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Day 17: Resisting Temptation

Exercise: Testing My Willpower
Food: Scrambled Eggs with Spinach, Onion, Avocado and Salsa, Turkey Burger wrapped in Lettuce, Chicken Stir-Fry with Cauliflower Rice

Turkey Burger

Hold the buns!

After a fun and successful dinner at a restaurant last night, today was also a mix of socialization and temptation. We had a playdate afterschool with some of my favorite moms and kids. My son gets out of school a little later than the other kids, so by the time we got there, they’d had enough time to…bake cookies! The smell was divine. It had also just started to rain and the thought of how “comforting” a cookie would be crossed my mind. But the idea was gone almost as quickly as it arrived. Witness the rewiring of my brain! I stuck with my La Croix and juicy gossip.

I did have a “first” today: a nagging, little headache. I can’t be sure if it was Whole30-related, but it didn’t go away after coffee, breakfast, tea, and lunch. So I gave in and took a few ibuprofen. It’s “allowed” on the plan though not encouraged. If I didn’t have to go anywhere in the afternoon, I might have toughed it out. But when my friends started group texting about getting Mexican food for lunch, I decided I needed to be on my A game for this playdate.

I didn’t go to the gym today. The only mid-morning  CrossFit class on Thursdays is right in the middle of when I drop my son off at school, so I can never make that. I took a wait-and-see approach to going to an afternoon/evening class. But by the time we got home from our playdate I would have had to start immediately prep dinner to fit in a workout and I didn’t have the motivation. Where’s that Tiger Blood? I’m waiting!

Breakfast was the usual variation of the lil scramble I like to make. I did not have any potatoes today, I’m trying to limit those on days I don’t workout.

For lunch, I cooked up a frozen turkey burgers and made a lettuce “bun.” It was kinda a hot mess, though it tasted good. I had to eat it in 3.5 bites before it totally disintegrated in my hand.

And dinner was better in my mind than on my plate. I made a stir-fry using some chicken I marinated in coconut aminos. I used cauliflower in the place of rice, and I attempted to use a dash of rice vinegar on in. Instead I got more like a splash. It was still ok, but not to-die-for. Some apple slices and almond butter made me feel better about it.

So…takeaways from today: it IS possible to resist fresh-baked cookies; get your head right before a playdate; always look before you dash.

 

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Day 16: Out and About

Exercise: CrossFit
Food: Scrambled Eggs with Sweet Potatoes, Tunafish with a Green Salad, Flank Steak with Mixed Green Salad

Dressing

Is that dressing in your purse or are you just happy to see me?

I’m a little late in writing this post for a good reason: I met up with one of my nearest and dearest homegirls last night. She was in Silicon Valley for work, so I hopped in my car and met her for dinner. This was my first foray into dining out on the Whole30, and just like everything else on the plan, preparation was key.

She and I had met up last summer when she was out for work. I’m not super familiar with the area there (it’s about 35 miles away, and starter homes there are about $1million so…) and so we chose to eat at the same place we did last time. I scoured the menu ahead of time and decided that the best options for me would be a mixed green salad and a flank steak. I had a sad little club soda with lime to drink. When we got there, I double checked with the server that there was no banned ingredients used in the preparation of the steak. And I asked for the salad dry. When it arrived, I might have heard a few “oooh” and “ahhhhs” as I produced my own dressing from my purse. This is how it’s done, people! No shame.

We had a lovely time, and it was great to have a meal that I didn’t prepare. My choices were pretty limited (well, I could have probably attempted a few other items, but they would have required a lot of modifications and I felt like I was already pushing it by being a lady with dressing in her purse). It was totally worth it for a special occasion like this, not to mention my buddy paid using her business lady money, but it’s definitely easier and more cost-effective to eat at home on the Whole30.

I got in a workout earlier in the day at my usual CrossFit class. The workout called for 3 rounds of running, burpee box jumps and pull-ups. Running is not my forte but I was already feeling zapped by the second round. I figured I was either dying or didn’t have a big enough breakfast (or both!) but after my much fitter classmate mentioned that it was tough for her too (even though she pretty much lapped me).

For breakfast I roasted some sweet potatoes and we had those with scrambled eggs and spinach, onion, salsa and avocado.

I had to eat lunch quickly in between my workout and some errands I wanted to run before getting my son from school. So I made a green salad and added tunafish on top.

And you already heard all about dinner!

So…takeaways from today: it is possible to have a social life on the Whole30; don’t be afraid to bring your own condiments, but try to use a nice purse to counter balance your faux pas; there’s nothing like seeing an old friend!

 

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Day 15: That’s Half of 30!

Exercise: Barbell Club
Food: Scrambled Eggs with Spinach, Sausage, Onion, Potatoes and Avocado, Leftover Bolognese with Carrot Noodles, Chicken Breast with Onions, Peppers, and Sweet Potato “Nachos”

chicken and nachos

Chicken and Sweet Potato “Nachos.” I’d say my dishes are looking slightly more appealing.

Well well well. Here we are at the halfway mark in my Whole30. It’s all downhill from here! It’s usually in days 16-18 that people will experience what’s called “Tiger Blood.” That describes a surge of energy, mental clarity, and general bad ass-ery. I thought I was feeling that a little bit yesterday but a friend who has been through the plan before says you’ll definitely know if it has arrived. I’m a little scared to wake up tomorrow.

One of the things I’m starting to grasp at this stage are all the “little” rules of the Whole30. These are the kind of rules that address more of the mental/emotional part of eating. So they can seem a little willy-nilly. For example: pancakes. Most of the ingredients in regular pancakes are not permitted on the Whole30 anyway (I guess..I don’t really know how to make pancakes. Pretty sure you need milk.) so regular pancakes are out. But you can make fake pancakes that fool no one using compliant stuff like bananas and cinnamon and mushing it all up and doing something else with it. Well, that’s a no-no too. The theory is that you’re fooling your brain, you’re feeding that “need” for pancakes. I get it. Kinda. I was a little confused yesterday when someone posted in the Whole30 FB group about his sweet potato nachos. Everyone was oooh-ing and awing and I’m like “why aren’t they telling this dude he’s a failure and needs to start over?” An admin eventually chimed in and said this was allowed because it was just sweet potato– he hadn’t combined other ingredients to mimic a chip. I’m still a little fuzzy on that one, but I figured if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em and you bet your ass I made those with dinner.

I felt great at Barbell Club tonight. We didn’t go too crazy heavy with anything, but I was sweating like crazy. Release those toxins!

For breakfast I made scrambled eggs and spinach, sausage, onions and peppers. I reheated some potatoes I made yesterday but they were a little blah. I was also trying to help my son finish his homework so I wasn’t really savoring my meal anyway.

Lunch was the rest of the Bolognese sauce from the other night. I served over some Trader Joe’s carrot noodles, of which my husband is still not a big fan. I had a pretty eventful morning of going to the dump, so I needed something quick and easy.

And for dinner I baked some chicken breasts in the oven with peppers and onions. I made the sweet potato nachos just by making thin slices and roasting them in the oven for about 25 minutes. I topped with chipotle mayo, avocado, and salsa. Ole!

So…takeaways from today: I’m awaiting my Tiger Blood; pancakes aren’t allowed but nachos are; carrot noodles hit the spot after a cathartic trip to the dump.

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Day 14: A Quantifiable Victory!

Exercise: CrossFit
Food: Fried Eggs with Potatoes, Onions, Tomato and Avocado, Left-over Egg Roll in a Bowl, Apples and Almond Butter

White Board

We record our results for each workout in this handy app. It kindly ranks us.

We’re two weeks in and nearly halfway through the Whole30 program. All along, I’ve noticed little changes: slightly better skin, a happier gut, feeling less bloated. But today I had a small victory at the gym that I definitely think is a result of my cleaner eating (or rather, losing a little weight and bloating from eating better). For the first time in a long time, I was able to string together sets of 7-8 double-unders. For you non-CrossFitters, that’s when you’re jumping rope, and the rope passes under your feet twice per jump. Because why just do once? It requires jumping a little higher, obvi, keeping your form tighter, and not getting so excited after doing a few that you blow your whole rhythm. Peeing your pants is optional.

I’ve been doing CrossFit for about 18 months. It took me a long time to even be able to do a few double-unders. About 10 months ago, I lost a little weight and I could magically do a bunch at a time! But then I didn’t keep practicing them and the weight creeped back on and I was back at square one. Today, our workout called for a set of 40 double-unders so I figured why not try a few. And boom! I did 8 in a row! I’m sure my form was not pretty, and my feet thudding on the ground did not please the folks doing the circuit class across the way. But it felt great. I continued to do 7-8 at a time throughout the workout and even got a set of 10 in there. We’re not supposed to weigh ourselves until the end of 30 days, but my clothes are definitely fitting better. And things like double-unders can certainly get easier if you’re lighter. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that the last time I “got” double-unders was after having some weight loss. I’m not letting them go this time!

Perhaps my hearty breakfast powered those results? I made some sweet potatoes in the oven and fried up a few eggs with onions and peppers. I had avocado and tomatoes on the side.

Lunch was lame today. I honestly wasn’t hungry, which is a no-no in the Whole30. You’re supposed to have 3 square meals (at least). I had a Larabar so I wouldn’t get hangry, but that was about all I could stomach after learning my car needed new tires AND new brakes. Happy New Year, car!

And for dinner I reheated leftover egg roll in a bowl and topped with two over-easy eggs. We had some apples with almond butter to fulfill out healthy fat requirement.

So…takeaways from today: Whole30 gives you double-unders; brakes are overrated; leftovers make dinner so much easier.

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Day 13: The Reeducation of Melissa Bouse

Exercise: Resisting the urge to sooth myself with food while reading Fire and Fury
Food: Scrambled Eggs with Veggies and Bacon, Turkey Burger with Sweet Potato Fries, Brisket with Mashed Potatoes and Asparagus

Have I mentioned that I’m not a good cook? It bears repeating. And I have to admit yesterday, I was kinda over it. As much as I’ve tried to make a few things ahead and plan on leftovers, I’m cooking a lot more daily than ever before. I was so grateful that Biff manned two out of three meals today. We also got a few new pans at Target, which he says might help with some of the things that are frustrating me. Next, we need to get our knives sharpened. However, I was glad we hadn’t yet because I nicked myself while trying to get an avocado pit out. My first CRI (cooking-related injury) since starting the Whole30. Aww. Anyway, it’s helpful having someone like my mans around who is intimately familiar with 300 Alton Brown recipes and techniques. He’s been giving me helpful tips (just the tip?) all along. I don’t necessarily take his advice, but I usually wish I had.

I didn’t do any kind of work out today. I thought about putting on RelationShep while the guys were at Atticus’ swim lesson and doing some sit-ups, but that would have required putting on a bra so I did nothing instead. Apparently, I wasn’t really that motivated (to either do sit-ups or watch RelationShep.) Back to the CrossFit grind tomorrow!

For breakfast, we had some oven-crisped bacon with scrambled eggs and veggies. Swim lessons are at 9am on Sundays, and last weekend we waited until after to have breakfast. That was a little too long so we stepped it up and got it in before.

I bought some frozen turkey burgers at Whole365 and Biff cooked those up for lunch with sweet potato fries. I had mine on a bed of lettuce, tomato, onion and avocado (so…a salad then?) The burgers are literally just turkey, so might not be something most people would buy versus just ground turkey. But I had a coupon!

For dinner, Biff made a brisket in the smoker. We had that as part of our Christmas dinner, and I noted at the time that it would be good for the Whole30 (and it’s deeeelish.) I finally remembered to buy it again! He made mashed potatoes using ghee and coconut milk and they were pretty authentic tasting! Some happy, little asparagus rounded out the meal.

So…takeaways from today: listen to your husband more (unless you don’t want to); Sundays aren’t for bras; coupons dictate a lot of my decision making.

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Day 12: Supermarket Sweep

Exercise: Going to the Grocery Store, Family Walk
Food: Fried Eggs Over Hash Browns with Peppers, Onions and Bacon, Big Ass Salad(again), Egg Roll in a Bowl (again)

I mentioned in yesterday’s post about how nice it is to have a variety of grocery stores nearby. The newest one is quickly becoming my favorite. Whole Foods opened up a Whole 365 just about a mile from my house. That’s their more affordable brand. Some say it rivals Trader Joe’s. I say not quite– the produce, for example, is all organic so you don’t have the option to choose cheaper, non-organics there. But the quality is great. And I want the organic stuff anyway. Plus, it’s all shiny and new and the tweakers who like to hang out at my local Safeway haven’t discovered it yet. I spent about $165 and I think my haul will last most of the week. I’ll probably need to do another trip to get stuff for my son and maybe restock a few Whole30 items. So, I’d say I’ll probably spent about $225/$250 on groceries this week. That seems a little high for a family of three, but we’re also not eating out or buying booze (kill me now!!!!!) Oh and today’s total included cat food and cat litter. The organic kind. #whole30cats

I continue to feel better and better each day. I’m still sleeping like a rock, and waking up feeling refreshed. A lot of times I’d feel the need for a nap (my mom always took a 20 minute nap after work growing up. I thought “who only naps for 20 minutes?” Until I found myself doing the same thing.) But lately I haven’t. Boom! No workout today because I still felt a little stiff from yesterday’s. We went for walk/skateboard/bike ride as a family instead.

For breakfast, I spiced things up a little and did our potatoes as hash browns. They didn’t get as crispy as I wanted but that was probably due to my impatience. I topped with onions, peppers and fried eggs. A little bacon on the side and life was good.

Lunch was another salad of turkey, bacon, tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, onion, spinach and romaine. We dressed it with Primal Kitchen’s Ranch.

And for dinner, I made Egg Roll in a Bowl again, mostly to use up some ground pork. I added some extra cabbage this time. I also learned that I’m not quite ready to poach eggs on my own. Biff had to rescue the operation. He did say the eggs might not have been right to start. I’ll go with that!

So…takeaways from today: try to look a little bit presentable when going to the grocery store because you’ll probably bump into a friend (I did!); ain’t nobody got time for naps; I might not know how to poach eggs after all. Bike ride

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Day 11: All Work and No Play

Exercise: CrossFit, Doing an Art Project with 12 Kindergartners
Food: Scrambled Eggs with Potatoes, Spinach and Avocado, Big Ass Salad, Chicken Breasts with Potatoes, Onions, Garlic and Chipotle Mayo

Steam Workout

Things got steamy during our workout. (They’re all in the witness protection program)

Today was a day of a million little tasks. After dropping Atticus off at school, I had to work on a newsletter, then shower, eat lunch, volunteer at Atticus’ school, take him to a dentist appointment, try to finish the newsletter and then try to get to the gym. I’m really glad to have a few, go-to dishes that I can make easily. But man, I hate having to rush when I’m eating. I pretty much only do it three times a day, I wanna enjoy it. If I can’t have wine, give me this at least, cruel world!

Despite going to the grocery store daily, we’re somehow really low on food. I need to do a big produce replenish tomorrow. (Would “Produce Replenish” make a good band name?) I’m so glad we have so many good grocery stores nearby. I keep reading about people on the Whole30 Facebook group who live two hours from the nearest Trader Joe’s. Is that any way to live?!

I went to the gym in the evening because of the busy morning schedule. It was a great workout today, the only issue is that it’s been foggy all day and the sport court we run on was pretty slick. I still ran my normal, slow pace but I made it seem like I was only running slow because of the conditions.

Breakfast was a boring mash-up of what we had on hand. So eggs and potatoes it was! I scrambled in some onions and peppers and spinach and topped with avocado. I really like to use this Italian seasoning blend I got from Trader Joe’s in these breakfast dishes, it’s especially lovely with the potatoes.

For lunch I made up a salad, also with whatever we had around. That wound up being tomatoes, avocado, turkey, bacon and Green Goddess dressing.

And for dinner, I had figured we’d have the Bolognese sauce from yesterday over carrot noodles. But Biff isn’t the biggest fan of those, so while I was at the gym he improvised a nice chicken dish.

So…takeaways from today: being busy makes eating just one more thing on the to-do list; run gingerly if it’s wet; plan meals your spouse doesn’t like so he’ll cook instead. Genius!

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Day 10: Paranoia

Exercise: PTA Board Meeting
Food: Oh you know it’s that same ol’ scramble, BLTA Salad, Bolognese “Pasta” with Zucchini Noodles, Banana and Almond Butter

Salad

BLTTACO Salad

Day 10, a third of the way there! Some pinpoint days 10 and 11 on the Whole30 as the toughest. I’m sure the reasons vary–  for me today’s challenge stems from falling into a routine. I’ve had 10 days of cooking 3 meals a day, and I have some confidence and pride that I’ve done it this far. But that is also giving me that feeling of  “ok, this is starting to feel easy, I must be missing something. Did I eat something and not remember? Was almond butter on the forbidden list this whole time and I didn’t notice? Is my kid still at school waiting for me to pick him up?” (I’m pretty sure he’s in bed sleeping.) So I’m finding this routine comforting and at the same time still a little uneasy. Maybe because it happened so fast. One minute we’re having drinks at the bar, the next I’m caressing my kombucha sweetheart nightly.

Physically, I’m feeling great! I’m not really hungry in between meals, though that 3pm slump is rough some days. Coffee helps, but that’s also a little late in the day for me to have caffeine and I find on the days I have some, it takes me a bit to fall asleep. But once I am asleep, I’m out. I’m talkin’ REM cycles all over the place.

I didn’t workout today because the CrossFit class times didn’t align with my schedule. Plus my knee felt like it could use a day off. Fair enough! This evening I had a PTA meeting and I successfully avoided the cheese and crackers on the table. And really, even if I wasn’t on the Whole30, I probably wouldn’t have had any because I was intimidated by the cheese slicer thingy.

So breakfast was once again scrambled eggs with the veggies I had handy, topped with avocado and salsa. ‘Nuff said.

I made up a cute salad for lunch using lettuce and spinach, bacon, tomatoes, cukes, sliced turkey, onions and Primal Green Goddess dressing. I call it the BLTA salad. It was just the right portion.

And for dinner I needed to use up some ground beef so I just made a quick pasta sauce using it and onions and peppers, etc. I served over zucchini noodles which my husband likes better than the carrot noodles. But I still prefer carrot noodles. I’m so glad we have differences like this to keep our marriage spicy.

So…takeaways from today: trust my brain, it hasn’t had booze for 10 days after all; you can put anything on lettuce and call it a salad; cheese now intimidates me.

 

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Day 9: Can we talk about recipes?

Exercise: CrossFit
Food: Same silly egg scramble I made yesterday, Air Fryer Fried Chicken with Potatoes, Riced cauliflower, and a Pickle, Brined Pork Chops with Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Green Salad

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You might be doing the Whole30 if your texts look like this

So…I’ve had to look up a lot of recipes. Even for simple things like how to make mashed sweet potatoes (sad face). And with that, I’ve noticed the trend of long, verbose descriptions and stories of each recipe and what it means to the author. I realize that I probably read a lot of these out of the context of a larger blog or website or book. But I just want to know how to make the dish! Maybe when I get better at cooking, I’ll want to hear how sweet potatoes remind someone of that one time she got her period in the produce aisle.

I’m writing this before today’s real test of our Whole30 willpower. Tonight, we’re going out to see the one night-only, national showing of The Room (because why would we use a rare date night at the movies to see something critically acclaimed). Pretty much everything at the concession stand is off-limits. And snacking isn’t really “allowed” on the Whole30 anyway. So I’m going to BYOK– bring your own kombucha– and we’ll look smugly around at everyone else while out guts heal.

I did my usual Wednesday 10:15am CrossFit class today, and I felt like I did pretty well. I was able to use a heavy-ish weight for the workout, which seemed appropriately challenging. I swear my workout pants felt a little more comfy.

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it – I had the same breakfast as yesterday. I cooked up some onions, peppers and spinach, scrambled in some eggs, and then topped with salsa and avocado.

For lunch, I fried up a chicken breast in the air fryer. It came out a little better than the last time I made nuggets. I served with potato “fries” and cauliflower rice and a cute lil’ pickle. I added some compliant mayo on the side for dipping.

And for dinner I made some brined pork chops using this recipe my husband found. What I like most about it, is that the author shares my plating aesthetic (note the paper plate and its placement on top of the washing machine! Genius!) It came out very nice! We had mashed sweet potatoes and sautéed spinach.

So…takeaways from today: skip the long intros on recipes, I don’t read ’em; a happy gut feels better than popcorn tastes (I hope); real plates are overrated

Movie

Date night!

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Day 8: One Week In

Exercise: Barbell Club
Food: Scrambled Eggs with Avocado, Veggies and Salsa, Leftover Bolognese with Carrot Noodles, Leftover Egg Roll in a Bowl (now with more egg!)

Eggs with Salsa

What I lack in cooking skills, I make up for with my plating techniques

Today marks one week since we started following the Whole30. Boom! I think that pretty much makes me an expert? Maybe not, but I do feel that I have a pretty good handle on things. I went to the grocery store today (yes, another trip to the grocery store) and I had a much easier time reading labels and ruling out certain items. My biggest challenge is still cooking. I’ve alluded to the fact before that I’m not a good cook. And it’s not something I particularly enjoy. But I am proud that I’ve churned out some edible things and I feel like I’ve improved a little just by virtue that I’m cooking more daily than ever before. I may even foray into soups this week! Yeah, you didn’t think things were going to get so wild on this blog, so fast.

The Whole30 creators stress that it is not a weight loss diet. Though most people who can spare to lose a few lbs tend to see some good progress. So people aren’t encouraged to weigh themselves during the 30 days. But it’s so tempting! I do feel lighter– not necessarily weight-wise, but maybe I just have less bloat? Ultimately, I’d like to lose 40lbs, and I’m already thinking that when 30 days is up, maybe I’ll do another 30. Or add a macros counting component? But just like when LaLa dishes some hot gossip, I need to back it up! (Is two Vanderpump Rules references in two days too many?) One step at a time. I’m glad to already be feeling better, regardless of what the scale says.

I went to Barbell Club tonight instead of CrossFit. It meets at 7pm, so after I’d had all my meals for the day. I felt good! We worked on our Snatch. And Clean and Jerks. Those are real things. Man, things are getting wild tonight.

Enough about snatch work. Breakfast was…drumroll…eggs! Scrambled eggs with veggies, avocado and a nice salsa I found at Trader Joe’s to be exact. Quite good and satisfying! I’m trying to lessen my potato intake, and since I didn’t workout in the morning, I didn’t feel like I needed them.

For lunch I had some leftover Bolognese sauce over carrot noodles. I packed Biff the same thing for work, but he reports that the noodles didn’t reheat so well. Good to know!

Dinner was the rest of yesterday’s Egg Roll in a Bowl, this time with that aforementioned poached egg. I had to have Biff show me how to poach and egg so now I know. Ladies, find you a man who can handle eggs!

So…takeaways from today and a week of healthier, clean eating: if you practice anything enough, you’ll get better at it (ie cooking); no one likes a limp noodle, especially at work;  22 days to go!

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