Binge Day

Things I have consumed on this, my binge day:

• 2 scrambled eggs and liquid egg whites (supposed to start the day with normal plan breakfast)
• 2 Kroger cupcakes
• 2 caramel apples
• 2 tablespoons Betty Crocker whipped cream cheese frosting
•  3/4 of a Route 44 cherry limeade and large tater tots from Sonic (had a coupon for free Rt. 44 beverage)
• 2 Starburst
• 3 brownies
• Honeycrisp apple
• Small frozen yogurt
• Large frozen yogurt (I was REALLY craving this one place that has awesome flavors and toppings)
• Small popcorn
• Four pieces of cheese pizza 

(Notice: NO MEAT)
What? I told you I had a binging problem. A few weeks ago that might have been a normal day.

I can notice the differences this diet has made already. Friday night I was SOO excited to eat normal foods. Then I woke up this morning and ate my eggs and realized...I didn't really feel the need to go crazy. (Obviously I did anyway)

I noticed foods taste different, especially processed foods. The Kroger cupcakes with the whippy icing I used to love didn't taste as good. The canned frosting tasted awful...pure sugar and no flavor. The Starburst were WAY too sweet. The buttered popcorn that I used to savor tasted like cardboard. (The frozen yogurt and fruit still tasted amazing. I am never not going to love ice cream)

A new follower on Twitter suggested that I think of it not as a binge day, but a cheat day. I don't have to stuff myself for the week. I can just get a taste or two of things I miss. I'm chalking today up as a week one experiment, but next week I'll definitely take that advice. Next week's cheat day will also be Friday until sundown, because I'll be fasting on Saturday for Yom Kippur.

My main goal for the coming week, besides my new 1-mile-a-day running challenge with my friend, is to add more beans to my meals. Especially black beans, since I can stand them. Black beans and eggs. Black beans in the salads. Trader Joe's had a tasty white bean thing I sampled and then didn't buy. MORE BEANS.

As much as I complain about the boring foods, the uber proteins and the disgusting beans, I've eaten whole, unprocessed foods for the last five days and drank more water than ever. For some reason a high protein diet makes me really thirsty, and I can down 6 or 7 24-oz cups of lemon water a day, compared to the 3 I drank today (and really had to force down).

We'll see my weigh-in results for Monday. I don't think the weight will be as good as it was this morning (down 6 pounds), but I bet the body fat percentage is lower!

Progress

Hey, look at that! I've made it through two slow-carb days in a row! AND I've lost 4 pounds in two days! That's a pretty strong motivator to keep me going.

Yesterday afternoon I was definitely feeling the "too much protein gonna hurl need carbs/sugar NOW" shakes. Around 4pm I thought I was starving, but I couldn't face eating any on plan food. Even peanuts tasted bad. I wanted dinner RIGHT THEN AND THERE. I forced myself to wait until 5pm. By 5, I thought I could hold off until 5:30, and by 5:30 I was feeling pretty all right. I didn't start dinner until 6:15pm, which is a much more respectable time, and it shows that I can get through the cravings.

I did go to bed with a nasty carb/sugar withdrawal headache though. I'm not sure what this cheat day is going to do for that...I feel better about no carbs, I gorge on carbs, and then I'm right back to going through this withdrawal :-\

Today I'm going to try a Crossfit class this afternoon, since I have a Groupon and two of my friends have been doing really well with it. I feel better since getting over yesterday; I feel like I can make it to Saturday and beyond!

Just eggs and spinach -- out of turkey bacon.

It tastes better than it looks - slow cooked balsamic vinegar chicken with tomatoes, black beans and quinoa

Nothing thrilling - grilled chicken with spices and salad with EVOO and balsamic vinegar

Do You Like Beans?

Do you eat beans with George Wendt? (Animaniacs)

For the last few weeks, my eating has been out of control. I flew home to Cincinnati for 8 days for a wedding, and I ate everything in sight -- good, comfort Cincinnati foods like Skyline Chili and La Rosa's, but also crap foods like candy and Steak 'N Shake.

As a result, of course, my weight is now the highest it has been in years. I'm at a weight I swore I'd never go back to.

For the last few weeks I've also been reading The Four Hour Body by Tim Ferriss. He promotes what he calls a "slow carb" diet that's stricter than any low-carb diet I've done (mostly South Beach). No dairy at all. No fruits, LOTS of beans. I hate beans. What's kind of selling me on this diet is that it's encouraged to take a cheat day. All you can eat of whatever you want one day a week.

Now, let me say that I know proper nutrition. I know fruits aren't the devil. I know it's better to eat whole, clean foods all the time, and not a good idea to gorge yourself on junk. But the book is very persuasive in its results. So I'm giving it a try.

Have I mentioned I hate beans? It's a texture thing, really. They're grainy and chewy and UGH.

The author recommends taking pictures of your meals to keep you honest. Yesterday I had scrambled eggs with spinach and turkey bacon for breakfast

NO BEANS

a salad with salmon, kalamata olives, black beans, egg and artichoke hearts for lunch, and a "fajita bowl" consisting of grilled chicken, pinto beans and guacamole for dinner.

It tastes worse than it looks.

No pictures of lunch, but trust me, it was delicious. Dinner not so much. Oh God, how I hate pinto beans. I ate a few good forkfuls and then just ate the chicken pieces.

Snacks included turkey jerky (but at $5 a bag, I'm trying to ration it), peanuts and almonds with cocoa powder and cinnamon.

I made it through day one. I'm really only sure I can do this at all because of the cheat day. The last few times I've tried South Beach, I get so nauseous from all the meat and protein by around day three or four, that I just give up. Ferriss states up front in his book that this is not a fun diet. I have a whole closet full of clothes I can't wear. I'm ready for less fun.

Junk Food Withdrawal

I hate aspartame. I hate fake sweeteners. And yet, I just gobbled up a Yoplait Light Fat Free Strawberry Shortcake yogurt like it was a dish of Ben and Jerry’s Volun-tiramisu ice cream (have you tried that shit yet? BEST. ICE CREAM. EVER.) I would have licked the inside of the yogurt container if I could have gotten my face all the way in there.

What is it about “officially” starting a diet that makes the food panic come? Suddenly today I’m starving. But I’m not starving. I’ve been binging for weeks, to the point that I make myself ill. Yesterday I ate moderately, trying to follow the plan, but still had some treats. Today, being no-more-excuses day, I am starving and panicked about getting enough food.

Also, my body is acting like I’m torturing it. I assure you, I’m eating plenty and including fruits and veggies – it’s only halfway through the day and I’ve had an apple and a banana. Yet when I tried to do a mere half hour of Zumba, my favorite go-to workout, my body tried to poop out at 10 minutes in. Shaking, tummy growling, I finished the half hour and earned my two damn activity points. If the afternoon storms cool the temperatures down, I’ll try and go for a walk later (it’s summer in the desert, no one does anything aerobic unless the sun is down or it’s storming).

It feels like the sugar/carb withdrawal you get with the South Beach Diet. I’ve had plenty of sugar and carbs today, but I haven’t overdone them. I didn’t realize how badly I’d messed my body up with the weeks of binging L Just trying to make it through today, and hopefully tomorrow will be better.

The Food Log Dilemma

I went back and forth for a few days deciding whether I’d post my daily food log on this blog or not. Yeah, it’s good for keeping me accountable to the entire internet, but is it sufficiently snarky? I finally decided to go ahead and do it, and here’s why.

There’s lots of people out there who find reading someone else’s daily food logs annoying, pointless and a waste of time. If you’re one of those people, have no fear, I’ll always post my log after a jump, which you are more than welcome to speed by without clicking.

But I know that I, personally, enjoy seeing other people’s food logs. It gives me ideas of what to eat, ideas of how many points certain things are and introduces me to foods I might not have known existed. If you enjoy any of those things, feel free to read and comment on my food logs. Let me know if you see a way I can cut a few more points (warning: I will never eat fat-free mayonnaise, so don’t even suggest it) or can recommend something you think I’d like based on eating patterns. I hope we can be of some help to each other!