I Ate Whatever I Wanted For 10 Days…On Purpose!
WARNING! THERE MAY BE SOME WHO DON’T APPROVE OF THIS! Just hear me out and decide for yourself 😉
I Ate Whatever I Wanted For 10 Days…On Purpose! Why?! Well…it was I guess somewhat of an experiment for me (and you). I wanted to be able to honestly share the effects of what I did by actually doing it and not assuming it would just happen again.
Chris and I went on this journey in search of better health about a year ago. We wanted to lose weight and discover new ways to stay fit. We joined Palm Beach Fit Body Boot Camp (or as we love to call it…Booty Camp). This was definitely a new experience and we absolutely loved it. We were busting our butts and the weight was slowly coming off but then there was the dreaded STALL. We just weren’t seeing the results that we wanted to see. You know that feeling when you just want to throw in the towel? Well, I was there sometimes and I’m sure Chris had his moments but every time we pushed ourselves to go, we always felt fulfilled in what we had accomplished. We felt better and more energized! And the best part of it all was we had found a family community who actually cared about our health rather than a number on the scale. We eventually had to quit going when we moved to another city. Such a sad day for us!
But I will never forget the time spent with Jodi and her team. It was definitely without a doubt life changing. She taught us to persevere and press through. Although she had a plan for her clients, she did not allow that plan to tie her hands from finding what worked for each person individually.
Let me give you an example of what I mean. When Chris and I found ourselves at a weight loss stall she dedicated her time to us once a week to sit down and go over everything we had been doing that week. The WOE (way of eating) that we eventually found ourselves at was the Keto WOE. And although it initially worked for us, there was something that we just couldn’t figure out. We were trying our best to follow every single detail. The game-changer came one day when she asked us to give up a few things temporarily. We started with giving up nuts and saw little to no change. Next we had to learn to monitor our sleep better. We were only getting 5-6 hrs per night and even when we did sleep a good 7-8 hrs, it was never a solid deep sleep (and yes…not enough sleep will affect weight loss). Finally, she asked us to give up ALL THINGS DAIRY! WHAAAAAAT?!?! If you know me at all you will know without a doubt that I will NEVER allow anyone to separate me from my ICE CREAM. This was a moment of tragedy for me but none the less we had to make a sacrifice to see what was causing our stall.
We gave up dairy for 2 weeks and almost instantly we began to drop the weight. What an excitement! What a true moment of revelation! And then it hit me…no more ice cream! I was at a loss and it was not looking fair. I continued on with a determination anyway because I knew at some point I would sneek that ice cream back in somewhere…lol.
And then something INCREDIBLE happened! I wasn’t producing a lot of mucous, I wasn’t coughing as much, there were no more sinus infections, my joints didn’t hurt, my legs weren’t cramping and most of all my gut was feeling healthier than ever. WOW! Was I allergic to Dairy all this time and didn’t know it?! Not necessarily. I realized that while some people stay away from dairy because of serious health issues like food allergies, I in fact had a food intolerance. Similar but not life threatening. I never realized that this intolerance was causing inflammation in my body and causing other issues to arise. I just couldn’t process or digest dairy as well as others. As much as I loved Ice Cream and cheese and milk and heavy cream and all things dairy, I loved feeling clean and healthy so much more. Now don’t get me wrong. Every once in awhile I do love a burger with cheese on it or I will have an ice cream treat on special occasion but that comes a month in-between.
With these changes I also learned the same was applied to wheat, grains and nuts. I can eat them if I choose so but I have to remember the suffering that comes along with it. Not a fun thought at all. So I have learned to live without and thats ok. Listen…Im a carnivore anyway! Take away my meat and someone will get it! Only kidding…but seriously…not kidding! 😉
So Here is What I Did
After sticking to a very strict No Sugar, No Wheat, No Dairy KETO Woe…I decided to take the Christmas holiday and eat whatever I wanted. WHAT EVER I WANTED! I even ate some stuff just because it was on the counter calling my name. Didn’t want it but I still had it. I allowed all self control to fly further south for the winter. And boy did it leave never to return until now. Geez! I was starting to get a little worried that I would have a hard time finding it again. None the less, I found it or should I say it found me.
So today I am going to share with you where I was the day I threw self control away and where I am now as I pick up where I left off and continue my journey. It’s very important that you always see things from the perspective of continuing on and not starting over. You may have heard me say this before but I call these moments PITSTOPS. They aren’t bad, we just need to prioritize our pitstops and decide whether they are necessary or not. Here’s a great example of necessary vs not necessary in my life. Everyone is different so don’t think I am saying this is the only way to do it. We know who we are, how we operate and what will help or harm us, so you decide for yourself. And don’t ever allow anyone to make you feel guilty. With that said, here are my examples:
Non-necessary Pitstop – Going out to eat with friends or family. By all means, go out and enjoy yourself but what I mean by non-necessary is there are so many ways to order while out. Find the better choices on the menu that won’t detour you in your weightless goals. Order protein and veggies, salads, ask for oil and vinegar dressings, ask that everything be cooked in real butter or olive oil etc, order a stacked bunless burger and so forth. I love the challenge of looking over a menu and feeling accomplished in choosing my own healthy choice. Many places will customize for you simply because they know there are so many food allergies these days. Give it a go!
Necessary Pitstop – Vacations and Weekend Getaways. We ABSOLUTELY love going to Disney World! We often times will dedicate our days leading up to our getaway for eating super clean so we can enjoy the favorites that we love in the park. Example: Nutella and fruit stuffed waffles, Pineapple dole-whip, Ice cream cookie sandwiches, and the delicious Jeoffrey’s Hot Chocolate…Yum! So yes, we do give in while traveling and seeing new sites and yes our bodies will tell us if we should never do that again…lol!
AND Here is What I Am Going To Do
Beginning tomorrow January 2, 2018 I will be doing an experiment. It is dual purpose for me and I will tell you why. The man who began this experiment wanted to test and prove the benefits of a keto diet. I’m all about trying something new and also I will be doing this as a pre-cursor back into keto so I can transition from all this junk and back to clean eating. Also, it will help get me back into ketosis and fat burning mode. Here’s a little excerpt from The Bacon Experiment.
“In October of 2015 I decided to eat nothing but bacon for 30 days to prove the benefits of a ketogenic diet. I expected a lot of people to think I was nuts and question why. What I didn’t expect… I lost 20 pounds, my blood pressure came down 30 points, I improved my cholesterol readings, and my blood sugar also improved. My family doctor was stunned as we reviewed my results after the 30 days were over.” ~Dan Quibell
• Check out his Facebook page.
So this will be my schedule and I will update you of the progress as we go along.
First 7 days – Coffee, Water and 1.5lb Bacon per day (with an egg substitute here and there as needed)
Boot Camp – Regular boot camp routine at home at least 3x per week.
Walk/Run – 1-2x per week ( 2 miles of alternating walking and running ) I will highlight in another post why running consistently may be causing more harm to your body and causing a stall in weight loss. I do love running so this one is a tough one for me but I have managed to modify.
Week 2-4 – I will continue the same workout schedule but begin to transition back into full KETO WOE (way of eating)
Each week – I will give an update on my weight loss/gain progress as well as how the workouts have affected my muscle gain and body fat loss.
So what did eating whatever I wanted for 10 days do to my body?
December 23, 2017 – Day 1 of eating rubbish…lol
Weight: 161.2
BMI: 29.5
BF% 32.6
Muscle 31
January 1, 2018 – Day 10 of eating rubbish…lol
Weight 168.8 (gained 7.6lbs…some water retention for sure)
BMI 30.9 (not too bad)
BF% 38.3 (a whopping 5.5%…not good at all)
Muscle 28.1 (lost 2% muscle)
Not only that…Here is a list of issues that returned a couple of days after I started eating non-Keto:
• Increased Mucous
• Sneezing
• Itchy nose
• Woke up with congestion every morning
• Bloating
• Achy joints
• Leg cramps at night
• Headaches
• Bathroom runs 4-5x per day (if you know what I mean)
• Gas
and the list goes on.
Ok! So now that thats been done, lets correct this mad scientist experiment and move forward to better choices.
If you want to join me in this venture feel free to post your comments below or visit this post on Facebook.
Until next time! Be blessed and don’t stress! We are all here to encourage and inspire everyone to keep running the race. It only matters that you don’t give up 🙂
Success to you in this New Year
Jennifer