Paying for a Day Off the Diet Or The Gross Post

**Warning** This blog post is going to get a bit personal regarding bathroom habits. While I was trying to avoid this subject, I feel that it may be needed to fully explain the diet and cover both positives and negatives of the routine. This is by far a HUGE negative.

Last week, as you may remember, I only made it the gym 4 times, it looks like this week will have similar results (if not worse), given holiday parties and obligations Sunday, Tuesday and Friday this week. Last week, I also took some time off of the diet, not this week though. Last week, that was my BIG mistake.

I don't know if the food I ordered on Saturday affected me this way because it was breaded, deep fried chicken covered in sugar laden BBQ sauce and I really haven't eaten (besides chicken) much if anything with these qualities in eight weeks OR if there was something wrong with my chicken. No one else who ate with us (including my fiancee) has had these issues, so I expect it to be the former. Fried Chicken no longer agrees with me.

The diet has, over the past Eight Weeks, made my bathroom visits infrequent, but it was nothing I worried about. Since Saturday, I have had the opposite problem. While not worried, it should be noted for anyone who wants to start this routine, that this can happen and has happened to me (for about four days now.)

As I said, its a gross post, but a reality. I don't think I will be posting on this subject again after this.

Snack Time

If you are anything like me, you love to snack. I know I sure do! Snacking away has not led to a very healthy lifestyle. Craving some candy or chips or something even worse (cake, brownies, sugar laden soda), can cause my diet to take a 180 straight into gaining weight (and not the good muscle weight I hear so much about)!

In the past, I would eat tons of sugar or salty chips (sugar in the form of carbs) then sit around watch tv and go to bed. No Activity! No calories burned! This is how I was able to balloon to 230 LBS.

The problem here is that I still love to snack. At work, at home, long drives, to get rid of stress (when I am not at the gym), snacking still comes to mind. What is the worst part of it all, is that I am not even hungry, most of the time I do have a desire to snack on something. I learned early on in this diet that I am very bad at stopping myself from snacking. What I can control is how much and on what I am snacking.

Yogurt has become my go to evening / after work our snack. I will cut up a piece of fruit, throw some almonds in there and you have a delicious, crunchy, healthy and low carb snack! If yogurt is not available I will eat a pickle, some almonds or a piece of fruit. Choosing the healthy snack option is definitely the way to go.

Exercise VS Stress

Going to the gym about 5 times a week for seven weeks teaches you a few things about yourself. It shows you how can make yourself disciplined enough to spend hours at the gym, rather than on the couch eating. One thing I learned is that going to the gym takes my mind off of stress.

Much better than smoking, over drinking, shopping, and my previous problem, eating; going to the gym relieves most of my day-to-day stress. Focusing on the routine and to a smaller account, the blog has helped keep me motivated to lose the weight.

If you ask anyone that knows me, I stress out over things too much. I mean WAAAYYYYY too MUCH!

I worry about things outside of my control: "What is going on in politics?" "What is happening in the economy?" And I worry too much about things I can barely control: "Are we going over on our Wedding budget?" "How Can I be better at my job?"

Money, job, family concerns all stress me out. In the past I would turn to food (sweets, greasy food, carbs galore) to combat these stresses, and maintaining my sanity.

While never being completely overwhelmed or consumed by stress, I do stress about things both big and small more than I should. I'm still the same 'worry wart' that I was when I was a kid.

What I found out about myself is that exercise is a great stress reliever. Spending an hour on the treadmill and focusing on the workout takes my mind off all the troubles in the world. It is a great feeling to come out of a work out burning 700 calories and all the stress from the day. Burning calories, losing weight and stress all at the same time, sounds pretty good to me.

So I will continue to go out there and hit that treadmill hard so I can shed these 30 last pounds and the everyday stress that bogs us all down!