Day 6 - Oct 21

I knew today would be a challenging day for me. Instead of my normal routine at work, I had to head into AC for the day to attend the NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) Conference.

I started the day off around 5:30 with zucchini quiche and some crock pot meat. I love how both of these dishes last me all week long. Of course I also had some pumpkin spice coffee with heavy cream.

I arrived via train in AC around 8:10. A couple hours later I was getting very hungry.  This is where I almost panicked. I should probably have come prepared with a PaleoKit or something that doesn't need refrigeration. It was too early for the lunch places at the convention center to open up, plus I knew I wouldn't really trust their meats or oils anyway. I found a green apple to munch on figuring that it had to be better than blowing the challenge. The apple turned out to taste not so good, so I had a couple bites and tossed it. The two teachers I was with and I decided that we needed a coffee break, so we took the quick walk to Starbucks where I got iced coffee with heavy cream. As I looked for something that I could eat there, I saw a glimmer of hope in a KIND bar. It's a nut and fruit bar, so I assumed it would be similar to Lara. I checked the ingredients, and had to put it back after I read "non GMO glucose, crisp rice, chicory fiber, soy lecithin". Not okay. I left there with a banana. Too much fruit, but once again, better than cheating.

I returned back home around 2:00 (quick day) and was ready to devour some meat and veggies. Sean has half days of work on Fridays, so we decided to go out to Longhorn Steakhouse for a late lunch/early dinner (linner).

After denying the waitresses offer for bread, about 10 minutes later she brought it out anyway and left too quickly for me to remind her that I said no thank you.  We had it sitting at the corner of the table and I really just didn't give it a second thought. Grains are no longer an option.

Huge 12-oz rib-eye with fresh veggies and sweet potato.

SO good. I splurged a little with the sweet potato, but it was a nice treat.

Pre-challenge this would be an example of a time that Sean and I would go out to get dessert. Or if we went to the movies afterward, we'd run to Wawa to pick up a snack of some sort to munch on. I found that I really wasn't tempted to do this today. I was super full from all that yummy food, and I'm almost a quarter of the way through the challenge and do not want to ruin everything that I've worked for. Let alone destroy my stomach and performance with grains and sugars!

We got back from linner and I fell asleep face first with my shoes and jacket on. I was definitely feeling over-tired from the lack of sleep I got all week. Four hours later I forced myself to get up so I could have no problem falling asleep again tonight. I'm really sick, so I was craving something comforting like ice cream or soup.  I instead had a little bit of leftover squash to tide me over and kick those other cravings aside.

I'm a little wary about the weekend, but I know I can do it! Maybe I'll try a new recipe or two...