Cheat On Me Day

The Straw That Broke Me- The Back Story

Two weeks ago, I found out that I have a fatty liver. Which immediately triggered a hypochondriac Google deep-dive- researching everything imaginable on the subject. I came to learn that it is a common occurrence, particularly in Asian cultures, which I do not belong to. Over the last year I have been experiencing stomach issues that were originally thought to be due to stress. I've been working with a doctor and a therapist to address this for both mind and body. These pains have caused me to gain as much as 25 pounds over the last year! So, when my doctor told me this revelation it explained a lot about the stomach issues I've been experiencing, so I decided to adopt a new nutrition plan for myself.

I've tried other diets before that were provided by licensed nutritionists, personal trainers, that I found online and I have never come across a plan that I could maintain long term. This has to be a lifestyle fix so maintaining is a must. So, I decided to keep it extremely simple.

Simple Plan

Fatty liver can be classified two ways, either it's due to heavy alcohol consumption or it's not. I don't want to get into the medical specifics of it, but if you do, I provided some links below to help you learn more about fatty liver disease. What this means is that my liver is failing to process complex carbs at maximum efficiency. It has been tied to Type 2 diabetes in some cases and could potentially lead to liver cancer or liver failure if untreated. Don't worry, I have medical follow-ups already scheduled. Breathe- it's going to be okay!

The downside being that those follow-ups aren't happening for 30-60 days. Rather than sit on my hands I made a plan. Fatty Liver disease can go away naturally if you lose 7-10% of your weight or more, but it's not a guarantee. I'm betting on myself though and revamping my gym routine as well as my diet.

The average person eats 2,000 calories per day, 300mg of cholesterol, 300g of carbs, and 2,000mg of sodium. I decided to take the cholesterol and carb limits and cut them in half. Super simple plan. All I need to do is track my daily meals. Using the Lose It! app, I set a goal weight of 230 lbs. (currently 284 lbs.) and started tracking my food by scanning barcodes and measuring portions.

The Daily Goal:

Under 2,000 Calories

Over 100g of Protein

Under 150g of Net Carbs (meaning total carbs-fiber)

Under 150mg of Cholesterol

Under 2,000mg of Sodium (salt)

Don't Forget Exercise

Nutrition is an extremely important part of the process, but your progress is exponentially improved when paired with physical fitness. I'm going to be honest, this is the most difficult part for me. Getting me to the gym is like getting an epileptic to go to a strobe light convention. Don't murder me bro! Bad jokes aside, I started making myself attend the gym at least 3 days per week, typically 4.

I started two weeks ago at 293 lbs. Fast forward through the last 15 days; I had lost 14 lbs.! And I quickly realized that if I don't incorporate at least one cheat day per month I would likely backslide in a big way. Especially after so many people started saying, "are you sure that's healthy, that's a lot in a short period."

Welcome to the Point of the Story

Yesterday was my first cheat day, to try and balance the crazy progress with a more gradual and controlled progression. A setback to ease the stress on my organs. Surprise surprise, I gained back 3 lbs. HAHA.

KOREAN BBQ!

I've been cooking delicious healthy meals for myself for weeks, but omg it felt so good getting to have some Korean BBQ. I went out with my friend to a local spot here in St. Pete called K-Pot, and we dug into that 90-minute time limit HARD! They give you 90 minutes to eat however much food you want from their menu for a fixed price. Dinner was $41/person after tax. For Korean BBQ they deliver you the meats and veggies already marinaded/seasoned raw, and you cook the food yourself using a grill built into the dining table.

It's a great social experience to cook your food with your friends and catch up. This also forces you to eat your food slower, only being able to cook a few pieces at a time. With their wide variety of meats, seafood, and veggies, and their self-serve sauce bar you're able to explore a diverse palette of Yum.

Prior to dinner I had only eaten 500 calories at 8am, intentionally saving room for our delectable dinner. When it was all said and done, I had 800 calories too much for the day, I managed to keep my net carbs under my 150g limit without trying, but those meats had so much cholesterol and sodium that i broke those ceilings by 10x and 2.5x respectively and nearly doubled my protein minimum with 189g of protein.

I'm not happy knowing exactly how bad for you eating Korean BBQ can be on a cheat day. But I definitely needed that break in order to remind myself how important this progress is. I'm back on plan today and right after this goes live, I'm off to the gym.

Moral of the story, sometimes you need to cheat on yourself to be reminded why your goals are so important to achieve.

Bye for now! It's time for leg day!

Zack

Links about Fatty Liver Disease

Center for Disease Control- Type 2 Diabetes and Your Liver | Diabetes | CDC

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases- Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) & NASH - NIDDK

Mayo Clinic- Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic