I was wondering when this challenge would really start to feel like a challenge, and my question was answered this week.

The week started off as it usually would, me embracing the low-carb diet, high-intensity workout life. Then on Saturday, it hit me. Like a ton of bricks. I was tired, cranky, and hella irritable. Not only was I craving foods that are way out of my diet plan, but I also felt like I just wanted food I am straight up allergic to.

Most days I don’t think about it, but some days I resent the various food sensitivities I have developed over the last year. I can’t have cheesecake, or ice cream, or a big bowl of mashed potatoes. I guess it all just started weighing on me, mounting and manifesting itself into the most supreme frustration.

It was a bad day for that to happen, as that evening happened to be my Mom’s birthday party. While everyone else was eating hamburgers and cake, I had tofu dogs without the bun and salad. And that has nothing to do with my diet. It’s just the fact that I can’t eat buns, cakes, and some sauces generally because I will likely have a reaction. Suffice it to say it was just plain tough.

As a result of all this: On Sunday and Monday, I fell off the wagon, so to speak. I am still in many ways in the experimental stage figuring out which foods my body is good with, and which ones my body is not. Although I didn’t eat anything classified as “high calorie” I did eat foods that may have (some of which actually did) aggravate my food sensitivities. This can be anything as simple as a spice blend yet to be tested. Well, the result? Crazy bloating, and just a general feeling of yuck.
I can’t look back and say I regret it. I kinda just look at this past weekend and think that I guess it was just something I needed to go through, you know, so I could figure out what not to do.
It could have been the inflammation, it could have been the stress, it could have simply been that I didn’t meet enough of a deficit, but either way the scale didn’t move in week 3. However, I’m happy to say I am 110% back on track today.

Another change I’ve made for this week is that I’ve started counting calories. I have been really hesitant to do so because I am, in general, hesitant to make any changes to my diet that I don’t see as ‘doable’ long term. But the more I think about this challenge, the better I want to do in it. And the more motivated I become to absolutely smash it and attain my goal, the more I am willing to step outside of the box. This is just going to be one extra tool I have for the next 5 weeks to help me meet my goal. I will do whatever it takes to bring this body out and show my absolute best. I’m doing this. I’m giving it my all!

As usual here’s a peek at some of my better choices this week:  
  

Thank you so much for reading this and letting me share this journey with all of you. I can’t wait to look back on all of this and say “I did it” !