme high on the drive up there.  I was jamming out to Florence and the Machine and God had painted an amazing sky with the mountains as a back drop.  It was stunning.  Though I would miss my friends, I was looking forward to some alone time.  It proved to be very cathartic.  I couldn't have asked for a better day.  I did better than I thought I would riding by myself.  I thought I might be slower since I wasn't chasing anyone, but I turned out to have a pretty good pace for me.  Riding time was 3:15.  A solid effort I think.

When I got back from the mountains, I went straight to Mom and Dad's because Mom and I were going to a fundraising event for Congressman Graves in Rome.  We were spending the night.  We had a great time.  First of all, we always have fun when we are together.  Second, Rome is a surprisingly cute little city.  Third, the Tams were the entertainment and they are always good.  I love me some oldies.  Mom and I are known for our lack of a sense of direction.  We actually went through Adairsville to get to Rome....not exactly on the way.  Oops.  At the event, my food choices were limited.  So I had hamburger with no bun and celery and carrots.  Just what I wanted.  I ended up having a Lara bar for dessert.  Mom did her best not to tempt me on the trip.  Typically when we go on a road trip we have lots of good snacks.  Not this time.  On the way back I stopped to gets some dehydrated apples and pepitas.  Since I was eating, Mom felt like she could and so she snacked on doughnut holes.  Again, why couldn't I have her genes?  Seriously not fair.

The Tams (check out the little Tams, they were awesome!)

While on the trip, I read a new book I've been working on, The First 20 Minutes.  It's all about the science of exercise.  At first, I was really liking the book because it said that you really don't have to stretch (I hate stretching).  It also said that tight muscles could be a good thing for athletes.  This weekend I got to the part in the book where they say that exercise really doesn't help with weight loss.  What?!?!  It said that it's good for health and fitness but it doesn't do much for weight loss unless all of your workouts are very high intensity.  This is terrible news for me.  It also said that the body is so efficient that when you workout for a long time and burn a lot of calories, the body gets upset with the negative energy balance (burning more calories than it's taken in) and it actually finds ways to hold onto extra calories.  In women especially (because of the reproductive thing), the body will tell the brain that it is hungry so you will eat what you burned and more!  Unbelievable.  Seriously.  How unfair.  However, this could explain a lot for me, and maybe you.  Here I am, exercising my little heart out and thinking, wow, I'm burning all kinds of calories.  I'm even burning more calories at rest because I exercise (another myth per the book).  And then my body is telling me that I'm hungry even when I shouldn't be so I'm probably eating way more than I burned during exercise and therefore I'm not losing weight.  Oh dear.  This is such bad news.  To make it worse, if you don't eat enough after exercise, the body will get even more nervous about the negative energy balance and may slow your metabolism.  I really can't win.  I'm hoping the book will turn the corner and offer me some sort of good news.  I'll let you know.  So far, not good.  I'm hoping for a miracle.  Oh, and by the way, this news in no way makes me against exercise.  It is still very good for your overall health it just won't make you skinny.  So keep doing it because you'll live longer and have a more enjoyable life when your 80 because you'll still be able to get around on your own.

Today on the food front it wasn't so good.  I started out with a good breakfast at the hotel of eggs and bacon.  I snacked on my apples and pepitas.  Then I decided to take a nap instead of eating lunch.  I woke up and ate another snack of a banana and almond butter just to get me through my 3 mile run that I had to get in.  After the run, I had a smoothie for dinner.  Take that for negative energy balance!

I have 4 official days to go.  I went to the grocery store tonight and stocked up to finish strong.  Marcus won't be here this week so I'll be cooking solo with no supervision.  He advised not to use the oven while he was gone because he knows how my cooking sometimes turns out.  I think I'll be fine.  I got ingredients to make another batch of muffins.  Tracy had them fresh out of the oven when I got to her house to run tonight and they smelled delicious.  Even though they are a hassle, they are worth it.

Here's to one more week of being really strict.  Pray for the stupid scale to dip to at least 5 lbs for my sanity sake.

Until tomorrow....

Day 24...6 to go.

Today I realized I think I've finally gotten all the crap out of my system.  I don't have the cravings.  Sure, I'd like to eat some things, but I don't crave them.  And, I can resist a lot more than I thought I could.  Take lunch today for example. Wendy B. and I went to Cinco.  It's a fabulous Mexican restaurant that is not the normal Mexican restaurant fare.  It doesn't have a Speedy Gonzalez, or a lunch special #2.  It's fresh food.  I really like it.  They also have the best chipotle style salsa.  It's smokey and good.  I typically would dive in head first with as many chips as I could stand.  Today, they brought the chips; they set them right in front of me; Wendy ate them, and I didn't.  I wasn't even staring at them.  I couldn't have cared less.  Really.  Really? Yes, really.  I typically order this great salad there but I was afraid the dressing would have sugar in it because it's some sort of mango dressing.  So, I settled for chicken fajitas....my new going out go-to.  I asked them to just bring the fajitas and guacamole and nothing else.  No cheese, no lettuce, no sour cream, no rice, no beans, no tortillas...just the chicken and onions please.  They were delicious.

After lunch we walked over to Parson's, a nice little gift shop.  Not only does Parson's have gifts, jewelry, Vera Bradley, etc., but they also have fudge, truffles, and other yummy things in their front display case.  I saw it all and I was ok.  I didn't start to shake or focus on them, I was perfectly fine.  Could this be true?  Could after 24 days of cleansing my body of the sugar and processed crap really cause me to stop being slave to them?  I hope so, I really do.  I have to admit though, it makes me really nervous.  I have 5 more official days of this thing including tomorrow (8 days until I'm going to cheat) and I'm really scared to cheat.  I feel like I will be like a drug addict and not be able to stop again.  I remember when I went Vegan for 6 months.  During that time, I also gave up refined sugar.  When I started, I had only intended to do it for a couple of weeks, but then I was scared to cheat and backslide, so I just kept going.  The turning point happened while Marcus and I were in Breckenridge.  It might have been the altitude, but one day after skiing we were walking around town and I smelled the most delicious cookies I had ever smelled.  We were on the street and I could smell them outside.  I stopped right then and there and told Marcus I wanted a cookie.  He looked at me puzzled and said "you do?" I did.  I really did.  In my head in that instant I thought I could isolate the event to the one cookie and go back to no processed sugar.  WRONG!  First of all, the cookie was delicious (I can still remember it).  Second of all, after I had it, even though I got a little sick to my stomach from all the sugar, I just wanted more.  I started thinking of all the things I could eat.  That night we went to this place where they had fried Twinkies and make your own Smores.  I got the Smores.  It was like it was a downhill spiral from that point on.  Next thing you knew I was back on the pizza and cheese dip too.  This Paleo thing is the first serious eating plan I've done since being Vegan.  I'm so very scared of what I might do after I cheat.  Can I limit it to one day a week??  EEK!!  I'm going to be positive and confident here and say that I can.  I mean, I have not really cheated in almost a month....surely I can make it 7 days at a time, surely.

Tonight, Marcus and I had Mom and Dad over for dinner.  We grilled flank steak with this awesome homemade Brazilian rub.  As a side we had homemade baked sweet potato fries.  We also had a nice salad with tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and basil tossed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  I was quite pleased with how everything turned out.  I even set the table and used place mats and cloth napkins that we had received as wedding gifts.  I had to cut the price tags off of them.  Mom came in and said everything looked so nice but noticed there was no bread of any kind.  To be honest, I hadn't even thought about it.  I didn't think we were missing anything.  I have gotten so accustomed to just having meat and vegetables and fruit, the bread didn't cross my mind.  Nonetheless, I think everyone enjoyed it.  Dad had seconds.  Usually, I can tell if what I made was a fail by Dad, but he seemed to like it.  Mom didn't have seconds but she told us later she'd had almost a whole box of crackers before she came.  Why didn't I get more of her genes??? After dinner, I had a banana and almond butter for dessert and quite enjoyed it.

So, all in all, a pretty successful day.  Oh!  I forgot to tell you, I'm down 4.2 lbs.  I'm really hoping to break the 5 mark and keep it there when this is all said and done.  And, I wore my Miss Me jeans again today and they were even looser on me.  Tomorrow, Wendy and I are off to ride 3 gap.  That should deplete some of my calories :-)

Until tomorrow...