Tag Archives: weight loss

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My First Compliment

We’re on Day 10 of this Whole30 and things are still chugging right along smoothly. Maybe even better than smooth– I went to see my esthetician today and when she came out to greet me she immediately asked if I’d lost weight. Ooooooo girl. I last saw her in mid-December so since before we started this round. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t just saying it to get a good tip. She’s also does my hair removal and I’m half Greek, so she understands I need her more than she needs me. One of the rules in the Whole30 is not to weigh yourself during the 30 days. You can weigh before, and after, but the idea is you don’t want to get discouraged by normal fluctuations. I actually didn’t weigh myself at the start of this round, so I’ll be going off of how clothes fit to figure out if I’ve lost weight. And so far, I think things are starting to feel a little looser. When I went for my appointment today, I was wearing leggings as pants (normally I reserve that for the privacy of my own home, or when I’m ensconced in a giant winter coat) which could have been what my gal was reacting to. It is quite a sight to behold.

Chicken Thigh Stir Fry. Taste the Rainbow!                                                         

Cooking has been going well too. I’ve enjoyed finding some new ways to use things like chicken thighs and pork loin. This week, I made the pork in my InstantPot and treated it like pulled pork. I used this recipe but adapted it to the InstantPot by adding a half cup of water and cooking on manual for 90 minutes. It came out great and it makes at least 6 servings. Last night, I cooked up the rest of the chicken thighs. First I marinated the chicken in Coconut Aminos (which is often used as a sub for soy sauce on the Whole30 because soy is not allowed) and some minced garlic. Then I sliced it up and cooked it on the stove top. I added in a Kale/Brussels sprout stir-fry mix and some riced veggies. I added some more coconut aminos during the cooking and a dash of rice vinegar. It looked great and tasted good too. Winner winner, chicken dinner indeed.

I’m eager to start seeing some progress at CrossFit. At my gym, you pay by the number of weekly classes you attend. Right now, I’m on a 3 day/week plan so I make sure I go Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I might see if I can add a day because I often find myself wanting to go more. At my gym California, you could go as much as you wanted so I was averaging about 5 days a week. That was probably a little too much, but I saw a lot of progress on some specific skills that we did a lot. Then again, I wasn’t as busy getting facials and pretending to be intimately familiar with the KonMari technique of “Tidying Up.” I spend a lot more time these days thanking my belongings and thinking about throwing them in the trash.

Tomorrow is dinner with some gal pals and I’m really looking forward to it. Will I give in and have a glass of cider or wine? Will I go on a queso bender and resurface next week in a Western Massachusetts dumpster? Check back here this weekend! Or if you have a WordPress account, you can follow me and it will update you when I get around to making a new post. Arigatou gozaimasu! 

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Uncategorized, Whole30 Journey

I Dream of Jeans

Exercise: CrossFit, Full Body Convulsions After a Bird Flew into My Window and Died
Food: Same ol’ Breakfast Scramble, Bunless Turkey Burger, Egg Roll in a Bowl, Lara Bars

I like clothes. And I like shopping. As my weight and fitness have fluctuated, it’s been hard to break out of a wardrobe rut. I mentioned in my last post that I just bought some new yoga pants. And I have, indeed, already worn them way too much. So yesterday, I resisted the urge to put them on again, and instead wore jeans. We had a little bit of a busy day, but at some point, we’d been home for awhile and I was taking out the trash and it occurred to me: I hadn’t changed out of my jeans yet! Pre-Whole30, I would have probably changed as soon as I got home. It feels great to be more comfortable in my clothes again, so much so that I’m not thinking about them. I’m really looking forward to doing some serious shopping in a few months if I keep this progress up (which I fully intend to do. Duh.) Just don’t remind me about the boxes of smaller clothes I’m hoarding somewhere.

So this recent clothing epiphany did lead to one “cheat” on the Whole30. I weighed myself. You’re not supposed to weigh yourself while on a round (a round just refers to the 30 days. So technically I’m on round 2 right now since we’re being 100% compliant this month). The reason is because weight can fluctuate so much, depending on so many things and a “bad” number could be discouraging. But I knew my tummy felt a little smaller. And sure enough, I’m down 2.5lbs since February 1. So that’s 9.5 since the start of January. Soooooo close to 10! It just confirmed to me that I’m still on track. I’m going to try my hardest not to weigh again until the end of this round.

Otherwise, I’m just an Olympics-watching fool! It’s great timing; seeing all these tight bodies in sleek suits is hella motivating (as they’d say out here on the West Coast). I may be 37, but I think I could still qualify in the luge. Or maybe short track speed skating which is mostly just pushing other bitches out of the way, right? Maybe this time next month I’ll get me one of those body suits.

So…takeaways from these days: rock those Mom jeans like no one is watching; this Whole30 shit really does work; find an excuse to buy a body-suit

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Uncategorized, Whole30 Journey

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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