Day Four Results:
This may be a short post, haha.. I’m a little tired tonight! :-)
So, today was just off.. everything about it. The house was a zoo with work being done outside and inside all day long, literally like 8am to 6pm. I know it needs to be done but having three extra people here when I’m used to being by myself just wears on me and throws me off course. Plus Robert, my husband, said we needed to go pick out tile at 8:30am for the handyman and 9:30 had rolled around, I was ready and waiting and still had not left yet. I typically start my water (60oz) by 9am and eat by 10am then workout, but I couldn’t do that because we were going to be out and about and no convenient place to.. ehem, use the bathroom. I finally was able to start my water by 11 and ate at 12. It took a lot of willpower to get that water down first before eating, but I managed. So I got a little unintentional IFing (Intermittent Fasting) in there, going without for 17 hours.
I also wasn’t able to workout, which completely stinks. The handyman and Robert were working in the next room over and there was a lot of in and out traffic, it was just a mess. Then Robert leaves (last minute) out of town to go visit his family in Arizona at 7:30pm and we had a brisket that was just finishing up that I needed to shredded so I basically just nibbled on it as I was shredding it, until I was full. Very strange day.
I did not get my second batch of vitamins down, and I didn’t eat my second cup of fruit or eat my second piece of chocolate. This wasn’t intentional, I think I was just trying to catch myself coming and going and didn’t think about it much.
I dropped another 1/2 pound this morning, which was A-Ok by me.. I’ll take it! :-) I did feel today that I’m not getting enough fat in my diet so I had two scrambled eggs with chili powder. I just needed a boost and the eggs definitely did it. I don’t consider eggs to be dairy, so I don’t feel I went off course, they really helped me and I wasn’t hungry the rest of the afternoon. We’ll see if the scale agrees with that decision tomorrow. :-) Either way, it was the right thing to do at the time and I have no regrets. (I haven’t had eggs in many months.)
I saw a ‘treat’ today and was kinda sad for some reason, wondering if I’ll ever be able to fit it back into my diet. I know I will, it was just a minor pity party, I just gotta learn moderation, true moderation :-) As I mentioned before I had cut back on honey or dates or nuts before but never all of them together, but clearly these are my ‘terrible three,’ because cutting them out is causing me to lose, and if I want them in my diet on any level I’m going to have to find the sweet spot (how much I can have without gaining). But I also may just have accept that I have to cut them out, just like grain and dairy, we’ll see..
These are two quotes that constantly come to mind:
“If you want something you’ve never had, you have to be willing to do something you’ve never done.” And
“Decide what you want,
decide what you’re willing to give up for it,
establish your priorities and go to work.”
Four days down, three more to go.. :-)
Day Five Results:
I really wish I could’ve done this test on a more normal week, I feel like all I’m saying is how stressed out I’ve been. Well… today is no better, in fact today was the topper. I was tempted to eat forbidden foods more times today, than I can count. I didn’t give in, but I don’t think I’ve ever been so close without giving in, I was pacing the floor fighting with my self, mentally. Our tile guy was back and brought someone with him that I didn’t know, so that made things very awkward for me ( I don’t like strangers in my house). I had some important decisions to make about the bathroom and my husband was out of range, couldn’t be reached, so I was left with the decision process. The guys were here all day again and the ‘helper’ left the back door open so the sawing dust from the tile went all over the basement, all over and up the stairs, all over everything in the kitchen and everything in the dining room. The house was just in chaos. I was beyond stressed because I knew that I was going to be the one to have to clean it all up and it’s going to take forever. Several times I had to tell myself- you’re not hungry, you’re stressed! Eating (this or that) will not make this situation any better!
I took a lot of deep breaths and although I nearly punched a wall when I saw the dust all over everything I’m happy to say, I didn’t! :)
I wasn’t able to workout again today, and that may be some of why I’m a little wired. Working out is a fantastic release for me and I miss it when I’m not able to do it. My weight was the same this morning as yesterday morning, but I’m ok with it, maybe it was the eggs and maybe it was that I didn’t eat enough, because everything else was the same.
I do know for certain, that had I not taken honey, nuts and dates out of my diet this week and limited my fruit, and had I not been keeping myself accountable here, I would’ve likely indulged in them for all the stress I’ve been under. So though I say I wish it could’ve been another week, in truth it’s really shown me that I CAN make it through overwhelming circumstances without turning to food, even good foods and that I HAVE grown a lot stronger over the years than I had previously given myself credit for.
Yay, for small gains.. :-)
Day 7, Final Day
Well, here I am.
My ‘test’ is complete and I survived. :-)
I was down a total of three pounds on Saturday (yesterday) morning, but gained back a half pound this morning. Last night my husband took me to Stateline and we had baby back ribs and beans. Well, that’s what I had, he had ribs, beans, coleslaw and potato salad. I just so happen to LOVE the coleslaw and potato salad from Stateline but I only allowed myself two very small bites of coleslaw. But the beans were bad news for me and made me gain. It’s ok though, this is one of the reasons that I like to weigh myself every morning, even though some people might call it ‘a bit much,’ because I can find out immediately if something is making me gain and can eliminate it from my diet if I so choose to.
Today, Sunday, is when we typically go to our favorite Mexican restaurant after church with friends. Over the past year I have really watched what would make me gain weight from the weekend and it was one of the reasons I eventually decided to drop dairy and grain alltogether. Every Monday, without fail I would be 1-2 pounds heavier then on Sunday morning. So, anyways, because the beans caused me to gain overnight I decided not to eat them today like I usually do with my shredded beef. I asked them instead to give me a salad with vinegar and oil ‘dressing.’ It wasn’t as satisfying, but I have to remember my own advice and make the event about the relationships and conversations instead of focusing on the food.
I’ll be continuing with these same ‘eating rules’ for another week, just to see if I can handle it (yeah, I would do it just for that) and if I can eat ‘this way’ permanently.
Here’s a few things I learned or relearned this week:
1. I can’t wait too long to eat or I get majorly irritable and want to eat everything in sight. This was never done intentionally, but I have to make sure that I’m getting good meals/snacks in, or my defenses are way down and it’s extremely difficult to stay the course.
2. I have to have Protein, Fat and healthy Carb options in the house, available and ready to eat or I’m in serious trouble and my mind instantly starts thinking about ‘bad stuff.’ i.e. I need to be prepared.
3. I’m a lot tougher than I gave myself credit for. I know it may not look like much to just remove grain and dairy, honey, dates and nuts from my diet, but these were trigger foods for me and I was able to walk away from them for 7 days.
7 whole days.
To me, that means that they don’t have such a strong hold on me anymore and that I’m in control rather than feeling that once I start eating these foods I’m not able to stop. and that feels good. The war isn’t over, but this battle has been won.
4. Having the 2 small squares of 70% chocolate that I could eat everyday really made me feel I could let go of everything else. These ‘squares’ are so tiny you would probably laugh if you saw them, and I admit they were probably more psychological in nature for me than anything else because they’re not very sweet. I also admit that my goal would be to one day not have ‘to have them,’ but it was important for me to not feel too deprived, again, I want a diet that I can do year round and not ‘feel’ like I’m dieting.
I realize that this whole ‘test’ may seem extreme to some, talking about losing or gaining a half a pound and taking ‘so many’ foods out of my diet, and that I may seem overly focused on my weight, etc. But the funny thing is, this was very freeing for me. I did not think about food all day, in fact this was why I sometimes went too long without eating, because I simply forgot about it. It was not a primary focus of my day. Once the rules had been set, I just needed to follow them. I’m not saying it was easy, but it provided structure for me. I had begun to develop habits of over eating a few foods and whenever that happens I need to take measures to restore normalcy and get my focus back on track. Plus, when you’re as close to goal as I am, your body will start to hold on to fat and you have to remind it who’s boss! :-)
So, I’m off on another week, same rules, I’ll report back at the end, to let you know how it went. But as far as this past week, I’m very proud of what I was able to accomplish and I look forward to what I’m going to learn in the next 7 days.
