UncleBobbyJr Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 The cool Oklahoma breeze s blowing, the sun is setting and the weekend is coming to an end. Tomorrow brings a new week and with it a new chapter to my healthy lifestyle. My whole life I have struggled with my weight, even during my four years in the Marine Crops when I was forced to run 5 days a week because I always struggled to stay within the weight guidelines. But in the last 3 years I have had a couple of wake up calls as my dad suffered a heart attack and had to have quad bi-pass surgery and then I started having gall bladder attacks. These wake up calls have caused me to think more about my health and persuaded to make drastic changes. One of these changes is eating more whole foods and more exercising. With these goals in mind I have been able to train for and participate in two half marathons and lose 92 lbs. In my journey I have read about paleo and it's benefits but it wasn't until I read Robb Wolf's Paleo Solution and the Whole 30 Success Guide that I realized that I needed to take my healthy lifestyle to another level. My fridge is jammed packed with meat, veggies, and fruits galore for tomorrow I began my 30 day challenge. My wife suffers from chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia and she too will be doing the challenge with me in hopes to benefit from this change in eating and living. I will drop in and log my progress here from time to time but something else that has helped me stay accountable is to share my experiences with others on my personal blog, UncleBobbyJr.com. I hope that my experiences help others as the many blogs I read have helped me. Now it's time to read a few blog posts and then get to bed so I can get my paleo recommended full night of sleep and be ready for my first CrossFit class in the morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derval Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Good luck on your whole30 and the cross fit, hope your wife's health improves for her, sounds rough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carie Skeahan Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 Welcome!!! I am looking forward to reading your logs for sure!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleBobbyJr Posted April 29, 2012 Author Share Posted April 29, 2012 I did a vlog about starting my journey and then started using an iPhone app called Leap. They devlepors of the app found my blog and asked if I would do an interview about my recent weight-loss journey and how I would use Leap to do my 30 day challenge. I felt like such a celebrity. Check it out here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleBobbyJr Posted April 29, 2012 Author Share Posted April 29, 2012 Oh, I forgot that I posted a Day 3 vlog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleBobbyJr Posted April 30, 2012 Author Share Posted April 30, 2012 Not gonna lie, feeling a bit agitated this morning. For the past year I have learned to cook more with whole foods and more veggies but doing the paleo 30 day challenges has been an adjustment. I am hoping it will calm down once I discovered some recipes that me and my wife enjoy (already found quite a few) and that can become repeats. This should help with cooking time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivelyLady Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 What kind of agitated? Like, bored with your food/overwhelmed by all the cooking agitated? I know the feeling. I'm on a super strict elimination diet (FODMAPS and migraine triggers) to try to identify what is causing my stomach issues and chronic migraines, so I'm basically down to chard, carrots,spinach, bok choy, zucchini and meats. And I know it's hard to want to whip up something new and exciting after work during the week. One thing that saves me is the cooking on the weekend. I'll do up a big batch of various veggies (well, not too "various" these days) and season it only with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Bake up some chicken and some ground beef and just have it all on hand. Then you can just throw it all together, season it differently each time and weeknight meals don't take very long at all. Also batch cooking and freezing individual meals on the weekend is a huge time/life saver. Is it that you're missing grains and beans and stuff? Let us know more about what is agitating you and we can help trouble shoot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleBobbyJr Posted May 1, 2012 Author Share Posted May 1, 2012 What kind of agitated? Is it that you're missing grains and beans and stuff? Let us know more about what is agitating you and we can help trouble shoot. Prior to my 30 day challenge I had taught myself to cook whole foods but was following the low fat diets, but I was successful in losing weight and had quite a few "favorite" recipes that had become easier and easier to make. At the end of my first week of Whole30 I was feeling quite overwhelmed trying to cook all new meals. Plus, I was now cooking dinner and lunches for not just me but now for my wife since I convinced her to try Whole30. My wife has chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia and wouldn't you know it, right before we started our Whole30 she gets hit with a bad "fibro episode" where she is extremely tired and her joints hurt more than usual. She was already skinny (been skinny all her life) but since she was diagnosed with CFS and fibro (roughly 3 years ago) she has not been able to exercise as often as she used to so she begin counting calories to make sure she did not gain weight, plus had some digestive issues and her doctor said to go vegan. She became obsessive with counting calories and lost weight, too much. That was another thing I told her to stop doing during the Whole30 but her energy really dipped and I am really scared, I don't want her to lose any more weight (her body can't afford it). Since I was the one that convinced her to try the Whole30 and I was doing the meal planning I felt responsible for her even lower than normal energy and pain. This week I have done a better job of planning meals. What I make at night for dinner I make enough to have as lunch the next day. I am keeping breakfast simple. My wife had a little spurt of energy yesterday but then just texted me that she feels bad again today, she described it as though energy is being sucked out of her. I have made her portions bigger to make sure she gets enough food and I am hoping that helps. I have read so many success stories with people with CFS and Fibro that I am trusting the process. It is just tearing me up seeing my wife like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tami Collins Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Have you checked out Melissa Joulwan's cookbook Well Fed? She has TONS of awesome recipes in there and there's also a great section at the beginning on meal planning and a weekly cookup. All recipes are Whole30 approved (except for the fruit crumble.) I highly recommend it. http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/2011/12/12/well-fed-now-on-sale/ Also, poke around her website a bit. She has a lot of awesome recipes and cooking tips on there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleBobbyJr Posted May 4, 2012 Author Share Posted May 4, 2012 Have you checked out Melissa Joulwan's cookbook Well Fed? How funny. I actually just downloaded it about 2 days ago. The "cook up" idea sounds interesting. My wife is starting to not feel as bad so that's a move in the right direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee Lee Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 How much are you guys, particularly your wife, eating at breakfast? I always find breakfast the easiest meal to squeeze extra calories into, and it helps hold me throughout the rest of the day. My standard is 3-4 eggs, 3 homemade sausages, a banana (or sweet potato hash, or something). Add or subtract as necessary. (i'm 5'8", 77kg for reference) It carries me from 7am until noon, and energy is rarely a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleBobbyJr Posted May 13, 2012 Author Share Posted May 13, 2012 How much are you guys, particularly your wife, eating at breakfast? Typical breakfast since starting has been 3-4 eggs and a sweet potato (sweet potato hash). Or Sausage with bell peppers, onions, and a plateful full of cooked spinach and broccoli. All of these cooked with coconut or olive oil. Last week it seemed that things were getting better for but just today she says her energy feels zapped. Yesterday's menu: Breakfast: Frittata Lunch: Chicken kabob. Veggies. Acorn squash Dinner: Spicy tuna cakes. (NomNompaleo recipe) Today, so far: Pork sausage cooked with onions and bell peppers, little but of pineapple and strawberries. Lunch: chicken breast, mashed sweet potatoes and broccoli slaw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleBobbyJr Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 it is day 29 and I am very happy that I took on this challenge. I have learned so much more when it comes to thinking about the food that I am using as fuel. Although I understand that as far as my individual health I have more to learn but the journey of a healthy life looks good. There have been struggles, especially at the beginning when I was trying to make sure I was eating enough but I stuck with the plan, used the handy dandy Success Guide and kept my faith in the process. This helped me better trust my body to let me know that when I have had enough to eat or when I needed more due to physical activity. I still need to work on the stressors in my life in how I deal with them so that I can incorporate the whole 9 idea. In fact just this last weekend was the most stressful weekend during my whole30. My mother-in-law broke her femur, my father-in-law had an episode of diviculurtis so they are both in the hospital. Then my daughter experienced some drama with her very possessive boyfriend because she wanted to come down to see her grandparents in the hospital. It is amazing how during stressful times you want to just eat anything thinking that it will make you feel better...but it won't. Thankfully I have been planning our meals a week at at time and this helped us stick to the whole30 plan. The hospital is about 15 minutes from our house so I was able to go home and cook our meals and then take them back to the hospital for us to eat. We had little picnics in our car. So the big question now is after tomorrow, how will I eat? I really do not see myself veering off the whole30 path that much, in fact I have already made out our weekly meal plan and it has all the dishes we discovered during the whole30 and just a few new ones. I am not going to turn this into a whole365 but staying away from grains, legumes, and sugar will be how I cook. Down the road if my wife and I want to enjoy a dinner out I want to be smart about what I order and how I order but I am not going to stress out about every little part, I don't want a night out with my wife turn into fiasco because I was so worried about every little aspect of the food. I will continue to use the food guides provided in the success guide when preparing our meals. I know there are a few recipes from the paleo books I want to try that are not whole30 but still in line with the paleo lifestyle. But honestly I can't say that I felt any "magic", my wife and I did not eat a terrible diet prior to the whole30 but I do feel good and I feel that I can sustain this paleo/whole30 style of eating. Just in case you are wondering, here is my meal plan. I probably should call it a template since sometimes I switch the meals around depending on what we are hungry for at the time. Monday Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with bacon (USWellness Whole9 approved) Lunch: Chicken Apple Salad (cabbage) Dinner: Fried Salmon with Spinach and butternut squash Tuesday Breakfast: Sausage stir-fry with broccoli Lunch: Leftover Salmon and butternut squash Dinner: Chicken skewers with Almond butter satay sauce p346 Paleo Recipe Cookbook Wednesday Breakfast: Cinnamon apple omelet Lunch: Leftover chicken skewers and Almond butter satay sauce Dinner: Grilled shrimp with spinach and acorn squash Thursday Breakfast: Sausage stir-fry and zucchinni cakes. Broccoli Lunch: Chicken Salad with Salsa. Carrots Dinner: Spaghetti with Spaghetti Squash Friday Breakfast: Eggs and Sweet potato hash Lunch: leftover Spaghetti. Celery with Sunbutter Dinner: Meatza Saturday Breakfast: Sweet potato cakes and bacon Lunch: Chicken with pan-fried vegetables Dinner: Crispy smashed chicken with mango salsa. nomnompaleo Sunday Breakfast: Frittata Lunch: leftover fridge stuff Dinner: Paleo Chicken Alfredo with Spaghetti Squash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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