Detoxer: Melissa Maerz
Went a month without: Prepared foods

What’s the last thing you ate? Was it prepared by someone else?
It was tomato soup. Someone else prepared it, but I added jalapeño peppers. (Full disclosure: Someone else cut the jalapeño peppers into pieces for me. However, at the risk of sounding like the laziest person alive, I ate said peppers myself—no one fed me.)

What’s the last thing you ate that was not prepared by someone else?
If I’m being honest, it was a vodka with Gatorade. (There were no proper mixers left in the fridge.) I guess I didn’t technically “eat” it, but if there was a way to eat this concoction—say, by freezing it into Popsicle form—you’d better believe I would have it for dinner.

What was the first meal you had to break your “fast”? Was it seriously Domino’s?
I honestly broke my fast with Domino's. Their thin-crust pizza is hands-down better than any food that grew out of the earth. Also, I ate those cinnamon stick things they sell, and I dipped them in icing.

Were you able to keep off the five pounds you lost?
I regained the weight pretty soon afterward. I like to think it’s because I stopped making my own meals, but it’s probably because the one thing I do like to cook for myself is bacon.

Do you think back on that story ever?
Sometimes. I was so much thinner and richer (and hungrier) then!

Would you say you learned anything from it?
Overall, I learned that most things work out better for you when you do them yourself. But I also learned that doing things yourself is much easier when you’re on deadline for a story. Now, if only I could get TONY to assign me a piece on doing my laundry and paying my bills on time...

Read Melissa's original detox story here.

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