Eating Well, Even When Life Gets Hard

Week #3 of the "Bekah Try-It Diet" is in the books! Before I give a full report on the diet itself, I want to take a moment to be transparent about the true hardest part of this week.

Reason to Quit

On Easter Sunday, my husband Joey ended up back in the hospital. For those who don't know, this has been a large portion of our lives for the past year, and it doesn't seem to be ending any time soon. I was faced with a difficult choice: do I allow myself a pass for the week? Do I abandon this experiment because life got hard? I knew no one would blame me. But like I mentioned earlier this month, I'm learning a lot about my deep issues with food. I have always had the tendency to overindulge when I'm happy and sad, and as much as I love the idea of losing weight this month, I also want to break that habit.

Seeing Food Differently

Look, food is great. There's nothing inherently evil about a big, greasy cheeseburger. But when I use it to fill the hole in my heart instead of the hole in my belly, it becomes an issue. When I use it for lifting my mood instead of lifting my blood sugar, it's time to reevaluate my relationship with it. For some, this may be a, "Yeah, duh!" moment. Of course it isn't healthy to eat your feelings. But it's taken me a long time to get to this realization in my own life. Every person has something that he or she uses in an attempt to fill in the gaps when it feels like life is falling apart. For me, that's clearly food. I never thought it could be since it's kinda, sorta necessary for survival, but it's my coping mechanism. But not this week! I did not let it get the best of me! As I've supported Joey this week during the long days in the hospital, I've done so with chunky pre-packaged pudding in hand. He in turn has supported me by not rubbing it in my face that he gets to snack on Easter candy all day. Although, I must admit, that wonderful man more than deserves it, especially since he's the one making sure I get my meals in on time, even as he's laid up in his hospital bed.

The Best and Worst of Week #3

This week was all about eating like Zach on his diet program that consists of 5 high protein, prepackaged meals a day and 1 "lean and green" meal consisting of protein and veggies. Here's what I loved and hated:

• I loved the concept of prepackaged meals. Most of my day was covered with them, and it provided a nice break, especially since I've barely been home this week. To know more about the benefits of prepackaged meals, read here- https://digitalhealthpost.
• I loved that meat and veggie meal I got once a day. Because of this and how the plan works with the other meals, I found myself satisfied, and I didn't even fight cravings too badly (except for the night I dreamt about eating cheesy potatoes.)
• I love the number on the scale! I had taken a quick cheat day weekend for Easter, but this plan set me back on track and even took away a few extra pounds.
• I didn't love all the extra water I had to drink this week. NO ONE HAS TIME TO BE RUNNING TO THE BATHROOM THAT MUCH. 
• I didn't love the smell of the food. There's something really unique about it. Although, you get used to it and it mostly tasted good, it still wasn't 100%....normal.
• I LOATHED the parmesan cheese puffs. Never again. Thankfully, Zach traded me some of his meals for my vomit puffs so I wouldn't have to eat them all week.

Next week is the last week of this experiment, and I'm not exactly sure I can even call the next one an actual diet since Wally came up with it. No, it's not his fry-et, but it's close. I'll talk about it more on Monday!