cheat meals

Sunday, February 6, 2011 – Super Bowl Sunday!

Monday, February 14, 2011 – Valentine’s Day!

Two holidays – Different challenges

When the holidays come around and you’re on a diet or strict nutrition plan, you have to ask yourself, “Am I going to cheat?”  I received an email yesterday from my Team Beachbody coach, Nancy Comee, who touched on cheat meals.  I loved her point of view.  Nancy called them “sanity meals” and I agree wholeheartedly.  Eating strict meals 7 days a week can leave you feeling, well, deprived.  When a special occasion comes around or when you need a mental boost, I say it’s OK to indulge in your favorite treat!  For me that might be some chocolate or beer.  It will taste amazing and should be all you need before you get back into your routine.  Just don’t let it turn into a cheat day.  Your body doesn’t need that!

Super Bowl Sunday
We were at a bar for 9 hours Super Bowl Sunday.  How did I cope?  Jeremy and I had protein shakes in the morning and a filling salad as an early lunch before heading to the bar.  I brought protein bars and almonds into the bar for snacks, and that was the only food we had over those 9 hours.  (Incredible willpower or starvation?)  We filled up the rest of the way on beer.  Those were my “carbs” for the day.  I had 3 while Jeremy had more, but we both had a great time watching the game and celebrating with friends!  No one seemed to care or notice that I brought our own snacks.  I guess that’s kind of typical for me since I’m a vegetarian and often have to come prepared.  We finished the night with sushi (mostly sashimi) and one more beer.  Beer was definitely the cheat item of the Super Bowl.

Valentine’s Day
1 dozen red roses + 1/2 dozen Sprinkles cupcakes = Perfect V-day!

Valentine’s Day was a little trickier because we celebrated twice, the day before and the day of.  Sunday we had brunch at the beautiful Hotel del Coronado.  Their brunch is home to over 200 items, including a selection of all you can eat seafood, salads, cheese, omelets, paninis, sweets and more, not to mention unlimited champagne and/or vodka if you wanted a buzz.  Knowing this would count for two meals and several snacks, I ate a good amount but mostly stuck to items in my nutrition plan.  I found myself wanting healthier items like seafood, salad, fruit, and omelets.  That part wasn’t difficult.  Where I decided to indulge was in the chocolate fountain.  (Cue heavenly sounding music.)  Jeremy and I dipped pretzels, marshmallows, strawberries and more into this ever flowing chocolate goodness.  When the time comes, we are having one of those at our wedding.  It has been decided! That fountain was definitely worth every calorie because we both left with huge smiles on our faces.

Valentine’s day was on a Monday, so we celebrated after work and a workout.  Since Monday is normally a double workout day, we had to make a decision.  Should we workout from 730-9pm, cook dinner, and have a really late night, or should we push P90X back to Tuesday morning and make that a double day instead?  We opted for the latter so we could spend more time enjoying the holiday.  We had a delicious healthy dinner of homemade sashimi, brown rice, and seaweed salad.  Dessert, however, was a different story!  Jeremy surprised me with 1/2 dozen Sprinkles cupcakes and a bottle of wine.  Obviously we didn’t need 3 cupcakes each, but he thought it would be fun to try a little of each.  We cut less than half of each cupcake and shared a little taste of each kind.  We probably had about 1 cupcake each but got to try all 6!  It was the perfect amount of sweetness, and I was so happy to have a cupcake again.

Tuesday morning post V-day the alarm went off at 5am.  After 5 hours of sleep, I couldn’t believe it was happening, but I got us both out of bed and working out by 530am.  Tony Horton was calling my name!  I don’t think he likes it when I have chocolate and cupcakes, but even he has his cheat meals.  What is Tony’s indulgence?  A piece of vegan cheesecake.

Holidays aside, how do I keep my sweet tooth at bay when I’m sticking to my nutrition plan?  4oz of nonfat frozen yogurt!  I know Tony Horton approves.