Long time, no write

The fact that I have written exactly nothing here since October of last year should tell you that I have not been particularly on point with my quest for health. That being said, I had a great year. I had a lot of fun. And I maintained most of my good health.

All that being said, I put on a metric shit-ton of weight over the holidays in 2014, and it all stuck around (with a few of its friends) for another holiday season, and ushered in 2016 with a middle-finger salute.

I've had my meltdown. I've felt sorry for myself and I've cried in the locker room. It boils down to this: what my mom told me was right. It is a lot harder to lose as you age. Hormones are sneaky bastards, and they aren't going to just let you off the hook. So while I was being mostly good, I was also being slightly not-so, and the not-so part has caught up with me. And latched on to my extra chins.

This scares the crap out of me, because I know what three bills looks like on my frame. I don't want to go back there, but I'm currently trending in the wrong direction.

That's where my friend Alisa comes in. She also happens to be a nutrition guru and personal trainer at my gym, and she talked me off the ledge and made a suggestion.

For some people, she said, it takes some time being perfect when you hit a plateau (or worse) to shake up the metabolism. So I am dedicated to two perfect weeks on the Life Time Fitness D.Tox program.

I'm on Day 2, and I almost caved and had a gyro today. (No one said it would be easy.)

D.Tox basically takes out any foods that are known to cause inflammation in the body. (Most notably dairy, gluten, soy, eggs and some other stuff I can't remember.) So we take those out, fuel the body with high-quality protein (cage-free chicken, grass-fed beef, wild-caught fish) and really good produce (and not all of it needs to be organic, either). There's  no starch, but there is plenty of food. Plus, there's a shake or two a day to provide essential nutrients and work on removing gunk from my liver.

The idea is to remove known irritants from your system, things that cause inflammation in the body and make you feel generally un-good. It's just day two, and I already have less joint pain. (Is that even possible?) But I'll just say this: it isn't easy. And I'm glad it's just for two weeks.

To keep me honest, I thought I'd share pictures of what I'm eating, and you, gentle reader, could share in my trials and tribulations. Here's the scoop so far:

Breakfast, every day. Green tea, plus a smoothie with kale and berries.

Yesterday's lunch; cage-free chicken, with cauliflower and broccoli and roasted garlic. (Yum!)

D.Tox Chili with avocado. (This is actually very good.)

Chicken, greens, broccoli and cauliflower, with dressing made from apple cider vinegar and stone-ground mustard. Not bad, but I wouldn't want it every day.

It's pretty simple, but I still need some tweaks. I need to bring in some snack-worthy food (almonds and walnuts are allowed, as are nut butters that aren't peanuts.) And I need to stop walking through places that are serving gyros. Because that's just mean.

There's 12 more days; I can do this. More later.