A 5&1 BLITZ!

I’m doing a 5&1 blitz this week.  Why?  Mostly to re-focus on my eating habits and hopefully reduce my craving for sugar and sweets.  I’ve gotten really off track the past several weeks, thankfully without any weight gain or inch impact, so it’s not that I need to lose any weight, it’s more that I need to return my body to optimal fuel burning and get back on track.  The good news is that since I’m not targeting weight loss, and I need to consume extra calories because I’m continuing my workout, I’m able to eat MORE than the typical 5&1 allowances. Basically, I’m able to add an extra serving of protein.

I have to admit, it’s VERY hard.  I want oatmeal, and bread, and blueberries and bananas.  And one of my daycare kiddos had a birthday today and I couldn’t eat even a bite of cupcake since I’m on the 5&1.  Grrr…..

Today is Day 2.  And I’m super hungry.  Much like I was the first time I did the 5&1.   So today for lunch, along with my MF brownie, I ate 2/3 of a chicken breast that I’d browned in a skillet and drizzled a Ranch Mustard sauce over the top (no carbs, no sugar!).  It hit the spot for sure!  Not quite a cupcake substitute, but I’m not starving like I was earlier.  Geez.

I can tell that today is a body conversion day, I’m a little irritible, tired, hungry.  Here’s to hoping that tomorrow the corner is turned.  Looking back over my notes, I think it was Day 4 that I felt AMAZING…

As for my plan- it really sucks that Easter is this weekend….I LOVE chocolate.  And we have a family tradition of eating Cinnabons.  I was originally only planning on a one week blitz, but maybe I’ll shoot for 2.  We’ll see.  Stay tuned!

Day 3.  I hate to say it, but the TSFL app for Android does not work for me.  First off, the “reminder” alert doesn’t sound unless the app is open….so if I back out of it, no alert = missed meal.  Second, since I’m not keeping a food journal this time around, I think I’m forgetting that I ate, and I’m eating again.  Third, I experimented with a variety of MF foods today and am pretty sure overate those, too.  SO, alas, I need to resume my food journal. This will begin now, from memory, for today:

6:30am:  Parfait (brownie, chocolate pudding, whipped cream topping)
9:30am:  Softbake Cookie
noon: Cauli-mac
2:00pm: a sampling of my sugar-free cream cheese frosting plus a MF pancake seasoned with cinnamon and topped with 2 T of the cream cheese frosting- essentially cinnamon rolls!  Yippee!
6:00pm:  whoopsie- forgot to pack a to-go snack for our afternoon outing.  As soon as we got home I ate a MF meal-  it’s 1/2 a crunch bar melted in the microwave and stirred until it’s a loose bit of ‘granola’ like substance, topped with pudding and another small blob of the sugar-free cream cheese frosting.  Basically, I think in all my sampling and cooking that I might have inadvertently eaten an entire package of cream cheese.  Is that bad?  WHOOPSIE.  And then there’s dinner with the family- I ate 8 shrimp.
8:45pm: the other half of my crunch bar / pudding cup

Calorie count for this disastrous day = 1,600.  And that’s after my 170-calorie-burn workout.  Geez.  Not sure I’ll be in fat burning after this.  I thought for sure that I was at the start of the day because I felt amazing.  Still do, but think my overeating may have messed me up.  I sure hope not.  I’ll know in a couple days.

Day 4.  Well, I feel really good, energetic.  HUNGRY this morning though.  Clear minded, raring to go!
6:30am: cappuccino pancake (1/2 cappuccino 1/2 pancake mixed together and baked into a muffin)
9:00am: the other half of the above
11:15am: a couple slices of pastrami, a 1/2 slice of tillamook cheddar, and a crunch bar
2:30pm: chocolate pudding with a heaping tablespoon of plain greek yogurt
5:00pm: ground elk with a tsp of enchilada sauce on a bed of romaine
7:30pm: a soft bake cookie!  Man I love this program.

Calorie count for today was below 900.  Whew!  And that is even after a 170 calorie workout!  NICE.  I premade two more of those brownie/pudding parfaits for tomorrow.  I cook the brownies at night and let them ‘air chill’ in the fridge uncovered so they develop a bit of firmness and crisp- great texture beneath a heaping pile of chocolate pudding.  I cannot wait for breakfast tomorrow!

Day 5 & 6:  I stuck to the plan and on Friday I had a Starbucks breve cappuccino AND my favorite Carl’s Jr Low Carb Six Dollar burger.  Kept those calories up, the carbs down.  Saturday night we went out to dinner and I ordered Fajitas and only ate ONE tortilla, the rest of the meat I just ate unwrapped.  I did eat all my black beans and the corn stuff, but didn’t eat the rice, and stayed away from the chips and salsa.  So I did OK, not great, but could have done a lot worse!!

Easter Sunday- totally off plan.  Cinnamon rolls and breakfast casserole and fruit!  YUM!

The result of my 5 & 1 Blitz…. my weight dropped 2 pounds during those first couple days, but never went any lower.  Of course I was only on it for 5 days, likely not entering fat burning until Day 4.  Today is Tuesday (I went off plan Saturday night) and although I feel less fat, my measurements are a tad lower, but my weight returned back to the 122 that it was when I started the blitz.  The point of doing the blitz was to sort of ‘shock’ my body, get back into fat burn for a bit, and just feel good.  It wasn’t to lose any additional weight, but it was to hopefully lose a little more fat.

For the next couple weeks I’m going to continue eating the MF foods….about 3 meals a day, the other 2-3 will be Lean and Green modified.  I won’t be in fat burning and will target 1,200 calories a day.