Let the madness begin! April 5th

[Present4Life]

Oh no!  So sorry to hear about your baby girl's toe   Yeah, the walk would take a back seat to snuggles and band-aids.

[madness]

Thanks! I just got back from volunteering at her track and field day. She looked like she was having a blast and going all out, but she complained about her toe during every break. Poor kiddo, but it looks MUCH better now.

 

Soooo....I want to scream. I have been super delighted with my weight loss. This is day 45. I told myself I wouldn't weigh in for another 30 days, but I did. I've lost 18 lbs total! Yeah me!

 

BUT!!!! My brother's fiance asked me to be a bridesmaid. I kinda thought she was joking. But she wasn't, so I accepted (of course!). Her other bridesmaids are all her friends - early 20's, athletic builds, kinda girly-girls. I'm 36, wear all black (all the time), have dreadlocks, never wear makeup, don't own a single dress (oh man, or SHOES for that nonsense either!), have a pretty wicked farmer's tan (cuz I actually farm), am 5'10" compared to the next tallest at 5'5" and am still a good 40 lbs overweight. All the dresses they have suggested don't even come in my size (what I'm GUESSING is my dress size because I don't flippin' know!). Why would a dress only come in XS, S and M?!?  The wedding isn't until September but some of the dresses take FOURTEEN WEEKS to deliver. Ummmm....I sure hope I keep losing weight but what in the world am I supposed to do about this! 

[madness]

The bridesmaid thing is too over the top. They've narrowed it down and two of the dress choices are BACKLESS. Entirely backless. Even when I was skinny, I didn't wear stuff like that. Another is strapless (I'm pretty busty). So I'm backing out. Totally lame, but I have stressed out more over this stupid dress than anything else in the last 6 months. Not. worth. it.

 

Day 45

 

Sleep: 7.5 hrs asleep, and felt pretty good. Kids woke me up 15 minutes before alarm and I actually got out of bed!

 

Food:

M1: 3 eggs scrambled in coconut oil, fist-sized sweet potato wedges, 2 cups oily squash

 

M2: 2 hardboiled eggs and coleslaw

 

M3: palm-sized chicken thigh and celery-leek soup with coconut milk

 

Exercise: I volunteered at the school's track and field day so I didn't have time to walk for my commute. I thought I would get exercise there but none at all! I also had dinner at my brother's in the evening so not time for a walk. Sheesh. Only 7,500 steps.

 

General: All I can think about is the wedding stuff. It's awful how stressful this has been on my family here in town. None of use can really afford to fly there, hotel, crazy expensive clothes, etc but of course we are doing it. My brother was nice enough to buy my husband's tux so he can be a groomsman. He knew we couldn't afford it. At least I can save the hundreds on the bridesmaid dress now. Just bought the plane tickets last night and we are trying to find an AirBnB to cram everyone in to save money there. My other brother is super shy but they are making him give a speech.  My dad has never worn a suit in his life and is buying one for this. My mom doesn't wear make-up either and she and the bride's mom have a "spa day" with make-up that she is actually dreading because she doesn't like that sort of stuff. This is so different from the usual weddings in my family (low key in someone's backyard with plenty of beer) but I understand it's what the bride wants. It's just a bit overwhelming for us "hicks"! 

[madness]

Day 46

 

Sleep: 8.25 hrs asleep. I took a Unisom – never done that before! I was so worked up over the dumb dress thing and I couldn’t sleep. I woke up soo groggy.

 

Food:

 

M1: 3 eggs scrambled in coconut oil, fist-sized serving of sweet potato wedges, big ol’ pile of green beans with ghee

 

M2: 1 big chicken thigh salad (apple and mayo) on monstrous plate of lettuce and cabbage.

 

M3: (at a PARTY that we weren’t supposed to stay that long at…) 2 hot dogs (holy moly, they were actually compliant!), carrot sticks, snap peas and mayo (I did a mayo making demo for everyone!)

 

Exercise: 13,500. I just averaged my week and it came to 11,200. So I guess I’m not so upset that 2 of my days so far have been low. At least they weren’t THAT low.

 

General: Apparently, I’m back in the wedding. Sigh. What a mess. She REALLY wants me in the wedding. I’ll post backless dress pictures of me in September!   I was complaining to a neighbor/friend that I went to college with. We’ve both definitely put on some weight since getting desk jobs and having kids, but she’s been working out regularly now. She told me she would drag my butt all over the city on bike rides this summer and not let me be embarrassed in my dress. It was sweet and intimidating at the same time. 

[madness]

Day 47

 

Sleep: 9 hrs asleep. I could have used a little more – I needed to catch up!

 

Food:

 

M1: 2 huge fried duck eggs, fist-sized serving of sweet potato wedges, 2 cups roasted cauliflower with added coconut oil

 

M2: 1 big chicken thigh salad (apple and mayo) on monstrous plate of lettuce and cabbage. My husband made it and it was hideously salty. 

 

M3: ground beef taco lettuce wraps – probably 2 palms of beef - with mayo and a bit of avocado, green beans with olive oil.

 

Exercise: I’m at 11,300 just before bed. I also biked for 15 minutes (I checked - totally didn't register on the fitbit as active time). Got a new bike and had to ride it home since it wouldn’t fit in the car! I used to bike as my only form of transportation 10 years ago. But just 15 minutes made my butt hurt! I need to find my gel seat or buy a new one. I want to bike 15 minutes a day until I build up the ability to sit for longer!

 

General: Soooo….husband wants to join me now!   Not only that, but he wants to do a Whole100. That would take us to 3 weeks before my brother’s big wedding so we could do reintroductions and figure out what we can splurge on at the wedding. We are the same height and weigh about the same right now. It’s gonna suck when he loses weight so much faster than me because I know it’s going to happen. But at least he is doing this! Guess I’m in for nearly a Whole150!

[madness]

We stayed at the farm and I got 9 hrs of sleep – I usually wake up really earlier there so this was good. Felt great in the morning.

 

Most of the day was just harvesting, taking care of goats and playing with the kids. I walked a couple times between the houses (1/4 mile) and took the kids (cousins plus neighbor’s kids) on an adventure hike in the woods. So I got in 13,300 steps, most of which was walking for longer than 10 minutes at a time. Usually, at least half of my steps come from just walking around the lab or home and it's hardly "exercise".

 

I don’t feel like I’m losing weight anymore and my arthritis isn’t getting better. I need to figure out some tweaks here…

 

Food:

 

M1: 2 huge scrambled duck eggs, oily squash

 

M2: 1 palm chicken thigh with avocado salsa, green beans with ghee

 

M3: 1 palm ham, 1 cup cucumber-tomato salad with a dash of olive oil, 1 cup green beans with ghee, 1 fist pan fried potatoes

[madness]

Day 49

 

I weighed in today. Arg. I’m 2 lbs up since Thursday. I know weight fluctuates and part of this whole thing was breaking up with the scale. It’s funny – I never weighed myself before but now it’s a struggle not to! Boo. I guess I want to weigh in once a week and see if I can change things to keep my weight loss going. This week, I add strength training!

 

I got 8 hours of sleep and felt great in the morning. I’m back to consistent energy which is good. I’m thinking it was adding back in starches. Of course…that could also be part of the weight plateau. I might experiment with that a bit.

 

I did stronglifts 5x5 work out this morning. It’s 5 exercises – squat, bench, barbell row, deadlift and overhead press – split into A/B groups, with 5 sets of 5 reps starting at a low weight and adding 5 lbs each workout. I’m soooo weak! I was surprised how exhausted I was just benching 45 lbs. The program is every other day. The “off” days I’ll do real cardio (probably bike ride) for 2 of the days and give myself 2 recovery days a week. Hopefully after a month of this, I will really see an improvement in energy and weight loss.

 

I also did 14,500 steps.

 

Food:

 

M1: 2 huge scrambled duck eggs, 1.5 cup cooked spinach with ghee

 

postWO: Big deviled duck egg (mayo)

 

M2: 1 palm chicken thigh salad (mayo, apple), 1 cup of lettuce, 2 cups oily squash

 

M3: not-quite-1-palm beef cutlet with balsamic grilled onions, 1 cup roasted carrots with olive oil and ½ cucumber with ranch

 

I thought postWO was protein+fat but I looked it up and it’s protein+carb! I’ll get it right tomorrow.

 

I packed my husband’s lunch last night and noticed it was still in the fridge after he left for work this morning. It was a crazy morning (Monday always is – ‘where’s my backpack? Why are my shoes wet?!? I don’t want to go to work!’) so I forgot to remind him. Lo and behold, he turned around and came back to pick it up! So far he is following the rules, but none of the recommendations. He wants to make smoothies (chia seeds and almond milk) for breakfast, doesn’t think he should quit snacking and hates adding fat to his meals. If he experiences anything like me, those things will come back to bite him soon enough…

[madness]

Day 50

 

Woke up a bit groggy after 8 hrs in bed, but I had a hard time falling asleep. Just got a lot on my mind! Husband says he is doing fine. Can’t believe he’s not having carb and sugar withdrawal. He is HUNGRY though. But keeps looking at my plate saying “how can you eat all of that? No wonder your weight loss has slowed!” Ugh.

 

M1: 2 huge fried duck eggs, 1.5 cups squash with pesto

 

It was drizzly this morning. Normally, that wouldn’t slow us down but we had a diorama to get to school intact so we drove instead of walked. That took a big chunk out of my normal steps for the day! I got called into a meeting at school right after dropping off kid #2 (we did walk to the sitter, but it’s ¼ mile!), so I raced over on my new bike! The meeting was short so I took the time to go on a 3 mile ride. I ended up with 30 minutes of cycling…I’m kinda slow, but there are also some hilly spots!

 

postWO: ½ palm of beef cutlet and ½ fist of sweet potato

 

A new feature on my fitbit app just popped up and it wants me to take 250 steps every hour. I don’t like it! The car ride to the farm is an hour. I frequently sit in meetings for an hour. Heaven forbid, I actually sit down to watch a TV show or movie. So I’m ignoring it. 

 

M2: ¼ lb ground beef in 1.5 cups ratatouille (eggplant, tomato, pepper, onion, herbs, tons o’ olive oil)

 

I did garden club with kids afterschool which is physically demanding without adding hardly any steps! Ah well.

 

I completely forgot to start the pork in the slow cooker this morning. Dinner was kinda thrown together.

 

M3: not-quite-palm corned beef, 1 cup beets, 1 cup salad with ranch, 2 cups kale chips

 

The corned beef was gristly. It was the last chunks that I had frozen from a previous batch. I didn’t realize how much it had already been picked over! So not quite enough protein after I left behind the gristly bits.

 

I ended up getting in more walking due to PTA meeting at the school. So I hit 13,500 steps on top of the 3 mile bike ride!

 

…and caught my husband cheating on the diet when I came home tonight. Lasted almost 3 days. He doesn’t know I saw. But I did.

[Present4Life]

Oh wow - What a crazy busy day you had yesterday!  Forgetting to start the slow cooker - I do that all the time   In fact, it just occurred to me that I forgot to thaw the meat for dinner tonight, so I'll need to make an adjustment. Hmmm...

 

Uh oh, naughty hubby - what was he snacking on?

[madness]

Oh crud!!! Can you believe I forgot to put the pork in the slow cooker again!?! I didn't even realize until just now. Sigh.

 

I didn't know what he was snacking on - I was fumbling with stuff in my hands at the door and saw he was eating something at the table. The dog finally heard me and started barking. He jumped up and put what he was eating behind some stuff just as I was opening the door. But this morning, there wasn't enough yogurt for the kids! He had to fess up.

[madness]

Day 51

 

8 hrs sleep. I’m having trouble falling asleep but I think it might be that I really only need 7.5-8 hrs so I’m getting in bed too early. But I’m tired at night!

 

Husband is definitely not doing a Whole100, let alone a Whole30. His response to the cheating was that one little yogurt wouldn’t send him totally off the rails. So once again, I’m in this along. (He also skipped breakfast and didn’t take lunch).

 

I had very little appetite this morning and couldn’t eat all of my breakfast. Here’s what I did eat.

 

M1: 2 scrambled eggs, 1 cup squash with pesto

 

Workout B of stronglifts 5x5 went ok this morning. I couldn’t overhead press 45 lbs though! Good thing we have an el cheapo bar that only weighs 15 lbs so I was able to do 30 lbs. I also didn’t go up a weight on the squats – stayed at 45 lbs. I did do 90 lb deadlifts though. And then walked to work…very slowly!

 

postWO: 1 hardboiled huge duck egg and ½ fist of potato

 

Work is stressful right now. Boo. I was in the middle of stuff and didn’t realize I had missed lunch until my alarm went off to pack up my stuff and head out to get the kids! So I scarfed my lunch. Ugh.

 

M2: 1 palm chicken thigh salad (mayo and apple) on 1 cup of lettuce, 1 cup of cooked spinach

 

Busy afternoon. Thank goodness I had the means to throw together a quick meal since I forgot the pork again. There’s a HUGE sign on my front door to put it in the slow cooker!

 

M3: 2 cups of shredded zucchini with 1 cup beefy ratatouille sauce with extra olive oil.

 

I put my scale away this morning. I plan to weigh in every 15 days. Maybe I can even stretch that out to 30 days once I’m feeling better about this. It sucks that I’ve gotten obsessed over it!

 

I’ve been in a wretched mood today. My appetite is gone again. I think it’s just the change of adding real exercise into my schedule…plus work stress. At least I could eat full template meals for lunch and dinner. Hopefully this passes soon! Oh, and I started my period. I guess I shouldn’t wonder that my mood has been off. Sigh.

 

13,500 steps and I’m not quite done for the day (but pretty dang close…)

[Deerobert]

Sounds like that wedding is causing too much stress, I wish everyone good luck.  

[madness]

Day 52

 

Only 7 hours of sleep but I feel fine. Had a cup of tea yesterday. Could that be it?

 

Still have a smaller appetite, most notably in the morning.

 

M1: 2 scrambled eggs, 1 cup cooked spinach with ghee

 

This morning was nuts. The whole family went to the school to see the kindergartners show off their projects. After an hour of that, the little one and I drove across town to my niece’s pre-K graduation. My kids went to that same preschool until 2 years ago, so it was fun to catch up with everybody. Then to the grocery store, then home…to find my husband home and in bed! He’s got the chills and is throwing up. 

 

I was STARVING by lunch. I sat around a bunch of tasty food at the graduation and things just took longer than I expected. So between that and not having a full breakfast, I had to really watch it to not scarf my lunch!

 

M2: 1 cup shredded zucchini with 1 cup beefy ratatouille and extra olive oil

 

I actually sat on the couch and read a book for 30 minutes this afternoon! I was exhausted and home with my little one. We just had a smidgen of time before heading out the door to pick up her big sister. I put on a tv show for her and read a book. Right next to a big pile of laundry. It felt great! 

 

The rest of the afternoon was the usual after school chaos. Husband was feeling better so right before dinner, I left him with the kids for a 30 minute bike ride. It was 3.32 miles in 27:12 minutes. I’ll keep riding the same path and see if my time improves. There are a few hills that I can certainly go faster on when I'm more in shape!

 

M3: 1 palm balsamic pork loin, 2 cups green beans with ghee and a teensy bit ranch, large handful of cherries

 

Finally remembered to put the pork in the slow cooker! I thought it was so-so but the rest of the family loved it. All day the smell was grossing me out. Don’t know why! That probably made the final product not terribly appealing to me.

 

My step count is at 11,000 but my bike ride registered nearly 800 steps. So I just hit the step count for the day. I did ride my bike to school this morning which doesn't count (...much) and didn't walk to work. I’m going to have to switch mental gears about how much exercise I’m getting if I change over to more bike rides. And I won't have the built in walk to school, the sitter and work this summer. I'm going to have to figure something out to keep my exercise up!

[madness]

Day 53

 

About 8 hours of sleep. There was no school today so I turned my alarm off. We all woke up within about 30 minutes of when it would have gone off anyway!

 

To try to get enough food in me this morning, I added potatoes which seem to be a food I can eat tons of. Also bacon! I still couldn’t eat everything. Might need to try something other than eggs for breakfast but I’m out of ground pork!!! I bought the bacon from the food coop at a huge markup compared to the farmers market. This is motivation for me to go to the market tomorrow!

 

M1: 2 scrambled eggs, 1 cup cooked squash, 1 fist skillet potatoes, 2 slices bacon

 

Since there is no school and rain in the forecast all weekend, I feared the inevitable cabin fever! It looked clear enough this morning so I took the kids on a hike we’d never gone on (from a nearby neighborhood to one of our favorite playgrounds). We got drizzled on but nothing bad on the cool overgrown creek path. We even got lost and had fun figuring out how to get to the park. Then it POURED but we hid in the playground tunnels eating cherries. The kids were awesome sports about the whole thing so I got them grass-fed burgers and fries at a local joint afterward. The fries smelled soooo good!  But I didn’t have any!

 

M2: 2 cups shredded zucchini, 1 cup beef ratatouille with extra olive oil

 

The rain continued so we watched a movie (Big Hero 6) in the afternoon. I actually sat and watched it too (but folded laundry!). Went to the grocery store, stopped by the library to pick up some hold books and came home to exercise. I let the kids watch MORE tv and lifted weights. I think that’s the only way I’m going to get exercise this summer. Sigh.

 

postWO: huge hardboiled duck egg, ½ fist of skillet potatoes

 

The reason we went to the store was to get cocoa powder to make chocolate cookies for the kids. The last few days they have really been helpful cooking meals they don’t even like so I thought I would have them help make a treat for themselves. But they were monsters during the whole process. I don’t know if it was too much tv or the promise of a something sweet, but it really turned them into beasts so I aborted the project. The cookie dough is still in the fridge and I swear I might just give it to the dog.

 

M3: 1+ palm chicken breast with pesto ranch, 2 cups roasted beets

 

Ugh, I think I pulled something doing squats. I’ll take advil tonight and hope it’s better in the morning. The weekend is my recovery time so it should get a good rest before squats again on Monday. Have I mentioned how much I hate squats?

 

I’m currently at 11,200 steps.

 

And I have a terrible urge to weigh myself. Boo.

[madness]

Day 54

 

Another 8 hours. I think I’m back to a good sleep cycle. The fitbit keeps track of how many times you are ‘restless’ at night. It’s usually about once an hour. Last night I apparently only moved once!

 

Woke up this morning rested but in pain. The tendons in my left hand are AWFUL this morning. My arthritis can affect tendons so I always blame stuff like this on it. But I’m not sure. What else would make my hand hurt so much though!?? It could have to do with my grip during weightlifting. I will be extra vigilant about proper grip on Monday!

 

There was a big argument this morning over a missing yogurt. I had gotten a special flavor for the little one and I couldn’t find it in the fridge. I figured it was the older one taking it last night without permission. I had just started the “lying is worse than just telling the truth” speech when my husband woke up and confessed to eating it as a midnight snack. He then said I should just buy 1 extra yogurt cup a week for him. Sheesh, he’s not even pretending anymore!

 

M1: 2 scrambled eggs, 2 slices bacon, 1 cup golden squash (all the water cooked out), ½ cup roasted carrots

 

Still couldn’t choke down that third egg. I need to get some ground pork so I can make sausage again.

 

Spent the morning doing yard work. Some recovery day!

 

M2: 1 palm roasted chicken salad (mayo, pickles and apple) with 3 cups lettuce and 1 cup beets

 

I really wanted to goof off this afternoon but the kids watched movies while we worked with chainsaws and weedwackers in the morning so they were stir crazy. We walked to the school playground and then mucked around in the creek for a good while. It got up to 90F and we ran out of water, so it was a long hot trek home!

 

We did end up making the chocolate chocolate chip cookies. They smelled so good! And of course, my husband had one. With a milky coffee drink. The worst part is that I bet he is still going to improve his health and lose a ton of weight. Maybe not as good as if he were really following the program.

 

M3: 1/2 palm of balsamic pork loin, 1 cup green beans with ghee, 1 cup tomato cucumber salad

 

It was the last of the pork loin (which I didn’t like…) and the kids fought me over it. I decided to give in and let them have a lot of what was on my plate. But 2 hours later, I’m hungry again. Arg! I should have just thrown in a hardboiled egg.

 

11,500 steps. I was kinda hoping to actually be totally lazy today and not even reach 5,000. Aw well, at least I have the energy to get that many steps and not feel totally exhausted! I think I might FINALLY be hitting some tiger blood. I felt super energetic all day.

[madness]

Day 55

 

A good 8 hours sleep. Yeah! I woke up about 30 minutes after my alarm would have gone off.

 

M1: 2 scrambled eggs, 4 slices very meaty bacon, 1 cup wax beans with ghee

 

I had another egg and a big juicy grilled tomato on my plate but couldn’t finish.

 

Super lazy morning. The kids watched tv and I read a book. Shortly before lunch, we took off for the farm.

 

M2: 1 chicken thigh salad (mayo, apple and pickle) with 2 cups lettuce and spinach

 

It was HOT and I was starving by the time we got to the farm. Somehow there was hardly no lettuce harvested so I just grabbed the tiny bit in the fridge. I should have harvested more but I immediately got distracted by various farm projects. Needless to say, I didn’t have the fiber to keep that full feeling for long.

 

M3: 1 palm pulled pork, 2 cups cucumber soup, 1 fist oily skillet potatoes

 

When we sat down to dinner, I saw that I was at 5,000 steps. Honestly, I didn’t mind. I felt like my body needed some deep recovery. I hit exercise pretty hard this week. But right after dinner, we saw a cow got out and there was some fun rodeo times. So I’m at 10,300!

[madness]

Day 56

 

A nice 9 hours of sleep, staying in bed about an hour longer than usual. It was drizzly in the morning so we rode in the car from our house to my parents for breakfast. I missed the walk through the woods but it is so muddy and filled with mosquitoes even if it wasn't raining.

 

M1: 2 scrambled eggs, 2 cups cooked squash with pesto

 

It rained quite a bit in the morning and we drank coffee while sitting on the porch. It was actually even chilly! By mid-morning it had cleared up so we went to the garden to harvest and do some work. It felt great out in the sun and we got a lot done.

 

M2: 1 palm pulled pork, 2 cups green beans with olive oil

 

We packed up and headed to my brother’s house for dinner. Once again, he was super awesome accommodating my eating. He made enchiladas and saved out some of the insides for me.

 

M3: 1.5 palm chicken breast, 2 cups mixed veggies (squash, spinach, mushroom), ¼ cup guacamole with apple slices for dipping

 

Dinner was delicious. I was super hungry and ended up being stuffed. But, within an hour of eating, I felt fine. It used to be when I was stuffed with pizza or pasta, I could stay that way for HOURS. This is much better!

 

I lifted weights this evening but couldn’t manage a postWO snack. I sat down with potatoes and eggs but it really turned my stomach. I don’t like working out in the evening (it tends to keep me awake) but this was the only time I had today after two days off. I’ll be back on a more regular schedule tomorrow…but then after this week, it’s summer break and who knows when I will be able to do formal exercise! I also did  12,000 steps.

[madness]

Day 57

 

I was attacked my mosquitoes last night to the point of feeling ill. I took a Benadryl to hopefully relieve my reaction to them. I was super groggy this morning even though I got a good 8 hours of sleep. And still itchy, though none of them have swollen enormously like they did last time at my brother’s house. I even wore bug spray and sat right next to the citronella candles!    I guess I’m just going to have to stay inside at his house this summer.

 

7:15 - 2 scrambled eggs, 1 cup oily golden squash, 1/3 cup roasted carrots

 

Walked the oldest to school, then back home. Had to drop off my youngest at a daycare place because the house where she usually goes has a sick kid. Normally I would just let her immune system do its thing but with a camping trip coming up this weekend, I can’t stand the thought of a sick kid out in the woods!

 

I got in 30 minutes of biking. I changed my route slightly from last time to be closer to 3 miles. But it took me even longer than the longer route! I could feel my fatigue. I’m not eating as much lately (not by choice – I’m having a hard time eating again) and I think it’s catching up to me. Plus I’m not always getting my starchy veggies. Gotta keep on top of that!

 

Bike: 3.06 miles in 32:26 min

 

10:45 - postWO: hardboiled duck egg
 

And then I walked to work...slowly! 

 

1:30 - 2 palms pulled pork, 3 cups green beans with ghee

 

I hadn’t realized how much lunch I had packed this morning. It seemed like an absurd amount on my plate, but I happily finished it all! I was pretty stuffed afterwards but not terribly uncomfortable.

 

After work, I walked to school and did the gardening club…only to be rained out halfway through! Thank goodness one of the other moms gave me and the 3 kids I had in tow a ride home. Then we had to drive to pick up the youngest and got caught in a CRAZY downpour. Oh, and I got an email from the State Park where we are camping and the lake is flooded. They *might* shut down operations. Sigh.

 

We waited and waited and waited for my husband to come home but finally broke down and ate dinner without him. Kids were cranky and I was starving. Why do I wait? Another sigh.

 

7:00 - red curry beef with green beans (with coconut milk), salad with sunshine sauce

 

I finally broke out of my rut for cooking and tried a new recipe – and a new cut of beef, sirloin. It was pretty dang good but I will make some tweaks next time. The kids loved the sauce over rice and one of them loved the beef as well. Surprisingly, they didn’t like the sunshine sauce on the salad. They LOVE salad with store-bought ranch, and one likes balsamic vinaigrette. I can’t find any other dressings they like!

 

I’m exhausted and a little emotionally worn down. There’s just been so much going on.  Yet another reminder to get starchy veggies again! As soon as this rain lets up, we will start harvesting potatoes. It’ll be potato everything! And we are planting sweet potatoes next week.

 

Despite the rain, I got in 13,200 steps. 

[madness]

Day 67 here. Still going strong. Went on a 5 day camping trip I had almost no time to prepare for. The park was flooded and I thought it would be closed. The morning of the trip, I decided to go anyway so I had to pack food. Since it's just me and two young kids, I usually bring prepared foods. No time for that this time! So I only brought raw ingredients. It was actually super fun cooking with the kids at the campsite and that's what I will do from now on.

 

I did eat at a BBQ place on the trip (friend came and visited and took us). I asked a million questions, got meat with no sauce, and avoided all the sides (we had it as a picnic and I brought veggies). I'm still not 100% that the marinade was compliant but the pitmaster said it was, so I did my due diligence. That was a couple days ago and nothing weird has cropped up so it was either compliant or something I don't react to, I guess. Eating out is a bit nerve wracking!

 

I'm down 25 lbs since day 1! On one hand, the weight loss is amazing. On the other, I looked at pictures of me from the trip and I can't even tell. Sigh. But I'm not half way though and if I lose another 25 lbs, it should be be very obvious!

 

While on the camping trip, I went on several big hikes, the longest being 3 miles (kids in tow...that's about all they can handle). We were at the same park in January and I barely lasted the 0.5 mile loop around the campsites before my ankles were killing me with arthritis. What a change!

[madness]

Oh, just remembered. I need to put this here as a reminder. NUTS ARE EVIL. I had a bit of a "food emergency" on the first day of the camping trip. Because it was so short notice getting packed, I got on the road and realized by the time I ate lunch at the campsite, it would be nearly 7 hours since breakfast. I had car snacks for the kids, so figured I would have hard boiled eggs, nuts and carrot sticks too. I ate a small, personal sized bag of almonds. It was more than the Whole30 recommendation - maybe twice as much - but I've had no nuts that I can remember on the plan so figured it wouldn't be a big deal to over indulge. WORST STOMACH PAIN EVER. For almost 2 hours, I had to just sit and breath to keep myself from crying. If I hadn't known nuts can cause something like that, I would have probably seriously thought my appendix had burst and rushed to the hospital. No more almonds for me...