Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Whole Living Challenge: Update

This challenge is hard. Super hard. I gave up coffee for about ten seconds and realized it wasn't worth putting Garth or my co-workers through my crankiness. I did have a small cup, though. That counts, right? Garth had to have coffee. He threatened not doing the whole thing if I took away his coffee. But drinking it black has been hard for him, but I'm proud of him for doing it! I usually drink my coffee black so it hasn't been a big change. I'm just okay with having a small cup of black coffee once a day. I can live with that.

The rest of the day is another story. I was always hungry!!! I did enjoy my Blueberry Mint Smoothie quite a bit. It just didn't fill me up like a whole wheat bagel with a hard boiled egg on top.


After my 6 a.m. smoothie I was starving again by 8:30 so I had two clementines. By 10:00 I was hungry again and ate a handful of almonds. I had an apple at 11:30 and then had greens with lemon and a dash of olive oil and pepper at noon. The greens were disgusting and I had to force it down. I was starving the rest of the afternoon so I drank Yogi Detox Tea and munched on some dried cranberries around 3:00.

I got home from work at 5:00 (skipped lunch because I was carpooling with a friend) and munched on some celery and carrot sticks while I prepped for tomorrow. I cut up celery and made up baggies of carrots and celery to eat tomorrow:


I about killed the blender making this Pineapple-Spinach Smoothie. I'm not kidding, the blender was smoking and smelled burnt. It is an old blender, but still. Not a good sign.


The Creamy Broccoli Soup was next on my agenda. I started reading the recipe and realized I didn't have any way to make the avocado creamy for the soup. My blender was dying. I didn't have an immersion blender or food processor.

That was it. I was over this Challenge. I was hungry. I had a headache. I was cranky. Garth felt the same way and he picked up Wendy's on his way home from work and it never tasted so good.

I still plan to eat all the fruits and veggies I purchased for this Challenge. It was expensive! I still plan to cook and eat lots of veggies and drink this smoothie for lunch. I just can't do the whole thing. I don't have the right equipment. I don't like lentils. I felt so deprived and cranky. I hated that. This isn't the end. I can still lose the weight and be healthy. I just want my black beans. Tuna. Grilled chicken. We are going to fire up the grill and stick to our South Beach eating plan that helped us lose last time. Grilled veggies? Yes please!

Sure, I'm sure the Challenge gets easier. But it was too much of a change to me. And I'm not going to do something just to prove something. I have nothing to prove. I was miserable and it wasn't worth it to me. I learned to be more aware of what I'm eating. To utilize the fruits and veggies at my disposal to make healthy meals for us. I'm excited to start cooking again. My way. The grill. The crock pot. Maybe down the line when I have a nice, new blender and food processor I'll give it a shot. But today is just not the day. Not the right time. I can still lose the weight without feeling deprived. Bring it on!

8 comments:

Linnea said...

I love the honesty. You def can still be healthy and lose weight without doing that diet. It sounded insane. Yay for veggies, fruits and the grill. I love grilling- we even use our grill in the winter when it's super cold here!

seanna said...

Good for you for accepting the fact that you hated it and moving on! I think the hardest thing when you love good food is to learn portion control. You truly can eat anything you want and not gain as long as you're not eating too much of it. But that's the hard part :) I honestly get frustrated when I see bloggers doing these yeast-free, paleo, whatever diets b/c they're SO unrealistic and never work. Good luck with your South Beach Diet, you know it's worked for you in the past and can work again!

Unknown said...

Hey Girl! :) I follow a pretty strict diet that involve all whole foods, and I ran into the same problem.. being hungry! I found that adding protien powder (I use the Market Pantry brand from Target because I work at Corp. and have to represent :)) helps A LOT. Like I'm not hungry at all for the entire morning. It might be worth a shot!

Good Luck!

Charlie's Mommy (Beth) said...

Thank you for your honesty. I looked in to doing this challenge and when I saw all the smoothies and such I knew I couldn't do it!!

Shell said...

You lost me at the no coffee part :) At least you gave it a try.

Angie @ Bug Meets World said...

I'm on Day 4 of the challenge and still hanging on. I just had to commiserate with you. Our blender also broke while I was making my first smoothie on Monday. Then, I made the Creamy Broccoli Soup that night, and seeing that it was 7:30 and I was starving, I opted to skip the blending and ate it chunky. Surprisingly, it wasn't that bad.

My husband and I typically eat a South Beach style diet as well. I'm looking forward to being able to eat seafood again next week.

Anne said...

haha!, this post made me laugh so hard. Although I did feel bad for you choking down lemony greens, yuck. And no protein, no fiber, no filling carbs. Maybe a good 'cleanse', but not a way of life. You're right - your way was better! Beans, lean meats, but still with more fruits and veggies. My church is going to do the Daniel Fast again before Easter (just 2 wks this time) but I am dreading it! I'm remembering my meal of oatmeal, and prunes. I did get more ideas towards the end tho.. and you're right.. you do need the tools. A good blender and/or processor. It's necessary! Good for you for trying and not being too hard on yourself :)

Anne said...

PS - have you tried red lentils? (in the ethnic aisle at meijer) you might like those even if you don't like brown lentils. There is even a great soup recipie on the back of the bag and I have another recipe for pumpkin lentil soup if you're feeling adventurous :)