BCCC Round Two, Done

I feel like butt today.

I weighed in on Tuesday night, marking the end of my second CFCC BCCC. I felt fabulous - lean, hydrated, happy, all that jazz. And I was! All of that, despite chintzing out on my sleep for the first few days of the week, getting to work at 6:30am to finish up a massive project, and all that good stuff.

So, first, the good news. My second challenge was just as successful as the first. Major changes I made this time around included limiting cream in my coffee to weekends only (Saturday and Sunday), no nuts or nut butters, no chocolate whatsoever, introducing a leptin refeed on heavy workout days, limiting bacon to weekends only for the last two and a half weeks, and towards the end, eliminating any midafternoon snacking and eating chicken and seafood only, which meant cutting out the red meat I generally have about four times a week. (This is all in addition to the cuts I made in the fall, including no soda or artificial sweeteners, no fruit, very little dairy, no more daily Larabars, and no grains whatsoever.) A typical day included eggs, raw spinach and chicken sausage for breakfast, maybe a half rotisserie chicken or a salad with spinach, chicken, avocado and tomatoes for lunch, and some kind of meat and green (usually kale or collard greens) cooked with a slice of bacon.

Results? I've lost another few pounds (7, by the gym scale, but I think my weigh-in number was a little inflated, so let's call it 4 or 5) and another inch off of my waist and hips.

Get this. Since October, I've lost FOUR INCHES off of my waist. FOUR. I'm down to 29.5" from 33.5"...while eating steak and bacon and a whole lot of greens. And that doesn't count the weight I lost before I got measured in October - which must have been at least an inch or so from my waist and hips, simply based on how my pants fit.

Seriously? Back in September I wrote about how a specific pair of chinos was fitting me really well. They'd been wearable but snug, and then after a couple months of sorta-consistent paleo, they were fitting nice and loose. I put those pants on about a week and a half ago, and you guys, they slide off my butt completely while buttoned. I bought pants at J.Crew last week in an emergency 9:30 am trip when I realized I forgot to bring my skirt to work (rode there in sweats). They're a size FOUR. I know, I know - J.Crew and its vanity sizing - but guys, I was buying tens there. Vanity-sized or not, I'm down three sizes.

Anyway, gloat gloat gloat gloat gloat. I'm getting pretty jacked and my performance at the gym is improving significantly. And I may or may not have committed to doing a strongman competition in a couple of weeks.

But back to today. So, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - up at 5, at work and billing by 6:30. On top of that, last night was a major client entertainment event that kept me out until about 10pm. I was able to cobble together some largely paleo options from the buffet - a few slices of red meat (I think it was beef, but might have been a leaner cut of lamb), a square of white fish, some eggplant. I had a chocolate hazlenut truffle for dessert (it was really kind of gross and super-sweet).

This morning I felt like total ass. So tired, so draggy, so dehydrated. I've been chugging water all day, plus a coconut water around 10:30, and I'm finally starting to feel semi-normal. I have no appetite, but ate a salad for lunch anyway, which I think helped. And my gut is not happy with me. Whether this is just from lack of good sleep or from some flour sneaking into my dinner last night, I don't know - but it's a really, REALLY good reminder of just how craptacular I feel when I don't take good care of myself.

But...at least I'm getting jacked.