The end of the "cleanse"

This post will sound a lot like last week's post, since nothing drastic has really occurred in my life (and according to friends who have gone through the thesis writing process, this is to become the norm).

But I thought I'd write another little random post about my life as I'm waiting for my Cabbage and Caraway Crustless Quiche to cook (alliteration ftw!) The first week of our Bon Appetit cleanse was very strict to Bon Appetit's menu planning. However, out of Ben and my desire to decrease our grocery spending down to normal levels and Ben's desire to eat more of our "usual" food, I edited the second week of the cleanse by supplementing some recipes with ones I've tried and tested- being extra mindful of portion control. And it was a success! I lost 2 lbs. But more importantly, I lost 1/2 inch in most of my body measurements. So two weeks of decent exercise and a really clean diet was worth it! My goal now is to try to adopt a 90/10 eating pattern into my normal life diet. The idea is that 90% of your weekly meals are healthy, while the other 10% is whatever you want. I've done this before and it is really easy and helps me to feel healthier. But it ended when I lost all my will power and just started eating junk whenever I randomly decided... I'm trying to not have that happen again! And I think stricter menu-planning will help with that (and I love menu planning anyway, so I'm all over that!) Here are the week's best recipes:

Roast pork tenderloin with apple and mushroom sautee

Picture and recipe from Bon Appetit

Lemongrass Chicken with black rice and bok choy

Picture and recipe from Bon Appetit

Banana Almond Smoothie

Picture and recipe from Bon Appetit

Of course, along with the cleanse, I continued my exercising. And to those out there who lift, I'd like to float a question out to you all. My sets have a rotating 8x4 barbell complex. Workout A includes deadlift, high pull, push press, split squat. Workout B includes high pull, front squat, push press, back squat, good morning. Now, Workout A is totally doable and I can get through the set. However, about halfway through Workout B I'm DYING. Totally exhausted, even when I drop the weight down very low. Why is Workout A so manageable when B isn't???

And now back to non-fitness talk, if I managed to keep you with me! Oh wait... that's actually it, really. Besides the end of the cleanse, I was thesis writing last week and having dreams about eating tortellini and oatmeal cream pies. True story. As a celebration for NOT CHEATING ON MY DIET EVEN ONCE (!!!!!) we made David's Veggie Lasagna and pesto/cheddar cauliflower bread sticks. Plus, I had my Grand Cru Rodenbach and was in Belgium beer heaven. Nom. Nom. Nom.

Hopefully this coming week will offer more to write about than this past week.

Until then!