Biggest Loser and Super Sunday Splurge

Well - we made it through our 3 week crazy diet. And in general, I feel awesome! I'm definitely planning to continue trying to eat super clean and healthy at least 6/7 of the week. And the diet has paid off in weight loss, too! I had my final weigh-in for Biggest Loser on Sunday morning and I won! I'm down 9.5 lbs and up $60. Very nice :) I ate pretty well at Grandma's for lunch on Sunday as well, and then Sunday night was Super Splurge Sunday dinner!

My husband and I have been planning for and anticipating this meal for three weeks. And the longer we were on the diet, the more grandiose the meal became. At first, we were only going to have a few candy bars to break our diet. By Sunday night my menu included: homemade sherried caramelized-onion two cheese macaroni with hot dogs, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and vanilla ice cream, two pieces of artisan chocolate, and some rootbeer. My husband had lined up: two frozen pizzas, rootbeer, orange soda, a small sleeve powdered sugar donuts, oreos and kettle chips. Woah. We both wound up with about 2.5 hours to eat all our goodies (after all our 'cheat' time had been subtracted) and we were so excited! We had two episodes of Star Trek to watch and our huge pile of food to eat....

But a funny thing happens when you eat healthy, fiber filled food. Your stomach shrinks. You're eating well, so you don't need to eat as much. And eventually you can't eat as much if you try. I only used 29 minutes out of my 2.5 hours. I had one small plate of the incredibly rich macaroni, half a medium size piece of cake, a small scoop of ice cream and two glasses of rootbeer. Oh, and half of each piece of artisan chocolate. And I was miserably stuff. Not only that, but I was so used to eating fresh tasting foods that all those rich, sweet treats made me shiver. My husband managed to do a little better with his food (I think he finished the pizza and donuts, but most of the oreos are still standing and the chips are unopened). I was both very disappointed that my gorging was so short lived, and also pretty grateful that I wasn't so full of junk that I'd be miserable in the morning.

And I wasn't. I feel pretty good today, actually. I even had even recovered from the splurge enough by lunchtime that I finished the boys leftover mac'n'cheese and had a few more bites of cake (yeah, I justified the cheating by reminding myself that I used only 1/5 of my time last night...) And oddly enough, I actually feel like eating healthily this week. True, there's a little cheese and meat and pasta in the meals I planned -but just a little. And in general, I'm most excited about the snap peas and hummus in my fridge.

So was the crazy diet worth it, even though we didn't pig out like we expected? Totally! I feel healthy, I feel happy, and my pre-baby jeans are already loose! (I even managed to squeeze into a size 1 skirt yesterday - though it sat at my waist instead of my hips like it used to). I only have 12 more pounds to go until I hit my goal weight (I came in at 122 on Sunday) and I'm $60 richer to boot. Now I just can't wait for my hips to stop hurting (someone mentioned that relaxin from pregnancy stays in your system for months post-partum, foo) and for the basement to be finished (so I can get to my elliptical again) and I can start on the next part of my health-makeover plan: Getting in super cardio shape and toning up all these mushy muscles! Here's hoping that by next bikini season I don't have to hide under a cover- up.

Thanks again, everyone, for joining me on this journey - your feedback is always appreciated! :)