Day Five: February 5, 2011

I have a little confession to make. Although a warm bowl of chili on a cold winter night wasincredibly comforting, I had an ulterior motive for last night's kitchen lab. I was actually practicing the recipe I submitted for entry into the Whole Foods chili cook-off that would take place in the morning. It was a competition between all the departments in the store (grocery, meat dep, ect.) and my recipe was representing the Prepared Foods department.

A night eating chili does not necessarily set you up for a big appetite in the morning. I started off the day with a version of breakfast-in-a-cup that consisted of black beans, cottage cheese, tomato and scallions. I spent most of the morning preparing a 40 lb batch of chili and thus sampled it at various points along its development. I would have to estimate that I ate a total of one cup throughout the day. In case you're wondering, our team won the chili cookoff. No big deal.

Later that night I had a catering gig that offered a plentiful menu chalk full of temptation. The menu included crab cakes, sliders, grilled ham and cheese, mac and cheese cups, and many other foods that are definitely NOT on the approved foods list. To tell you the truth resistance came easier than expected. The absence of carbs was easier to cope with today than it was at the beginning of the week. Plus there was no way I was going to crack for the first time this close to Cheat Day 1.0 (I've got BIG plans for my impending gluttony).

I made a dinner out of a few coffees, a Diet Coke, and a small plate of slider patties atop spinach and roasted vegetables. All in all, today's consumption looked a little like this:

water: 9 c
black beans (1/2 c)
cottage cheese (1/4 c)
green onion (2 T)
tomato (1 c)
eggs (2 oz)
chili (1 c)
coffee (2 c)
diet coke (12 oz can)
hamburger (8 oz)
roasted bell peppers (1/4 c)
spinach (2 c)
asparagus (1 c)


Well, there you have it. One week is in the books. I appear to have shed a little body fat, and I definitely feel a difference. I do feel, however, that I have been "dipping my toes" into this experiment. I plan on turning up the intensity on my
physical activity, starting with this week. But right now the first thing on my mind is tomorrow, Super Bowl Sunday, and my first cheat day. I've got big plans for tomorrow...big plans.