Diet

The Les Mills 21-Day Challenge Diet: Days 12-13

Posted on Updated on

Day 12 (Friday)- Dreading the weekend again, but this time it will be doubly hard since I’m leaving to go out of town to visit family in PA this afternoon through Sunday.  It will be hard to impose a weird eating schedule on other people’s time, and also make good choices while out to eat. 

But, today, I can be good. 

My energy is evening out- plenty during the day (except during my workouts, still lacking there) and a deep uninterrupted sleep at night.  The activity with packing and traveling takes my mind off of food for the most part during the day. 

I cooked a spaghetti squash prior to leaving to take with me in hopes my offer to cook dinner would help me avoid at least one night out at a restaurant.  And it paid off- we all ate a delicious dinner with salad, spaghetti squash, onions, tomatoes, itallian sausage, and shrimp.  My host had baked an unbelievably delicious smelling zucchini bread prior to my arrival, not knowing about my diet, and I had a small piece for dessert. 

I’ll blame it on not wanting to offend rather than weakness.  Once you succumb to the big c-h-e-a-t, doing it again is relatively easy.  It’s a slippery slope.

Day 13 (Saturday)- Sleeping a lot definitely helps with dieting, and my nearly 10 hours overnight was very good for keeping my cravings at bay just a bit longer in the morning. 

I’ve had a debate going with myself for the last 24 hours where I have agreed that while I will be doing my best to stay on diet as much as possible, if I get off track a little bit (ie. Zucchini bread or other out-of-town treats) I’m not going to beat myself up about it.  I can’t have an enjoyable weekend away while being so restrictive that I’m stressed out about it.  It’s not fun for the people I’m visiting either. 

So, in that vein, I happily ate a late breakfast shake and some eggs for early lunch, took a short jog with the dog (and I mean short…  I think I actually ‘trotted’ for about ¾ mile and just walked the rest of the way.  No need to torture myself with another disappointing low energy workout when I’m hardly eating anything to burn off anyways), and rewarded myself for my good intentions with the town’s claim to fame (other than the Yuengling Brewery) – The Pottsville Crème Donut at Dunkin Donuts. 

This is not like a typical Dunkin Donuts donut, folks. 

Like I said in my reckoning from last Monday, I’m not blowing this thing on a krispy kreme.  But I’m hella blowing it for a Pottsville Crème!  I almost went blind in ecstasy when I bit into it.  Or, maybe that was my eyes rolling back into my head so hard I nearly pitched backwards and fainted.  THIS makes life worth living, people! 

Is it bad for you?  Yes.  Terrible, actually.  It’s full of gluten, dairy, sugar, and not only has Zero useful nutrients for your body, it probably completely negates all of the useful nutrients I’ve tried to put in my body up until this point today.  But, it’s a rare treat.  And I don’t care if you’re judging me right now. 

The after effects?  I felt great- for the first time since I started this diet, I felt full.  Satisfied.  And I promptly crashed in a heap of lethargy about 3 hours later with a little bit of belly bloat and some gas.  Who’s gonna say ‘I told you so’?  Go on, I don’t care.  If I had to do it all over, I wouldn’t change a thing.  But, hopefully I won’t be doing it over tomorrow!

This entry was posted in Gym and tagged , , , , , , , .

The Les Mills 21-Day Challenge Diet: Days 9-11

Posted on

Day 9 (Tuesday)- Day 9, also known as The Day I Cheated. 

But really, let’s take a look at the facts.  I’ve been doing this thing for over a week.  I have the lowest energy of my adult life.  I have not lost any weight since last Wednesday (actually I am up ½lb).  I couldn’t get my favorite rose gold cocktail ring on my middle finger this morning – it Would. Not. Go. On.  Why are my fingers so swollen??  I started my period (hello fetal position!) //sorry gentlemen – it’s just the facts of life// and am feeling so very low and depressed due to all of the above – and probably my brain is chemically warped because of the cycle based hormones – a cheat is practically inevitable. 

I was good all day, despite my resentfulness.  And after a no-dressing-no-cheese-chopped-Panera-salad and a shopping trip to get my attitude adjusted in the upright and locked position, I strolled right into Nordstrom, ordered my absolute favorite Caramel Gold Truffle (which is the size of a golf ball, btw) and savored every delicious molecule. 

I thought I would feel guilty.  But I don’t. 

I also thought it would taste 1000 times better than the same truffle would have just 9 days ago before The Great 2013 Sugar Prohibition.  But it didn’t. 

It tasted amazing, but it was just as amazing as it normally is.  Am I going to be totally immune to the benefits of a sugar detox?  Are there actually people out there that this doesn’t work for?

Day 10 (Wednesday)- Nothing to report, really, except that I can get my cocktail ring on my finger again so whatever swelling/bloating was happening has gone down.  Still not down any weight, still feeling tired.  Brussel sprouts and grilled pork chops for dinner were delicious.  I could have eaten 5 pork chops.  But I only ate one.  Dessert was a glass of unsweetened almond milk to cut the brussel sprouty aftertaste in my mouth.

Day 11 (Thursday)- BodyAttack was maybe 10% less brutal than last week.  I had a hot playlist though so I could have just psyched myself up for the extra energy.  But, still pushing the cardio to failure mid-track-9 is a humbling thing.  My poor body doesn’t know what to make of this nonsense.  My novel thought for the day was that since I will be out of town this weekend, next Thursday is the only other BodyAttack class I will have to teach while on this diet.  Hurray!

This entry was posted in Gym and tagged , , , , , , .