Whole 30 Day 9

Not much to note on this day. My battery died so I did not take a picture of my lunch. No crazy cravings or anything.

Breakfast:
2 eggs fried in coconut oil over easy
1/2 a green bell pepper
1 Tbsp or so guacamole
1/2 grapefruit



Lunch (not pictured):
Chicken leftovers with no cauliflower rice

Dinner:
2 Bratwurst (I know I only photographed one :) )
Steamfresh brussels sprouts

Ingredients were "pork, water, salt, spices." Maybe this was not the best Whole 30 choice, but I was so close to saying screw it and just ordering takeout. It is hard work cooking three meals a day and then more because your kids want something special. Anyway, this was the best option I found in our grocery store. You can't get one of those precooked chickens because one of the ingredients there is sugar!

Also not pictured:

5 or 6 strawberries

7 dates

A bunch of kale chips (generous oil & salt). Cooked at 200F for an hour turning every 20 minutes.

No WODS today~

Week 2 Meal Plan

Day 1: Roast Beef (make sure to use a meat thermometer and use a bigger roast for leftovers with lunch if you want them!), Kale Chips (the oven will be set at 375, so won't need to cook as long and use sea salt instead of season salt) and Roasted Vegetables (I'll be doing beets and carrots, but add other veggies to your shopping list if you want them)

Day 2: Chicken Shawarma minus the mixed greens + Spinach sauteed in coconut oil (or try paleo creamed spinach, but I am lazy). This will take time ahead to marinate, so prep early.

Day 3: Meaty Taco Salad.. for 'various spices' I am using: 1tbsp garlic powder, 1/2tsp black pepper, 1Tbsp cumin, 1Tbsp chili powder. I am also using spinach rather than mixed greens.

Day 4: Portabello Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries. I use cinnamon rather than paprika and I leave skin on and cut into thin wedges.

Day 5: Roast Chicken (yes, I repeat to make things easy for me), steamfresh brussels sprouts, tomato + avocado side salad (1 ripe avocado + 1-2 cups of cherry tomatoes halves, dress with oil and balsamic vinegar)

Day 6: LEFTOVER NIGHT!! Or make a tuna salad from the things you have left in your fridge. Or try the Shrimp Flying Saucers modified to whatever you have in your fridge. I often do not have purple cabbage, so sometimes sub with peppers.

Day 7: Beyond Easy Pulled Pork + tomato & cucumber salad dressed with oil and vinegar.

Things that are easy to make on the weekend and reheat:
Chicken Shawarma, Meaty Taco Salad (the meat part, not the salad), and the roasted veggies

Becky's Chicken Paleo Style (Delicious!)

Becky's Chicken Paleo Style

Any time I combine the flavors of garlic, tomato, artichokes and chicken, I think of my sister-in-law Becky (the best cook I know) and I reminisce about days when I used to go over to her house and she would make this amazing sauce usually served over pasta. I would eat until stuffed then have some coffee and yummy dessert! It was amazing and if we were to ever leave the military, these memories would figure largely in that decision :) Luckily we are close enough now that I can occasionally enjoy those days again.

* 1.5 lbs chicken thighs
* 2 cans fire roasted chopped tomatoes OR regular, but I think the fire roasted added something
* 1 can artichoke hearts, I used ones in water, but I bet marinated would be even better!
* 1/2 can coconut milk (skip if you want more of a tomato sauce, but I was craving cream sauce. Use full fat otherwise you will have to thicken with something like arrowroot powder)
* 1 Tbsp oregano
*1 Tbsp (or more!!) garlic powder
* Salt and pepper (I was generous with both)

Cut up chicken thighs and pan fry in their own fat until cooked through on medium heat. Season with salt, pepper, oregano and garlic. Add tomatoes and artichoke hearts and bring to simmer. Add coconut milk and stir until heated. I tasted and decided to add a bit more salt.

Serve over riced cauliflower

Riced Cauliflower
1 head cauliflower
Salt, pepper
2tsp or so coconut oil or butter (I prefer butter when not on a whole 30)

Chop off the cauliflower florets and with small batches at a time place in food processor and process until a rice-y consistency. Transfer to pan and fry until the cauliflower starts to change to more of a yellow than white. Season with salt and pepper.

Whole 30 Day 8

Today was a freaking delicious day. I came up with two original recipes and they were both hits. I am hoping to do a little more physical activity to augment my fat loss soon, but so far this challenge is going great!

Breakfast:



2 Eggs over easy (fried in a tsp of coconut oil)
The last of the leftover shredded cabbage (I was getting sick of this but it needed to go and I don't like to waste money)
1/2 grapefruit

Lunch:
A helping of chicken thighs cut up and pan fried by themselves. Chicken thighs are fatty enough that they don't need oil to cook in. Salt, pepper and a generous splash of balsamic vinegar

EGG SALAD (YUMMM)
4 Hard boiled eggs, cooled, peeled and chopped
1/2 large or one small cucumber peeled and chopped
1/2 bell pepper chopped
2 Tbsp Spicy Brown Mustard
2Tbsp lemon juice
Salt & Pepper to taste
~ 1 Tbsp dill

Dinner was a creamy chicken sauce served over riced cauliflower. Cauliflower was pan fried in a small amount of coconut oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. I will be posting the chicken recipe soon!!

Not pictured: 8 dates and several cups of herbal tea

Whole 30 Day 7

Wahoo!! I made it to day 7. This is the longest I've gone so far since my 12 day stint last summer. Here's what I ate, + an unsweetened passion tea from Starbucks:

The Workout I did today was:
1.5 Mile Run

8minute AMRAP
1 deadlift
9 front squat
3 push jerk
5 burpees
5 pullups

I did three rounds minus 5 pullups. Sorry for the short post, busy day and I wanted to get this up before I forgot things!

Whole 30 Day 6

Today was probably one of my most challenging days as far as stress goes. It involved the doctor's office, two toddlers, D.C. traffic and some other things. I was very thankful that I was not on day one or two of this challenge, because I totally would have gone through the Krispy Kreme drive through on my way to or from all the things I had to do.
I had to be out the door early so I just hard boiled a bunch of eggs, sauteed some green cabbage in coconut oil and here's what I ate.


Unpictured is the 1 hard boiled egg and 6 dates I ate between breakfast and dinner.

I was very hungry by the time dinner rolled around packed my plate with a ton of food. I knew I hadn't taken in enough calories for the day and even though I was stuffed before I finished the plate, I kept eating. All in all dinner was probably:

1 whole sweet potato cut up into fries and baked in the oven with coconut oil, salt and cinnamon
2 burgers together making up about 1/2 lb of 96% lean ground beef
Steamfresh broccoli & cauliflower
2 Tbsp or so of Wholly Guacamole
Red onions for garnish

I had a bunch of chamomile tea to try to calm down and just deep breathed alot. My two sons are going through a destructive phase and fight with each other constantly. I actually cried when the youngest purposefully ripped apart one of his sippy cups and dumped apple cider all over the floor while I was starving and about to start cooking dinner. Just another reason to stop giving them juice.

After tomorrow it'll be a whole week! Wahoo!

Whole 30 Day 5

Didn't have too much of a problem with cravings today and I'm starting to get into the swing of things so nothing new to report. This was a lazy leftover and recreated leftover day. This morning I hard boiled eggs for breakfast, some of which I ate later in the day.

Breakfast:

2 Hard Boiled Eggs

Almost a whole zucchini and 4 baby bella mushrooms sauteed in 1tsp coconut oil

Green tea

 Lunch came from a recreated recipe from Sarah Fragoso's Everyday Paleo. The original recipe was Shrimp Flying Saucers. I didn't want to cook anything so I looked in my fridge and here's what I made:

1 large cooked chicken breast (leftover from last night) cut up
2 hard boiled eggs chopped (from this morning leftover)
1 small cucumber peeled and chopped
1/4 cup of chopped red onion (already chopped for mornings)
3 or 4 cherry tomatoes halved
1 Tbsp spicy brown mustard
1-2tsp dill
2 Tbsp lemon juice

This was so yummy. I halved it and saved the rest for dinner, had the other half of my grapefruit and some tea.

I was getting the munchies in the afternoon so I ate a hard boiled egg. Then decided I should do a workout since I did absolutely nothing yesterday but laze around the house and play on the playground very little.

WOD:

‎50 Sit-ups
10 Jump Squats
20 Push-ups
25 Jumping Jacks
30 Lunges
45 Burpees
30 Lunges
25 Jumping Jacks
20 Pushups
10 Jump Squats
50 Sit-ups

Did it in 14:20. I felt strong during the pushups and was surprised at how fast I was able to do the burpees. I broke them down doing 10 at a time and then resting for 10-20 seconds or so and going again.

Post workout was a 1/2 a sweet potato with a tsp of coconut oil.

 Then I went for a walk outside with my babies. One of them (the 25 pounder) is on my back in a baby backpack. L rode his scooter :) . We walked probably half a mile and enjoyed the first snowfall of the year! I walked earlier this morning as well about a mile or mile and a half so a total of 1.5-2 miles of walking to add to the activity today.

Dinner: The other half of that awesome chicken/egg salad and the other half of the nuked sweet potato with another tsp of coconut oil!


I am really getting excited for my day 30 results because I feel like my clothes might be starting to get looser. It's probably in my head though :)