Day 18 - Absence

Absence makes the heart grow fatter

Well it has been a few days since a post hasn't it? There is a reason for this lack of updates, besides occasionally wanting to retain a small amount of privacy, and that reason is quite simple

I'm doing just fine in my overall goal.

I haven't touched chocolate since Day 5 almost 2 weeks ago and, Other than a minor "Glitch" a few days ago when I ate an entire tub of Ben and Jerry's "Vermonster" ice cream (It's content has no chocolate and it's name makes no sense) I've eaten basically no desert either...everything is going swimmingly.

As for the calorie counting...that has not gone to plan. I am currently smacking my lips and reliving the flavour of the curry I just inhaled, and I know that I've already eaten more than my fair share of calories for today; but I don't care, because there is a good reason why my plan may have to be delayed a few weeks.

I have a new job, and I will soon be moving across the country - This is not a good time to be starving myself. Once I'm there it'll be back on the agenda but right now I'm looking forward to going away drinks, going away carvery s and stress-related midnight calls to dominos. 

It's all very exciting

But I thought you should know; Things are on track for my initial plan, i'm just not exceeding myself.

Yet.

 ~A

Day 15 - Yesterday

Better late than never

So yesterday I said I would update you guys on how I did with keeping to a set number of calories and then I just straight up didn't update anyone.

Oops

Anyway, the good news it that I kept below my goal of 1500 calories and had an efficient sum of 1448. Today I will probably see my number go slightly higher than 1500 as I'm having a family meal of fish and chips (with my family, not just to myself) and they can be greasy balls of goodness and fat.

That being said  - I have gone 8 days without chocolate and each day is getting easier and easier.

~A

Day 14 - Calorie counter

Numb3rs

So today is the first day of the rest of my life, and i'm going to be spending it studying the "information" on food packets. Yes, that's right, as promised yesterday today is the first day I'll be counting calories, regulating what heavily processed food alternative passes my lips and getting used to eating urine-sample-sized amounts of it.

The goal is to eat a net total of ~1500 calories a day, with the over-optimistic aim of losing 0.5kg (1.1 pounds) a week, so I am safe in the knowledge that I can eat 2500 calories a day if I want as long as I burn off 1000 calories at the gym

So far, I haven't eaten anything yet, so I can't really report on difficulty

Tonight, however, I'll have an update

See you then

~A

Day 13 - The End of punnishment week

The week of hell

So after seven gruelling days my punishment has come to an end, and in a way it has strengthened my willpower despite it being a massive drain on it. Last Thursday, when my punishment began, I would have thought that I would spend today doing nothing eating but biscuits and cake (chocolate free, of course) and certainly on that first night  the thought of filling my very lungs with sweet goodies got me through the shakes and the cold sweats.

But now that it's here? I could take it or leave it.

Of course I will be taking it, I've earned it after all, but I don't feel the need to  which is nice.

So instead of celebrating by raiding Krispy Kremes, I've instead decided to celebrate by starting counting my calories; I know, I'm quite the party animal.

So from tomorrow, I will be moving ahead (perhaps prematurely, but we will see) to stage 3 of my overall plan using the calorie and exercise tracking App MyFitnessPal which I've used in the past to a degree of success and is available, for free, for basically every mobile platform.

Lets see how successful it is with the added bonus of getting to bitch on a blog about how hungry I am...The joy!!

~A

Day 11 - Almost at the end of my punishment (punishment day 6)

The end nigh

Tomorrow is the last day of my punishment week, and I don't think I have ever looked forward to being able to eat a plain digestive biscuit as much as I have right now...but I am fairly confident I will be looking forward to it even more tomorrow.

Why not write this blog post tomorrow then? Because tomorrow I will be too busy dribbling in anticipation on my keyboard. 

It has been quite difficult this past week, though not nearly as difficult as the first day, and though I would like to continue on this healthier desert/snack free, diet I feel like it is putting a considerable strain on my will power which I can't afford if I'm going to avoid giving up on the whole thing in a fit of sugar-withdrawal rage.

That being said I do intend on eating less deserts/snacks but it will be nice having the power, once again, to have some to help me get through the day.

But, one thing is for sure, I am observing progress.

Slowly, but surely.

~A

Day 9 - The future (punishment day 4)

Let us see the path before we walk it

It occurs to me that this isn't something that will ever end, there is no date I have to reach where I can eat chocolate again, as far as I'm concerned this will be an ongoing mission that will continue indefinitely.

But journeys like this can, and do, seem pants-wettingly tedious and insurmountable when viewed as a whole; it makes sense to have sign posts along the way to strive for, so I know how far I've come.

This is the plan -

1. Stop wanting to eat chocolate after every meal (In progress)
2. Stop wanting to eat desert after every meal
3. Eat a calorie deficit until I am a healthy build
4. Eat an appropriate amount of daily calories to sustain that build
5. Alter meals to be balanced in all aspects, not just in terms of overall calories
6. Hand out tickets to the gun show.

Sounds simple enough, right?

Right?

~A

Day 8 - Belated update (punishment day 3)

Alive

So it has been a few days since my last update and I thought it might be worth answering the burning questions I'm sure all of you* have -

NO - I haven't spent the last 2 days locked inside a "Krispy Kremes" stuffing every available orifice and wallowing on a cloud of powdered sugar; for the record, however, this is how I'd like to exit life.

NO - I haven't had any chocolate

YES - I am still on track with my punishment, even though last night my brain convinced me that "Biscuits and tea" was an acceptable meal. Luckily, I was far too lazy to get up and make it.

The last two days have been fairly easy going as far as avoiding temptation, thanks to having more days that weren't part of my ordinary routine but i'm coming across an unhappy side effect - I'm eating more.

As I said in my last blog post the "feeling" of withdrawal in this case (and perhaps all cases) is a sense of extreme hunger and it is an extremely annoying, constant, persevering feeling that is next to impossible to ignore. So over the last few days I have found myself eating a bigger meal than I normally would have to overpower this sense of hunger pre-emptively, which isn't great but at the moment it is somewhat unavoidable whilst still retaining some semblance of sanity (or hope of resisting sweets!)

Hopefully this is just a temporary thing while my body gets over itself and stops shitting the bed every time it doesn't get what it wants, and things will be back to "normal" sooner rather than later.

Hopefully.

~A