The weekend was a bust in terms of weight loss. I actually gained four pounds, and I can’t say I’m surprised. Over the course of two days, I consumed about 3,000 calories in chocolate-covered almonds alone, with most of those calories coming from sugar (which I had intended to avoid entirely when I started this project). The four single-serve containers of ice cream didn’t help, either (those things are tiny, but looks can be deceiving). For some reason, I picked up a small jar of peanut butter sweetened with honey at the grocery store, and that was gone by Sunday night. And then there were the hamburger buns. I made cheeseburgers on Saturday and Sunday, and you can’t buy a package of hamburger buns with less than six in it, so the remainder of the buns were used to make grilled cheese or peanut butter sandwiches.

When I type it all out, it becomes obvious that I ate too much over the weekend. Of course I gained weight. And I was eating throughout the day (grazing) without any periods of fasting. I did have some healthy food, such as the yogurt and blueberries I ate for breakfast, but I can’t say that any of my other meals were terribly good for me. And, in retrospect, I’m a bit shocked at how little fiber I consumed. One of my goals this week is to add more fiber to the days on which I eat. During the week, I get enough of it via my salad ingredients, but the weekends have been lacking in fiber. I’ll add an apple in addition to my yogurt and blueberries in the morning and maybe another one to go with dinner. And I’ll try to avoid eating in between.

Despite thinking that I’d meet my goal of losing 20 pounds in four weeks, I actually missed it thanks to the weight gained during the weekend. That’s disappointing but underscores the reality that every day counts—there are no “cheat days.” The sugar in particular has got to go, as well as the flour. Those were the two things I was determined to give up for the entirety of this project, but I failed to avoid them completely, and the sugar consumption in particular was disastrous (even though it occurred on only a handful of days). The past two weeks have been a bit rough emotionally, and psychological discomfort is obviously the biggest driver for my bouts of unhealthy eating. Since I can’t always be sailing along without any emotional turbulence, though, I’ll need to somehow dampen my knee-jerk reflex to indulge in junk food when things are rough.

My goal for today is to fast all day, and my goal for the week is to fast three (non-consecutive) this week. The plan for this weekend is to add an apple or two to each day, and to avoid eating between breakfast and dinner. I think I can avoid sugar for the entire week (it makes me feel awful when I indulge now), and I can’t envision any reason to consume any flour. I am trying to perfect my cheeseburger (I’m still working on the basics of cooking), but given that I can’t purchase less than six buns at a time, I’ll have to go bunless this weekend. Or maybe I’ll just eat something healthier than cheeseburgers….

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