Whew. Y’all, to say this has been a rough week would be an understatement!
I got on a health kick a couple of years ago and loved the way my body looked and felt and I honestly have no idea how I got so off track. I was strict Paleo and ran/ walked 4+ miles a day (C25K is a great app!), weighed 105 pounds and I felt amazing! I was more confident, I was happier and working out became more of an outlet for me than a chore.
Many a pork chops later, I sit here at 135 pounds and type this blog post. I eat what I want, consume more sodas a day than I care to admit and my tennis shoes haven’t hit pavement in over a year. I’ve went from a size 25/0/XS to a snug 28/6/M (I know being healthy isn’t determined by your clothing size, it’s a personal thing to me. I am in no way implying that you should strive for this.).
For the last year I’ve wallowed around in all of my new-found weight gain, telling myself daily that “I’ll start tomorrow”. Well, I decided Monday was my tomorrow.
Monday
This wasn’t easy at all, I had to literally drag myself out the door to go walk (1 mile) because all I really wanted to do was watch Netflix. I skipped my local coffee shop after carline and had a smoothie instead. For lunch, I made a cajun chicken (deli meat) sandwich at home on white wheat with mustard and a slice of Sargento thin sliced cheese. Between lunch and dinner I opted for a protein bar in leu of a bag of chips. Dinner was tough because I usually make a full meal (think meat and three), but had a salad with spinach leaves, tomato, cucumber and a very skimp amount of Ken’s Light Olive Oil & Vinegar dressing. Then I treated myself to two glasses of Merlot before I decided I was miserably hungry and so I put myself to bed.
Tuesday
Tuesday I skipped my walk (whoops) but stuck with a smoothie for breakfast. For lunch, I had grilled tenders and green beans from Popeye’s and the same salad for dinner that I had the night before accompanied by a glass of wine. Tuesday is also the day I went to the grocery store for juices. Little did I know that tomorrow would be the worst day of my life.
Wednesday
The day from hell. The juice cleanse. I called my friend the day before and asked “On a scale of 1-10, how terrible is my day going to be tomorrow?”. Her response was “Pretty close to a 10, but you’ll feel like a 10, too”. She was right. They aren’t all terrible tasting (they aren’t great either) but I’m a foodie. I like to eat my food, not drink it. I was hungry, miserable, and feeling sorry for myself all day long but I figured since I had already suffered through the nasty (it was bad, y’all) green one for lunch that I’d keep going. I never felt satisfied and I’m not sure I have the self-discipline to torture myself do another juice cleanse. I also realized late that evening (tears and multiple unladylike terms were involved) that I didn’t do my research and that I was allowed to consume whole foods. Damnit.
Thursday
Thursday was better. It was my forth day caffeine free (the headaches weren’t near as bad as I anticipated!) and started off strong with a smoothie for breakfast followed by a 1 mile walk. I went to Subway for lunch and had a chopped spinach salad with turkey, tomato, cucumber and fat free ranch. I highly recommend a Subway salad. They’re big, and for the first time this week, I felt full! I had a protein bar for snack and made a baked chicken breast for dinner with steamed zucchini and squash.
Friday
Friday I gave up on life a bit and I loved it. I went back to bed after carline and slept until 10:00. The only walking I did was to the stove to scramble myself a couple of cheese eggs and fry myself some bacon. I ate a Whopper Jr. with cheese for lunch and we ordered pizza for dinner. I also split a half case of cold beer with my friend and I felt like the happiest girl in the world. Friday was good.
Saturday and Sunday I enjoyed myself in moderation. Still had no sodas and the discomfort (which was always very mild and manageable) had subsided. I continued to eat grilled vs fried and so on.
I guess overall it wasn’t that bad. The day after the juice cleanse I did feel “cleaner”, less bloated so to speak, but for me that isn’t something I want to do often. I enjoy salads and vegetables so eating better won’t be that hard, but I’m not quite ready to give up my morning coffee, wine, or meat. I’ve chosen not to weigh myself because I can get easily discouraged sometimes, so for now I’m just focusing on cleaning up my eating habits and getting more active.