Whole30 Recap…

I finished the Whole30 at the end of January, and I figured it’s finally time to do a recap!

A bit of background – I wasn’t feeling to great at the end of last year. I had put on some extra weight that I worked hard to lose, and I was eating sugar and junk like no one’s business. I had heard about Paleo and the Whole30 sometime at the end of summer and thought I would give it a try. The website recommended not doing the Whole30 during the holidays so I decided to start Jan 1, 2013.

So how did I do? I think I did pretty well, I recapped the first half of my journey pretty regularly here. The last few weeks were pretty easy for me, so maybe that’s why I didn’t have a lot to write about? Once you get into the groove of making breakfast/lunch/dinner and drinking lots of water and tea it got to be pretty regular. Unfortunately, on my 29th day, we got some bad news and had to fly out to Ontario. I tried really hard to keep up, but with all that was going on, I wasn’t going to be that annoying person requesting certain foods. I cooked a few days while we were out there, but it was definitely hard to avoid gluten stuff.

For 28 days I was super strict though. It wasn’t worth it to me to have to start again! And I felt great! Before doing the Whole30 I would always get these really random stomach aches and have some bathroom issues (TMI?), but I wouldn’t know what the trigger was. The entire 28 days I didn’t get a stomach ache once! It was amazing. I had tons of energy and it was super easy for me to fall asleep and stay in a deep sleep. Not that I normally have problems falling asleep, but still. I noticed that I would get tired around the same time at night and just fall right asleep. My skin looked better than ever.

I wish I had followed the re-introduction plan better, but again, family emergencies trump all. (We would be at places where we wouldn’t eat all day and then the only thing at night were sandwiches). I do know that it’s either gluten or dairy that are causing me stomach issues because bring them back has reintroduced my stomach problems. Again, since I didn’t follow the plan to reintroduce each item separately so I’m not 100% sure which is the culprit. I’m leaning more towards gluten though, since I don’t eat a whole lot of dairy (some milk in my tea, and maybe a yogurt every once in a while, and some cheese randomly).

I’ve had a not so great eating month in February. But now I’m decidedly back on track! I am tracking all my food again using MyFitnessPal, and I’ve signed up for the Paleo Plan. Have you heard of it? It’s this website that will send you weekly (paleo) meal plans. They send you the schedule for the week (breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner), along with the shopping list and all the recipes!

Not meal planning is my eating downfall. I found that during the Whole30, when I was using the Practical Paleo Squeaky Clean Meal plan, it was easy for me to go home and cook, because I knew I had all the ingredients for dinner, breakfast and lunch the next day. After it was done, it was really hard for me to come up with my own meal plans (I think my issue is the shopping list). So I’m super excited to try out the Paleo Plan and see how it works for us!

My non food goal for this month is to take 100 pictures each week, either on my phone, dSLR or compact camera! I figure that way I’ll have more to post about?! I just finished a Level II course on photography too, so hopefully my pictures will be improved… 😉

Do you use a meal planning site? I’ve heard of a few other ones, but I wanted to stick with a Paleo plan.

I’ll be back soon!

I’m coming back soon! 🙂

Day(s) 6-13

Hi! Sorry about being MIA for the last week, i’ve been on my computer so much at work that i’ve had absolutely no desire to go home and be on my comptuer as well. But I’m back!

Anyways, a quick update on Days 6-13. I still haven’t cheated (which is UNHEARD of for me). I think the trick this time that’s really helped me be accountable is telling anyone and everyone what i’m doing. It makes them question food decisions for me if I randomly comment on “craving” something…

I’ve been cooking a lot these last couple of days, which is awesome too. Since I usually just pick something up on the way home if i’m feeling tired or not like cooking (which was all too often!). Since I didn’t eat Paleo-ish before this challenge, I’ve really had to sit down and plan out all my meals plus shopping lists and such. As I’ve said before, i’m roughly following the Squeaky Clean Paleo Plan from Practical Paleo. I like that the website has printable guides as well as shopping lists for all the weeks in the plan. Also – to keep me on track at home i’ve been using this:

It’s a weekly planner from the Martha Stewart Home Office line (I got mine from staples…). It’s awesome – I write down the lunch and dinner menu for the week ahead and I can quickly see what’s for dinner that night, or if i’m not feeling it I can switch stuff around. Organization has been KEY to keeping me on track (so that I have a lunch to take to work in the morning, and i’m not scrambling trying to find something Whole30 friendly last minute).

The nice thing is that there’s been a great variety of food in our house (except for breakfasts – i’m keen to stick to what’s easy to prep, and lots of it).

Great news too! I have energy again! The first few days of the Whole30 challenge were really rough for me. I was super tired, felt like I was so so so hungover. It’s really nice to be out of that stage and wanting to work out again! Last week I did 3 Zwow Workouts (love her), went to crossfit, and went to a Met-Con class at a new gym that i’m thinking of trying out, also am re-starting the Couch to 5K program (finished week 1!), because a goal of mine this year is to run a 10k or  half-marathon, and I need to start somewhere… I’m using the app Get Running which has all the timing built in, so you just have to plug in some headphones and you are good to go (instead of having to set timers and such all the time), it’s pretty handy and you can listen to music at the same time!

For christmas I got these awesome headphones:

Which i’ve been using while running, and so far they are pretty awesome. They are bluetooth ones so there are no cords to get tangled in, they sound pretty amazing, they have these funky ear cushion thingys so they stay put, and there are two ways to wear them so you can set them up to get the cord off your neck and look super hardcore… lol

Eats have been pretty random, and i’ve been bad at taking pics, but I will get back to updating regulary with more pictures!

Hope you guys are doing great on your Whole30! 🙂

Day 6 – The first weekend!

I’ve done my first Whole30 Weekend! Which isn’t to say much was different I guess? I do feel like I spent my entire weekend in the kitchen – is this normal??? I guess it also feels like that because I basically wasn’t spending any time in the kitchen previously (we were eating out a lot).

I made a ton of food, all of which the hubs ate too, it was a miracle as he usually deems anything “healthy” as gross… sigh…

Anyways – Will be back with more updates soon!

Almost done Day 5!

Day 4 wasn’t too bad – It was nice not to feel like I was hungover anymore!

Last night for dinner, I made some Cilantro Cauli-Rice to go with my leftover turkey and sweet potato pancake:

Have you ever tried Cauli-Rice? I ate rice all the time, it always felt like something was missing if I didn’t have a dinner with rice. Let me tell you this cauli-rice is amazing! I was so impressed last night I made a huge batch and put it on my salad for Day 4! If you are missing rice – you need to try this!

Eats for D4:

Breakfast: Quiche and Bacon + Sauerkraut (yes again, it was just so easy, delicious and filling)!

Lunch: Mixed Green salad with leftover Orange Vinaigrette and some hardboiled eggs – I forgot how much I love hardboiled eggs! (which I actually steamed using the Fitnessista method)

Dinner: First test of going out! We went to a local pub that has amazing burgers, I ordered a regular burger without the bun, added bacon and avocado and had a mixed green salad and some sweet potatoes on the side! So proud of myself, especially since the salad actually had candied almonds in it so as soon as I noticed that I didn’t eat it, and I had my burger and sweet potatoes with mustard instead of the usual dill dip that they come with!

Side note: A good friend from the previous company that I worked out is moving onto another opportunity so he had his “buyout” yesterday. Does any other industry do this? A buyout is when the person leaving the company buys everyone drinks. It’s sort of a weird tradition,but a nice way to say goodbye. Anyways, at yesterdays buyout – I ordered water with a lemon, and another ex-coworker immediately jumped on me and asked if I was pregnant! Even after telling her about the Whole30 program, i’m pretty sure she thinks i’m hiding something from her… lol guess she’ll be surprised in a couple of months!

I’ve noticed (in the absence of doing it) just how much I used to snack! I would literally have just finished lunch or dinner and still reach for a random snack! From not doing it, i’ve become more conscience of thinking about snacking and how much easier it is to realize that i’m full and that I don’t need the snack, which I guess is a good key!

On my way to workout: Zwow #5 is calling my name!

Hope you had a great day!

Blerg… aka Day 3 of the Whole30

Oh. My. God. I can’t believe it’s only Day 3. I feel like crapola! Luckily (or unluckily?) the Whole30 timeline basically tells me that I should – apparently “Your body is working its way through a whole host of junk it stored from the foods (or food-like-products) you used to eat”.

Also – “Make good choices” ha. Actually i’ve been really good on the self-indulgence, or lack there of. Tea and water have become my drink of choice – btw has anyone tried this tea from David’s tea:

So so good; it has apples, almonds, cinnamon and beetroot in it, which turns it this weird lovely shade of pink. It’s been my go-to choice of drink while i’m sitting at my desk at work (instead of my beloved Timmy’s steeped tea!)

Day 2 wasn’t horrible, I definitely felt off, but nothing like today. Want to cry a bit…
Yesterdays eats were pretty similar to Day 1
Breakfast – quiche and bacon
Lunch – chicken thighs with spinach salad

(See what I mean about the portions? Granted the hubs doesn’t like the quiche and wasn’t home for lunch stuff, so I guess it makes sense).
Dinner – was supposed to be Turkey Legs with some sweet potato pancakes and spinach. The pancakes and spinach worked out ok, however the turkey legs were taking forever to cook!!! I seriously waited for probably an extra hour after the recipe called for. Ridiculous. They will be on the dinner menu for tonight I guess. The sweet potato pancakes though, were delicious! I cooked up a batch and will most likey be having some for breakfast tomorrow!

Sidenote: this Whole30 program has me drinking coffee! I never drink coffee (I mean regular coffee, grande non-fat deliciousness in a cup is a different story), however since I can’t have my steeped tea (because it black is not so yummy), I’ve turned to flavoured coffee… black. DO you like how I go from “I can’t have coffee because I hate the taste of it so I add anything and everything possible to mask it” to “small black coffee please”? Ya, I don’t get it either…

Anyways. I really would like to get back to working out – but I feel like anything I do would be half-assed. But, I feel worse not doing anything.
Might have to take an afternoon siesta instead of a lunch break to combat this wicked headache I have too…

Man If I was reading someone’s “review” of the Whole30 and it sounded like me, I would be running the other way…

Anyone else feel like this in the first week of the Whole30?

I’m doing the Whole30! (Also Happy New Year!)

And i’m already right on track for the timeline!

Day 2 = feel hungover. So true, this morning I ignored 4 – 4 different alarms. Do you know hard that is for me? Usually I miss the first one and then I feel guilty and work myself out of bed. Not this morning!

Oh well, so far I haven’t been hungry (which is what I was expecting for some reason). But I am having random cravings like nobody’s business. Day 1 wasn’t so bad, but I did realise how much I eat just for the sake of eating (isn’t that sad). I was prepping dinner last night and I looked in the pantry and wanted a snack, but I wasn’t really hungry. ALSO I went out to run some errands last night and since I wasn’t doing anything else, I thought to myself – self: go grab a {insert delicious drink from s-bucks here}. It actually took me yelling (in my head of course) at myself to realise that i’m only on DAY 1!!! If I cave on Day 1 then i’m screwed! Thankfully I completed my errands and went on my merry way; although I did buy more than planned including my new favorite lip balm!

Anyways – So my eating plan for the Whole30 journey is based on the Practical Paleo Squeaky Clean Paleo lan – I’ve changed a few things because of the restrictions with the Whole30 plan (no sweeteners, etc.) But otherwise it’s pretty spot on… My fridge looks amazing and full after my shopping trip on the 31st:

Here’s a rundown of my day 1 eats:

Brekkie – Baked bacon with Sauerkraut @ Swirly Crustless Quiche

Lunch – Mustard Glazed Chicken Thighs with Spinach Salad & Balsamic Dressing

Dinner – Grilled Garlic Flank Steak with Peppers & Onions and Baked Beets with Fennel (Sooooooo good)

{no pic because I forgot – sorry}

Also had a Honeycrisp apple as my afternoon snack.

So now I have a ton of leftovers, which is awesome for day 2, except i’m supposed to cook up a whole other set of food? Does this happen to anyone else? Am I just screwy with my portion sizes? The Practical Paleo book says that it’s approximately 2 servings for the shopping list, but I feel like that’s a gross overestimate – or i’m not eating enough?

Drinking lots of tea and water today – hoping to combat the effects of my no drinking hangover… lol