Day 21

Three weeks in, I'm kind of ready for it to be over, or at least I want to feel something really dramatic, you know?

I had breakfast pie and 1/2 avocado for breakfast, chicken, avocado and brussel sprouts for lunch and for dinner a sweet potato and lamb meatballs.

I'm going camping this weekend but it's at this hippie thing so I think I'll be good as far as food goes. I'm not too worried. However, I won't be posting again til Sunday.

Wish me luck!

Day 20

ONE THIRD DONE!

Breakfast was breakfast pie, lunch was lamb meatballs and broccoli, and dinner was a veggie hamburger patty with sautéed squash and zucchini along with strawberries and a bit of pineapple.

Nothing new to report, I'm feeling good. I think I'm getting a little bored but I haven't had time to be creative with my meals. I've also been curious about what I'm going to do once I'm done with my Whole30!! I really don't think I'll do much different except maybe have a dessert now and again. I definitely DEFINITELY want to be sure I don't get addicted to soda again. It's been 20 days and I haven't had one so I think I'm on the right track :)

Day 19

Today was a good day! Breakfast was some breakfast pie, lunch was chicken and green beans and dinner was the salad bar at Jason's Deli which is the restaurant I was trying to think of last time when I went there with my friend.

I've found that I'm eating less and getting full faster, which I suppose is good. I bought a dress from anthropologie yesterday and I had to get a small! I don't know if that is due to the Whole30 or just the fact the the dress ran a bit big, but it was still exciting :)

Work has been super busy which is also contributing to the fact that I don't think about what I can/can't have, so that is awesome!

Day 18

Woops! I was way too tired to post last night. It was a good day though.

Pretty standard stuff for breakfast and lunch and then I had dinner at Aria with a friend which was a complicated menu but I emailed the chef before hand and got some delicious cauliflower soup as wells as ahi tuna crudo! It was amazing.

This was just a quick post so everyone knows I didn't fall off the wagon :)

Day 17

Each post I write I can't believe how high the number is! Less than 2 weeks left!

This morning I had a piece of breakfast pie and something else I can't remember.
Lunch was that breakfast casserole I made that I'm actually not really a fan of, it's so eggy!
Dinner was the lamb meatballs, a banana, and like 2 bites of sweet potato. I got this bag that you can microwave potatoes in and it only takes 6 minutes but it tastes really gross. I think waiting an hour is worth it for a good baked sweet potato!

I'm still kind of hungry but I think I'll wait. I hope my impulses don't get the best of me...actually they might. I really want some prunes. Is that weird? I think it is. Wanting prunes is better than wanting coke, pizza and chocolate right?

I think so. I'm going to get some prunes.

Day 16

Today was another one of those weird days, I do way better with this during the week.

I've recently become obsessed with prunes. Yesterday I accidentally bought dates which scared the heck out of me when I opened them because they kind of looked like roaches. Ew. So I went back and paid attention this time and bought prunes.

I woke up a little late for church so "breakfast" was prunes and almonds.. yum.

I went to Terrace Cafe with Sarah for lunch and got that omelet I had last time when I went with Lisa. Then I headed to mom and dads to get mom to go shopping with me so she could start her Whole30. It was great because she bought me some stuff too! (Thanks Mom!)

We made hamburger patties with peppers and onions for her week and I also showed her the breakfast pie recipe, which I have cooking in my crockpot right now!

Dinner for me was some more of my omelet. I fill up SO FAST now, it's ridiculous. It's like I eat one bit and I'm full. Just kidding, that's a huge exaggeration. However, I do think this whole thing is effective because Sarah told me I look like I've lost some weight. Woohoo!

I also ran 25 minutes today, it felt good.

On an unrelated note, I've finished all 4 seasons of Ugly Betty :( So I guess instead of watching like 3 episodes before bed I will just read some of my book and go to sleep!

Day 15

I'M HALFWAY DONE! I can hardly believe it! Today was kind of a weird day because my afternoon/dinner included me just eating almonds and prunes til I was full. Woops.

HOWEVER, I tried a recipe from Well Fed, this paleo cookbook I bought. Oh, and I am completely blanking on what I had for breakfast... hmmm...

Anyway, for lunch I had Moroccan Meatballs! Here is the list of ingredients:

Meatballs: fresh parsley, paprika, cumin, salt, pepper, ground lamb (!!!)
Sause: coconut oil, onion, garlic, paprika, cumin, salt, pepper, tomatoes, water, tomato paste, parsley

I have NEVER tried lamb before and it was pretty okay. It made my apartment smell really good! My dad really loved the recipe and so did my mom. Here is what it looked like before the meatballs went to cook in the pot...

And this is what it looked like after with the sauce (you can't really see the meatballs...)

It made plenty of leftovers, and I'll eat them, but I don't know if I will be making that recipe again. I'm really glad I ventured out and tried it. It made me buy even more spices so I have quite the inventory!

It's all downhill from now!!!

Day 14

I've made it two whole weeks! Today was rough because I REALLY wanted to quit and eat a whole box of chocolates. The idea of 16 more days seemed pretty daunting but I think I'll survive!

For breakfast I heated up some pork and put it on top of some fresh spinach, lunch was a piece of the new breakfast casserole and some green beans, then dinner was the rest of the pork and a sweet potato. I've been getting full SO fast lately too.

After work (before my dinner and working out) I was feeling a bit light headed so I got some almonds and dried plums for a snack.

I went do my run work out which was 5 minute walk warm up then (1 minute run fast, 2 minute walk) x 8 then 5 minute walk cool down. I thought there was a Total Strength Class at the Harris YMCA but I was definitely wrong, so I'm going to do a strength class tomorrow!

I have to call it another early night because I'm volunteering at the Girls on the Run 5k tomorrow!

Day 13

So yesterday I didn't really have for dinner what I said I was going to because I didn't have time to eat at home. I had a delicious salad from extreme pita!

I did try my new breakfast casserole though. It looks SO good, but I actually like that sweet potato breakfast pie better, so I will make that once the current casserole is gone. Here is a picture of it:

So I had the last little piece of the old casserole and a little piece of the new casserole and 1/2 avocado for breakfast. For lunch I went to Chipotle yum yum. Then after work I met up with my friend Sara for coffee, then went to a deep stretch class with Elisabeth. After that we got dinner at a place that now I can't remember the name. It's like Jimmy John's, but not.. gah, I wish I could remember. It was good. I got the salad bar and went crazy with all the Whole30 compliant toppings. Even though I'm full, I don't feel gross or bloated which is awesome!

It's late! I'm going to watch an episode of Ugly Betty and probably go to bed!

Day 12

Happy May! I'm posting early with a projection of what I'm going to be eating because I'm busy tonight! I did not get up in time for Total Strength today.. woops. I'll go work out on the steptical after work and before my meeting at 7.

Here is the menu for today:

Breakfast: Breakfast pie, half an avocado
Lunch: Pork heaven, half an avocado, asparagus
Dinner: Salmon and a sweet potato

I brought my tea to work today so when I have the impulse to snack either in the morning or afternoon I can have a nice cup of rooibos tea.

I'm also out of vegetables minus the squash and onions I haven't been able to cook so I'm for sure going to need to get some more veggies maybe after work or after my meeting or sometime where I can find a spare 15 minutes.

I'm so ready for the weekend, I kind of just want to relax!!!

Day 11

I had the breakfast "pie" for breakfast and I think it's growing on me. I may try to make it correctly next week. So that was my breakfast along with half an avocado.

Lunch was pork heaven, a tomato and brussel sprouts. I also had an apple when I got to work, should have mentioned that.

Dinner was Whole30 approved Chipotle...it's not as filling as you would think. I really need to cook up those onions but I have plans both tonight and tomorrow so I hope they don't go bad! I think it will be okay.

My mom is starting a Whole30 on Saturday so we are going to go shopping Friday. How lucky that I'm already almost 2 weeks in so she doesn't have to struggle :) Just kidding, but I wish I had had someone to start with for sure.

Since I'm still hungry I'm going to finish up watching this episode of Ugly Betty then head to bed! Hopefully I will get up in time the total strength class tomorrow!!

Day 10

Today was good! I had consistent energy throughout the day and at no point was I ever starving or feeling ravenous. I had a hard(ish) workout this morning which was walk 5 minutes for warm up then run 5 walk 1 (repeat 5x) then walk 5 to cool down. Here is the menu from today:

Breakfast: Breakfast Pie and half an avocado
got to work and had an apple and a larabar
Lunch: Yummy pork and a ton of green beans
Dinner: Shrimp, a tomato and brussel sprouts! Which I actually really liked!!!

After work Devon and I went to a Total Strength class at the Y that totally killed my arms, so I'm looking forward to not being able to even lift a glass to my mouth to drink water. This subsequently means I may have a hard time shoveling food down my throat which may force me to actually have some self control (I just inhaled my last larabar while typing this...woops.)

I'm a third of the way done!! I counted the days on my calendar and I will be done May 21, which is a Sunday and will simultaneously be a day of rest and quite possibly overindulgence...but I won't get ahead of myself!

Day 9

Holy Moly I can't believe I've made it 9 days. No pictures this time around either, it was a busy day! Also, I would have taken a picture of the breakfast "pie" but it kind of looks gross so I thought I'd spare you.

Also, I don't know if I posted the links to Whole30 but now I am going to be because a couple people have been asking me questions and even saying they want to do a Whole30 themselves!

Whole30 Website: http://whole9life.com

Paleomg (where I get a lot of my recipes): http://paleomg.com

Nom Nom Paleo (more recipes): http://nomnompaleo.com

Another good resource is the "It Starts With Food Book" which I would recommend reading before you start a Whole30 just so you know what you are getting yourself into. It can be found here.

This morning I ate a piece of my breakfast pie and it actually turned out pretty good. I probably won't make it again though, I kind of miss my pepper and onion burger patties for breakfast, those were delicious.

For lunch my old church had a potluck so for the best of my knowledge I did a good job. I had pulled pork and a fruit and lettuce salad thing and some green beans. It hit the spot.

Yesterday I think I mentioned being so so hungry and so I jumped on a Whole30 forum to complain about it and basically the people said I need to eat more..and ditch the larabars, but mostly eat more.

It would be way easier for me to justify eating more if today at my old church's reunion I didn't keep hearing "Oh my goodness you're so big!" over and over. To their defense, most people remember me as an 8 year old so it makes sense, but maybe trying saying I look grown up or something.. right?

The crockpot is cooking up that yummy pork stuff I love right now and I have a piece of salmon thawing out and a sweet potato in the oven. I'll have the salmon, sweet potato, and the rest of that broccoli for dinner then call it a night!

Tomorrow I'll be a third of the way done!! Yay!

Day 8

Today has been a weird day, I've been a bottomless pit. I'm so hungry. Buying larabars was clearly a mistake because I've already had three today. My meals were so off today because I've been doing a lot of things. I went to a Total Strength class at the Y then ran for 20 minutes.

Before I worked out I had a larabar, after I had a burger patty, tomato, and half an avocado...and then 2 scrambled eggs...

I ate another larabar on the way to the Queen's Cup, which was pretty fun!

Dinner was salmon and broccoli, then some shrimp later... then another larabar, and some tea... and some blueberries. Everything Whole30 friendly but I'm still STARVING.

I decided to try this recipe from paleomg.com and it's in the crockpot right now. I accidentally bought cooked sausage so I'm not sure how that's going to work out but I think it will be okay.

I am also going to make my yummy pork stuff tomorrow so I can take that to lunch all this week.

Did I mention I bought rooibus tea? It was delicious. Not as good as Caribou but still worth it.

Ugh I'm so hungry.

Day 7

Oh my goodness it's been a week! Right now I'm watching Live of Pi. I went to get my groceries for the next week and saw a red box and new that I had to get the movie, the book was good.

Back to Whole30

Breakfast I had a burger with avocado and tomato, lunch was shrimp, strawberries, carrots and peppers! Then I went to a jewelry party for Stella & Dot with my friend Elisabeth. The jewelry was beautiful but what really had me tempted was the delicious food! Especially the cheese, cake pops, hummus and spinach artichoke dip. Oh...and the wine!

I ate 2 larabars and a TON of grapes while I was there, and barely resisted, it was so difficult.

Didn't work out today or take any pictures of food but I will probably do so tomorrow! I was going to make this breakfast "pie" from paleomg.com but I need to shred a sweet potato and I don't have a shredder!!!! So I will be getting one tomorrow.

Now I'm off to watch this movie. I have a big day tomorrow, I'm going to a strength class, I need to go by khaki shorts because I'm volunteering at the Queen's Cup, then I'm going to the Knight's Game! Hooray for the weekend!

Day 6

Today was normal. Minus how I got super hungry at 2pm and had to walk to RiteAid to see what they had to offer. Spoiler Alert: not much...

I got some almonds and dried plums which I learned are the same things as prunes, but they weren't bad.

Breakfast was an omelet which was kind of okay. It had peppers and onions in it with a side of delicious strawberries. I think they are about to go bad so I'll probably eat the rest of them at lunch tomorrow.

Lunch was a burger patty and half an avocado which explains why I got hungry so quickly. I think I'm going to pick up some larabars for emergency hunger.

For dinner I had a Newk's Salad and it was Whole30 friendly to the best of my knowledge and it was pretty okay, I was really jealous of every one's delicious looking sandwiches though. Salads don't really give off a savory amazing sandwich smell.

It's been such a long day so I'm going to cuddle with my laptop in bed and watch an episode of Ugly Betty!

Day 5

Last night I went to bed later than normal, like around 9:30pm. Normal (during my Whole30) has been 8pm, but since that strength class went til 8:30 that just wasn't going to happen.

This morning it was kind of difficult to get up, I'm pretty sleepy. But, before I could talk myself out of my workout I went ahead and got up because as cheesy as it sounds I really really want to see some results! And I can't see results by lying in bed and not working out.

Today's workout was 5 minutes of walking to warm up then 1 minute fast running followed by 3 minutes of walking, repeated 7x. Then a 5 minute walk cool down. I had to take some serious time stretching after that because I'm pretty sore from last nights class.

I had my burger/tomato/avocado breakfast this morning, delicious. Then I felt lazy and didn't want to pack my lunch so I'm going to walk to Chipotle on my lunch break. SOME of their stuff is Whole30 friendly, take a look at their ingredients menu. So I will be getting carnitas, lettuce, mild salsa, a bit of medium salsa, and guacamole. No rice, no beans, and unfortunately their veggies are cooked in soybean oil so that's a no go for the Whole30 as well.

It was pretty darn good. For dinner I had the rest of my pork, a tomato, and a banana. 

My friend Elisabeth encouraged me to come with her tomorrow morning for a Total Strength class so I will be there bright and early at 5:45 am. I need to get some sleep. It's really only 9:20 but it feels like 2am. 

Still no drastic changes, I don't feel bloated anymore which is awesome but that's all I really have to report!

Day 4

Remember how I said I was going to be a beast at the gym today? Yeah, not quite. I STRUGGLED on the elliptical thing this morning. It was rough. Who am I?! I think it will get better with time though, so I am trying not to be discouraged.

For breakfast I remembered I had all those eggs I don't really want and forgot to put in my burger mixture so I made a egg/green pepper/onion/tomato scramble. It tasted as good as it looked, unless you think it looks really good, because it only tasted mildly good. It was easier to eat than boiled eggs though. I couldn't eat all of it because I got full. I can't seem to figure out if I'm eating too much or too little. I think I'm good for breakfast, but when I'm about to leave work I'm absolutely starving and the Whole30 doesn't really promote snacks so maybe I'll just eat more for lunch? We'll see. Here's what breakfast looked like:

The chopped veggies actually look good

But then I just HAD to add eggs.

Lunch was the burger/tomato/avocado combo again and dinner was my delicious pork and green beans. 

Then I decided to torture myself further and go to a class called Total Strength Light at the Y, thinking when it said light it actually meant it. But no! It was so hard, but I think only for me because 70 year old women were doing stuff I couldn't even do. But alas, I have to start somewhere.

Off to read an article in Darling Magazine then to bed! I have a running workout tomorrow morning (yay?)

Day 3

Okay, so day 3 wasn't as bad as my motivational email claimed it was going to be this morning. Seriously... the title of the email was "One of the Toughest Days".

Really the only thing tough about it was the fact that I packed carrots as part of my lunch. Let me recap what I ate.

Breakfast was the same patty/tomato/avocado meal. Lunch was shrimp, carrots, green beans and some strawberries. Dinner was grilled salmon (that I accidentally overcooked) and 2 baked squash seasoned with salt and pepper and some red spice I forget the name of now. It looked like this:

It was divine! And, I think I have a solution for the carrot problem. I'm going to buy some apples and then make baked carrots and apples with cinnamon. I think they will be tastier and easier to stomach that way.

My sleep was very good last night. I woke up at 5 and did the first workout Lia prescribed which was 5 minute walking warm up, run 5 walk 1 (do that 4x) then walk 5 minutes. It was really great getting it out of the way and not having to do it when I got home.

Speaking of when I got home, I joined the Y today! I'll be there bright and early to be a beast on the adaptable motion trainer (or steptical as I like to call it.)

Off to read and go to bed, it's really hard to make myself go to sleep when it's light outside... but it definitely pays off!

Day 2

Today was a pretty good day, though it was riddled with temptation. Breakfast was delicious, definitely better than yesterday. It even looks heavenly:

It was definitely easier to stomach in the morning than boiled eggs. However, I did forget to crack some eggs into my burger mixture before frying them up.

After church my sweet friend Lisa wanted to go out to lunch and I couldn't turn down a chance to spend time with my friend! We decided on Terrace Cafe because I googled "terrace cafe whole 30" and found this. So it was the Y veggie omelet with whole eggs and added sausage, it was really good. But it was hard when Lisa kept offering me her delicious looking pancakes yummmmm, she meant well though :)

I WAS going to have tuna for dinner with a sweet potato but the tuna has soy bean oil in it so that was a no-go and I went for the delicious pork again.

Nothing really strange to report today. I went walking for an hour and got a crazy headache while i was out, but I'm going to attribute it to the cup of coffee I had. I probably will forgo coffee for the next 28 days.

Speaking of walking, my best friend, Lia, was sweet enough to put together a plan for me to get back into running. I used to run A LOT but I've kind of fell off the wagon and have really been wanting to get motivated to get back into it. I'm pretty excited about starting it.

I'm going to try to do my run workout tomorrow before work so I'm about to hope into bed and read for an hour so I can get up bright and early!

Sweet dreams!

Day 1

So I'm almost done with Day 1, I'm still waiting for my baked sweet potato to get out of the oven. I didn't realize it took so long to bake a potato. I also got to wake up to my apartment smelling so delicious because of the pork in the crockpot. It was glorious.

I discovered a lot this first day like, I hate boiled eggs. They grossed me out so bad this morning. I had boiled 3 eggs and sautéed peppers and onions. I also threw in a banana as well. This is what it looked like:

I ended up eating 1.5 eggs, and then everything else. I took a couple bite of that delicious pork just to be sure I had enough protein, it was AMAZING.

I went to Tuck Fest at the USNWC with my work today which was pretty fun, there were a lot of people out there and I had to deal with my first temptation. My co-worker went off somewhere and came back with delicious looking chicken tacos. She claimed one was for me and I had to decline and she ended up eating both of them anyway. I think she was just being polite.

For lunch I had baby carrots (bleh), green beans (yum), half an avocado and some shrimp. The avocado and shrimp were so good, I'm hoping I will adapt to eating vegetables because right now it's not going so well, they just seem so unappetizing.

Because I could barely stomach boiled eggs I had a thought to make beef and veggie patties for the morning. That way most of the vegetables are already built in and I get my protein too. I tasted my concoction and it was way better than boiled eggs. It's just ground beef with chopped peppers and onions.

Yum!

For dinner I had the amazing pork stuff and a couple of strawberries and I'm still waiting on that sweet potato...

I took a lot of pictures of this because 1. I was so proud of myself and 2. It's the best tasting thing I've had all day.

That concludes day one. I guess I can't really note any changes since it's only been one day, but I can say I definitely feel like I'm eating enough and don't feel deprived. It's also REALLY time consuming to sit down and actually eat and chew food. This morning I really just wanted to resort to instant oatmeal! Only 29 more days to go!

Day 0

If you haven't heard of the Whole30 or the book It Starts with Food then you probably won't understand anything I'm about to talk about. But that's okay, you can feel free to read about those things then come back to this.

One of the reasons I wanted to try the Whole30 was because I have a really bad coke addiction (the cola, not the hard drug) and I also really love sweets. One of the claims that stuck out to me was that after this 30 days of clean eating your cravings will be gone. So, it's worth a shot.

Day zero has already had it's own challenges. I needed to buy all new food for next week and have a general idea of the meals I wanted to eat so I don't completely have an anxiety attack when I'm starving and all I have is this raw nonsense in my fridge.

So, I went out to Wal-Mart and bought a crock pot and spent what I think is an obscene amount of money for food that I'm going to consume in about a week.

I'm trying this recipe (minus the plantains) for a couple of dinners this week. Right now it's sitting in my crockpot and looks really gross. Hopefully it looks more appetizing tomorrow.

Another thing was boiling eggs for my breakfast tomorrow. I don't think I have ever boiled an egg so that obviously needed to be googled. I think that was a success.

So, tomorrow I'm starting for real. I've read the book, subscribed to the daily emails and I have taken a "before" picture that will NEVER make it's way on this page. Ever.

Wish me luck!