Talking Fat #8: The Ultimate Confession

So I’ve talked a bit about the whole “cleaning up my act and eating healthy” transition that I’ve undertaken. Today I’m going to talk about the reversal – the moments where it is oh-so-easy to fall off the wagon and go on a food bender. I love food – specifically junk food. If it has calories, carbs, sugar, icing, or any other unhealthy component, it is right up my alley.
The five days that I spent in Vancouver and Edmonton were a testament to my lack of willpower. Let me break it down (warning: you may be disgusted).

Thursday (AKA Flight Day)
Started off not too badly – ok, I forgot eat breakfast.
Thunder Bay to Toronto: coffee
Toronto Airport: a really tasty sandwich layered with mayo, chicken, and other garnish, a large double double coffee, and a Tim Horton butter croissant, apple juice
Toronto to Vancouver: coffee, Bits & Bites, more coffee, cookies
Vancouver: Chinese food combo order (lemon chicken, noodles, and a spring roll), gelato (two scoops: toblerone, coffee flavour), cheese, wine, crackers, coffee

Friday (AKA Chris arrives)
Starbucks coffee (Americano), a Starbucks dessert (maybe a muffin or blueberry bar, I can’t be certain), Twix chocolate, a steamed pork bun, all-you-can-eat Indian buffet in the Punjabi market (and I ate, and ate, and ate – there was salad, desert, and copious quantities of food – the waiter actually looked shocked by my eating vigour), sweet rolls, and a rice cake, and I’m sure there was more coffee at some point

Saturday (AKA Food Meltdown)
Breakfast (pancakes with syrup, scrambled eggs, toast), coffee, a Japanese Bento box (California rolls, spring rolls, teriyaki chicken, noodles, miso soup, noodle salad), gyoza, wine, kokanee beer, corona (several), a chocolate and whip cream crepe, Starbucks berry chai tea (mmmmm: warm kool aid)

Sunday (AKA Flight Day to Edmonton)
Chris did the early morning coffee run to Starbucks, more coffee, bits & bites, Marble Slab ice cream (birthday cake flavour with strawberries mashed in), Cajun lunch (gumbo soup, sweet potato fries, and a pulled pork wrap), Tim horton’s blueberry Danish, Wendy’s chicken strip combo, and more coffee

Monday (AKA A day to myself)
Soup (something Cajun, I think), pulled chicken sandwich, fries, coleslaw, Tim Horton’s coffee, a blueberry Danish, baba ganouj, hummus, an Indian chicken wrap, more fries, coffee

Tuesday (AKA Flying Home)
Tim Horton’s coffee, Bits and Bites, coffee, more coffee, more Bits and Bites, a Tim Horton’s blueberry bagel with light cream cheese (because at this point, “light” is important!), more Tim Horton’s coffee, Special K cereal (wait??!! Was I getting healthier again), salad…I fell asleep at 9pm, so my eating day was cut short.

Appalled? Me too! First off, I didn’t know I could eat that much in the course of five days. Secondly, the highlight of my travels was apparently the food, or so it would seem. On the bright side, I wasn’t hungry again until Thursday.

So here’s the point: no matter how much you clean up your lifestyle – old habits die hard! I’m a junk food addict and have zero willpower.

The irony is - for the past 15 months I've tried to stick to under 1500 calories a day (initially it was 1000 calories). I can't even imagine my daily calorie intake during my 5 day sojourn.