Four Week Diet FAIL

     So, not sure if it's my increased travel schedule or the fact that I'm just not self-disciplined enough, but I am not able to complete my four week plan. Unfortunately with my job, I am traveling about every other week, and it's hard as hell to eat the diet I would like to eat while eating out all of the time. Plus, after a day of travel and sales calls, exercising is the last thing on my mind. A good friend once told me that tan hides fat. Well, maybe since I happen to be super tan right now, I am okay with my body.

     My new goal, just a more disciplined lifestyle. I will blog when I can, eat healthy when I can, and exercise when I can. I have decided to be more conscious of what I put in my mouth. Not that I was bad before, but I plan to be better. My house is filled with more fresh fruit and vegetables and very few processed foods. I am allowing myself two caffeinated drinks per day, either one coffee and one coke or two cokes. I am drinking more and more water. I am trying to exercise two to three times per week. And I've learned that avocado slices on toast makes for a delicious breakfast. Hopefully, as I get more accustomed to my schedule with my job, I will be able to exercise more frequently.

     During this four week diet, I lost 10 pounds and gained back 5. And for the past month I have been stuck at the same weight, regardless of what I do. I would like to lose another 10 pounds, so that when I gain back the 5 pounds, I'll be 5 pounds lighter than I am now. We'll see, as long as I am living healthy and I feel confident, I suppose that's all that matters.\

Week Three: Day Two

     Well, I did okay... I had to leave first thing in the morning to drive to another city for my job (approximately three hours on the interstate). Coffee was a necessity. I also ate a banana. About two hours into my drive I pulled over and stopped at a Burger King. While there I got a bacon, egg, and cheese croissantwich, hashbrowns, and a coke. I ate the sandwich all gone, but didn't finish my hashbrowns. For lunch I ate a very healthy salad (according to the menu it only had 340 calories with the dressing). It has mixed greens, spinach, bell peppers, mushrooms, carrots, tomatoes, avocado, and sprouts. The avocado and bell pepper were awesome! The rest of it kind of tasted like dirt so I only ate about a half or a third of it. I also got an unsweetened ice tea as my drink. For dinner, I ate a chain restaurant. Not my favorite, but I am in a new city, and am not sure what local restaurants around my hotel are good. I had a small salad, a small steak, and a loaded mashed potatoes. I also drank one Bud Light. My dinner was not healthy.

     I did not exercise today. However, my hotel does include a gym, so I may exercise tomorrow.
  

Week Three: Day One

     Week three is all about antioxidants and drinking lots of water. I've been drinking way more water so I really need to focus on the antioxidants. I have to travel for three days this week, so we'll see how that goes. It's rather challenging to eat healthy and stick to a strict diet when you're eating out for every meal.

     Today I had a cup of coffee for breakfast. I ate a chicken salad sandwich and some chips for lunch with a coke as my drink. For dinner I lightly pan fried thin chicken breast in olive oil. I also made couscous and lentils and a homemade Tziki sauce for the chicken.

Week Two: Days Six and Seven

     Over the weekend I kind of let loose. I have come to the conclusion that more than just a four week bikini fit, I want this to be a way of life. So, my goal is to eat extra healthy during the week and give my self kind of a free pass on the weekends. As of now, it's a bit challenging to exercise on the weekends, and since I've decided to not drink alcohol during the week, I have decided I'm not going to sweat having some light beers or some wine on the weekends. However, in order to be more health conscious I may try out the Skinny Girl brand wine...

Week Two: Day Five

Breakfast: one cup of orange juice, one bowl of organic granola cereal and half of a banana
Lunch: salad with avocado, cherry tomatoes, carrots, celery, and one scoop of chicken salad with a small amount of vinaigrette dressing and a handful of crackers
Dinner: pork tenderloin, roasted cauliflower, salad
Snacks: two Mich Ultras, two cokes, small amount of pepperonis, cheese, and crackers

Exercise: 25 minutes of cardio and a 5 minute ab workout. Both caused me to sweat and curse life.


     When I woke up this morning I thought that my legs were going to fall off. They still are sore, so I tried to focus on workouts that didn't use them too much. My 5 minute ab workout was so intense that I have a feeling that my abs will now be sore all day as well.

     As far as food is concerned, I recently purchased Gwyneth Paltrow's new cookbook titled, "It's All Good".  I am kind of obsessed with GP, but in a healthy way (not stalker crazy way). I subscribe to her blog, GOOP. I've been following it since she started it a few years ago. Now it has really grown into big thing. I love how she totally researches things to find out what's best. Her second cookbook is all about healthy eating, but it a fun and delicious way. Due to health issues, GP sought out guidance from many experts, and learned via blood tests that she needed to hit the reset button via an elimination diet (very similar to my detox diet from week one). Once she had completed the diet she consulted the health expert who advised it on what she was able to eat after the fact. He told her that she really needed to eat like that all of the time. That would be near impossible, so she tries to eat that way most of the time. Her cookbook is full of tasty recipes that are gluten, dairy, and sugar free. I am looking forward to trying them out.

     After reading GP's book, I feel a mix of emotions. So much of me would love to grow my own garden, go to the farmers market, buy only organic, but I live on a budget, and I am not disciplined enough to spend all of that extra time in the garden or in the kitchen. I am going to do my research and try to find the items that it really matters to buy organic. I would also like to start making a meal plan and working in some of her recipes into our daily, weekly, monthly routine. Another friend of mine once told me that she follows an 80/20 diet. 80% of eating healthy and 20% of indulging. I want to do what's best for my body and for my family. However, I don't want to care about it so much that I don't enjoy the occasional hot dog at the ballpark, popcorn at the movies, and ice cream cone on a hot summer afternoon. My goal is to try out the local market, support local farms, and try to buy things that are close to home (I've heard that the closer the produce comes from, the better it is for you). Maybe I can make that a fun weekend event with my family? In the meantime, I will still do my best to buy the best from my favorite grocery, Publix. It's hard to beat a place where I can buy everything I need from organic items, to household supplies.
  

Week Two: Day Four

Breakfast: coffee with creamer and a bowl of cereal

Lunch: chicken salad sandwich (and I added craisens to the salad) and a handful of crackers

Dinner: homemade stir fry chicken breasts and homemade vegetable fried rice with asparagus, broccoli, corn, onion, and one egg
Snacks: one coke and one Chipsahoy chocolate chip cookie

Exercise: 25 minutes of cardio, 200 leg lifts, and 150 crunches. My heart hurts, I was sweating, and I am kind of sore... exercising kicks my ass! I am SO out of shape!!!


     Looking back at my week two plan from the book, I need to exercise everyday for the rest of the week since I've already skipped two days, I need to eat healthier snacks, and I need to eat breakfast every morning and trade my morning cup of coffee for either a smoothie or some orange juice. On a good note, I am drinking much more water.

Week Two: Day Three

Breakfast: coffee with creamer
Lunch: salad with red onion, cheery tomatoes  cucumber, cheese, grilled chicken, bacon, and hard boiled eggs with a small amount of ranch and vinaigrette dressing
Dinner: couscous with extra virgin olive oil and Parmesian cheese, and a little of what was leftover from my salad
Snacks: four Chipsahoy chocolate chip cookies and one coke

Exercise: none

Week Two: Day Two

Breakfast: coffee with creamer
Lunch: a McDonald's cheeseburger, small fry, and a small coke
Dinner: homemade spaghetti
Snacks: had a second coke and a cheese quesadilla

Exercise: none

Day Two was kind of a fail...

Week Two: Day One

     One of my best friends ordered the book Bikini Fit and committed to do the bikini plan with me. Had I stayed on task, I would most likely be on week four now. However, seeing as follow through of week two has been a struggle for me, I agreed to wait to start week two, until my friend completed her detox week. This way she and I will do the rest of the weeks together, and will check in with each other on a daily basis as accountability partners. I even helped her start a blog as a food and exercise journal.

Breakfast: one cup of coffee with creamer, organic vanilla yogurt and organic granola
Lunch: three cheese sticks and one slice of pepperoni and mushroom pizza, water as my drink
Dinner: had a Junior League Meeting so I skipped dinner
Snacks: had one glass of champagne at the meeting and when I got home I snacked on some carrots and pita chips with hummus and drank one coke

Exercise: I did some leg lifts. Didn't break a sweat, but my legs felt the burn...