A food critic learns how to survive the holidays and still lose weight, plus a bonus refeed workout video
Over the last few months, I went from the worst shape of my life to the best while continuing to eat like a food critic. Don't punch me in the face; instead, read how I did it in part six of this series:
Three weeks into Bonza Bodies and the Jamie Atlas plan, I'd achieved a precarious balance: I was breakfasting on protein; I was cutting the excess; I was drinking later in the meal (and, therefore, drinking less); I was refeed workout-ing. And then I got on a plane to head to a wedding in San Francisco.
I know myself. That terrible, terrible mantra that "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" wasn't even a single drop in the motivation bucket to help me say no to the culinary delights in store. Because whoever came up with that mantra has obviously never tasted croissants, dim sum, lamb belly or sourdough. Moreover, that person has never known the joy of an open bar, a free-for-all buffet or the towering pre-event cheese tray.
So before Jamie could tell me to suck it up and power through the weekend with my future skinny self as motivation, I launched into a defensive rant. "I don't want to be the dumb ninny standing in a corner with my club soda and carrot sticks while everyone else is making their way through the buffet line and taking advantage of the open bar," I said. "And if you think I'm forsaking even one good meal in the name of weight loss in San Francisco, you are crazy."
It's incredible to me that Jamie wasn't totally fed up with my antics by now -- he was no doubt cringing at my insistence that I was going to eat like a fat kid in the candy store for a weekend, just when I'd started to see some progress despite the limitations of my job. But he actually was understanding, laying out the rules for not derailing myself too much. It worked great -- I may not have shed fifteen pounds during my jaunt to the West Coast, but I didn't get off track, either.
And I'll be following these rules this Thanksgiving weekend, too, when the rest of my family members are stuffing themselves as if they're about to hibernate and then passing out in front of the TV.
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