Sorry, I'm a little excited, if you can't tell! We have officially done it; we officially completed an entire 30 days of clean, wholesome, dairy/grain/soy/legume/sugar-free eating. We succumbed to precisely ZERO cravings, we did not cave or whimper and stomp our feet to get our way. We put our mind to it and told ourselves (and the entire intarwebz) that we were going to do it, and by dammit, we did. WE DID IT. I, who have never ever ever completed any kind of healthy eating program in my life, completed this. I did it. I was successful. There are not enough ways to say this: I FUCKING DID IT (sorry for my language, mommy.)!!!!
I'm going to do this a little bass-ackwards today (because why the hell not), and start with this:
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two hardboiled eggs, carrots, orange, nuts
Lunch: egg salad and hot dogs (I know, lovely combo), cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, and watermelon. I was hungry.
Dinner: homemade stir-fry that we made without a recipe because are awesome and survived eating it without rice, which is a major deal for us.
How I Feel:
FANTASTIC. You know, because it's the last day and I made it and I am awesome. Otherwise... crampy, headachy, and tired. But... well. We can't win them all. I'm confident that my energy will come back once Aunt Flo gets the hell out of town.
So, yesterday I mentioned that Whole30 gave me an assignment that I am going to complete tonight in this post. I told Derek I wanted him to do it too, but he probably won't share it here on my blog. The assignment is two-fold: Part 1) an "after action report", and Part 2) my success story. So without further ado... (warning: this is probably going to get long)
What Went Well:
Well, first things first, we were both 110% on board from the get go. The day that I said to Derek, "I think we should try a Whole30" (which, incidentally, was discussed over lunch at Chick-Fil-A), Derek said "Let's do it!". There was instant talk of how we would make it work, what we would try to implement to stay on track, and why we thought this would be a great thing to try. There was no hesitation, and honestly, no real need to convince either of us. Derek was receptive to it right away and was eager to hear more about it and what it meant. Secondly, we very quickly and easily developed a plan to keep us away from our biggest terrible habit, which was eating out. We essentially agreed that the only way we would be able to not only succeed at Whole30, but kick the demons of overeating, eating out, and making poor, lazy food choices, was to plan everything out (which we had already been trying, unsuccessfully), prep everything in advance, and take away every other option we had. It really, truly, made all the difference. As I've mentioned several times, we've shaved a significant amount of money off our food bill, since "groceries + eating out" essentially became just "groceries", and I am absolutely amazed at how little food we have to throw away at the end of the week. Blows my mind, really. Also, we tried new things (like tapioca flour and coconut aminos) and found that while, yes, there are some things you just can't replace on Whole30, in most cases, we were able to make things we actually wanted to eat. There are probably some other things that went well, but those are definitely the highlights.
What Could Have Gone Better:
Despite us trying some new things and discovering there were substitutes for some of our prior staples... our meal plans got kind of boring. We both got frustrated early on with finding recipes that sounded like things we actually wanted to eat, and were having trouble coming up with things we already knew/liked that were worth adapting to make them compliant. At first, we tried several things, and I ended up hating most of them (sorry, Derek). So we found a few things that we both enjoyed and ate them. A lot. For 30 days. On one hand, there's kind of an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality -- we liked it and it was compliant, so who cares, right? But on the other hand... I had initially hoped that this would open us up to wider variety of food and break us out of the ruts we had been in prior to Whole30 that were partly to blame for us being lazy. I'm just a really picky eater. I'm confident, though, that lifting some of the restrictions (a la Paleo), will open some doors for us to be more creative and for me to actually enjoy eating. Aside from that, while I think Derek has noticed some improvement in his energy levels, mine haven't budged too much. There were some days were I was feeling better, but the drowsy days have kind of come back, and I was hoping for that to be one of the first things gone while on Whole30.
What We'll Do Next Time:
We will be trying to do a Whole30 at least once a year, but probably closer to every six months or so. Looking back, it really wasn't as difficult as we initially expected it to be so we are confident that we can do it again (and again, and again, as necessary) as a way to kick any bad habits that have sprouted back up, or to just reset our insides as needed. Next time, I think we will do more research before we start and find meal ideas in advance, so we're not scrambling the night before our grocery trip to come up with a meal plan, then getting frustrated and just throwing something mundane on the list. I'd also like to try to step out of our box a little and learn to be less picky. Both of us struggle with it, honestly, and it's not really doing us any favors.
And now...
My Success Story!
As you all know, I am very overweight. I have been for the vast majority of my life. I've tried a million and five things, but my motive was always mostly cosmetic. I hated the way I looked, I hated the way people treated me, and I wanted people to stop making fun of me. However, I didn't always have the support network I needed, and I didn't have the personal willpower to stick with something. But, as the years have progressed, and specifically within the past couple years to within the past several months, the motive has slowly changed from a superficial one to a deeply personal, emotional, and physical one. I felt like crap. As I've grown older, I've (mostly) moved past the phase of people teasing me (to my face, anyway), but I still feel judged everywhere I go. But, more importantly, my clothes don't fit well and I hate buying more because it's so hard to find things I can fit into; and even more importantly, I feel like shit. Despite the fact that by most accounts I'm healthy (normal BP, blood sugar, and relatively normal cholesterol), I've had a couple health scares and just in general know that I am not doing myself any favors. My motive has been that I want to live longer, not necessarily that I want to look better doing it (although the two come hand in hand). It's funny -- several years ago, one of my main reasons to lose weight is that I thought no one would ever love me if I was the size of a house; I was lucky enough that that wasn't true and I'm now married to my best friend and the only man who has every really accepted me for exactly what I am and not an ounce of what I've not, and my motive is that I want more time to be with him. I want there to be more years of wedded bliss, and that won't happen if I'm stuck in this body forever. So, after trying a myriad different things, including Whole30, and either failing at them or shutting them down, I decided to revisit the Whole30 idea, and Derek jumped on board.
A couple of friends of mine had tried or completed Whole30 before. One friend started doing it and I told her she was nuts; I didn't research it much but from what she had showed me, my opinion was that it was entirely too restrictive and that NO human being could live like that healthily. She ended up not completing the 30 days, and I didn't give it another thought. Later, though, one of my coworkers, who has some food sensitivities, mentioned that she was doing it and explained it -- how it was meant to weed everything out and get you back to a real "normal", and then help you pinpoint what the sensitivities are. When it was put that way, it sounded smart. I looked more into it and realized it was about even more than just that; it was about getting rid of the horrible relationships we have with food and eating to live. That really hit home, and so I printed out all the materials I could find on the matter and presented it to Derek. As I mentioned, he was on board almost immediately, and our journey began.
The Whole30 experience overall wasn't extremely hard or complicated, which I've enjoyed about it. There were a few times we had to call up our dear friend Mr. Google to find out if something we were going to buy/make was compliant, but for the most part, it's extremely clear cut. For someone like me who loves to find ways to game the system (ahem: "Well, I have 24 points left for the day, and an entire box of macaroni and cheese is 21 points, so it's okay!"), this was very, very helpful. It wasn't all sunshine and roses, of course, especially in the first week-ish, with caffeine withdrawals and cravings wanting to kick us in the face at every turn, but for me, I guess in general it went better than expected. I didn't really ever get to a "Kill All The Things" day, and while I did have some cravings, they were more just fun to talk about and less that I actually wanted the bad food. Or, rather, I wanted Whole30 success more. It got better and easier as the time went on, and by the end it was just... normal. I've come to realize that it really isn't going to be that hard to keep this up. It'll be nice to have a few more options, and treat ourselves to the food we actually miss once in a while, but at this moment I can honestly say that I don't care if I ever eat Taco Bell again. Does it mean I never will? Probably not, but I don't want it. I don't care about it. I don't miss it. And that's a whole hell of a lot of progress.
There has been some radical progress in the Hackley house in the past 30 days, and I am really excited about how far we've come. My veggie-hating husband now willingly eats carrots and cucumbers as side dishes; and I've learned that I don't need to soak things in ketchup or barbecue sauce or teriyaki sauce to make them palatable (but not gonna lie -- it sure helps). Even though I'm still tired a lot, I FEEL better. Most importantly, I'm happier. This alone almost makes everything worth it. I don't know yet how much weight I've lost, but having the energy to laugh and jump around and just... enjoy life is... well... it's fucking amazing. I kind of forgot how much I was missing out on when I was sore and worn out and frustrated and sad and depressed and angry and anxious about my health situation. Case in point: Remember a couple weeks ago I mentioned that I pulled a muscle or something in my back and it was really painful to turn or do, well, much of anything? Because the pain started around my chest wall (but was not chest pain, per se), Old Sarah would've flipped out and spent hours upon hours being anxious about what was CERTAINLY a looming heart attack. New Sarah took it for exactly what it was -- stretching wrong or sleeping funny -- and focused her energy elsewhere. It's so heartwarming to see my husband smile at me and hear him tell me that he missed "this" Sarah, and heartbreaking to realize that I had been in a place where "this" Sarah was incredibly rare. I don't want to waste any more of my life being "that" Sarah. Even if I don't lose another pound, if I can stay "this" Sarah, I'll be okay.
And that, my friends, is a wrap. (Stay tuned tomorrow for the final weigh-in results, and maybe some before and after photos if I feel ballsy enough to share them!)
Monday, August 18, 2014
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Whole30: Day 29 -- And Then There Was One.... Day, That Is
WE ARE ALMOST THERE!
I have a post planned in mind for tomorrow -- it's a little assignment that I got in my Whole30 Daily emails. But tonight? I have some mushy gushy stuff to get off my chest.
You. All of you. Every single one of you that has been following this since the beginning. I love you so, so much.
You've all been part of my motivation. I haven't wanted to let you all down.
You've been so stinkin' supportive, even when my posts were essentially me whining about how hard this was. Some of you have even called me inspirational, which completely and wholly blows my mind. I would never in a million years consider myself an inspiration, but the fact that any of you are reading this and gathering your own strength from it warms me to the core.
I just cannot put into words how awesome it feels to see that my blog posts have been read like, 60, 70, 80 times, or wake up to find a bunch of comments on the FB posts... knowing that you all are reading and want to help or encourage me really makes me feel good.
Most of you know that I've struggled with my weight for the majority of my life and for most of it I have felt outcast, judged, and disregarded because of it. I've come a long way, but I still have many strides to make and knowing that you're all really rooting for me makes me feel like people actually do care and do want to see me succeed. That alone is enough to keep me going when it gets hard.
I wish that I could thank and hug every single one of you in person. Some of you I haven't talked to in person in years, some of you I've never talked to in person EVER, and the fact that you're invested in my success is mind-boggling.
This is getting rambly again, so I'm going to try to make this short, but basically, there aren't enough words in the world (and trust me, I know a lot of words) to tell you all how much you are appreciated and how thankful I am to have you in my life, even if it's just in a small way. I only hope that I can return the favor someday.
And with that.... for the second to last time (and before I start crying)...
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two eggs sunny-side up, bacon, and an orange
Lunch: homemade egg salad, carrots, tomatoes, nuts, and a pickle
Dinner: two hot dogs with mustard, cucumbers, bell peppers, nuts, and a pickle. (I really like pickles.)
How I Feel:
Really tired. Still on my cycle, which is wearing me out, but I didn't have a great night's sleep last night. Woke up around 4:00am in the middle of a nightmare, woke Derek up and spent like 45 minutes crying myself back to sleep. I know. Awful. Anyway, I'm exhausted and am really looking forward to trying to get a good night's sleep tonight. Otherwise, as usual, my mood is pretty good and we still got a significant amount of stuff done today (including a Costco trip and all of our weekly prep work, plus packing our lunches for tomorrow), all in time for me to be on a conference call at 7:30. So, I guess that I will call it a win.
Stay tuned tomorrow for the Whole30 wrap-up post! SQUEEEEEEE! :D :D :D
I have a post planned in mind for tomorrow -- it's a little assignment that I got in my Whole30 Daily emails. But tonight? I have some mushy gushy stuff to get off my chest.
You. All of you. Every single one of you that has been following this since the beginning. I love you so, so much.
You've all been part of my motivation. I haven't wanted to let you all down.
You've been so stinkin' supportive, even when my posts were essentially me whining about how hard this was. Some of you have even called me inspirational, which completely and wholly blows my mind. I would never in a million years consider myself an inspiration, but the fact that any of you are reading this and gathering your own strength from it warms me to the core.
I just cannot put into words how awesome it feels to see that my blog posts have been read like, 60, 70, 80 times, or wake up to find a bunch of comments on the FB posts... knowing that you all are reading and want to help or encourage me really makes me feel good.
Most of you know that I've struggled with my weight for the majority of my life and for most of it I have felt outcast, judged, and disregarded because of it. I've come a long way, but I still have many strides to make and knowing that you're all really rooting for me makes me feel like people actually do care and do want to see me succeed. That alone is enough to keep me going when it gets hard.
I wish that I could thank and hug every single one of you in person. Some of you I haven't talked to in person in years, some of you I've never talked to in person EVER, and the fact that you're invested in my success is mind-boggling.
This is getting rambly again, so I'm going to try to make this short, but basically, there aren't enough words in the world (and trust me, I know a lot of words) to tell you all how much you are appreciated and how thankful I am to have you in my life, even if it's just in a small way. I only hope that I can return the favor someday.
And with that.... for the second to last time (and before I start crying)...
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two eggs sunny-side up, bacon, and an orange
Lunch: homemade egg salad, carrots, tomatoes, nuts, and a pickle
Dinner: two hot dogs with mustard, cucumbers, bell peppers, nuts, and a pickle. (I really like pickles.)
How I Feel:
Really tired. Still on my cycle, which is wearing me out, but I didn't have a great night's sleep last night. Woke up around 4:00am in the middle of a nightmare, woke Derek up and spent like 45 minutes crying myself back to sleep. I know. Awful. Anyway, I'm exhausted and am really looking forward to trying to get a good night's sleep tonight. Otherwise, as usual, my mood is pretty good and we still got a significant amount of stuff done today (including a Costco trip and all of our weekly prep work, plus packing our lunches for tomorrow), all in time for me to be on a conference call at 7:30. So, I guess that I will call it a win.
Stay tuned tomorrow for the Whole30 wrap-up post! SQUEEEEEEE! :D :D :D
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Whole30: Day 28 -- Preparing Ourselves for Freedom
Today was... well, an okay day. I'll get the TMI out of the way now -- my cycle has sidelined me, as it usually does, and I spent literally the majority of the day in bed. I have had a headache all day, and my energy level is hovering around the laugh-in-your-face-if-you-suggest-I-do-anything level. On one hand, this blows and I was hoping to be a little peppier and more upbeat at the end of our Whole30, but on the other hand... at least it'll be long gone by vacation week. Amen to that.
One of the things I'm kind of trying to brace myself for is all of the freedom that comes with being on a [slightly] less restrictive food plan. I was praising the fact that there are a lot more resources for Paleo recipes yesterday, but it's a little overwhelming. There is a lot more we can do, and that's a little scary, actually. It means that we can be more creative, which is awesome, but I have this nagging fear of falling off track since there's no clear-cut right or wrong. I mean, obviously, some things are definite 'no's no matter whose idea of the plan you look at, like processed junk or sugar or whatever, but I worry that without the defined "yes to this, no to that" guidelines we've had, we're more likely to slip. Or make exceptions for things. I mean, hell, I saw one explanation of Paleo that allows rice! Granted, they say it should only be used rarely, and that was definitely an outlier among all Paleo descriptions I've read, but how do we know we're doing the right one?
I was also really excited about being able to bake again -- being creative with baking is something I actually really enjoy, so despite the fact that some of the ingredients used to "paleoify" things are kind of offbeat, I am looking forward to testing them out. But... some of the recipes I am seeing are really, really decadent. Can I really eat this stuff? Part of me is doing a little jig inside because it means that I can still treat myself once in a while and stay on plan; the other part of me is flipping out that this just seems too good to be true.
I guess the only real way to go about this is treat it as trial and error. Just as I would with baking with new, "weird" ingredients, I'm sure we're going to find things that don't really work out. Our progress may stall, we may realize we need to tighten the reins a bit, and hopefully we'll be strong enough to move forward. That's a hard lesson for me to learn, though. I've quit every other program/plan/diet I've tried when it showed signs that it wasn't working. I can't let and don't want this to happen again.
Honestly, I think it's going to come down to to Tuesday. Tuesday is our first day off-plan, and it'll be the day we weigh ourselves for the first time in a month. I know that the premise of Whole30 is that it's not supposed to be about the number on the scale, but let's face it -- my number is a pretty high number and a lot of my physical and mental success rides on that number getting lower. If the scale shows that Whole30 has really worked for me, and that I have finally found something to defeat the PCOS demons and the emotional eating demons and the lazy habits demons, I think I'll be more likely to stick to it, or at least a very reasonable facsimile. But if I come out of this not losing as much as I would have hoped (or, worse, nothing at all), it's going to take a LOT of willpower and a LOT of help for me to keep pushing through it and not throw my hands in the air and give up for good.
Derek and I had been talking about what our weigh-in plans were going to be post-Whole30. We agreed that weighing in once a month is probably best because it'll take some of the emphasis off working towards a number, and place it firmly on just doing the right thing. But part of me wonders if monthly is a bad idea, because we won't have the instant gratification of knowing that what we were doing was working or was not working. Like, if I don't weigh myself again until the end of September, and I don't see much of a loss, how do I pinpoint what it was that went wrong, you know? I think it may be easier to do that if we're looking at it weekly. I dunno. I'm sure Derek and I will talk more about this, and we don't need to decide anytime soon. I want the monthly weigh-ins to be the way we go but I just don't know if I/we can go that long without feedback on ourselves.
Anyway, that's enough rambling for tonight. TWO MORE DAYS! WOOHOO!!
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two sunny-side-up eggs, bacon, watermelon
Lunch: some roastbeast beef, carrots, strawberries, nuts, and a couple pickle spears
Dinner: roasted chicken legs (we were going to have other chicken pieces but they were past their "we should eat this" date, lol) and a salad, and a post-dinner snack/dessert of banana with a little almond butter.
How I Feel:
Shitty. I am tired, in pain, and despite sleeping all day, can't wait to get back to bed. I know this isn't Whole30 related though, so I'm still okay. I'm in a good mood, I just don't want to DO anything. Usually this is the day that I feel the worst, so I should be okay tomorrow. If not, a healthy dose of ibuprofen should clear that right up! :D
Did I mention there's only two more days!??!
One of the things I'm kind of trying to brace myself for is all of the freedom that comes with being on a [slightly] less restrictive food plan. I was praising the fact that there are a lot more resources for Paleo recipes yesterday, but it's a little overwhelming. There is a lot more we can do, and that's a little scary, actually. It means that we can be more creative, which is awesome, but I have this nagging fear of falling off track since there's no clear-cut right or wrong. I mean, obviously, some things are definite 'no's no matter whose idea of the plan you look at, like processed junk or sugar or whatever, but I worry that without the defined "yes to this, no to that" guidelines we've had, we're more likely to slip. Or make exceptions for things. I mean, hell, I saw one explanation of Paleo that allows rice! Granted, they say it should only be used rarely, and that was definitely an outlier among all Paleo descriptions I've read, but how do we know we're doing the right one?
I was also really excited about being able to bake again -- being creative with baking is something I actually really enjoy, so despite the fact that some of the ingredients used to "paleoify" things are kind of offbeat, I am looking forward to testing them out. But... some of the recipes I am seeing are really, really decadent. Can I really eat this stuff? Part of me is doing a little jig inside because it means that I can still treat myself once in a while and stay on plan; the other part of me is flipping out that this just seems too good to be true.
I guess the only real way to go about this is treat it as trial and error. Just as I would with baking with new, "weird" ingredients, I'm sure we're going to find things that don't really work out. Our progress may stall, we may realize we need to tighten the reins a bit, and hopefully we'll be strong enough to move forward. That's a hard lesson for me to learn, though. I've quit every other program/plan/diet I've tried when it showed signs that it wasn't working. I can't let and don't want this to happen again.
Honestly, I think it's going to come down to to Tuesday. Tuesday is our first day off-plan, and it'll be the day we weigh ourselves for the first time in a month. I know that the premise of Whole30 is that it's not supposed to be about the number on the scale, but let's face it -- my number is a pretty high number and a lot of my physical and mental success rides on that number getting lower. If the scale shows that Whole30 has really worked for me, and that I have finally found something to defeat the PCOS demons and the emotional eating demons and the lazy habits demons, I think I'll be more likely to stick to it, or at least a very reasonable facsimile. But if I come out of this not losing as much as I would have hoped (or, worse, nothing at all), it's going to take a LOT of willpower and a LOT of help for me to keep pushing through it and not throw my hands in the air and give up for good.
Derek and I had been talking about what our weigh-in plans were going to be post-Whole30. We agreed that weighing in once a month is probably best because it'll take some of the emphasis off working towards a number, and place it firmly on just doing the right thing. But part of me wonders if monthly is a bad idea, because we won't have the instant gratification of knowing that what we were doing was working or was not working. Like, if I don't weigh myself again until the end of September, and I don't see much of a loss, how do I pinpoint what it was that went wrong, you know? I think it may be easier to do that if we're looking at it weekly. I dunno. I'm sure Derek and I will talk more about this, and we don't need to decide anytime soon. I want the monthly weigh-ins to be the way we go but I just don't know if I/we can go that long without feedback on ourselves.
Anyway, that's enough rambling for tonight. TWO MORE DAYS! WOOHOO!!
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two sunny-side-up eggs, bacon, watermelon
Lunch: some roast
Dinner: roasted chicken legs (we were going to have other chicken pieces but they were past their "we should eat this" date, lol) and a salad, and a post-dinner snack/dessert of banana with a little almond butter.
How I Feel:
Shitty. I am tired, in pain, and despite sleeping all day, can't wait to get back to bed. I know this isn't Whole30 related though, so I'm still okay. I'm in a good mood, I just don't want to DO anything. Usually this is the day that I feel the worst, so I should be okay tomorrow. If not, a healthy dose of ibuprofen should clear that right up! :D
Did I mention there's only two more days!??!
Friday, August 15, 2014
Whole30: Day 27 -- The Last Weekend
I can't believe we are so close to the end. It feels really real now. Like, we are actually going to do this. When I first told people that we were doing this, a lot of people were like "Whoa, really? 30 days? You can do that?" and I have to be honest, I wasn't always sure I could. But here we are!
The weekends have actually not been as challenging for us as we thought they'd be, so we're in smooth sailing now. We did our first meal plan tonight that includes non-Whole30 food (okay, it's still Paleo food but still!) and planned for our first "20" day. It feels surreal to know that I can have ketchup again soon, or that in 4 days I will remember what bread tastes like (*drool*). I. Can't. Wait.
You know what else makes me feel really great? Our credit card bill. We have one credit card that we use for all our expenses -- gas, groceries, etc. -- and then we pay it off every month. Well... let's just say that with eating out all the damn time, we were spending a LOT of money. Needlessly. So far, we're on track to save about $800 or more this month. Holy CRAP that's a lot of money. Again, I repeat -- if you think you can't do this because you can't afford to buy healthy food, you are very, very wrong. I don't think either of us really even realized how much we were spending on eating out, honestly. And I mean, that amount isn't necessarily all dinners out -- we've had some incidentals, like fixing my car, or vet emergencies, doctor appointments, etc. -- but still. We know where the money's going and now we can see that more of it is going to stay in our bank account. What is not to love about that?! As if I needed another reason to stick with this kind of eating, right?
I will say, though, that one thing that makes me nervous about Paleo is that the guidelines aren't quite as clear cut as they are with Whole30. With Whole30, there is a set of rules that were written out and explained by one entity, and they're very straightforward. For the most part, it's very easy to know or find out what is and isn't compliant. Paleo has a lot more gray area, though. Some people's Paleo thinking says you can have a little dairy, some say you can't have bacon (total non-starter in the Hackley house!), some say natural sweeteners, some say NO sweeteners, some say do what you want, just don't eat grains and artificial crap. It'll take a little time, I think, for me and Derek to settle on what will work best for us. Maybe it'll work best if we start with the most lenient Paleo plan and then hone it back to figure out what gives us the results we want. I mentioned before that I don't think either of us really have any sensitivities to specific categories of food, like dairy, soy, etc., so that may not be an issue for us. But, with PCOS, I know that my body can't really handle grains as well so it'll still probably be important for me to limit them as much as possible. It'll be a game of trial and error, but we will get there. One thing that's good about there being many schools of Paleo thought is that there are faaarrrrr more resources than there are for Whole30. More cookbooks, blogs, recipe sites, etc., meaning it'll be a lot harder for it to become stale and boring. And, of course, baked goods. I get to bake again. WOOT.
As with anything, I'm nervous because I don't have all the answers right now, and I want them, like, yesterday. I have a hard time accepting that I'll just have to figure things out as I go along, and patience has NEVER been my strong suit. It's part of the reason I've failed at all my previous weight loss attempts -- I might make a little progress, but it's not fast enough, or I have a small setback, so I give up because I haven't lost 100 pounds in 3 months. Get real, Sarah. I know it's unrealistic but I want to see results, and fast, because I feel like that's what will keep me going. Knowing it's working. I'll just have to work on my understanding that this will NOT happen overnight -- I didn't gain all this weight in a year, so I certainly won't LOSE it all that fast either. I'm just crossing my fingers that I've finally found the right path to walk down (read: walk, not sprint), and that I have the strength to keep walking when the path gets bumpy or splits.
With that, let's get to the nitty-gritty:
What I Ate:
Breakfast: I ruined the last two eggs we had trying to hard-boil them, and we have very little left in the house protein-wise, so I had cucumbers, an orange, some almonds and pecans.
Lunch: veggie beef soup, and the remainder of the cucumbers and tomatoes we had.
Dinner: Steak, potatoes, and prosciutto-wrapped asparagus. The asparagus was not my favorite (I'd never had prosciutto before and wanted to try it... way too salty for my tastes. Bleh.) but I suffered through half of it.
How I Feel:
Still exhausted. I did get a little bit of a nap today, but not as much as I wanted/needed. I'm cramping and kinda feeling awful in the lady department, so it was nice to just lay around today. Still in a great mood though. Cooked dinner for the hubs and had it [mostly] ready for him when he came home, which makes me feel like a rockstar (not in the set-my-gender-back-50-years sense, but in the he-had-a-long-day-and-he's-done-the-same-for-me sense).
Oh, forgot to mention. I made a doctor appointment for two Fridays from today for an annual physical. Mostly I just wanna see if Whole30 helped any of my bloodwork. None of my numbers were bad before, really, although my cholesterol levels needed a little work, so I'm anxious to see what will have become of them after eating good food for a change, ha! Also, I'm anxious to get in there and step on the scale and show her that I HAVE managed to lose some weight, even if it's only a little. Especially considering that I'd gained weight since the last time I went in there (haven't been to my primary care in a while but have had a billion other doctor visits and I kept watching the scale creep up). So... we'll see. I'm sure that will be the topic of a blog post! :)
Onward and upward!
The weekends have actually not been as challenging for us as we thought they'd be, so we're in smooth sailing now. We did our first meal plan tonight that includes non-Whole30 food (okay, it's still Paleo food but still!) and planned for our first "20" day. It feels surreal to know that I can have ketchup again soon, or that in 4 days I will remember what bread tastes like (*drool*). I. Can't. Wait.
You know what else makes me feel really great? Our credit card bill. We have one credit card that we use for all our expenses -- gas, groceries, etc. -- and then we pay it off every month. Well... let's just say that with eating out all the damn time, we were spending a LOT of money. Needlessly. So far, we're on track to save about $800 or more this month. Holy CRAP that's a lot of money. Again, I repeat -- if you think you can't do this because you can't afford to buy healthy food, you are very, very wrong. I don't think either of us really even realized how much we were spending on eating out, honestly. And I mean, that amount isn't necessarily all dinners out -- we've had some incidentals, like fixing my car, or vet emergencies, doctor appointments, etc. -- but still. We know where the money's going and now we can see that more of it is going to stay in our bank account. What is not to love about that?! As if I needed another reason to stick with this kind of eating, right?
I will say, though, that one thing that makes me nervous about Paleo is that the guidelines aren't quite as clear cut as they are with Whole30. With Whole30, there is a set of rules that were written out and explained by one entity, and they're very straightforward. For the most part, it's very easy to know or find out what is and isn't compliant. Paleo has a lot more gray area, though. Some people's Paleo thinking says you can have a little dairy, some say you can't have bacon (total non-starter in the Hackley house!), some say natural sweeteners, some say NO sweeteners, some say do what you want, just don't eat grains and artificial crap. It'll take a little time, I think, for me and Derek to settle on what will work best for us. Maybe it'll work best if we start with the most lenient Paleo plan and then hone it back to figure out what gives us the results we want. I mentioned before that I don't think either of us really have any sensitivities to specific categories of food, like dairy, soy, etc., so that may not be an issue for us. But, with PCOS, I know that my body can't really handle grains as well so it'll still probably be important for me to limit them as much as possible. It'll be a game of trial and error, but we will get there. One thing that's good about there being many schools of Paleo thought is that there are faaarrrrr more resources than there are for Whole30. More cookbooks, blogs, recipe sites, etc., meaning it'll be a lot harder for it to become stale and boring. And, of course, baked goods. I get to bake again. WOOT.
As with anything, I'm nervous because I don't have all the answers right now, and I want them, like, yesterday. I have a hard time accepting that I'll just have to figure things out as I go along, and patience has NEVER been my strong suit. It's part of the reason I've failed at all my previous weight loss attempts -- I might make a little progress, but it's not fast enough, or I have a small setback, so I give up because I haven't lost 100 pounds in 3 months. Get real, Sarah. I know it's unrealistic but I want to see results, and fast, because I feel like that's what will keep me going. Knowing it's working. I'll just have to work on my understanding that this will NOT happen overnight -- I didn't gain all this weight in a year, so I certainly won't LOSE it all that fast either. I'm just crossing my fingers that I've finally found the right path to walk down (read: walk, not sprint), and that I have the strength to keep walking when the path gets bumpy or splits.
With that, let's get to the nitty-gritty:
What I Ate:
Breakfast: I ruined the last two eggs we had trying to hard-boil them, and we have very little left in the house protein-wise, so I had cucumbers, an orange, some almonds and pecans.
Lunch: veggie beef soup, and the remainder of the cucumbers and tomatoes we had.
Dinner: Steak, potatoes, and prosciutto-wrapped asparagus. The asparagus was not my favorite (I'd never had prosciutto before and wanted to try it... way too salty for my tastes. Bleh.) but I suffered through half of it.
How I Feel:
Still exhausted. I did get a little bit of a nap today, but not as much as I wanted/needed. I'm cramping and kinda feeling awful in the lady department, so it was nice to just lay around today. Still in a great mood though. Cooked dinner for the hubs and had it [mostly] ready for him when he came home, which makes me feel like a rockstar (not in the set-my-gender-back-50-years sense, but in the he-had-a-long-day-and-he's-done-the-same-for-me sense).
Oh, forgot to mention. I made a doctor appointment for two Fridays from today for an annual physical. Mostly I just wanna see if Whole30 helped any of my bloodwork. None of my numbers were bad before, really, although my cholesterol levels needed a little work, so I'm anxious to see what will have become of them after eating good food for a change, ha! Also, I'm anxious to get in there and step on the scale and show her that I HAVE managed to lose some weight, even if it's only a little. Especially considering that I'd gained weight since the last time I went in there (haven't been to my primary care in a while but have had a billion other doctor visits and I kept watching the scale creep up). So... we'll see. I'm sure that will be the topic of a blog post! :)
Onward and upward!
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Whole30: Day 26 -- Losing Steam...
I know this is a terrible time for this to happen, but I'm kind of running out of steam this week. The end is SO close, and I'm SO excited about it, but this week I have been completely wiped out, with the worst of it being today. I can barely keep my eyes open and will probably hit the hay right after I'm finished with this post.
Which is exactly what I did last night.
I'm not exactly sure what's going on. I haven't changed anything. The only thing I can think of is that my cycle is about to start (sorry, TMI). I've never noticed such a gigantic swing in my energy levels around this time of the month before, so I'm not sure if that's it or not. We'll see.
I'm hanging in there, though. I don't have it in me to quit, especially with the end in sight.
Our first "20" day is going to be Tuesday, our first day off-plan. We didn't initially plan it this way, and were just going to treat ourselves to sandwiches from Wegmans for dinner, but my AWESOME coworkers want to go out to lunch next week to celebrate the end of Whole30, so it kind of makes more sense to just make it a 20 day. I think, though, that I'm still going to play it relatively safe because not only do I want to lose all the momentum I've had, but I don't think my digestive system can handle a whole lot of crap after 30 days of being super clean. So I'll probably get something relatively decent and just not stress about whether it's completely clean or not. Maybe I will splurge and get a bagel for breakfast. ;) (Confession: My mouth is watering at the thought of that bagel...)
I've also been thinking about what I'm going to do with my blog. I didn't start it specifically for Whole30, so I'm not going to END it after Whole30. But... the daily posts are not very sustainable, and I think that after I've finished the 30 days, they won't really be interesting anymore. So maybe I'll go back to doing what I had been doing before, and just post weekly. It'll give me more time to accumulate things to talk about so that each post doesn't end up like these last few have, where I kind of just ramble nonsensically about whatever pops into my brain. Kind of like I'm doing right now. And now. And... ;)
I kind of want to celebrate the end of Whole30, like, with a thing or event (and not food). Derek and I talked early on about treating ourselves to something we've wanted to purchase, but we never could figure out what we wanted. I guess I'll just have to give it some more thought. It would've been nice if I could like, treat myself to some new clothes, but I don't think I've dropped any sizes or anything so it would kind of just be a waste. I don't want to treat myself to the same stupid garbage-bag clothes I've already got. Boo.
Maybe I'll just wait and find something nice to treat myself with when we go to Myrtle Beach. I mean, I don't really have anything in mind to get down there either, but at least it'll be something new and different. I'll figure something out...
In the meantime...
What I Ate:
Breakfast: *shocker* two hard boiled eggs, nuts, orange, cucumbers
Lunch: *double shocker* veggie beef soup, tomatoes, carrots, watermelon
Dinner: turkey burger with tomato, onion, and mustard, pickles, and more cucumbers (yes, I did find it amusing that I ate both cucumbers AND pickles... but we're out of all the rest of the vegetables...)
How I Feel:
Flippin' exhausted. Still happy, still managed to be productive at work, but I am wiped. out. And I have the beginning of a headache. Awesommmmmme. Thankfully I'll get to sleep in a little bit tomorrow and I can take a nap when I'm off work. I was trying to think of something fun to do to get me out of the house but I can't really come up with anything. So... maybe I'll just sleep. Gloooooorious sleep.
4 days to go! :D
Which is exactly what I did last night.
I'm not exactly sure what's going on. I haven't changed anything. The only thing I can think of is that my cycle is about to start (sorry, TMI). I've never noticed such a gigantic swing in my energy levels around this time of the month before, so I'm not sure if that's it or not. We'll see.
I'm hanging in there, though. I don't have it in me to quit, especially with the end in sight.
Our first "20" day is going to be Tuesday, our first day off-plan. We didn't initially plan it this way, and were just going to treat ourselves to sandwiches from Wegmans for dinner, but my AWESOME coworkers want to go out to lunch next week to celebrate the end of Whole30, so it kind of makes more sense to just make it a 20 day. I think, though, that I'm still going to play it relatively safe because not only do I want to lose all the momentum I've had, but I don't think my digestive system can handle a whole lot of crap after 30 days of being super clean. So I'll probably get something relatively decent and just not stress about whether it's completely clean or not. Maybe I will splurge and get a bagel for breakfast. ;) (Confession: My mouth is watering at the thought of that bagel...)
I've also been thinking about what I'm going to do with my blog. I didn't start it specifically for Whole30, so I'm not going to END it after Whole30. But... the daily posts are not very sustainable, and I think that after I've finished the 30 days, they won't really be interesting anymore. So maybe I'll go back to doing what I had been doing before, and just post weekly. It'll give me more time to accumulate things to talk about so that each post doesn't end up like these last few have, where I kind of just ramble nonsensically about whatever pops into my brain. Kind of like I'm doing right now. And now. And... ;)
I kind of want to celebrate the end of Whole30, like, with a thing or event (and not food). Derek and I talked early on about treating ourselves to something we've wanted to purchase, but we never could figure out what we wanted. I guess I'll just have to give it some more thought. It would've been nice if I could like, treat myself to some new clothes, but I don't think I've dropped any sizes or anything so it would kind of just be a waste. I don't want to treat myself to the same stupid garbage-bag clothes I've already got. Boo.
Maybe I'll just wait and find something nice to treat myself with when we go to Myrtle Beach. I mean, I don't really have anything in mind to get down there either, but at least it'll be something new and different. I'll figure something out...
In the meantime...
What I Ate:
Breakfast: *shocker* two hard boiled eggs, nuts, orange, cucumbers
Lunch: *double shocker* veggie beef soup, tomatoes, carrots, watermelon
Dinner: turkey burger with tomato, onion, and mustard, pickles, and more cucumbers (yes, I did find it amusing that I ate both cucumbers AND pickles... but we're out of all the rest of the vegetables...)
How I Feel:
Flippin' exhausted. Still happy, still managed to be productive at work, but I am wiped. out. And I have the beginning of a headache. Awesommmmmme. Thankfully I'll get to sleep in a little bit tomorrow and I can take a nap when I'm off work. I was trying to think of something fun to do to get me out of the house but I can't really come up with anything. So... maybe I'll just sleep. Gloooooorious sleep.
4 days to go! :D
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Whole30: Day 25 -- Not a Great Day.
Well... Remember in the beginning when I told you that there's a period of time in the Whole30 time line called "Kill All The Things"? And how I must be weird because I didn't really experience that at all?
I think it's rearing it's ugly head. Otherwise people have been tremendous assclowns today. Which I'm not discounting, but...
It started with traffic. There was an accident on I-395 that blocked two lanes (of three). So even though I left earlier than usual, I got to work late. Awesome.
It was downhill from there. Had a meeting this morning and a woman in it kept asking the most inane questions in a really defensive, accusatory tone, which threw the meeting off track and the rest of us didn't get to hear everything we showed up to hear. That was annoying.
There was more, but it's mostly inconsequential now.
Oh, and I got a headache.
I mean, I guess it doesn't really count as a KATT day because I was actually still in a pretty good mood otherwise. But I am pretty tired today (didn't sleep well last night) and despite how optimistic I am and have been, and how comfortable with the frame of mind I'm in, I'm just really, really ready for the Whole30 to be over.
I think it's less about being frustrated with Whole30 and more just that I'm REALLY impatient and that I know the end is so close that I just want it to hurry up and get here. Kind of like Christmas. I get really excited about Christmas getting close that I want it to just hurry up and get here, but once it's here I'm like "Wait.. that's it? It's done? Now what?!" and life goes back to normal and you start waiting for it all over again.
Okay maybe that was a terrible analogy. Anyway, the bottom line is that I'm still in a good place with this, so I don't need you all to come to my rescue (although I know you would in a heartbeat because you're all wonderful people and I love you). What I really need is a good night's sleep. And a vacation. Both of which are coming soon, one of which not soon enough!
I'm sorry I don't have anything fun to talk about today! So how 'bout you all give me topics? Comment on the FB post this was in with questions you have for me about Whole30, or anything you want me to cover, and I'll cover them in at least one of the next 5 blog posts! No? Okay, humor me. I'm running out of ideas, here. ;)
On that note...
What I Ate: I bet at this point you could pretty much guess, no?
Breakfast: two hardboiled eggs, an orange, cucumbers, and nuts
Lunch: veggie beef soup, carrots, pepper strips, watermelon, tomatoes
Dinner: hot dogs, pepper strips, pickles, strawberries. (We really did not feel like cooking tonight!)
How I Feel:
Kind of like a truck hit me. I'm not really sure why I didn't sleep well last night but I have been markedly more tired today. I don't think it's a Whole30 thing. I think it's a chronic sleep deprivation thing. Hopefully I can catch up on sleep during my vacation and come back actually feeling rested? Ha. A likely story.
Otherwise, I think that my snappiness and crankiness today had less to do with Whole30 and everything to do with the fact that I encountered some really dumb/crabby/annoying people today. People who are healthy and eat clean can still have bad days, right?
And now, I am off to bed! FIVE MORE DAYS!
I think it's rearing it's ugly head. Otherwise people have been tremendous assclowns today. Which I'm not discounting, but...
It started with traffic. There was an accident on I-395 that blocked two lanes (of three). So even though I left earlier than usual, I got to work late. Awesome.
It was downhill from there. Had a meeting this morning and a woman in it kept asking the most inane questions in a really defensive, accusatory tone, which threw the meeting off track and the rest of us didn't get to hear everything we showed up to hear. That was annoying.
There was more, but it's mostly inconsequential now.
Oh, and I got a headache.
I mean, I guess it doesn't really count as a KATT day because I was actually still in a pretty good mood otherwise. But I am pretty tired today (didn't sleep well last night) and despite how optimistic I am and have been, and how comfortable with the frame of mind I'm in, I'm just really, really ready for the Whole30 to be over.
I think it's less about being frustrated with Whole30 and more just that I'm REALLY impatient and that I know the end is so close that I just want it to hurry up and get here. Kind of like Christmas. I get really excited about Christmas getting close that I want it to just hurry up and get here, but once it's here I'm like "Wait.. that's it? It's done? Now what?!" and life goes back to normal and you start waiting for it all over again.
Okay maybe that was a terrible analogy. Anyway, the bottom line is that I'm still in a good place with this, so I don't need you all to come to my rescue (although I know you would in a heartbeat because you're all wonderful people and I love you). What I really need is a good night's sleep. And a vacation. Both of which are coming soon, one of which not soon enough!
I'm sorry I don't have anything fun to talk about today! So how 'bout you all give me topics? Comment on the FB post this was in with questions you have for me about Whole30, or anything you want me to cover, and I'll cover them in at least one of the next 5 blog posts! No? Okay, humor me. I'm running out of ideas, here. ;)
On that note...
What I Ate: I bet at this point you could pretty much guess, no?
Breakfast: two hardboiled eggs, an orange, cucumbers, and nuts
Lunch: veggie beef soup, carrots, pepper strips, watermelon, tomatoes
Dinner: hot dogs, pepper strips, pickles, strawberries. (We really did not feel like cooking tonight!)
How I Feel:
Kind of like a truck hit me. I'm not really sure why I didn't sleep well last night but I have been markedly more tired today. I don't think it's a Whole30 thing. I think it's a chronic sleep deprivation thing. Hopefully I can catch up on sleep during my vacation and come back actually feeling rested? Ha. A likely story.
Otherwise, I think that my snappiness and crankiness today had less to do with Whole30 and everything to do with the fact that I encountered some really dumb/crabby/annoying people today. People who are healthy and eat clean can still have bad days, right?
And now, I am off to bed! FIVE MORE DAYS!
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Whole30: Day 24 -- The Trouble With Routines
Today was another good day in Whole30 land. Stayed compliant, didn't hate life, didn't want to nap all day. (Okay I kind of did but that's only because who WOULDN'T want to be at home in bed instead of at work!?)
We've created systems and found recipes we like and ways to cook that we like and things are becoming more rote. It's great.
But it's also getting boring. Sort of. I mean, I'm enjoying the food I eat every day, so that totally has to count for something. But my breakfasts have been the same every day for like 2 and a half weeks. My lunches have been about the same for a week (I really like this soup I made and I eat the same raw veggies every day). Dinners are tossed up a little but we're repeating recipes because we've found a few we really like.
I guess I shouldn't complain because like I said, I'm enjoying what I eat, and it's helped me get this far. We're almost done (perspective: this is the last Tuesday of our Whole30. What!?) and it's because I'm not aimlessly trying to figure out what I'm going to eat that I don't hate. I know what I like and I eat it.
But... routine is so... routine. So I think I'm going to spend some time this week finding some things to spice things up a bit. Maybe I'll try some new raw veggies to go with my lunch... I like radishes but I almost never have them, for example. And maybe I'll dig for some new dinner recipes to try... or other things to do for breakfast that won't make me feel like I'm going to turn into a hard-boiled egg.
I'm thankful that I'm in the place I'm in right now. Old Sarah would have bailed already because eating the same food over and over again is boring. (Note, however, that frequenting the same, say, three restaurants on a weekly basis is apparently not boring. Or not boring enough, anyway. Go figure.)
New Sarah is enjoying the taste of fresh, crisp veggies, even if I've eaten more cucumbers and baby carrots in the past 24 days than I had in the past 24 months. New Sarah loves that I'm eating much smaller portions of good food for dinner and not feeling like I'm going to bed starving. New Sarah loves that because I'm managing what I eat and how much of it I'm eating, I haven't thrown up dinner (a side effect of one of my medications) since we started W30. New Sarah loves that for the first time in a long time, we put our lunches together before we came upstairs tonight instead of scurrying to get it done in the morning.
I'm also becoming that girl. The girl who preaches to others about how awesome her plan is and how everyone should try it, etc. I've never really been that person. I've been open about what I've tried and what worked and hasn't, but I've never tried to convince anyone. I have this one coworker... she does Weight Watchers and she has had some success but has started to wane a little bit. She's been pretty interested in how I've been doing with W30 and asked me to send her links and tell her more about it. Her primary response is that she just COULDN'T give up sugar... and I made a comment to her today that made me sound like an old pro at this healthy eating thing -- I said, "That attitude, that you can't live without sugar and just could never give it up is EXACTLY why you should try Whole30." I think I stunned both of us into silence. I mean, I said it good-naturedly and everything; it wasn't any sort of attack or admonition or anything and she knew it (at least I hope)... but it struck me that Old Sarah would've been like "Yeah, girl, I know! I can't live without my bread!" As a matter of fact, that's pretty much exactly something Old Sarah said. I don't ever want to seem pushy to anyone (especially coworkers, cuz that's a touchy spot to be in), but I'm proud of myself for getting behind this enough to actually advocate for it as well as just being devoted to it personally.
I guess you could say I've come a long way, huh?
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two hard-boiled eggs, orange, cucumbers, nuts
Lunch: veggie beef soup, carrots, peppers, tomatoes
Dinner: homemade chicken nuggets with marinara sauce, pickles, tomatoes, nuts.
How I Feel:
Tired today. It was a rainy, nasty day here and I think that had a lot to do with it. I slept pretty well last night but I woke up a few times for some reason. I'm ready for bed tonight! Still in a pretty good mood, and proud of my accomplishments. Wishing I would see some progress in the disappearance of my acne cuz this shit's annoying. I'm 30, for Pete's sake. My skin wasn't this bad when I was 16!
Less than a week to go!
We've created systems and found recipes we like and ways to cook that we like and things are becoming more rote. It's great.
But it's also getting boring. Sort of. I mean, I'm enjoying the food I eat every day, so that totally has to count for something. But my breakfasts have been the same every day for like 2 and a half weeks. My lunches have been about the same for a week (I really like this soup I made and I eat the same raw veggies every day). Dinners are tossed up a little but we're repeating recipes because we've found a few we really like.
I guess I shouldn't complain because like I said, I'm enjoying what I eat, and it's helped me get this far. We're almost done (perspective: this is the last Tuesday of our Whole30. What!?) and it's because I'm not aimlessly trying to figure out what I'm going to eat that I don't hate. I know what I like and I eat it.
But... routine is so... routine. So I think I'm going to spend some time this week finding some things to spice things up a bit. Maybe I'll try some new raw veggies to go with my lunch... I like radishes but I almost never have them, for example. And maybe I'll dig for some new dinner recipes to try... or other things to do for breakfast that won't make me feel like I'm going to turn into a hard-boiled egg.
I'm thankful that I'm in the place I'm in right now. Old Sarah would have bailed already because eating the same food over and over again is boring. (Note, however, that frequenting the same, say, three restaurants on a weekly basis is apparently not boring. Or not boring enough, anyway. Go figure.)
New Sarah is enjoying the taste of fresh, crisp veggies, even if I've eaten more cucumbers and baby carrots in the past 24 days than I had in the past 24 months. New Sarah loves that I'm eating much smaller portions of good food for dinner and not feeling like I'm going to bed starving. New Sarah loves that because I'm managing what I eat and how much of it I'm eating, I haven't thrown up dinner (a side effect of one of my medications) since we started W30. New Sarah loves that for the first time in a long time, we put our lunches together before we came upstairs tonight instead of scurrying to get it done in the morning.
I'm also becoming that girl. The girl who preaches to others about how awesome her plan is and how everyone should try it, etc. I've never really been that person. I've been open about what I've tried and what worked and hasn't, but I've never tried to convince anyone. I have this one coworker... she does Weight Watchers and she has had some success but has started to wane a little bit. She's been pretty interested in how I've been doing with W30 and asked me to send her links and tell her more about it. Her primary response is that she just COULDN'T give up sugar... and I made a comment to her today that made me sound like an old pro at this healthy eating thing -- I said, "That attitude, that you can't live without sugar and just could never give it up is EXACTLY why you should try Whole30." I think I stunned both of us into silence. I mean, I said it good-naturedly and everything; it wasn't any sort of attack or admonition or anything and she knew it (at least I hope)... but it struck me that Old Sarah would've been like "Yeah, girl, I know! I can't live without my bread!" As a matter of fact, that's pretty much exactly something Old Sarah said. I don't ever want to seem pushy to anyone (especially coworkers, cuz that's a touchy spot to be in), but I'm proud of myself for getting behind this enough to actually advocate for it as well as just being devoted to it personally.
I guess you could say I've come a long way, huh?
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two hard-boiled eggs, orange, cucumbers, nuts
Lunch: veggie beef soup, carrots, peppers, tomatoes
Dinner: homemade chicken nuggets with marinara sauce, pickles, tomatoes, nuts.
How I Feel:
Tired today. It was a rainy, nasty day here and I think that had a lot to do with it. I slept pretty well last night but I woke up a few times for some reason. I'm ready for bed tonight! Still in a pretty good mood, and proud of my accomplishments. Wishing I would see some progress in the disappearance of my acne cuz this shit's annoying. I'm 30, for Pete's sake. My skin wasn't this bad when I was 16!
Less than a week to go!
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