Day 27 of my 30 Day Zip was Sunday (grill day) so I ordered a few things again from Meijer - chicken, corn, coffee, Special K cereal, and two salads (with pecans, greens, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries).  I was out of town for most of the day so I left a cooler on the front porch and my Zipments courier, David, left the items in the cooler until I arrived home that evening.  It was no problem to avoid eating until evening.  The four bagels from the day before sat like rocks in my stomach all day.  I ate the grilled chicken, corn and salad for dinner around 5:30pm, then snacked on Special K around 9:00pm.  The evening snack was a mistake.  I wasn’t hungry…I just felt the need to snack.  I went to bed feeling too full and a bit guilty.

Here’s a quick summary of my 30 Day Zip as I enter the final stretch…

1.  Per the rules of the 30 Day Zip, I can only consume food and beverages that are delivered to me via Zipments couriers.  At times, this rule meant that I had to go without food for long periods of time, especially when I traveled.  To date, I’ve missed 3 meals due to no couriers accepting my job postings.  This is out of 41 meals posted, so my success rate is 92.7% (How’s that for an online marketplace?!).  I will report more Zipments metrics in a future blog post, but needless to say, I could not have asked for better performance from Zipments couriers.  That’s awesome!

2.  I cheated on my 30 Day Zip. The first time was when I had a beer with friends.  The second time was when I had dinner with a friend and business associate in LA.  The third time was when I had dinner with another friend and business associate in LA.  While I was committed to the diet, I was not going to turn down dinner invitations…that’s just rude : )  Other than those three times, I only drank water when I wasn’t eating or drinking items delivered by Zipments couriers.

3.  On a couple of occasions, I did pull ingredients from my kitchen in order to cook meals at home.  These items included salad dressing, honey, seasonings for meat and condiments for a couple of brats.

4.  The only Zipments couriers who delivered my meals were couriers I did not know (at least until I met them when they delivered my food).  There were times when friends and family members offered to deliver my food but I did not accept their offers.  After my trip from LA (in which I did not eat for a day and a half) my mother-in-law was in town visiting us and wanted to quickly register as a courier just so she could help out her hungry son-in-law.  (BTW, how many of you guys out there have a mother-in-law as compassionate as mine?!)  I appreciated, but refused her offer and waited until another Zipments courier delivered my meal.  Over the past 27 days I have gotten to know several of the Zipments couriers quite well, which has been a great bonus to my 30 Day Zip.

5.  At my last weigh-in, I had lost 13.5 lbs.  I’m within striking distance of 15 lbs., which would be great.  I’m already down to a weight that I haven’t been at in years, so this 30 Day Zip is already a huge success for me!

I have 3 more days to go.  The 30 Day Zip has had some interesting surprises along the way.  I’m very glad I embarked on it and I’m looking forward to continuing the lessons I’ve learned these past 27 days.

Autumn is a great time of year, especially in Michigan.  When the air turns chilly and the trees turn colors, I’m in paradise.  High school football, quite strolls along the empty Lake Michigan beaches, pumpkins, harvest time, Halloween - it’s all packed into the brief season of Autumn.  A lesser known autumn event, but one I look forward to every year, is the McDonald’s Monopoly campaign!

Each year in October, I engage in about four weeks of intense consumption of Big Macs, large fries, chicken sandwiches and Quarter Pounders, in the attempt to become an instant millionaire.  I’ve been participating in this annual ritual since the late 80s (according to Wikipedia, the promotion started in 1987).  When I began dating my wife in the early 90s, it quickly became one of our “things” we’d do together.  Beginning early in our relationship, we’d collect our McDonald’s Monopoly game pieces together, attempting to secure the required Boardwalk and Park Place pieces to win the million dollars.  (Since Boardwalk was the rarest game piece, I always thought of my wife as the highly coveted Boardwalk and I’m more like Park Place - still exciting, but fairly common!)  Some of our earliest dates involved eating at McDonald’s and talking about what kind of life we’d build together if we won the grand prize.  Over the years, we actually have built a wonderful life together, but without the help of McDonalds or Hasbro!

On Day 26 of my 30 Day Zip, we had soccer games in the morning, then planned for a day-long trip to attend the Homecoming game at my wife’s old high school.  Since I new I’d be traveling all day, I ordered a single meal to be delivered to the soccer fields in the morning.  Instead of planning a good, nutritious meal, I took the easy way out and simply ordered a breakfast sandwich and coffee, plus 3 extra bagels to last me the rest of the day.  The breakfast sandwich included a bagel, egg and sausage, so I actually consumed four bagels throughout the day.  Lots of carbs, but I knew it would sustain me while I was out of town.  David delivered my meal and extra bagels to the soccer field and I snacked on the bagels the rest of the day.

I got a bit of exercise in on Day 26.  After the football game, we headed to Fitzgerald Park in the town of Grand Ledge and walked the trails along the famous ledges.  The trail ends at a city park in town.  It was there at that park (many years ago) that I asked my wife to marry me.  We don’t often get the chance to visit Grand Ledge so while our kids played along the banks of the Grand River, my wife and I relived the night she said “Yes!”.  We probably looked pretty corny sitting there in the park with big grins on our faces, but we had a good time nonetheless.

One challenge of my 30 Day Zip is that I eat differently than the rest of my family.  Whereas I had the bagels to snack on, that would not be a meal for my wife and kids, so by the time dinner rolled around, we were still two hours away from home.  It was then that the McDonald’s Monopoly campaign was first mentioned.  Of course, we’re still in pursuit of the grand prize, even after all these years.  Needless to say, I spent the next two hours driving back to Holland with a van filled with the aroma of tasty fries, burgers and chicken sandwiches.  I didn’t eat so much as a single fry, despite the fact that I desperately wanted to eat that delicious food with the rest of my family.  The upside is that I maintained my self-control.  The downside is that we didn’t with the million dollars.   

On day 25 of my 30 Day Zip, I had several meetings in the morning.  I didn’t have lunch or dinner the day before (except for a pear and an apple), so I was very hungry for something to eat…but I had to run from one meeting to another and couldn’t schedule to have a food zipped to me until noon.  To make matters worse, my morning schedule had me going to three different coffee shops.  In each of these coffee shops, I was overwhelmed with the aromas of freshly brewed coffee and freshly baked cookies and other pastries.  Thank goodness for Boxed Water!  One of my self-imposed rules of the 30 Day Zip is that I can only consume water unless it’s delivered to me.  When I have meetings at cafes, coffee shops or restaurants, I drink water…and when it’s available, I drink Boxed Water.  I kept myself full (and hydrated) by drinking lots of Boxed Water on Day 25.

By noon I was able to get back to the office and Zipments courier, Cole delivered an Aloha Hawaiian omelette from Wolfgang’s.  The omelette was awesome!  It contained pineapple, ham and cream cheese.  Cole is a great courier.  Along with my omelette, I ordered a large coffee.  When Cole got my coffee from Wolfgang’s, he thought it was too small, so he picked up a second coffee from Madcap.  Cole hung out with us at the office while I ate my lunch (he at his lunch too) and we talked about the future of Zipments - what we’re working on and where we’re going next.

That evening, my dinner was delivered to my home by David.  I ordered a Whitestone Bridge sandwich from Gandolfo’s and a large diet coke.  It was the same meal I tried to get the night before during the big storm.  Knowing that it took two attempts and 24 hours to get my Gandolfo’s sandwich, I thought the meal tasted that much better!

Day 24 of my 30 Day Zip was a bit disorganized and it ended with me having an empty stomach!  I ordered another Energy Wrap from the Riverfront Cafe (honestly, I think I’m addicted to them) and a large cup of coffee.  My favorite Holland-based courier, David, delivered my breakfast to my office in Grand Rapids, which is just down the road from the Riverfront Cafe.  David has delivered several meals to my home but this was his first delivery to my office.  He had already planned to head to Grand Rapids to do two other Zipments deliveries so my breakfast order was timed perfectly for his other “zipjobs.” 

After breakfast, I headed out to meetings with Laura Pecherski, Zipments’ Director of Sales and Marketing.  We met with a local gluten-free store called, Saffrons.  I had been planning to visit Saffrons for some time.  Several months ago I went on a one week gluten-free diet.  By the end of the week, I was amazed at how great I felt.  I had tons of energy and felt mentally sharper than normal.  The only reason I didn’t stay on the gluten-free diet was because it is difficult to find a variety of gluten-free foods.  I was amazed when I walked into Saffrons.  The entire store is gluten-free (unlike many health food stores that simply have a gluten-free aisle).  Saffrons was filled with food for every meal.  I desperately wanted to leave there with a bag full of gluten-free goodies, but my 30 Day Zip prevents me from eating anything except that which is delivered to me through Zipments.

In addition to an impressive in-store selection, Saffrons also has a great website for purchasing gluten-free items online.  Saffrons promotes Zipments in their store because Zipments is a great way for Saffrons customers to get the best gluten-free items conveniently delivered to their homes.  I’m definitely going to begin including items from Saffrons in my diet.  Though some experts claim that you don’t receive benefits of gluten-free without cutting gluten from your diet completely, I still subscribe to the belief that any reduction in gluten can be beneficial to certain people and I personally experienced significant benefits after just one week.

The rest of the day was a blur with one meeting after another.  I totally missed lunched because I was plugging away on a variety of Zipments activities.  When dinner time came, I decided to post a delivery from Gandolfo’s, a New York style deli chain in Holland.  Unfortunately, by the time I posted the job, a large storm system was rolling across west Michigan.  For a few hours, the skies looked as if Armageddon was upon us.  High winds, lighting, thunder, rain, everything.  As the storm became more intense, my hopes of dinner began to fade.  Sure enough, no responses.  I was so hungry.  All I had to eat that day was an Energy Wrap and a cup of coffee.  I tried not to think about food, but I had a lot of work left to do and I was struggling to concentrate.  Just like during my 3 day detox, my mind was fuzzy.  Finally, around 8:30pm I broke and went to the fridge to grab an apple and a pear that was delivered to me the day before from the Farmer’s Market by Joelle.  Per my self-imposed rules, I am not allowed to stockpile food during my 30 Day Zip, which means I should not eat food from a previous day, even if that food was delivered to me.  But I needed to finish my work and didn’t think I could do it without a fruit boost. I still went to bed hungry, but the apple and pear allowed me to finish my work for the evening.  Eventually the storm subsided and my anxiety about food did too.

BTW…as of Day 24, I have lost 13.5 lbs.  My clothes fit better and I’ve noticed that the end-of-the-day fatigue is no longer there.  I think I’m sleeping better at night too.  I still don’t feel stronger or more energetic, but I think that’s because I have yet to do any exercise.  No excuses, just lazy.  Maybe my next 30 days should be dedicated to exercise, a “30 Day Rip!”  First, I just want to finish the next 6 days on a strong note. 

The Farmer’s Market is one of those places that many of us rarely visit, yet it’s a place that offers so much to those who do.  What’s not to love about the Farmer’s Market?  First of all, the Farmer’s Market is a great place to purchase fresh LOCAL food.  You never have to worry about what kind of preservatives are packed into your food because the food is fresh and it didn’t travel far to reach you.  The fact that the food didn’t travel far also means that the food you eat from the Farmer’s Market is better for the environment.  Less travel means less fuel required to get your food to you.

Buying food from the Farmer’s Market also means you are supporting your local economy.  It’s a great feeling when we all have the opportunity to help our neighbors and buying local does just that.  While our representatives bicker on Capitol Hill, we all can help with the economic recovery by making good decisions about how we spend our money.  Buying local is an easy decision that benefits not only the business owners in our community, but also the rest of us who live and work in the community.  Stronger local businesses means stronger local employment and higher school enrollments, which overtime means better schools.  Stronger local businesses also means a stronger tax base which overtime helps build better local infrastructure.  When we invest in local businesses, we invest in ourselves and in our families.  Quite often, most of us feel helpless when it comes to the recovery of our nation’s economy, but when we buy from local sources, we in fact are directly improving our nation’s economic strength - one community at a time.

Speaking of community, the Farmer’s Market is a also great place to meet and to meet-up with people in our community.  There’s a special energy in the air at Farmer’s Markets.  People are relaxed and happy and seem to be more engaging than they are in any other shopping experience. 

So it was on Day 23 of my 30 Day Zip that I decided to order food from a local Farmer’s Market.  I posted a zipment to have $25 worth of food purchased from the Fulton Street Farmer’s Market in Grand Rapids.  The zipment stated to “surprise me” in that I really didn’t care what was delivered because I knew it would taste great and be a healthy option for me.

I was lucky on Day 23 to meet a new Zipments courier named, Joelle. 

Joelle was great.  She delivered my food on her bike (affectionately named “Eleanor”) and she had a ton of food for me to try.  Lots of fruits, vegetables, bread and cheese.  Everything I bit into tasted amazing.  

The Farmer’s Market food was the only thing I ate on Day 23 and truthfully I only consumed a third of the food Joelle delivered.  At the end of the day, I felt full, happy to meet a new Zipments courier and pleased to have made some purchasing decisions that benefit the local economy.  It was an all around great day!

As I enter the final stretch of my 30 Day Zip, I’m looking forward to getting back to some sense of normalcy - where I don’t have to think about every meal.  But I’m also wishing I had a bit more time with the diet.  There are a lot of things I haven’t tried yet.  I wanted to do a week of a gluten-free diet.  I wanted to get out to some of the local health food stores to compare items there to items I purchase from larger grocery chains.  I was hoping to do a lot more “field research” but my schedule has been pretty hectic and the days are getting shorter (literally).  I suppose I can always resume a 30 Day Zip at some point in the future.  For now, I want to finish these 30 days on a strong note.  Shed a few more pounds, discover some new healthy foods, explore my relationship with food a bit more and exercise to build my energy level.

After a few days of travel, I decided to order another awesome energy wrap from the Riverfront Cafe and a large cup of coffee for breakfast.  My Zipments courier, Andrew, delivered my breakfast to the office.  One of my favorite times of day is when I get the chance to chat with Zipments couriers.  I ask them for their opinions of the Zipments service and what they think of new features we have planned. 

Whenever start-ups like Zipments build new products or services, its easy to create things with the belief that people will actually like them.  We can convince ourselves that our ideas are so great that people will adopt them, no matter what.  There are leaders like Steve Jobs and Henry Ford who believe that customers can’t really tell you what they want because what they want hasn’t been imagined yet.  Henry Ford once claimed, “If I asked my customers what they wanted, they’d say ‘A faster horse!’”  While I do believe there is some truth to that, I feel more confident in building things that people say they want.  So whenever I or someone from my team has a new idea, I like to bounce it off Zipments couriers and Zipments customers.  After all, a start-up, with limited resources, would be foolish to spend any amount of time and money on something users have confirmed they won’t use.  Many couriers who have delivered meals to me would tell you that I often corner them into conversations, soliciting their feedback to our ideas.  After my 30 Day Zip is done, I still plan to post Zipments deliveries several times a week so I can chat with couriers.  I find the one on one conversations are better than sending out mass surveys or soliciting user feedback online.

On Day 22, I skipped lunch and posted an early dinner delivery.  I ordered a fantastic dish from the Electric Cheetah, delivered by Zipments courier, Cole.   I had the Health Hutt, which (according to the menu) contains sautéed quinoa, al dente green lentils, and spinach sautéed with olive oil, fresh garlic, chili powder and cumin, with fresh pan seared salmon and finished with Dijon vinaigrette and black pepper.  The meal was light and tasty, but the rest of the night my wife complained about the garlic smell that followed me everywhere.  An awesome dish with a potent aftereffect!

Today was another travel day which meant I would be skipping some meals.  I had a meeting in Detroit scheduled for late in the day so I knew I would not be eating until late in the evening when I returned to the west side of the state.  I could have scheduled a breakfast delivery but I really wasn’t hungry and was actually pretty busy with work. 

I hadn’t visited downtown Detroit in the past couple of years.  Like many of us in Michigan, I often travel to “southeast Michigan” but rarely find myself in the downtown area of Detroit, except for the occasional sporting event or conference.  Detroit has taken a beating over the past several years.  On the national stage, Detroit gets very little positive attention these days.  Most people tend to think negatively about the city, though very few actually travel to Detroit to experience the city themselves - myself included. 

I was amazed to see the transformation underway.  I was genuinely impressed (to the point of envy) at many of the things I saw on my trip.  The downtown district is undergoing a massive renovation.  The buildings are being returned to their former glory with some exciting enhancements being added to bring new energy to the city.  On the tenth floor of one of the most impressive structures downtown, I had a commanding view of the riverfront, which set the backdrop against the wonderful historical architecture from the neighboring buildings.  I didn’t realize until that moment how interesting the buildings in downtown Detroit actually are.  The buildings seemed to have the perfect balance of historical design and modern functionality all in one.  It was as if I was looking at Detroit for the first time!  I had the opportunity to see some of the plans for future development in the area.  New retail, new residential properties are in the works.  Many of the designs call for sleek new glass facades at the street level to bring the energy from inside the building out to the street, while maintain the old historical charm atop these wonderful structures.  I’m really hopeful that these plans, driven by a group of true visionaries, will soon transform Detroit back into a great destination city.  And I’d love to see Zipments couriers providing services throughout the city and surrounding areas in the months ahead!

It was 8:30pm when I finally pulled into the driveway.  I knew that wasn’t the best time of day to eat, but I was starving.  I ordered a Naked Chicken Burrito from Qdoba and scheduled it to be delivered at 7:00pm, so it was waiting in the fridge when I arrived home.  Typically I try not to eat after 8:00pm, but I had to make an exception today.

Lately I’ve found myself eating just one meal a day.  I’m not sure it’s the best way to lose weight.  I have a feeling that my body is trying to store more food and that my metabolism may be slowing down.  All the more reason to get the exercise regiment underway.  On days when I only eat one meal, I’m reminded of Lt. General Stanley McChrystal, who led our troops in Afghanistan.  The press always liked to report that McChrystal only ate one meal a day, in the evening, to avoid sluggishness.  I figure, if a man who was under the stress and harsh conditions of leading a military campaign in a country such as Afghanistan can thrive on only one meal a day, then who am I to complain about skipping meals!

As usual, Sunday is grill day and, since I enjoyed the brats from Wurstkuche in LA so much, I decided to grill some brats today.  I put together a list of groceries from Meijer.  I wanted something from all the food groups so I ordered brats (meat), corn (vegetables), plums (fruits), Honey Nut Cheerios (grains), yogurt (dairy) and some soymilk (truthfully, I don’t know what category that falls into).

I received a bid from David right away so I had no anxiety over whether or not I’d be eating today!

With church and soccer games early in the day, I knew I would not be eating until close to evening.  For some reason, that didn’t bother me.  I still felt full from yesterday’s Panera Bread delivery.  Lately, my body feels as if it prefers to remain somewhat empty.  Honestly, I don’t feel all that great after I eat.  I think I need to start focusing on eating a lot more fruits and vegetables.  After I did eat the brats, I felt pretty lousy.  I didn’t eat them with any buns (since I didn’t order buns), but I did cheat a bit by grabbing some condiments (relish, mustard and ketchup) from the kitchen.

Later in the evening I snacked with a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and soy milk, a plum and a yogurt.  I doubt I consumed 2,000 calories today, but I still felt as though I ate too much.  I’d really like to get to a point where I can eat 2,000 calories of food and feel like I have a lot of energy.

I haven’t yet started my exercise regiment, which is probably why I have lacked the energy.  I need to get some workouts going and get some good food in me to keep the weight loss going.  Tomorrow is a new day!

Day 19 started off rough.  After not eating at all the day before I woke up very hungry and very fatigued - partially from the jet lag and partially from the lack of food.  The night before, my wife decided to post my breakfast delivery for me while I was driving home, so I would have it ready when I woke up the next morning.  The problem was that she posted the job around midnight so I was quite certain that no one would likely notice the alert (Zipments couriers receive alerts on their mobile phones as soon as new jobs are posted in their area).  Sure enough, when I woke the next morning I checked to find no bids on my job.  A bit of panic came over me at the thought of not knowing when my next meal would be.  

Since it was a Saturday, I had to head off to the soccer fields for a morning of watching my kids and their teams.  Unfortunately I wasn’t very pleasant to be around!  I was irritable and desperate for a meal.  Ultimately I did not receive any bids on my breakfast delivery, which also meant that my percentage of completed zipments would drop as well (I was around 98% completed up to that point in time).

I arrived home around noon and decided to post a delivery for both lunch and dinner.  I selected two meals from Panera Bread - a Chicken Caesar Salad and a Napa Almond Chicken Salad Sandwich.  Both meals came with a baguette.  As I clicked the “post a job” button on the Zipments website, I prayed I would not have to miss another meal.  While I was pleased with the weight loss, this much time without food was really taking its toll on me.

Lucky for me, my favorite Holland-based Zipments courier, David, quickly posted a bid.  I didn’t hesitate to accept his bid and suddenly my mood changed for the better.  Even better was the fact that David arrived at my home shortly thereafter so I had next to no wait time at all for my food.  David was a sight for sore eyes and the food tasted great.  He even threw in a large diet coke, something I hadn’t had in a very long time.  It seemed like a king’s feast to me and it was difficult to eat it slowly. 

I’m convince that the hardest part of the 30 Day Zip is the anxiety that comes with not knowing when and what I’m going to eat next.  It definitely changes my perspective on food and recently has made it so that I prefer not to think of food at all.  As long as my hunger is satisfied, I’d rather not even think of eating because of the anxiety that comes along with it.  If this became a long term effect, I’m confident that I’d restrict my eating to 1 or 2 meals a day.  The process of eating as become so laborious that it’s kind of lost its appeal.  How’s that for curbing your appetite?!

Have you ever had a day of travel where you were unsure if you’d ever make it home?  That was my kind of day on Day 18 of my 30 Day Zip.  I left LA around 8:00am.  I figured it would be too early to schedule a zipment, especially since I was staying near the airport and didn’t think I’d get a quick response from a Zipments courier in that area of town at that time of day.  I decided with my long day of travel that this would be a day of fasting.  I didn’t realize how difficult that would be.

Luckily I had no delays with my flights, but I selected a return trip that was anything but direct.  During my long flights and long layovers, I was bombarded with the sights and smells of food.  It was on this day that I faced my biggest attraction towards food - the fact that it provides comfort during stressful situations.

We all have stress.  Life can be difficult at times, especially in today’s fast-paced world.  And I certainly understand that many people face a lot more challenges/struggles in their lives than I do in mine.  However, I have a pretty stressful life as well.  A busy family schedule with four kids in a variety of activities and a crazy career that is always teetering on the brink (I’m still looking for the cure to my affliction that drives me to the life of an entrepreneur.)  Most days I feel very overwhelmed and food offers me a consistent source of comfort.  A large bowl of ice cream at 10:00 at night always provided me a calming effect at the end of any stressful day.  On stressful travel days, I would typically grab a bag ‘o burgers and fries from just about any fast food joint I could get to quickly. The problem is that whenever I use food as a way to relieve stress I always wake up the next morning feeling lousy and full of regret. 

On my return trip from LA, I scheduled to fly into Chicago, which meant I then had a 3 hour drive ahead of me before I would arrive home.  I had just spent 3 days away from my family.  On two of those days, I ate only one meal each and on the 3rd day I had yet to eat anything at all.  For three hours I drove through construction, rainstorms and traffic congestion.  It was around 11pm when I really thought I’d break.  As I drove past each exit along the highway, I saw signs for McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell and my favorite - Arby’s.  I kept imagining how I’d rationalize a break in my 30 Day Zip for my blog.  How I would explain that every man has his breaking point and mine was at the Michigan/Indiana state line!  I was exhausted, starving, and most of all, frustrated.  But the thought of having to write in this blog that I hit a fast food drive thru was just a bit more painful than the pain I was feeling on my drive home.  So I just stared ahead at the lines on the road, no longer looking at the restaurant signs at each exit.  I counted down the miles until I pulled into my driveway.  When I walked through the door at 12:35am, my beautiful wife was standing there, waiting for me.  I was proud to tell her that I made it through another day…and the smile on her face made me feel better than any bowl of ice cream ever could!