I’m a bit disappointed in myself today. I went to the grocery store yesterday in search of carbs. In the previous post, I mentioned that a team-building event at work on Wednesday had featured food from Chuy’s Tex-Mex, and for some reason my brain was still stuck on the tortilla chips I’d restrained myself from overindulging in during the event. I love tortilla chips: chips and salsa, chips and queso, or even just the chips by themselves. So I decided I’d get a bag of tortilla chips to satisfy this craving so my mind could move on to other things.
While at the grocery store, I also bought some naan. As I mentioned previously, I love naan and hummus and warm buttered naan. Warm buttered naan with grated parmesan cheese is even more delicious. Anyway, I arrived home with a bag full of carbs and dug in. I hadn’t eaten since the morning, so I overindulged on my purchases (of course) before eating my salad with grilled chicken. And then I started thinking about the possibility of a three-day fast, so I ate some cottage cheese with pineapple in it because I wanted to feel full for the first time in several days.
I guess you could say that the sight (and taste) of the food from Chuy’s “primed” my brain for the overindulgence on tortilla chips the following day (I didn’t eat the whole bag, but I came close). That priming effect is a challenge with dieting because it’s nearly impossible not to be around food in some sort of social situation when trying to lose weight. Just the sight (or even the thought) of some sorely missed food can cause what feels like a magnetic pull in the brain toward that food. The trick, I guess, is to train your brain to resist that pull.
In addition to indulging too much with the tortilla chips, I also ate too much naan. I thought I’d quit after the naan with hummus, but then my brain got stuck on warm naan with butter, so I had more naan. The end result was that I consumed far too many carbohydrates for someone trying to lose weight. I’d planned to fast today anyway, but I’m close to resolving to fast for the next three days to exhaust my liver’s store of glycogen (the result of the excessive consumption of carbohydrates) so I can start burning fat again.
I’m disappointed by the uptick in weight recorded on the scale today. I had hoped that I would have a consistent linear downward trend during this journey, but my recent lapses have sabotaged that particular goal. But I’ll get back on track with the three-day fast, and I’m still ahead of schedule in terms of the number of pounds lost over two weeks. Still, I could have been further ahead…