When the e-mail subject line reads like an actual sinner-to-priest confessional, you know it's going to be a doozy. And when another e-mail comes complete with pictures of chicken and dumplings AND blueberry pudding dessert, well, bust out the extra rosaries.
Yes, Badasses, it's baaaaack! The Friday Confessional returns, just in time for the Food Frenzy Season that begins this month with Halloween candy and ends with Christmas dinner leftovers and New Year's Eve hors d'ouvres.
This first week is, appropriately, a fine example of the comforting reality that we ALL "cheat" when it comes to eating healthy or slacking off exercise. And ya know what? That is OK. There is no judging in the Badass Army, so we confess, forgive ourselves and others - and move on to better eats and the next workout.
Moreover, a day off the wagon doesn't doom our efforts. One of this week's most massive - and funniest - confessionals comes from one of my training clients who, through clean eating most of the time and plenty of exercise, is down 20 lbs and counting.
So here goes....
- I will start with myself, and the ugliness that was Saturday. It started strong with bootcamp fueld by a protein-berry smoothie. I stayed on track until my beloved Gators played LSU at 3:30 that afternoon. What ensued was a game-watching party, hosted by LSU fans, at which I drowned my "they are playing like crap" sorrows in gumbo, too much white rice, Gator Picante (yes, yes, the ultimate Orange and Blue sin of eating the mascot....), apple custard pie, and two large cookies. Not even an hour later, at another friend's house, I ate two slices of homemade sausage and pepperoni pizza and later washed it down with wine, a vodka soda, and then an almond tequila shot. Hail Mary, indeed....
- My co-worker Ayla -in between her vegetarian eating trial - has been helping herseflf to the frozen Swiss Rolls her roommate left behind before recently moving out. "I would never buy those, but since they're there....and they are really good!"
- A bootcamp student, Laura, started a new job two weeks ago and this week has discovered the Hershey's dark chocolate goodness that her co-worker leaves in a dish on her desk. "And she refills it every morning! Dang that evil dark chocolate and my itty bitty co-worker!"
- Tara, a single working mom, managed to down an entire box of Pizza Hut Chocolate Dunkers by herself. "Those things are the devil!" she insists.
Tammy is down a few pounds and into "those jeans" in spite of this stumble: "So I was good ALL WEEK! And then yesterday I had a lunch date with the ladies at my Mother's house and I fell off the wagon and did a few back flips after I fell. Though it does not show me consuming the guilty pleasure I consumed, here are the pictures of my indulgence yesterday. :(
This (at left) would be my Mother's homemade chicken and dumplings and her to die for dessert of Blueberry 4 Layer )at right).
On a high note though, I did fit into a pair of jeans that I tried on not more than 2 weeks ago at the store and couldn't even button them and I've lost 3 pounds as of this morning. Time to get right with myself again. :)
- Chris, halfway to his #360to30 goal, hit the Heart Attack Trifecta this week: Fried Chicken and Red Velvet Cake Waffles at a local food truck, AND Chik-fil-A, AND happy hour drinks
And now, about Sarah, who is training for Tough Mudder in December and looks like a leaner, more toned woman since we began training 5 months ago. She is down more than 20 pounds, has cuts in her arms, and is back to wearing those smaller-sized clothes she had all but given up on. But this week, there was this cookie, which begat the latte, which begat the motherlode of Triscuit binges. Read on:
Forgive me, Shannon Colavecchio, for I have sinned... Not once, but three times - in one day.
It all started Tuesday when the scale showed that I was ahead of my schedule for my regular weight loss goal for the week. VICTORY!!! I was feeling good. I had a great run Monday night and successfully fended off the cookies the day before. But little did I know that was all about to change...temptations were looming around every corner.
When I arrived at work and settled in at my desk, I immediately realized that I forgot to bring my lunch and afternoon snack to work -- #epicfail. This meant I would have to try to find something "badass approved" at one of the nearby restaurants for both. No worries, I thought to myself. I had done this plenty of times before...
As I ran downstairs to the cafeteria to try and grab something quickly, I saw it... THE HOLY MOTHER OF COOKIES. You know...the one that is not all the way cooked, but cooked just enough to be safe to consume (or at least we convince ourselves to believe that it is...). I immediately reverted to my inner cookie monster and thought, "NOM! NOM!" but my Badass said "NO! NO!"
Thinking that it would not hurt to look, I opened up the case…and then it all went downhill. I took one look at that perfection, followed by a deep inhale of all its glory and out of nowhere – PUFF! – it was in my hand. There was no going back at that point.
Around 3 p.m. when I normally have my afternoon snack, I decided to partake in a Skinny Vanilla Latte. I am now convinced that the cookie at lunch was magical. Now given the opportunity to not make another mistake, something takes a hold of me – code for NONE OF THIS IS MY FAULT. Instead of ordering the Grande. I do the unthinkable….wait for it... Venti please! Also known as Sin #2... I blame the magical cookie.
At this point, one might think that I had enough cheats for one day, but one might also be wrong. When I hit the grocery store after work... I was just getting started. I decide to take “go big or go home” to a whole new level. With my Fooducate App in tow, I loaded up a basket full of healthy fruits, vegetables, lean turkey, etc. poised to redeem myself (again) for my sins of the day. But, as I made my way to the checkout line, all I could think about was something besides veggies to dip my hummus in, so I started to wander to... THE CRACKER AISLE!!!!! D’oh!!!! THE CRACKER AISLE???? What the heck was I thinking? With so much salty goodness at my disposal, I knew I was about to make Sin #3 and fast...
Now, in my defense, I did select the Reduced Fat Triscuits that were rated a B+ on the Fooducate app. #patontheback However, the fact that I opted for the Family-Size box of these B+ Triscuits probably won't earn me any brownie points. Mmmm…brownies. But buying the box wasn't the sin... it is what I chose to do with this box that lands me in the "Badass Doghouse." My not-so-badass shoved 30 (Muahahaha) of these Family-Size Triscuits with red pepper hummus into my mouth around 9:30 p.m. -- A double sin if you ask me!
So, with that - I confess! May my cookie-eating, latte-drinking, family-size-Triscuit-eating self redeem her Badass status STAT! PLEASE!
Sarah and everyone: Drop, give me 50 pushups, and all is forgiven. Here's to a new day, a new start! Have a great weekend!
Coming next week: Chris is halfway to that #360to30, a guide to eating for 2(a-days), and a cycle mix plus profile.
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