Author Archives: melissabouse

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Slow n’ Steady Progress

Food: Scrambled Eggs and Sweet Potatoes, Green Salad with Veggies and Tunafish, Tri-Tip with Potatoes and Asparagus
Exercise: Barbell Club and Crossfit

eggplant

My first foray into Eggplant on the Whole30! I served it over some mixed-squash noodles.

Our second(ish) round of the Whole30 is moving right along. Today puts us at day 7, and though we haven’t had most of the withdrawal symptoms as the first round, both Biff and I feel a little hungover today. I swear, we each only had one Kombucha last night! I’m sure there’s a little bit of detox going on. I’ve also been really hungry today in between meals, which had subsided pretty early in round 1. Hm!

But we’re still seeing lots of progress. Yesterday, I bought myself a sassy pair of mom yoga pants (very tasteful ones- no sheerness and no camel toe!) and I comfortably fit into a size smaller than before. I will now wear them everyday. The gym is where I tend to see the most progress, mostly because we have measurable results daily. Both last night at Barbell Club and today at CrossFit I PR’ed some lifts. And our workout today had lots of running. While I was still pokey, I was proud that I didn’t need to stop and walk while running 1200m and then 800m (with pull-ups, push-ups and squats in between). I actually felt lighter while running. Is that a thing? My pull-ups felt easier too. I use a resistance band to “help” and a few weeks ago I was able to reduce the strength of the band (so I needed less help). Today I used that same, new band and I felt like I could even go down another step. Whoop whoop! Less body weight and increased strength make Melissa a happy gal!

So…takeaways from today: try pull-ups again soon; don’t impulse buy yoga pants, take the time to try them on and then find out the ones you like the most are the most expensive; you can be hungover without drinking! Fun.

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Super Bowl30

Exercise: Folding laundry
Food: Over-easy Eggs with Bacon and Sauteed Spinach, Tri-tip Steak with Potatoes and Mixed Veggies, Air Fryer Wings and Sweet Potato Fries

It’s Super Bowl Sunday, featuring my beloved Pats. Ok, I’m more of a fair-weather fan, but a lot of people I love love the Pats and that’s good enough for me. Being married to a wonderful cook, Super Bowl Sunday is usually filled with a lot of snacks. In year’s past, we would have small parties and serve dishes that represent the cities in the game. But this year we decided to lay low and keep it Whole30.

I’ve become so used to NOT snacking, that I really didn’t miss chips and dips and all of that. It’s like I’ve been reprogrammed. Ah! But we did make our meals a little festive: Biff smoked some Tri-tip (which I got on sale so I bought a ton of it. Tri-tip for days!) which we had as a late lunch, just as the game was starting. And then I made some wings in the air fryer for dinner. Wings aren’t always my favorite thing to eat, physically. There is simply no way to eat one without looking like a caveman. And I can never gauge how much I’ve eaten. But it was fun to have a “traditional” game day food and they turned out pretty decent. I also bought a bunch of those so we will be certainly eating wings again soon.

Tomorrow it’s back to the gym, finally! Looks like we’re working on overhead squats which we haven’t done for awhile so I’m looking forward to seeing some progress there. My thighs are ready.

So…takeaways from today: all you need is an air fryer and some kombucha to be festive; it’s ok to look like a caveman in the privacy of your own home; the surest way to get a kid to stop watching his iPad is to sit down to watch something YOU actually want to watch on TV.

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Starting Over

Exercise: Volunteering in a Kindergarten classroom for 1.25 hours
Food: Fried Eggs with Spinach, Onions, and Sweet Potato Fries, Leftover Chili, Bacon-wrapped Chicken Breast with Asparagus, and Potatoes

chili

Here we go again. Let’s do this.

Yesterday marked our official restart of the Whole30. So that makes today day two but also day 32? Since we didn’t stray too much from the plan while we were gone, I’m assuming we won’t have most of the typical withdrawal symptoms people feel when they’re first starting. Good! I’m still sleeping like a log, which definitely wasn’t the case the first days of last month. My skin is having a moment right now though, which is a little discouraging, but I’m wondering if that was caused by the wine? Or being on a nasty airplane? Or that my cat might have slept on my pillow the whole time I was gone and I haven’t washed the cover since we’ve been back?

I’m also battling a little cold or something. I was hoping to workout, but I decided to conserve my energy since today was my day to volunteer in my son’s classroom. I’m so glad I did. Those children were having some feelings today! Perhaps they were hangry? I haven’t been to the gym for over a week now, and tomorrow I won’t be able to make it unless I go to barbell club and rush to my son’s baseball team meeting right after. This is one of those moments where you ask yourself what kind of first impression you want to make on people.

For breakfast, my husband took pity on my sneezy self and made fried eggs with some spinach, onions, peppers and sweet potato fries. We had a side of chipotle mayo for our fries as our serving of healthy fat.

Lunch was easy- I heated up some chili my sweet, sweet friend left for us when we returned from our trip. Seriously, how nice is that? She went to the trouble to make Whole30 compliant chili and had it waiting on our counter in a crockpot. Seriously.

And Biff took on dinner too. He wrapped some chicken breasts in bacon and served them with asparagus and potatoes. Very nice.

So…takeaways from today: starting over is easy if you never really stopped; sneezing will make your husband cook for you; true friends will scoop your cats’ poops and make you dinner.

 

 

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Days 25-30

Exercise: All the crap that comes with flying cross-country
Food: So many things

I mentioned in previous post that my Aunt passed away and we were preparing to fly across the country for her services and to be with family. So these last few days of our Whole30 journey, that’s where we were (hence this post lumping all of those days together). I didn’t want our diet restrictions to be a distraction and they certainly weren’t my focus during this last week. But I’m happy to report, we were able to stay mostly compliant faily easily. When we went out to eat, we chose the meals that seemed the most Whole30ish, but we did not go to great lengths to make substitutions. For example, I’m pretty sure there was butter in a couple of the side dishes. But at the risk of sounding totally smug, I wasn’t even tempted by a lot of junky stuff. Part of it was that I think my habits have changed, and part of it was being afraid of the wrath of my digestive track if I were to suddenly reintroduce a bunch of stuff. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

But there was one temptation that proved too great: wine. I had some wine. And Biff had some beer. So we did knowingly go off plan. I don’t regret it, it felt right to have a few glasses with my mom. My Aunt loved to enjoy a good glass of wine or a cocktail, and toasting her with club soda just wouldn’t do. I can’t really say how it affected me; I definitely noticed a negative change in my skin that seemed to pop up the next day. But between stress, possibly eating some non-complaint stuff, and the cold ass weather, who knows what, if anything, was to blame.

So we’re restarting, officially. Woo woo! Another month of this crazy train. I’m excited because (drumroll) we’ve both seen great results from this first go around. I lost about 7 pounds and Biff lost 8. I’ve had a ton of non-scale victories (as they’re called) too: better skin, more restful sleep, easier time falling asleep (I even slept on the plane yesterday, that never happens), feeling more motivated, improved cooking skills, elimination of unhealthy eating habits (mostly eating all the snacks after dinner), better awareness of ingredients, improved workouts, and better understanding about how food really fuels my body.

My brother and sister-in-law are coming to visit in March and so we plan to keep to the Whole30 100% until then. I’ll keep posting frequent updates- starting right back at day 1. Onward and upward!

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Day 24: Snack Shopping

Exercise: Giving the side eye to some jerk who rammed his cart into me at Whole Foods
Food: Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes and Avocado, Chopped Salad with Turkey and Veggies, Meatloaf with Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Asparagus

snacks

That’ll be $3,000 please.

We’re leaving for the East Coast on Saturday for the memorial service for my Aunt. Biff and I have discussed how we should “handle” our Whole30 and we agree that we’ll do our best to stay on track, but if it gets stressful, or complicated, or just in-the-way, we’ll not feel badly about going off track. The most important thing is being with our family. It will be relatively easy to stay on track on the airplane, but it’s already a big departure from how we would normally prepare for a trip! I’d usually be stocking up on all kinds of crap. But not today! I went to Whole Foods and spent the rent payment on nuts and jerky. Oh and some Lara bars. I nearly choked on my own smugness.

No workout for me today. I had a few things on my plate and the CrossFit workout called for more running, like yesterday. I know I should make myself go when it’s the things I hate the most, but it was raining and I had to write a newsletter and I needed to make some lists and blah blah blah. My kitchen is pretty clean though!

We were running low on some things so for breakfast I threw in whatever veggies I could find with some eggs, scrambled it up and called it a day.

I was two scandals deep into an episode of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills when I realized it was lunch time. I made up a quick little chopped salad with some turkey, avocado, tomatoes, cukes, onions, etc., and scarfed it down while Teddy and Dorit rehashed their drama again.

And for dinner I winged it and made a meatloaf. I used ground beef and added in some onions, garlic, an egg, a spoonful of tapioca flour and a Primal Kitchen marinade I discovered at Whole Foods. It turned out very nicely! I mashed up some sweet potatoes with a little coconut milk and roasted some asparagus too. We had apples and almond butter for a little dessert.

So…takeaways from today: Whole Foods is cray; we’re going to probably get stopped by the TSA for too many high priced snacks; you can’t make me run!

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Day 23: Check Up

Exercise: CrossFit
Food: Scrambled Eggs and Potatoes, Butternut Squash Noodles with Marinara Sauce, Chicken Thighs with Sauteed Veggies and Potatoes

Chicken

I didn’t make this

I finally went in for a teeth cleaning today after skipping out on my last two. Eeek! So it’d been a hot minute since I’d been in. I was nervous and curious how many new crowns they’d try to sell me (spoiler alert: only one!) As it turned out, the dentist told me my gums are looking great- and had improved since my last visit- even though it had been awhile. She asked me if I was doing anything differently. I told her I was flossing more (which, for once, wasn’t a lie) but also that I’m doing this Whole30 thing. And exercising more. I’m not sure if it’s too soon in the Whole30 process to be affecting my gums, but I know that I’ve seen a lot of people report they see improvements in oral health over a period of time. I’ll take it as a half-victory.

And speaking of periods (TMI fellas. And prudish ladies) but mine is here and it is glorious. Ok maybe not really. But I did have a lot fewer PMS symptoms this month. So much so, that I was surprised when my lil’ friend arrived. After 20+ years of doing this thing, that might be a first.

Ok, on to a more universal topic: my front squat. Today at CrossFit, I got a PR on my squat. It was only 5lbs heavier than my previous best, but I felt my form was improved and I was feeling more confident. The workout portion of class had me sucking wind. It was a lot of running (for me) totaling a mile broken up into 4, 400 meter runs. Those were sandwiched between deadlifts and a gazillion wall balls. I believe that was what you’d call “Leg Day.” Ow.

Breakfast: same ol’ same ol’. With potatoes today (in preparation for my workout)

For lunch I had some butternut squash noodles that were at peak freshness. So I made a quick little marinara sauce with some tomatoes, onion, garlic, peppers and canned sauce. It was a pretty tasty, quick meal. I should have thrown some protein in there but I didn’t have anything that would work easily and I needed to hustle to get to the dentist.

And Biff tackled dinner tonight. He made some chicken thighs with sauteed vegetables and a side of french fries with chipotle mayo. It was quite nice and a fine upgrade from whatever I would have thrown together.

So…takeaways from today: love your gums and they’ll love you back; lady troubles seem to melt away with the Whole30; my front squat brings all the boys to the yard.

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Day 22: New Pants

Exercise: CrossFit
Food: Scrambled Eggs with Veggies, Turkey Burger with Spinach, Onion, Mayo and Mustard, Leftover Pulled Pork with Cauliflower Fried Rice and Broccoli

Pork

Wow, I didn’t know Annie Leibovitz was doing blog photography now…

This morning, I had a little time in between when I dropped my son off at school and when the iPad Screen fixer place opened. I could have just gone home, but I was worried that I’d lose my motivation to get my errands done and fall into a black hole of Bravo programming (new season of Summer House is out! Who else can’t relate to those people at all?) So I decided to meander around Old Navy. I usually don’t find much there (though the GAP is my all time fav) but I somehow talked myself into “needing” new pants and I liked the selection. So I tried on a few pairs and wouldn’t ya know it? I’m a size smaller. I take this with a small grain of salt because I’m not so familiar with how Old Navy pants run. However, when I got home, I went through my pants drawer and tried on about 4 pairs I literally forgot about. The only thing I can think of was they weren’t comfortable or were maybe too tight and therefore relegated to the bottom of the piles and wiped from my consciousness. Well, those all fit quite nicely too. I do wish I’d taken inventory earlier, because clearly I did not need new pants.

I did however need new workout pants, and I got a pair of those today too. I promptly wore them to my evening CrossFit class. The workout was a good mix of things: rowing (lots), squats, sit-ups, kettlebells. I felt great, energy wise, and my pants mostly stayed put (I like to hike ’em up realllllllllll high). I know you’re probably thinking “Hey! Don’t you usually go to Barbell Club on Tuesdays?” And yes, yes I do. But my husband had a ukulele master class sesh at the same time and someone had to watch our child.

Biff went into the office today so I was on my own for breakfast. I still opted for pretty much the same scrambled egg deal I’ve been making. I didn’t have potatoes today though.

For lunch, I cooked up a frozen turkey burger and put it on top of a spinach salad with onions and tomatoes and mayo and mustard. It was quite satisfying. I had a banana with almond butter after and then I was really full. I’m beginning to think almond butter is a weakness of mine. But let’s not go there. I’m not ready.

And dinner was a repeat of a couple of nights ago: I had pulled pork left over and we had that on top of some cauliflower fried rice and broccoli. Nice!

So…takeaways from today: go through your drawers before you shop; I love almond butter; the higher the pants, the closer to God;

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Day 21: Tiger Blood?

Exercise: CrossFit
Food: Scrambled Eggs with Spinach, Onions, Tomatoes and Potatoes, Green Salad with Tune Fish, Egg Roll in a BowlIMG-4238

A lot of people report feeling a phenomenon called “Tiger Blood” around this time in their Whole30. It’s most commonly described as having boundless energy, mental clarity, and renewed motivation. I think I have it. I mean, physically I feel really good. Emotionally, I’m still a hot mess so I think my body is at odds with itself. But the tiger blood is trying to come out. This morning, a little cherub visited our bed around 3:45. He nestled in next to me, which was very sweet but not very comfortable. I fell back asleep but I was really restless. I finally gave up at 5am and got up (or really, went out to the living room couch). I was F’ing tired but not exhausted. After a little while, I made coffee, had two cups, and was ready to rock n roll.

I channeled that energy into my workout (even though I might have looked like I was moving slowly!) I went to CrossFit at 10:15am, and before the workout-of-the-day, we did some strength work. I’ll spare you the weightlifting terms that sound vaguely sexual and just instead say I got a PR on one of my lifts and it felt GREAT! It wasn’t easy, by any means, but I felt a lot more sure in my form and ability. I also had some small improvements during the workout: one being that I needed fewer resistance bands to complete pull-ups (the bands help pull you up to the bar if you can’t do a pull-up, fewer bands = less help needed).

For breakfast, I made my usual scrambled eggs with potatoes. Today, I topped with salsa for a little extra kick.

I had to run some errands in between the gym and when I had to pick up my son from school, so I put off lunch until later. Mistake. I was pretty hangry by the time I ate, and all I had the mental strength to make was a salad with veggies and tuna fish.

And for dinner, we went to our ol’ standby: Egg Roll in a Bowl. The first time I made it, I used Trader Joe’s Broccoli slaw and I did that again this time because I really liked how it turned out. It came out nicely again and it was filling and satisfying. Score!

So…takeaways from today: I would like to sleep a little longer tonight; who needs drugs when you’ve got Tiger Blood?; don’t sacrifice lunch to do stupid errands, you’ll be sorry.

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Day 20: What Happened to 19?

Exercise: Nada
Food: Egg Cups with Spinach and Sweet Potatoes, Bunless Burgers with Bacon, Avocado, Tomato, Spinach and Onions, Pulled Pork with Cauliflower Fried Rice and Roasted Broccoli

So…we had some bad news yesterday (day 19) about a family member passing. It was sudden and shocking and well, blogging about my Whole30 wasn’t on my priority list. BUT! It occurred to me today that I did not feel the need to comfort myself with food and drink. I certainly didn’t feel like cooking (Biff took the reigns effortlessly) but we didn’t even discuss going off plan. This is definitely a bittersweet victory in this journey, as in the past I would feel the need for wine and carbs after even run-of-the-mill bad days. With that said, we’ll be traveling back East soon and though I intend to stick with our diet, I’m also giving myself permission to go off plan if need be, and not beat myself up. After just a couple weeks following the Whole30, I felt that this was a change that would become a lifestyle for me. And that means finding healthy ways to deal with all of life’s curve balls. I feel like if I have a glass of wine, it will be because I want to, not because I feel like I need it.

Today, I was up early, thanks in part to a certain 6-year-old’s legs getting permanently lodged in my back at some point in the night. I took the opportunity to do a little meal prep. I made some scrambled egg cups (eggs, tomatoes, bacon, onions, spinach baked in muffin cups) and start some pork in the slow cooker. I thought the egg cups would make good breakfasts for Biff on the mornings he goes into the office. The pork is super easy, it was one of my go-to recipes before Whole30: just put a a 2-3lb pork shoulder roast in the slow cooker, add sea salt and a dash of liquid smoke, then set it on low for 8-12 hours. I shredded it about a half hour before serving. Some friends like to sear it first, I’m too lazy. The pork is so versatile as leftovers too.

I really wanted to work out today but there isn’t a CrossFit class on Sundays and I wasn’t really sure what else I would have wanted to do. So I hemmed and hawed and ultimately just wound up taking a long shower.

So that’s all for today. Tomorrow I may feel a little more creative and get back to my usual format.

xoxoxo

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Day 18: Friday Headache

Exercise: CrossFit
Food: Fried Eggs with Sweet Potatoes and Spinach, Green Salad with Veggies and Tuna Fish, Pork Chops with Roasted Veggies and Spinach

breakfast

There’s an egg in there, I swear!

Less than two weeks to go and it’s feeling like smooth sailing at this point. The beginning is such a huge change all at once that you have to be hyper aware of everything you’re doing. Now that I’ve got the hang on things, I have to remind myself to not get too complacent and mess up on accident. Like forgetting to include a healthy fat in a meal, not double checking ingredients before using a new item, or taking a bite of my son’s leftover sandwich. The fact that he hardly ever washes his hands makes that last one slightly easier to avoid. Slightly.

The dull headache I had yesterday came back today, at a slightly alarming time: during my workout. More precisely, when I had about 5 minutes to go to the end of my workout, and I had 65 pounds of weight above my head. I could feel it creeping in, but at first I thought make it was just a symptom of the fatigue I was feeling at that point in the workout. And then when I was doing some heavy overhead squats (barbell is over your head while squatting down and back up) it started to get worse. I think I was holding my breath, I was really concentrating on my form. It was a heavyish weight for me to do as many reps as we had (I was on number 46. Oh and there was running, burpees, and kettlebell swings in there too. Dead). When I stood up, I knew I should stop. At that point there was about 2 minutes left. I don’t know that I’ve ever had to stop like that, but I’m glad I did. After having some water and walking a few laps outside, I felt a little better: enough to make me confident this was just the return of yesterday’s headache and nothing too concerning. I took some ibuprofen immediately when I got home, took a shower and had some lunch. I felt mostly better after that, and then I had to rush out to volunteer in my son’s class. I’m hoping the headache won’t return tomorrow. I did a little reading and it seems others feel this at this point in their Whole30. Some attribute it to Ketosis (basically when your body starts using fat for fuel instead of carbs) or a need for more salt or magnesium. I could also just be getting sick. Or PMSing. We’ll see! Yay!

For breakfast, I roasted some sweet potatoes and then fried some eggs, added some sautéed spinach and a side of bacon. Bam!

I had pretty much the same lunch today as yesterday: green salad with tuna fish. I was so glad I had prepped most of that before going to the gym. It was quick, filling, and refreshing.

And for dinner I made brined pork chops using a recipe I first used a couple of weeks ago. What I didn’t account for was that these chops were a little thinner than last time, so I overcooked them just a smidge. More sautéed spinach and roasted veggies rounded out our meal. Oh and we had apples with almond butter, perhaps my favorite thing.

So…takeaways from today: harness your child’s grossness to stick to your goals; don’t die at the gym in a literal way, it’s not cool; less than two weeks to go!

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