I know this for certain: life was so much simpler when I was on the juice fast. There weren't all these menus to plan, hard decisions to make, wondering if I'm eating the right thing at the right time. As I lay in bed last night, I strongly considered waking up this morning and starting the juice fast again. Or at least backing way off of "real food" and only eating 1 meal a day, in combination with more juice. It's kind of weird, and maybe it's just my body and mind adjusting too slowly, but food just doesn't feel right, right now.
I still find myself overeating. I could probably eat 3 bites and consider that overeating, because I'm just not getting hungry. I don't have much of a desire to eat food, which surprises the hell out of me. I WANT to want to eat food. But if I'm honest with myself, I'd be much happier with a nice glass of juice. I'm unclear as to whether this is just a normal part of transitioning back to solids, or my body telling me that it still wants to be on a juice fast. For example, I bypassed my delicious Nourish Brinner that was supposed to be my breakfast this morning and opted for a fresh fruit smoothie. I'm finding it fairly frustrating, to say the least.
The upside of eating again is that it means I can get back to training like I want to. Yesterday Alvaro and I hit the trails near my house for a run. The trail was 4.5 miles down & back, and I figured he'd want to do the whole thing (being the long distance runner that he is), but I figured I'd run till around 2.5 or 3 miles when my body told me to start walking, then do a run/walk combo the rest of the time. Alvaro had different ideas. And, much to my delight, my body not only cooperated, but did so enthusiastically! The last few times I ran was 2.5 miles to work back at the beginning of my fast (and that was the first time I'd run in a month or two). I was taking 1 to 2 walking breaks for 2.5 miles.
Yesterday, I busted out 4.5 miles like it was nothin'! Well, with the exception of this one asshole hill that came with about 1 mile left to go. Not only did we run the entire distance without walking, but we were able to carry on conversation for the majority of it. Which, as Alvaro pointed out, meant that we could "shut the fuck up and run faster if we wanted to, but then we wouldn't be having as much fun"! My knee did start feeling a little tweaky with a mile to go, and was very slightly swollen at the end, and still a bit achey this morning, but other than that I felt fantastic! I was barely winded by the end, my breath returning to normal cadence soon after we began walking to the car.
Running 20 pounds lighter was.... awesome. My elbows weren't brushing up against my sides or getting caught on my love handles every so often. My thighs weren't rubbing together and bunching up fabric, and my hips felt fantastic. At no point, with the exception of asshole-hill, did I feel like I needed to take a walking break. The last time I ran even close to 4.5 miles was February, and the time before that was probably in training for the 10k I ran back in 2006. So, in addition to my weight goals, I now have running goals (which are imperative to reaching my weight loss goals!). The goal is to run about every other day, some shorter, some longer, getting to a point where 5 miles is an easy, normal run for me.
After mine & Beth's conversation last week and officially moving "complete a half marathon" to the bucket list, I feel one step closer to that, and feel like it's totally in reach.
As far as my weight goal, the next goal is 145lbs. Standing on the scale at 147, I could see that my ultimate goal, 135, was not a total joke like I thought it was the first time Alvaro and Jeremy mentioned it to me. No. 135 is completely realistic, and I think I'll meet the best, most powerful Megan at 135. I've got a bit further to go now, as the scale has been creeping up since I began eating food, and is now sitting around 150ish. I'm ok with that because I understand I've not been using the best methods to get back to eating, and I've set out to change that.
I've been going WAY too heavy on the grains (yes, I'm talking to you, quinoa). IF I eat grains or legumes, which should be minimally right now, it should be in the mornings. Lunch is the time to go more "paleo"- no grains, no legumes, no dairy, but this is my time for meat or seafood if I want it. Dinner is all veggies, all the time. 100% plant based meals, the more raw, the better. BIG thanks to Alvaro for helping me work out this equation. I'm hoping that after a few days of following this eating pattern I'll start to feel a bit less heavy. All I know is with the grains I've been eating I feel like there's a bowling ball in my stomach!
I've revamped my meal plan for the remainder of the week, and started in on next week's menu, following my new rules. I spent the evening last night building yet another board on Pinterest to help me out with my dinner selections. If you'd like to see what Pure Plant Based meals look like, check it out!
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