Leave Nothing to Chance

I posted on my FB page this morning about my slip up.  See what had happened was, after I posted here about my decision not to compete in February I rationalized that I could have some fried chicken (1^st mistake).  Then instead of going to the chicken joint and ordering a three-piece I went to the grocery store and bought an entire chicken (2^nd mistake) and fried it up.  At least if I would have settled for the three-piece I would have eaten it and it would be over.  Now, after last night’s ratchedness (I ate a breast and a wing, two pieces of bread and steamed mixed veggies) I have six pieces of leftover fried chicken sitting in my refrigerator.  I told my son he has to save me and eat the chicken!

I’ve gotten way too comfortable.  After being so stringent with my diet and exercise during contest prep I decided to take a break from the super strict guidelines.  Don’t misunderstand, I haven’t been that bad.  It just feels that way.  I haven’t weighed my food since September.  I haven’t tracked my calorie intake on myfitnesspal since September.  I mean, how do you know what you’re eating if you don’t know what you’re eating?   Tracking my food was always a helpful tool in keeping me under control.  The thought of having to write down “fried chicken” was embarrassing.  I would much rather write down “baked boneless skinless chicken breast”.  There’s much less no guilt that way.  I have such a weird relationship with food.

I’m restructuring my meal plan. I’m going to allow myself a variety of different healthy choices so I won’t feel like I’m deprived.  During contest prep, the constant diet of egg whites, oatmeal, chicken, sweet potatoes and broccoli always left me wanting and I was more prone to want to cheat.  After the contest was over, my lack of structure led me to just grabbing whatever popped into my head that day.  I need a plan.  I need the structure.  I need to be more disciplined.  I’m still relatively new to this lifestyle so I cannot leave anything to chance.  It would be perfect if I had a personal chef who just cooked for me everyday and I wouldn't have to think about it, I would just have to eat.   I can dream, right?

I’m adopting a nutrition plan from The New Rules of Lifting for Women

There are some really good choices in this book and each meal has a macronutrient breakdown so I know exactly what I’m consuming.  I’m going to try it for 4 weeks and re-evaluate if necessary.  My plan will probably look similar to this:

Breakfast:  Fiber One cereal w/vanilla whey protein, 1% milk, raisins (300 cals)

Morning Snack:  Cottage cheese and cashews (220 cals)

Lunch:  Greek salad w/chicken (285 cals)

Afternoon Snack:  Fat free plain yogurt w/vanilla whey protein and chopped walnuts (253 cals)

Various Dinners:  Ground turkey chili; Grilled turkey burgers w/black beans; stir fried steak w/brown rice; spaghetti squash w/ground turkey tomato sauce