Day One…not a total failure?

Today was about 40% failure, 60% success. Last night I went to the grocery store and stocked up on chicken breast, eggs, lentils, black beans, pinto beans, and veggies. I spent most of the night prepping the food because I absolutely CANNOT wake up in time to cook any type of breakfast. I am usually shoving a handful of cereal or a granola bar into my mouth as I am pulling the door on my way to work. So I cooked half a bag of lentils and made 3 egg and lentil omelets. I stuck those in tupperware so I could nuke them in the morning. I also bought a pack of hardboiled eggs since Ferris says those are the easiest way to pound down all the protein. Breakfast is supposed to consist of 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up. That is about 5 eggs. It can be broken up into various protein sources as long as it adds to 30 grams.

So, I wake up, Im psyched that everything is premade. I nuked my omelet and then the first disaster happened. I did not cook my lentils long enough. The mushy texture I was expecting was more like a crunchy, gag inducing, mess. The intention of adding lentils was essentially to add calories, fiber, and energy to my overall day. Since I am eating low- carb, and adding more veggies, legumes are added so I do not give up due to low energy. A great example given in the book: “A half-cup of rice is 300 calories, whereas a half-cup of spinach in 15 calories! Vegetables are not calorically dense, so it is critical that you add legumes for caloric load.”

So I ended up trying to force feed myself the omelet and gave up after stomaching ½ of it. I figured I had only consumed 1 egg, so I pulled out the hardboiled eggs since that was the only other thing that was “premade” at that point. That attempt also went poorly. I think I was already disgusted by eggs in general and I could hardly get the fork carrying straight up hardboiled egg into my mouth. So I finished 1 hardboiled egg, for a grand total of 2 eggs.

Luckily Jordan has a huge tub of protein powder that he uses as a recovery shake after working out, so I mixed up a large protein shake with water (dairy is not allowed on this plan) and chugged it. So I hit my 30 gram mark.

Also on this plan, you are to try and eat every 4 hours. This is something that would be difficult for me considering my work day is 9 hours with a 1 hour break. I am in retail, so I don’t have the luxury of stepping away from the sales floor to sit down and eat. So for the time being, I am sticking to the eating plan, getting used to it, and then considering the 4 hour eating after I assess if it is possible.

So lunch rolls around. We have a Qdoba mexican restaurant 2 stores away from mine. I eat there maybe once a week. I usually get some kind of quesadilla with sour cream, so this trip to Qdoba would be much different. I ordered a naked ground beef burrito (which means no tortilla). I asked for it without rice and extra veggies. So essentially I had black beans, grilled veggies, ground beef and a little hot salsa. I also had a free meal on my Qdoba rewards card so my first low-carb lunch didn’t cost me anything! Success!

So towards the end of my work day, I started to get a headache. These are not uncommon for me. In fact, it is a rare day when I do NOT get a headache. I usually chalk it up to heredity since my mom and brother also suffer from headaches, but I am hoping this eating plans helps limit or eliminate this annoying part of my life. I started following Tim Ferris on Twitter (yes, I joined twitter) and he tweets a lot of articles and blogs from actual 4 hour body followers sharing how health problems they have had all their lives begin to change and disappear. Fingers crossed.

So, by the time I get home, my headache is now a migraine and I have no energy or desire to cook up my dinner. I grabbed my book to see if any snacks were permitted. There wasn’t a ton of information about this because if you are following the plan correctly you should have no physical urge to snack. If you are hungry between meals, you are not eating enough protein and legumes at each meal. I also stumbled across a section that said headaches, or symptoms of low blood sugar, mean that I am not eating enough. Ferris says that a spoonful of peanut butter is acceptable, so I had two of those, since it wasn’t really a snack, it was a sad dinner.

That was all I really wanted, since my headache caused my stomach to feel upset. I ended up going to bed at 9:00.

I will be going to GNC today to pick up some low-carb protein bars to eat for breakfast since I cannot bare the thought of eating eggs anytime in the next few days. Plus, I think I was kidding myself by assuming I would pre-cook my eggs each week. Here’s to hoping that the rest of the week goes more smoothly!