Three Days

So the herbal laxative tea was...interesting. It continues to be...interesting. I don't think I'll use it again unless I have some dire constipation issues. Enough said about that.

I did two workouts today and will barely make my 2400 calorie burn today. What the heck? Actually, I'm noticing as I get closer and closer to my goal, the fewer calories I burn during the workouts. For instance, one of the workouts I did this morning was CardioParty 3. It's 50 minutes and would normally burn over 300 calories. I was under 300 today. Why? Did I not try hard enough? Is my body more efficient? Don't know, but it's annoying. By 11am I had burned the number of calories I normally burn by 4pm. I was all excited because I figured I'd get close to burning 3,000 calories today. Apparently not.

My strategy for the next few days is to continue like today:

Breakfast: Chocolate Shakeology made with water and ice
Lunch: 5 oz. salmon, 4.5 oz. sweet potato, artichoke
Snack: Greek yogurt
Dinner: 1/2 banana, 1 tbs. almond butter, Chocolate Shakeology, coconut milk

Obviously, I won't eat the same thing every day, but the pattern of Shakeology, meal, Shakeology is my intention these next few days. We'll see. Sometimes you just need to crunch something.

In fact, now that I think about it, before dinner I ate 4 Ritz-like crackers.

But overall, I'm trying to really cut down on sodium, too.

I also found out today that Gillian, my friend who is running the challenge, is in some warm climat on spring break. I can't believe she abandoned me in my time of need! I was hoping to weigh on Sunday, hit my goal, and then...eat a big bowl of popcorn on Sunday night. I might have to rethink this. If my weigh in is going to be Monday morning instead, clearly I can't be consuming salty popcorn the night before (like I did for the weigh IN).

One more day between me and my popcorn. Sadness.

A few comments about this challenge:
-Even if I don't make the 10 lbs., and it's looking dicey, I'm pleased with my weight. While I'd still like a little less jiggle on the 'ol thighs, I never would have achieved these last pounds of weight loss without the challenge.

-I don't advocate two shakes a day for any sort of longterm plan. My calorie intake on this type of plan is only about 1200. That's pretty darn low and I don't want to stay here for long.

-When I finish the challenge, I want to eat popcorn. However, I strongly discourage rewarding youself with food. Do something else you like, but try not to use food as a reward since you've worked so hard to break yourself of that. But in this case, I'm going to eat popcorn to celebrate, dang it.

OK, to bed. Exercise, mountain work, skiing ahead of me tomorrow. Good grief, if I don't make my calorie burn after a day like that, I don't know what to think.

Three more days to burn!