Bingeing Revisited

The anticipation of this binge has been interesting. I have been SO looking forward to it, not because I would get to eat like a pig, but because after this is over I’d get to start losing weight again.

I have to say that I have truly loved my six weeks of ZReboot. This diet is such a wonder because of the structure. Taking six weeks off really helps you keep from feeling trapped in diet mode. Nothing seems too long.

My metabolism really did get re-set! I can’t scream this loudly enough. When I went off ZReduction my job was to eat at least 2000 calories a day and work my way up until I found my capacity and then back off. I found out I can eat almost 2600 calories per day, without gaining weight. I was dumbfounded. In fact, I found it a real challenge to do it  (at first)! That’s more than twice as much food as I was able to eat before. I got used to it, and I even adapted so well that I started to get hungry in the morning again. I could go on and on about this miracle. I hope you experience the same.

So as my next binge got closer I was looking forward to it. Then, as it got really close, I started to get the heebeegeebees. I thought about the limited number of ingredients I’d have to work with again. Could I face another cucumber? Could I do it for 50 days again? Would it work as well? Or would I have to work just as hard for less loss? It’s all still out in the future, but I will tell you that after ZBinge Day One I can’t wait to get back to 800 calories.

I must be one of the few that cannot handle ZBinge very well. I loved thinking about what I was going to eat and making jokes about it, but now that I’m doing it, my stomach is so full that I am uncomfortable. I haven’t eaten so much as to get sick but I’ve been eating enough crap that I don’t really want anymore.

I know, from watching those that didn’t do a very good job of their binge how important this will be to my first week, so I trained my brain to know this is important and to follow through.

My first day I gained 3 pounds eating carbs. I started my day with French Toast and bacon. Six wedges of French toast. 6 pieces of bacon. I could not eat it all. I was at a breakfast meeting with a thin executive and found myself lamely trying to explain how I HAD to eat French Toast for my diet. It was not appropriate for me, in that meeting, to describe Plan Z, so I held mum, but I could see the judgmental look, once again, as he ordered his oatmeal with banana. This guy is uber-thin. He’s a triathlete. We are talking about doing business together and I had to dig my way out of a credibility hole because his idea of health is not eating French toast. Oh well. Maybe someday he will become enlightened.

We talk to you about how you have to face divergent opinions about what you are doing – every day. Everywhere you go. People think they are being helpful when they are not. They can’t understand why you are doing this diet and eating this way when the majority of dieting information all around you (and them) casts a contradictory position. My best advice is just to smile politely (for now). Keep doing what you are doing and when you reveal your new self, a new self that is not only a healthy thin, but full of vigor and confidence, they’ll start asking you your secret and you can remind them of the time you kept your mouth shut because they so vehemently disagreed with your behavior. Your time will come. My time will come too. And for once and for once and for all, WE will be finished with diets because we’ll have a new metabolism and a new spirit. We will have a lifetime plan for eating that will give us the opportunity to eat within our means, with very little feeling of deprivation. I might not be able to eat mashed potatoes 3 nights a week going forward but you know what?  I’ll be better for it.

Getting back to ZBinge. When I went to eat lunch I had to decide what carbo-laden/fried lunch I wanted. I chose a grilled cheese sandwich and fries. I thought when I bit those fries I’d have a mind-numbing sensation in my mouth. I thought it was going to taste like a reunion with a best friend. I am here to tell you that it was NOT the case. The taste didn’t launch any “Oh I missed that flavor” reactions. I really thought it would. So, I have discovered another magical element of this diet. I have discovered that if you DO NOT cheat, that your body rids itself of those cravings. Other things taste better now. A great English cheese with a bit of port and a few juicy berries taste much more satisfying to me now than French fries. You’ll have your favorites too, and when you are finished with your 50 days you’ll be able to enjoy many things and not have to “make up for them” the next morning. No longer is eating equated to something sinister that you have to pay the price for. And now I don’t even miss so many things. I thought I was missing them. Now I realize my body has changed my mind. Interesting. Before my head had to fight my body’s urge to regain. Now we’ve changed sides. Very interesting.

Yeah, I’ll admit that the brownies I ate for my mid-afternoon snack tasted really fine. The mushy textures that squished between my tongue and the roof of my mouth were a joy. The glass of milk I washed them down with was good too. I really thought I’d miss milk more than I do.  The ZR50 formula took care of that for me. Any other time I went on a diet, the loss of milk drove me crazy. This time I was fine. That’s a big deal for me.

Dinner was lasagna. Southwestern chicken and red pepper lasagna. One of my husband’s favorite dishes. I thought the taste would let the pasta really stand out and I’d find that I had missed pasta too. Nope. I could have tossed ALL of the other ingredients from the lasagna into a casserole, left out the pasta, and I would have been happy as a clam. In fact, I think I’ll do that during my next ZReboot. I’ll be sure to write up the recipe so you can try it too. All the cheeses and meat and the tomato sauce are all perfectly combined to present a flavor that doesn’t need pasta to hold it together.

Dessert was the highlight of the night. I was short on time, so I had to forgo the crust I was going to put in my chocolate peanut butter tart. Instead, I just made the filling and put it in champagne glasses and topped it with shaved chocolate. The portions were generous. I didn’t think they’d finish it after all the lasagna and garlic bread (that’s another story) but they licked every bit. I’ll write up that recipe too, cuz it’s perfect for ZReboot. Plenty of calories. Lots of taste. No repercussions. Bliss.

The story on the garlic bread is another eye-opener. I didn’t have time to make my own, so I bought the bakery’s bake-it-yourself garlic bread. I had been off of “processed” foods for so long that I could taste the chemicals they put in there as a preservative! I couldn’t believe it. It actually made the bread and the butter topping have a sour taste. I’ll never do that again. I put that bread down and swore I’d never revisit that ugly combination. I’ve graduated to a new deserve level. I deserve not to treat my body like that. Done.

Day One done too. I’m almost at the mid-morning of Day Two. I can’t wait to find out what new revelations I’ll have today. Maybe the revelations will make it worth eating all the “once favorite things” I  have in mind. We’ll see, and I’ll be back to discuss with you again tomorrow.

Cheers,