4 Hour Body: Operation Skinny for RWA Nationals--Check In Time

I've been following the 4 Hour Body diet pretty religiously for three weeks now. I can say I totally look forward to "Cheat Day." Last Saturday I had cookies, cheese (my all time favorite), extra drinks, ketchup on my eggs, and my favorite Trader Joes Meal MANDARIN ORANGE Chicken with rice and broccoli. Sigh. Sooooo yummy. By the end of the day, I was ready to go back to the plan.

Two possible problems arose this week due to travel and company coming for dinner. While I was on the road, I didn't have access to my usual egg dish. I chose to eat a protein bar for breakfast and had small packages of South Beach style nuts to nibble on. I must say it wasn't fun going to one of my favorite restaurants for dinner, THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY, and not being able to order what I wanted. I ended up getting chicken medallions, extra veggies, no rice and edamame for an appetizer. My dinner companions could eat bread and tortillas, but I valiantly abstained. Not going to lie. It was tough.

On Monday I had to host a dinner for one of my darling hubby's colleagues. No problem. I had a lovely pork loin which I rolled into Herbs de Provence, seared, then popped into the oven for approximately 50 minutes at 400 degrees. The aroma was divine. I also had nuts on hand for an appetizer to munch on, but not the usual cheeses etc. because why tempt myself? Or hubby for that matter? I made two different veggies thinking this would suffice, explained that we were on a low carb diet and the man's face literally fell. He lives for carbs as he is of Italian descent. Sheesh. Thankfully, I had some frozen french rolls in the freezer, so I bopped three into the oven and baked them alongside the pork toward the end of the cooking time. Noted this issue to myself and picked up another bag of  mini rolls while at the grocery store just in case another carbaholic shows up at my place for dinner.

Due to my travels, I didn't hit the grocery store till Tuesday. I bought tons of fresh salads, beans, meat, salmon, the works. We had the chili lime grilled on the cedar plank Salmon last night over a bed of lettuce drizzled with white balsamic vinegar and fresh asparagus spears. Yummy. The week was very busy with Darling Daughter performing in her high school musical, GUYS AND DOLLS. I prepped a shredded beef dish which I served with lettuce wraps and "allowed for" condiments. Thursday we had a grilled flank steak with veggies and beans. And today I plan to serve balsamic chicken breasts, scallopini style with the usual beans/veggies. Usually by Friday I am over beans and meat. I can't wait till Saturday so I can eat bread, pasta, anything but meat and salad and veggies.

I'm not just trying to change my diet, I'm also working out. This week proved challenging because of my travels and a dentist appointment on Tuesday (yuck--can we say crown and total pain? Yes!). However, I managed to get to my favorite Zumba class again on Thursday and I used Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD on Wednesday. I was going to punt working out today, but after I took my measurements, I was motivated again. So I'll do another Jillian Michaels' Shred workout this morning.

And now, drum roll please, here are my stats:

Total Inches Lost this Week: 1.5 (half an inch off my waist! Hallelujah!!)
Total Inches Lost to Date: 6
Favorite Go-To Food: Sugar Free Jello and Kale Chips for the crunch
Favorite New Dish: Mexican Beef Lettuce Wraps

I blogged about my technological challenged at Petit Fours & Hot Tamales today. Come read all about my trials and tribulations with all things technological here. And today is a special day. This is my 500th blog post since I first started Digging Out of Distraction!! I'm celebrating the next 500 on Monday. Come join me for a trip down memory lane.

So how are you doing on your plans? Did you stick to it? What were your challenges to your will-power? Did you work out? Is your energy higher or lower? What are your favorite foods to keep you going when you are struggling to stay away from cookies and sweets?