New to The Cardboard Box Diet? Click here. Welcome to Week 8! If you’ve been here before, you know the drill. To see previous weeks, click here. To participate, fill out our weekly survey, post it to your blog (including a button/link back to this blog/post), and link up via Mr. Linky (below). Comments are great too!
Aaaand ladies, we’ve arrived. We’re officially 8 weeks in, AKA, the time I would normally be giving up on a diet and heading straight for the Oreos. Luckily, this isn’t a diet, so I’m going to push through! Just knowing at least 8 of you (the number of participants last week) are reading this and doing it with me is enough to keep me going. I love reading through your posts. You girls light up my calorie-counting life.
Earlier, I was lamenting my weight loss (or lack thereof) to Michael, and God bless him, he risked his own life by being honest with me and asking me a tough question: “Well, Lauren, are you being consistent?” Ouch. I mean, I’m running 3 times a week! Except when I skip a run here or there. And I’m eating really well! Except when I cave and eat whatever I want for an entire weekend. I mean, I can’t expect fabulous results if I’m not giving this 100%, right? Or at least a higher percent than I’ve been giving it. I do really well, and then I cave. I need to run more, and splurge less. I can do it. I can still splurge, but maybe just for a meal, not for the entire weekend. And I shouldn’t skip runs, but maybe I could do two miles instead of three. Balance, girls. We balance everything else in our lives — we can balance this, too.
- Weigh-in: I’m about the same (3-4 pounds down), which is frustrating, but it’s no one’s fault but my own. Now that school is about to start, I’ll be on a much tighter schedule, which means hopefully less eating for sport (I could gold medal in stress eating, btw), more meal planning, and planning my day around workouts. As I’ve said before, I do SO MUCH BETTER in EVERY aspect of my life when I have a schedule.
- Exercise completed: Three runs, as usual. I really need to bump it up to four. My 5K is coming up soon!
- Splurge/Guilty Pleasure: My mom visited last weekend, and since she’s (unofficially) on the #cbdiet too, we did pretty well! We had gelato twice, though. The first time, we thought it was super naughty and we did it anyway because, GELATO. The second time was after we googled the number of calories in gelato and discovered there are fewer calories in gelato than in ice cream! Which means I’ll be going to Carpe Diem and eating their Biscoff gelato every day for the rest of eternity. I mean, what?
- Success story: My last two runs have been three miles each, about ten minutes per mile (average), and haven’t hurt nearly as bad as they did in the beginning. In fact, I can even walk when I’m done without feeling like I’m going to pass out/cry/vomit. That’s always a good thing.
- Recipes/photos: I have been eating TONS of fruits and vegetables, and you should too. They are delicious, filling, and low in calories (duh?). I try to either pile fruit or veggies on top of whatever I’m eating, or eat a salad or some veggies before a meal. This week, I’ve been eating watermelon for dessert every night, and it is so good!
Clockwise from top left: “I hope your mango is ripe” (it was); blueberries and a heart-shaped tablespoon of brown sugar for my oatmeal; fruit and veggies with breakfast and lunch.
My Chicago BFF Julie sent me my favorite Trader Joe’s Candy Cane Green Tea and some Almondina cookies. I had never tried the cookies before, and they are delicious! The best part? The tea doesn’t need sweetener, meaning this nighttime snack was only 66 calories.
Link up below and grab a button (or link back here in your post). Leave a comment too, if that is your thing. Don’t forget the hashtag #cbdiet if you tweet or instagram so we can follow along! (And if you’re on MyFitnessPal, add me!)
Chrissy says:
Great progress on the running front! I’m excited for your 5K – having a reason to run (besides my own vanity, which can be flighty) is the main thing that keeps me on my feet. Also love piling fruit and veggies on everything, everywhere, all the time. I have been eating strawberries lately like it’s my job.
Miemo says:
You can do it! I also have a 5k! It’s in October though. I’m going to be a mess. But I am back in town and going into full gear. You can do it!!!
April says:
Good luck next week! I’ve been eating a lot of fruit too – it’s so plentiful right now! Wish I liked mangos though. :)
Lindsay says:
Well, I don’t have a blog, but I’ve been doing this for the most part mainly because I want to see what my body is capable of rather than lose weight. I mean, I know I need to lose weight in order for that to happen, but I really just want to know what I would look like when my body is performing at it’s peak.
That being said, for the past two weeks I’ve been getting up at 5am every morning to workout. I’ve started a workout plan that has left my muscles fatigued afterwards and always sore the next day. And you know what? Not one stinking pound! Meanwhile, Chelsea hasn’t worked out since the 3rd HP book and she’s down 5.
I have to tell myself over and over again to stay focused!
Allison (With Faith and Grace) says:
Have you considered adding strength training? Everything I’ve read / been told by my exercise experts (and I know a lot of them being in the D-community) is that strength training is really important for losing weight. You burn lots of calories during the workout, and then afterward because your body is repairing the muscles that you’re working on. When I lost 15 lbs last year, I did almost all of it via strength training. You should consider that at least.
Julie H. says:
Weigh-In: 3-4 lbs. from my goal weight; It’s been that way ALL year. I can’t kick those last few lbs. unless I cheat and weigh myself with no clothing in the morning when I haven’t had anything to eat; than I am sometimes 2 lbs. from my goal.
Exercise: Ryan and I are also training for a run so we run consistently 4 times a week. I am worried that will slack off after the run and especially when winter hits and outside running/walking is no longer an option. That’s when I’ll need cbdiet the most!
Splurge: Costco blueberry muffin & coffee ice cream :)
Success: Being consistent in the run schedule while Ryan was gone for a work trip! It is easier to slack off when your running partner is not there and believe me, I did NOT want to run while he was gone.
Recipes/photos: none to report
:)
Love you friend; keep up the cbdiet!!
Kate says:
8 weeks is awesome — well done all you cbdieters :)
I found this the other day and actually find it quite heartening, as I try stick to my healthy eating. Apparently it takes on average 66 days to form a new habit (read about the study here) I like having a number to work to, at least to start off with. 66 days of healthy eating…and maybe then it’ll be routine!
So if you’re at week 8, the cbdiet as habit might not be so far away.
Meg says:
I succumbed to peer pressure. :)
Beth says:
Finally managed to get a web browser to work. Good grief.
I’m feeling like habit is kicking in now – REALLY wanted to skip exercise class last night. But I went because I knew I needed to and that I’d feel bad if I skipped. Also I’m finding I’m able to rein in my eating fairly easily. It almost feels like a switch has gotten “turned on.”
I’m hoping this weekend to get caught up on commenting. I’m really behind!
Nicole says:
Your post REALLY inspired me this week. I’m feelin’ yuh. Thanks, as always, for posting. Mine was actually stuck as a draft, thought I thought I posted it. So now it is posted with some new niece newborn pictures added in. : )