Looking Up! (Day 80)

Today, I turned in two major projects for school which brings my stress load way, way down. In junction with that, my body image has been feeling pretty good lately. Though I don’t have a scale to prove it, I can really feel like I’ve lost weight. THIS IS GOOD considering I’ve been having trouble with motivation lately.

When I got home from school today (my day started at 6:30AM and ran until 10:15PM… guhh…), I crashed on the couch and vegged on jello, bacon, and pickles (no, I’m not pregnant). I was just so hungry! I felt like I was eating a lot… but I just did my calorie count. Prior to the munchies, I had only eaten 800 calories. No wonder I felt like a hungersaur!

In even better news:

40 days until I graduate!

Woooo!

Food:

Eggs and Bacon (Breakfast).

Chicken thighs and salad (Lunch).

Chicken thighs and taco salad (Dinner).

6 pickles (Snack).

4 slices of bacon (Snack).

Jello (Snack).

Totals Day 80

Until tomorrow,
xx
Suzie

At Least I Eat Less When I’m Stressed (Day 79)

Academic mistake: an assignment I thought was due on Friday is due Wednesday. Stress stress stress blah blah blah you’ve all heard my whining. Enough.

Food:

Eggs and bacon (Breakfast).

Chipotle (Dinner).

Not pictured: pickles.

Totals Day 79

Yeah.

Until tomorrow,
Suzie

In Control (Day 78)

Who am I when I climb?

Yeah. I’m a hardcore girl (and this was recorded in Atlanta!). Unfortunately, I haven’t climbed since last Monday. I’ve just slowly been teetering off the diet. Somehow I need to stay focused. I’m just going to take a second and say that it is hard to find motivation to do anything right now. I’m in my last semester in college taking six classes. Of these classes, none of them are realistically going to affect my GPA by more than .02, but I have to complete all of them to graduate (and I will be personally disappointed if I don’t make a 3.75 this semester). My internship is asking me to increase my work load, which I have to do because I really want to get a job from them after college. Through all this, I’m feeling increasing pressure to be in control of everything. Forget what they say about dieting. My academic and professional life is so controlled and stressful right now that I really just want to relax my diet to have a bit more freedom in my life. I don’t think I’d feel this way on another diet that’s less rigid. On the other hand, that’s why the 4HB diet works so well, right?

Food:

Eggs (bacon was gross so no) (Breakfast).

Leftover shrimp stir fry with lentils (Lunch).

Chow Baby Bowl 1 (Dinner).

Chow Baby Bowl 2 (Dinner).

Until tomorrow,
xx
Suzie

PS: Check out my interview with Pareto Nutrition here!

Where I’ve Been & Diet Progress (Days 72-77)

I was interviewed!

Hey folks, I’m sheepishly getting back to my blog. This has been the week from down under. Long story short, I got really angry with my college and in doing so, I ended up organizing a student protest. This takes a lot of work (and energy!), so I’ve been neglecting my duties as a blogger all week.

Because this past week has been so stressful, I haven’t been great in terms of the diet. I skipped a lot of meals because I wasn’t hungry or didn’t have the time to eat (I even skipped breakfast twice, which is Tim Ferriss’s biggest no-no). On Wednesday, I had a mid-week cheat; I went out to my favorite bar in Decatur, The Chocolate Bar, and had a mixed drink followed by beers at Taco Mac with some queso.

So delicious. So unhealthy.

Fortunately, I was able to be good for the rest of the week… sort of. I only went climbing once because I was just too tired. I also skipped all of my classes on Friday to get ready for the protest. I even smoked a few cigarettes.

This all comes down to how I got to the point where I wanted to diet in the first place. Stress kills the way I treat my body. Granted, this week was extreme stress, but I still need to work on better coping mechanisms than skipping meals, binging on sweets, losing sleep, and bumming a few cigarettes.

There has been additional stress that I haven’t really talked about much on this blog. I am a student in college who is going to graduate in May, and I still have no idea what I’m doing next year. All of my prospects won’t know their answer until April, which is when the lease in my apartment is up. Because I don’t want to stay in Atlanta, this creates an awkward situation with roommates for next year… which includes my boyfriend. My life isn’t secure right now, and it is starting to wear on me.

Dooms day is approaching

Despite my unhealthy efforts this week, I still had a cheat day yesterday. It felt wonderful. Sadly, my scale is broken (there is no WAY that I actually weigh 21.6 pounds… or kilograms!), so I’m going to have to wait until next week to do measurements. Excitingly enough though, I’m fitting into a pair of pants that I haven’t been able to wear for a long time. Success! Success! Success!

Instead of uploading all my photos of all the food I’ve had since Wednesday, I’ll summarize: eggs, beans, lentils, meat, and chocolatinis! Tada!

Until later this evening for a regular post,
xx
Suzie

Back From Vacation (Days 66-71)

Ya’ll, I’m back in Atlanta! Sadly, I’ve been neglecting my blogging duties, and my duties as a dieter. In taking last week off (spring break! Woo!), I managed to completely slip off the diet. And I mean completely. Enter Friday night, where after gorging on Peking Duck and Challah bread, I went to the theater and had an Icee and a bag of M&Ms. Enter that night, at 3AM, where my body gave up and puked. I literally ate until I threw up. Gross.

SO, needless to say I’m glad to be back on the diet. Though I promised myself that I wouldn’t weigh in until Saturday, I peeked at the scale and saw that I gained 2.6lbs. I mean, it’s two weeks worth of work, but I honestly thought it would be worse. Back on the wagon.

Food for today (and today only… I really don’t want to gross ya’ll out!):

Eggs and bacon--decided against the beans (Breakfast).

Carrot sticks (Snack).

Madras lentils (Lunch).

Jello (Snack).

Beef and broccoli stir fry (Dinner).

Totals for Day 71

Until tomorrow,
xx
Suzie

Alexandria and Williamsburg (Days 64-65)

Doing the touristy thing is exhausting. Yesterday, B and I took it slow. After working and lounging around the house in the morning, we went to Alexandria, where we toured the Torpedo Factory Art Center, ate dinner, and watched The King’s Speech (if you haven’t seen it, it’s fabulous). With the laziness of the day, I found that I’ve become lazy on my diet… I didn’t even eat breakfast until lunch time (and yes, I got up well before lunch time!). I also had a mojito. Not kosher, very sugary. I don’t want to see the scale when I get back…

Yesterday:

Four egg omelet and seven pieces of bacon (Breakfast).

Ruby Tuesday Mojito (I've had much better) (Dinner).

Creole shrimp salad (Dinner).

B's never ending french fries that I happily munched on (Dinner).

Yesterday’s food wasn’t awful but it could have been much, much, better. Unfortunately, today was even worse. I went out to Williamsburg, Virginia to see friends and do the colonial thing. It was fun, and I even made a new friend!

We were instant best friends.

While I had a healthy breakfast and an okay-ish lunch, I ended up splitting dinner with Dad. Onion rings, rice, and even a hot fudge brownie sundae was included. Let’s just say that I scarfed it down like it was cheat day… and I didn’t even do my squats. *Sighs* it’s so much easier to keep to this diet when I’m in a regular schedule and and in my own kitchen. On the flipside, I’m not letting the diet ruin my vacation!

Food from today:

Four hard boiled eggs

Two chocolate squares.

A veggie sandwich with no sauce (Lunch).

Onion rings (Dinner).

One roll, with butter (Dinner).

Chicken piccata with rice (Dinner).

Hot chocolate fudge sundae (Dessert).

I think I might be falling off the wagon… I’m starting to dread Monday when I have to return to 4HB! The ice cream feels really heavy in my stomach… ugh.

Until tomorrow,
xx
Suzie

The Monticello Binge (Day 64)

I can’t believe I’m up so late… it’s 1:12 here and I just got home from chilling with friends and getting drinks around Dupont Circle in DC.

I went out to Monticello today and basked in Thomas Jefferson’s gloriousness. In the process of getting there, B and I had to drive 2.5 hours. When we arrived I needed to pee to the point of pain. We tried shop after shop, restaurant after restaurant, but nobody seemed to be open for lunch on a Monday. When we finally (THANK GOD) found a place to quickly eat and use the restroom, I bolted in. When I returned to the table, there was a warm pile of steamy bread and warm butter next to it. I… binged on it. I decided to let myself go in the stress of finding someplace to eat and relieve myself (not at the same time). I doubt that I will be happy when I step on the scale after this week!

Monticello was wonderful for those who were wondering :). Definitely worth a visit!

Food:

Hard boiled eggs, beans, and bacon (Breakfast).

Butter and bread (Lunch).

Greens with raspberry vinaigrette and goat cheese (Lunch).

Taco salad (Dinner).

Cheese plate split 3-ways (Dessert).

A finished hot cocoa with butterscotch schnapps (Dessert).

Until tomorrow,
xx
Suzie

First Day Touring DC (Day 63)

I went to the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History with my friend. Unfortunately, the normal 35 minute drive turned into 90 minutes because of closed roads and no parking. We ended up walking to and from the Smithsonian… a mile’s worth! Needless to say, I was quite happy to sit down in the rock section to watch a movie just so I could rest my legs. Either way, the museum was amazing. Totally go if you have the chance!

Raaaawwwwwwrrrrraarrgghhhhaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!

Afterwards my friend—let’s call her B from now on—and I went out to a bar. I enjoyed a hot cocoa with peppermint schnapps and nachos. It was my one “cheat meal” of the day. It was delicious. 🙂

Food:

2 full egg/2 egg white omelet, bacon, and beans (Breakfast).

One cup of grapefruit juice (I thought I might binge... nope!).

Broccoli and turkey stir fry (Dinner).

Hot cocoa and peppermint schnapps (Dessert).

Nachos (Dessert).

Totals Day 63.

Until tomorrow,
xx
Suzie

The 10-Hour Road-trip on the 4-Hour Body (Day 62)

Today I drove from Atlanta to DC with a friend. That is no small feat.

638 miles of glorious road-trip.

Why go to DC, you ask? Great question: I’m officially on my last spring break of college. My bff and I are looking at exploring many of DC and Virginia’s tourist attractions, including Monticello, Arlington, the Smithsonians, and Williamsburg. But in order to get there, we had to drive 10 hours. I ended up trying to keep to the diet… ish. Saturdays are normally my cheat days, so I decided to half-ass it. I had a slow-carb breakfast, pseudo slow-carb lunch at Subway (eat fresh :P), slow-carb dinner, and unhealthy mini-dessert.

Despite not losing anything (and gaining .6 pounds…) this week, I feel like it’s okay to binge a little off and on this week. It my spring break, my last spring break as a college student. Cut me some slack!

Food:

Bacon and eggs (Breakfast).

Sweet onion chicken teriyaki salad (Lunch).

One piece of sugarless gum (Snack).

Turkey bacon (Snack).

Merlot (with Dinner).

Turkey, salad, and balsamic vinegar dressing (Dinner).

Thin mints and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream (Dessert).

Totals for Day 62

Until tomorrow,
xx
Suzie

Measurements Before Road Trip (Day 62)

Age: 21
Weight: 126.6 Up .6lbs
Height: 5’1″
Body Fat: 27.98% Same
BMI: 23.92 Up .12
Neck: 11.875″ Same
Right Upper Arm: 10.625″ Down .375″
Left Upper Arm: 10.625″ Down .125″
Waist: 29″ Up .5″
Around Belly Button: 33″ Down 1″
Hips: 36.25″ Up .25″
Right Leg: 19.5″ Up .25″
Left Leg: 18″ Down 1″

Total inches lost this week: 1.5″
Overall inch loss: 13.35″
Overall weight lost: 10.4lbs
Overall body fat % lost: 7.24%

Okay, I’m a little disappointed with how much I lost this month; I’ve lost 10.4lbs from 62 days ago, and 3.6 pounds since day 34. Not cool. I’m also going to start my period at some point though, probably this week, so I can try to shrug it off as water weight. Hopefully being away from the diet for a week will not kill my results (and maybe give my body the shock it needs)!

Weight measurements and goal line.

Waist measurements.

Body Fat %.

Until later today (after driving 600 miles!),
xx
Suzie