Stef and Gregg's Whole30

[Eetzurbrainzz]

Hello out there!

 

This is actually the start of week two for my fiance Gregg and I, and I'm proud and happy to say that we're going strong.  As a little background, I had great success about a year ago with a pretty strict Paleo-based lifestyle, dropping a total of 30 pounds and feeling the best that I have ever felt in my entire adult life.  After the holidays, for some reason I started allowing myself "cheats" here and there, which of course snowballed, and I can feel my weight and former issues creeping back up.  On top of that, laziness has taken hold once more and I have stopped exercising--but I'll worry about that more after my Whole30.  Gregg on the other hand, is coming into this lifestyle as a beginner.  He had the second-hand Paleo experience from when I'd cook healthy dinners, but his eating habits were really bad, and of course both of us enjoy our booze.  So this is challenging for both of us, but we're pretty happy so far!  Nothing made me happier than when he told me that after just one week, he was already noticing a change in how he felt.  And he's been nothing but enthusiastic and supportive about this venture, and let me tell you, that makes a world of difference.

 

For week one, we followed the meal plan that was in the new Whole30 book, which is fantastic.  The food was awesome and the recipes were easy, however there was a ton of prep work, and after getting up at 6, sitting in an hour of traffic on the way to work, sitting on my butt in a call center for 9 hours and sitting in yet another hour of traffic on the way home, the last thing I feel like doing is spending the night in my tiny apartment kitchen.  But I did it, and the effort was well worth it, but....not again.  I have come up with a simple yet effective meal plan for this week, which I'll get into in a separate post as I am at work right now and need to look busy.

 

Later!

Stefani

[Eetzurbrainzz]

I feel like I've been so busy lately!  Time seems to be flying and I can't do half the things I want to do, but I am making food-prep a priority. I kind of screwed up yesterday due to a miscalculation with how much chicken I had in my freezer and didn't really pack enough food for the day, though everything was compliant.  I had three hard-boiled eggs and some left-over potatoes drizzled with ghee, salt and pepper for breakfast and carried it through to lunch because I wasn't hungry enough to eat it all, and had a pear with lunch as well (I know, that's definitely not enough food).  For dinner we had a huge crock pot of chili waiting for us so that was good.  Then last night I prepped up a big batch of sauteed broccoli, cauliflower and mushrooms with some garlic and popped some sweet potatoes in the crock pot. 

 

Today's menu: Breakfast was a sweet potato with ghee with a big helping of the veggies and one of the eggs (I intended to eat more but I got full so fast!), lunch will be leftover chili with the rest of the veggies/eggs, and for dinner we're doing walnut crusted pork tenderloin with some sort of veggie medley.  My biggest problem so far is with breakfast, I can only eat very little, but I think that's because I am not used to eating breakfast at all.  So we'll see how that changes within the coming weeks.

 

That's all for now!

[Eetzurbrainzz]

And here we are, at day 11.

 

I'm at a point where I feel like all I do is eat, work, cook, sleep, and repeat.  Even with my "simplified" meal plan for this week I'm spending so much time in my kitchen...which I really wouldn't mind, except my kitchen is tiny and dark and I hate it.  Luckily we'll be moving soon and I'll have a fantastic new kitchen! With a bigger fridge, a much better stove/oven and oodles of counter space. I can't wait!!!  But in the meantime...it's a struggle.  I'm kind of losing my marbles.  And I think I'm going back and forth between stages of contentment and KILL ALL THE THINGS (Gregg). I joke; he's been nothing but supportive and helpful, though I tend to forget that he needs more food and I get mad when he goes for seconds on what's supposed to be lunch the next day. Poor guy. But I'm so proud of him! He's really sticking with me on this and he's just as excited as I am.  He of course is seeing better results than I am at this point, but I'm starting to see a change as well.

 

As for my food for the day, breakfast was a frittata with caramelized onions, peppers, cauliflower, zucchini and spinach with some lemon zest/juice to brighten it up.  I finally bought myself a microplane and I've been going zest crazy! Lunch for me is leftover walnut-crusted pork tenderloin (which came out beautifully--Gregg graciously let me claim the leftovers) and some roasted brussels sprouts and a sweet potato.  One thing I'm having trouble with is making enough food for the man, especially on days like today, when he delivers furniture.  Any tips on protein packed, very portable "snacks" and small meals would be appreciated.  Dinner tonight will be oven roasted chicken wings with homemade buffalo sauce with some carrot sticks and celery and homemade ranch.  Can't wait!

 

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thursday...hang in there, the weekend is in sight!!!

 

Stefani

[ladyshanny]

Try him on some canned tuna or sardines with a fork?  Hard boiled eggs.  Compliant jerky if you can find or make it? Bake a batch of boneless skinless chicken thighs and refrig...those are easy to eat out of hand.

 

But really, he should be eating more.  Enough that he can get 4-5 hours in between meals.  You might be surprised how much food you have to make for him, especially if he's a large guy.  I'm guessing a whole pork tenderloin for his dinner and lunch the next day (my hubby eats that...pork tenderloins aren't really very large).  5-6 eggs for breakfast etc.  Make sure he is getting starchy veggies also, bake a whack of sweet potatoes, white potatoes, carrots/beets etc.  And of course fat.  Perhaps he can keep some olive oil in his truck to drizzle over his lunch?  Lots of olives, whole avocados etc.

[Eetzurbrainzz]

Thanks for the advice Ladyshanny!  I definitely have plans to get him more food for next week...Sunday will be a mega prep day!  I plan on making a huge batch of chicken thighs and a few trays of roasted veggies. 

 

The chicken wings last night were awesome, however we got a late start on dinner and unfortunately didn't eat until around 9...bad. But they were great.  We did not sleep very well last night because cats.  Cats are psycho.  But in spite of that, I feel pretty energized today!  And now that we're approaching the end of week two, I'm noticing a significant change already!  I was at my worst a couple weeks ago; my mother was moving out of state so the weeks leading up to that were filled with constant dining out and drinking...basically not caring about what I ate, and I'm sure I gained a significant amount of weight...while I didn't check the scale, I could definetly feel it...

 

But now I'm starting to feel less...squishy?  lol  I'm hoping to jump back into a regular exercise routine next week.  But for right now, here's my meal plan for the day:

 

            Breakfast: 1 can of tuna with 1 whole avocado with lime juice, salt and parsley; large cup of Choffy...that stuff is amazing!

  Lunch: Leftover chicken wings with ranch, roasted brussels sprouts, an apple and some olives...possibly the three hardboiled eggs that I couldn't eat with breakfast!

            Dinner: Orange glazed cod with roasted veggies/potatoes

 

So ready for the weekend...Have a great day all!

[Eetzurbrainzz]

So stuffed full of yummy fish and potatoes...and thankfully there are plenty of leftovers to feed the man tomorrow!  I just need to make sure I pack everything up for him...including a decent first meal.  I think I've convinced him to copy my tuna/avocado idea...keeping my fingers crossed that he'll eat...poor thing isn't feeling well.  But tomorrow is a delivery day for him so I will force mass quantities of food upon him!  I know they're not ideal, but I picked up some LaraBars (made sure they were 100% compliant) the other day so at least he'll have a quick snack for when he's on the run.

 

I on the other hand, am absolutely exhausted.  My kitchen (well, my entire apartment, really) is a complete disaster, and I just absolutely refuse to do anything about it right now.  I really can't wait until July when we move!! I could really use that bigger kitchen for all this prep work!

 

Well, here's to another work week down.  We have a challenge coming up on Sunday; it's his nephew's birthday so there will be tons of horrible food...chips, snacks, cake...luckily absolutely none of that appeals to me anymore, so I'm not too worried.   We're bringing our own food!

 

I'm going to go pass out now.  Have a good night, all!

[Eetzurbrainzz]

Yayyy it's Saturday!!! I got up with Gregg, made his breakfast and packed up all his food for him before he left, then I went back to bed til about 8, which was lovely.  After a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs drizzled with olive oil, some kalamata olives and roasted potatoes I spent some quality time with my couch. Since then it's been non stop cleaning and cooking.  Got some sweet potatoes boiling on the stove for some shepherd's pie tonight!  Had kind of a weird lunch because I didn't feel like dirtying a bunch more dishes for just myself...had some grass-fed spicy beef sticks, an apple with some Sun Butter, some more olives, and snuck in some extra fat by way of coconut milk in a nice cup of coffee.  After having only black coffee for the past two weeks, that was a nice change of pace...can't wait to try that with some Choffy tomorrow!

 

I also made some more ghee today....I don't think I ever will again--at least until I can get some cheesecloth.  It ain't easy using a coffee filter.  I burned myself numerous times AND got melted butter all over my wooden cutting board. Kind of too much trouble; defintely worth splurging on in my opinion.  I ordered some from pureindianfoods.com; has anyone tried the one you put in coffee?  I ordered some but I'm just curious if anyone has an opinion on it.

 

All in all, it's been a lovely day so far, the cats are sleeping so they can terrorize us later on, I'm hoping to get food shopping done tonight to make life easier for me tomorrow...tomorrow will be big crazy prep day. I'm determined to not live in my kitchen next week!

 

Happy Saturday!

[Eetzurbrainzz]

Good Evening out there!

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend...mine flew by and I'm still worn out.  Today was non-stop from the beginning.  Got up, made breakfast (scrambled eggs/avocado), dry rubbed some ribs, made BBQ sauce, did laundry and went to the in-laws for Gregg's nephew's birthday.  We had our ribs and chicken wings, they had their birthday junk food. All was well.

 

The real fun began at 5pm.  I think I've finally got enough food prepped for the week:

1 lg tray of roasted chicken thighs

2 trays of roasted veggies (which shrunk down to like...maybe half a tray...)

16 mini omelettes with caramelized onions, spinach, mushrooms and yellow squash

12 hardboiled eggs

Chopped up some salad fixings

6 sweet potatoes in the crock pot overnight

Roasted 1 lg spaghetti squash

 

....I think that's it.

 

So tomorrow:

 

Meal 1: 2 omelettes and a sweet potato

Meal 2: Leftover shepherd's pie and an apple

Meal 3: Beef Stuffed Acorn Squash with side salad

 

And now it's bedtime.

[Eetzurbrainzz]

Hello!

 

Hope everyone is having a good week so far...don't have too much time right now so I'll log my food:

 

Meal 1: Veggie frittata and half an avocado

Meal 2: 2 chicken thighs over sweet potato with other half of avocado and some roasted brussels sprouts

Meal 3: Probably some sort of meat with spaghetti squash and homemade tomato sauce

 

By the way, the stuffed acorn squash I mentioned in my last post was AMAZING. I highly recommend:

 

http://thehealthyfoodie.com/ground-beef-stuffed-acorn-squash/

 

Just over the halfway point now! 15 more days to the official end, but I'll probably keep going!

[Eetzurbrainzz]

Day 17, and here's where we're at:

 

Gregg is feeling great, noticing a great change in his body already.  Me? Not so much, until I really sat and thought about it.  If someone could let me know if I'm on the right track, I'd appreciate it.

 

We've been 100% compliant, doing our absolute best to stick with the template etc.  My problem is, I really don't feel like I'm losing any weight, and my stomach issues are still ongoing. I've read  through the forums and people have mentioned that nuts, fruits and raw veggies can cause stomach issues, but I really don't eat many of those.  What little fruit I do have is incorporated into a bigger meal, I don't eat nuts really and I cook all my veggies (except for lettuce/salad stuff).  So I'm not sure what's going on there.  Could just be my body adjusting to all the fat I've been eating.  But as far as the weight goes, before I started this, a typical day looked like this:

 

Get up, have no breakfast, gulp 2 cups of coffee, drink lots of tea, eat a small snack from the "healthy" vending machine for lunch, drink more tea, go home and eat a huge dinner and maybe a huge bowl of frozen berries for dessert.  That went on for a while, then I had my free for all week where I just ate without any inhibition.

 

Now, I'm eating three full meals a day.  So a typical day now looks like this:  frittata with spinach, onions, mushrooms and squash, half an avocado or a whole sweet potato and a cup of black coffee for meal 1; meal 2, today I had chicken salad (two chicken thighs with sliced grapes, celery and HM mayo) in romaine lettuce leaves with a side of roasted broccoli, and dinner will be pork chops with homemade applesauce, following the recipe in the Whole30 book, with some sauteed veggies.

 

My thinking is that because I'm eating much more than I was before, I'm not losing anything.  Magically, I'm not gaining anything (I don't think...), and I have noticed that I am considerably less squishy.  I have also noticed much less breakouts happening on my face and way more energy throughout the day.  I'm sleeping much better, too! So I'm trying to stay positive as I ride out the second half.

[Eetzurbrainzz]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I've also upped my water intake in addition to my herbal tea every day.

[ShannonM816]

I understand worrying about weight. I really do. But when they say that Whole30 is not a weight loss plan, there's a reason they say that. Yes, if you have weight to lose, you will probably lose weight eating this way. But the focus of a Whole30 is on being healthy.

 

I look at it like this:  You could starve your body into submission, having nothing but coffee and a granola bar and lots of tea from the time you get up in the morning until supper time, and then eating one big meal, and forcing your body to lose weight because you're all but starving yourself (which, btw, is why you had the free for all week -- your body probably couldn't take it anymore and needed food). Or, you can nourish your body and treat it like the special thing that it is -- because it is, after all, the only physical body you're going to get in this lifetime -- and give it all the vitamins and minerals and healthy fats and protein and carbs that it needs to operate as efficiently as it possibly can.

 

Your food all looks okay. I don't know how big your veggie frittata servings are -- a serving of eggs if they're your only protein source is as many whole eggs as you can hold in your hand, which is probably 3-4, so make sure your frittata serving has at least that much, or supplement with something else. You could probably add more vegetables to some meals -- again, it's hard to tell serving sizes, but get a bare minimum of one cup of vegetables with every meal, and even better if you get 2-3 cups -- and if you have raw leafy greens like salad as your only vegetable for a meal, even more than that, because they're not really very substantial. Be sure you add some fat to every meal, you seem to in most of them, but don't be afraid of the fat. It's what helps keep you satisfied between meals, and will help you not have cravings, or not give into them if you do have them.

 

I don't really know what to tell you about the stomach issues. Nothing really stands out as looking problematic, but it's always possible that you're having some reaction to a compliant food. Or it could just need more time to sort itself out. Broth is supposed to be very helpful for digestive issues, so you might try making some -- the easiest is probably chicken. I roast a whole chicken in the crockpot, take the chicken and the vegetables out of the crockpot, but leave any liquid. Pull the meat off the bones, put the bones back in the crockpot with whatever seasonings you like (I don't salt at this point, I salt as I use the broth) -- you can put the skin back in the crockpot too if you want. And the innards of the chicken, if they were included and you don't eat them in any other way. Cover the thing with water, turn the crockpot on low, and let it go up to 24 hours.

[AmyS]

Here's the thing: our society is very insistent on all of us losing weight. Our bodies really don't care about that. At all. You are coming from a place of severely underfeeding yourself, and now your body is joyfully absorbing all of the nutrition you are giving it. It will take time to make up all of the nutritional deficits you have incurred, but it will happen in time. It's possible your body composition will change, and that your relationship with gravity will be altered too. It's possible that won't happen. But the main thing is that you are actually feeding yourself now. That's a huge victory. Keep taking baby steps here. Next up will be to do things like getting rid of your scale, coming to understand how we (especially women) have been lied to about the whole concept of weight and body size, and feel the positive effects of long-term good nutrition on your body.

 

You're doing well. Really. Carry on.

[ladyshanny]

Please don't give your beautiful heart and soul grief because your bum is round or your boobs are full or your thighs touch. Please.  Women are not men and we are not meant to be lean and hard and cut.  *yes, some women can achieve that and some women tend that way naturally...but I'm talking about most of us.  Most of us female folk are softer and rounder.  Our hearts and emotions are softer, our skin more delicate and sensitive, our bodies more hormonally driven.  We are real human beings, not a concept or an ideal.  We need health and self love and respect and compassion and acceptance.  We do not need to be told that we are not small enough, not quiet enough, not happy enough, not kind enough.  Yell when you're mad, smile when you're happy, lend a helping hand when you can and embrace whatever body you are inhabiting right now. Because it's beautiful and it's yours.  And it's your right to love yourself without putting the condition of pending change on that love.

 

I feel so ranty today on the subject of weight loss.  RANTY.  

[Eetzurbrainzz]

Thank you all for your words; definitely a great reminder.  I know this isn't about weight loss, and it's good to be reminded that the "ideal woman's body" is a myth perpetuated by society.  I let myself get all wrapped up in that and forget what's truly important: my health!  So moving forward, that will be my only point of focus.

 

Thanks again for the support!!!

 

Stefani

[Eetzurbrainzz]

Day 18:

 

I messed up this morning.  I grabbed what I thought were three hard-boiled eggs for myself and for Gregg...turned out that I gave us each raw eggs.  *sigh*...one of THOSE days.  Luckily I gave Gregg extra food today, so that won't be a huge loss for him.  Me on the other hand, all I had for Meal 1 was a sweet potato with a healthy serving of ghee and my coffee....I really need to keep stuff at work for such emergencies as I don't want to go to the caf. 

 

My meal 2 was a large spinach and romaine salad with 2 chicken thighs, anchovies and homemade tahini dressing...not bad, but not great.  I'm kind of feeling foggy today, and I have a really bad headache.  I'm also super tired, even though I zonked at like 8:30 last night and pretty much slept right through to 5:30.  Hopefully I'll perk up soon...also sipping on some ginger tea, hoping that helps my stomach.

 

Thinking of having salmon fillets tonight with spaghetti squash and homemade tomato sauce with lots of veggies in it.  I already have the squash cooked so that will be great!  I also have some mid-week food prep to do, and a three-page paper I want to get done.  Only 3.5 hours left of work...feels like forever. Ugh.

 

Stefani

[Eetzurbrainzz]

WOOOOOO it's Friday!!! Before a long weekend!!!! It's also Day 19!! Crazy!

 

I'm making up for yesterday's shameful Meal 1 with three hardboiled eggs with some Frank's hot sauce and a huge container of sauteed broccoli...probably about three cups worth, which I couldn't finish.

 

Meal 2 will be leftovers from last night; salmon with a big helping of spaghetti squash with veggie tomato sauce and the rest of that broccoli!

 

Meal 3...I'm thinking pork tenderloin with roasted potatoes and whatever veggies I can scrounge from my fridge.

 

Here's to hoping the work day flies by!! I'm ready to get my weekend on!

 

 

Stefani

[kimberlyxo]

Please don't give your beautiful heart and soul grief because your bum is round or your boobs are full or your thighs touch. Please.  Women are not men and we are not meant to be lean and hard and cut.  *yes, some women can achieve that and some women tend that way naturally...but I'm talking about most of us.  Most of us female folk are softer and rounder.  Our hearts and emotions are softer, our skin more delicate and sensitive, our bodies more hormonally driven.  We are real human beings, not a concept or an ideal.  We need health and self love and respect and compassion and acceptance.  We do not need to be told that we are not small enough, not quiet enough, not happy enough, not kind enough.  Yell when you're mad, smile when you're happy, lend a helping hand when you can and embrace whatever body you are inhabiting right now. Because it's beautiful and it's yours.  And it's your right to love yourself without putting the condition of pending change on that love.

 

I feel so ranty today on the subject of weight loss.  RANTY.  

 

 

 

 

 

So you pretty much made me cry.... I LOVE this.... I have been feeling all of those things these past couple days... Laddyshanny, thank you for posting  

[Eetzurbrainzz]

Day 20!  Happy Saturday!

 

It's not even 8 and I am so wide awake...I'm still clinging to bed though because 1. I don't want to do half the stuff I need to do today, and 2. my cat just got cozy with me.

 

But I'll at least log my (intended) meal plan of the day.  Also, last night's meal 3 turned out to be GF beef burgers with caramelized onions, roasted sweet and golden potatoes with ghee, guacamole, and I had an entire can of beets with salt, pepper and red wine vinegar...so good.  Also so stuffed after.  But happy stuffed. lol

 

Today:

 

M1: 3 Scrambled eggs, drizzled with olive oil and a red bell pepper; some coffee with ghee blended in, just for kicks

M2: Tuna with HM mayo, some sort of veg (I forget what I have left in my fridge)

M3: Pork carnitas with roasted butternut squash

 

Tomorrow is food shopping day!  Finally going to go to Whole Foods.  There are none close by but we'll be in an area that has one, so I'm excited!

 

And now I'm off to procrastinate from writing my paper.

 

Enjoy the day, all!

[kimberlyxo]

Sounds like a good day! The closest Whole Foods to me is Framingham.. booo I'm never out there. Have fun!

[Eetzurbrainzz]

Day 21

 

Such a busy day today!! We did some packing/moving to the "new" place and ran a bunch of errands.  Meal one was poached eggs over leftover pulled pork...delicious.  I FINALLY made it to a Whole Foods for the first time today, and among some other great stuff, got some jicama and some kombucha...two things I have been trying to find for the longest time.  The Kombucha was delicious, I definitely want to try to find more of that and see if it helps.

 

Between shopping and doing stuff at the house, we didn't have time for a real second meal (oops...) and wound up having a LaraBar each...bad, I know.  But to make up for it, we had an amazing dinner: New York strip steak with garlic mashed potatoes (I roasted some garlic and smashed it into the potatoes with some ghee and coconut milk...   Gregg was very pleased). On the side we had MASSIVE roasted brussels sprouts, parsnips and these awesome multi-colored carrots, with some lovely cherry tomatoes.  More than made up for the missed meal.  It was so good, I feel the need to show it:

 

 

 

Mmmhmm. A very happy Sunday indeed.  Looking forward to some steak and eggs in the morning.

[Eetzurbrainzz]

Day 22!

 

Another busy day.  Had a huge breakfast of steak, eggs, avocado and cherry tomatoes, meal 2 was quick; just some veggies and tuna.  Meal 3 was the beef stuffed acorn squash again just because it is sooo good.  Got some chicken thighs roasting right now, made some sweet potato hash and hardboiled eggs for the week.

 

And now I'm going to enjoy the rest of this evening with the man, the cats, and the couch.

[Beth49]

Dear Stephanie, 

I've loved reading your journey.  My husband and I are doing this together too, although we are quite a bit older.  However, we are doing it to lose weight, yes, but to get healthier primarily.  We are going to Hawaii in July and then camping in the Everglades in September, so we wanted to do something drastic.   the Whole 30 fits.  The prep work is extensive, but I'm feeling so good that I don't mind it all.

 

Best of luck.

Beth

[Eetzurbrainzz]

Dear Stephanie, 

I've loved reading your journey.  My husband and I are doing this together too, although we are quite a bit older.  However, we are doing it to lose weight, yes, but to get healthier primarily.  We are going to Hawaii in July and then camping in the Everglades in September, so we wanted to do something drastic.   the Whole 30 fits.  The prep work is extensive, but I'm feeling so good that I don't mind it all.

 

Best of luck.

Beth

 

Thanks Beth!

 

Your trips sound like they're going to be amazing!  I really hope to get to Hawaii someday!  And I couldn't agree more; the hard work for Whole30 living is definitely worth it.

 

Stefani

[Eetzurbrainzz]

It's day 23 and I'm tired and  cranky today.  I don't know why (it's probably because I'm back at work..... )

 

I'll keep it short for now because my lunch is almost over:

 

Meal 1: HB eggs with cherry tomatoes and jicama slices

Meal 2: Two chicken thighs with sweet potato homefries with avocado oil and onions, more jicama

Meal 3: Salmon fillets with roasted brussels sprouts and possibly avocado mash.

 

I want a nap.