Eliminating My Cheat Days- 100 days of 1800

I pretty much had the week from hell last week. Between getting absolutely no sleep for three days and my hormones going wacky, I felt like I was eating EVERYTHING. A lot of people have asked me how I am doing this weight loss journey. I would definitely say it is more emotional than anything. But functionally, this is what it looks like.

Monday: 1600-1800 calories
Tuesday: 1600-1800 calories
Wednesday: 1600-1800 calories
Thursday: 1600-1800 calories
Friday: 1600-1800 calories until I have wine that night, then add another 250 calories, then because I had wine I might stop and get french fries (if I can find gluten free ones), then I might eat chocolate, after it is all said and done it usually is about 2600 calories. "No problem" I tell myself, "I am running long tomorrow."
Saturday: The plan is 2000 calories, then I run long, then I eat chocolate..and maybe a gluten free burger if I can find it..before I know it, I have eating 3500 calories. "No problem" I tell myself, "I ran 11 miles today."
Sunday: Around lunchtime, I start eating and don't feel like I stop all day. If I add up my calories at the end of the day it is usually a pretty massive amount.

All that to say. I am currently doing "operation eliminate the cheat day." While I was losing the first 100lbs, I found that having a cheat weekend as long as I was good all week, worked ok for me. Now as I am getting smaller and smaller, I am finding this doesn't quite work as well. So I made a decision that I was going to hold myself to 1800 calories for 100 days. Today is day 2. I made it through my major cheat day (Sunday) without eating more than 1800 calories. It took a TON of preparation starting with this delicious lunch.

This is my favorite healthy lunch. It is chicken stir fry with potatoes, onions, green and yellow peppers, and mushrooms with a side of strawberries with 45 calories of sugar on the strawberries. Between all the chopping and cooking, this took me an hour and a half on a Sunday. But now that the chopping and cooking (I cook the chicken ahead of time for the week). This should only take about 30 minutes through the rest of the week. So yesterday, I was able to eat 1800 calories. Today will be no different. 1800 calories is a great number for me because it's below what I am supposed to be eating (2190) so it creates a deficit. But it also isn't so low that I feel deprived. I can fit in a 200-300 calorie snack into that calorie range.

A cheat day can make you feel like crap and pretty much make you feel insane (like you are trying to lose the same weight over and over again.) So operation eliminate cheat day is in full force. I'll try to blog about each day to let you know how it goes..and if anyone wants to join me..I'd love to have you on board:)