The No Restaurant Challenge

Have I mentioned that I do not like losing?

That I have a competitive side?

If you challenge me, it is difficult for me not to accept.  Cliffdog knows this. Which is why I think she presented the challenge. Cliffdog challenged me to a entire month of not eating out at restaurants. She was willing to give me four “cheat” days within that month, and a carve out for alcohol.

The purpose: Shed more light on my monthly food costs.

A month of no restaurants?!

I would fail. I literally could not do it. I will not take on a challenge I know I will lose.

But I will agree to two weeks. Two weeks of no restaurants. This is still a challenge for me, as I eat lunch out at least twice a week, and multiple dinners out.

And again, Cliffdog graciously is giving me carve outs. 1) I am allowed to eat out with my aunt who will be in town 2) If it happens to be a date

The challenge starts today. Heres to the menu planning!  Wish me luck 🙂

Have you ever given up restaurants for a period of time?

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Results Yo

You know what a great distraction from having a water main burst and start to flood your rental is…?

AdvoCare results! The 14 day challenge is officially over 🙂 and can I say how shocked I am …. lost 4 pounds and 6.5 inches! Holy balls.

The first four days were rough.. I mean no coffee for the first time in 12 years?! My previous barista life shed a few tears. I was pretty tired, craving mac and cheese with  side of cheeseburger. But by day 5 I felt great. Like I could take on three yoga sculpt classes in a row.

It wasn’t easy. People would cancel happy hours with me, but I get it, no one wants to drink alone. Dinners out were rough, I’ll have the chicken please, hold the butter sauce, no potatoes and the Greek salad minus the feta and dressing. The feta was sorely missed… Was I 100% perfect for 14 days? No but I was pretty freaking close.

My afternoon Starbucks runs were replaced with iced tea..

I even found grocery shopping difficult. Everything had to be scratch made, which is not so different from how I normally cook; however! One night I had a craving for shrimp stir fry… can you believe the added ingredients in the marinated shrimp behind the seafood counter?! Why is there so much extra sugar? My label reading is at an all time high. I just kept repeating, why is this in here?

The awareness I discuss here… super charged. It really puts in perspective the things we eat, how food affects you, how difficult it could be if this was my continued lifestyle. I have a new understanding for those with a food allergy or food lifestyle different from mine. Having a family member with type one diabetes, I’ve always been around this lifestyle and food disciple. But it is never the same until you experience it for yourself. Not until you are in the most expensive health foods grocery store, pouring over labels and placing 90% of items back on the shelf does it hit you.

Does this mean I’ll continue to eat this way? No I will continue to go out to eat. In fact I’m headed for that cheeseburger tonight. But I like how I feel. The bloat from processed foods is gone. My skin is so clear. The awareness will stay. And a cleanse once a year is now in the books for me. I pledge to be more understanding and patient in terms of food and lifestyle choices.

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Reasons For

O hey its getting closer to the weekend and I’m in the beginning stages of this AdvoCare mini-challenge\cleanse.

Avoiding processed foods, dairy, sugar, bad carbs, alcohol and coffee… whoa 🙂 Be still my pasta loving heart. (disclaimer, I’m told an occasional glass of vine is allowed…. though I haven’t caved yet!!)

You may be thinking what is a foodie blogger doing this cleanse for? I see your pictures, none of them look anything close to healthy. So why am I doing a 14 day challenge?

1) Awareness: Do I go out to eat every day? No, in fact during the week I stick to a pretty balanced diet. Key word, balance. However as winter drags on, I do tend to pick up not so healthy habits and dive straight into bowls of carbs. 14 days of being ultra aware of what is going into my body equals a new awareness about how I am feeling and how that is tied to food.

2) Discipline: Can I even do this? When treat day rolls around at the office, can I stick to it? Will these 14 days feel like forever? What about those happy hours I’ve planned? Will I miss cheese?

Seeing if I even have the discipline to do this motivates me.

3) No. Ive never been good with the word NO. And when some doubted my ability to do this… of course I had to. Thanks for the extra motivation 🙂

Results to come..

Happy weekend and enjoy some wine for me 🙂

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Have you ever gone on a cleanse? Would you do it again?