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.

Health-Reboot: My 30 day Challenge

About a year ago, my roommate decided she wanted to cut bread and cheese out of her diet. At first, I was like “Excuse me bread and cheese are my only joys in life, no way am I doing that.” Then, my competitive side took over and I decided to join her. Not gonna lie, it was hard. It helped a lot that we kept each other accountable, even going as far as confessing to each other about eating a singular cracker. We allowed ourselves one cheat day a week and we stuck to it for a whole month. I kept it up even after our “month” because I loved the way that diet made me feel overall.

My move to NYC changed my lifestyle dramatically. I lost an hour because of time difference and also had to wake up earlier if I wanted to get any type of workout in. I struggled for a few months and it took a toll on my body. I was tired and hungry all the time and you can guess what happened. My eating habits suffered and I struggled to keep up. 

Flash forward to now and I still feel like my diet has taken a backseat. I don’t like to be repetitive in my diet, but buying too much variety invites waste (veggies and fruit go bad QUICKLY). Introducing more lenience in my diet has kinda made me slack off a bit. Working out has always been the more enjoyable/easy part of my healthy lifestyle as most would agree. After enjoying myself to the fullest while at home in NOLA (hey fried food and powdered sugar galore), I decided to do a healthy eating reboot. 

Last year, I would eat whatever I wanted for one meal. This time, I really wanna try to go the full-on month. After 1 month, I wanna slowly get less strict and introduce a more lenient diet. Not gonna throw caution to the wind afterwards, but my Easter candy is gonna be calling my name by then (it already is, let’s be real). 

Things I’ll be cutting out of my diet:

Since my diet is already pretty restrictive, I want to highlight what I’ll actually be cutting out and some things I’ll be introducing into it.

Sugar: You may, or may not know this, but I eat a lot of sugar. A LOT. I put at least 9 packs of it in my coffee and I eat vegan cookies and ice cream as part of my dinner “treat” or whatever you wanna call it. These three things are gonna be the hardest part of what I’m cutting out because I love my sugar and I love to say how much I need it. To be completely honest, I’ve been meaning to cut down on the sugar in my coffee, but it just tastes like shit without it. Also, I did watch Fed up, but it really didn’t say anything I didn’t already know. All in all, I’m cutting this out and trying to keep it that way, long term (hoping I’ll get used to it, let us pray). 

Having a cheat meal just cause it’s the weekend: I do this all the time. I barely crave whatever the food is, I just eat it because I’ll be mad that I didn’t do it when I wanna do it later in the week. Does that make sense? Nope. So out it goes. Pizza will still be here after a month. 

Things I’ll be introducing into my diet:

Eggs: So I can no longer call myself a vegan – whoops. I can’t give a reason for why I re-introduced this. It’s quick, its filling and I missed them. So there. Also what else is there to eat that’s healthy and filling for breakfast? (Genuinely asking cause help). 

Fish: Not eating this on the daily, but a girl can only eat so many salads and cauliflower rice, dudes. Tofu still grosses me out and I already eat veggie burgers so I reintroduced this. I’m human and I need variety. 

Apple Cider Vinegar: I decided to try this after some influence from a healthy-body-goals person I follow on insta. She puts it on her salads and stuff, but I’m sticking to drinking it one time a day in a glass of water. It’s not great, kinda tastes like drinking salad dressing. Lil tip: for the love of G-O-D SHAKE THE BOTTLE EVERY TIME YOU USE IT. I made the mistake of not doing it and it separates to where all the awfulness is at the top. It’s horrifying how bad that tastes. 

What this is not about:

I’m not necessarily doing this to lose weight. Obviously if I can come out of this with these arms,

 like, great side effect!!!!!! That’s not my (total) reasoning though. I feel like I haven’t been making the best decisions when it comes to food and I wanna get back to being proud of how I eat. I love challenging myself in new ways and honestly, it’s just cool to be able to say I did it. Not that it’s saving lives or kittens or anything, but still a positive thing (for me at least). Okay wish me luck guys.