As posted in an earlier blog, I decided to do 8 days in a row of perfect eating to jump start my metabolism and get me back on track of eating healthy.
“Perfect Eating” to me is as follows: no refined sugar, no preservatives (or as close as I can get), no food dyes, and no wheat. Basically, as pure of a diet as I can get. I replaced those foods with more fresh fruits and vegetables.
Why 8 days? It was 9 days until Thanksgiving so it was my desire to go into this holiday season on a high, instead of already struggling. Thanksgiving I was going to consider that a “free” day and eat whatever the heck I wanted!
Here is a short diary of each day with thoughts and what I felt:
- Day 1 – Did really well. Excitement to start the process. No cravings.
- Day 2 – Still felt pretty good, started to crave sugar just a little bit, but it really wasn’t that bad. Lost 2 pounds from Day 1.
- Day 3 – Wall day. This is the day, every time I cut refined sugar out of my diet, that is the do or die day. Your body realizes that something is up and it hasn’t had its ‘fix’ for a few days. My cravings got worse as the day went on, but I did not cave.
- Day 4 – Cravings not as bad. Husband commented that I looked skinnier. Had a detox moment but felt much better after.
- Day 5 – Clothes are fitting better. Weight loss is 4 pounds. Feel lighter and bloating is gone. Wedding ring spins on my finger again because it’s too big.
- Day 6 – Was able to easily get out of bed early and exercise. Had a great workout. I think it was easier to do that because I have more energy and not sluggish. As the day went on, this day was the hardest so far with the cravings. It was a high stress day and my toddler hadn’t been sleeping well. I could tell I was craving sugar and wheat because of both emotional/stress reasons and actual physical withdrawals. It was a hard, hard thing to say no and not to cave in. This is when pure determination set in. It helped that I was so public with what I was doing and I didn’t want to post my failure. It also helped that I made the stipulation that if I cheated, I couldn’t have all the good stuff to eat at Thanksgiving.
- Day 7 – Cravings not as bad as Day 6. Still there though. Hardest time of the day not to cheat is after the kids get home from school and at night after they are in bed. I have never gone this long without any wheat and I can tell that’s what my body is having a withdrawal from. Starting to feel like there isn’t much around to eat. Still feeling very light and more toned.
- Day 8 – Woke up to probably the flattest stomach I’ve ever had. All day it was easy to say no to cheating. The night was the worst because I wasn’t able to make dinner so there wasn’t very much around the house. Hard to try to find something to eat quickly that didn’t have wheat in it.
- MADE IT! Thanksgiving here I come!
I took comparison pictures of the day before I started the 8 Perfect Eating Days and the day after I completed it.
Total weight loss: 4 pounds.
Going this long with a “perfect” diet was fine the first 5 days. After that it was a lot tougher. This is what I discovered: When I was losing all of my weight last year, I would go about 3-4 days of eating low calories for the day. Then I would be absolutely hungry the next day, so I would up how much I was eating. Almost all of the time I would still eat very healthy, just up my good fats and overall consumption. After that I was satisfied and would eat another few days of lower calories. I was listening to my body. It was telling me that it needed a shock to help increase its metabolism. This time I wasn’t listening like I used to. I really felt that I needed to have grains (not just wheat, though I did eat oatmeal), but I didn’t give. This is the lesson I learned – Always listen to your body!
Would I do this again? YES. Would I do it for as long? NO. At least the wheat part. I am not going to be eating as much wheat, but our bodies really do need grain. My mother-in-law has been going to classes that teach how to use different grains healthily, so I’m going to learn from her.
*Post Thanksgiving*
I didn’t hurt on Thanksgiving like I thought I would, but I was sick to my stomach by the evening. The next day I felt really bloated and it was hard to focus on anything. I hadn’t experienced the “afternoon slump” in well over a year, but I did that day! It was hard to get up and exercise in the morning. One day of not eating the way I should turned into two which turned into five. Granted it wasn’t as bad as the actual Thanksgiving day, but I have still cheating. I gained back all the weight I lost. Because I went through these 8 days, I’m already in the groove of eating better and want to feel that light and clean again. Now that our lives are back to the normal groove, it won’t be hard at all to start eating perfect again, and you better believe I’m going to!
Thanks for joining me for this adventure!
