Well, Saturday(Day 6) is just about done for me as I cool down from my run and get ready for bed. I know, what an exciting life I lead!
After reflecting through almost one week I have many thoughts running through my head.
1. This is much harder than what I imagined. I like routine and being in a comfort zone. I thought eating the same things would work well for me. I am discovering I need variety. I feel like I eat the same egg, chicken, turkey, tomato, salsa, onion concoctions over and over. I have tried new things which I will post about soon, but I have found these to be my next problem…..
2. Domino Foods – I have found some healthy options for snacking which I think are good for me to implement. However, they are domino foods as I keep eating and eating. For example, almonds. I have found these to be so delicious with sea salt. The problem is that a serving is 1/4 cup. That does nothing for me. I could and have eaten easily 1 cup of almonds no problem. This one cup is more calories than a Whopper. I am not kidding check the calories. I eat a cup of almonds and am still starving where I could eat the garbage of a Whopper and be full for hours. I understand the health benefits, but the issue I have is that I when eating almonds I will just move on to another snack item. Am I really being healthy? I don’t know, but it is something for me to monitor.
3. After a few horrible days of days 3 and 4, I am starting to feel much better. I was at a low for those couple days. I felt tired beyond tired and just was not digging things. I stuck it out and did not lose focus, but I was ready to pack it in. My ultimate goal is to create healthy habits to lead to me racing well in my triathlons this year as well as getting back to race weight. I have about 22 lbs to drop to get to race weight and I have a long time to get there, but as I feel so tired I worry about not replenishing my body properly with my training. My training has not changed. I am putting the same time into my training as before this challenge, but before I was cranking out 7 workouts and gaining weight. That is not good.
4. I am quite curious about my measurements and weight on day 11. I want to know if anything has changed with my eating.
Here is my food diary
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a-xEHcf9q-ZiA8YloGPPEIHcEiZy4-5ge1FaX1T322U/edit
5. I have found 6:30 – 9:00 to be the hardest part of my day. I want snacks, carbs, and drinks. To not have these has been brutal. I miss creamer in my coffee at 4:15. I miss my chocolate. I really miss all my dairy.
6. I think when it is all said and done the key comes down to the thing that everyone knows – self control. Anyone can follow any cleanse and diet and anything will work if kept in moderation. For me it will be all about not going right back to bad habits, but incorporating the habits I am slowly creating during this challenge. Greek Yogurt will not hurt me. The massive amount of cheese that I ate prior to this does hurt me. A bag of pretzels will hurt me, but a handful would be okay.
7. I struggle with different views of this challenge. Some say yes to one thing while others say no. They say to avoid fake sweeteners, but it is in all the product. I like things precise and I know everyone does things differently, but this is one aspect that is making it hard for me to stay the course when I feel like I can always find an exception somewhere.
This challenge has been good for me mentally. I have made it through the hardest part of the weekend of Friday and Saturday. I snacked a bit too much today, but I did not jump to the darkside of bad choices, but I had too many servings of certain foods.
I head back to the grocery store tomorrow and get ready for another week of this challenge. Stay strong everyone!
And don’t forget water. Keep drinking water. I think that was a big issue with they days I struggled. I drank a ton of water the last two days and have noticed a change.
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