Although yesterday was not a fasting day, I did manage to lose a bit of weight. I stuck to my usual meal of yogurt and blueberries to break my fast from the day before, and then had some leftover grilled chicken along with some steamed green beans and broccoli for dinner. I’m thinking cheeseburgers will be on the menu for the weekend. Fries aren’t allowed, unfortunately, but I’ll have some sort of fiber-rich side.

This past week was a tough one from an emotional perspective. Issues with a friend and challenges at work left me feeling a bit defeated. Still, my only slip was the consumption of chocolate-covered almonds on a couple of days. That slip was not insignificant, however, as it broke my determination not to have any processed sugar. I think there have been three times since starting this project that I’ve succumbed to the temptation of sugar, and I’ve got to do better at avoiding the stuff if I want the weight loss to be on a consistently downward trend.

My sleep has been awful this week. Anxiety always causes me to wake up earlier than necessary, so I’ve found myself awake at 5 am on at least a few days this past week. An interesting study on the correlation between poor sleep quantity and quality can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/3z46drfx. Although I have avoided snacking during my extra time awake, there are some hormonal effects detrimental to weight loss caused by poor sleep.

One of the problems with my goofy work schedule (I begin work in the afternoon and end late at night) is that I’m eating dinner at about 11 pm (I don’t eat during my “lunch” period at work). Conventional wisdom is that eating late at night has negative consequences, but this study shows that the issue may be more complicated and that there may even be some benefit to ingesting at least a little food before bed: https://tinyurl.com/4bfnzch2.

I don’t have much else to say today. I’m feeling tired and beaten down but relieved that the weekend is here. I’ll try to enjoy it by avoiding thoughts of work challenges and difficult friends.