Pollyanna Vs. Fast Foods and Midnight Snacks: My Week One Review

[Brandon Antoinette]

So, my original plan was to post a quick update about how my whole thirty was going at the end of every day. My last update, however, was on Day Three--and here it is Day 10. My weekends run on Monday and Tuesday, so the first couple of days I had boundless post time. I discovered fairly early on, however, that I was going to have to choose between cooking and posting during the week. I chose the cooking.

So here it is, Tuesday again! Day of boundless time. "How has everything worked out so far," you might ask.

I did have some speed bumps along the way... Looking back on how everything has gone so far, I think my problem has been a Pollyannaish attempt to achieve too much too quickly.

I ordered the Whole 30 Daily to help me get through this--and the option to click the "I Did It" link at the end of the day has been a great help, (simple things amuse me,) but at first I tried to read all of the articles and follow all of the tips and create all of the success tools it was offering during the day. I found that my day was just too packed full of other goodness to accommodate that. I was worried about that at first, but then I came to the realization that I was doing well and not making mistakes on the eating end, so I wouldn't sweat it.

At the beginning of the whole process I had set a goal about exercising three times a week. You would think that is a simple enough goal to attain, but apparently not. After my work week started, you couldn't drag me to the gym, and this week has been so brutal that all I have done during my weekend is catch up on sleep and reading. So with reluctance and a bitter sense of defeat, I've decided to leave exercise out of the equation for now and focus on getting back on track nutritionally speaking.

My biggest concern right now is breaking the habit of eating too soon before bed. I have always had a snack twenty to thirty minutes before I went to bed, and I haven't been able to break the habit. I've made some headway. The first three days I breezed through it without even thinking about my snack. But when I work I end up getting home around eleven o'clock. I leave my apartment at about ten the next morning, but it takes me a minimum of an hour to eat and get dressed. So I can't sleep until any later than nine, and I like to not be rushed anyway so I get up at eight. That puts me in the position of eating my evening meal (something that before was only really a snack) about an hour before sleep. I haven't had any trouble falling asleep, but I'm still worried about averse effects that might have. (If anyone has any light to shed on this particular situation, I would love to hear from you, by the way.)

So here's the summation for this week:

Remained Whole 30 Compliant: check.

Navigated Halloween parties: check.

Figured out how to maintain healthy eating habits while working for ten to twelve hours a day in an Italian restaurant which just also happens to be my favorite chain Italian restaurant and in which I pretty much get food for free: check.

Kicked habit of watching movies or television while eating mindlessly: check.

Number of times I was tempted to step on a scale: 0

Number of times I spent thirty dollars making a bulk meal to feed me for the last half of the week only to discover that i don't really care for curry: 1...

Number of dirty looks I gave to boyfriend while he obliviously downed entire contents of fast food take-out bags containing all of my favorite guilty pleasure foods: Oh...thousands.

Resolution for the Future: Never Been Stronger!

Until Next Week,

[Susan W]

In my opinion, you are doing GREAT! Life happens and if you feel fine eating an hour before bed, then so be it. I think that "don't eat after 6pm" thing has been proven to be a wives tale. I don't remember that being part of any of the info I have gotten here.

I've done the "make a boatload of this dish" and then sort of wasn't into it. I froze it and forgot about it and then was happy it was there when I just needed an easy night of food even if it wasn't my most favorite of recipes.

I enjoyed clicking the "I did it" link too.