Hiking Torrey Pines
Halfway through The Fast Metabolism Diet, I'm starting to rethink my plans to do this for 40 days instead of 28. This was the hardest week of the diet so far and according to Pomroy, it should be one of the easiest. I'm losing steam and motivation and fast. But she insisted we dedicate 28 days, so I soldiered on through a week of happy hours, parties and events.
Day 15 - Saturday Phase 1
After a long week, I am happy to have two days where I have all the food I need either bought or frozen and ready to go without any cooking or prep. I stick to my usuals: Fat Burning Mango Smoothie for breakfast and apples and kiwis for snacks. I have Chicken and Barley Soup for lunch and a frozen Chicken Broccoli Bowl for dinner. It was a nice, lazy day too.
In fact, it was an easy day for the diet, all the way up until the night. We decided to head over to our friend Bonnie's that night to relax with some friends and as we got in the car, I realized that it was the first time I'd driven at night since before the diet. It was also the first time we'd really been out on a weekend night. Those two facts bummed me out and made me realize how much I feel like a prisoner of this diet. It's completely destroyed my social life. I feel like I'm on a month-long time out. I was also worried that I wasn't going to last energy-wise throughout the night. Overall, I'm glad I went and I made it until 1am, but I have never missed caffeine more.
Day 16 - Sunday Phase 1
I take that back. After staying out til 1am last night, I miss caffeine so much this morning it's killing me. I have plans to hike to Potato Chip Rock with my friend Dan this morning, so I'm up and putting together my smoothie and snacks by 10am and still dragging. For the hike, I bring an apple and a rice cake, but it's not brown rice so I wonder if it meets the diet. These are the things that stress me out these days.
Surprisingly, I have a lot of energy on the hike, at least physically. With the heat and the elevation, usually a hike as strenuous as this would have made me feel nauseous or like I was going to pass out, but I felt great with just the snacks I had. When I got home, I had the last of my Chicken and Barley Soup and then another Chicken and Broccoli Bowl for dinner ... I think I was asleep by 9:30pm.
Day 17 - Monday Phase 2
Still feeling the effects of my late night Saturday. It's so shocking to me that one late night can wreak this much havoc on my body and it makes me start thinking about the sacrifices involved in "living healthy." I have no idea how celebrities with their jam packed schedules stay so thin and look so fresh all the time. Is money really the only way to enjoy a rockstar lifestyle and still be as healthy as one?
Today is a Phase 2 day, which I am officially dreading this week, more so than ever before. Turkey bacon and celery for breakfast, per usual. And I didn't have time to stop by Trader Joe's over the weekend, so I got some jerky from Target last night: a Krave brand one and a Jack Links. It's only when I'm eating the first snack of the day that I realize these jerkys have soy, wheat, corn and some ingredients that I don't recognize... all big No's on this diet. The TJ's brand does have soy sauce flavorings but is otherwise natural. More to stress about. For lunch, I have leftover beef that I froze after last week's lettuce tacos, so I use that to have more lettuce tacos for lunch. At home, I cook up some Cinnamon Mustard Chicken and Lemon Garlic Asparagus for dinner and have enough for two leftovers.
Day 18 - Tuesday Phase 2
This morning I decide to weigh in and see that I've gained back the pound that I lost during Phase 1 this week. For whatever reason, this hits me hard and is extremely discouraging. I kind of drudge through the day and barely eat any snacks for fear that this icky commercial jerky caused this. I have the leftover Cinnamon Mustard Chicken and Lemon Garlic Asparagus for both lunch and dinner and by the end of the day, I am completely sick of this phase.
Green Dragon Tavern | pc: UT San Diego
Wednesday brings relief and anxiety at the same time. Today I have to deal with two social functions while on the diet and they've got me totally stressed out. For breakfast, I make an Berry Nutty Oatmeal Smoothie with the last of my frozen raspberries and steel cut oats... they lasted me a long time. I added way more berries than I usually do because of this pin that has supposed adjustments from Pomroy for recipes in the book. And then for the first time I left the house unencumbered because I had almond packs at work for snacks and because social function numero uno was a birthday lunch out for a co-worker.
Braving a restaurant for the first time on the diet was scary. We went to BJ's, a local chain, and I found something that sounded like it could pass for a Phase 3 lunch: grilled chicken, red onions, tomatoes, brussel sprouts and brown rice in a lemon thyme sauce. It was delicious and even though I'm sure it had some more No's in it, I didn't feel too guilty. After work, social function numero dos was a happy hour with my boss and a vendor we use. We went to this awesome place in Carlsbad called the Green Dragon Tavern and the food and wine looked and smelled amazing. A tray of pretzel balls sat in front of me the whole time (2.5 hours) and somehow, someway, despite a growling stomach, I stuck to my water and resisted. Never on this diet have I been more bummed about my restrictions. I drove home sad and hungry, popped a frozen Chicken and Quinoa Risotto in the microwave and went to bed.
I wake up Thursday with the least energy of any day so far. I weigh in before breakfast and see that despite my lunch out yesterday, I lost the pound that I had gained back but nothing more. Small wins? One fried egg and sprouted grain toast later and I'm out the door, ready for another long day. For my first snack I have carrots and hummus and then the remainder of my leftovers for lunch. I stick to almonds for snacks for the rest of the day, because this is a 3-snack day: after work I head to Torrey Pines to go hiking with my friend Monica and don't finish until 7pm.
Following the hike, I embark on my new favorite activity: grocery shopping. I pick up the ingredients for Coconut Curry Chicken and some heirloom tomatoes and red onions for a salad and head home. By the time I cook and eat it's 9:30pm and within a few minutes of finishing, I'm in bed.
Day 21 - Friday Phase 3
Maybe it was the hike or maybe it's because it's Friday, but for whatever reason, I'm feeling better and more optimistic this morning than I have all week. Regardless, I am running incredibly late as I try to rush out the door while making breakfast and chopping red onions in the food processor for my salad. I pack the rest of the ingredients separately and just resign to having to make it while at work.
After work, I heat up some of my Coconut Curry Chicken for dinner and then get ready for our friends' band's music video shoot down at the bar next door. They just received word that they're going to be on MTV's The Real World this week and so they put together a music video to accompany their page on MTV's site. This shoot was for the party scene and my friend Shanna and I got dressed up and headed over to help out as extras. It was the latest night I'd been out at a bar and sipping ice water just wasn't doing it for me any more, so I switched to seltzer with lime. The sad thing is? It felt like a treat even though it was water. Somehow I made it until the shoot ended around 10pm and then headed back upstairs, one more week down, shocked that I survived all the social commitments without caving.
FMD Week 3 Weight Loss: 1 lb.
