Friday Things

Not the most creative title, I know. I wasn’t planning on blogging tonight but here I am again, in the laundry room. Which is fabulous because it means I’ll actually have clothes. More clothes. But also stupid because it means I’m guaranteed to be up past midnight doing laundry. I live a wild life you guys. 

I’ve talked a lot about how amazing this project is and all the changes. But today, I’m going to get into the hard parts. 

Guys. I am SO sore from doing hill sprints yesterday. Clearly a sign I need more sprinting in my life! My calves are donezo, and my hips are so sore! My achilles was bad this morning but it feels better now at least! I started my morning off with a spin class in my last pair of clean workout pants (hence the laundry).

Then-food!

I’d been dreaming about that fat, juicy orange since I saw it in the CSA box on Wednesday. The oranges we’ve gotten have been unreal, and this was no exception. I was a little too excited about it! Plus microwave scrambled eggs with manchego. Fancy cheese is life changing, and I need to stock up ASAP. 

I was totally at a loss for what to pack for lunch. Then, I opened the freezer and remembered I had this, all packed up and ready to go! I’m a genius. And I forgot how much I love this lunch. It’s just so perfect. I need to make more lunches like these!

After a 4 hour chem lab, I was hungry so I ate food. A lot of food. Which was really, really stupid given I only had an hour before Crossfit…I wavered a lot about whether or not to go, but we can’t un-sign up within 2 hours of the class, and I’m not really sure what happens if you skip…

But as giant snack part 1, I tried making tapioca in the microwave with nonfat milk and dates. It was a totally success-totally delicious (although I put too many dates in so it was a little sweetener than I would have liked!), and it may have overflowed a few times, but I still downed the whole bowl. 

I also had a ton of crackers with sunflower seed butter and fancy cheese (not together!). Which would have been just fine if I wasn’t about to work out and had just eaten my body weight in crackers and fats. And the workout today seemed particularly bad for these types of issues. 

But by some miracle, it was totally fine, and I felt ok, despite burpees on burpees on burpees, wall balls, kettle bell swings, jump ropes, etc. No clue how that’s even possible. But at this point in my life I’ve eaten some really junky things before workouts. (The worst in my memory is cake with a lot of frosting…) Stomach of steel?

Since I had snacked so late, I was on the fence about another meal, but I ended up making up for veggies at the dining hall with a big plate of food.

SO FULL right now…

And then I had to make some homemade chocolate to celebrate. I got my chem test back today and I did much better than expected, which made my life week. Totally necessary. And homemade chocolate game changer? After making it (while melty still), adding a splash of half and half. Amazing.

And I finally captured a picture of the beauty. Also, note the presence of a real, non plastic spoon. This girl did some dishes!

This is a good segway into today’s topic-the struggles I’m facing on the project. I’d be lying if I said I always felt good. Like right now-I feel pretty gross. Even with cutting out processed food, it’s definitely still possible to overeat or eat badly. And sometimes I just want a cookie, darn it! I’ve gone through various mental struggles with this project, but the current thing I’m hung up on is what will happen post-project. I’m well past the halfway point, and definitely thinking about the future. I feel like I’ve treated this as my saving grace-what was going to change my life and get my health back on track. And I had amazing progress so far-but lately I’ve been eating a little too much of the wrong things. I’ve eaten a ton of dates, which kind of puts the foundation of the changes into question-limiting sugar. I think I’m the kind of person who constantly needs new motivation and a new direction to stick with things, and I think it’s time to refocus to really bring this thing home. But seriously-given that I feel kind of gross now, I have to worry how I can manage to feel good post-project. All those cookies I’ve passed up-will I be able to continue to pass them up? Or will I be right back where I started? If nothing else, this project has changed my perspective. I would have to argue that one of the reasons behind obesity in this country is availability. There is delicious, sugary food all around me. It’s taken all this to pass it up. But without the support and backbone of this project, how would I be able to? How would anon be able to? Warm, melty chocolate chip cookie with cool, creamy ice cream. That’s what I’ve been dreaming of! 

And realistically, I’m not going to always remove myself from situations just to avoid foods. That’s crazy and I would have no social life, which definitely isn’t healthy. 

So I guess what I’m struggling with now is that if I’m not currently eating the best or progressing with all these fancy guidelines and motivation, how will I continue to progress post-project? That’s something I’ll be thinking about for the next week or so. While I try to lay off the dates. And saturated fat. Heh. 

What are your tips for avoiding treats at every corner?