The First 30. Round 3.5. Going For 120.

[brittanyxo]

Day 17!

Last night's dinner was Beef & Broccoli, out of one of my other Paleo cookbooks. Super simple to make, and super yummy.

Breakfast this morning: 4 hard-boiled eggs and a pile of yams. Those yams are the best. F'realz. 

Lunch today will be leftovers. This one isn't as great as leftovers, because it dries out a bit, but then again the flavours really sink in overnight.

Things are going well, no major complaints.

My NSV for yesterday was: looking at the last 3 girl guide cookies in the lunch room at work, thinking "aw I can't have those" and realizing, "haha! I don't want those!" and continuing on with my delicious Whole 30 lunch!

Ciao.xo

[ShannonM816]

You can do pictures without using up your limit if you link to them instead of uploading them -- so if they're online on flickr or photobucket or a site like that. Find the url of the photo, and in your reply box, click on Insert Other Media down in the bottom right corner and choose insert image from url. 

 

[littleg]

Thanks - have multicolored carrots on my Trader Joe's list!

[brittanyxo]

Day 18!!!

Gross stormy super rainy day today ... ruins the feel good vibes.

Last night's dinner was Spaghetti a la Squash. (Meat sauce on spaghetti squash).

Light breakfast... got to work and got caught up in a project so I barely ate til lunch.

Lunch was leftovers. Yummy.

Ready for the weekend.....

Ciao.xo

[brittanyxo]

Day 19.

TGIF... What a long week. Week's like this before would be exactly what would cause me to pick something up for dinner so I wouldn't have to cook, maybe a pint of ice cream as well. A bag of chips I say I'll only have a little of, but I'll finish the whole bag.

Instead, I'm going to go home and make a delicious, Whole 30 compliant, dinner. Not stop anywhere on the way home. And no extra snacks because it's the weekend.

Last night's dinner was chicken & bell pepper skewers with roasted potatoes. Leftovers for lunch.

I'm working an event tomorrow throughout the day so I will not have access to a fridge or microwave, so I will need to plan accordingly. Bigger breakfast, good snacks, and a dinner plan for when I get home.

Gonna make my Shepherd's Pie tonight. Yay!

Ciao.xo

[brittanyxo]

Day 20 & 21 Recaps:

What a busy busy weekend!!! I volunteered (well, paid, but voluntary sign-up) to help my friend with a test drive event they were having on Saturday. I ate a big bowl of leftover shepherd's pie for breakfast, knowing I would have no where for a lunch kit for the majority of the day. I took 2 Larabars in my purse. I drank lots of water throughout the day, I didn't even feel too hungry as I smelt all of the other people eating smokies & chips from the BBQ.

Dinner was ready as soon as I got home, so that was nice. Had some baked chicken, garlic mashed potatoes and veggies.

Sunday - Mother's Day. Even busier! Had ANOTHER portion of shepherd's pie for breakfast, packed one Larabar for emergency for the day. Went out to one mama's house, then off to my grandma's, then off to my mother in law's. I got out there just after lunch, had some leftover chicken and potatoes. Then I cooked Mother's Day dinner: Filet Mignon steaks, garlic mashed potatoes, roasted full carrots (the small ones in a bunch), and asparagus. The rest of the family ruined, I mean, had their steaks with BBQ sauce (I think steaks that good speak for themselves, even if I was allowed the sauce), but I also made them a Bearnaise sauce (none for me). It was delicious.

The real tough part was the, not one, but TWO cakes. One cake for Mother's Day, and one ice cream cake for my SO's bday (celebrated a week early). Dairy Queen ice cream cake is legitimately one of my favourite foods on the planet. I left the room for a few minutes as everyone ate theirs. The spongey cake with the overly sweet buttercream frosting didn't tempt me at all. My teeth hurt at the thought of it.

My mother-in-law tried to push me to have a glass of wine, or vodka, or a small taste of cake. It's not her intent to be mean, but she doesn't fully understand the program, so she was making me feel quite bad for my choices. Honestly I think sometimes she just doesn't understand that you can say no and mean it, that I'm not depriving myself.

Anyways, on to Day 22!

I didn't prep any breakfast for this morning. Bad me! I was so exhausted when I got home I just went straight to bed. My hunger levels have been pretty low, compared to how they used to be. So I'm not sitting here starving, wanting the first snack I see, however I know how the long periods between food affect you, so I will be prepping my breakfast for tomorrow.

Lunch will be the LAST leftover of shepherd's pie. I double the portion in the Whole 30 book, so I end up making two full sized portions (two big casserole dishes). It allows me to not have to cook much for about 2-3 days. Plus it's great for any meal of the day.

I have some more chicken & potatoes leftovers for dinner tonight, and I have pulled out my frozen container of chicken broccoli chowder for lunch tomorrow. After being so busy these past few days, I'm glad not to cook for a day. .... Except my breakfast. Right!

Overall things are still going well.

Ciao.xo

[brittanyxo]

Day 23!

I brought my compliant Stash decaf teas in with me today, so I can start enjoying some tea at work.

I need to go grocery shopping tonight. My SO just switched to night shift today, so I'll have the house to myself to clean the kitchen and prep some meals. I'm going to make de-constructed turkey 'burgers' tonight, with cajun yam fries.

Lunch today is the chicken broccoli chowder out of the 'one pot' section of the Whole 30 book. I made it at the end of my Whole 30 in January, and it's been frozen solid ever since. Kind of nice to have it ready to go when I'm tired of cooking.

I'm really wanting more of the compliant sausage I got from Whole Foods for breakfast. It was a really nice start to the day. Filling and tasty. It's 4 sausages per pack for $10, so it's a bit much, but worth it. Maybe I'll make a trip for them tomorrow.

Good start to the day so far!

Ciao.xo

[brittanyxo]

Wow... Day 24 already. Go me.

Last night's dinner did NOT disappoint! Ohmygoodnessyummmm. Turkey "burgers" with crispy yam fries and my first batch *ever* of Dump Ranch. I tried making homemade mayo on one of my previous Whole 30's and it did not work. (I didn't have light olive oil... this is a crucially important factor I think)... but I bought extra light olive oil, and tried Dump Ranch... sooo delicious. I added a little buffalo seasoning for my own taste, too.

 NOM NOM NOM.

I have leftovers for lunch, YAAAAY!

Breakfast this morning was sausages & sides. I have not had time to go to Whole Foods again, so I went into a fancier market near where I live last night and they had all beef sausages, but they have sodium erythorbate. I was googling like mad in the store to search if it was compliant. It's a very "technically yes but we don't recommend it". It doesn't break any Whole 30 rules, but they can trigger a body response like other sulphites. Most people were worried about it in bacon, and that just spurred the "don't use bacon as a protein" debate. I am permitting myself to have the sausages because I will monitor how I feel, and when I can, always choose the Whole Foods all natural option. Also, it's still a high quality product, so I'm less concerned about it being "cheap and full of preservatives".

I had a poor sleep last night. With my SO on night shift I was restless. I also woke up in the middle of the night totally parched. I usually drink a fair bit of water throughout the day, but yesterday I did not. Funny to see how quickly I felt dehydrated.

Looking forward to lunch! Yummy!

Ciao.xo

[* a s h l e y]

We are on the same day!!! Very interesting to see your progress through the whole timeline. 

This is my first whole 30. 

[brittanyxo]

Day 25. Woop woop.

I don't know why I'm getting SO excited... it's not like I'm done in 5 days. Haha.

Last night's dinner I made baked chicken (with chipotle/buffalo seasoning), roasted potatoes and sesame green beans. Doused the potatoes and chicken with some Frank's and BOOM. Deliciousness. There is definitely leftovers for lunch. I really enjoy making some of these dishes that are simple.

In my first couple Whole 30's we were doing shepherd's pie, coconut curried chicken, chicken hash, meatballs, chowders, etc, ALL. THE. TIME. It wears you out! That much meal prep on a regular basis is exhausting. I have learned to have a couple meals a week that require prep, on nights I'm home early, or on weekends, and to have quicker prepped meals on most nights. I used to think it was lazy to make the same food week after week... but I do that with unhealthy food, so what's the difference? If I start forcing myself to eat stuff I'm tired of or don't want, then I'll have a problem, but so far, so good! The last thing you want is to be going through the difficulty of a Whole 30, and give up because you don't want to chop vegetables for an hour every night.

I had 2 extra turkey burger patties left from the other night, so I brought them for breakfast this morning. Turkey really dries out, so I've brought the last of my Dump Ranch. I had a lot of ranch left, but my SO loved it, and apparently ate almost half of it with his burgers/yam fries. No complaints here, luckily it's super easy to make!!!

Now, what I am excited for on Day 30, is I have decided to do 30 day "check-ins" with my progress (weight, measurements, and a good sit down listing NSV's). I have been really good in the past with prioritizing NSVs over weight loss, but we live in a society where we are brainwashed to worry about weight, so although I'm truly caring less and less about reaching a specific number, it's nice to have a number to show progress as well.

Plus, in Melissa's It Starts With Food, when your body is feeling good and hormones are balanced, your body can properly recognize that you are carrying too much excess body fat, and it will try to adjust accordingly. So if I'm doing this right, naturally my body will shed those pounds.

I should also clarify, I carry the majority of my weight in my torso, so my fear of extra weight is that it affects my posture, heart, organs, breathing, etc. Losing excess body fat for me is key to ensuring my body is truly healthy. Heart disease and diabetes is common on my dad's side of the family (whom I take after body-type wise), so I need to be pro-active. 

I'm a person who usually needs instant gratification with diets/exercise/etc., so I have always found it to be a win that I go 30 days without checking my progress by numbers. It really allows me to focus on all of the other changes I am seeing.

 

Ciao.xo

[brittanyxo]

Day 26.

Last night I gathered all my remaining motivation & energy, and spent almost 3 hours making buffalo chicken strips & yam fries. It was pretty darn good. I couldn't find pork rinds, so I bought a bag of unsweetened shaved coconut. It gives the chicken a slight coconut-y taste, but it worked. I put extra Frank's on my chicken strips (duhr), and made a fresh batch of Dump Ranch. I swear, that stuff is going to get me eating way more raw veggies.

When I start making stuff on Whole 30 like "burgers" and chicken strips, I sometimes wonder if I'm just going back to old habits. Then I remind myself that when I spend 2 hours prepping a meal, it's not going to for junk food out of ease and convenience, I am selecting my flavours and making the effort to make it healthy. I honestly think almost everything I make on Whole 30 tastes better than the 'regular' version.

For example, coconut milk in mashed potatoes - added flavour. Ghee butter for roasting veggies - added flavour. No bun or mayo on my "burger" - no heavy feeling afterwards. Coconut shavings for breading on chicken strips - no greasy pan reminding me of my poor food choices. I've even found Whole 30 compliant chicken bacon that we really like too. It cooks with NO grease, and when it cools, it's like jerky. We usually cook a pack or two, then let it cool and bag them in zip-locs for snacks on the go. When I went to make my Whole 30 stamped and approved regular bacon, there was so much grease that I haven't wanted to make the other pack yet.

Even in the mornings. I still think about my double double Tim's coffee when I see the guy delivering the coffee run at 10am. But then I remember how exhausted I would be all morning until I got that coffee. And how I then had a sugar spike and crash before I got to my lunch. And then I would crave something I probably shouldn't have for lunch. Which would leave me bloated and heavy for the rest of the day, which made me not want to put energy into cooking dinner. And round and round it goes.

Or went. I should say. Now I'm actually actively awake in the morning, my energy levels are leveled, and I eat for fuel, not for my emotions. Yes I get excited for meals, but not in the craving way, but genuine excitement for the deliciousness I've cooked.

My leftovers today are going to be SO YUMMY.

It's the long weekend... So I will have lots of time to do some prepping, shopping, maybe pre-make a couple freezer meals too. The sun is supposed to make an appearance all weekend, so it will be nice to enjoy that.

Ciao.xo

[brittanyxo]

Day 27 & Day 28 Wrap-Ups!

Saturday morning I had my last two sausages & yams for "breakfast" (at noon). Then went out for the rest of the day. I had plans around 5.30 and realized it made more sense to go straight there than back home first to eat. So I went to Nando's and got two plain chicken skewers and dipped it in some of their hot sauce. I also nibbled on my Larabar I had brought with me.

When I got home I ate some carrots & dump ranch. It was 9p, so I didn't want to cook or eat heavy. Did not feel very hungry that day...

Sunday morning. Up a bit earlier. (9 am vs 11 am) Still ate 'breakfast' closer to noon. Bacon, eggs and hashbrowns. With a little dump ranch. Yummy. Last pack of greasy bacon. Thank gawd.

Went out grocery shopping all day. Like literally... 6 hours. Farmer's Market, Save-On, Wal-Mart, Superstore, specialty meats shop... FINALLY got home and cooked my SO a beautiful filet mignon steak dinner with garlic mash and roasted carrots. (It's becoming my go-to fancy meal). His bday is actually on the holiday Monday, but I knew I wouldn't be able to cook it then.

DAY 29!

Hubby's bday today. He's off to the gym first thing this morning so I'm going to make him a little special breakfast. I will be having the other half of my bacon, some yams and probably eggs.

We will clean the house today (I know, fun bday right?) Then grill some chicken and have leftover mashed potatoes for lunch.

Then we are heading out to the lake. Our friends are going to bbq. The wife is going to grill the two of us plain salmon and we'll make a salad. Sounds nice. The boys will probably grill some burgers.

My SO has been going sober for the time I am doing my Whole 120. It started because we were both becoming concerned with his intake of alcohol. Not all the time, but when he did drink, it always went too far. So he declared a Sober 120, and he is now 29 days in. He feels great, and he's proud of himself. His friend wants him to have beers on his birthday, but I am hoping he will have the strength to resist.

So... on morning #3 of my 3 day long weekend, the laundry is done and put away (we had 3 baskets of clean clothes for WEEKS, we just dug through and found what we needed. Just been too busy.) House will be clean. Fridge is FULL of all good things.

And tomorrow is my first Day 30! On Wednesday morning I will do my first "check-in" for weight/measurements.

Then just 90 more days to goooooo........ 

Ciao.xo

[brittanyxo]

Drrrrrumroll please! It's Day 30!

Congratulations to me! And everyone else who is completing their Whole 30 today. I will bask in your glory, as I will be on Day 31 tomorrow... and continuing on for many more days.

Breakfast this morning is 3 hard-boiled eggs and some yams with a bit of dump ranch.

I brought some baby carrot snacks, as well as leftover grilled chicken & mashed potatoes from last night for lunch.

It has been BEAUTIFUL weather all weekend, and aside from a light drizzle tomorrow, it's supposed to be hot and sunny for the next 10 days. Hooray! It makes the feeling of clean, healthy eating much easier when the sun is out, reminding you how uncomfortable it is to be out of shape and heavy in the heat.

My larger sundresses are starting to fit better. My shorts will be the next goal. I have shorts in almost every size bracket from Size 14 down to Size 8. So I can hopefully shrink down into many different shorts this summer.

I want to start a gym program tomorrow. I think I will find a 30 day program to do in Round 2. Then switch it up for Round 3, and again for Round 4. My energy levels are definitely high/leveled out enough to make the gym a regular thing.

I walked 2 blocks from my SO's barber shop to the bank to take out cash on Saturday, and my legs already were feeling it. I am walking much less this month due to incredible business (busy season) at my desk job. So the gym will be necessary to stay active.

We want to start adventuring around where we live (we moved up near the mountains and lakes this winter), so I need to be in good enough shape for at least short hikes ASAP. There are so many beautiful rivers and lakes up in among the hiking trails behind our house. I won't even touch the bathing suit topic yet... I'm hoping to be in even better shape in the next 30 days to be more confident to wear a suit. So that should match up pretty good for timing where the water will actually be a bearable temperature.

Overall these 30 days have been a huge success...

I will post in success stories tomorrow with results of Round 1. I was going to start a new thread for Round 2... I haven't quite decided yet if I want to just continue with this one. I think I will, so I can reflect on my whole journey at the end.

Hooray!!!

Ciao.xo