Whole 30 Day 23

Going on a small trip this weekend to look at some buildings and discuss a possible gym opening in the future with some family. I will be continuing with the challenge AND will be travelling, so we'll see how that goes. I will be updating and do a Day 23-25 post on Sunday evening.

Whole 30 Day 22

So, I felt great today! I didn't snack when I wasn't hungry today, which was a good thing. For breakfast I had 2 eggs and brussels sprouts

 Lunch: ground beef/spinach stir fry w/ salt, garlic & onion powder and sweet potato fries

 Predinner snack: Kale Chips

Dinner: Cauliflower rice, roast beef, broccoli

Whole 30 Days 19, 20 and 21

So, the last few days have been pretty nuts. It's been a bit of a hazy cluster that involved alot of handfuls of cashews, dates and just random snacking. My husband and I have been tossing around the idea of getting out of the military and opening a gym back around where we are from. I have spent many hours the last few days researching tax laws, business plans, and just a ton of crap and barely thought about cooking anything or even what I was eating. It's all been Whole 30, but to give you a detailed breakdown is beyond me after the last few days. Anyway, enough of that - here are the pictures of what was consumed at mealtime. I hope all the snacking doesn't mess up my results.

Whole 30 Day 18

Hard to believe it is day 18 of the Whole 30 Challenge. I've never gotten this far and with each day comes a new sense of accomplishment and a big desire to NOT fall back to my previous 2-desserts-a-day habit. I think next month I will challenge myself to maintain a better fitness routine.

What Justin ate for breakfast, 5 egg scramble

 Here's The Day's Eats:
Breakfast -
2 egg scramble w/ 1/3 of a leftover hamburger patty in the fridge that needed eating and red onion, fried in lard with turkish seasoning and salt
About 1/3 of a red bell pepper

 Lunch:
Steamfresh broccoli
Black Angus Top Sirloin steak grilled w/ salt and pepper
Leftover shrimp salad

My baby enjoying some dates. :) He fell asleep on the couch while eating

Dinner!! : My imitation Chipotle Carnitas.. Way cheaper and homemade. Recipe to follow..

Whole 30 Day 17

Today was awesome!! I got in a workout, kept the date consumption low and picked up a couple new books at the Barnes and Noble: Why We Get Fat and Primal Body, Primal Mind.

Breakfast:

2 eggs over easy fried in homemade lard w/ turkish seasoning

1/2 green bell pepper

1/3 of a tomato sliced

 Lunch: Cabbage sauteed in coconut oil, cubed cucumber, roasted chicken and a big dollop of Wholly Guacamole.

Dinner: Another spin on Shrimp Flying Saucers and 1/2 a grapefruit.

ONLY FOUR DATES TODAY!! And I actually took a picture of them.

Nice little handful of almonds right after I put the kids to bed.

Workout:
21-15-9
Clean (75lbs) and Box Dips

Whole 30 Day 16

Another day of horrendous record keeping. In addition to the pictures I had about 10 dates and 2 handfuls of almonds. And again no working out.

Breakfast: 2 eggs over easy fried in coconut oil, 1.5 or so cups spinach, about 2 oz of venison that I cooked in the crockpot overnight using this marinade from Following My Nose. I had it marinating in the fridge for a whole day and needed to get it cooked so I threw it in the crockpot before bed and set it to cook on lowww.

Lunch: Leftover pork from the night before.

My husband thought the venison was a bit dry, so I added to the crockpot a can of coconut milk, some carrots and some mushrooms. It turned out decent, but probably not a meal I would repeat. Here is my dinner!

Whole 30 Day 15

Well, I have been totally bad at keeping track of my eating and I think that's led to a little bit of nut/date over-consumption. I'm technically on day 17 right now, so that day will start fresh with better record keeping and 15 and 16 will be a little fuzzy.

Day 15 (halfway through!!) fell on a physical therapy day for my son, so I had to throw together something in the morning and something portable for lunch. The ultimate portable food to me is the egg.

Breakfast:
2 hard boiled eggs with a large dollop of homemade mayo from Everyday Paleo. I made this the night before for my husband who was really missing mayo in his tuna during this Whole 30 challenge. I will post a full review of the mayo experience and taste soon. I added dill and a little bit of spicy brown mustard.
Also had a half a grapefruit

Lunch: Threw a few hard boiled eggs and about a cup of baby spinach into a glass container and ran out the door. I ate 2 of the three eggs and all the spinach. I also had probably 6 handfuls of almonds/raisins between lunch and bedtime along with probably 20 dates :( It was a sad high carb day for me. I am trying to take this as a hint to stress less at the appointments, but it is definitely not fun driving around DC and trying to do PT on a rambunctious almost-two-year-old.

Dinner: Spaghetti squash with Becky's Chicken Paleo Style  using pork stew meat instead of chicken. It was ok.. the spaghetti squash I used was very 'eh.' I may have to look for a new source other than our commissary.

No activity....... I know, I know.

Whole 30 Day 14

I was hungry today so in addition to what was pictured I also at 4 or 5 good handfuls of the almond/raisin trail mix, a hard boiled egg and a date.
I've been reading a book called Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes and it is an excellent read. Somewhat technical, but definitely worth it to get a better picture of why we actually get fat and what a huge role insulin plays in that. So, I've been doing little other than reading.. it's kind of the thing I love to do.

Breakfast:
2 eggs over easy with turkish seasoning on a half a raw red bell pepper
1/2 grapefruit.

Closeup

Lunch: My very favorite egg salad with spicy brown mustard, lemon juice, dill, salt, red pepper, and a cucumber. I was sad I had to share with my husband :*(

I forgot to take a picture of the sides on my plate. Dinner was 6 or 7 sweet potato fries, a cup or so of cabbage sauteed in coconut oil and some AWESOME pork tenderloin. I would probably double the marinade recipe next time, though.

Ok, I'm off for now. It's Modern Family night and I have a great book to curl up with, too!

Whole 30 Day 13

Day 13, almost halfway there. So I've just been keepin' on with this diet and I'm kind of surprised how easy it has been to get this far. I think blogging keeps me accountable and knowing that there are hundreds, if not thousands of other people out there doing the same thing keeps me motivated. If they can do it, I can.

One unexpected and pleasant part of being so restricted in what I am eating is that I am forced to experiment in order to avoid getting bored and to actually ENJOY this challenge. It's weird now to say that I have enjoyed it, but I have! I feel great. I feel light and have a generally good attitude. I feel like I am much more patient with my children. And there is really absolutely no guilt about the food choices I am making. I used to have a bowl of ice cream or some other treat by the afternoon, which hid my choices from my kids who were sleeping and my husband who was at work, feel guilty, then go on this downward eating spiral that had me eating another bowl or two before bed. It was a very unhealthy relationship with food.

On to the food -

Breakfast:

2 eggs over easy fried in coconut oil with turkish seasoning from Penzeys Spices.

Spinach sauteed in coconut oil

Lunch:

A bowl of soup made of homemade chicken broth, kale, mushrooms, carrots, celery and chicken thighs. I forgot to take a pic, so there's the picture what's left in the crock pot. 

Dinner: 96% lean ground beef browned with a jar of Bertolli's Arrabiata sauce and steamfresh brussels sprouts

Snack today was a giant handful of an almond/raisin trail mix.

Whole 30 Day 12

Somehow today turned into spinach day :) My youngest son loves it and I just felt like letting him chow. It's also a very fast cooking, easy vegetable so perfect for me.

Breakfast:

2 eggs fried in coconut oil w/ salt, pepper and TURKISH SEASONING! (very good, probably even better fried in bacon grease)

Spinach sauteed in coconut oil.

 Lunch:
2 burger patties
Guacamole
More spinach sauteed in coconut oil

Snack:
1 hard boiled egg
1 large handful of almonds
1/8 cup or so of raisins

Dinner:
1 Trader joe's Chimmichurri Salmon fillet
Guac
Bed of even more spinach








In the morning I took a 1.5-2 mile walk with the kids and dogs.
I put the kids down for a nap in the afternoon and did:
50 knees to chest
40 Box jump 20" box
30 bar facing burpee
20 SDLHP w/ 55lb kettlebell
10 OHS w/ 15lb bar. Working squats for form.
13:54

I watched a PBS special on dieting and I'm coming to the realization that this isn't just a 30 day challenge. This (with bacon) is how I should be eating the rest of my life. I feel good, I've got a ton of energy and I sleep like a baby.. or how a baby should sleep anyway. This way of eating combined with moving! Like taking walks or playing with the kids. There is no more 30 days of "dieting," pig out for the 11 months and then repeat yearly. No more train for four months for a 1/2 marathon and then do nothing for the rest of the year.

I've noticed that I now have this need to get rid of the extra energy I have by lifting heavy things or going to play. Like my energy battery is overpowered and needs to be drained regularly or I feel hyper. It's so weird, but true. It's kind of awesome.

Whole 30 Day 11

I was hungry all day today so I grazed allll day. I honestly couldn't tell you how much I ate since I didn't picture much of it. Add to the pictures many handfulls of nuts and raisins. I didn't do any walking or lifting, just cooked and ate and played with the kids.

Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and half a grapefruit. Snack a couple hours later was the rest of the grapefruit.

Lunch: 1 boneless skinless chicken thigh and some "salad" made of chopped cucumber, hard boiled eggs, mustard, dill and lemon juice. Very good.

Snack: Another chicken thigh and some guac

I was pretty full from snacking all day so just had a little bit of the roasted chicken and brussels sprouts I made for dinner.

I also had a few tastes of the coconut milk smoothie I was making for Justin. I have been expirementing alot in the kitchen and have come up with one really good and one pretty good smoothie recipe so far.

Whole 30 Day 10

TEN DAYS! 1/3 of the way through this challenge and I'm feeling pretty good. I have discovered though, that I really need to stop with the dates. They are very sugary and have been kind of like a crutch to me like the applesauce was the first couple days. So no more dates tomorrow and we'll see how that is.

Breakfast:

2 eggs over easy fried in coconut oil + salsa that I didn't finish because it was too spicy

1/2 grapefruit

 Lunch: Approximately 7 ounces of roast beef and brussels sprouts

Today was my date night with my husband and usually anytime we go out there is Cold Stone or Cheesecake Factory involved. I was very hungry and hoping to grab some grub, so we decided to see what all the fuss was with paleo people and Chipotle. I ordered the carnitas with tomatoes, salsa and guacamole. It was pretty yummy since there was fresh cilantro in the salsa, but a bit spicy. My husband said I could easily recreate this at home and that made me proud :)

It was good!! And there was a ton of guac. Melt my heart.

In case you were wondering...

Not pictured was about 11 dates (notice how that number keeps going up??). I am out of tea and discovering that I really need that to feel like I am having something more special than water. And that I also need to just close the date bag and put it in the back of the closet. Also had a handful of almonds.

Workout today:
15 minute AMRAP
400 M Run
100 Double Unders

I cannot do 1 double under so I did a 400M run, 25 attempts, 400M run and 12 or so more double under attempts. SO more of a skill thing than a workout I guess




Also Saturday evening came around and Justin wanted to do the Bear (a crossfit workout), so I decided to do some more skill work. What's more romantic than an evening in our home gym?

So I did 10 rounds (65lb bar):
1 deadlift
1 clean
1 front squat
1 push press
1 back squat
1 back push press

You can watch a video of the bear here, but add a deadlift before each round.