30 Days Of Chef Boyardee: Day 7
I found out today what a poor idea it is to hang around at the grocery store for any length of time while I am in the midst of completing my 30 days of Chef Boyardee food trial.
Lyann and I had a few items that we needed to pick up, such as cat food, coffee cream, tuna, whipped cream and a few other essentials. In retrospect, it may have been a good idea to have had one of my two cans of Chef Boyardee pasta prior to going to the grocery store.
The last couple of days have been tough for me in terms of keeping my focus and sticking to my goal, primarily due to looking through various cookbooks. We have been trying to plan the free day we will be having at the end of this food trial and have been in search of new recipes and ideas.
Every time I look through a recipe book lately, I get the feeling that I could eat the book. Literally everything in the book looks good to me. There have been a few foods we have come across that I have disliked since childhood, but everything else looks incredibly appetizing.
As if the cookbooks were not bad enough, our trip to the grocery store today put the added stress of the smell of all that food on my shoulders. We are usually in too much of a hurry to get in and out of the grocery store to be able to notice all the different smells contained within. Today was an exception.
One smell that I remember in particular was the aroma coming from the cooked whole chickens that were in the warmer at the deli counter. We have enjoyed these little birds on more than one occasion. They smell great and the meat just falls off the bones when you eat them.
We took our time going through the grocery store today because we were pricing the items we need for our free day meal. So we had to look at ribs, perogies, assorted cheeses, desserts and other varied items. A lot of the counters had sample trays set out and I had to walk past every one of them.
It takes a lot of willpower to walk past those displays. In some devious way, the brilliant people who handle all the food industry marketing decisions have made the word “free” nearly irresistible to the buying public. When we see anything that is offered for free, we not only feel entitled to have it, but also feel a need to have it.
True to my word though, I avoided the tempting little cake samples and cheese samples that we saw in the grocery store. Lyann also stayed away from these items because one of the most important elements concerning having a free day once per month is that you keep your mind and body in check during all other days of the month. There is no cheating on your diet if you want to participate in free day.
Here are my current stats:
Weight and Body Fat
What a great prediction I made yesterday! My Salter body fat scale weighed me in at 157.2 lbs this morning, for a net loss of 4.0 lbs in only six days. My body fat percentage reading was 22.0%, which made for a full 1.0% drop in my body fat percentage since I started my 30 days of Chef Boyardee food trial.
I have read elsewhere on the internet that the “experts” say you should only aim to lose a few pounds per month in order to stay healthy. They claim that rapid weight loss is not good for you. I stand opposed to those so-called experts.
In fact, one of my relatives is going to be participating in a hospital-supervised weight loss program this month. The medical professionals who run this particular program have done their best to make the food consumed during the 12 week diet as nutritionally complete as possible.
Can you guess what the food consists of? It is a 12 week liquid diet. That’s right, nothing but nutritional shakes for 12 weeks. And can you guess what the calorie content limit is each day? You are only allowed to consume 1200 calories each day. They claim that the weight loss is dramatic – up to 40 lbs in only 12 weeks. Does this diet sound even remotely familiar? You can read how I lost 40 lbs in only 12 weeks eating real food, not meal replacement shakes.
Even medical professionals agree with me that monitoring calorie intake is the most effective way to achieve rapid and permanent weight loss. The iron will you build by sticking to the bland, low calorie diet for 12 weeks gets so ingrained in you that you are then able to apply the low calorie limit to foods you eat each and every day.
Your fat does not care what kind of food you eat. It only cares how much you eat. When you restrict your calorie intake, your body uses your stored fat for energy. This is how you lose weight safely, not with some quick fix diet pill or liposuction session. Food does not make people fat. People who eat too much food make themselves fat, especially people who eat too much of the wrong foods.
Once you learn to discipline yourself and follow a set caloric intake each day, then you are ready to start making the proper food choices for optimal nutrition. These foods include vegetables, fruit and lean meats.
Even though I am only eating Chef Boyardee canned pasta products for an entire month, because I have set myself an 800 calorie limit for intake on any given day, you can bet your ass that I am going to lose weight. I’ll end this little rant with my next prediction. I will definitely be in the 156 lb range tomorrow morning.
Loose Clothing
Everyone has a pair of pants in their closet that they are either afraid to try on or at least afraid to wear in front of other people. You know what I am talking about.
Prior to writing my quick weight loss ebook, I had a few of these nasty clothing items in my closet. I had a particular pair of pants in my closet that I had not been able to wear in years. I remember that they were even tight and a little uncomfortable when I first bought them.
Near the end of the diet I followed when I wrote my ebook, those pants were too big for me. I can still remember how great it felt to see something that used to cut me off at the waist fall easily to the floor when I let go.
Having recently weighed as much as 165 lbs, those pants had begun to get uncomfortable again. I tried them on once and they have been hanging in my closet, taunting me ever since. I may wear these pants in my photo at the end of this trial. I’m not even going to go near them until this trial is over.
You should dig out the pair of pants that you want to fit into and see how they fit right now. Then, get started on your own weight loss plan and make it a mission to have those pants be loose on you. Nobody else needs to know what you are doing. Keep quiet, letting your friends and family watch your transformation. Make a date with a day in the future when you can wear those pants proudly, knowing that you accomplished your goal through hard work, persistence and determination.
What Chef Boyardee Products I Ate Today
My food choices for today were one 418 gram can of Chef Boyardee Minis Pasta Shells with Meatballs and one 418 gram can of Chef Boyardee Spaghetti and Meatballs. My total calorie intake for the day was 780 calories.
My menu choices are becoming quite bland to me, despite having six different types of Chef Boyardee pasta to choose from. I do not imagine there is much I can do to liven up my food, other than maybe combining two of the products and eating only once per day.
I really do not think I would make it through the day if I only had one meal. It is supposed to be unhealthy to eat only once per day. I wonder if adding a pinch of some different spices to any of the canned pasta I have been eating would violate the rules of my food trial.
A few spices certainly would not add any extra calories to my meals and they might make an improvement on Chef Boyardee’s tomato sauce. I’ll try to hold off as long as possible before going this route though because I do not want to start doing it too early on and have the practice become ineffective.
Winter Blues
I have definitely found that it is much easier to follow this food trial without any physical or mental discomfort when I have something to take my mind off what I am trying to accomplish.
My days at work are a breeze to get through, with only an occasional hunger pang hitting me in the early afternoon. It is when I am off work that I have the most discontent with how things are going.
I attribute part of this discontent to the winter blues. Neither Lyann nor I are fans of the cold winter weather. We are living through the coldest two months of the year right now and are also doing our best to conserve our meager finances, so there is not a lot we can be doing on any given day.
If I had to pinpoint any particular reason why I would be struggling to make it through the day right now, I would say that it is definitely due to either not being able to go outside due to the extreme cold, not having any money to go do anything or a combination of both.
When spring hits, we intend to go hiking because Lyann likes to take close-up pictures of nature. We love the outdoors and fresh air. In the summer, you can at least go for a comfortable walk and sit at a picnic table in the park. Since all these options are closed to us right now, it is making January perhaps not the best choice of time periods during which to conduct my trial. I’ll try not to go too stir-crazy on you all.
Summary
The last week of my 30 days of Chef Boyardee food trial has gone by very quickly. I expected to feel as though time was dragging by. I only have 23 days left to go now, a little over 3 times as long as I have gone so far. Having one week behind me makes it seem a little easier when I look forward to the coming weeks.
My total calorie intake for the last week works out to 5440 calories. I used to read in a workout book at the gym I attended that a guy my size needed 2000 calories per day just to make it from dawn until dusk. I confidently laugh off that thinking now.
It is the intangible gains I am making from this Chef Boyardee food trial that I am most excited about. I wonder just how much stronger my inner ability to say no to fatty, starchy foods and calorie-laden desserts is becoming.
It energizes me to know that when it is all said and done, I will have strengthened those parts of my character that will help me to maintain my ideal weight for the rest of my life.
Technorati Tags: 30 day food trials, 30 days of chef boyardee, 800 calorie limit, chef boyardee, ConAgra Foods, my focus for 2009, Weight Loss, Food, Personal Development
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