First grumpy day on Optifast...

Oct 30, 2012

Today is my 14th day on Optifast - I've now finished 2 weeks as of tonight!  But I was not a happy camper today, until my final shake 20 minutes ago...

Superstorm Sandy killed our hydro from 11 p.m. last night until around 5:30 p.m. today.  Which normally wouldn't be so awful, but here's why it sucked.  And yes, I'm keeping in mind that a lot of people have it way, way worse today in areas that were hit really hard by the storm, and certainly am not comparing my very minor complaints with those of people who were hurt, killed, or had major property damage.  But the inconveniences still made me grumpy today.

So first of all, I couldn't use my CPAP machine last night and got a really crummy night's sleep.  My husband also couldn't use his CPAP machine last night, which made it even crummier, because he snores louder than I do! :)  So I woke up exhausted, and was kind of tired all day.

Next - I've gotten to really like Optifast.  That is, Optifast done in a Magic Bullet, with ice and flavour shots.  But because there was still no hydro this morning, I couldn't blend it.  Optifast isn't very good if you can't blend it with lots of ice!  So I took my blender to work and decided to make the shake there.  Got to work, put all the ingredients in the Bullet cup, and then realized that I forgot the BLADE attachment.  Smooth move!

So I asked the folks in the cafeteria to blend it for me as they do at lunch time, but their blender doesn't work as well as my Magic Bullet, unfortunately.  I don't mind that for one shake at lunch, but I've really spoiled myself with the way I like to make my own shakes the rest of the day!

When I got home tonight, the power was still out, and I was mighty hungry and grumpy by that time, so I just put the powder in a glass and stirred it with some water and some ice that was still frozen since we hadn't opened our freezer since the blackout started.  It is not pleasant that way!  Not pleasant at all!

Once I was about a quarter of the way through the shake, the power came back on!  So I tried to blend the rest of it, but it wasn't working as nicely as usual because some of the ice had melted - it just wasn't that perfect consistency that I was used to.  So I added some more ice, and then it was kind of watery and bland.  So that's three shakes that weren't all that great today, for those counting at home!

But finally - finally, I had my fourth shake.  On the way to the kitchen, I passed my husband, who was eating a cheese bagel, and for the first time in days, I had a really unbearable craving for it!  But I resisted, and made my shake.  And I did it perfectly, with Pumpkin Pie SF DV syrup and rum extract for flavouring.  It was so good!

I must have looked like I was in heaven when I sat down with it, because my husband grinned at me and said, "It's good when you're happy!"  That's when I realized that I must have been pretty grumpy when I got home after a day of not-so-great shakes to find no electricity still, and more not-so-great-shakes to look forward to!  I laughed and said, "This is my first really good shake of the day!  When the shakes aren't good, nothing is good!  And when the shakes are good, everything's beautiful!"

We had a laugh over it, but it got me thinking.  On the positive side - I survived a day where my sleep and my food routine was completely messed up, and the food itself was worse than usual - but I still coped pretty well (if a bit grumpily at times), didn't eat anything I wasn't supposed to despite feeling really tempted, and found ways to work around it.

On the "work-on-it" side - I guess I have a way to go before I stop letting food dictate my mood for the day.  I guess it wasn't completely the food, since my sleep was also thrown off, but I guess I have to realize that everything I eat isn't always going to be the most delicious thing in the world.  I have to find a way to live with that without feeling irritable and miserable when I can't have exactly what I want to eat, since I'm never going to be able to go back to comfort eating the way I used to.

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