21 DSD for realz

[thesmilingone]

Hey all,

 

I'm going to cut it short since I managed to delete my previous long version...

• It's springtime in Hungary. I hate it. I hate that I hate it so I'm gonna change it.
• Last year I didn't hate it. Last year I was anorexic, weighing a total of 35 kgs. I had other concerns than spring.
• I gained back way too much weight in way too short time and it's causing health issues. I'm not willing to suffer from health issues, so I'm gonna do something about it.

Tomorrow (4th March 2013) marks the first day of my 21-day sugar detox. I'm also starting kettlebell training and some running or yoga on my rest days.

I wanted to take a before picture, but I'm too embarrassed to do it. Maybe some day, when I'll have after pictures as well.

 

I am going to log my meals and training here, for accountability

 

I would appreciate any support and advice from people who have done a 21 DSD before and also from those who haven't. Wish me luck

 

Cheers!

[Jakob Kopfeld]

Hello thesmilingone

 

Good luck overcoming you dietary issues!
Take a picture, if it embarresses you, don't look at it, but you'll be glad later that you took one. At the point where your near/at your goal and want to take another look at all the good you accomplished!

[thesmilingone]

Thank you, substix I have some pictures that my friends took a couple days ago, I believe those will suffice as before pictures. I can't wait to put the after-pictures next to them!

 

So, the first of the 21 days is coming to an end, and it went just how I planned.

I started the day at the gym, among kettlebells and incredibly handsome guys (who also happen to have handsome bottoms) - seriously, if I knew before that guys like these go to kettlebell trainings, I would have started a loooooooooooong time ago

But back to where I was... the workout was a pretty adventurous one, loaded with swings, high pulls, snatches, wall push-ups (with your legs on the wall), dive bombers and bridges.

Like this:

 

I was not smiling like that though.

 

To have some activity during the day, I climbed the stairs to the office (5th floor) and I took a 30 minute walk after work.

 

So much for exercise.

 

Food:

 

• Around 11 am: My signature protein shake made of plain protein powder, vanilla and coconut milk with a tbs of rolled oats. I usually have it earlier, around 9, but I wasn't feeling like that today. I also take BCAAs before and after my workouts.
• Lunch, 2 pm: Sauerkraut with roasted turkey thigh, without skin
• Dinner, 8 pm: 2 eggs, 4 slices of prosciutto and a handful of cherry tomatoes. I also muched on some sauerkraut afterwards. I love the stuff.
• 2,5-3 ls water and a giant cup of herbal tea to wash these down

I have found earlier that I am genetically incapable of having breakfast - I feel heavy, bloated and just generally uncomfortable when I eat in the morning, so I decided to quit that entirely.

 

I also found that snacking only triggers overeating in me, so I cut that out as well. Now that I look back, I realize I was munching on way too many cracklins (you know those crisp, delicious pieces of pork fat baked in its own fat till it gets all brown and irresistible...), avocadoes and coconut flakes while bearing "Fat is your friend" engraved on my shield. FYKI, I like to consider myself a warrior princess. No, not like Xena, I smile way too much and am a lot more quiet. I could still kill to have her boobs... I mean boots... Anyhoo...

 

All in all, I am pretty satisfied with my day

[thesmilingone]

Super-bad day today... I woke up with a fever and coughing like it was my job. One week rest, stay-at-home style - doctor's orders So much for kettlebell training this week

But, it's gonna be an even greater motivation to eat fabulously during this time.

 

As I did:

• Around 11 am: same as yesterday.
• Lunch, 2 pm: Veggie stew with roast turkey breast, some leftover cooked veggies and fatty meat from Sunday's broth
• 4 pm: a great cup of named broth
• Dinner, 7 pm: 2 eggs with 2 stripes of bacon and a red bell pepper
• Copious amounts of water

While it will be nice to have some me-time and relax a bit during the week, I can already feel the restlessness and itching in my palms to lift something heavy. I'm planning on finishing at least Storm Of Swords by George R.R. Martin and some of the glossy magazines I bought in Sweden and Finland just because they are in Swedish and Finnish

[thesmilingone]

Quick and early check-in today

I feel better than yesterday, fever is mostly gone and I'm coughing less and less. Maybe I needed some rest indeed, life has been real chaotic lately.

 

We had such lovely weather in the morning, I decided to give a shit to what I look like and took my dog for a 40-minute walk. I felt exhausted afterwards, but it did me good.

 

Food for today:

• Noon: protein shake. I drank a lot of herbal tea in the morning, so maybe that accounts for lack of hunger today.
• Lunch, 2 pm: Homemade sausage with sauerkraut, 1 cup of broth.
• Dinner to come, 6 pm: a handful of cracklins with sauerkraut Told ya I love this stuff.

While I am convinced that my weight loss has been hindered by the amount of cracklins I ate in a day (every single day...), I think it is OK to have a reasonable amount of it like once a week. It's like chocolate for me, so I have to be careful.

 

I am also confident that if it was not for this sickness, I would feel great. I did feel great the first time I tried a similar detox, but it ended with a 2-day binge... I learned a lot from that experience and now I know how to avoid the crash. And it's already day 3... time flies

[thesmilingone]

Well, it's day 5 of my 21 DSD and I still love it

Yesterday I had such a busy day, I totally passed out before I could let you know that I cooked up a bunch of amazing wild boar stew and was munching on that the whole afternoon. For dinner I had 2 eggs and 2 stripes of bacon, for a change.

Apart from the one-hour walk with my dog, I was just laying back and reading Storm of Swords. I'll finish it today so that tomorrow I can dive in to A Feast for Crows, yay!

 

Today I took a long walk again, however unintentionally as I was trying to find the store where I could buy my new BCAA powder. Eventually, I got on the wrong tram while reading and found myself at the opposite end of the world's longest street than where I should have arrived... so I decided to enjoy the warm and sunny weather and walked to the store. Looking forward to trying this new stuff, it's said to be organic and paleo-friendly, also seems to fit into my SD diet plan. Too good to be true.

 

Food today was nothing special, I had half a grilled chicken divided into 3 meals, with sauerkraut. I seriously have to come up with something else, I've been eating sauerkraut for nearly a week now. Off to the farmer's market tomorrow!

 

Also today was the day when I wrote down my reasons for completing the 21 DSD. In no particular order:

• To re-establish a healthy relationship with food.
• I want candy, chocolate, pastry, cakes, etc to taste disgusting to me. Because I tend to gorge on them. But you don't gorge on things that disgust you.
• To fit into my favourite jeans again, by losing some extra fat.
• To be proud of myself because I did it. To prove to others that I can do it.
• To beat cravings.
• Improve sleep.
• To get creative in the kitchen. Cooking was one of my greatest hobbies of all time a few years back. I want that again.

 

I'm looking forward to how this will go for me

[thesmilingone]

Day 6, still sick but going strong.

 

To keep myself active today, I cleaned the whole flat. After that I took a walk to the market, about 40 minutes.

 

As promised to myself, I put the sauerkraut aside for the day and roasted some beets instead. Beets are amazing roasted in alufoil with a tiny bit of coconut oil on them. So food looked like this for today:

 

• 11 am: BCAA drink. It was suprisingly good and filling, I'll keep it
• Lunch, 2 pm: 1 medium roasted beet, 1 grilled chicken leg and 1 wing. A handful of coconut flakes for dessert.
• Early dinner, 4:30 pm: 1 medium beet, 2 eggs, 2 stripes of bacon.

When going to the farmer's market, I also stopped by one of my favourite beauty shops and got myself 2 new lipsticks. One especially for the party tonight, and one because I was a good girl and deserve it. I also got a new workout shirt, looking forward to rocking it next week

[thesmilingone]

Day 7, just another lazy sunday

Today was dedicated to relaxing, I arrived home at 5 am from the party - we went to see Sólstafír and Long distance calling with my friends, it was amazing as always. So I spent most of my time in bed. It was great to have a night out, I really need days like these.

 

Food was ok for today, however I think maybe too much... Could be because I was so tired and instead of taking a nap, I took some food

 

• Lunch, 1:30 pm: grilled chicken breast with one medium beet and one stripe of bacon. Handful of coconut chips.
• Dinner, 5:30 pm: sauerkraut, 3 stripes of bacon and 2 eggs fried in the bacon fat
• Dinner nr 2, 7 pm: 2 stripes of bacon, grilled broccoli florets

It was a bacon type of day I could say... gotta be careful with the stuff

To be honest, I believe it was still better than what it could turn into... already at lunch I felt like binging, going to the store and buying a ton of chocolate and pastries and whatnot and just eat all day. Instead I reminded myself why I am doing the Sugar Detox and also that I would have to confess my binge here and I just couldn't bear the thought. A small victory

[thesmilingone]

Day 8, just another manic Monday

 

I started the week with a well-deserved kettlebell workout. We did walking swings, countless snatches, pushups and assisted pull-ups. I sucj at pull-ups, so I liked the idea.

 

After that my day got totally crazy since I was out of the office for 4 days, I had 178 uread emails and they just kept on coming... and somehow I managed to deal with it without struggles or getting upset, I just went one by one and did what was asked from me. I have never before been able to do it like this, I always panic and start to do 5 things at once. Not anymore, this way it was way more effective

 

As for food today:

• 11 am: protein shake
• Lunch, 2:30 pm: iceberg lettuce, 1 red bell pepper, 100 g horse sausage
• Dinner, 6 pm: salad with iceberg lettuce, 1 tomatoe, some cabbage, cucumber slices, grilled chicken breast and one hard-boiled egg
• 9 pm: BCAA drink

I also feel amazing, people start to notice changes in my physique as well, that my belly is smaller and my legs are thinner than before. I also like my tattoos better, I have 3 runes on my right side, and they started to move towards the middle I am curious whete they will end up

[thesmilingone]

Day 9.

 

Today marks the day when 3 people have asked me the magic words: "Have you lost weight recently?"

Funny thing is, I weighed myself and I actually I have lost 2 kgs along the way somewhere. That is not so significant, but I notice also that my pants started to fit more loosely and I look pretty badass in my new leather jacket. Wooohooo!

 

No workout for today, but I walked and climbed the stairs to the 5th floor 2 times. I walked down one metro station on the way to the office, same thing on my way home and I took two 15-minute walks during the day. I also sit on a fitball in the office

 

Food was OK today as well, alhough I felt incredibly hungry at times.

 

• 10 am: protein shake
• Lunch, 2:30 pm: green peas with grilled chicken breast
• Dinner, 6:30 pm: 1 medium red bell pepper, 2 eggs, 4 slices of bacon
• 8 pm: BCAA drink

I love how I managed to quit snacking so far. It was a bit disturbing and inconvenient at times to always have snacks ready and I felt like I was eating throughout the day. I eat more now at mealtimes and it feels so much better!

I can also eat the same foods over and over again, then get bored and change to something else that I eat over and over again

[thesmilingone]

Day 10

 

Started the day with a great kettlebell workout and some walking. To my disappoingment, however, I noticed that some weights seem heavier than before and that I felt weaker also. Maybe I should eat and sleep more. I'll give it a try.

 

One of my colleagues made my day though when we met on the corridor in the office and she exclaimed "Anita, you are so beautiful today!" Why yes, thanks I do actually feel way better than last week.

 

Since cooking at home is not always on my priority list, I often order lunch to be delivered to the office. After so many disappointments, I finally found a company where you can order paleo foods... I was astonished when I came upon this, it is not really common in Hungary... yet. So I am looking forward to all the yummy, healthy lunches from next week on.

 

Still feeling hungry more than before, so I decided to eat some more bacon today. Maybe not the best choice, but if I made perfect decisions all the time, I wouldn't have anything to improve in myself, right?

As for food today:

 

• 10:30 am: protein shake
• Lunch, 1:30 pm: summer squash stew with ground turkey, handful of cracklins
• Dinner, 6:30 pm: iceberg salad, handful of cherry tomatoes, 2 eggs, 5 slices of bacon
• 8 pm: BCAA drink

I also dug in the Feast for Crows, 4th instalment of A Song of Ice and Fire. I keep forgetting to get off the metro on time... but then I can take a walk home and also a longer walk before work

[thesmilingone]

Day 11

 

Today one of my colleagues remarked that I look better and better each day I seem to get compliments on a daily basis now. Keep them coming I say

 

No workout for today, but I climbed the stairs 3 times to the 5th floor and walked 40 minutes outside. In snowstorm. In March.

 

Food was tasty today and I feel satisfied with how I do on this Sugar Detox.

• 10:30 am: protein shake
• Lunch: 12:30: kale and sweet potato stew, grilled chicken breast, half of a large a red bell pepper
• Dinner, 18:30: 3 eggs, 3 slices of bacon, one medium red bell pepper. I wanted to skip the BCAA drink for today so I added more eggs

I'm also thinking about electing to seriously limit my fruit intake after the Sugar Detox as well. I just feel so light and energetic, and I love the way how vegetables start to feel sweeter as well. I haven't had an apple in two weeks now, I'm wondering how it would taste. Knowing my binge eating past though, I am a bit afraid to touch anything with sugar in it... We will see.

[thesmilingone]

Day 12

 

I officially challenge myself to keep up these great feelings I have and the positive changes that are happening in my life.

 

I had an amazing kettlebell workout today, with lots of running and sprinting, snatches and burpees and swearing I was surprised that my workout pants kept falling off, so I decided to take some measures. And HOLY CRAP, I lost 4 cms (1,6 inches) both from my waist and hip during the last two weeks. I'm astonished. In a good way, of course.

 

I also decided to change my diet a bit, so I quit the protein shake and added more BCAAs. I got the idea from Leangains, and since Martin Berkhan is one of the fitness personalities I absolutely adore (and he has that accent in Swedish that just makes you want to listen to him forever) I decided to try it.

So food looked like this for today:

• 7 am, before and during training: 10 g BCAA in 0,5 l water
• 9:30, 11, 12 am: 10 g BCAA
• Lunch, 2 pm: half a head of cauliflower, chicken breast, 1 medium red bell pepper
• Dinner, 6 pm: same, just replaced the pepper with one cup of sauerkraut

I felt like sizzling with enegry throughout the day, I like it

[thesmilingone]

Day 13/14

 

Yesterday was my 13th day of the Sugar Detox. As every Saturday, I went to the local farmer's market to buy my share of veggies and meat for the weekend and for dinner during the following week. I found lovely beets, so that is what is on the menu now

 

I also went to my favourite Hot Iron class, and I was amazed by the amount of sweat that covered me already from the warm-up. I wanted to test how strong I am, so I did the leg part with 18 kgs and the bicep-bench press part with 10. Result: T-rex arms

I also noticed some developments in my strength: I could do turkish get ups and cleans and military presses with 16 kg kettlebells. So far I could only do these with 12 kgs. Next up: snatch with 16 kgs.

 

As for food, I find that nowadays I am craving fat instead of sugar. Wow. It's mostly animal fat, so I gave in and bought some pork rinds for dessert after lunch.

 

Day 13 Food:

• 11 am, during training: 10g BCAA
• 12:30 am, after training: 10g BCAA
• Lunch 2:45 pm: one big beet, half chicken breast, 100g pork rinds
• Dinner, 9 pm: quarter of a chicken breast, one medium beet

Day 14 food is gonna be:

• 10 am: 10 g BCAA
• Lunch, 1 pm: homemade sausage with 1 cup sauerkraut and 1 small beet, 100g pork rinds
• 4 pm: 10g BCAA
• Dinner, 6pm: same, without the pork rinds

Tomorrow my first officially paleo lunch is going to be delivered to the office, I am so excited! I don't think I have ever looked forward to a Monday this much.

[thesmilingone]

Day 15/16

 

Yesterday (day 15) was hell.... I was so busy at work, was so tired the whole day, I don't even remember what I did during the day. It feels as if I spent the day surrounded by some white fog. I also had a setback with regards to food, I ate a lot of pork rinds. Like, A LOT of pork rinds just got shoveled into my mouth in no time. Nevermind. I'm over it by now.

 

The kettlebell workout in te morning was kind of the highlight of the day, I always feel better with weights in my hands.

 

I feel better today, and it's already day 16... amazing how time flies. I am still not sure if I want to stop at day 21 of the Sugar detox, I feel so comfortable eating like this. Especially now that I foud this food delivery company with their paleo lunch options. I was positively surprised yesterday by my lunch and today's menu looks just as great as well.

 

I conducted some more research on IF and decided to refine my eating habits and see what happens. Thing is, I FEEL like the goddess I want to become already, it's just I don't yet LOOK like it Sometimes I jut get terrified by the amount of weight I am aiming to lose and altough inches seem to go away, my weight has hardly changed and it makes me feel bad and it results in setbacks like the one yesterday... because I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel... gotta start believing in myself, I am already in so much better shape than at Christmas or a few weeks ago and I am also gaining strength. I want to feel just as great as last week.

[thesmilingone]

Hello again... I'm back for my final report on the 21 DSD.

Epic amount of work during the week resulted in not logging anything. I just didn't have the strength for it, I went to work one hour earlier only to leave two hours later than usual. I can hardly remember the way to or from the office, even less what I did during the day, but the job seems to be done and running all right, so I must have been efficient... It just feels like I spent most of the week in some kind of white fog, surrounded by Excel tables, PDFs, salary increases and pension data...

 

I didn't have the strength to cook during the week, so I just split up my lunches into two (this new company delivers HUGE portions, so it was not a problem at all) and had red bell peppers when I felt like killing somebody... I wouldn't have been in the place of those peppers, I was chewing so hard sometimes I thought my teeth were going to crumble.

 

But the 21 DSD will be over tomorrow... I sat down today to construct an action plan on how to go on with my diet afterwards. And, I decided I just don't want to change so much. I want to cut ot pork rinds and cracklings, but that is all. I am not craving fruit andmore, and to be honest I feel strange when I think about them. I feel like they would be too sweet for me. I might try green apples, but... we'll see. I just can't imagine myself snacking on fruits again right now. Red bell peppers are much more filling and I love every juicy bit of them.

 

My skin has cleared up so much, I love how it feels soft and smooth, everywhere. I am amazed by my hair as well, it is so shiny and soft too.

I noticed before that my legs get swollen and painful after 8 hours in the office, but guess what... it is gone

 

I think I am going to prolong this "sugar detox", let's see what more I can achieve. Pictures coming soon... once I get the courage to post pictures of myself