Whole30 - Day 15

We made it to the halfway point!!!!! 15 days down, 15 days to go. If we did this for 15 days we can certainly survive another 15, right?!?!

Today was a good day. Here's what it looked like:

Breakfast
I got up this morning and started my normal routine. I made Drew's scrambler the same as yesterday and made up some more sausage for the kids. This morning both kids had 2 pieces of sausage with an apple. Robbie then added some applesauce to his plate as well.

After Drew went to work and the kids got on the bus I went to breakfast with a friend. I ordered 2 eggs over hard with 1 sausage patty and a side of fruit. I ended up with 2 sausage patties.

Lunch
It ended up being 2 before I ate lunch today and I honestly wasn't even all that hungry when I ate it either. I suppose I could have just skipped lunch today, but then I probably would have been starving by dinner. I made the same lunch as yesterday. Today's sweet potato was a little bit bigger (yummy). I swear I am totally addicted to these sweet potato fries. I want more!

Dinner
I said in yesterday's post that I was making two new recipes today. I made this recipe for Buffalo Ranch Chicken Meatballs. And this recipe for Balsamic Bacon Brussels Sprouts. Now I realize that Brussels sprouts were a big risk considering the pickiness of my children (child, actually), but I didn't care. She likes asparagus, so why not Brussels sprouts? I've never had them before and have (obviously) never cooked them either. I thought this would be a good recipe to try since it has bacon in it! Everything is better with bacon, right?!?

So Robbie ate all his (of course), Mary ate maybe half of hers (go figure) and Drew got up for seconds (score!). I liked them a lot. I actually thought the overwhelming taste was the balsamic and I almost wonder if Mary would like them better without that. I did not, however, care for the chicken meatballs. I only ate 2/4 of mine so I'm sure I'm going to get hungry tonight. However, I also had lunch at 2 so I wasn't really ready for dinner at 6 when we ate.

 The Lowdown
Today was a good day. I am definitely feeling better mentally. I still am not totally sold on all the wonderful changes people talk about happening in 30 days. I have had some good changes so far, but I'm not so sure they're any different than when I start eating healthy any other time. And I don't think I've seen any changes in the kids either. I know some people who say that getting rid of gluten or sugar or dairy or whatever helps their kids behaviors. I see no change in my kids. If anything, I think Robbie is acting out a little bit more.

So last night Drew said he wanted Robbie to get on the scale (even though you're not "supposed" to during the Whole30). He said the other day when he went to pick him  up he felt a lot heavier than normal. Robbie could certainly stand to put some weight on so he wasn't concerned, just curious. Of course I'm saying it's stupid to get on the scale because he had JUST eaten. Whatever. So he got on the scale and he was around 58lbs. I believe he's been closer to 55lbs, so he has gained a little - I don't think 3 whole pounds since, like I said, he had just eaten dinner and he didn't weight himself right before we started so I'm not exactly sure of his starting weight. So then Mary had to get on the scale too. She weighed in almost 3 pounds lighter than when we started. Again, I wasn't really surprised by that and I'm not at all concerned, but it is interesting to me.

I'm excited that we're halfway there. I'm also excited that this has really kicked my butt back into gear with getting my weight loss back in the right direction. Good thing too because I've got a long way to go!

Whole30 - Day 14

2 weeks complete - 1 day away from the halfway point. I am still ready to be done with these very strict restrictions, but it has done what it really needed to do, which is get me back on track with eating healthy to lose this weight.

One thing I am not happy about today is that I am having some pretty bad acid reflux this evening. Now, prior to starting this I was experiencing really bad acid reflux on a daily basis. I started taking prilosec and that helped, but as soon as I would stop taking it the heartburn would come back (not good). In the past 14 days I have not taken any Prilosec or Zantac or anything and I've been mostly fine. I would get some slight discomfort here and there, but nothing bad enough to take anything for it. Tonight I took some Zantac and I'm still waiting for it to kick in. So that kind of ticks me off because that's one of the things that is supposed to pretty much disappear. And yes, it's been better, but still.

Without further ado, here is what day 14 has looked like:

Breakfast
I actually almost skipped breakfast (again) this morning. I'm just finding it difficult to decide what I'm in the mood for at breakfast time. However, around 8:30 I was pretty hungry so I decided to just make myself a scrambler with some of the leftover chorizo from yesterday's dinner. The chorizo gave it a nice little kick so it wasn't as boring as I thought it might be. I then had an apple as well.

Mary had her scotch egg and apple and Robbie had his sausage and apple for breakfast. I made Drew the same type of scrambler as mine and packed it for him to take to work.

Lunch

Those totally look like actual fries!

The kids' lunches were the same as they've been. I'm perfectly happy that they are happy with the same things every day. Makes my life easier. Drew is also pretty easy to pack for as well. He got another salad with chicken on it.

I wasn't sure what I was going to have for lunch and then I decided that the roasted sweet potato fries I made the other night were really good. I had one pretty small sweet potato (and yes, they are white. There are white sweet potatoes, kind of neat), so I cut that up and put it in the oven to roast while I cleaned the kitchen (since it takes a good 30 minutes or more). I had some canned chicken too so I made some more chicken salad and had that with my sweet potato fries. YUMMY! I think I am completely addicted to these sweet potato fries. I think they're better than the orange sweet potatoes.

Dinner
Dinner was a little bit of a pain in the butt (again). I actually didn't even realize how well I planned it (since I didn't actually plan it), but dinner tonight, on Cinco De Mayo, was taco meat with cauliflower tortillas. The taco meat wasn't what was a pain, although it wasn't all that flavorful either. I think I needed more of the spices. The cauliflower tortillas were a pain and, again, I didn't like them. However, Mary actually ate every morsel of food on her plate without complaining! And Robbie had a second serving - so one and a half tortillas.

So I guess dinner was a hit, but it wasn't a hit with me. Sigh. It definitely needed something else like guac and/or salsa. I suppose I should have thought of that, but I didn't. Lesson learned.

The Lowdown
Today was just another day. On day 14 I am still feeling like I don't think we are going to become a paleo family or anything, but I'm not regretting taking on this challenge either. I don't think this will be the right way for our family to eat 100% of the time, but it definitely has helped get me back on track. And I won't rule out doing another one at some point either because it is kind of nice to not have to weigh, measure and track my food and still lose weight. But, I'm also OK with weighing, measuring and tracking my food for a while to lose weight if it means I don't have to be quite as restrictive!

In other news today - I actually got on the treadmill again to walk for a while. I decided to see if I could run a half mile without stopping. I did it. Not fast by any means, but I did it nonetheless. I would really like to get back into the running scene. I had so much fun in 2011 and 2012 when I was running often and training for different events. I made a deal with myself. When I lose 30lbs I can sign up for a 5k. When I'm down a total of 50lbs, I can register for another half marathon (so hopefully some time in 2015). And we'll see from there. What's funny is when I lose 50lbs I'll be close to the lowest weight I got to in 2011, which means the bulk of the races I've done have been at a higher weight. But I don't want to do that anymore. I want to get this damn weight off me and I want to become a better, faster, runner. I don't have to be FAST, but if I could get to the point of running 10 min/miles consistently that would be amazing! But, I have to start somewhere and that's why I'm here doing this challenge.

Tomorrow brings the halfway point! Woo hoo! Hopefully it'll be a good day with it. I'm trying more new recipes tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Whole30 - Day 13

Getting SO close to the halfway point!

Today was actually pretty good. I was able to sleep in this morning, which is always a good thing. After I got up though, I was immediately in the kitchen getting breakfast ready for everyone and then getting lunches packed to go to the in-laws. Then, as soon as we got home this afternoon I did dishes and decided to just go ahead and prep dinner so it'd be done. Mary had a volleyball game at 6 (and she remains undefeated!) so having dinner done was nice.

The biggest hurdle today was that my parents and sister came to Mary's game and no one had eaten prior. Drew and I hadn't eaten either, but the kids had an early dinner. I ultimately decided not to join them for dinner, which made me sad simply because I enjoy spending time with my family. But, in the end it was the best decision. Not only is it difficult for us to eat out, the kids really needed to be home to get to bed at a reasonable hour. And other than feeling a little left out, I really didn't miss the food (OMG...really?!?!). Maybe that change IS happening after all! The dinner I made was actually a lot better than I thought it would be and I was happy to be eating it.

Anyway, here's what today's meals looked like:

Breakfast
I cooked up some sausage this morning since I didn't have any plain sausage left for Robbie. He ended up having 3 patties with an apple and Mary had her one scotch egg with an apple. I made Drew a scrambler with the sausage in it as well and I actually contemplated skipping breakfast. I really just didn't feel like eating anything. I ended up though with 2 hard boiled eggs, 1 piece of sausage and some fruit. I was a bad girl and didn't eat any veggies with breakfast this morning. I think I'll live.

Lunch
We once again went to the in-laws today so we packed our lunch so my mother in law didn't have to worry about dealing with our restrictions. The kids decided they wanted their normal school lunches so that's what they got. Drew made himself a salad with chicken, raisins and almonds along with the homemade ranch dressing. I made egg salad and put it on top of greens. I ended up salting it too much, which was unfortunate, but I still ate it.

Lunch actually filled me up nicely. I wasn't hungry at all until maybe 5:30 - and even then I wasn't starving, but I knew I wasn't going to eat till after 7 so I ate a Larabar to tide me over (the apple pie ones are really yummy). The only thing that was weird was my stomach was a little off this afternoon, but it's better now. I think I need to be careful about how much lettuce I eat. I don't think my stomach likes the lettuce all that much. Problem is, it makes for an easy lunch so it's kind of my go-to.

Dinner

No sauce

I tried yet another new recipe tonight for Stuffed Poblano Peppers. I was nervous about whether or not it would be too spicy for the kids so since they had to eat early before Mary's game I let them choose. Mary decided to try the peppers and Robbie decided to have some chicken with fruit and veggies. Of course after Mary said she liked the stuffed peppers she really didn't eat them. She ended up eating an apple and 1 egg worth of egg salad after her game.

Sauce added

I reheated the peppers for me and Drew and we ate after the game as well. Mid-way through the first pepper Drew commented that it would taste really good with some sauce. I just happened to have bought sauce that was compliant over the weekend so he heated that up and we added it to the rest of our meal. The meal was actually a lot better than I thought it would be (I've never been a big fan of stuffed peppers). Robbie ended up having a bite of mine and didn't seem too turned off by it so I might have to repeat this dish at some point in the near future. It's also SO easy and I love it because the protein and veggie are all in one so I don't have to think about a side dish. 

The Lowdown

Today ended up being pretty good. I felt better mentally and, like I said, was only slightly sad when I chose not to go to dinner with my family. However, if it wasn't so late I probably would have gone with them so I think the overwhelming factor to that decision was having young kids who need to get to bed. 

The weekend is over and in my opinion, weekends are more difficult than weekdays. Only 2 more weekends remain! Then starts the fun of trying to figure out how to balance how I'm eating so that I am still losing weight, but not losing my mind! :)

Whole30-Day 12

I am SO over this.....and it's only day 12. I haven't even made it to the halfway point yet and I feel like there's no way I can make it to day 30. The only 2 things keeping me going are 1) that my entire family is involved and the kids are being such troopers that I can't possibly tell them I want to quit. And 2) the maybe 20 people who might read this blog. I would really hate to write a post saying I failed. So I didn't quit and this is how day 12 looked.

Breakfast
I didn't have any rotisserie chicken leftover and no hard boiled eggs so I went with a scrambler. I don't think I've had a picture of the scramblers since day 1 so I thought I'd take a picture today! :) This one had the chicken sausage, green peppers, onions, and spinach.

Mary and Robbie both had a scotch egg and a sliced apple.

We then had to rush to Robbie's soccer game at 9, Mary's volleyball pictures at 9:15 and Robbie's pictures after his game! Robbie's game was good. He scored 2 goals right away, which I missed because I was with Mary getting her pictures done. It was close to 11 when we got home after all the craziness. And once again I felt like the rest of my day was devoted to food.

Lunch
I still had to go to the grocery store (since yesterday I just bought a few things), so I did that and Drew got the kids lunch taken care of when I was gone. They each had turkey, avocado and bacon wraps with some fruit and veggies. Of course Mary didn't eat all her veggies, and apparently daddy's wraps have too much avocado in them.

I was supposed to get Drew a salad bar when I went to the store but I completely forgot. So when I got home he made himself a salad and I just made myself some turkey, avocado, bacon wraps with veggies and homemade ranch dressing to dip.

This afternoon I spent some more time boiling eggs, cutting fruit, and doing dishes. I was able to relax for about 2 hours before I started prepping dinner!

Dinner
And this would be part of the reason why I'm SO over this right now. I decided to try out 2 new recipes tonight. The one was pretty easy and although it took a long time to simmer on the stove, there wasn't really any prep work. The other one was a big ole pain in the butt and I ended up not even liking it! We had Cinnamon Braised Beef with Mashed Rutabaga and butternut squash and green beans.

The beef was good. It was actually more tender than I thought it would be. I couldn't really taste the cinnamon, but it made it smell great while cooking. The mashed rutabaga and squash is what's underneath the beef and I really didn't care for it. No one else really did either. Fail. So I'm getting really frustrated because I'm trying to branch out with veggies we've never had before and hoping that I'll just be so excited when we like them. Well, none of the new vegetable sides I've tried we've liked. We tried sweet potato hash, cauliflower mash and this and didn't like any of them. And, they're all way time consuming to make.

I have more new recipes I'm trying out this week, but perhaps after that I'll stick to the boring vegetables for a few days. I did really love the roasted sweet potatoes I did last night so perhaps I'll do those a few more times.

The Lowdown
I'm still (obviously) not in a good place. I went back to the website and visited the timeline again. This is what they had to say about days 12-15:

 This is the part of the program where our minds try to drive us back to the comfort of the foods we used to know. Our food relationships are deeply rooted and strongly reinforced throughout the course of our lives and breaking through them is really big deal. Journaling can be especially enlightening and helpful during this phase, and helpful for reflection later. Take some time to jot down what you’re craving, how you’re feeling and what tools you’re using to work through the cravings. - See more at: http://whole30.com/2013/08/revised-timeline/#sthash.P9kn8csS.dpuf

What I find interesting about this particular phase is that I can't say I'm really craving any specific thing. They talk about people having vivid, crazy dreams about food. I haven't dreamed of anything (yet), but I also can't pinpoint something I want. I just know that I want a break from having to THINK about it. And that's always my problem and why I hate when I try to do any kind of healthy eating plan (diet - whatever). I mean, obviously I would like wine, but even that isn't a huge craving.

Reading the timeline helps. It reminds me why I decided to try this in the first place. It reminds me that one of the things I hoped to get out of this was to change my relationship with food. I have always said that I wish I could have a more normal relationship with food. I wish I could be someone who could eat what they what when they want because what they want most of the time is healthy and when they want something unhealthy it's no big deal because it's every once in a while. It'd be nice if this actually changes that for me. Right now I'm doubting that it will. And then, of course, I re-read a section of the book that points out that you may not make the change in 30 days. I won't say that I'll never do this again or anything, but you can bet that after day 30 I'll be letting myself have something that is currently prohibited!

As of today I don't really feel any different than when I've started eating healthier other times or have done other things like Weight Watcher's or Sparkpeople to track my food and lose weight. Hopefully my posts will start looking different soon; but I have a feeling it's going to be a rocky road for at least a few more days.

Whole30 - Day11

I want to quit! Yup. That's what I was saying around 4 this afternoon. I'm better now.

It's day 11 and "they" say that it is a fact that people who quit do it on days 10 or 11. I/we did NOT quit, but it was not an easy evening. I can't stress enough how important it is to PLAN everything when you're doing a Whole30. I didn't have a solid plan for dinner tonight and I paid for it. I was thinking I'd just get a rotisserie chicken from Giant Eagle again, but we've had that twice this week already (once from G.E. & one that I made). Then it dawned on me that we could go out to eat at Boston Market and stay mostly compliant (we would likely have butter, but that would be the only thing). But then I thought perhaps challenging ourselves on a night that's already proving to be difficult might not be smart. We discussed it and the kids suggested that we just eat at home.

I had to run to the grocery store still because I didn't have anything ready for dinner tonight. Anyway, I'll discuss that more when I discuss our meals for the day.

Breakfast
The kids had the same breakfast as yesterday. Drew had another scrambler with chicken sausage, green peppers, onions, and spinach. I had a similar breakfast to yesterday as well. Leftover rotisserie chicken with carrots and cantaloupe.

I guess technically I didn't have any fat with this meal, but I'm not really worried about it. I'm sure I'm getting plenty of healthy fats over all.

Lunch
So today I had to sub in the computer classroom at Mary's school from 10-3:15. She was so excited because she has computer on Friday's so I got to be her teacher today! It was my first time subbing in a classroom and I think it went pretty well.

Anyway, I didn't really feel like another big salad and I wanted something that would be easy to eat discreetly in case I didn't get an actual lunch break (which I did, by the way). But, I didn't have any hard boiled eggs, turkey slices or rotisserie chicken left. On the way to school I stopped (yet again) at GE and got stuff from the salad bar.

The kids had their same lunches from yesterday and I'm not really sure what Drew had since I wasn't home. I believe he said he made a salad with some bacon, prosciutto and homemade ranch dressing.

Dinner
What we finally ended up deciding was that I would get some burgers, carrots and sweet potatoes for dinner. I even splurged and got the grass fed beef for the burgers. Let me tell you, dinner ended up being delicious. Burgers with bacon on top (and some homemade ranch dressing for me and Drew) with roasted carrots and sweet potatoes. I didn't even have to fight Mary about finishing her sweet potatoes tonight! And Robbie was almost done with his entire dinner before I even sat down!

 The Lowdown
There were a couple hours there today that were not fun. I wanted to quit like it was nobody's business. However it wasn't like I wanted to quit for something in particular. I mean, sure, I could have really gone for a glass (bottle) of wine tonight, but when I was in my mood I wasn't wanting anything in particular. I was just wanting to not have to think about it. I wanted it to be no effort. And what's no effort? Eating out. I am proud of the fact that we all stuck to it today. Drew said he was finding it a little more difficult today and was feeling like he could really go for a beer. We're only 1/3 of the way there so we have a LONG way to go, but we've also completed 10 (almost 11) days. I am bound and determined to make it to day 30. I never thought this was going to be easy and it hasn't been too bad thus far. I am proud of the kids who are really doing a great job. Robbie complained today about only drinking water, but he got over it pretty quickly.

I bought some more walnuts at the grocery store today so I think I may have some grapes and walnuts for a snack tonight. Yum!

Whole30-Day10

Well...we made it to day 10 and we haven't quit yet! Today was actually another easy day. Until, at least, we were marking the kids calendars and I saw that we still have almost the whole month of May to go! (I mean yes, of course I KNEW that, but to see it in black and white looked a little daunting). The kids were just excited because On May 22nd I marked ICE CREAM on their calendars! :)

Breakfast
You will start to see that we're getting in to a groove now with breakfasts and lunches and they don't vary much from day to day. This helps to keep my life a little easier! :)
Mary - 1 scotch egg and an apple sliced.
Robbie - 2 sausage patties and an apple sliced.
Drew - scrambler with leftover steak, onion, green pepper, spinach and 2 eggs.
Me - leftover rotisserie chicken, carrots and celery, strawberries.

Lunch
I got called yesterday to sub at Robbie's school in the office from 1-3 so I had to make sure to eat lunch earlier than I've been. When I packed Robbie's lunch this morning I noticed there are only 3 slices of turkey left for his lunch tomorrow so I couldn't have that for my lunch. Here's what lunches looked like today.
Mary - egg salad, cucumbers with guacamole, pineapple and strawberries and a fruit strip.
Robbie - turkey, bacon, avocado roll-up's, celery, pineapple and strawberry and applesauce.
Drew and I headed to Giant Eagle to just get the salad bar since we're running low on ingredients to make our own salads at home. I then paired mine with grapes and walnuts (and finished the walnuts).

Dinner
Tonight's dinner was this recipe for Prosciutto wrapped, spinach and artichoke stuffed chicken. I am really running low on veggies that we haven't already had a ton of (like green beans or the "California mix" that has cauliflower, broccoli and carrots). I had one zucchini in the fridge so I roasted that with some olive oil and salt and pepper.

The chicken was OK. This was by far my least favorite recipe. I didn't care for the stuffing and I overcooked the chicken so it was a little dry. The kids didn't like it and Robbie actually had to choke down the zucchini. Clearly he doesn't mind the other veggies we've eaten since he scarfs them down even though he complains about them! Tonight's picture is quite sad. It was lacking veggies in a BIG way. (I also forgot to take the picture until I had already taken a  bite) Oh well.

 The Lowdown
There was nothing that stands out about today. I still haven't started experiencing any huge changes. I do think I am finally sleeping better so that's good. I'm still holding out hope for all these "life changing" things that I've read about. We'll see. I suppose another good thing is that I haven't taken any medication for acid reflux since we started this and it had gotten really bad right before we started.

I started thinking today about how I'm going to eat when this is over. I'm not going to go back to the way I was eating because then this was a big ole waste of time. I have about 90-100 pounds to lose (ugh) so I need to do something to help that. We'll see how much I lose in this 30 days. I'm thinking of doing a 90/10 type plan when I am done with this. So basically eating like this for 19/21 meals in a week, giving me 2 "free" meals - just meals though, not DAYS. We'll see though. As my mom says, I always look too far ahead....

Whole30 - Day 9

Today felt easy again. Perhaps that's because I kept it simple.

Breakfast
I ended up not making any scotch eggs last night and didn't get up early enough to make them this morning. Since Robbie claimed not to like the egg whites yesterday anyway, I just made sausage patties with scrambled eggs and fruit. They polished off breakfast with no complaints today. It was so nice!

I made Drew a scrambler with some leftover steak, green peppers, spinach and onions. I then had some more of the leftover rotisserie chicken (which I eat cold) with sugar snap peas and fruit.

So simple, yet so yummy!

Lunch

Between breakfast and lunch today I did some more food prep. I cut up some carrots and celery, boiled some eggs, made scotch eggs, made some plain sausage patties for Robbie to have, and made some tuna with homemade mayo and celery for Drew for lunch (he was working from home today so I didn't need to pack his lunch. 

The kids had their "usuals" today. Mary had egg salad with cucumbers and pineapple, but today I also sent her with guacamole to dip the cucumbers in. When she got home from school she said it was awesome. Robbie had turkey, bacon, avocado roll ups with celery and pineapple. Drew made himself a salad with the tuna on it that I had prepped earlier.

I actually got a little activity today as well (it's about time!). I walked on the treadmill for 45 minutes and then it was 1! So, again, it was about 1:30 when I had lunch. I just did turkey, bacon and avocado roll-ups with carrots and celery with a little of the ranch I made yesterday to dip. I was quite hungry at lunch so I also had a bowl of grapes and walnuts. I'll admit - I'm kind of addicted to these right now. I suppose there are worse things (ah-hem wine and salt and vinegar potato chips)!

Funny. You can't see the grapes in the bowl, but they're there.

Dinner

I was going to use this recipe for Slow-Cooker Rotisserie Chicken, but I just ended up using McCormick's rotisserie chicken seasoning instead of making my own. It has no MSG and none of the other non-compliant ingredients so I figure it's safe. I also didn't cook it for the 8 hours that was recommended. I used a temperature probe and it took maybe 5-6 hours to cook and then I kept it on warm until dinner time. I swear I think this was the moistest (is that a word? lol) chicken I've ever made. I paired it with this recipe for carrot "fries" and some green beans sauteed in some ghee. OMG, let me tell you, I LOVED the carrot fries. Robbie ate all his in about 2 seconds (even though he claimed not to really like them) and I had to fight with Mary to finish her measly little 4 fries (sigh). But, I liked them and I'm not a big cooked carrot fan. 

The Lowdown

I feel like perhaps I'm eating too many walnuts. They are on the "limit" list so I probably shouldn't be eating them daily. And I definitely shouldn't be eating them twice a day, but oh well. Like I said, I'm kind of addicted to grapes and walnuts right now. Perhaps next I'll change it up to grapes and almonds (OK...I'm so addicted that the first time I typed that I typed walnuts instead of almonds)! I'm almost out of grapes (I bought them yesterday)!

Like I said, today felt easy again (kind of like day 1). That's a good thing since tomorrow is the scary day 10! Tomorrow's dinner is not so "simple" so we'll see how it goes. 

I also think I need to branch out more on veggies, but I'm so hesitant. There are ones that I have no idea if I'll even like let alone the kids. Maybe next week I'll get more creative in the veggie department. If anyone has any suggestions I'm definitely up for them. I saw on a blog that rutabaga is a great substitute for potatoes so I might try that.