The Second Time Around

[KJT]

Day 26

As the month goes on, I get lazier and lazier about keeping my log. Maybe I'm just so sure of myself that I don't have to keep track of every step along the way. Four days left after today, and I don't foresee any problems.

Yesterday I was a little less than true to the spirit of the meals, I admit. I found myself eating rather more protein than I should have, and not much in the way of vegetables. I was trying to use up last week's meat dishes before I started my weekend cooking, and I've run pretty low on veggies. So for supper I had a huge salad without much protein to balance it out. Not ideal, but if you take the entire day's food together, I ate several balanced meals. Justifying again, I know.

I slept pretty badly on Friday night and not a whole lot better last night. It's annoying, because I look forward to the weekends so that I can sleep in, and it just wasn't happening. First thing this morning I had to run down the street to the cut-rate supermarket (so-so vegetables and unappealing meat, along with tons of processed foods) to get light-tasting olive oil for mayo. For some reason this is not an easy thing to find. Mostly all I see is EVOO, which is wonderful stuff, but it doesn't do for mayo. But the place down the street carries one brand of it, so that's where I go. On impulse, I also picked up a couple of ripe plantains. I've never eaten them before, and I don't quite know what I'm going to do with them, but I took them anyway. (This is the same impulse that got me to buy a tin of sardines a couple of weeks ago, which is still sitting in my cupboard because I don't know how to use them.)

I had a pork chop and beets for breakfast--that's still not completely used up, so I'll be eating it again tomorrow, I suppose. Then I dithered around for a while, because I was not in the mood for cooking. I get that way some weeks, which is how I end up off-roading a bit when the food runs low. But I have to keep myself fed properly for another four days, so I finally got going. Started by searing lamb chops and ended up with hot grease splattered on my arm. Stuck the arm under running water immediately and then applied the aloe that I have handy for sunburns, and it seems okay, though there are still a couple of marks on it now, hours later. I was starting to think that I wasn't actually meant to cook today, but once I got to sauteing onions and adding liquids and all, things calmed down, and I ended up with some lovely lamb chops, one of which I had for lunch.

While the lamb was simmering, I also made Well Fed's cocoa-toasted cauliflower and a batch of mashed cauliflower. Neither recipe wakes a whole lot, so this way I'll be sure to have a serving of cauliflower each day for the next four days. Not sure what else I will do for vegetables, but I've got some broccoli in the refrigerator, so I can find a way to prepare that. (I hate raw broccoli.) Then I mixed Italian Sausage Seasoning into a pound of ground pork, to make sausage meat, which is now in the refrigerator just waiting to be cooked up.

While I was washing the dishes after all that, I accidentally jabbed the blade of the food processor into my finger. I'm taking that as a sign that the rest of the food prep can wait until tomorrow. I'm not sure what to do for supper. I'm very close to breaking my No Restaurants resolution and going up the street to Chipotle, which I know can serve me a compliant salad. The alternative is cooking some eggs, which would mean I'd have more dishes to wash.

[KJT]

Day 29

I managed to resist the urge to go to Chipotle on Sunday and had a quick scramble of eggs, sausage, and broccoli. It took less time to cook than it walking up the street would have taken, so I ate earlier, saved money, and didn't have to deal with the guilt of failing at one of my goals. Win, all the way around!

On Monday, I got up at my usual time, despite having the holiday off. That way I was able to do my exercising on schedule (before I was awake enough to rebel against it), do my laundry, bake my sweet potatoes, and even sit on the couch and read for a bit, all before the time I would ordinarily get to work. I had the last pork chops and a few stray beets that still clung to it, and hot from the oven sweet potato with ghee, cinnamon, and chopped pecans (which felt like having dessert for breakfast) was very contented all morning. Around ten I put a beef roast in the crock pot so it would be done just in time for supper. Then I decided to experiment with frying one of my plantains. I found a recipe online that called for them to be dusted with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves and fried in coconut oil. Either they overestimated the length of time I should fry the slices or I sliced them too thin, because they got a bit burned around the edges, but in the end they were quite edible. I only ate half and put the rest in the refrigerator, though I could happily have scarfed the lot. I accompanied them with a lamb chop with tomatoes and onions. I'm starting to suspect I've turned into a reasonably good cook!

In the afternoon I got restless, so I decided to go for a walk. There's a park right across the street from my apartment complex, which I'd never set foot inside in the eleven years I've lived there, so I thought I'd go have a look. It turns out there are bike trails that you can walk along, winding through woods you wouldn't expect existed in the middle of an urban area. It also turns out that the park winds around and through any number of cities through this part of the state (I checked a map later). I walked and walked, and after an hour I started thinking I might need to turn around and retrace my steps if I ever hoped to find home again, but I wanted to see where it led, so I kept going. When it finally reached a major street, I found myself about a 20 minute bus ride from home, but because I'd taken the indirect route I'd gone several miles. I decided to follow the streets back again, but all in all I was walking for three hours. My legs were protesting a bit, which just shows that I need to get them in better walking order before my next vacation.

I got home to find my roast cooking nicely. It turned out beautiful, falling apart when I tried to pull it out of the crock pot. I heated up some mashed cauliflower and used the juice from the roast, with plenty of onions, as gravy. It turns out mashed cauliflower tends to disintegrate a bit when you pour liquids over it, but it still tasted great. The juice needed salt--I'd forgotten it when I seasoned the roast, which sounds like a silly mistake to make, but so many years on a low-sodium diet made me stop naturally thinking about the salt shaker. If it isn't clearly marked on the recipe, I don't use it. Anyway, when I was pouring the juice into a bowl for storage, I added salt, and now it tastes just like the au jus that you get with French Dip in restaurants. I need to find a dippable substitute for the usual bread roll so I can make my own version.

I slept reasonably well on Monday night, though I was still feeling tired when I got up on Tuesday. My legs got a bit cranky with me when I took them for a run. I told them to suck it up. Roast beef and sweet potato with au jus for breakfast--it turns out that the beef reheats to be just as juicy and tender when you microwave it with the juice. I think I've found an easy go-to beef dish for the future. I never got around to making tuna salad (maybe tonight) but I'd whipped up a quick chicken salad with a can of chicken breast, chopped scallions, and lots of mayo, and I had that over my salad for lunch. No cucumbers this week--my mind was apparently wandering when I did my shopping, because I walked right by them without thinking--so I add an extra scoop of salsa. Workout after work--he concentrated on my upper body this week, which was rough and made me think my arms were going to give out and I would fall flat on my face at one point, but I got through. Home to a lamb chop, cocoa-toasted cauliflower (mmmm, chocolate...) and the rest of the plantains for supper.

I keep reading that if I'm getting enough sleep, I should be able to wake up without the alarm. Today it happened for the first time. I came awake so suddenly and decisively that my first thought was, "Oh, no, did I forget to set the alarm?" Unfortunately it was 4 a.m. So I lay there till the alarm went off, and still was able to take my time about my morning tasks. I contemplated cooking eggs for breakfast, but even when I have time it seems too complicated for the first thing in the morning. I had roast beef and mashed cauliflower, and this time the juice made the cauliflower break up entirely, forming a thick gravy. I ate it with a spoon. More chicken salad for lunch today, and just to be different I threw a handful of blueberries onto my salad when I was constructing it. I haven't had lunch yet, so I don't know how it will taste, but it certainly looks good!

Almost to the end. I'll keep sticking to the template after tomorrow, though I won't call it a Whole-anything. I'll probably start drinking tea again, but I'm going to try to stay away from greater amounts of Excedrin. It's been lovely being headache free for the past little while (now that I finally seem to have escaped them). Of course, having said that, I will wake up with a migraine Friday morning. Oh, well, one day at a time.

[KJT]

Day 30

Last day! I made it! Not that it was such a great change from pre-W30 life, but I feel like I've made a bit of progress.

Just to show that I haven't quite got it all on autopilot yet, when lunchtime came around yesterday I discovered that I'd forgotten to put oil and vinegar on my salad. I found a bottle of olive oil in the kitchen at work, and there was the guacamole and the mayo from my chicken salad, but I really missed the vinegar. That's my favorite part (and probably the reason I haven't ever bothered to look into making actual salad dressings). Grumble, grumble, moan.

For supper I had the rest of the toasted cauliflower, and then I fried a couple of eggs and a sausage patty. I like a nice "breakfast" now and then, even if I never eat it in the morning. I'm kind of lousy at flipping eggs, and both yolks broke, which annoyed me. I might have to learn to like them sunny side up. With no buttered toast to mop up the egg yolk, it loses a little of its appeal, but I infinitely prefer fried over scrambled. The sausage is good but I little hotter than I like it, so next time I mix up Italian Sausage Seasoning, I'll use a bit less of the red pepper.

Today I had roast beef and sweet potato again--you'd think it would be getting old, but it's not. I've only got one serving of the juice left, though, and at least two more servings of the beef, so I may need to find another way to eat it. I remembered the oil and vinegar today, but I've run out of guacamole. Searching desperately for protein to put on the salad, I found a can of shrimp that I bought a while back. I mixed it with mayo (because everything's better with mayo) and used that. It was very good. Tonight I suppose it will be lamb and mashed cauliflower, because that will be my easiest choice.

Now, as to evaluations...I didn't list goals in my log when I first started, but I had three. One, of course, was to eat only food I had prepared myself, so I could be absolutely positive that it was good (and also save a little money). The second was to work on my sleep habits, and they have certainly gotten much better. It doesn't seem like I'm cutting my evenings short anymore, going to bed before 8:30. I've just given up playing on my computer and all that. (Watching TV was never an issue, since my TV died over two years ago, but there was always YouTube.) It's amazing how much more energy I have now that I'm getting a decent night's sleep every night. I'm not dragging in the mornings (usually) and even when I get off the bus in the evening, when I used to always be so exhausted, the idea of walking the mile and a half home instead of sitting and waiting for the next bus is so appealing. I enjoy the walk, and now that the sun has decided to come out, I'm working on my tan.

My third goal was to do my stretching exercies faithfully twice a day the way I'm supposed to. I have a foot that has been hurting for a long time, and when I finally went to a podiatrist he told me that the tendons had been tightening and pulling the bones out of alignment. So I need to stretch it regularly to encourage it to go back to the way it's supposed to be. For the first month of that, I kept forgetting, or I'd remember when I was already in bed and not want to get up again to do it. I haven't missed a time this entire month, and it is getting easier to walk. I don't limp around work anymore.

So I've got new habits getting a firm grip on me, and I will keep trying to help them along. I may end up celebreating my success with a glass of wine at dinner tomorrow evening, but come the weekend I'll be cooking again for another (mostly) compliant week. I've got my health now. I'm not going to throw it away on a plate of nachos.

At least I hope I'm not.

[Emma]

Your journey is so dang inspiring! I lost 40 pounds last year calorie counting and walking/running. This year I'm enjoying the new focus on actually nourishing my body. I did a Whole30 in April and doing it again in June. I have not been exercising because of something going on with my knee. It's an excuse because I could certainly still do other types of exercise, but I actually like running and walking so I'm behaving a bit spitefully (if I can't run, then I won't do anything!). childish. I'm also feeling a bit hopeless about my knee so I liked reading about your foot thing. Hope your journey continues on!

[KJT]

The Wrap-Up

Headed for my neglected scale first thing this morning. It was not hard to give up using it for a month, because I'd been getting so discouraged stepping on it week after week to find I still weighed the same. So when it told me today that I'd lost four pounds, I was very pleased. It doesn't sound like much, but it's something.

Then I got out the tape measure and found I'd lost two inches each on my waist and hips. Granted, I'm always a little uncertain how to do the measuring. Do I let the tape sit lightly on top of my skin, or do I pull on it to squeeze all the loose flesh? Because my underlying muscle structure is getting more and more solid, but it's still covered by a layer of very loose, squishy fat and skin that moves around depending on how my body is positioned. If I'd pulled the measuring tape as tight as the belt I'm right now wearing, it would come to a smaller number. And the belt isn't uncomfortable.

Anyway, those are the obvious results. On the less obvious side, I'm feeling almost like a morning person these days--I was looking forward to having a cup of tea today for the first time in a month, and then after an hour at work I realized I'd forgotten to make it. I don't need the caffeine boost anymore. My digestion is running very smoothly, my joints aren't sore (other than an occasional twinge in my right knee), I've stopped having daily headaches, and when I wake up in the middle of the night, I fall straight back to sleep.

Also, I'm getting pretty good biceps for someone at a desk job.

So I hope everyone out there who needs a bit of encouragement hangs on and keeps going, because it's a result worth the work you put into it. It's not about will power; it's about dedication--clinging to the knowledge that this is what you really want, more than anything else, more than the momentary joy provided by the cake and cookies and ice cream and peanut butter. And even if it looks like no one is appreciating your struggle, you appreciate it, and when it comes to your body, you're really the one person who matters.

It's been fun keeping this log for the past month, and if anyone has managed to follow my yammering for the whole time, well...I apologize for the epic length of the posts (there's a reason I write novels and not short stories) and hope I've kept you somewhat amused. It all ended up being rather more than just an account of what I was eating every day, but life just gets in the way of everything and affects everything, and I wanted to document it all.

Good luck, good health, and great happiness to you all.

[Derval]

Great wrap-up & well doen on all your positive results!

re the tape, I use one of these

http://www.amazon.com/OrbiTape-Body-Mass-Tape-Measure/dp/B001RO8IOI

[Beets]

Nice job! I never know where to measure my hips. They always say "widest part" but I'm never sure if I'm on target. I do think the tape should not be pinching your skin. Anyhow! Great results. Becoming a morning person is probably very helpful if you write.

I just read this. You might find it interesting--a bunch of writers on their daily habits, most of which involve morning writing.

“A writer who waits for ideal conditions to work will die without putting a word on paper.†Writers' daily routines http://t.co/LIjQmSIMjb

Keep it up!