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!
Monday, August 11, 2014
Whole30: Day 23 -- A Sad Day, Indeed
Tonight's post is dedicated to Robin Williams, who tragically passed today at the ripe young age of 63.
Now, let me preface this by saying that I don't usually get very worked up about celebrity deaths. Sure, it's a bummer, even more so when their lives end tragically due to drug use or something, but I don't know them. It's always felt like the kind of raw emotion that comes with grief should be reserved for, I don't know... fathers and grandparents and uncles and childhood friends.
But... Robin Williams. He's... legend. It seemed as though there was nothing he couldn't do. Everyone in my generation grew up with this bigger-than-life character that made it cool to be wickedly funny and act like a grown-up goofball. The generations before us got to know and love him as a comedian with impeccable timing, and a cute and charming alien. I implore you to find someone born in the 80s who didn't cackle maniacally while watching Mrs. Doubtfire. On repeat. Until the VHS broke. And then you'd just watch it when it was on cable. Even twenty years after its release, I still find myself quoting the movie, with a "HELLOOOOOOOOO!" here and a "It was a drive-by fruiting!" there.
Robin Williams brought every character he played to life. Not many actors are able to successfully transition from comedy to drama and back, but he did so effortlessly. Actors of this era are and will be hard-pressed to find themselves with a portfolio as varied and remarkable as Robin Williams.
I say all this to say that his death has hit me pretty hard. Robin Williams was always one of the untouchables, you know? He would live forever. He had to, right? Because who else would be Robin Williams when he wasn't? We need a Robin Williams in the world, and sadly, we don't have one anymore.
The circumstances of his death make it that much harder to bear. Reports are saying that cause of death was suicide by asphyxiation. I know firsthand what the depths of depression feel like, and it is no laughing matter. To think that such an outwardly vibrant, lively man was struggling with these kinds of demons is heartbreaking in and of itself; to think that he found death to be his only means of achieving peace even more so. I can only imagine the profound grief his family is experiencing right now and hope that they are able to find their own sense of peace someday. I hope that they know that the entire world is grieving with them right now.
Today, as I sit and reflect on my Whole30 experience for the day, I will remember the spirit of Robin Williams. I will remember that one of the greatest gifts we can share with one another is laughter, and realize that working hard to stay happy and healthy is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves. The past 23 days have set me firmly on that path and not only do I hope for many happy years ahead of me, but I look forward to sharing love and laughter with those around me for many many years to come.
I close with some words of wisdom from the late Mr. Williams himself:
Now, let me preface this by saying that I don't usually get very worked up about celebrity deaths. Sure, it's a bummer, even more so when their lives end tragically due to drug use or something, but I don't know them. It's always felt like the kind of raw emotion that comes with grief should be reserved for, I don't know... fathers and grandparents and uncles and childhood friends.
But... Robin Williams. He's... legend. It seemed as though there was nothing he couldn't do. Everyone in my generation grew up with this bigger-than-life character that made it cool to be wickedly funny and act like a grown-up goofball. The generations before us got to know and love him as a comedian with impeccable timing, and a cute and charming alien. I implore you to find someone born in the 80s who didn't cackle maniacally while watching Mrs. Doubtfire. On repeat. Until the VHS broke. And then you'd just watch it when it was on cable. Even twenty years after its release, I still find myself quoting the movie, with a "HELLOOOOOOOOO!" here and a "It was a drive-by fruiting!" there.
Robin Williams brought every character he played to life. Not many actors are able to successfully transition from comedy to drama and back, but he did so effortlessly. Actors of this era are and will be hard-pressed to find themselves with a portfolio as varied and remarkable as Robin Williams.
I say all this to say that his death has hit me pretty hard. Robin Williams was always one of the untouchables, you know? He would live forever. He had to, right? Because who else would be Robin Williams when he wasn't? We need a Robin Williams in the world, and sadly, we don't have one anymore.
The circumstances of his death make it that much harder to bear. Reports are saying that cause of death was suicide by asphyxiation. I know firsthand what the depths of depression feel like, and it is no laughing matter. To think that such an outwardly vibrant, lively man was struggling with these kinds of demons is heartbreaking in and of itself; to think that he found death to be his only means of achieving peace even more so. I can only imagine the profound grief his family is experiencing right now and hope that they are able to find their own sense of peace someday. I hope that they know that the entire world is grieving with them right now.
Today, as I sit and reflect on my Whole30 experience for the day, I will remember the spirit of Robin Williams. I will remember that one of the greatest gifts we can share with one another is laughter, and realize that working hard to stay happy and healthy is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves. The past 23 days have set me firmly on that path and not only do I hope for many happy years ahead of me, but I look forward to sharing love and laughter with those around me for many many years to come.
I close with some words of wisdom from the late Mr. Williams himself:
Robin McLaurin Williams
(1951-2014)
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two hard-boiled eggs, cucumbers, an orange, and some nuts
Lunch: veggie beef soup, bell pepper strips, carrots
Dinner: turkey burger sans bun, with mustard, onion, and tomato, some pickles, and some extra tomato slices.
How I Feel:
Other than kind of devastated... pretty good. I slept well last night and have had a fair amount of energy today. I am excited about how close to the end we are (One week from today we are FINISHED!) Hooray!
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Whole30: Day 22 -- Piece of (Figurative) Cake...
Not to toot our own horn, but Derek and I are pretty freakin' awesome.
Pre-Whole30, we'd make to-do lists for the weekends of the errands/chores/random tasks that needed to get done, and maaaaaaybe we'd do a couple of them. This usually led to us being stressed out and worn out by Sunday evening, and ill-prepared for the week ahead.
One thing we made a point to implement when we started Whole30 was our Sunday prep days. We'd long been in a pattern of spending tons of money on yummy groceries (namely produce) and having it go to waste because we never got around to prepping it to eat it, and it's too much work to slice up a cucumber in the morning before we leave for work. So, we do our grocery shopping on Saturday and all the prepping on Sunday.
As a result, all we have to do in the mornings to get ready to go is throw stuff in our bags and go. We have no excuse to skip lunch because it just has to be thrown together. And sometimes we've already even accomplished that.
I totally, totally recommend this to everyone, whether you're doing Whole30 or not. It's pretty much a lifesaver, and the amount of groceries we're throwing away at the end of the week has plummeted drastically. Pair that with lower grocery bills (this week was lower than our pre-Whole30 average! What the heck!?) and we can't afford NOT to do it this way.
Best of all, this has kind of become second nature. Initially we didn't love the idea because we thought it meant limiting our "fun" plans on Sundays so that we can get all of it done, but we haven't really had to spend that much time on it. It takes us less than an hour to get all the produce prepared, and any extra time is just if we're preparing any meals for the week ahead of time (like the super yummy soup I just made another big pot of to eat for the week).
We've also managed to throw in some other chores and errands, typically, which means we end the day pretty worn out but we've accomplished a lot.
Today, for example, we made breakfast and then drove up to Alexandria to take my momma grocery shopping. On our way back we stopped at Target to pick up a few things, then came home, made lunch, did food prep, cleaned up our dining room, and even had time to relax a while before starting dinner.
I've gotta say, even if the healthy eating doesn't stick around (which I'm sure it will), this habit is definitely not going anywhere. Who doesn't need to make their life easier?
On that note...
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two over-easy eggs and bacon (kinda skipped the fresh produce here.. whoopsie)
Lunch: hot dogs, pickles, carrots
Dinner: Beef vegetable soup, an orange, and some nuts.
How I Feel:
Right now? Worn out. We've had a long, productive day, and I am ready to hit the sack. However, my energy level throughout the day was pretty decent. Not perfect, but good. I'm still in Happy-Sarah mode, which I'm sure everyone that has to deal with me on a daily basis is thankful for, ha.
As we go into our last week on the program, I've gotta say I'm a little nervous. We've spent a lot of time talking about what our post-program plans are, and how we're going to keep ourselves sane but stay on track at the same time. It feels like we've got our bases covered and that we're making the right choices to enable ourselves to sustain this long-term. However... well... I've never succeeded with a healthy-eating plan before. I don't mean to sound negative at all, it's just a point of fact. I've tried many things, and I've failed at many things. I don't have a frame of reference for what it's like to sustain a healthy-eating lifestyle, so this is all uncharted territory for me. I am confident that we can do it but I'm trying to brace myself to have to come back to this blog in a few weeks/months with my tail between my legs and painfully admit that I've undone all my hard work and that I'm back at square one.
I think the difference this time is that we will have proven to ourselves that we can be a LOT stricter on ourselves than we need to be. Like, how hard will it be to keep up with an 80/20 plan when we succeeded at a much stricter plan for an entire month? And we did give ourselves a rule that if things start to get too out of hand, we'll do another Whole30 to get back to where we're supposed to be.
So maybe I don't have anything to worry about. Maybe. But if you've met me or know ANYTHING about me, you know I'm going to worry anyway. Sigh.
On to the next one!
Pre-Whole30, we'd make to-do lists for the weekends of the errands/chores/random tasks that needed to get done, and maaaaaaybe we'd do a couple of them. This usually led to us being stressed out and worn out by Sunday evening, and ill-prepared for the week ahead.
One thing we made a point to implement when we started Whole30 was our Sunday prep days. We'd long been in a pattern of spending tons of money on yummy groceries (namely produce) and having it go to waste because we never got around to prepping it to eat it, and it's too much work to slice up a cucumber in the morning before we leave for work. So, we do our grocery shopping on Saturday and all the prepping on Sunday.
As a result, all we have to do in the mornings to get ready to go is throw stuff in our bags and go. We have no excuse to skip lunch because it just has to be thrown together. And sometimes we've already even accomplished that.
I totally, totally recommend this to everyone, whether you're doing Whole30 or not. It's pretty much a lifesaver, and the amount of groceries we're throwing away at the end of the week has plummeted drastically. Pair that with lower grocery bills (this week was lower than our pre-Whole30 average! What the heck!?) and we can't afford NOT to do it this way.
Best of all, this has kind of become second nature. Initially we didn't love the idea because we thought it meant limiting our "fun" plans on Sundays so that we can get all of it done, but we haven't really had to spend that much time on it. It takes us less than an hour to get all the produce prepared, and any extra time is just if we're preparing any meals for the week ahead of time (like the super yummy soup I just made another big pot of to eat for the week).
We've also managed to throw in some other chores and errands, typically, which means we end the day pretty worn out but we've accomplished a lot.
Today, for example, we made breakfast and then drove up to Alexandria to take my momma grocery shopping. On our way back we stopped at Target to pick up a few things, then came home, made lunch, did food prep, cleaned up our dining room, and even had time to relax a while before starting dinner.
I've gotta say, even if the healthy eating doesn't stick around (which I'm sure it will), this habit is definitely not going anywhere. Who doesn't need to make their life easier?
On that note...
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two over-easy eggs and bacon (kinda skipped the fresh produce here.. whoopsie)
Lunch: hot dogs, pickles, carrots
Dinner: Beef vegetable soup, an orange, and some nuts.
How I Feel:
Right now? Worn out. We've had a long, productive day, and I am ready to hit the sack. However, my energy level throughout the day was pretty decent. Not perfect, but good. I'm still in Happy-Sarah mode, which I'm sure everyone that has to deal with me on a daily basis is thankful for, ha.
As we go into our last week on the program, I've gotta say I'm a little nervous. We've spent a lot of time talking about what our post-program plans are, and how we're going to keep ourselves sane but stay on track at the same time. It feels like we've got our bases covered and that we're making the right choices to enable ourselves to sustain this long-term. However... well... I've never succeeded with a healthy-eating plan before. I don't mean to sound negative at all, it's just a point of fact. I've tried many things, and I've failed at many things. I don't have a frame of reference for what it's like to sustain a healthy-eating lifestyle, so this is all uncharted territory for me. I am confident that we can do it but I'm trying to brace myself to have to come back to this blog in a few weeks/months with my tail between my legs and painfully admit that I've undone all my hard work and that I'm back at square one.
I think the difference this time is that we will have proven to ourselves that we can be a LOT stricter on ourselves than we need to be. Like, how hard will it be to keep up with an 80/20 plan when we succeeded at a much stricter plan for an entire month? And we did give ourselves a rule that if things start to get too out of hand, we'll do another Whole30 to get back to where we're supposed to be.
So maybe I don't have anything to worry about. Maybe. But if you've met me or know ANYTHING about me, you know I'm going to worry anyway. Sigh.
On to the next one!
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Whole30: Day 21 -- Three Weeks Down!
... and just one week and change to go!
Tonight's post is going to be short because we've had a long busy day and I'm ready for bed... I just didn't want to miss an update!
We had a productive day and I have had pretty high energy most of the day. Ask Derek; for a good chunk of time, I was positively bouncing off the walls. I was literally running around the house chasing a cat. I can't remember the last time I had that kind of energy. And it's not even just a matter of being more awake and alert (because I'm still struggling with that a little bit), but rather... I'm so happy.
For over a year now, maybe even closer to two, there has been a variety of physical/medical ailments that have sidelined me, specifically because no one knew what the hell they were and the anxiety was killing me. Between chest pains, dizziness, joint pain and chronic fatigue, with no firm diagnosis on any of them, I doubt any of you can blame me. Thankfully, everything except the fatigue has resolved itself or gotten significantly better, so things were looking up, and while I can't attribute this resolution to Whole30, what I can attribute to Whole30 is helping to lift this weight off of me (the figurative weight, of course) and helping me to just. be. happy.
I mean, obviously, life doesn't stop. Shitty things still happen, like Derek losing his job, for example, but I've been able to stay positive. I've been able to smile and look on the bright side and I can't recall a time in my life in which that has been the case. I always go to panic mode. It's kind of my default.
It's nice to just.. let go. And maybe this is kind of imagined; maybe this isn't Whole30 induced, or rather, maybe not in the way that it's supposed to be. Whatever is going on, I like it. And I think Derek is enjoying the "old" Sarah. I hope that post-Whole30 I can continue to embrace this joie de vivre. It's been a long time coming.
Without further ado....
What I Ate:
Breakfast: Two eggs (sunny side up!), bacon, watermelon
Lunch: veggie beef soup, nuts.
Dinner: At the in-laws' house! Derek's mom was happy to cook a compliant meal for us and it was delicious: salmon; a veggie stir-fry with onions, peppers, and yellow and green squash; green beans; broccoli and a handful of cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. And a couple of peach slices. So. Much. Food... but so delicious.
How I Feel:
I guess I pretty much covered that in the first part of the post. I could be imagining it but I think I feel a little less tired today. I did end up passing out for a short nap this afternoon, and I'm tired right now (but it IS after 11:00pm), but during my "waking" hours, I felt pretty awake. We'll see.
Hasta luego! <3
Friday, August 8, 2014
Whole30: Day 20 -- It's the Final Countdown....
Today's number starts with a 2! We're just about at single digits! WHEEEEEEEE!~!~!~!~
Today was a wonderful day. Woke up a little before 7:00 without my alarm (I work from home on Fridays, so I can sleep in, and since Derek is still enjoying his "vacation" until next week, he didn't have an alarm set either). Got work done, ate breakfast and lunch at home, went and ran a few errands, and then came home and relaxed before dinner.
I'm realizing that if nothing else sticks with Derek and I after Whole30 is said and done, we have learned one very, very, valuable habit that will keep us at least mostly successful. We've learned how to adapt our menu plan if something goes wrong/is missing/etc. without saying "fuck it" and going out. This has happened a few times during the past 20 days... whether we forgot to pick up something from the store, or something went bad too quickly, or hell, if we just changed our minds and weren't feeling the menu item we'd planned, we made do. We found something else in the house to eat, or adapted our plan to fit. Obviously right now we don't have much of a choice in the matter, but I think that we've learned to be comfortable enough with it to carry it over post-Whole30.
That's not to say that we'll never eat out, of course, but the hugest problem we had was boredom/laziness about cooking. I think it's safe to say we've grown out of that, and I've gotta say, I think this is the most valuable thing we're taking away from Whole30. Yes, I've learned that my body can survive without grains/sugar/dairy/etc., but that's not as important. Part of me is still sort of in "everything in moderation" mode. But we needed this to shock our system. And it has. And I am grateful.
I'm also learning a lot about willpower. The willpower that is required to walk down the grocery aisle that has all the crap you can't eat to get to the one item you need without adding extraneous things to the basket; the willpower that is required to say "no" when friends/family/coworkers invite you to eat out with them; the willpower that is required to cook when you'd really just rather order a pizza. I've never really had a lot of that, to be honest. Lord knows I've tried. This has been fairly easy because I went into it with the mindset of "it's only 30 days", which quickly changed to "dozens of people have witnessed my promise to complete this and I am NOT a promise-breaker", to "I don't want people to see me fail." That last one has kind of guided my entire life, so it's no surprise that it's kind of what I lean on when the fuck-it-order-pizza days rear their ugly heads.
I think I still have a lot to learn. I think that this battle is still going to be a difficult one, even post Whole30. Decades of bad habits don't get erased overnight. Or, well, over 30 days. And there will always be temptation. Unlike an alcoholic who can steer clear of complex social situations to avoid temptation to his vice, I can't avoid grocery stores or restaurants, or, well, eating. I have to learn a healthy relationship with food, and thankfully, I think I'm on the right path. I may never lose all the weight I need to lose, which is kind of a bummer, but if I can learn to treat my body the right way and physically feel good a good 80% percent of the time, I think I'll be okay.
And with that, the day's deets (and the photo that accompanied today's accomplishment email):
What I Ate:
Breakfast: scrambled eggs, bacon, strawberries, and sliced bell pepper strips
Lunch: two hamburger patties with tomato, onion, and mustard, and some pickles.
Dinner: a steak, roasted potatoes, and tomato wedges, with a handful of nuts earlier (while dinner was cooking).
How I Feel:
I may not be noticing a physical difference in how I feel, but I'm certainly noticing that my mood is better. I'm more upbeat and optimistic about things in general, and I don't feel quite as ho-hum. As I mentioned yesterday, I still feel like I have a lot of sleep to make up before I'll ever feel truly awake and alert, but I'll get there. I hope. I know that I'm doing my best to get there in terms of what I put in my body, so the rest will just have to come in time.
Derek's ankle is healing well (we'll find out for sure on the 21st, but he hasn't been in any pain) and we've had fairly mild weather lately, so I'm hoping to take some walks with him before it either gets swelteringly hot again (I think I made up that word), or before it gets too cold. In the DC Metro area, you can get both in one week, so...
That's what's up! See you tomorrow!
Today was a wonderful day. Woke up a little before 7:00 without my alarm (I work from home on Fridays, so I can sleep in, and since Derek is still enjoying his "vacation" until next week, he didn't have an alarm set either). Got work done, ate breakfast and lunch at home, went and ran a few errands, and then came home and relaxed before dinner.
I'm realizing that if nothing else sticks with Derek and I after Whole30 is said and done, we have learned one very, very, valuable habit that will keep us at least mostly successful. We've learned how to adapt our menu plan if something goes wrong/is missing/etc. without saying "fuck it" and going out. This has happened a few times during the past 20 days... whether we forgot to pick up something from the store, or something went bad too quickly, or hell, if we just changed our minds and weren't feeling the menu item we'd planned, we made do. We found something else in the house to eat, or adapted our plan to fit. Obviously right now we don't have much of a choice in the matter, but I think that we've learned to be comfortable enough with it to carry it over post-Whole30.
That's not to say that we'll never eat out, of course, but the hugest problem we had was boredom/laziness about cooking. I think it's safe to say we've grown out of that, and I've gotta say, I think this is the most valuable thing we're taking away from Whole30. Yes, I've learned that my body can survive without grains/sugar/dairy/etc., but that's not as important. Part of me is still sort of in "everything in moderation" mode. But we needed this to shock our system. And it has. And I am grateful.
I'm also learning a lot about willpower. The willpower that is required to walk down the grocery aisle that has all the crap you can't eat to get to the one item you need without adding extraneous things to the basket; the willpower that is required to say "no" when friends/family/coworkers invite you to eat out with them; the willpower that is required to cook when you'd really just rather order a pizza. I've never really had a lot of that, to be honest. Lord knows I've tried. This has been fairly easy because I went into it with the mindset of "it's only 30 days", which quickly changed to "dozens of people have witnessed my promise to complete this and I am NOT a promise-breaker", to "I don't want people to see me fail." That last one has kind of guided my entire life, so it's no surprise that it's kind of what I lean on when the fuck-it-order-pizza days rear their ugly heads.
I think I still have a lot to learn. I think that this battle is still going to be a difficult one, even post Whole30. Decades of bad habits don't get erased overnight. Or, well, over 30 days. And there will always be temptation. Unlike an alcoholic who can steer clear of complex social situations to avoid temptation to his vice, I can't avoid grocery stores or restaurants, or, well, eating. I have to learn a healthy relationship with food, and thankfully, I think I'm on the right path. I may never lose all the weight I need to lose, which is kind of a bummer, but if I can learn to treat my body the right way and physically feel good a good 80% percent of the time, I think I'll be okay.
And with that, the day's deets (and the photo that accompanied today's accomplishment email):
What I Ate:
Breakfast: scrambled eggs, bacon, strawberries, and sliced bell pepper strips
Lunch: two hamburger patties with tomato, onion, and mustard, and some pickles.
Dinner: a steak, roasted potatoes, and tomato wedges, with a handful of nuts earlier (while dinner was cooking).
How I Feel:
I may not be noticing a physical difference in how I feel, but I'm certainly noticing that my mood is better. I'm more upbeat and optimistic about things in general, and I don't feel quite as ho-hum. As I mentioned yesterday, I still feel like I have a lot of sleep to make up before I'll ever feel truly awake and alert, but I'll get there. I hope. I know that I'm doing my best to get there in terms of what I put in my body, so the rest will just have to come in time.
Derek's ankle is healing well (we'll find out for sure on the 21st, but he hasn't been in any pain) and we've had fairly mild weather lately, so I'm hoping to take some walks with him before it either gets swelteringly hot again (I think I made up that word), or before it gets too cold. In the DC Metro area, you can get both in one week, so...
That's what's up! See you tomorrow!
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Whole30: Day 19 -- Everything's Coming Up Milho---I Mean, Sarah
Another good day down in the Whole30 books. The eating and stuff has become pretty second nature now. It's still not exactly exciting, and there are still foods I miss, but it just seems natural now that my lunch includes at least 2 chopped/sliced/etc. raw veggies, and I'm actually not hating my hard-boiled eggs for breakfast anymore.
And, while we are definitely looking forward to being able to go "off plan" here and there after we're done with this, we've really learned some valuable lessons. The most important of which is that we ARE capable of cooking/eating at home every night, and taking lunch and breakfast to work. This was previously an entirely foreign concept for us. We'd buy bread and lunchmeat and cheese and veggies from the store to make sandwiches, but then say we didn't want sandwiches for lunch, so we'd buy something... and I dunno about Derek, but what did I end up buying? A freakin' sandwich. D'OH!
I did get a special surprise today, though. Derek had to come up to Arlington today to return his parking pass to the garage he used to park in, so afterward he came by where I work so we could have lunch together. Except... he forgot to bring his lunch with him. So, we bought lunch... BUT, we went to a salad place across the street from my office and got salads that were 100% compliant. I even called them beforehand to see what their balsamic vinaigrette was made with. It was great to spend a little time with mah boo in the middle of the day.
It's really exciting that we are SO close to the end. Our 3rd week is almost up, which means we're really coming up on the home stretch.
Is it weird that I think one of the biggest things I'm looking forward to is being able to weigh myself. One of the Whole30 rules, as I've mentioned, is that you can weigh yourself in the beginning and at the end, but not during, because this is not supposed to be about weight loss. Well, obviously, I love the idea of getting healthy and resetting my body, but let's face it, weight is an issue for me. So I'm very excited to see what, if any, progress I've made. I can't really tell if any of my clothing fits looser (I tend to wear things pretty loose anyway), and I can't visibly tell a difference... so I need to see that scale! (I know I'm totally violating the entire spirit of Whole30 here. Whoops. Back to the health thing, promise!)
SO, that's really all I've got for today, folks. Nothing big to report. See you tomorrow! :D Before I finish up though, this is the gem that was in my "Yay you finished Day 19!) email:
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two hard-boiled eggs, orange, nuts
Lunch: Salad with balsamic vinaigrette, carrots.
Dinner: Leftover soup, more nuts.
How I Feel:
Still in a great mood. A little more awake, maybe? The back pain I had yesterday has more or less worked itself out although some movements still cause me to yelp in pain. One thing I'm noticing, though, is that climbing up and down stairs isn't any easier for me (yet?). My knees and ankles hurt, still. I've still been taking my meds and it's still far better than it had been, but I was hoping for a big change in this area and still haven't seen it yet. Here's hoping.
One other thing I've noticed (that I'm not sure I've mentioned), is that I'm sleeping a bit better. Most of the time, pre-Whole30, I'd have a few great days of sleep followed by several nights of either not being able to GET to sleep, or not being able to STAY asleep. I'm not really having a problem with either of those now, which I'm appreciating greatly. I just still don't feel like I'm getting enough sleep. I did have a doctor mention that I may have a chronic sleep deficit, and that it's really going to take like, at least a week of sleep surplus to catch myself back up. Hah. If you can add a few more hours to the day, I'd be happy to try that. Otherwise, I don't think my boss would appreciate me rolling into work at like 11am every day because I needed to catch up on my shut-eye. I do try to sleep in more on weekends but we usually have at least a few things planned and I always feel like my day is wasted if I sleep too long. Not to mention that Derek gets up pretty early and I hate making him sit around and wait for me to get up before he can have breakfast or get his day started. And I already go to bed between 9-10pm so going earlier really isn't super possible.
So... all in all, I'm feeling good, but I'm waiting for the switch to flip to feeling GREAT! :)
Onward and upward!
And, while we are definitely looking forward to being able to go "off plan" here and there after we're done with this, we've really learned some valuable lessons. The most important of which is that we ARE capable of cooking/eating at home every night, and taking lunch and breakfast to work. This was previously an entirely foreign concept for us. We'd buy bread and lunchmeat and cheese and veggies from the store to make sandwiches, but then say we didn't want sandwiches for lunch, so we'd buy something... and I dunno about Derek, but what did I end up buying? A freakin' sandwich. D'OH!
I did get a special surprise today, though. Derek had to come up to Arlington today to return his parking pass to the garage he used to park in, so afterward he came by where I work so we could have lunch together. Except... he forgot to bring his lunch with him. So, we bought lunch... BUT, we went to a salad place across the street from my office and got salads that were 100% compliant. I even called them beforehand to see what their balsamic vinaigrette was made with. It was great to spend a little time with mah boo in the middle of the day.
It's really exciting that we are SO close to the end. Our 3rd week is almost up, which means we're really coming up on the home stretch.
Is it weird that I think one of the biggest things I'm looking forward to is being able to weigh myself. One of the Whole30 rules, as I've mentioned, is that you can weigh yourself in the beginning and at the end, but not during, because this is not supposed to be about weight loss. Well, obviously, I love the idea of getting healthy and resetting my body, but let's face it, weight is an issue for me. So I'm very excited to see what, if any, progress I've made. I can't really tell if any of my clothing fits looser (I tend to wear things pretty loose anyway), and I can't visibly tell a difference... so I need to see that scale! (I know I'm totally violating the entire spirit of Whole30 here. Whoops. Back to the health thing, promise!)
SO, that's really all I've got for today, folks. Nothing big to report. See you tomorrow! :D Before I finish up though, this is the gem that was in my "Yay you finished Day 19!) email:
Hah.
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two hard-boiled eggs, orange, nuts
Lunch: Salad with balsamic vinaigrette, carrots.
Dinner: Leftover soup, more nuts.
How I Feel:
Still in a great mood. A little more awake, maybe? The back pain I had yesterday has more or less worked itself out although some movements still cause me to yelp in pain. One thing I'm noticing, though, is that climbing up and down stairs isn't any easier for me (yet?). My knees and ankles hurt, still. I've still been taking my meds and it's still far better than it had been, but I was hoping for a big change in this area and still haven't seen it yet. Here's hoping.
One other thing I've noticed (that I'm not sure I've mentioned), is that I'm sleeping a bit better. Most of the time, pre-Whole30, I'd have a few great days of sleep followed by several nights of either not being able to GET to sleep, or not being able to STAY asleep. I'm not really having a problem with either of those now, which I'm appreciating greatly. I just still don't feel like I'm getting enough sleep. I did have a doctor mention that I may have a chronic sleep deficit, and that it's really going to take like, at least a week of sleep surplus to catch myself back up. Hah. If you can add a few more hours to the day, I'd be happy to try that. Otherwise, I don't think my boss would appreciate me rolling into work at like 11am every day because I needed to catch up on my shut-eye. I do try to sleep in more on weekends but we usually have at least a few things planned and I always feel like my day is wasted if I sleep too long. Not to mention that Derek gets up pretty early and I hate making him sit around and wait for me to get up before he can have breakfast or get his day started. And I already go to bed between 9-10pm so going earlier really isn't super possible.
So... all in all, I'm feeling good, but I'm waiting for the switch to flip to feeling GREAT! :)
Onward and upward!
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Whole30: Day 18 -- A REALLY Great Day!
Today was a fantastic day!
Well, mostly.
I was initially planning to telework today because there was going to be construction going on in our office, right outside of my cubicle. They warned us it would be loud so I was afraid it would trigger a migraine. I talked to my supervisor about it yesterday though and she reminded me that I had a meeting at 9:00am today that I had to be present for. Crud. So I came in.
Thankfully, it seemed like most of the loud work was done while I was in that meeting because the rest of the day was a little noisy but not terrible. I managed.
Also, sometime early this morning (after I got to work but before my 9:00am meeting), I stretched wrong or something and got a kink or a pulled muscle or something in my chest/back, and ever since, most movements hurt like hell. Turn my head to the left = ow. Feed myself = ow. Change my clothes = ow. Scratch my eyebrow = ow. Sit up straight = ow.
But then the REALLY good stuff happened.
You remember how last week I mentioned that we had gotten some pretty shitty news that I just wasn't ready to talk about?
Yeah. Well. That bad news was that Derek had lost his job. We were both panicked and worried about what we were going to do, obviously. We live comfortably right now and don't have any debt, and we have a decent savings account, but we do have some "frivolities" that we pay for that would have to be adjusted, not to mention that the longer without a job, the quicker the savings would dwindle.
Understandably, neither Derek or myself really wanted to talk about it with many people. We bonded together the way we always have and always do when things are tough, and we made a plan. We knew we'd be okay.
One of my fears, though, was what would happen to the Whole30. We weren't that far into it when this happened and I feared that the emotional stress would weaken our resolve. We have stuck with it though, not only because we dedicated ourselves to this 30 days, but also because we've proven it's cheaper for us to buy healthy food at the grocery store and actually eat it than it would be to maintain the lifestyle we had before of eating out 2-3 meals a day. And since suddenly we are pinching pennies...
But... here's where the good news comes in! Derek had a job interview today with this great company in DC (that I am very familiar with from my old job in commercial real estate), after having two phone interviews earlier in the week. Well... he had just gotten on the Metro to begin the trek home and had just finished texting me about how now it was time to play the waiting game, when they called him and offered him the job! Just 7 days of unemployment later, he has a job offer! He starts Monday! They've even approved him being off for our vacation (which is already paid for and is non-refundable...ack!)!
I told him he needed to write his old boss a seething thank you note and tell her that this was the best thing she could've done because not only did he get away from her, but this job not only pays more, but has a much better defined career path, and some AWESOME benefits. The only downside is that our commuting together is probably not going to work out the way we hoped, but it's well worth it. I am so proud of him... there are no words.
Because now... twice in these 30 days, Derek will have proven that when you set your mind to something, be it sticking with a diet plan or finding a new job (he literally put in over 70 applications over a week's span), if you try hard enough, and dedicate yourself to it, you will get it.
What a fuckin' great day!
Anyway, in Whole30 World, there's not a whole lot new to report. Soooooo...
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two hard-boiled eggs, an orange, nuts, and carrots
Lunch: two hot dogs with mustard, pickles, tomatoes, bell pepper strips and strawberries.
Dinner: leftover vegetable beef soup and some more nuts.
How I Feel:
Pretty great. Not only did we get some great news today, but I felt pretty great all day. I didn't fall asleep in the car on the way to work, and I didn't feel like a zombie all day. The only crappy part was the pulled muscle or whatever that I mentioned... it still hurts like a mofo. I had Derek rub my back after dinner but it didn't really help, and neither have the two doses of ibuprofen I had today. Here's hoping it works itself out cuz OUCH, dammit.
Well, mostly.
I was initially planning to telework today because there was going to be construction going on in our office, right outside of my cubicle. They warned us it would be loud so I was afraid it would trigger a migraine. I talked to my supervisor about it yesterday though and she reminded me that I had a meeting at 9:00am today that I had to be present for. Crud. So I came in.
Thankfully, it seemed like most of the loud work was done while I was in that meeting because the rest of the day was a little noisy but not terrible. I managed.
Also, sometime early this morning (after I got to work but before my 9:00am meeting), I stretched wrong or something and got a kink or a pulled muscle or something in my chest/back, and ever since, most movements hurt like hell. Turn my head to the left = ow. Feed myself = ow. Change my clothes = ow. Scratch my eyebrow = ow. Sit up straight = ow.
But then the REALLY good stuff happened.
You remember how last week I mentioned that we had gotten some pretty shitty news that I just wasn't ready to talk about?
Yeah. Well. That bad news was that Derek had lost his job. We were both panicked and worried about what we were going to do, obviously. We live comfortably right now and don't have any debt, and we have a decent savings account, but we do have some "frivolities" that we pay for that would have to be adjusted, not to mention that the longer without a job, the quicker the savings would dwindle.
Understandably, neither Derek or myself really wanted to talk about it with many people. We bonded together the way we always have and always do when things are tough, and we made a plan. We knew we'd be okay.
One of my fears, though, was what would happen to the Whole30. We weren't that far into it when this happened and I feared that the emotional stress would weaken our resolve. We have stuck with it though, not only because we dedicated ourselves to this 30 days, but also because we've proven it's cheaper for us to buy healthy food at the grocery store and actually eat it than it would be to maintain the lifestyle we had before of eating out 2-3 meals a day. And since suddenly we are pinching pennies...
But... here's where the good news comes in! Derek had a job interview today with this great company in DC (that I am very familiar with from my old job in commercial real estate), after having two phone interviews earlier in the week. Well... he had just gotten on the Metro to begin the trek home and had just finished texting me about how now it was time to play the waiting game, when they called him and offered him the job! Just 7 days of unemployment later, he has a job offer! He starts Monday! They've even approved him being off for our vacation (which is already paid for and is non-refundable...ack!)!
I told him he needed to write his old boss a seething thank you note and tell her that this was the best thing she could've done because not only did he get away from her, but this job not only pays more, but has a much better defined career path, and some AWESOME benefits. The only downside is that our commuting together is probably not going to work out the way we hoped, but it's well worth it. I am so proud of him... there are no words.
Because now... twice in these 30 days, Derek will have proven that when you set your mind to something, be it sticking with a diet plan or finding a new job (he literally put in over 70 applications over a week's span), if you try hard enough, and dedicate yourself to it, you will get it.
What a fuckin' great day!
Anyway, in Whole30 World, there's not a whole lot new to report. Soooooo...
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two hard-boiled eggs, an orange, nuts, and carrots
Lunch: two hot dogs with mustard, pickles, tomatoes, bell pepper strips and strawberries.
Dinner: leftover vegetable beef soup and some more nuts.
How I Feel:
Pretty great. Not only did we get some great news today, but I felt pretty great all day. I didn't fall asleep in the car on the way to work, and I didn't feel like a zombie all day. The only crappy part was the pulled muscle or whatever that I mentioned... it still hurts like a mofo. I had Derek rub my back after dinner but it didn't really help, and neither have the two doses of ibuprofen I had today. Here's hoping it works itself out cuz OUCH, dammit.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Whole30: Day 17 -- Another [Recipe] Bites the Dust...
Today was a very good day. Despite being sleepy this morning and barely winning the battle to stay awake on the drive into work, I've been pretty perky today.
I'm getting pretty excited about our vacation in September. Derek and I are going to Myrtle Beach for a week! Excluding our honeymoon, it's the first real vacation we've taken together since like 2011 when we took a week off together and spent half of it in Atlantic City. We did take a road trip to Cape May, NJ for a few days in March of this year for our anniversary, but it was so cold (and off-season) that we couldn't do much, and we ended up cutting the trip short because we were in the path of a big ol' snowstorm.
So, I'm really excited about this. Derek has never been, and I haven't been in a VERY long time.. somewhere around a decade ago, when we went for a sorority conference thingie (oh man, I am so old... how was that a DECADE ago!?)
Anyway, I'm a planner by nature, especially when I'm excited, so today when I had a little free time I started researching restaurants, naturally. Our plan for the week is to essentially be off-plan. We've made a deal with ourselves that we're not going to go absolutely batshit crazy with our food choices, but we're not going to stress about whether everything is "on plan", and we are going to enjoy foods we want to eat. We don't travel much, and we want to try some new things while we're in a new place. We want to allow ourselves to drink a little bit (and I do mean a little bit -- I'm not really much of a drinker anyway but I have medications to consider) and basically, just not have the words "paleo", "plan", "compliant" or "coconut oil" ever enter our minds, lol.
I found a decent list of restaurants to try, including a breakfast place that sounds like it is to DIE for (seriously, we want to go now!), and all of the restaurants we picked are places we couldn't go around here, and have at least a few menu items we can't get here.
That being said, I do fully realize that after over a month of clean eating, our bodies will not be able to handle the massive influx of shit food that it will be introduced to, so I will try to temper our selections at least a little bit. We are planning to bring some healthy snacks with us to nosh on between meals, and for me, at least, I am not going back to drinking soda. I will allow myself a coffee (with creamer and sugar/substitute), perhaps, but only because I know I can live without coffee. Soda is a slippery fucking slope. So otherwise, just water. And perhaps a daiquiri or three. ;)
Anyway, forget all that nonsense for now. Today was a good day. I hope tomorrow is a good day. We will be having construction going on in our office tomorrow starting at 8:00am, and it is happening literally like 20 feet away from my desk. Our boss gave us the option of teleworking, but I have a meeting in the morning that I can't miss. I'm expecting to end tomorrow with a splitting headache. But hopefully I'll be happy in the meantime!
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two hardboiled eggs, carrots, nuts. (Was going to eat an orange but it wasn't...good.)
Lunch: two hot dogs with a little mustard, a couple of pickles, cucumbers, more carrots, and a nectarine.
Dinner: Derek made this recipe we found on Nom Nom Paleo for Asian chicken thighs. It involved some kind of weird marinade that looked funny but the ingredients sounded okay, so I let him go for it. The recipe said to cook it in the oven but Derek wanted to grill them, and I think maybe they were a little too grilled, heh. The flavor just wasn't my favorite, and the charred bits didn't help. I think I'm just weird, because Derek really enjoyed them, though. So anyway, I had one of these thighs and a handful of cut up bell pepper strips. And some nuts.
How I Feel:
Aside from being sleepy, I feel great. I'm in a great mood, I'm feeling pretty motivated, and overall, just... good. My "innards" have felt pretty good today, which is wonderful, and I'm feeling optimistic about the next couple weeks. Hooray!
I'm getting pretty excited about our vacation in September. Derek and I are going to Myrtle Beach for a week! Excluding our honeymoon, it's the first real vacation we've taken together since like 2011 when we took a week off together and spent half of it in Atlantic City. We did take a road trip to Cape May, NJ for a few days in March of this year for our anniversary, but it was so cold (and off-season) that we couldn't do much, and we ended up cutting the trip short because we were in the path of a big ol' snowstorm.
So, I'm really excited about this. Derek has never been, and I haven't been in a VERY long time.. somewhere around a decade ago, when we went for a sorority conference thingie (oh man, I am so old... how was that a DECADE ago!?)
Anyway, I'm a planner by nature, especially when I'm excited, so today when I had a little free time I started researching restaurants, naturally. Our plan for the week is to essentially be off-plan. We've made a deal with ourselves that we're not going to go absolutely batshit crazy with our food choices, but we're not going to stress about whether everything is "on plan", and we are going to enjoy foods we want to eat. We don't travel much, and we want to try some new things while we're in a new place. We want to allow ourselves to drink a little bit (and I do mean a little bit -- I'm not really much of a drinker anyway but I have medications to consider) and basically, just not have the words "paleo", "plan", "compliant" or "coconut oil" ever enter our minds, lol.
I found a decent list of restaurants to try, including a breakfast place that sounds like it is to DIE for (seriously, we want to go now!), and all of the restaurants we picked are places we couldn't go around here, and have at least a few menu items we can't get here.
That being said, I do fully realize that after over a month of clean eating, our bodies will not be able to handle the massive influx of shit food that it will be introduced to, so I will try to temper our selections at least a little bit. We are planning to bring some healthy snacks with us to nosh on between meals, and for me, at least, I am not going back to drinking soda. I will allow myself a coffee (with creamer and sugar/substitute), perhaps, but only because I know I can live without coffee. Soda is a slippery fucking slope. So otherwise, just water. And perhaps a daiquiri or three. ;)
Anyway, forget all that nonsense for now. Today was a good day. I hope tomorrow is a good day. We will be having construction going on in our office tomorrow starting at 8:00am, and it is happening literally like 20 feet away from my desk. Our boss gave us the option of teleworking, but I have a meeting in the morning that I can't miss. I'm expecting to end tomorrow with a splitting headache. But hopefully I'll be happy in the meantime!
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two hardboiled eggs, carrots, nuts. (Was going to eat an orange but it wasn't...good.)
Lunch: two hot dogs with a little mustard, a couple of pickles, cucumbers, more carrots, and a nectarine.
Dinner: Derek made this recipe we found on Nom Nom Paleo for Asian chicken thighs. It involved some kind of weird marinade that looked funny but the ingredients sounded okay, so I let him go for it. The recipe said to cook it in the oven but Derek wanted to grill them, and I think maybe they were a little too grilled, heh. The flavor just wasn't my favorite, and the charred bits didn't help. I think I'm just weird, because Derek really enjoyed them, though. So anyway, I had one of these thighs and a handful of cut up bell pepper strips. And some nuts.
How I Feel:
Aside from being sleepy, I feel great. I'm in a great mood, I'm feeling pretty motivated, and overall, just... good. My "innards" have felt pretty good today, which is wonderful, and I'm feeling optimistic about the next couple weeks. Hooray!
Monday, August 4, 2014
Whole30: Day 16 -- Giving Up....
.... on pasta substitutes.
HAHA, fooled you! Me? Give up!?! When I'm SO CLOSE TO THE END!? NEVAH!
Derek and I attempted spaghetti squash tonight. If you recall, we made zucchini noodles with meat sauce in week one and it was... a failure. I actually didn't mind them at first but was not really excited to make them again. (Also, the meat sauce sucked.)
I love me a good 'sketti and meat sauce, so after the suggestion of some friends, I thought I'd give spaghetti squash a shot. I'd only had it very small quantity before and it was served as a side dish with like, cinnamon and sugar, so it wasn't really very savory at all and wasn't mixed with any kind of sauce. Basically, I had no idea what to expect from this. I was daunted by the prospect of the work involved in roasting it and shredding it, too.
Well, the roasting was time-consuming but at least it was kinda a "set it and forget it" dealie. And I discovered that getting the shreds out was really not that difficult.
But... we failed. I don't know what exactly went wrong, but my assumption is that we roasted it too long, because it wasn't the bright vibrant yellow color I was expecting, and it wasn't "spaghetti-ing" -- it looked almost more like rice. Mushy rice. It kind of tasted okay, from the little bites I took while I was scraping the guts out, so I figured we'd proceed as planned.
For the sauce, we kept it simple. The last recipe we used called for beef and pork, and I am not much of a pork eater so that was only 'meh' for me. The seasonings were rather mild (even though I ended up adding more of my own later). Basically... it was boring. It was not bad, just... blah.
This time, we kept it simple (which is good because we were running low on time) -- we browned some meat and added it to a good, yummy [compliant] store-bought sauce. We've had this sauce before and know we like it. The ingredients are all pronounceable and Whole30- approved so we didn't feel too bad about it.
"Noodles" = pretty okay. Sauce = yum. Put them together? Tomato-y beef mush.
So... I give up. Any further pasta cravings (which honestly don't happen all too often) will have to wait for a post-Whole30 '20' day, cuz I'm totally dunzo.
In other news... I had a pretty great day. Work went well, I'm feeling decent, and despite the dinner hiccup, everything went as planned. I'm gonna call it a win! :)
What I Ate:
Breakfast: Two hard-boiled eggs, carrots, orange, nuts
Lunch: Yummalicious homemade beef vegetable soup, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, watermelon
Dinner: Fail-tastic spaghetti squash with meat sauce. Blecch.
How I Feel:
Pretty ding dang dong good. I still have the sleepiness in my eyes, which I'm beginning to think just will never go away, but my energy level is not horrible. I didn't fall asleep in the car driving to work this morning (which is important because I was driving!), which is good, and kind of atypical for me. I jammed out to music and sang at the top of my lungs with the windows rolled down on the way home from work, which is one of my favorite summer pastimes. I'm in a good mood. I'm also ready to curl up in bed and crochet until I konk the heck out. (Oh yeah -- I forgot to mention... I started a new project. I've always wanted to crochet a blanket but my lack of attention span gets the best of me so I always end up with essentially a really long, skinny, scarf, and then I forget about. I decided to try again and hope for the best -- cross your fingers! It's not going to be fancy, but with any luck, it will be done and usable!)
How are YOU doing today? :)
HAHA, fooled you! Me? Give up!?! When I'm SO CLOSE TO THE END!? NEVAH!
Derek and I attempted spaghetti squash tonight. If you recall, we made zucchini noodles with meat sauce in week one and it was... a failure. I actually didn't mind them at first but was not really excited to make them again. (Also, the meat sauce sucked.)
I love me a good 'sketti and meat sauce, so after the suggestion of some friends, I thought I'd give spaghetti squash a shot. I'd only had it very small quantity before and it was served as a side dish with like, cinnamon and sugar, so it wasn't really very savory at all and wasn't mixed with any kind of sauce. Basically, I had no idea what to expect from this. I was daunted by the prospect of the work involved in roasting it and shredding it, too.
Well, the roasting was time-consuming but at least it was kinda a "set it and forget it" dealie. And I discovered that getting the shreds out was really not that difficult.
But... we failed. I don't know what exactly went wrong, but my assumption is that we roasted it too long, because it wasn't the bright vibrant yellow color I was expecting, and it wasn't "spaghetti-ing" -- it looked almost more like rice. Mushy rice. It kind of tasted okay, from the little bites I took while I was scraping the guts out, so I figured we'd proceed as planned.
For the sauce, we kept it simple. The last recipe we used called for beef and pork, and I am not much of a pork eater so that was only 'meh' for me. The seasonings were rather mild (even though I ended up adding more of my own later). Basically... it was boring. It was not bad, just... blah.
This time, we kept it simple (which is good because we were running low on time) -- we browned some meat and added it to a good, yummy [compliant] store-bought sauce. We've had this sauce before and know we like it. The ingredients are all pronounceable and Whole30- approved so we didn't feel too bad about it.
"Noodles" = pretty okay. Sauce = yum. Put them together? Tomato-y beef mush.
So... I give up. Any further pasta cravings (which honestly don't happen all too often) will have to wait for a post-Whole30 '20' day, cuz I'm totally dunzo.
In other news... I had a pretty great day. Work went well, I'm feeling decent, and despite the dinner hiccup, everything went as planned. I'm gonna call it a win! :)
What I Ate:
Breakfast: Two hard-boiled eggs, carrots, orange, nuts
Lunch: Yummalicious homemade beef vegetable soup, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, watermelon
Dinner: Fail-tastic spaghetti squash with meat sauce. Blecch.
How I Feel:
Pretty ding dang dong good. I still have the sleepiness in my eyes, which I'm beginning to think just will never go away, but my energy level is not horrible. I didn't fall asleep in the car driving to work this morning (which is important because I was driving!), which is good, and kind of atypical for me. I jammed out to music and sang at the top of my lungs with the windows rolled down on the way home from work, which is one of my favorite summer pastimes. I'm in a good mood. I'm also ready to curl up in bed and crochet until I konk the heck out. (Oh yeah -- I forgot to mention... I started a new project. I've always wanted to crochet a blanket but my lack of attention span gets the best of me so I always end up with essentially a really long, skinny, scarf, and then I forget about. I decided to try again and hope for the best -- cross your fingers! It's not going to be fancy, but with any luck, it will be done and usable!)
How are YOU doing today? :)
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Whole30: Day 15 -- We'll Make it, I Swear...
Tonight, I want to talk about progress.
Derek and I have been talking a bit today about how we've really got the hang of this (maybe him moreso than I). I think we're finally finding our groove of finding meals that we simultaneously can and want to eat.
It's been easier to focus on staying compliant, because the end is getting nearer. We see it, and we both actually believe we will get there. So, while we may yearn for a good crusty piece of bread, we know that eventually, we'll get to have it. So for now we'll just keep trucking with our endless supply of protein and veggies.
Also, yesterday when we went grocery shopping, we got everything we needed for the week for approximately the same amount we had been spending per week pre-Whole30. The couple weeks prior, we had spent around $50-60 more per trip! Obviously, our first instinct was to freak out at how sustainable spending upwards of $200 extra per month on groceries was going to be, but when you factor in that we were easily spending WAY more than $50-60 a week on eating out, we're still actually ahead of the game and saving money. If we can keep up this week's total, we'll be saving even more. I think that's pretty awesome, and it just goes to show that despite the fact that everyone thinks that eating healthy is so much more expensive... it's actually not the case. I mean, sure, grass-fed beef is more expensive than conventional, and I don't even want to TALK about the prices of like, condiments and lunch meat and oils and things like that, but you don't buy those every week, and you shape your meal plan around what you already have on hand. Easy peasy. Also, I don't know how other stores work this out, but at Wegmans, a lot of the organic produce is really comparable in price to the conventionally-grown. Some of it is still a fair bit more, but not everything has to be bought organic (in case you were wondering, the general rule of thumb is that if you peel it or otherwise take the skin off before you eat it, it doesn't need to be organic!).
Obviously, these two things combined are making me feel much better about our path post-Whole30. I'm still eagerly awaiting our first "20" day, but at the very least I'm confident (for now, hahaha) that this is for real our new lifestyle and not just something we'll try and then forget about.
Anyway, today was our food prep day and I am proud of us because not only did we stick to it and prepare everything we truly needed to prepare, but we did it and still had time to relax/play/nap. Our dishwasher has been run more in the past week than it had been in months, and we've handwashed cutting boards, knives, and the cast iron skillet more times today than I can count, but it feels awesome to have so much to point to that we accomplished!
So, there. In other news, we ate some yummy food today and without realizing it, kind of subscribed to the long-touted idea of "breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper". The deets:
What I Ate:
Breakfast: We made home fries! From scratch! They took a while to make but were TOTALLY worth it and were absolutely delicious! We had them with over-easy eggs (a first for Derek) and bacon. Honestly, this is probably my favoritest meal we've had on Whole30. It wasn't too different from something we would've made ourselves or ordered somewhere, but we could feel good about it. It was all compliant! We also threw in some fruit at the end for good measure. As this was a bit "decadent", though, and time-consuming, this probably won't be a weekly occurrence. Maybe every couple weeks/month.
Lunch: mostly the same as yesterday -- compliant hot dogs with mustard, carrots and a little guacamole, and I had a couple pickles. I love me some pickles...
Dinner: Scallops, green beans, and a nectarine.
How I Feel:
Productive. Accomplished. A little triumphant. We made it HALFWAY! We have literally completed an entire half of our Whole30. I remember a couple years ago, after a lifetime of eschewing restrictive diets, Derek convinced me to try the South Beach Diet with him. He'd had some success on it and since he'd tried doing WeightWatchers with me (with little success for either of us), I agreed to try SBD. I don't know if you're familiar with it but for the first two weeks, you're in "Phase 1", which is super-restrictive and doesn't allow any fruit, dairy, grains, white potatoes, and essentially, no carbs, period. I think we made it through both weeks, and I lost a decent chunk of weight -- maybe like 7 or 8 pounds -- but I was so CRANKY and unsatisfied and HUNGRY that while you're SUPPOSED to move from Phase 1 to Phase 2, which is markedly less restrictive and allows back some of the forbidden foods... I don't think we even bothered.
I used this as proof that me and diets that tell me "no" just do not work. As I mentioned before, the first time I heard about Whole30 was when my friend mentioned that she was trying it and I swore up and down that it couldn't be any good because nothing can work if it's so restrictive, blah blah. I felt the same about Paleo. I guess I needed to read into it more? Anyway, I finally "gave in" because I feel like I'm running out of options, and wasn't at all confident that I could pull it off. But here I am. I'm at the peak of the huge mountain this forced me to climb, and it's all smooth sailing to the finish line from here. This is honestly a really proud moment for me, so I can only imagine how I will feel in another 15 days! Hah!
We're still trying to figure out how to celebrate completing the entire 30 days. We definitely don't want to celebrate with food (although we will be having an off-plan day sometime during our week post-completion), and we're not exactly rolling in money right now so don't want something too exorbitant, but I think it should be special. Any thoughts, friends?
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Whole30: Day 14 -- Smooth Sailing!
We FINALLY did it. We finally had an entire day of meals that I enjoyed and that did not make me want to starve myself instead!
Granted, on the surface, today's meals seem a little suspect, but they were all compliant and all reasonable, I promise!
We had a good day otherwise, too. Got out of the house a bit; took the kitties to the vet for their semi-annual checkup, went to Target (to buy school supplies because in Virginia this weekend, school supply purchases are tax-free.), bought groceries.... then came home, made lunch, hung out for a while, picked up the kitties from the vet (they were not happy campers), and made dinner. Busy day but I don't feel super spent or anything, although I'd love a nap.
One of the things I've started to wonder about is what I will do if this Whole30 thing doesn't do a whole lot for me. I mean, I'm almost positive I have or will have lost SOME weight, if not a significant amount, but what about all the other stuff it's supposed to make better, you know? Like, I know we're only half-way through it, but I'm still tired, don't feel like I have boundless energy, and am not noticing many other physical changes. We have time, so I'm not ruling anything out, but like I said, I've been wondering about what happens if nothing happens.
Honestly, I don't know that a whole lot will change. I think we'll still stick with the 80/20 Paleo if for no other reason than it keeps some structure in our life and I think that that's our primary necessity for continuing to lose weight. If it means that we can be a little less strict because we don't have sensitivities to legumes or soy or whatever the case may be, so be it, but despite my previous rants and gripes, I'm pleased with the choices we've been making and I have no desire to jump completely off the wagon. Maybe just... dangle a toe off of it once in a while. ;)
Other than that, no new "poop 'n scoop", as my mom always says. Here's the skinny on what we ate today!
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two scrambled eggs, bacon (YAY!) and an orange
Lunch: two compliant hot dogs (who would've thunk -- but they were delicious!), carrots, and a couple pickles
Dinner: homemade chicken nuggets with marinara sauce and green beans. Thinkin I might have some fruit for dessert. :) In the win column, we used coconut oil tonight for the first time, and I am happy to report that my fears of having everything I eat taste like coconut were wholly unfounded. HOORAY.
How I Feel:
Accomplished. Productive. Sleepy. Still can't shake it. We got up early this morning though to drop off the cats... so, well... maybe that's it? Otherwise, nothing majorly new and different and exciting. Yet. Fingers crossed?
TOMORROW: We are HALFWAY THERE *cue Bon Jovi*
Granted, on the surface, today's meals seem a little suspect, but they were all compliant and all reasonable, I promise!
We had a good day otherwise, too. Got out of the house a bit; took the kitties to the vet for their semi-annual checkup, went to Target (to buy school supplies because in Virginia this weekend, school supply purchases are tax-free.), bought groceries.... then came home, made lunch, hung out for a while, picked up the kitties from the vet (they were not happy campers), and made dinner. Busy day but I don't feel super spent or anything, although I'd love a nap.
One of the things I've started to wonder about is what I will do if this Whole30 thing doesn't do a whole lot for me. I mean, I'm almost positive I have or will have lost SOME weight, if not a significant amount, but what about all the other stuff it's supposed to make better, you know? Like, I know we're only half-way through it, but I'm still tired, don't feel like I have boundless energy, and am not noticing many other physical changes. We have time, so I'm not ruling anything out, but like I said, I've been wondering about what happens if nothing happens.
Honestly, I don't know that a whole lot will change. I think we'll still stick with the 80/20 Paleo if for no other reason than it keeps some structure in our life and I think that that's our primary necessity for continuing to lose weight. If it means that we can be a little less strict because we don't have sensitivities to legumes or soy or whatever the case may be, so be it, but despite my previous rants and gripes, I'm pleased with the choices we've been making and I have no desire to jump completely off the wagon. Maybe just... dangle a toe off of it once in a while. ;)
Other than that, no new "poop 'n scoop", as my mom always says. Here's the skinny on what we ate today!
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two scrambled eggs, bacon (YAY!) and an orange
Lunch: two compliant hot dogs (who would've thunk -- but they were delicious!), carrots, and a couple pickles
Dinner: homemade chicken nuggets with marinara sauce and green beans. Thinkin I might have some fruit for dessert. :) In the win column, we used coconut oil tonight for the first time, and I am happy to report that my fears of having everything I eat taste like coconut were wholly unfounded. HOORAY.
How I Feel:
Accomplished. Productive. Sleepy. Still can't shake it. We got up early this morning though to drop off the cats... so, well... maybe that's it? Otherwise, nothing majorly new and different and exciting. Yet. Fingers crossed?
TOMORROW: We are HALFWAY THERE *cue Bon Jovi*
Friday, August 1, 2014
Whole30: Day 13 -- Now THAT'S More Like It!
Today was leaps and bounds better than the days I've been having.
Made scrambled eggs for breakfast and tried the new ketchup I got from Tessemae's.... Let's just say that Heinz has nothing to worry about. Yuck. But I got through the eggs anyway, so WOOHOO.
Not to mention, bonus points for actually EATING breakfast on a Friday... which, as I mentioned last week, doesn't typically happen. Hooray!
Didn't really do much other than work today and make a Costco run, with a delicious little nap in between. I'm glad I decided to hit up Costco cuz I found a few things that I hadn't been able to find elsewhere, namely BACON. I know bacon is not a health food, but it's delicious and both Derek and I had been missing it with our weekend breakfasts. We kept hearing of the elusive compliant bacon, and seeing whole30-compliant recipes with bacon in them, and were determined to find some! Most people apparently get theirs from farmers' markets (which I haven't really discovered around here), or this one online retailer that makes a limited amount available once a week and it ALWAYS sells out. And it's expensive as fuck. But I read on a message board about someone finding sugar-less bacon at Costco, and since I had to pick up a few things anyway, I figured it was as good a time as any. This is going to do wonders, because not only does bacon make a great addition to many meals, but saving the grease will be a great new and compliant fat source that tastes better than ghee (although I gotta admit, the idea of cooking with bacon grease kinda squicks me out a little).
Dinner also went off without a hitch and I didn't gag once! WOOT!
I'm feeling better about being able to find things I like to eat that are still within the plan, and that's exciting. And a relief.
We've started thinking ahead to what we are going to do after the Whole30. The initial plan was "just Paleo", which morphed into "an 80/20 Paleo" (where you eat Paleo 80% of the time and are "off" 20% -- essentially one day a week), which would give us a little flexibility to still eat some of the foods we really enjoy that happen to not be compliant (although we have given ourselves rules to make sure it doesn't become a free for all, and ensure that we don't turn it into a 20/80). Paleo is pretty much the same as Whole30, except slightly less strict; there are a few sweeteners allowed on Paleo (specifically honey and maple syrup), though the primary difference is that while Whole30 has an actual PLAN, with people who made RULES, Paleo is just... a thing. No one person really owns it, so there's no specific way to be Paleo. So, that gives us a teeny bit more freedom. For us, this translates into allowing sugar/chemicals back into our bodies in small, mostly inconsequential ways, specifically condiments. Finding/making compliant condiments that taste good is a pain in the ass, and since it's not like we drink them by the bowl full, our feeling is that a little bit here and there won't completely break us. Especially since the primary time we HAD been using these things (I'm thinking ketchup in particular) are with foods we shouldn't be eating, so that's another way to guarantee that we'd be using them less.
Also, another difference between Paleo and Whole30 is that Whole30 has a strict "no 'Paleo-ifying'" rule. Meaning, just because a "crap" food is made with compliant ingredients, doesn't mean you're allowed to eat it. Case in point: the very popular Paleo pancakes. They're literally made with just egg and banana. Both clearly compliant. But they combine to make a food that doesn't teach you to let go of your attachment to crappy foods, so they're off limits. When we are done with our 30 days, they'll be back on the table. The thing I like about this is that I get my baking back. Yes, it means stocking up on weird, non-traditional baking goods like almond flour and tapioca flour, etc., but it means that I can get in the kitchen and do something that makes me happy, and not worry about completely ruining my life in the process.
The primary reason I think this 80/20 plan is going to work for us is that not only does it give us some flexibility, but for the most part, I don't think either of us have significant sensitivities to any particular food group. Like, we both certainly do better with less dairy/grains/corn/etc., but it's not causing us complete torture. Weeks/months/years of completely crappy eating have done that. So once we've successfully trained ourselves to stop eating out all the time, and banished 99% of the forbidden food from our home, we both feel safe introducing it in small, limited quantities, like an occasional sandwich, or corn added to a vegetable soup, or something like that.
And, if all else fails, we've also said that we will do a Whole30 at least once a year, or more frequently if we keep finding ourselves falling off track with the 80/20. Once we get through the 30 days and know that a) it works, b) we can do it, and c) it will get us back on the wagon, I don't think it'll be that hard.
So... that's the plan.
Also, before I wrap up, I just want to pause a moment and say thank you to all the people who have been commenting on the FB posts and sending messages with suggestions or things they saw and thought of me. As an example, no fewer than three of you sent me the link to Nom Nom Paleo's Whole30 recipes (which I had, in fact, already seen -- she posted it in January but reposted today as the creators of Whole30 are launching a new group Whole30 today.). The fact that you saw it and thought of me is really special to me and you are all so awesome. I haven't responded to every single one of you because, honestly, I kind of lose track of them all, but know that I appreciate all of you for keeping me in mind and genuinely trying to help me get through this. Most of you know me well enough to know why this is such a game-changer for me, so you should also know that your support means the absolute world. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Now, without further ado...
Also, here is a picture of my cat, just because he's so cute and I can't resist sharing:
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two scrambled eggs, an orange, and some nuts
Lunch: a hamburger with tomato, onion, mustard, and Tessemae's mayo. (I was hoping to get some use out of the ketchup but BLEH. The mayo seemed okay but I'll need to test it some more).
Dinner: steak, potatoes, and cherry tomatoes. I drizzled some of the tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and a little salt add a little kick and see if I liked it... definitely think I prefer them plain. Oh well, it's still produce. Had a plum later to take with my meds.
How I Feel:
Not bad. I'm a little achy today but it's been rainy here so that may have something to do with it. I'm in a good mood though, and I was productive enough to get my work done this morning, clean my desk, load and run the dishwasher, cook two meals, go to Costco, and play video games with Derek this evening. A bit more than I usually accomplish on Fridays, lol.
Tomorrow is the END of WEEK TWO. Almost at the halfway point! WOOHOO!
Made scrambled eggs for breakfast and tried the new ketchup I got from Tessemae's.... Let's just say that Heinz has nothing to worry about. Yuck. But I got through the eggs anyway, so WOOHOO.
Not to mention, bonus points for actually EATING breakfast on a Friday... which, as I mentioned last week, doesn't typically happen. Hooray!
Didn't really do much other than work today and make a Costco run, with a delicious little nap in between. I'm glad I decided to hit up Costco cuz I found a few things that I hadn't been able to find elsewhere, namely BACON. I know bacon is not a health food, but it's delicious and both Derek and I had been missing it with our weekend breakfasts. We kept hearing of the elusive compliant bacon, and seeing whole30-compliant recipes with bacon in them, and were determined to find some! Most people apparently get theirs from farmers' markets (which I haven't really discovered around here), or this one online retailer that makes a limited amount available once a week and it ALWAYS sells out. And it's expensive as fuck. But I read on a message board about someone finding sugar-less bacon at Costco, and since I had to pick up a few things anyway, I figured it was as good a time as any. This is going to do wonders, because not only does bacon make a great addition to many meals, but saving the grease will be a great new and compliant fat source that tastes better than ghee (although I gotta admit, the idea of cooking with bacon grease kinda squicks me out a little).
Dinner also went off without a hitch and I didn't gag once! WOOT!
I'm feeling better about being able to find things I like to eat that are still within the plan, and that's exciting. And a relief.
We've started thinking ahead to what we are going to do after the Whole30. The initial plan was "just Paleo", which morphed into "an 80/20 Paleo" (where you eat Paleo 80% of the time and are "off" 20% -- essentially one day a week), which would give us a little flexibility to still eat some of the foods we really enjoy that happen to not be compliant (although we have given ourselves rules to make sure it doesn't become a free for all, and ensure that we don't turn it into a 20/80). Paleo is pretty much the same as Whole30, except slightly less strict; there are a few sweeteners allowed on Paleo (specifically honey and maple syrup), though the primary difference is that while Whole30 has an actual PLAN, with people who made RULES, Paleo is just... a thing. No one person really owns it, so there's no specific way to be Paleo. So, that gives us a teeny bit more freedom. For us, this translates into allowing sugar/chemicals back into our bodies in small, mostly inconsequential ways, specifically condiments. Finding/making compliant condiments that taste good is a pain in the ass, and since it's not like we drink them by the bowl full, our feeling is that a little bit here and there won't completely break us. Especially since the primary time we HAD been using these things (I'm thinking ketchup in particular) are with foods we shouldn't be eating, so that's another way to guarantee that we'd be using them less.
Also, another difference between Paleo and Whole30 is that Whole30 has a strict "no 'Paleo-ifying'" rule. Meaning, just because a "crap" food is made with compliant ingredients, doesn't mean you're allowed to eat it. Case in point: the very popular Paleo pancakes. They're literally made with just egg and banana. Both clearly compliant. But they combine to make a food that doesn't teach you to let go of your attachment to crappy foods, so they're off limits. When we are done with our 30 days, they'll be back on the table. The thing I like about this is that I get my baking back. Yes, it means stocking up on weird, non-traditional baking goods like almond flour and tapioca flour, etc., but it means that I can get in the kitchen and do something that makes me happy, and not worry about completely ruining my life in the process.
The primary reason I think this 80/20 plan is going to work for us is that not only does it give us some flexibility, but for the most part, I don't think either of us have significant sensitivities to any particular food group. Like, we both certainly do better with less dairy/grains/corn/etc., but it's not causing us complete torture. Weeks/months/years of completely crappy eating have done that. So once we've successfully trained ourselves to stop eating out all the time, and banished 99% of the forbidden food from our home, we both feel safe introducing it in small, limited quantities, like an occasional sandwich, or corn added to a vegetable soup, or something like that.
And, if all else fails, we've also said that we will do a Whole30 at least once a year, or more frequently if we keep finding ourselves falling off track with the 80/20. Once we get through the 30 days and know that a) it works, b) we can do it, and c) it will get us back on the wagon, I don't think it'll be that hard.
So... that's the plan.
Also, before I wrap up, I just want to pause a moment and say thank you to all the people who have been commenting on the FB posts and sending messages with suggestions or things they saw and thought of me. As an example, no fewer than three of you sent me the link to Nom Nom Paleo's Whole30 recipes (which I had, in fact, already seen -- she posted it in January but reposted today as the creators of Whole30 are launching a new group Whole30 today.). The fact that you saw it and thought of me is really special to me and you are all so awesome. I haven't responded to every single one of you because, honestly, I kind of lose track of them all, but know that I appreciate all of you for keeping me in mind and genuinely trying to help me get through this. Most of you know me well enough to know why this is such a game-changer for me, so you should also know that your support means the absolute world. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Now, without further ado...
Also, here is a picture of my cat, just because he's so cute and I can't resist sharing:
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two scrambled eggs, an orange, and some nuts
Lunch: a hamburger with tomato, onion, mustard, and Tessemae's mayo. (I was hoping to get some use out of the ketchup but BLEH. The mayo seemed okay but I'll need to test it some more).
Dinner: steak, potatoes, and cherry tomatoes. I drizzled some of the tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and a little salt add a little kick and see if I liked it... definitely think I prefer them plain. Oh well, it's still produce. Had a plum later to take with my meds.
How I Feel:
Not bad. I'm a little achy today but it's been rainy here so that may have something to do with it. I'm in a good mood though, and I was productive enough to get my work done this morning, clean my desk, load and run the dishwasher, cook two meals, go to Costco, and play video games with Derek this evening. A bit more than I usually accomplish on Fridays, lol.
Tomorrow is the END of WEEK TWO. Almost at the halfway point! WOOHOO!
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Whole30: Day 12 -- I'm So Over This...
For the most part, today was a good day.
Except I hate food. Everything makes me turn up my nose. Everything. Derek and I have sat in the office all evening trying to find recipes for next week and it's fucking hard as hell because almost nothing looks good or sounds good or sounds like a food I actually want to eat. Part of the challenge is that we're looking on websites specifically for Whole30 recipes and everything is fancy and has weird ingredients and just looks...gross. I started looking at some "normal" websites and found a couple recipes that weren't written to be Paleo/Whole30 but ARE, even if it may require slight adjustment.
I'm really over this. I'm barely making it through each of my meals. I kind of dread them now. I know that this is not supposed to be happening. I'm supposed to be gaining a better appreciation for fresh, wholesome food. Instead, I gag.
I'm trying to turn my focus onto making foods that I used to eat fit the Whole30 mold, instead of trying to force myself to try new things. The new things are failing. So for one night next week we're just making burgers. On the grill. Serving with lettuce and tomato and onion and whole30 compliant ketchup and mayonnaise. Because who doesn't love a good burger?
Also, I'm making my favorite pasta sauce recipe, adding some meat to give it protein, and serving it over spaghetti squash. It won't be the same without garlic bread, but at least it's a known quantity.
This is really frustrating. I feel like it's going beyond just being picky... everything is just gross. And it concerns me on many, many levels.
I've got 18 days to go and I absolutely refuse to give up but I am struggling to figure out how to get through this. If I could survive for the next 18 days on cucumbers and cherry tomatoes, I would be very, very happy. But alas.
Derek and I have been having serious conversations about what to do AFTER Whole30. The initial plan was simple -- transition from Whole30 into Paleo. But I feel like Paleo is still just a little too restrictive and want to modify it to be easier to comply with, yet planned out enough that it's not a slippery slope back to the drive-thru line.
We have some time to figure this out but this all scares me.
Anyway. It's late now and ya'll didn't come here to hear me complain. Or... did you?
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two hard-boiled eggs, orange, nuts
Lunch: leftover chicken & salsa stuff and half an avocado (I didn't make it through all of this)
Dinner: salmon and asparagus that Derek cooked (ate all the asparagus but didn't make it through the salmon)
How I Feel:
Aside from being nervous about moving forward, and frustrated with my apparent intolerance of the foods we're making, I'm actually feeling good. I'm still tired but my mood was good today overall. Also, TMI, but my... erm... gastrointestinal situation... is closer to normal than it has been in months. So if this stays like this, AWESOME, my first happy side effect of Whole30.
I'm trying to stay positive, I promise! 18 days to go... (one more happy side note: as we were working on our meal plan for next week I was writing down what day of Whole30 each day is, and it was thrilling to write that next Saturday is Day 21.. it seems like it's taking forever but we're getting there! We WILL get through this!)
Except I hate food. Everything makes me turn up my nose. Everything. Derek and I have sat in the office all evening trying to find recipes for next week and it's fucking hard as hell because almost nothing looks good or sounds good or sounds like a food I actually want to eat. Part of the challenge is that we're looking on websites specifically for Whole30 recipes and everything is fancy and has weird ingredients and just looks...gross. I started looking at some "normal" websites and found a couple recipes that weren't written to be Paleo/Whole30 but ARE, even if it may require slight adjustment.
I'm really over this. I'm barely making it through each of my meals. I kind of dread them now. I know that this is not supposed to be happening. I'm supposed to be gaining a better appreciation for fresh, wholesome food. Instead, I gag.
I'm trying to turn my focus onto making foods that I used to eat fit the Whole30 mold, instead of trying to force myself to try new things. The new things are failing. So for one night next week we're just making burgers. On the grill. Serving with lettuce and tomato and onion and whole30 compliant ketchup and mayonnaise. Because who doesn't love a good burger?
Also, I'm making my favorite pasta sauce recipe, adding some meat to give it protein, and serving it over spaghetti squash. It won't be the same without garlic bread, but at least it's a known quantity.
This is really frustrating. I feel like it's going beyond just being picky... everything is just gross. And it concerns me on many, many levels.
I've got 18 days to go and I absolutely refuse to give up but I am struggling to figure out how to get through this. If I could survive for the next 18 days on cucumbers and cherry tomatoes, I would be very, very happy. But alas.
Derek and I have been having serious conversations about what to do AFTER Whole30. The initial plan was simple -- transition from Whole30 into Paleo. But I feel like Paleo is still just a little too restrictive and want to modify it to be easier to comply with, yet planned out enough that it's not a slippery slope back to the drive-thru line.
We have some time to figure this out but this all scares me.
Anyway. It's late now and ya'll didn't come here to hear me complain. Or... did you?
What I Ate:
Breakfast: two hard-boiled eggs, orange, nuts
Lunch: leftover chicken & salsa stuff and half an avocado (I didn't make it through all of this)
Dinner: salmon and asparagus that Derek cooked (ate all the asparagus but didn't make it through the salmon)
How I Feel:
Aside from being nervous about moving forward, and frustrated with my apparent intolerance of the foods we're making, I'm actually feeling good. I'm still tired but my mood was good today overall. Also, TMI, but my... erm... gastrointestinal situation... is closer to normal than it has been in months. So if this stays like this, AWESOME, my first happy side effect of Whole30.
I'm trying to stay positive, I promise! 18 days to go... (one more happy side note: as we were working on our meal plan for next week I was writing down what day of Whole30 each day is, and it was thrilling to write that next Saturday is Day 21.. it seems like it's taking forever but we're getting there! We WILL get through this!)
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Whole30: Day 11 -- Kind of Over the Hump? Or _A_ Hump?
Today was okay.
Here's my problem:
I'm sick of my healthy food. I am 95% sure it's just what we're preparing and how, but everything either tastes bad or like nothing, and the textures of everything are driving me batty. Specifically protein. And... we're rotating recipes and I'm already bored. This is causing me to skimp on meals which I know is not good. Thankfully, it's not really causing any hunger pangs or anything, so I think I'm still eating enough to subsist on (because hey, I'm a fat kid -- if I get hungry enough, I'll eat anything...) but.. bleh.
Today for dinner we had the pulled chicken and salsa stuff with avocado and I could barely get through half. Derek had to tell me to stop eating because every bite was making me gag. I felt bad but I just couldn't do it.
I miss... sauces. And crispiness. Cooked healthy food doesn't have crispiness. I've been noshing the hell out of raw cucumbers and carrots and peppers and nuts. Why? Crispy crunchy yumminess. Everything else?
Mush.
I am a big fan of having a variety of flavors on my plate. Whenever I go to Subway, for example, I get like a zillion of the veggies. I like the variety of flavor. It's why buffets are a gigantic no-no for me -- cuz there's a lot of things I want to try and even a little bit of all of them is way too much food. It's why bad food in general is a bad idea for me because I always want something else to go with my meal. I'm trying to get over it, but it's hard. But the majority of the meals we've had on Whole30 have been simple and boring and blah and it's kind of making me crazy. I like that the stuff we're making isn't totally a challenge and that it has been easy to accomplish this stuff in a short amount of time (especially with prepping on Sundays), but I'm so. bored.
But I'm not giving up. Which is what the timeline says frequently happens. The Whole30 "timeline", which gives a general idea of what to expect at each stage of the 30 days, says that most people quit around days 10-11. I MADE IT! WOOT.
I do need to make clear that with all this complaining, I'm still planning on staying the course. I guess I just see this blog as my opportunity to let it out so that I can brush it off and put my big girl pants back on and get back to work.
I just... would love to find some foods to eat that whet my appetite the way some of the bad foods do. And MAN do I want a sandwich!
Anyway.
What I Ate:
Breakfast: Two hard-boiled eggs, an orange, cherry tomatoes and some nuts.
Lunch: Leftover taco burger salad, cucumber slices, pepper slices, carrots
Dinner: Chicken mush; aka pulled chicken & salsa with avocado.
How I Feel:
Not terrible. My eyelids are maybe slightly less heavy today than they usually are? I didn't sleep well last night so probably not a fair call. Aside from my eyes feeling tired I don't feel quite as physically tired as I usually do, I think.
I do feel a little discouraged as a result of the food boredom. I feel like everyone talks about how great all this fresh, healthy food tastes and I'm just sitting here trying not to gag on a piece of chicken (which you'll note happened to me with yesterday's lunch too). I know I need to just spice up the menu (literally and figuratively) but I thought I'd be appreciating the healthy yumminess more.
Onward and upward, though!
Here's my problem:
I'm sick of my healthy food. I am 95% sure it's just what we're preparing and how, but everything either tastes bad or like nothing, and the textures of everything are driving me batty. Specifically protein. And... we're rotating recipes and I'm already bored. This is causing me to skimp on meals which I know is not good. Thankfully, it's not really causing any hunger pangs or anything, so I think I'm still eating enough to subsist on (because hey, I'm a fat kid -- if I get hungry enough, I'll eat anything...) but.. bleh.
Today for dinner we had the pulled chicken and salsa stuff with avocado and I could barely get through half. Derek had to tell me to stop eating because every bite was making me gag. I felt bad but I just couldn't do it.
I miss... sauces. And crispiness. Cooked healthy food doesn't have crispiness. I've been noshing the hell out of raw cucumbers and carrots and peppers and nuts. Why? Crispy crunchy yumminess. Everything else?
Mush.
I am a big fan of having a variety of flavors on my plate. Whenever I go to Subway, for example, I get like a zillion of the veggies. I like the variety of flavor. It's why buffets are a gigantic no-no for me -- cuz there's a lot of things I want to try and even a little bit of all of them is way too much food. It's why bad food in general is a bad idea for me because I always want something else to go with my meal. I'm trying to get over it, but it's hard. But the majority of the meals we've had on Whole30 have been simple and boring and blah and it's kind of making me crazy. I like that the stuff we're making isn't totally a challenge and that it has been easy to accomplish this stuff in a short amount of time (especially with prepping on Sundays), but I'm so. bored.
But I'm not giving up. Which is what the timeline says frequently happens. The Whole30 "timeline", which gives a general idea of what to expect at each stage of the 30 days, says that most people quit around days 10-11. I MADE IT! WOOT.
I do need to make clear that with all this complaining, I'm still planning on staying the course. I guess I just see this blog as my opportunity to let it out so that I can brush it off and put my big girl pants back on and get back to work.
I just... would love to find some foods to eat that whet my appetite the way some of the bad foods do. And MAN do I want a sandwich!
Anyway.
What I Ate:
Breakfast: Two hard-boiled eggs, an orange, cherry tomatoes and some nuts.
Lunch: Leftover taco burger salad, cucumber slices, pepper slices, carrots
Dinner: Chicken mush; aka pulled chicken & salsa with avocado.
How I Feel:
Not terrible. My eyelids are maybe slightly less heavy today than they usually are? I didn't sleep well last night so probably not a fair call. Aside from my eyes feeling tired I don't feel quite as physically tired as I usually do, I think.
I do feel a little discouraged as a result of the food boredom. I feel like everyone talks about how great all this fresh, healthy food tastes and I'm just sitting here trying not to gag on a piece of chicken (which you'll note happened to me with yesterday's lunch too). I know I need to just spice up the menu (literally and figuratively) but I thought I'd be appreciating the healthy yumminess more.
Onward and upward, though!
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Whole30: Day 10 -- Pow, Right in the Kisser
Today was another tough one, for various reasons.
One... I wasn't really hungry for the food I had planned/prepared. I was supposed to have eggs with my breakfast but I just wasn't feeling it, so I only had an orange and some nuts. Then at lunch, the leftover roast chicken I brought tasted kinda funky and kinda made me gag, so I skipped it and just had a bunch of sliced up veggies. I was 0 for 2. Surprisingly, though, I was full and didn't really start to get hungry until closer to dinnertime.
Then... well... I don't really want to get into details right now, but we got some bad news today that hit us like a sack of bricks and my "WHAM, EAT ALL THE THINGS!" instinct kicked in. We stopped on the way home from work to take my mom to CVS to pick up some things and it took every ounce of energy I had not to say fuck it and get dinner from the McDonald's a couple doors down.
We didn't, though. We came home and made our yummy taco burger salads and tried to unwind and put the day behind us.
I don't know if that instinct will ever truly go away. I was hoping it would. Maybe it'll just take more time?
Overall, today could've been much better, but we didn't go off plan and that means there's at least SOMETHING to be proud of.
Other than that, our shipment of Tessemae's stuff came in today! One of my coworkers (who is also currently doing a Whole30) recommended Tessemae's dressings to me and we picked up their balsamic dressing at Whole Foods the other weekend... well... thankfully we bought two bottles because we have already finished one! Anyway, we ordered some more of that, plus a few other Whole30-compliant condiments they sell, INCLUDING KETCHUP. And barbecue sauce. And mayonnaise! There's no telling if ANY of this stuff is gonna taste good, but it is totally worth it to find out if it means I might have something to make everything taste less blahhhhhhh. Stay tuned for the results of our taste testing. ;)
That's about all I have for today, kids. I'm wiped.
What I Ate:
Breakfast: An orange and a handful of nuts.
Lunch: Sliced cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, strawberries. A couple of failed attempts at some chicken.
Dinner: Taco burger salad: a grilled hamburger on a bed of lettuce, with homemade guacamole (I outdid myself this time!) and homemade pico (bleh -- I let Derek talk me into adding cilantro. Yuck!), and a heaping helping of hot sauce.
How I Feel:
Emotionally drained, but not related to Whole30. Physically I feel about the same as normal. I'm noticing that I'm a little more productive at work but I'm not sure if that's Whole30-related, or if it has to do with having projects at the moment that are pretty interesting. Either way, bonus!
Otherwise, samey-same.
Keep on keepin' on!
One... I wasn't really hungry for the food I had planned/prepared. I was supposed to have eggs with my breakfast but I just wasn't feeling it, so I only had an orange and some nuts. Then at lunch, the leftover roast chicken I brought tasted kinda funky and kinda made me gag, so I skipped it and just had a bunch of sliced up veggies. I was 0 for 2. Surprisingly, though, I was full and didn't really start to get hungry until closer to dinnertime.
Then... well... I don't really want to get into details right now, but we got some bad news today that hit us like a sack of bricks and my "WHAM, EAT ALL THE THINGS!" instinct kicked in. We stopped on the way home from work to take my mom to CVS to pick up some things and it took every ounce of energy I had not to say fuck it and get dinner from the McDonald's a couple doors down.
We didn't, though. We came home and made our yummy taco burger salads and tried to unwind and put the day behind us.
I don't know if that instinct will ever truly go away. I was hoping it would. Maybe it'll just take more time?
Overall, today could've been much better, but we didn't go off plan and that means there's at least SOMETHING to be proud of.
Other than that, our shipment of Tessemae's stuff came in today! One of my coworkers (who is also currently doing a Whole30) recommended Tessemae's dressings to me and we picked up their balsamic dressing at Whole Foods the other weekend... well... thankfully we bought two bottles because we have already finished one! Anyway, we ordered some more of that, plus a few other Whole30-compliant condiments they sell, INCLUDING KETCHUP. And barbecue sauce. And mayonnaise! There's no telling if ANY of this stuff is gonna taste good, but it is totally worth it to find out if it means I might have something to make everything taste less blahhhhhhh. Stay tuned for the results of our taste testing. ;)
That's about all I have for today, kids. I'm wiped.
What I Ate:
Breakfast: An orange and a handful of nuts.
Lunch: Sliced cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, strawberries. A couple of failed attempts at some chicken.
Dinner: Taco burger salad: a grilled hamburger on a bed of lettuce, with homemade guacamole (I outdid myself this time!) and homemade pico (bleh -- I let Derek talk me into adding cilantro. Yuck!), and a heaping helping of hot sauce.
How I Feel:
Emotionally drained, but not related to Whole30. Physically I feel about the same as normal. I'm noticing that I'm a little more productive at work but I'm not sure if that's Whole30-related, or if it has to do with having projects at the moment that are pretty interesting. Either way, bonus!
Otherwise, samey-same.
Keep on keepin' on!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)