Week 4: The Finale

Oh. My. God

This last month has been the toughest shit ever. Yes, I am a health freak for the most part, but ya girl loves junk on a occasion. I have never gone this far without eating any thing I would consider “bad.” That horrible, dumb quote from Kate Moss that’s like “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” is a giant, awful lie that she tells herself because she hates her body and herself. Guess what? I love myself and I’m gonna eat fries when I’m hungover on a Sunday and that’s FINE. I like my body enough to where I’m gonna do what I want. It aint perfect, but if I have to suffer like this to look like her, then nah.

As a human who interacts with other humans on a daily basis, I am BOMBARDED with sugar every single day. It’s in the office, it’s on the subway and it’s even on my Instagram. There is no point where I “forget” about sugar, it’s everywhere, all the time. Because I am also a human of 23 years, I know what sugar tastes like and my brain is like “oh yeah that shit is good please get back to eating that” so of course I also think about it all the time.

I will say this week wasn’t as bad since I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m kind of nervous I’ll get back into some of my bad habits, but I’m determined to keep this up for the most part. I’m definitely not gonna eat sugar just for the sake of eating it, but will be giving in when I wanna claw my arm off for some chocolate (i’m human).

The 2 reasons I’ve made it through this horrible month:

1. Other millions and billions of people have done it, and if I didn’t do it, I’d feel like a failure. I’m super competitive and I gotta at least be on par with other people when it comes to health.
2. I said I would on this blog. I could have just lied and said I did while I ate my cupcakes, but I would feel bad for lying. Not sure why, cause who cares, but I wanna be authentic on here. I also verbally told people, so again, I’d feel guilty.

Body Feels

My body does look pretty great I will say that. I lost the little bit of “pudge” or whatever you wanna call it and I’m back to my “normal.” Don’t have abs now or anything crazy, but that its what has gotten me through parts of this whole thing is the fact that I look damn good again. I never weigh myself, so I always go by what I look like in clothes (it’s weird but it works). “I “feel” overall pretty good too. Not like “wow night and day totally different person” good, but pretty good. Waking up in the morning is noticeably easy and I have a good amount of energy like all day. The exception is when I eat almond butter, I feel like shit but I think that’s just a me thing. My body rejects all things nut related, I have figured out(or am I allergic??? scary thought).

The Face

My face didn’t change at all really. I’ve pumped my body with enough meds (acutane thank you) to where I just don’t really breakout anymore, so not having a breakout is kinda normal (although even the occasional breakout didn’t happen). I kinda just look the same. I thought maybe my dark circles would get better, but nope. Those babies just occur no matter what, I suppose.

Foods I will Be Keeping Around in my Diet:

Cinnamon

Kinda dumb, but this has made things taste sooooooo much better without adding sugar to it. I used to not like cinnamon very much (cinnamon buns are still really not my thing, no I’m not dead inside), but I’ve found it to be so useful lately when it comes to a sweeter breakfast/snack.

Apple Cider Vinegar 

Okay I’m gonna be really real, I have no idea what this has actually done for me because I’ve added so many things to my diet. HOWEVER, for the simple fact that I still have some left and have gotten used to it, I’m gonna keep it up. I feel like its really good for digestion, but that could be all in my head.

Clementines

Or mandarin oranges, I’m not picky. I absolutely love them and I bought them on a whim. It’s replaced my sugary dessert after dinner and it’s almost as good.

Foods I’ll Probably Never Touch Again

Tahini

Okay this stuff is pretty good, but I got sick of it pretty quick. Might still put it on veggies, but as far as salad dressing and having to buy it all the time, nah. I liked it, but not in love with it.

Almond Butter, Peanut Butter and all the stupid nutt butters

I love this stuff, which means I eat a lot of it. That also means I feel HORRIBLE after eating this stuff. It’s not like “oh wow I’m full whew I gotta chill” it’s more like “please let me go home in the middle of work to sit in the fetal position and fart myself into oblivion.” TMI , but I can’t have this in my home anymore it’s detrimental to my health and happiness.

Chia Pudding

This stuff just takes wayy too much to be good and even then, isn’t great. I’m sure its very healthy, but just not for me. I’ll be sicking to GF overnight oats from now on.

Cacao Nibs

I don’t need to say much more on these, but I really wanna know how health people are eating this. They are literally so bitter. I just can’t. So awful. I spent 20 bucks on a bag of them, please hold me.

 

Overall, I felt the most amazing at week 1 and some of week 2(besides the hormonal thing). Past that, it’s kinda made me hangry and super annoyed. I’m thinking about how badly I want a cookie and it annoys me that I’m not eating it, basically. I love myself and treat myself often, so this has just not been great. I definitely think this is something that’s easier with someone doing it with you. I have no one who wanted to do this horrible thing with me, so there’s no one to suffer with. Misery loves company.

I do feel like this was worth it. I will not be going back to putting pounds of sugar in my coffee, or eating a cookie every night. I’m NOT a diet person, its either a full lifestyle change or nothing for me(and its let me stick to a healthy life way easier). I needed this just to break some dumb sugar habits and now that I have, I’m sticking to it(just not gonna go a straight month without sugar again).

 

I proved I could do it and I’m sure my body loves me not trashing it with all the sugar. By tomorrow, I will be celebrating my victory with a cookie coma!!!!

 

Week 3: A Hard Lesson

This week was 10 billion percent better than last week. No hormones to weigh me down or get in my way!! 

 

I’ve found myself eating more meat lately? Not sure what that’s about but, funny story. So we’ve been having an influx of meetings at work, which means we’ve been having a lot of food just like around our floor. Not really sure what the meetings are about or why people need food sent up and they can’t just like be normal humans and take a break?? Nonetheless, there’s this one specific hallway where they’ll have just like a table of food. Now, I can’t eat the chips (I tried, but there were 2 grams of sugar and I was like not worth it), but there were like little pieces of grilled chicken in a bowl that seemed pretty safe. Basically, every time I walk by, I’m taking little pieces and then putting them with my salads. It’s ridiculous how many grilled chicken strips I’ve consumed this past week. I’ve also eaten fish a little more too. Whole Foods has a fab hot food bar and I love this lemon rosemary one they keep having. Still not buying meat because I can’t stand actually cooking it, but not being totally vegan isn’t horrible.

I have sort of gotten in a rut a little bit. I love my diet of course, but I was starting to get sick of the same old salad. Also, I’ve been snacking too much on almond butter which is actually horrible. I have a weird digestive thing with nuts, but that I mean they just don’t sit well. It could be because I never eat the serving size, but I usually just feel bleh after. I’ve been keeping my almond butter in my desk at work and that is like the worst thing I could do because I’m literally thinking about how much I wanna eat it CONSTANTLY. It’s the only thing in my diet that tastes sweet, so every five minutes I’m like: you know what would be great right now, some delicious almond butter. Sunday, I fund some with 1 gram of sugar so maybe that one won’t tempt me as much, here’s hoping. 

Of course the weekend was the hardest. Saturday I went to brunch and just got something basic with eggs. The friends I was with got a lemon creme filled dessert and I wanted to gauge my eyeballs out so I wouldn’t have to look at the devil’s temptation. It was rough, but in hindsight not that bad. Later, I went to a Mexican restaurant and it wasn’t so bad since I had eaten before hand. Secret to life right there cause you’re way less tempted for the bad stuff. 

Snack/foods that are getting me through this:

 

This should’ve been a purchase at the beginning of this diet, but I’m not a super huge fan of cinnamon, normally. I put this in my Chia pudding and wow, it made such a huge difference. It took it from meh, to actually really good! 

 

I was gonna also put Cacao nibs on here but see the meme below for why not:

Also please look at this sadness:

 

 

Coming up on my last week and I’m literally starting to plan out all the stuff I wanna eat at the end. So much for not throwing caution to the wind???? I’m like oh treat yoself! but also that’s how I’m in the predicament of not being very healthy so my two sides are battling it out we shall see which one wins. It’s a love-hate relationship with this, obviously.

Week 2: The Struggle Bus

As the title insinuates, this week was a struggle. I got hit with temptation left and right and man did I want it. 

First, was Monday. Unfortunately, my coworkers decided to have a little snack-fest for someone’s birthday. It included every food I’ve ever loved: Starburst, chips, salsa, chocolate, and Magnolia Bakery cupcakes. I was internally screaming the entire time. Luckily, there was wine. Did it have sugar? Not a clue, I did try to check. Did I care? No, I needed to do something with my mouth other than moan. I managed to get through it, unscathed. The next day, someone had the audacity to put Baked by Melissa cupcakes just sitting in the break room?? Tempting, but those cupcakes are the size of my fingernail so really not. 

This week I was also visited by my lovely mother nature monthly friend (Did I sugar coat that enough for you?)!!! Maybe TMI, but I wanted to eat everything in my line of vision, including things in my Instagram and in my imagination. I just felt a general ew and bleh all day and could’ve used the sugar as a pick-me-up. I know my ladies out there know this struggle. I resisted because I knew the feeling would pass and I’d feel normal again. I talk a lot about how great this diet is, but ya girl was NOT having it for a few days. 

Luckily, I was right and by Friday I was feeling like a normal person again and I gotta say, my body is already changing. I feel great and I look it, if I do say so myself. It gave me the little push I needed to keep going. On Sunday, I woke up hungover and eating fruit and eggs perked me up way better than any pizza would have (but lets be real, I did still really want the pizza). 

Ive also found I’m not trying to kill myself working out, either. I love my cardio, of course, but I used to have to SMASH my workouts and HAVE to do cardio because I was “working off” something that I ate. I’m less worried about working out on Saturdays as well since I’m not gonna eat something to feel bad about after too. Does it seem like all i do is gush about how much I love this challenge because I DO. 

 

Snacks/foods that are getting me through this

 

 

All the healthy people are talking about this stuff and every time I heard it I was like “wha” and never looked into it. I decided to try this stuff when I saw it at Trader Joe’s and man I’m glad I did. I use this stuff as my new go-to salad dressing. I mix it with olive oil, salt and pepper and it’s so good. 

 

Is it weird that I love arugula? I had no idea I liked it, but when I added it to my salads I was like What have I been doing my whole salad life without this? I still love my kale, so I use this just as a finish-er. 

 

 

 

Also side note: still eating terrifying amounts of gum, in case you thought that was a phase.

 

So looking forward to trying new things next week!

Week 1: The Feels

 

1 down and 3 to go! My first week is officially finished with no cheats! I am actually loving this diet, who’s shocked? Meal prepping has been so fun, which sounds like a joke, but getting my salad ready for work the next day when I know it’s gonna be super tasty is the besssst. No gonna lie, it has been tough SOMETIMES. I’ve had to find alternative ways of eating things I enjoy and not giving into pressure when eating out with friends. According to the Fed Up documentary I watched, you can eat about 6 tablespoons of sugar a day. It’s not a lot, and even less when you realize how much stuff you eat actually has sugar in it. I actually had these fig bars I used to eat for a snack that I thought were healthy and they actually have 10 grams of sugar. 10!!!!! I have to check the content of pretty much everything I eat to be sure it doesn’t have a bunch of sugar and sometimes it can be annoying. 

I’m down to 3 packs of sugar in my coffee now. I know, I know, it should be zero, but cold turkey is scary and my office coffee is pretty gross and I’M ONLY A SMALL IDIOT GIRL. I’m currently trying to find a coffee that’s good, not bitter and doesn’t cost a bunch. So far its a struggle but next week I’m gonna try for only 1 pack of sugar and see how that goes. 

I’ve also been spreading out my meals as well. I used to save most of the bulk of my eating for dinner, but to honest, that’s probably why I wake up so bloated and weird the next day. This past week I decided to start having a small salad in the middle of my day and its been so great. I’m way less hangry on the subway and not having to eat 12 snack while my dinner cooks. So far, the only non-vegan things I’ve been eating are eggs and the occasional bit of tuna in my salads. I’ll probably stick to my plant-based diet simply because I enjoy it. Also, who can cook chicken in a skillet plz respond.

 

The weekend DEFINITELY put me to the test. I went out with a friend on Friday after work because it was absolutely beautiful weather and didn’t have time to go home and eat. I ended up eating at like 10 pm (I know ew), but it was just a really good kale salad and my friend got pizza. The next day I didn’t feel gross or bloated and I was like “damn I could get used to this.” The next day I went to brunch with another friend and even though all the “unhealthy” food sounded so good, I stuck with just some eggs, toast and greens. Then, I went out again and everyone I was with got burgers and fries and I wanted one so bad I was eternally screaming. BUT! I resisted the drunken urge and I’m still here to tell the tale. Like I said, this hasn’t been easy, but the way I’ve felt this week has made it worth it. I highly recommend anyone considering it, to try it.

Snacks/foods that are getting me through this:

These little Halo mandarin oranges are an actual God sent. I got them on a whim and they’ve turned into my new replacement for the vegan cookies I was eating at night. So sweet and easy to eat and I literally don’t even like oranges. They are the easiest to-go snacks and just the best I’m keeping them in my fridge all the time, forever. 

Ya’ll, I got this as an alternative to peanut butter and its so good. Only 3 grams of sugar and so tasty. I got crunchy because I love the extra “umph” it gives it. I put it on a cracker + some banana and chia seeds and it’s perf. 

This is honestly my favorite gluten-free wrap I’ve tried (believe me I’ve tried a bunch). Doesn’t get super hard in the microwave, although it is pretty flimsy so you gotta be careful with it so it doesn’t break off. I switched from gluten-free bread simply because I couldn’t find one that wasn’t in a freezer and freezer bread is the actual worst. I can eat these with avocado and salsa and be full for at least a couple hours, so major key. 

Also random funny thing: on Saturday while I was out (drinking), I wanted some junk food. Obviously, I wasn’t going to, but I got this gum at CVS:

 

I literally had like 8 pieces throughout the night and being real, it kinda did the job. I forgot how much I loooooveee gum. I ate the entire pack in 1 day, don’t @ me.

Anyway, excited for the next week! I have a bunch of new things I’m gonna try!