Friday night... it's finally over!
It's here! My four long weeks of doing the 28-day Fast Metabolism Diet are over! The last day was this past Friday and it was glorious. I stuck to the diet during the final week despite a few really bad days, more event obligations, and March Madness. But somehow, someway, I completed the entire diet without cheating! Well.... almost...
Day 22 - Saturday Phase 1
Saturday morning was the start of a bad couple of days. Because of our home's proximity to a very cool bar, sometimes shit just gets cray. And when you're a very sober person around out of control drunk people, it makes whatever craziness is happening that much worse. I won't get into the details but I will say that the last thing I wanted to do Saturday morning was get up and make myself a healthy smoothie. I wanted a Red Bull and a giant bag of chips and a nap and I wanted them now. But realizing that my knee-jerk reaction to stress is to guzzle caffeine and eat my feelings was all kinds of eye-opening for me.
So after I begrudgingly made myself my Mango Fat Burning Smoothie, I headed out to start my insane Saturday with an apple in tow for my first snack. First I stopped by SportRx in PB for new shades. Then I headed over to the post office to mail my friend Bonney's baby shower invites. I popped in at home and heated up a Chicken and Broccoli bowl for lunch before running over to my friend Marisa's housewarming party. There, the temptation to drink was overwhelming since they had an awesome party setup going (including a new two tap kegerator). Not to mention they had all kinds of delicious treats like smores bars. Sadly for me, I had to stick to snacking on veggies and strawberries.
After Marisa's it was off to The Skinny Confidential Book Launch Party, where the Suja and Bon Affair mimosa bar was all too tempting. I mean, gummy bears!! My favorite!! Instead I had a glass of Suja (hold the champy) and stared longingly at the cheeses they had displayed nicely on a giant snack table. After an hour there, it was off to my friend Dan's to watch UConn in the NCAA tournament. The boys were drinking beer and between my bad mood, all the temptations, and it being my fourth sober Saturday in a row, the smell of hops was almost all it took to break me. But I sipped on water and headed home for my second Chicken and Broccoli bowl of the day before passing out.
Important note: If I can make it through this day on the diet... anyone can make it through any day.
Sprouted Grain Turkey Wrap
Day 23 - Sunday Phase 1
Sunday was the worst temptation in terms of food: Ryan's mom was coming over and she is the best cook I know. She was bringing her delicious garlic mashed potatoes, tri-tip and asparagus. I was so unbelieveably bummed that I wasn't going to be able to partake. While I tried to ignore the delicious smells coming from the grill outside, I put together Italian Chicken and Wild Rice for the slow cooker for dinner and made myself a Sprouted Grain Turkey Wrap for lunch, the first time I tried this recipe. I think I'm in love: you cook turkey bacon with dried mustard and oregano for the wrap and it was incredibly tasty.
Day 24 - Monday Phase 2
Back to work and back to Phase 2... two dreaded things to face on this already dreary Monday morning. The bright side was that this was my final Phase 2, so I tried to suck it up. I had Turkey Bacon and Celery for breakfast and cooked the bacon the same way I'd cooked it for the wrap the day before... so much tastier! Then I brought all the necessary ingredients to work for some Sliced Chicken Wraps, which is chicken, mustard and lime juice on romaine lettuce. They were surprisingly decent.
I stuck to jerky for snacks today, even though it kind of made me want to puke each time I chewed off a piece. Then when I got home, I finally indulged in the leftovers from Ryan's mom's meal for dinner - minus the mashed potatoes sadly. I had the tri-tip with some lemon garlic asparagus and it was delicious.
Day 25 - Tuesday Phase 2
Tuesday morning I realized I was out of celery, so it was turkey bacon only for me, eaten in the car during the morning commute. In fact, I was out of a lot of things: I had packed the same ingredients for a Sliced Chicken Wrap for lunch ... but minus the lime juice since I was out of limes. Tonight begs for a much needed (and dreaded grocery run... noticing all the dread this week?).
At the store I get enough to make beef lettuce tacos for dinner and realize I'm out of taco seasoning packets. I decided to pick up Ortega's taco seasoning only to find some major no-no's on the ingredients list: Yellow Corn Flour, Salt, Maltodextrin, Paprika, Spices, Modified Corn Starch, Sugar, Garlic Powder, Citric Acid, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Caramel Color (sulfites). I was terrible and bought it anyway because I don't know how to make my own taco seasoning and was too tired to try, but this stuff just made me realize how much crap is in the most innocent of things. Here I am thinking that taco seasoning could only contain spices and instead it has all this other junk too. Who knew?
Day 26 - Wednesday Phase 3
Hallelujah for Phase 3! Waking up on Wednesday mornings is always a relief on this diet because it means I can eat like a relatively normal person for a few days. Today was all about my Berry Nutty Oatmeal smoothie for breakfast and carrots and hummus for snacks. After work Ryan and I went for a nice long walk with the dogs around the neighborhood for about 45 minutes and then I heated up some frozen Coconut Curry Chicken for dinner. It was an easy, no fuss day on the diet, and a glimpse into what I look forward to when it's over.
Day 27 - Thursday Phase 3
Two more days! My excitement is growing every day as I near the finish line and this morning I can barely contain it. I made a fried egg and sprouted grain toast with tomatoes for breakfast and ran out to work with more carrots and hummus, plus some spinach, turkey slices, and tomatoes for a sprouted grain wrap lunch. I warmed up more Coconut Chicken Curry when I got home, then settled in for a long night of making Chicken and Barley soup. Between the food prep and the cooking time, this soup is a 3-4 hour endeavor, but it's so worth it. It's enough soup for 6-8 meals and it's delicious. After hours of cooking, I finally got in bed at 11pm, all my soup stored for my first week "off" the diet.
Day 28 - Friday Phase 3
I can't even tell you how happy I was going into this day! After a rough week and a crazy month, I couldn't stop thinking about how surprised I was that I saw this diet through all the way to the end. Then, at the end of the day I got some great news: a new position had opened up at my old company and they were offering it to me! It was the role that I had left for, but at the place I loved. It completely made my day... only to have UConn beat Iowa and advance into the Elite 8 as the icing on the cake! More on that crazy career news to follow, but I knew that with two big wins, I had to celebrate.
So for me, the diet ended at 6pm on Friday... almost the full 28 days, but not totally I guess! When I got home I tried on some motivation clothes I had bought prior to the diet and fit into a skintight pair of Free People jeans that were two sizes down from what I had been wearing before the diet. I headed out that night, had a few drinks, some cheese and enjoyed the end of this wild, but wonderful ride to the fullest extent possible. Cheers!
FMD Week 4 Weight Loss: 2 lbs
