30 Day Challenge: Cravings Suck

Our second week of the 30 Day No Restaurant Challenge has been a lot smoother. I have been cooking some nice meals and taking the leftovers for lunch the next day or my boyfriend eats them later. He’s more of a leftover fan than I’ve ever met. The biggest issue for me is the temptation to eat out all around me. I am a HUGE Starbucks fan. I’ve seemed to satiate that feeling with coffee brewed at home. It’s been flavored coffee brewed in the Keurig we have here which seems to be almost as delicious as a latte from Starbucks. However, I still find myself drooling at the thought of a Salted Caramel Mocha. I also drool at the thought Arby’s Roast Beef and Taco Bell tacos. I am discovering that there is somewhat of an addiction to those foods we eat on a normal basis, whether it’s the food or sugar or whatever. 

We were eating 4-5 nights a week at home before, but we did eat out a couple nights a week. I didn’t realize how addicted I was to that until we stopped it. Now every time I see a Taco Bell commercial, I want tacos. Every time I see a pizza commercial, I want pizza. At this point in the challenge, all I can think about is FOOD. Even if I am making DELICIOUS meals at home, I want that junk food. 

It was truly evident when I had to fast for a routine blood lab Sunday night. I would typically fast for that 10-12 hours and then go get my blood work done. Totally normal story til then, right? Well, that blood work appointment would typically be followed by a trip to McDonalds for breakfast. Beautiful, delicious, insanely fattening McDonalds Breakfast. (At this point in my writing this blog story, I’m drooling thinking about McDonalds breakfast.) However, since we’ve been doing this challenge, I couldn’t stop for my usual McD’s breakfast. So sad. Instead, I made sure to put a couple of Nutrigrain bars in my purse along with a soda so I could get my sugar back after not eating for so long. But, you know what? I actually didn’t think about the McD’s breakfast after the blood work. I was truly surprised. I was more hungry when I got to work and ended up eating lunch a little earlier than I normally do, but it was not too bad. 

To wrap it up, both the boyfriend and I have had our cravings this week, but have been able to keep from trying to fulfill that craving with anything other than what we find at home. It’s been pretty darn tough and takes a lot of willpower, but we’re still chugging along.