What Next

So what am I doing now that my Chipotle Challenge has ended? That's a good question. And the answer is, eating giant sandwiches.

In addition, I will be participating in an all day eat-a-thon tomorrow commonly known as Thanksgiving. I'm no dummy. Chipotle is amazing but there's no way I was going to devour a burrito on Thanksgiving instead of a giant pile of turkey & spuds.

Maybe that'll be the big new thing in store for Chipotle. The turkey burrito! I guess I have some marketing to do. I'll have to polish up a bit, hunker down for another month of burritos, and give Chipotle marketing a call. Jared from Subway better tighten his belt because Chipotle's Patrick is about to enter the national scene!

Signing out from the Chipotle spotlight,

Patrick

Week 4

No more corn for me. I stand tall with Carnita burrito in hand, pinto beans nearly busting out of the shiny aluminum foil wrapper!

As you may recall, I had a little burrito loving lull in week 3 but week 4 made me proud to be somewhat of a burrito aficionado. With only 6 days to go the fine folks at the Plymouth Chipotle were kind enough to give Sara and I "his and hers" burrito bowls! Where were they when we were scouring the jewelry stores for wedding bands I thought?

I even got butterflies in my stomach and let my emotions get the best of me in a weak moment at home.

Was it day 1 or did I have 22 strong days under my belt? Nobody could tell me anything on that day.

A few days later it was all over. After 28 days of backbreaking burritos, a wallet $327 lighter, and 52 round trips to Chipotle, it had all ended. Just as quickly as it began it was time for my 28 days of burrito-ey goodness to come to an end.

For such a monumental day I of course compiled some statistics. I managed to polish off 52 different feedings from my favorite fast food establishment in just 28 days. Only missed on 4 occasions; once on the account of being in Alexandria, MN, once due to a required lunch meeting at work, once because I was too full from lunch to stammer through dinner, and once because I was simply too lazy to wake up in time for lunch after a late Friday night out. Of the 52 burritos, chicken & barbacoa tied in the popularity contest with 16 of each. Then there was 10 carnita, 8 vegetarian, & 2 steak. A well balanced diet indeed! The categories consisted of 44 burrito bowls, 5 burritos, & 3 sets of tacos. Sara ate with me on 5 occasions and 3 of my meals were free due to phone donations to charity as well as a special Halloween promotion.

And most importantly I finished big, losing 3.4 pounds in week 4, averaging only 1,116 calories & 32 grams of fat per day for the final week! Thus bringing my total weight loss in only 28 days to . . . 11 pounds even! Went from 190.8 to 179.8 in just a month! That's 0.39 pounds per day if you were curious.

Enlarged photo at: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2722/4126143478_b44e141471_o.jpg

And for comparison purposes, some side by side pictures from day 1 & day 28.

I guess I proved a handful of things these last 28 days: 1) I blew my 5 - 10 pound weight loss hypothesis out of the water, 2) It was almost possible for me to tire of Chipotle but nothing could keep us separated, not even a plethora of corn 3) My intestinal fortitude is stronger than ever, and 4) I've got the coolest wife on the planet for putting up with this nonsense!

So how did I do it you ask? Well, it was simple. I put my pants on one leg at a time just like everyone else. But after my pants are on, I eat Chipotle burritos.

Signing out . . . until my next Challenge!

Week 3

Ah, the Challenge continues! It was an adventurous week with some ups and downs but an ultimate weight loss of 1.8 pounds! See below or, for a closer examination of the lovely feet some of you viewers have been commenting on, feel free to check out the following link: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2766/4107416484_3c3cb28b57_o.jpg.

The weight loss is decreasing each week but I'm happy to report that there's still a loss even in week 3! Man wins again in the battle of burrito vs. man.

As you can see, I was pretty pumped about burrito # 32.

Who knew that so many burritos in such a short time frame could taste so good?

And such tasty little tacos they have. Look at these guys.

I even scored a couple free burritos by donating some old cell phones to charity this week. Win/win!

The opposite of a win/win, too much corn. Nobody likes that.

I hate to say it but the corn fiasco marked the beginning of my tiring of the diet. I didn't think it was possible but Chipotle fatigue is beginning to set in. I was going strong until all that corn. No turning back now however. A guy can't just quit after losing 7.6 pounds in 3 weeks. No sir, not this guy anyway! I'm looking for a strong finish next week. I got a little lazy in week 3 with the calorie intake at an average of 1,431 per day but the eyes are on the prize and it's time to focus. Only one more week and I'm shooting to make it a big one. Stay tuned for the gripping conclusion!

Week 2

The competition continues! Halloween has past and we're now into November but the Chipotle Challenge is still very much on.

It's hard to believe I've been doing this for two weeks already but having my wife doubt that I would continue probably provides some good encouragement to forge on. No, actually it's been really easy to continue since Chipotle is just so damn good!

There's so many options! I think proving that it's not possible for me to tire of eating Chipotle is pretty much in the bag. Too early to say for sure with two weeks left but you would think that would be enough time to prove utter disgust or true love. As for the weight loss, there was some fluctuation this week although the end result was a 2 pound loss. Not as much progress as the first week although good results nonetheless.

See enlarged picture at: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2731/4087515636_4c13250fb2_o.jpg.

The accountant in me made me calculate the averages again which proved I consumed less in week 2 than week 1. 1,324 calories & 34.25 grams of fat on average. Seems like I would have lost more weight than in week 1 although I did have slightly less exercise in week 2 and snack on a few more junky things this week.

All in all, things are looking good at the mid point. I'm down 5.8 pounds in 14 days and I haven't gotten sick once!