Diet of a Tough Mudder

I've been training for over a month now, and this week has been my most consistent week to date- with me working out over the last five days, and today makes six in a row!  Obviously, my main goal has been to train for Tough Mudder, but I signed up for TM as a reason to get fit and do something insane for my 30th year.  So, while losing weight wasn't necessarily the first thought, it was probably thought number 2 or 3.

At 6'2", I started this process weighing in at 200 lbs, the heaviest I've ever been.  And if that were muscle weight, it wouldn't be too bad, but well, that wasn't where it was coming from.  Anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE Coca-Cola.  I would get an IV drip of it, except then I couldn't taste it's deliciousness.  Sometimes (and I'm embarrassed to say this) I would drink nothing but Coke, all day, every day, for weeks.  No water, no juice, just Coke.  So I had to do something.

I didn't quit cold turkey, because I've tried that before and it would usually last maybe a few days, a week at most.  Usually until the next time I went out to eat, anywhere.  So I eased myself off, and I'm not down to a soda maybe once or twice a week.  That's still not too good, but for someone who looked at a 2-liter like most people see a 20-ounce, it's progress.  And better than that, I'm seeing results.  My gut is shrinking, my stomach bothers me less, and my skin, which is usually my arch nemesis, is generally cooperative.

So now that I've made that leap, it's probably time to make some more disciplined changes to me diet.  As I've said before, I'm not a nutrition junkie, but maybe it's time to start paying more attention.  So, with that in mind, here is my first "recipe".  It's a breakfast sandwich- pretty simple and quite tasty.

1. Scramble eggs.  I used two eggs, but that nearly maxed out the English Muffins I bought, so I might just do one egg from now on.  Or maybe not.  I cooked them with just a drizzle of olive oil in the pan, until they were fully cooked- I hate runny eggs.

2. While the eggs are cooking, toast an english muffin.  I don't have a picture of that, because ultimately, it would just be a picture of a toaster.  Just imagine it.

3. Once the one side of your eggs are done, fold them over to finish cooking.  Conveniently, this makes enough room for some good old, Canadian Bacon!  Put whatever you want, bacon, sausage, etc.  I used this because it wasn't too heavy, but provided an extra flavor.  If you're gearing up for a workout, sausage or greasy bacon may not be the best idea- at least it isn't for me.

4. After you've warmed the bacon, put it all together.  To add a little sweetness (and finish out the food pyramid) I spread on a little bit of raspberry jam, that I had canned myself with my mom.  My wife seemed a little put off by that, but it's not a deal-breaker.  

And the finished product! Tasted pretty good and didn't sit too heavy either.  We went on a hike for about an hour and a half, and I felt great.