You are free to eat!

Monday I had my pre-planned, much anticipated first cheat meal of the challenge. I was looking forward to the office Christmas party at Los Napoles with greater and greater anticipation. The guacamole, chips, sauces, rice, beans ... cheesy enchiladas ... oh my. In my mind, this was going to be a huge feast. But I was battling a cold accompanied by a sore throat, so I almost didn't even go.

You guys ever seen Kung Fu Panda? There's this great scene where the Master is giving a sort of final lesson to his student, who happens to love food. The Master used that love of food to train the big Panda. In this scene, the Master tells the student he is "free to eat" ...



... but fights him every step of the way. By the time the Panda wins the last dumpling, he doesn't even want it anymore.

That's pretty much how I felt after my first and much anticipated cheat meal. It's not even that I felt horrible. I just didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Normally I would have devoured the chips and guac. but after 5, I was done with that. In fact, the part I enjoyed the most was the steak fajita! Everything was much saltier than I remembered, which makes me wonder how much I consumed prior to the challenge. Even the almond flan sitting in front of me was no temptation after two bites.

My big worry was losing control after diving into a cheat, but it's been easy to get back on the wagon. In many ways I'm ready to end the challenge ... because for me, I'm free to eat.