CHEATERS AIN'T QUITTERS

28 days down and we are at the end of the Blitz phase of the program (another post for another day)! More importantly, when we were told we would be given ONE cheat meal before starting on the Burn phase, you know us ladies were excited AF.

I mean, to go one complete month without any carbs (save for those in vegetables), sugars or processed foods after most of us discovered just how much our lives revolved around these things. That's one helluva feat, if you ask me. Alex programmed this cheat meal in to give our metabolisms a rev up, before our systems get too used to being in so much caloric deficit that any slight change would bungle things up. 

And this is ONE cheat meal in 3 whole months, so you can be sure we all put a great deal of thought into exactly what we wanted to have. For me, it was thinking about what I missed having and not so much about what I was not going to be allowed to consume in the next 2 months (which is the whole universe minus a carrot or two, so there's no point trying to address that problem).

So, I had pasta and BREAD on my mind. Soft, pillowy, doughy goodness. 

Will smile for carbs.

So I chose black truffle tagliatelle for my cheat entree (well, a meal can consist of a course or 3, right? #beatthesystem), nibbled on some fresh edam, mature cheddar and bread dipped in olive oil on the side, and as you can tell, I clearly hated it.

Well played, Pirata. Well played.

Rounded things up with dessert: a luxurious, sugar-filled, fat-filled, gluten-filled scoop of Emack & Bolio's oreo and peanut butter ice-cream served in a rice krispie waffle cone. 

My cheat meal choices were delicious, decadent and they were absolutely glorious! I don't think you could have found a happier girl in the +852 even if you tried. (Unless you count the other 29 carb-and-sugar deprived girls on the program with me). These treats were indulgent and downright sinful, but I. Regret. Nothing.

To be honest, this is the first time in years I can honestly say I just enjoyed a cheat meal without letting it descend into mindless bingeing in an I-already-screwed-up-so-let's-go-all-the-way or last-supper manner. And I'm proud of me!

I was scared that taking the main part of the cheat meal at lunch (instead of dinner) would leave the rest of the day and evening open to a crazy spiral of binge eating, but hey, mind over matter and brain over binge. Sometimes it's really as simple as that. 

We were also warned that we would experience symptoms like headaches, nausea, general discomfort and feelings of being run over by a truck with the sudden reintroduction of sugar and caloric-dense foods, after cleansing our systems of them for a whole month. Some of the other ladies in the program reported throbbing headaches and terrible bloating after taking their cheat meals, but miraculously, I experienced none of these ailments. Thanking my lucky, lucky stars for that.

So tomorrow, we start on the Burn phase, where we'll see some carbs being reintroduced and our calorie intake upped. Hey, it may be a mere 25g of blueberries or a tiny portion of (baked) sweet potato fries, but to girls who have been blocked from any fruit and sexy starches for a month, this is a WILD DISCO PARTAYE!