Littleg's post nano log

[thegoldengrahamgirl]

Thanks, Alison (sorry littleg, for hi-jacking your log).  I'll stick to iHerb (which carries the Artisana line); Amazon shipping to South Korea is astronomical.  It made it very easy to NOT ship myself anything during Black Friday sales.  I guess that's a win/lose.

 

Cheers,

 

-Lauren (GGG)

[littleg]

Yeah... I realized the coconut butter needs to go.  The Nutiva one is just too good and tempting "hey, its good fat!  I *need* that... so I should eat half the jar!".  

 

Those darn 12 hour days are just so tough for me.  That is what does me in.  Alison - what did you do for your 12?  Was that 7A to 7P?  Eating before work has been going really well.  I'm usually not hungry until 12 or 1.  But then I'm hungry again around 5 often and I just can't ever seem to get out to eat at that time.  I don't know why all the babies decide that 5-7 PM is the time they want to be bold and drop their heart rates and take a break from breathing... little stinkers.  So then I don't eat until 8 and I'm STARVING.  

[littleg]

So I can report on Days 20 and 21!  We took a Wilderness First Aid course for 2 days.  Really interesting.  Great instructor.  We packed a cooler with 1 dozen HB eggs, coconut milk, mayo, left over meats, breakfast casserole, roasted potatoes, baby carrots a few peppers, roasted broccoli, zucchini ginger soup.  

 

Day 20 started with coconut burps so I didn't eat much... had some coffee with coconut milk on our way up north.  Lunch was beef heart with eggplant and taco seasoning and some mayo and zucchini ginger soup.  The course ran from 8 AM until 6:30 PM.  We'd both slept like crap for the 3 nights prior so by 6:30 the last thing I wanted to do was to go out to eat.  I had called the nice restaurant in town and talked to them about cooking my burger and potatoes in duck fat and was looking forward to it but by the end of the day I could barely keep my eyes open.  I was dizzy and nauseous.  Ended up eating 4 small apples and a grapefruit from the store.  I was asleep by 7:15 I think.  

 

Day 21

M1 2 coconut milk coffees sipped on while doing a 2 mile walk.  3 HB eggs with mayo.

M2 sausage patty, sliced red pepper, zucchini soup.  Still hungry about an hour later.  3 HB eggs with mayo.

M3 broccoli slaw with beef shank, mayo, pretty much the whole 1 lb bag of baby carrots.  Think I'm still hungry.  But 6 eggs for the day is probably enough :/  I need other snack options.  I can't eat nuts and I hate olives... what else is a good protein/fat hit?

[thegoldengrahamgirl]

Epic bars!  Great protein/fat combo (comparable to 2-3 eggs) and fewer carbs than say, a Larabar.

[littleg]

I have heard of Epic bars, haven't ever seen them or tried them though... I'll check them out.

 

So last night I decided I really was still hungry.  Ended up eating a palm or so of beef with the last of the broccoli with coconut milk and curry paste.  I forgot how good that is... 

[Alisonlcarver]

Those darn 12 hour days are just so tough for me.  That is what does me in.  Alison - what did you do for your 12?  Was that 7A to 7P?  Eating before work has been going really well.  I'm usually not hungry until 12 or 1.  But then I'm hungry again around 5 often and I just can't ever seem to get out to eat at that time.  I don't know why all the babies decide that 5-7 PM is the time they want to be bold and drop their heart rates and take a break from breathing... little stinkers.  So then I don't eat until 8 and I'm STARVING.  

 

My 12-hour shift was 7a-7p.  I also work with little babies, but do my work in the operating room--I am a nurse anesthetist. 

 

My day: I knew that I was not going to go to the gym after work that day so I went to bed very early the night beforehand, got my 8 hours, got up extra early, had a pre-WO snack of hard-boiled eggs, and ran for 5 miles before 6am.  Gotta get that marathon training in!  Then, the day got back to normal.  I didn't have time to do a post-WO meal, so I went straight into breakfast.  I believe I had some chicken salad with roasted butternut squash--lots of protein, fat and veggies.  Lunch was protein, veggies, and fat when I got hungry.  I may have eaten fruit or nuts, but if I did it was very moderate portions...I can't remember off the top of my head exactly what I ate.  Then, to tide me until dinner I did have a snack and it was a *gasp* larabar!  I had that around 3pm or so.  It's not the best option, but it's better than the chemicals they sell in the vending machines washed down with aspartame!  Then, I got home around 8pm and was also very hungry but still had protein, veggies, and fat.  I do find that when I'm tired it's easier to eat more than I need to, so I try to be very careful about eating ONLY to satiety when I am tired. 

 

Also, if you check my Whole 30 Log a few days back, it shows a picture of how I organize my stock of protein, veggies, and fat so that when I am tired or just don't want to cook I can still form a Whole 30 balanced meal without much brainpower.  I keep a list of compliant proteins on one post-it.  I keep a list of vegetables that I have on hand on a second post-it.  And I keep a list of readily available healthy fats on a third post-it.  Then, when I am hungry I just pick one item from each post-it and it's a meal.  Boom!  Takes 5 minutes to put a meal together that way.

[Alisonlcarver]

Epic bars!  Great protein/fat combo (comparable to 2-3 eggs) and fewer carbs than say, a Larabar.

 

I like EPIC bars too!  Most of them are compliant.  The bacon one is my favorite. 

 

Also, Rx bars are an option.  They do have dates and nuts in them so may cause a similar reaction to that of a Larabar.

[littleg]

I figured you were an OR nurse  But a CRNA... impressive.  I'm a peds nurse and spend a lot of time in the NICU.  I love those little 1000g babies

 

My problem with bars is that they do not fill me up at all.  I could eat 15 lara bars in a sitting and feel like I ate nothing.  I don't know if those protein bars would be different.  

 

I saw your post it strategy.  Usually our fridge is empty enough that post its aren't required for organization Those would probably help me not forget about the random jar of soup languishing behind all the tupperware though!

[littleg]

Feeling kind of alien baby in my belly today.  Too many carrots and apples these last few days (darn you FODMAPs when consumed to excess!).

 

OOB at 5:45 or so.  Coconut milk coffee.  

 

8:30 M1.  Sigh.  Just didn't feel like eating.

 

Broccoli slaw with onions and sausage.  2 HB eggs with mayo.  Few bites of cold potatoes (prebiotic) with few bites of sauerkraut (probiotic).

 

 

Gym at 1 ish - squats - got up to 130x11 for my max set.  Then 5x10 @ 75.  Press 65 x 6 for max set.  Then 5x10 @ 40.  3x3 squat cleans at 95, 100, 105.  Lat pull downs 3x7 @ 105.  I hurt my shoulder about 3 months ago and put on weight.  My pull ups basically went out the window.  I've been doing the lat pull downs to try to get that strength back. Today after doing all that I hopped on the pull up bar and did 2 fairly easily.  Happy dance.

 

Post WO - handful of cold potatoes and beef heart

 

M2 @ 3ish - broccoli, shank, potatoes, mayo

 

[littleg]

M3 at 6:45 - last of the beef heart and beef shank cooked up with curry paste and coconut milk and a yellow pepper and broccoli on the side.  I might have used my finger to totally clean out the jar of coconut milk

 

 

Back to work tomorrow.  Boo.  I like days where I can take 3.5 mile walks, cook, go to the gym and play with the dogs so much better!

[littleg]

Day 22 - work day

 

M1 at 6 AM: brisket hash - broccoli slaw, brisket, onions.  Mayo on the side.  Coconut milk coffee.

 

 

M2 at 2 PM: gah!  This keeps happening.  I has HANGRY by 2 yesterday.  4 HB eggs with mayo, small sausage patty, sliced pepper, zucchini ginger soup, pan fried broccoli (I took up almost the whole table with all my tupperware!)

 

Coconut milk coffee at 4ish

 

M3 - apples.  Ali wrote something the other day about being much more mindful of her eating when she is hungry/tired because poor choices and eating past satiety are much more likely.  Ding ding ding.  

 

On the bright side apples are a bit of a clean out for me so I feel nice and empty this morning :/

[jmcbn]

Did you want to go longer than 2pm? Or just not be HANGRY?? That's 8hrs....

I'd probably have added a fried egg or two to meal one to go that long, & then maybe dropped an egg from meal two...

Looks delish though!

[littleg]

I wanted to eat lunch at noon.  But I couldn't get out.  Every day at work my goal is M1 6 AM, M2 noon, M3 6PM.  I don't think that has ever actually happened though!

[jmcbn]

Ah...... well, no wonder you were HANGRY then!   

 

[littleg]

Day 23 - off

 

OOB at 5:30 - slept like poo.  Grumble.  Hubs and I are thinking of getting a new bed.  We have a full size now.  A queen would cost us 800ish and get us 6 more inches (plus more length so his feet don't hang off the bed, but I'm 5'2" so that ain't my problem ).  A king would get us over 16"... Not sure which way to go here.  Anyway, back to W30 talk...

 

Coconut milk coffee sipped for a while

 

M1 @ 7:15 or so - broccoli slaw with brisket and mayo and some onions.  Some haricot verts on the bottom that I steamed the other day but never ate.  Not full.  

 

 

MD appointment - cyst seems to finally be gone.  This cycle should be a go.  

 

3 mile dog walk with another coconut milk coffee.  Still hungry.  Took the walk to just get out of the house and be distracted.

 

12:30 - 2 salmon cakes (thanks Brewer!  Yours looked better than mine!), mayo, sautéed broccoli.  Ate one as a sandwich on the lettuce.  I'm craving lettuce... that is weird.  Not sure what micronutrient lettuce has that I'm not getting from the 4 lbs of broccoli I eat each day

Then more broccoli.  Really hungry today.  Did apples for dinner make me hungry?  Pants are getting a *little* looser - this is when I tend to not make it because just as I seem to lose a little weight I get SO HUNGRY.  Gonna try to ride this out with big breakfasts.  And more fat.  

 

 

[Brewer5]

Ha, no problem.    I use that little cookie scoop to make mine... like you use for dough?  Plop them in the pan and then flatten them out a little.  So they were just smaller, I think.  I got ~seven out of that recipe.

[littleg]

Yeah - I got 5 - out of a 14 oz can.  I have a healthy appetite

[littleg]

Kombucha at some point today during my errands.

 

5ish - lifted at home.  Deadlifts.  Got upto 170 x 10.  Then 5x10 at 100.  

 

6:30ish - ~1c baby carrots and a HB egg with a tsp of mayo (the egg broke while boiling... you know how you "have to" eat all the melted, soft ice cream when you get home from the store... its kinda like that - you have to eat the broken egg when it comes out of the pot!)

 

7ish M3 - Poor planning and laziness created this.  Burger on top of mushy eggplant with a side of Asian eggplant cooked under the broiler.  With mayo.  Serving bowl of lettuce and balsamic... I need to find a good dressing.  And I need not to eat eggplant with a side of eggplant again

 

 

So, it is Wednesday which is my night alone.  I had a dinner that was not exactly what I wanted.  This would usually be a recipe to binge.  But tonight I'm not even in the mood for coconut butter or something as a treat since dinner was sort of crappy.  It took me until close to 5 to finally feel full today, I'm not sure what that was about but that definitely helped with this dinner fail because I wasn't even that hungry.  Also, I was totally not in the mood to lift tonight.  But I'm super glad I did.  So two wins for team littleg today

[thegoldengrahamgirl]

Yay team littleg!  Excited for your upcoming cycle.

 

P.S. - I'm the same with HB egg whites.

[littleg]

Thanks Lauren!

[thegoldengrahamgirl]

P.S.  You are STRONG, dude!  I do read your workouts.  Yeesh, and you're only 5'2"?  I need to get my 5'5" ass to some CrossFit workouts.  In Korean.

 

But, no really, we do have an affiliate gym here.  I just know I can't go on a regular basis because it's on the other side of town and doesn't have child care.  My all-or-nothing personality has a hard time with "occasional" CrossFit.

[littleg]

Lauren - Thanks!  I'm actually not doing crossfit now.  Granted that is what got me to where I am... but I'm regaining lost strength quite well without it.  I'm doing Wendler's 531 program + the Big But Boring add on.  Here is a calculator.  I'm actually enjoying it quite a bit.  Doesn't take much time but I'm seeing some improvement.  I'm still a good 10-20% below my previous PRs but I am confident I'll get past them with this program.  

 

 

 

Day 24 - work day

 

M1 - 6 AM.  Coconut milk coffee, broccoli slaw, brisket, potatoes, HB egg with mayo

 

 

M2 - 3 PM.  GAH!!! Work was cray-cray yesterday.  Bought an apple (and so it starts...), spinach/onions/peppers/eggplant with taco meat, red pepper with mayo.  Panera donated some food the day before - munched on some baby carrots too.  If only every time there was junk food around someone brought a veggie tray too

 

M3 - 4 apples.

 

Ok, so yesterday sucked.  I was super busy and stressed all day long.  It was like an NCLEX question come to life... if you have 1 patient in respiratory distress, 1 patient in 10/10 pain and screaming and 1 patient with neurogenic bladder and a bladder scan of 50% higher than it should be for age/weight which patient do you see first?  All day.  Well almost all day.  At 6 PM it slowed down :/  Thank goodness I work with amazing people.  

 

And of course the Christmas goodies have appeared.  I had a wicked headache starting at about noon, when I started to get hungry.  I had bought myself a pumpkin spice coffee on my way into work to enjoy later in the day and never had a chance to have it.  It came home with me and I had it this morning.  M3 came home with me too (2 HB eggs, mayo, sausage patty).  That was because of the apples.  

 

And here is my apple issue: apples are not bad.  I'm reasonably fit and active and eating low-ish carb so I don't think apples are going to send me into hyperinsulinemia and hypoglycemia.  But I eat them in a compulsive, self soothing sort of way.  The times I've had them lately are (1.) after a 10 hour class in a state of sleep deprivation (2.) after stressful, long days at work.  I'm already restricting so much of what I eat I have a hard time saying "apples are forbidden".  If 4 apples don't trigger a binge (one night they did) is it really that bad to eat apples for dinner 3 nights a week (since it seems to be the days I work)?  Part of me says yes and part of me says no.  2 of the 3 apple dinners were satiating.  I ate my apples, drank my magnesium and settled in for the night and really didn't want anything else - but one night I think I ate a half a jar of coconut butter too...  I like that they are crunchy, take a while to eat and probably have some nutritional value... ugh, frustrating.

[Alisonlcarver]

Panera donated some food the day before - munched on some baby carrots too. If only every time there was junk food around someone brought a veggie tray too

And of course the Christmas goodies have appeared.

Ok, so I love the holiday season and don't wish for it to end quickly but what is it with everyone giving gifts of baked goods, buttered caramel corn, cakes in the form of Christmas trees, chocolate, and whatever other sugary treat you can think of?! I will be so glad and relieved when our work break room tables are not completely filled with this junk! But also a little sad because that means no more Christmas music...

[Alisonlcarver]

And here is my apple issue: apples are not bad. I'm reasonably fit and active and eating low-ish carb so I don't think apples are going to send me into hyperinsulinemia and hypoglycemia. But I eat them in a compulsive, self soothing sort of way. The times I've had them lately are (1.) after a 10 hour class in a state of sleep deprivation (2.) after stressful, long days at work. I'm already restricting so much of what I eat I have a hard time saying "apples are forbidden". If 4 apples don't trigger a binge (one night they did) is it really that bad to eat apples for dinner 3 nights a week (since it seems to be the days I work)? Part of me says yes and part of me says no. 2 of the 3 apple dinners were satiating. I ate my apples, drank my magnesium and settled in for the night and really didn't want anything else - but one night I think I ate a half a jar of coconut butter too... I like that they are crunchy, take a while to eat and probably have some nutritional value... ugh, frustrating.

littleg--here's my two cents, and you know I'm dealing with my own issues so keep that in mind...

Apples are not bad. They are healthy. Every real food is healthy when eaten in moderation, I think...even nuts, nut butters, coconut butters, fruit, and *gasp* larabars. Your comment that you are eating them in a compulsive, self-soothing way is what strikes me as the bad thing here. Eating anything to self-medicate is not good because although you are doing it with a healthy food, this may be a gateway food and once the confines and structure of the Whole 30 are gone, it will be that much easier to continue this sort of self-soothing with another food, perhaps not a healthy food like apples. The problem, to me, is not the apples. It is the way in which you are consuming them. I think it would be important to break the association between food and comfort, and maybe find a non-food way to de-stress. Because, once again, once the Whole 30 is over, I would hate for those apples to turn into muffins or donuts or some other sweet treat that has no nutrition.

One other reason to maybe change this behavior is that you are doing without a variety of nutrients by not filling your plate up with protein, Veggies, and fat. Fruit and nuts should be either a topping or an afterthough. Like, if you are still hungry after your protein, veggies, and fat, then go ahead and have an apple. The protein and fat will fill you up and keep your blood sugar consistent, and the veggies will provide lots more micronutrients than your apples. And since you are not eating only carbs and sugar for a meal, there is less of a chance for becoming hypoglycemic during the night, which will disrupt your sleep.

You say 'I like that they are crunchy and take a while to eat...' What about celery, carrot sticks, cucumber chips, zucchini sticks, any raw crunchy fresh veggie? You can pre-chop them and keep them in your fridge ready to go. And if you have some pre-made mayo on hand (and I know you do!), you can either use that as a healthy fat dip or make some guacamole quickly, and just add a little bit of protein and there's your meal! Crunch and all!

But you know I've been dealing with my own issues and nut butter craving demons recently, so that's easy for me to say.

[littleg]

What's up with the caramel popcorn?  That is *everywhere* this year!  I'm Jewish so growing up Christmas goodies weren't around (I lived in a Jewish area)... but I've been in a non-Jewish area for 10 years now and I've never seen caramel popcorn like this year.  Weird.