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1145
-    2 egg whites (1P)
-    1 oz turkey bacon (1P)
-    1/3 cup cooked oats (1C)
-    1 tsp cream (2F)
-    5 macadamias (5F)

1500
-    4.5 oz shrimp (3P)
-    1 banana (3C)
-    21 almonds (7F)

1900
-    Greek yogurt (1C/2P)
-    1.5 oz fish (1P)
-    1/3 tsp butter (1F)
-    21 almonds (7F)

2245
-    4.5 oz fish (3P)
-    1 tsp butter (3F)
-    4 macadamias (4F)

Which makes:
- 11 blocks protein
- 5 blocks carb
- 29 blocks fat

I know – no vegetables at all. I couldn’t make it to the store, but tomorrow will be way different. Promise.

So – I’m sure the 1 person who reads this blog is interested in how my 2 week carb binge/workout hiatus went. Basically, it went. I’d love to say I felt more tired, or less alert, or something negative as a direct result of eating so badly, but I was so shot through with cortisol due to all the stress that I’m not sure I could pin anything squarely on my diet. I was studying like crazy, so it wasn’t like I had time to measure my strength losses.

What I did notice is that I was able to use sugar as, well, a drug. The desire to consume carbohydrates is often correlated with low serotonin levels in the brain.  Serotonin is one of those neurotransmitters that regulate your moods and energy levels. When you’re low on serotonin, you get fatigued, irritable, depressed.  (That’s why all your favorite comfort foods are sugar-rich).  So, I started freebasing spaghetti and ice cream. Mmm, delicious crack ice cream. Especially the butter pecan crack. That was the best. Did it work? I was still nervous and short-tempered, so, no, not really. Was I less stressed because of it? Maybe, maybe not. I didn’t perform a control experiment. I felt better only because I thought it would help reduce my stress by calming me down on a chemical level, but that counted for something. And when I couldn’t get to sleep, eating cinnamon toast about an hour before bed gave me enough time to get a sugar high and crash for a good night’s rest. But aside from those tiny little benefits, I didn’t feel demonstrably better.

Either way, I’m back in the saddle. WODs have been a little harder the last few days and there was a little more jiggle when I did “Annie” today and my pullup max has gone down *sniff*. But, whatever I gained just gives me more fuel for lifting, right?

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