Week two was more of the same as week one. I baked and cooked a ton, went out to eat, found bagels the size of my face, ate chocolate with my breakfast. I ate dessert practically every night whether it was an enormous brownie sundae or just a handful of Trader Joe's dark-chocolate-covered almonds.
It was magical, actually. I hadn't felt that sense of freedom with food since before I went on my first diet when I was 12 years old. To give myself permission to reject diet culture and eat whatever I wanted felt exhilarating.
OK, so emotionally, I felt free and alive, but physically, I felt like absolute sh*t. My bloating was out of control, I didn't feel like exercising, and just felt foggy-headed and lethargic from eating all day long. The worst part was that I felt stressed and out of control. Self-regulation was definitely not happening for me.