Derval does it again

[Derval]

So let's see, in April I did a Whole30, in June/July I did a Whole 21 and from tomorrow I'm going to do a Whole28...which will bring me up to a friends wedding on the 18th August.

I got some great advice from Tom last time, which I was foolish enough not to implement, and I actually gained weight on my Whole21 so I'm ready to bring it this time and really try & make some changes to how I interact with food.

• Fruit will not be a snack or desert, the only time I'm having it is as part of/end of a meal (this is going to be very hard for me). This will also cut out the lashings of almond butter transported on apple slices.
  
• I will eat a proper post work out snack
  
• I will drink water
  
• I will limit my coconut milk to once a day - so either in my coffee or over post-dinner berries but not both.
  
• I will eat veggies at every meal, including breakfast, and will follow the meal template.
  
• No sneaky weigh-ins!
  
• (eta) Meals at table! the interweb will still be there in 20 minutes.
  

I feel I'm being very Sunday night here...the whole "oh this week I'm going to be sooooo good"....crap I did for years but hey, it's Saturday

Starting the next 4 week phase of Chalean Extreme, Push, on Monday, so looking forward to 4 weeks of lifting heavy & optimum nutrition.

[Laura Jeanne Penrod]

Sounds like a good plan. I'm nervous that after my 30 I won't lose. Trying to shake the feeling but it's haunting me. Trying to limit fruit to with meals. Haven't had any nut butters, but I love me my avocado!

[Carol]

Bring it! We can do this!

[kayell]

Great list! I'm going to have to do work on a lot of these in my next W30 when I come back from NM. Thanks for posting your list.

[Derval]

An excellent first day back if I do say so myself

8am - Sausage, sweet potato & egg bake, served with roasted cabbage & carrots, black coffee

1pm - we went into town to see the Street permformers world championships - so much fun. While watching a really excellent magician from Sweden I made my lunch disappear

Rocket (arrugala) leaves, green olives, spring onions, roasted tomatoes, 2 hardboiled eggs w'home made mayo, Serranno ham. And an Americanno.

5pm - so so hungry by the time we got home, had some carrot sticks and a tablespoon of sunflower seed butter.

6pm - bolegnase served with zuchinni ribbons & spinach. Followed by hot berries w' coconut milk & flakes

That's it ! not having any snacks or treats or nothing! I brined & am now baking some chicken breasts for my post workout snacks - I wonder how long cooked chicken will keep in the fridge??

Am looking fwd too sitting down with a big mug of herabl tea once the kids are in bed....

[Bebe]

Great first day! Yummy looking meals.

[Carol]

Wow those dishes look fantastic!

[smilingjudy]

roasted cabbage?! brilliant!

Are those sweet potato shreds on top of your eggy bake?

[Derval]

Are those sweet potato shreds on top of your eggy bake?

Yep, I posted the recipe in recipe sharing last week.

[Derval]

I was practically sitting on my hands last night so I wouldn't have a snack, held strong

Day 2

8.30am - Mushrooms, spring onion, spinach, oven roasted tomatoes, 2 eggs

10am - Exercise, Chalean Extreme Push Circuit 1, followed my my first ever proper (ie, not a banana!) post workout snack of half a chicken breast (brined a la Well Fed and baked with evoo, s&p) here's my stash for the next 4 days

12.45 - Good thing about having the pws was I wasn't chewing my own arm off by lunch time. Lunch was leftovers from Saturday of thai red fish curry, with cabbage & eggplant.

5.45 Imagine my joy when I realised the avocado I've had for at least a week was finally ripe!! So I had a little salad while dinner was finishing in the oven...

rocket, avo, evoo, red wine vinegar & herb mix

Closely followed by eggplant & sausage strata from Well Fed - very tasty. I got my 2 kids to help, lordy it was hard work, but they both ate a dinner I know they would have balked at otherwise. For afters I had berries & coconut.

So now it is 6.30pm, that is my food for the day, I will have some herbal tea later and I will go to bed at around 10/10.30.

[SummerGirl]

Food looks great! What's the grated white stuff on top of the berries and coconut milk?

Would you recommend the eggplant and sausage dish? Worth a try? I'm going to make the Marbella chicken you made recently for tomorrow's dinner. It sounds delish too.

[Derval]

Coconut flakes

Yes I thought it was very tasty. I made half the recipe (500g mince, 2 aubergines, 1 reg tin chopped tomatoes) but I forgot to half the egg so there was a savoury custard that probably wasn't supposed to be there!

I made the full quantity of the seasoning to have on hand. I used half the quantity of chilli flakes for the kids and it was fine spicy enough.

I love that chicken , going to have it weds be sure to check your dates.

[Derval]

Day 3

8.30am - Mushrooms, spring onion, spinach, oven roasted tomatoes, 2 x bacon

10am - Chalean Extreme Push Curcuit 2, post workout, half chicken breast

1pm - roasted carrots & cabbage, leftover carnitas (from well fed, leftovers from last week - the cooked meat froze & defrosted fine) , half an avocado, dollop of mayo

5.45pm - boleganse (leftovers from Sunday) courgette linguinni, salad. Followed by apple & almond butter

eta 9pm - mug of apple & cinnamon tea and 5 macadamias.

[Derval]

Day 4

So soo wanted to weigh myself this morning, really needed to fight it.

Exercise Rest Day

8am - fried chorizo, mushrooms, spring onion, spinach, oven roasted tomato & egg

12.45pm

mixed leaves, half avo, oven roasted tomatoes, marinated steak

3.30pm - really hungry for some reason...had 2 slices of Serranno Ham rollups with mayo & some brocolli I had prepped in the fridge, 5 macadmias

6pm - Erin's Marbella chicken on a bed of cauli & carrot rice, with brocolli

will have apple & almond butter later with my tea if I feel the need.

[LauraSuzy]

Wow, I'm totally inspired by all of your food! It makes me want to eat! Unlike my boring grilled chicken I've been eating again and again this week....

Where did you find bacon without sugar and nitrites?

Will you post links to your recipes for umm.... just about everything? In particular, the eggy bake you mentioned and the thai red fish curry? I've got to get the Well Fed cookbook.

Also, why did you gain weight on your whole21? Could it have been muscle mass from workouts, or was it calorie related?

[Derval]

Thanks so much!

I'm in Ireland & can usually find 1 or 2 sugar free bacon in the supermarket, no nitrate free though. But nitrates aren't w30 banned so as long as you can get sugar free that's ok.

here's the egg bake recipe

for the thai curry

Very easy as I use a paste.

Chop eggplant into cubes (or whatver veg you're using) & sautée in coconut oil

Stir in a tsp or 2 of your paste.

Add fish (I use a pack of mix intended for fish pie - cod,salmon & smoked coley)

Add enough coconut milk to cover

When it comes to heat add zuch noodles

Simmer till done

Re the weight gain I'm putting it down to too much fruit, too much grazing on nuts etc..I don't think you can gain 2lbs of muscle mass in 3 weeks, much as I'd love to, and the body fat % on my scales was up too. I'm not beating myself up over it, I'm still pretty close to my goal weight anyway.

[Derval]

Day 5

No pics today as nothing very photogenic! Was supposed to do Chalean Intervals but a friend was minding my son so I went to park with daughter instead.

8.30am - fried mushrooms, spring onion, oven rosted tomatoes, 2 fried eggs

12.30pm - picnic in the park - salad leaves, leftover brocolli, leftover sauce & bits from chicken marbella, half cooked chicken breast (seeing as I skipped my owrk out today I had my pws!). Macadamias (8) & dates(4). Melon from daughters fruit salad.

5pm - planning on having onion, sausahe & sweet potato hash with fried egg.

[jhmomi]

So jealous of your food! I really don't like to cook. My first Whole30 in February was pretty dull food wise. (2nd to begin officially August 1st, just ramping up for it now.) I keep hard-boiled eggs, canned sardines, cooked chicken breast (no not pastured unfortunately) and cooked ground beef or burgers around to get me through most of my meals. Cauliflower, kale, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers and salads are staples. I mix it up a bit with shrimp, fish or steak, but this is mostly what I eat. If I make it to the farmer's market on Saturdays I usually come home with some interesting new things to try.

My first Whole30 I did not stay off the scale and I did not adhere to the template. I am also a grazer/snacker and really want to move to 3 meals a day and no snacks. It won't be easy and make take a few more Whole30 rounds to stick but that's the plan. I also overate nuts and fruit although I didn't gain weight. I was very scale obsessed last time since I had just lost 25 lbs last fall. This time no scale checks at home (will move the scale out of the house like I did before) and no checks at the gym either (this was my downfall). This time I know better and I also will not keep 3 bags of coconut flakes in my fridge and I won't keep lbs of almonds around. No almond butter or sunbutter either - I can eat them by the spoonful! I want to focus on making better food choices within the Whole30 acceptable food list. I am not doing my next Whole30 for weight loss but I wouldn't exactly mind dropping 5 lbs either.

I used to eat canned tuna but now I just don't like it. I much prefer the water-packed sardines I get from Trader Joe's. Yum!!!

I love to make soup with chicken broth, a little curry paste (red, green or yellow), a splash of coconut milk, some leeks and either spinach or kale plus a protein (shrimp, beef, chicken, or the seafood blend from Trader Joe's that has shrimp, scallops, and calamari). It's an awesome 5 minute breakfast. Some mornings I eat sliced HB eggs with it instead of adding protein to the soup.

Can't wait to see more of your food. You might inspire me to get more creative.

[Laura Jeanne Penrod]

Your food looks awesome!

[Colleen Roy]

What is courgette? I'm assuming it was that pasta looking item on your plate?

[Derval]

Thanks jhmomi and Laura.

I can't say I love to cook but I love to eat well and the 2 go hand in hand.

Courgette is zucchini, sometimes I forget to use the American terms! I got a julienne peeler and it makes perfect noodles

[Ann]

Derval, I like your list at the beginning of this topic, especially your goal of having fruits only as part of a meal. I find that whenver I'm wanting a snack, it is fruit (or dried fruit) that I want most. It is filling a sugar void for me, for sure. I'm going to make an effort to do the same. And you've seen my posts about my struggle to stay off the scale - it is a surprisingly difficult part of this adventure!

It's funny that at the beginning of all this, I thought I'd be so tremendously relieved to get to the end of my W30, but instead, I'm already thinking ahead to my "next one". Haha! Next time, I'm sooo going to do a photo journal. (the only pic I have posted so far came out tiny, you had to click on it to make it full size - is there a trick to getting photos to show up normal sized?)

[LauraSuzy]

I thought the nitrates were one of the preservatives we've been trying to avoid! So I haven't had any bacon. I'm super excited to have a little bacon now! Hooray!

I was also inspired to photograph my food, and since I slaved over two new recipes at breakfast today, I'm going to post them on my whole30 log, too. Thanks for the idea!

I have to be careful about not eating too much fruit and nuts, too... but so far, so good. I have to say I was really surprised when I cheated and got on the scale to see a 2 lb loss in 2 weeks! I'll try to avoid it now, but it was really encouraging that I'm on the right track.

[Ann]

Here's a post from a moderator on another topic relating to nitrates in bacon:

Just wanted to hop in here and point out that, while some folks may notice that they're sensitive to them, nitrates are not out for your Whole30. In the case of bacon, the sugar is what will most likely knock it off plan.

[Derval]

Derval, I like your list at the beginning of this topic, especially your goal of having fruits only as part of a meal. I find that whenver I'm wanting a snack, it is fruit (or dried fruit) that I want most. It is filling a sugar void for me, for sure. I'm going to make an effort to do the same. And you've seen my posts about my struggle to stay off the scale - it is a surprisingly difficult part of this adventure!

It's funny that at the beginning of all this, I thought I'd be so tremendously relieved to get to the end of my W30, but instead, I'm already thinking ahead to my "next one". Haha! Next time, I'm sooo going to do a photo journal. (the only pic I have posted so far came out tiny, you had to click on it to make it full size - is there a trick to getting photos to show up normal sized?)

Yes I think I relied on a sweet snack in the form of fruit in the exact same way as I used to have my (instant) coffee & Lindt - as a physical & emotional pick-me-up during the day. I had too much fruit today....but at least it wasn't as a stand-alone.

Oooh the scales, an ongoing struggle but I haven't broken yet this time!

Re the photos I take pics on my phone with the instragram app and then when I do my log for the day I copy the img code from the webstagram sharing website in to my post.

I thought the nitrates were one of the preservatives we've been trying to avoid! So I haven't had any bacon. I'm super excited to have a little bacon now! Hooray!

I was also inspired to photograph my food, and since I slaved over two new recipes at breakfast today, I'm going to post them on my whole30 log, too. Thanks for the idea!

I have to be careful about not eating too much fruit and nuts, too... but so far, so good. I have to say I was really surprised when I cheated and got on the scale to see a 2 lb loss in 2 weeks! I'll try to avoid it now, but it was really encouraging that I'm on the right track.

Put the scales way way under the bed, or up in a high cupboard. If you have to physically go out of your way to get at them it makes you pause for thought.

Enjoy the bacon!