Monday, December 9, 2013

recovery.

i'm back! i kind of feel like going to bed instead of writing this, but i owe you one after sticking by me during my bad week. after diligent attention to every morsel i consumed friday, saturday, sunday and today... i had a 2lb loss at tops! HOW is this possible? i don't know. i had that great 5k on saturday, and i ran again on sunday. but somehow i managed to get back to last monday's weight, and drop 2 more. one thing i can say about keto... if you do cheat, you balloon up overnight. BUT you can take it off quickly if you get right back with it. if you're like me, cheating is a dangerous and slippery slope, so i don't recommend going off plan too often. but if you do, do not let yourself get into that mindset of "well while i'm 'off the wagon,' i will just have this peppermint mocha and a pizza and some french fries."

anyway, you don't even know what i DID last week. it started tuesday when i went to dinner with friends. i got there early and was two martinis to the wind when they arrived. i proceeded to soak up the vodka with 2 huge pieces of grilled garlic bread and a bowl of clam chowder loaded with potatoes. in the car on the way home i had half of a dark chocolate bar and a handful of chex mix.

so this is what i mean when i said not to let one slip turn into what i so eloquently call "the fuck its." i could have recovered from that night in a day or two. but i was having a small christmas dinner at my house wednesday, which is why chocolate and chex mix were in my car. i'd been to the store for little treats to set around the house in my cute snowman bowls. ever the entertainer, i didn't want to force my keto-ness on anyone else. so i had fancy party crackers, white chocolate peppermint covered pretzels, party mix (OBVIOUSLY with garlic ryes, my fave), and then had various cheese, nuts and the dark chocolates. i served a chicken salad and stuffed mushroom caps for dinner. so as you can see, plenty of options for my own lifestyle, but did i stick to it? hell no. OH, i nearly forgot the caramel corn mixed with some pieces that are covered in chocolate. and the fudge wafer rolls to go with the coffee (editor's note: you can throw one helluva fancy party on a shoestring budget by shopping at aldi). anyway, i helped myself to a few fancy party snacks. not a TON, but a few more than necessary. still, thursday could have been the turnaround day. but what did i do on thursday? i went to a christmas open house after work where they had plenty of cheese and trail bologna, and had some of that along with pumpernickel bread and dip, crackers, and some snickers dip on pretzels. then i came home with a very, VERY serious case of the F-its, and had a giant bowl of party mix and caramel/chocolate popcorn for dinner. and when that was gone, i went back and got some more. and finally my stomach hurt badly enough for me to feel sufficiently like i'd gone past the point of no return. i was certain i weighed 250 pounds all over again.

friday morning i faced the scale. four pounds. so began the diligence that i practiced through the weekend. i had dinner out with my mom friday and had salmon and salad. saturday i skipped all post-5k snacks and hot chocolate. that night i went to a christmas dinner at the mexican restaurant where i passed on chips and salsa, and had a chicken breast with cheese and mushrooms and some sour cream. sunday i declined breakfast out with my parents after church in favor of some tuna and lots of mayo. i went for a run in frigid temps, in the dark, on the snowy icy trail... and that's when i felt like i got myself back. i could hear the crunch of snow under my feet and see my breath almost freezing in the air. the park is filled with christmas lights, so cars were driving by slowly looking at them behind me. i imagined the occupants saying, "wow, that's dedication to run in the snow and ice on a cold night like this." this, a day after running my fastest 5k ever at 36:48. i'm inching ever-closer to that very elusive 30 minute mark. but there was a time when i ran a 46 minute 5k, so i'm really starting to believe anything is possible.

i agonized all day today about yet another christmas party, this time at bravo italian cuisine. first of all, they don't have nutrition info on their website, which i think is a crock of poopies. so based on the info i had in the descriptions, it seemed that my only real choice was half of a roasted chicken that comes with broccoli and sweet potatoes. i subbed more broccoli for the potatoes and ended up loving my meal. at the end, everyone was getting dessert. which was funny, because it was the TOPS group. but they had this little 3-dessert sampler tray, and it had creme brûlée, a fudge brownie sundae and lava cake in it. three of us split the tray, and i had the creme brûlée, which amounted to about 2 large bites. it's made mostly of egg yolks and heavy cream, so as far as desserts go, probably not TOO bad. shouldn't have had it at all, but hey... i lost two pounds this week. heh.

preview: tomorrow night, christmas dinner with grandparents. wednesday night, birthday/going away celebration for my friend who is moving to washington state. thursday, my uncle's retirement party. friday, work christmas party. saturday, 5k that wraps up with cookies and hot chocolate. sunday, nephew's birthday celebration and a second work party. monday, christmas party with the band.

in summary: I CAN NOT WAIT FOR DECEMBER TO BE OVER!


















2 comments:

  1. So glad you are back!!! I hate it when I get de-railed. It's so difficult to pull it back around - so great job!! December is going to be a hard month.
    I've decided that I am going to make some big changes to my eating soon. I will have a 5 day stretch of no school, no work, no social plans - so I'm going to detox with raw foods and reset for healthier eating. I need to lose approx 150 pounds. This will be the start for me. My first goal is to drop 10 pounds by Jan 13. I start a new job (a second job) then that will require me to be on my feet for 9-12 hrs at a time. Any weight that I can get off by then will lessen the load on my joints. So, that's my goal!

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    Replies
    1. it's SO much harder to get back on than to just stay on. we all know this, but we let these small things creep back in. i'm still having a good day followed by a bad day this week. i have 3.5 days to pull it together now!

      your 5 day detox sounds great. finding a week when you don't have social obligations can be so hard. take advantage of it! i can't believe you're adding another job to your already hectic life! you are wonder woman. i'm sure 150 must seem so far off, but it will happen faster than you think. if december was just a regular month and i wasn't screwing around with cookies, i'd probably be past 80 pounds by now instead of sitting between 75-80. and it seems like i started only yesterday. you can do this! i admire you so much!

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