Struggle #8: Eating "bad"

So this being my last weekend in Cincinnati (but really first because of all of the traveling I have done), I decided to let myself eat "bad" for the weekend because well this would be my only chance to experience everything there is in Cincinnati. I was super excited for this weekend because I could eat whatever I wanted and no one was going to stop me! I was a little afraid of how my stomach would handle it, but I figured I would power through it!  I totally thought this was going to be the best weekend of food ever, but it really wasn't... I'll dig into that later on, but first, what I ate.

Friday two of my classmates who are also here in Cincinnati went to NewPort on the Levy. It is a cool little area and there is a lot to do around there! We went to Hafbrauhaus, a cool German place, after work and ate a little dinner and drank a little beer. I got the Bavarian Jägerschnitzel, which was a pan-seared pork with a mushroom cream sauce on top, that came with a potato pancake and German potato salad, along with a Hafbrau light beer. (pictured below)

The pork was delicious but the sides weren't that good and definitely not good enough for me to waste carbs on and I couldn't even finish the beer. It didn't even taste good to me, it made my stomach so full! Later that night we joined another girl from our class at a bar and we got bacon cheesy fries... Now those were delicious but I definitely paid the price for those later on! Oh well.

Saturday  I got up and ate a delicious Larabar (purchased for a $0.89 at Kroger!!!) and then went to workout at CrossFit Conjugate with their competitors.  Let me tell you I was intimidated beyond belief but they do team workouts on Saturday morning and I ended up having a great time, meeting some new people, and oh yeah, PRing my push press by 15#! I had a quick protein shake after that and then went out to explore the city!

^ My delicious marg :)
<-- The cool Farmer's Market we found

Katrina (my classmate sharing the basement I am staying at with me) and I had a list of places to go! We first went to a cool area called On The Rhine! Parking was ridiculous but the places we went to were awesome! We found a farmer's market full of local dealers selling their crafts that we explored while we waited for a table at a place called Bakersfield! This restaurant was amazing, the margaritas and food were to die for! Here I got a marg, corn chips and guacamole, and two tacos. I would recommend this place to anyone traveling in the Cincinnati area!



From here we explored On The Rhine a bit more, went on the river walk by the Ohio river (they have swings!) and then to Eden Park which had some of the coolest views of the city!

Our last stop in the city was Mount Adams where we visited Mount Adams Pavilion and The Blind Lemon. I may have gotten two margaritas at the Pavilion but I had to enjoy the incredible view there! We also got a dip sampler platter with hummus, spinach dip, buffalo chicken dip, and chips. I was so not looking forward to the idea of more carbs so I asked for celery to eat my dip with and it was delicious! Once we got back from there Katrina and I sat in the hot tub and watched a movie and then topped our night off with shakes from United Dairy Farmer's (strawberry and Oreos!).

While everything I ate and drank was pretty delicious, I definitely learned that I don't really want to waste my bad carbs, calories, and food on this stuff. My favorite food in the whole world is ice cream and if I am going to have bad calories it is going to be my ice cream once a week. While the fried food was good and the chips were delicious, I didn't enjoy them as much as I should have. The whole time I was eating them I was thinking about how hard I have been working on my diet and in the gym and how all this food could affect that. I am getting to a point where I am excited how my body is looking and the definition that is starting to arise. That is thanks to all of the carbs I have cut out of my diet! 

I have also been working my tail off in the gym everyday and have been seeing gains. I have my first individual competition coming up and I want to be able to perform at my best. The fuel I have been putting in my body is helping me make these gains and I didn't enjoy putting the crappy food into my body. While it was nice to loosen the reigns for a weekend, I will definitely be getting back to my meal prepping and good eats because it makes me feel so much better. I know what is going into my body and I know that it is going to benefit me.

So today I was back to my healthy eating and it made me much happier and tonight I am cooking on the grill for dinner and for food for lunches this week. I know I will definitely eat a cheat meal every now and again but a whole weekend is just not my thing. And well the ice cream will definitely be the majority of my bad food because it's just too darn delicious!

Cincinnati skyline fron Newport, KY