Whole30: Day SIX

I cannot believe I'm saying this, but I've made it to day six without one single fail. 

This is a big. deal. 

I am a cheater. Every time I've ever been on the "eat right" plan, I cheat. A handful of M&Ms here, or the classic "one cheat meal" a week. 

But by the grace of God, I've made it to day six without a single fail.

Keep in mind that I have fought temptation, in the last six days, against the following food items.

Keep in mind that toddlers eat like toddlers. Mine eat kid food. Good kid food, because I make sure they eat right for the most part, but kid food, nonetheless.

I also have a husband who is HUNGRY when he gets home from his 12-14 hour shifts every day. And I have to have food in the house that will sustain him through that shift without access to a refrigerator or microwave.

Below is a list of food that I have had in my hands or sitting in my kitchen in the last week.

Items to which I have just said "NO":

Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwich with a side of Xtreme Cheese Goldfish. (I LOVE this food. I'm a kid, I know. I did get to eat the side of cut up oranges.)
An entire big tin of Puppy Chow (Not even ONE BITE. If you know me, you know that this is HUGE! Huger than my bottom! I mean, not even one teensy little lick of powdered sugar. Yes, this is my crowing achievement at this point.)

King's Hawaiian Sweet Rolls

Chicken/bacon/ranch wraps

Steak & Cheese Quesadillas with bacon pieces (I wanted one bite of these SO BAD I COULD HARDLY STAAAAND IT!!!!)

Pepsi. Sitting on my counter. 

Puppy Chow. Did I already say that? (They snacked on it while we watched Despicable Me 2 with my parents. I snacked on grapes. GO ME!)

Then, my loving and supportive husband made brownies. With chocolate chips and marshmallows. Th smell of brownies drifted about the house like a sweet dream... I didn't even eat a crumb.

In addition, I went out to eat at an authentic Mexican restaurant. Fresh chips and salsa. Fresh, homemade tortillas. And I did not eat one! I ordered beef strips cooled with tomatoes, onions, and red bell peppers, and I slapped the rice and beans in a tortilla and gave it to my kids.

Basically, I've been good. Very good. The only even slight waver was when I had to take a bite of that chicken/bacon/ranch concoction after I microwaved leftovers for the kids, to make sure it was heated through. There is really no other way to test that. But that's all I took. One tiny bite of a little cube of chicken. And, lo and behold, I burped. All night! WHAT?!

Food choices have been getting creative, and I've eaten more eggs than a person should in a week. But I'm inches away from the one week mark, and I'm very, very proud of myself. Because this is not easy!

Yesterday (Day 5) I was a loopy MESS! My body was feeling SERIOUS withdrawal after five days without a single drop of sugar, and it messed with my limbs and mind. I was fatigued, a bit dizzy, and possibly even hallucinated at some points. I needed to just lay my head down and sleep, but life didn't allow. I pushed through, and came out today feeling good.

Today... today has been good. My body is a bit weak, and I only exercised on day 1. But I hope that by tomorrow I'll have the energy I feel is coming, and I will drive myself to exercise. I need to. Bad! But you know, this eating thing is a pretty good step one. 

Thinking about it, I haven't even felt very hungry today. I didn't snack between meals. Doing good. Thinking I might actually make it all thirty days. But right now, 24 days seems very, very far away. 

Negative side effects at this point... my patience is a bit thin today. The last several days I've felt good, but with body aches today, and being very, very tired from not sleeping a wink last night (because my 2 year-old screamed all night. Other than that, I've been sleeping GREAT!), I've yelled more than I probably should.

Dinner tonight: chicken in homemade spaghetti sauce, over zucchini noodles with grated fresh jalapeno and crushed red pepper. I ruined it because I put too much Italian seasoning in the sauce, but I ate it anyway. It would be really, really good if I don't do that the next time I make it.

Zucchini Chicken "Pasta" Bake (Missing cheese, which would have made a HUGE difference! It would have tasted just like lasagne with a little feta or cottage cheese or mozzarella. Alas, cheese is not the bees knees...)

Feeling good.
Feeling good.
Can do this.
Peace,
J