Here we go again...starting 6/18

[BlueKoala]

Day 18.    Inching closer and closer to Day 30.    

Meal 1:

Two HB eggs, the official Koalaville W30 breakfast of champions for those of us who mumble "five more minutes" when the alarm goes off but don't actually get out of bed until a half hour later.    

Meal 2:

Tex Mex Skillet with beef, eggs, yellow squash, onion, pepper, cilantro, scallions, spinach, salsa, and guac.    Am I sufficiently boring and devoid of imagination to make yet another batch of this for my lunch next week?   I suspect so.   (I'm enjoying it, it's nutritionally balanced, and it's easy...what's not to like?  Also, changing salsa varieties makes a huge difference in the flavor.)   

Meal 3:

Leftover time:  a big bowl of Golden Cauliflower Soup and two salmon cakes.      For "dessert" I had one of the fresh peaches out of the CSA box.    

Observations:

My unbalanced breakfast had no effect on the rest of the day.   I ate lunch on time and felt just fine all afternoon - no sudden nap attacks.   

My mood is more even and although my stress level hasn't gone down significantly, stress seems to be having less of an effect on me.    Maybe this is just the placebo effect, but if so, I don't care.  I'll take it.   

Wondering if the reason my skin looks better is that I'm better hydrated.   I'm embarrassed to disclose how much of my pre-W30 fluid intake consisted of Diet Coke.  

One of my coworkers says I look like I've lost weight.   If so, I can't tell.   But then again I'm not really looking - getting obsessed about this less than 3 weeks in seems like a recipe for madness.     I do want and need to lose weight, but the first priority is getting my eating in order.

[Navacado]

Over the hump and you're doing great!

[BlueKoala]

NSV:   Okay, I saw on somebody else's W30 log that their resting heart rate had dropped while they were on the program.

Out of curiosity - and that's all it is, I don't have any reason to be concerned about my health in this area - I checked my Fitbit and my resting heart rate has also dropped since I started my most recent W30.   The number used to run around 83-85 and it's now running around 74-76.     The last time my heart rate was in the 70's was in January-February 2017, when I was...on the W30.     At that time I was exercising more and the drop was from 81-83 to 69-72, but still....

Wow, the things you can cross-check when you have archived journal entries on the W30 forums AND a Fitbit.    

The idea that what I eat could affect my resting heart rate is seriously weirding me out, but I don't see any other explanation for the change. 

 

 

 

[BlueKoala]

Day 19.      

Meal 1:

Leftover pot roast, carrots, and potatoes.     The pot roast is still dry, dang it, and not really good.   But it was a serviceable breakfast.   (And I have one more serving of it to go, so it's probably breakfast for tomorrow morning too.)  

Snack:

Two hard-boiled eggs, which I ate because I had a work lunch where I suspected the selections would not be compliant and I was trying to fill up beforehand.

Also, some spring mix, consumed at work lunch because the other choices weren't compliant but I wanted to have something to push around my plate in a sociable fashion. 

Meal 2:

The usual lunchtime skillet with beef, eggs, yellow squash, onion, pepper, cilantro, scallions, spinach, salsa, and guac.   I ate this pretty late, because between my morning snack and some afternoon work appointments, I wasn't free to eat it until late.

Meal 3:

Not hungry but I want to stay in the habit of eating dinner, so I had three salmon cakes with paleo mayo, and then a peach for "dessert."    The peach was juicy and delicious but I don't think I could have eaten more than one...too much sweetness!  

Observations:

Even mood and reduced feelings of stress might be my version of Tiger Blood.   Not that this is bad, but I think I was hoping for something more dramatic.  "Like what?" you ask.   I don't know.  I envision a manic stage of raw energy where I manage to clean my house, clear out my work inbox, and generally Get Things Done in a fraction of the usual time, whirling around like the cartoon Tasmanian Devil.   Possibly my thoughts on this point are a bit...unrealistic?   

Looking at my calendar, I am going to be traveling on Friday and Saturday of next week, which are Days 26 and 27.    I am NOT giving up my W30 early and I don't want to be caught flat-footed at some truck stop somewhere, so I need to do some planning ahead for this.    

[BlueKoala]

 

Day 20.   Powering through - two-thirds down, 10 days to go!        

Meal 1:

2 HB eggs, pineapple, grapes.   (I was going to do something more involved, but turned out I had to leave the house in a hurry) 

Meal 2:

Smoked salmon with paleo mayo, and roasted brussels sprouts.    Okay, so this was kind of a weird combination, but it still covered the protein-fat-veggie template pretty well.  Afterwards I had a peach.  

Meal 3:

A bowl of golden cauliflower soup.  

Observations:

I should probably have eaten more today - okay, I should definitely have eaten more today - but I found that I was really enjoying the sensation of being hungry and not feeling compelled to do anything about it.    For way too long, my default mode has been "Oh I am hungry and that means my appetites have to be indulged."  (Related:  "I skipped breakfast, so I can have this giant bag of Dorito's!")    I know that eating too little is not a good thing and I won't make a habit of it, but it was still kinda nice to flex my willpower today.

[BlueKoala]

Day 21.     Counting down into the single digits!     

Meals 1/2: (some days this is how you get through)

Four salmon cakes and half an avocado.

Meal 3:

WFW Moo Shu Pork Stir Fry, served in lettuce wraps with homemade, compliant hoisin sauce.   I had a lot of fun making these and they were tasty too.

Observations:

I have been eating so many hard boiled eggs over the last 20 days that I'm a little worried that at some point over the next 10 days, the sight of a hard boiled egg will finally push me over the edge and I will Hulk out.    ("HULK SAY NO MORE EGGS!!!  GRARRRRRRGGGHHHHH!")    So today I did meal planning and went grocery shopping so I can mix it up for dinner and breakfast for the final stretch and be eating some meals I haven't had before.     I'm also deliberately planning for lots of leftovers so I can bring a cooler on my trip and eat real food while I travel.  

However, I don't want to go too far off the edge, so I'm going to stick with my lunchtime skillets as usual - except in this batch I used a new type of sweet pepper from the CSA box, two different types of squash, and baby kale leaves as the base instead of spinach.     That should be quite enough excitement for the middle of a work day, I tell myself primly.  

I was thinking about extending my W30, but have decided it would be better to end on schedule and just take my time with reintroductions.   I wasn't very thorough about this last time, and I'd like to do better this round.    

 

[BlueKoala]

 

Day 22.      Thus begins my Week of Eating Interesting Things.   Less than a week to go!

Meal 1:

Sardine Salad.    I keep buying sardines because they are so good for you, and then I put the tins away and "forget" to do anything with them because eating little oily fish just doesn't sound appetizing most of the time.     So I decided it was time to take the plunge and Googled recipes.   This one is sardines, avocado, grated carrots, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and a little lemon juice.   It would be good with veggies or wrapped up in nori paper, but I am not the most organized breakfast eater (if you've read this far, this news will not come as a shock to you) so I ate it with a spoon straight out of the bowl.    I liked it enough that I made another batch when I came home tonight.

Meal 2:

Skillet with beef, eggs, yellow squash, zucchini, onion, peppers, cilantro, scallions, baby kale leaves, salsa, and guac.    The difference between spinach and baby kale doesn't sound like it should be noticeable, but it was to me - very tasty, the serrated kale leaves looked pretty in the bowl, and the greens held their crunch, unlike spinach, which goes all limp when you microwave it.   

Snack:

Two HB eggs (not sick of them yet) and a handful of pistachios.  

Meal 3:

WFW Sicilian Beef and Cauliflower.   We've had this before and everybody likes it.    I doubled the recipe and then spent some time worrying if our biggest serving bowl would be big enough to mix it all up (it was).  

Observations:

I really don't know if my morning energy was Tiger Blood or if I was just feeling smug about having sardines for breakfast.   

My sugar dragon has been very, very quiet lately.       

 

[BlueKoala]

Day 23.      

Meal 1:

Sardine Salad wrapped in nori paper, two pieces of bacon.

Meal 2:

Skillet with beef, eggs, yellow squash, zucchini, onion, peppers, cilantro, scallions, baby kale leaves, salsa, and guac.  

Meal 3:

Leftover Moo Shu pork stir fry with some hoisin sauce.   

Observations:

Worked out at lunch.   Yay.

I was going to make something different for dinner, but decided just to heat up leftovers instead because the fridge is so full of stuff.   Tomorrow I need to go through and freeze some of it in meal-sized containers.     

Very tired for some reason;  I could eat more food, or I could just go to bed early.    I think I will go to bed early.

[BlueKoala]

Day 24.      

Meal 1:

Two HB eggs.   Why, yes, I was in my usual rush this morning.

Meal 2:

Chipotle!!   Salad bowl w/steak, fajita veggies, mild salsa, guac.    At the time I was making my best guess at what would be OK - but looking it up now, both the steak and the fajita veggies are technically non-compliant due to being cooked in rice bran oil.    IMO this is within the tolerable margin of error for a one-off W30 restaurant meal, and I am just going to write it off and move on.     

Meal 3:

Leftover Sicilian cauliflower.

While it was heating up I had a spoonful (or two...okay three at most) of sunflower seed butter, because it is so good.  

Observations:

I feel good.   Digestive system has stopped complaining.   Sugar dragon has lapsed into silence - no cravings or mad urges to grab a snack.    I'm definitely sleeping better - I was reading a post on FB from one of my fellow insomniacs and realized that it's been a long time since I woke up at 3:30 AM and wasn't able to get back to sleep.    I do need to start exercising more, but I think this is due to innate laziness on my part rather than anything W30-related. 

[BlueKoala]

 

Day 25.      

Meal 1:

Leftover moo shu pork stir fry.

Meal 2:

Skillet with beef, eggs, yellow squash, zucchini, onion, peppers, cilantro, scallions, baby kale leaves, salsa, and guac.   

Meal 3:

Out to dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse to celebrate family thing.   I had salad (with basil dressing - very good), asparagus, and lots of protein.   I have no idea if any of it was compliant - probably not - but I'm skimming over that.

Observations:

Back at Crossfit today!  I've missed it! 

[BlueKoala]

Day 26.      On the road today (cue banjo music and Willie Nelson lyrics)

Meal 1:

Sardine salad.

Meal 2:

Skillet with beef, eggs, yellow squash, zucchini, onion, peppers, cilantro, scallions, baby kale leaves, salsa, and guac.   

Meal 3:

Leftover Sicilian cauliflower and beef, and a HB egg

Observations:

My clothes are fitting more loosely.

 

[BlueKoala]

Day 27.      Fell off the wagon today at dinner.  NOT sorry.   

Meal 1:

4 HB eggs and a handful of blueberries.

Because we were at one of those 'free" hotel breakfast buffets and literally everything else available was some form of sugary carbohydrate.  (Omitted: nutritional rant about the state of the standard American diet.)

Meal 2:

Leftover moo shu pork with hoisin sauce (note to self for future reference:  hoisin sauce does not like being microwaved).   

Meal 3:

Here comes the derailing - I wound up at a restaurant I have always wanted to try.   Dinner was compliant (salmon on a cedar plank, greens, squash) but I also had two glasses of Pinot Noir and also four (!) slices of absolutely heavenly fresh-made bread with a little bit of butter.   Everything was fantastic and I do not know when I am ever going to get to that restaurant again (it's not local) so this is basically #sorrynotsorry.  

NSV:   I ate much more slowly than I would have before the Whole 30, and I took my time to savor and enjoy every.single.freaking.bite.   

Another NSV:   My sugar dragon is still dead quiet;  in the past he would have tried to use this as an excuse to declare this a free eating day.   

Observations:

In fairness, what I have done is a Whole 26, but I am going back on the Whole 30 for the last few days (last day is Tuesday) and then start re-introductions as scheduled.    In the meantime I'm treating Saturday as a mini-reintroduction.    I already know from my last Whole 30 that small amounts of dairy seem to be fine with me, but I don't know about the gluten in the bread - I've been watching today to see if I notice any ill-effects.   So far, so good.   

Today actually represents how I would like to be living post-Whole 30 - no junk, careful avoidance of the bad stuff in circumstances where it's just not worth it (like the little sugary processed donuts on the breakfast buffet), but fully enjoying special food on special occasions.

Back on strict W30 plan for the last three days and then I start playing around with re-introductions.

[BlueKoala]

Day 28.      I had no problems getting back on track today, rather than falling into my usual "well, as long as I'm off the plan anyway I might as well eat whatever" trap, and I am counting that as a NSV.   

Meal 1:

Egg frittata with vegetables (mushrooms, tomatoes, kale, onions) and greens with a little olive oil and vinegar.    This was a restaurant breakfast and it came with buttered bread, which my husband ate because I didn't want it. 

Meal 2:

Leftover Sicilian cauliflower and beef   

Meal 3:

The last of the moo shu pork and cabbage - because it desperately needed to be finished off. 

Observations:

Absolutely no ill-effects noted from yesterday at all.      

Usually I get the two-dozen egg pack at Costco, but today I decided to buy the five-dozen egg pack - I figured, hey, we eat a LOT of eggs.    But I didn't consider how much space this giant egg box was going to take up in the fridge.    I'm going to be eating a lot of eggs over the next few days/weeks (more than usual!) just to clear out the space.   

 

[BlueKoala]

Day 29.      The penultimate day.   (How many times do you get the chance to use the word "penultimate" in a sentence?)   

Meal 1:

Sardine salad, some pineapple cubes, and grapes.   

Meal 2:

My usual skillet with beef, eggs, yellow squash, zucchini, onion, peppers, cilantro, scallions, baby kale leaves, salsa, and guac.    Possibly this will be my weekday lunch forever. 

Meal 3:

Paleo chicken and broccoli (Instant Pot) with some cauliflower rice.    

Observations:

My breakfast was late because my doctor's office had me scheduled for fasting labs.    I'll be interested to see the numbers.   My cholesterol was high last time I was tested (back in December).   

I get really hungry in the morning now.   This is new.

Finally, my sugar dragon is a sneaky little monster but he really does seem to have wandered off to pick off on somebody else...I haven't heard from him in a while.  

[BlueKoala]

Day 30.         

Meal 1:

Leftover Sicilian beef and cauliflower.     Still one more serving of this to go.    

Meal 2:

My usual skillet with beef, eggs, yellow squash, zucchini, onion, peppers, cilantro, scallions, baby kale leaves, salsa, and guac.   

(No, I have no idea why I am bored with the Sicilian beef and cauliflower but can eat the same skillet lunch for something like three solid weeks.)  

Meal 3:

Pork chop with roasted brussels sprouts.       

Observations:

I have not been perfect this go-round but I'm still really happy to have driven the sugar dragon away for the duration.   The trick will be keeping him away. 

[AngryBlonde]

Some combos just taste good.  When the boy is away I often eat potatoes fried with diced bacon and fried eggs. Simple to make but ever so satisfying. 

And I would have totally gone off plan for a dinner at a fine dining establishment outside of my hometown. 

Anyway, good luck if you're not coming back here.

[BlueKoala]

Summary: 

Down 4 pounds.   I have to admit I was hoping for more, but it's a start and I'll take it.

Not sure what my lab tests look like since my follow up appointment isn't until the end of this month, but I'm told that my cholesterol is still out of range - whether it's better than it was or not, I don't know.      

My health is generally pretty good so I don't have any earth-shattering life changes to report...but my energy levels have evened out, I'm sleeping better, my skin looks nicer, and the sugar dragon has gone away - I'm not fighting cravings for garbage food any more.     

Whole 30 habits I am determined to keep:   Label reading.   Water/unsweet tea drinking.   Bringing my homemade lunch to work every single day.  Eating three decent "real food" meals a day, even when I'm traveling or otherwise have an "excuse" to eat heaven-knows-what.    Generally, making better food choices on a daily basis.   Finally, strict avoidance of junk food and especially of Diet Coke.

(From painful prior experience, I know that moderation just does not work with my Diet Coke dragon;  I'll invite her over for what I think is a brief visit and two weeks later I realize that without my noticing she's moved in and somehow we're spending every waking hour together.   It seems much easier not to start.) 

Non-Whole 30 habits I would like to add back into my regular diet:   Wine, but not on a daily basis - it's just way too easy for me to keep refilling my glass in the evenings after a long day.    I want to eat cheese, use butter for cooking or as a condiment, and consume the occasional cream sauce.    I like peanut butter.   I like rice (although, honestly, I won't be heartbroken if it turns out I can't eat it).    

Stuff I will be testing on re-introduction just on general principles but will be happy to avoid except as part of a special occasion:    Soy.   Any legume that is not peanut butter.    Corn.   Wheat.   

I have noticed previously that although I don't appear to be sensitive to any particular type of food (that I know of!) I do feel better on a paleo-ish diet, so I'll be sticking with it.

[BlueKoala]

Ugh, two days after adding dairy back in, I have a runny nose and my heart rate has spiked back up.    Something is going on and it's not good, so back to dairy-free for now.    Sigh.  

Going out to dinner tonight w/Mr. Koala and some friends - thinking a salad with protein and some wine will be involved, and then I can go back on the W30 for the weekend before I start the Great Legume Experiment.     

I started up a log in Post-Whole-30.