The Viking Diet: Week 3

 

So, let me just start off by saying, I'm ashamed. And not just a little, but a lot. I'm very, very ashamed. Yet simultaneously I'm so pleased that I got it out of my system so that I could reboot.

The food I had over the course of 5 days in a row was phenomenally good, and I honestly felt like I was on some kind of a diet vacation. It was truly awesome, and though I already see the negative after effects of all of it, I'm not even sorry that I did it. It was totally worth it, because life should include a little bit of joy and flavor. I was indeed a glutton throughout the course of those 5 days, but now I'm back on track and honestly feel better for it. And that makes me happy.

So, let's talk about what kind of diet suicide I committed at the beginning of Week 3, which had trickled over from the latter half of Week 2 of The Viking Diet.

Monday, was my mom's birthday. This was also supposed to be my designated cheat day, which I'd originally scheduled. So naturally I wasn't going to throw that out, as I had my entire diet the past 3 days.

I took my mom to a breakfast place in town that I just love, and had only been to once before, and as was the last time I was there, they did not disappoint. Their food is massive in portion and absolutely delicious. I had English muffins top with creamed spinach and over medium eggs with Hollandaise sauce with hash browns on the side.

I also stole a few bites of my mom's pancakes.

For lunch, it was birthday cake...

German chocolate cake with German chocolate frosting.

Dinner, was some pizza from my favorite pizzeria in town...

Now, let's get to the next day. I had so much food left over, and my mom couldn't take all of it with her out of state, naturally. Therefore, I had to make a decision. Did I want to go back on my diet the next day and throw out all the food I had in the fridge and waste money - or did I just want to keep up with all the "bad" food for one more day so that I could justify having spent the money on it. I chose the latter, as it was more fun that way too.

For breakfast on Tuesday morning I had leftover birthday cake. Yes, and I have to say that might have been the highlight of my day.

I had brought some left over salmon with me and and made a salad out of it for lunch, but there was an impromptu event that occurred in the afternoon. My colleague had been promising to take me to Michael Jackson's house which is not far from where we work, and since the weather was perfect, we hopped in the car and drove over there. While in Gary, she recommended the best Mexican food in town, and I honestly decided to go for it, because there probably won't be another opportunity to go, as each of my cheat days are not on days when I'm at work.

I'm telling you, she wasn't kidding. This food was absolutely incredible, and I so don't regret getting it. I wish I could eat this every day.

I tried eating a couple of bites of the salmon so it wouldn't go to waste, but it must have gone bad because it tasted funny. I didn't eat it.

Dinner was left over of everything - including some of the birthday cake. I had a few bites of the pot roast, some pizza and the roasted potatoes. Oh dear Lord. I was so full it literally hurt. Oh, and I had half a beer with it.

I was ready for exercise and to eat air the next day.

Wednesday, I got up early on purpose so that I could work out. I did 30 minutes on the treadmill and arm exercises. I can honestly say this was the first time I exercised where it really felt good.

For breakfast that morning I had a second cup of coffee with some half and half, and a very small strawberry smoothie which included strawberries, half and half and ice.

Lunch was a salad with spinach, walnuts apple slices and grilled chicken breast...which I ate very, very slowly. Over the course of 2 hours to be precise.

Followed by a little snack size bag of hazelnuts and walnuts to keep me satiated until I got home later...

When I did get home, I exercised for another 30 minutes making it a full hour for the day. It honestly felt fantastic to move and be physical and to eat less that day.

For dinner. I had some scrambled eggs with (a small amount of) cheese, mushrooms, half and half, spinach and a quarter of a diced up onion.

It took a couple of hours after dinner when I realized I was a bit peckish again. I had a couple small pieces of cheese and 2 or 3 strawberries to kill those hunger pangs.

Wednesday was the same as the day before, but instead of 30 minutes of exercise, I only had time for 20 minutes. It was still a good workout. Whereas the day before I did arm exercises after my cardio, Wednesday I did sit ups intermittently between the treadmill.

For breakfast, which didn't come until several hours later, I had some yogurt, strawberries and walnuts.

Lunch was boring as usual, and I'm finding that without some kind of dressing or flavor added to these salads, I'm not able to finish them. Which is saying a lot, since there's not much to begin with.

I had a few walnuts and hazelnuts later before I left work, just because I was in pain I was so hungry.

As soon as I got home, I hit the workout again, and did 40 minutes, to make up for the 10 lost minutes that morning. I was again in pain with hunger by the time I finished. And made dinner quickly. The same as the night before, except this time it was with an extra egg.

I felt quite accomplished by the end of the night. But once again, my stomach wasn't totally satisfied a few hours later, and so I had a few strawberries to kill that craving before bed. I know, I shouldn't be eating right before bed, but I had to have something and my fridge is close to being empty at this point. What am I going to eat? Soy sauce and rice vinegar?

Friday morning was brutal. I was so tired, and somewhat sore from the day before, I overslept. I refused to get up, until I finally yelled at myself in my head to get out of bed so that I could at least 10 minutes of exercise.

After I did part of my Bible study and drank my coffee, cleaned the kitchen and made my breakfast and lunch for the day, I got on the treadmill and did 20 minutes of a workout. I wasn't happy knowing that I'd have to make up the other 40 minutes that evening after work, but it was a necessary evil. I promised myself that for 3 days in a row I would do two workouts each day to help make up for all the many thousands of calories I ingested over the course of 5 days.

Breakfast that morning...

strawberries, walnuts and plain yogurt. Are we surprised?

Lunch that day was slightly different than usual. Instead of apples (because I was out) I threw in just a few small slices of Gouda cheese. I need to do that again someday! It was tasty. Again, no dressing. Just plain spinach with the cheese and some grilled chicken breast a few walnuts.

When I got home that evening I was so unbelievably tired, I could only muster up the strength to do 20 minutes of a workout, and not the full 40 I'd promised myself to do. I did the cardio for 20 minutes and then a few minutes of thigh work...okay, so maybe 25 minutes?

For dinner, I created something new, simple and fairly cheap  - the latter of which is always good.

First, I diced up some yellow onion and sauteed it in a little bit of organic unsalted butter.

Then I added some mushrooms and fresh thyme.

Then I added 100% grass-fed ground beef to the mixture...

Once the meat turned brown, I added a good amount of fresh organic spinach.

Once the spinach was wilted, I added in some organic half and half...

Set more than half of it aside, and then added some eggs...

And the end result was tasty, filling and I would say very healthy.

The next morning, I had eggs for breakfast...

And once I was finished with work headed over to Whole Foods where I did my grocery shopping for the week, and I got a fruit smoothie which lasted me the whole day for lunch. With the same organic half and half that I buy, they added Granny Smith apples (skin on) and fresh strawberries with ice.

Dinner was the left over from the night before, but without the eggs. I did not take a picture.

The next morning, I skipped breakfast. Unless you count a few walnuts.

For lunch, I once again created something fairly new.

In the oven, I baked three heads of garlic unpeeled with walnut oil at 425 degrees F for 25 minutes.

I let it sit and cool off for approximately 30 minutes.

Then in a food processor, I added spinach...

Setting it to pulse for a good minute, until it was completely crushed, I then added the peeled garlic...

Next, I added heated walnut oil, some more spinach and salt to taste.

The result was a spinach pesto, quite good but I think if I made it again I would substitute the walnut oil for grape seed, or more preferably, olive oil.

Next I attempted to make an omelette...

Which did not turn out well...

So it was more like very well done scrambled eggs, but with the spinach pesto on top. Not bad, just not as perfect as I had wanted it to be.

Now, dinner may look like it was bad, but it really wasn't. But yes, I did burn the dinner. That's okay, it was still flavorful, despite the unappetizing picture. I made some mild Italian sausages (which were unfortunately not organic, but for some bizarre reason, Whole Foods doesn't sell organic pork), with peas, mushrooms, and sauteed onions.

I also had a sore throat, and was excited to finally get to use my new mug...

...which just had hot water and organic honey.

All in all I'm quite pleased with my hard work in the latter half of my third week. I know I shouldn't have eaten all the things I did at the beginning of the week, but these things happen sometimes. What's good is that I'm back on course now, and ready to start the last week of The Viking Diet. Get ready for some great new recipes to come!

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." - Galatians 6:9