This edition of Friday Favorites is inspired by one of my husband's co-workers, who was a freshman when we were seniors and he looks like he could be my second little brother. So, he's practically family. Anyways, he's always making comments to Danny about the food we eat and that it looks good! Even when we are whole30ing. Yesterday he sent me a text asking details on the food.. where do I buy our healthy food, where to do I get recipes, etc. The semi-local supermarket and "Pinterest, duh" was my second answer. I also told him my other recipe source. Instagram. He then asked "do you just search #healthyfood?" While he's got the right idea, that hashtag will get you TONS of useless results I'm guessing. I'm sure I'm not the only sarcastic Instagram user out there. I'd put that hashtag on a piece of cheesecake if it had fruit on it. I actually think I've done that.
Our household is doing a hybrid Paleo/Whole30/a few exceptions eating plan. Whole30 is the base plan, but we allow for forbidden things like compliant but against the rules pancakes and Danny drinks a protein shake before he works out. We're both traveling a lot for work right now (him to class, me to meet with clients in small towns) so we're doing the best we can. Tucker eats what we eat when he's with us.
So, here we go with the faves sources...
1. Pinterest. I considered giving up Pinterest for Lent but then I immediately asked myself "how will I feed my family" It sounds silly I know, but I'm not super creative or reliable on food choices yet. I turn to Pinterest for when I'm looking for a specific type of food. Yesterday my sweet tooth was getting the better of me, so I found some cookies and a mug cake. I have a Paleo/Whole30 board. I don't add to it all that often because I've found some great recipes that keep making appearances.
Paleo Breakfast Casserole - I used regular ground sausage and this is easily our favorite paleo meal. I made it for dinner last night and there aren't any leftovers. Danny said its the one meal that makes him feel like he isn't "missing out" on anything.
Spiced Butternut Squash soup - I'm the only one that likes this and that's okay. Its the perfect food to pair with other things like chicken salad or chicken wings. Speaking of chicken wings...
Glazed Chicken Wings - These were great! I prepped them at lunch to marinade during the afternoon and popped them in the oven that evening. They were great the next day. I'm going to try the marinade on boneless chicken thighs soon since Danny is anti-bone in chicken.
2. Instagram. I go here when I need inspiration. The Instagram community is a creative bunch. I follow a few Whole30 faithfuls, but a good old fashioned search does wonders. I search #whole30 the most, but also search #paleo some too. When I'm meal planning and I'm having trouble filling a meal, I'll search for that meal, so #whole30lunch (lunch is the worst). Everyone complains about how Instagram is just a bunch of people posting what they ate. Well you know what? I'M GLAD!
3. Blogs. Now that I've done Whole30 off and on for the better part of the last year, I turn to my own posts some. Posting my meals the very first Whole30 was a good move on my part. I can look back to see what we actually ate, what we liked, and what we didn't like. I also like the whole smiths. She made a Pineapple Fried "Rice" that was so great, fresh and as leftovers. The entire time I was cooking it, I was getting all Mix and Match Mama thinking of ways to change it into a Mexican dish versus a Chinese dish.
And that's how I do it. Nothing spectacular and nothing out of the ordinary.
Showing posts with label Whole30. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Whole30. Show all posts
Feb 12, 2016
May 12, 2015
Whole30 Thoughts
This post should really be titled "Whole25 Thoughts" since we're quitters.
Even though Danny and I ended our Whole30 at 25 days, I feel like that is long enough to know what you got out of the experience. Here are some of the positives:
- I have found healthy alternatives that I can see me using long-term. Spaghetti squash and zucchini noodles are perfect substitutes for actual pasta. Using these in place of pasta gets rid of the guilt, especially when I want a piece of garlic bread with it.
- Cauliflower. Why didn't I realize how great this veggie is until now? It's the perfect filler for virtually any meal. Whether it's mashed to be used as mashed potatoes, or just chopped up to used as a rice substitute, it's delicious! Again, this will help me get rid of the guilt when I want something like Chinese. I can just order sesame chicken without the rice and make my own "rice" when I get home.
Basically Whole30 taught me how to cheat.
- I've retrained my brain in terms of dessert. If you read any of my posts on what our meals and snacks consisted of, you noticed I ate a ton of Larabars. Well, a week and a half later, I'm still eating one every day. While I know I still like cookies and ice cream, I find myself looking forward to my nightly Larabar. Either by itself, or crumbled over some strawberries.
- I've broken my peanut butter addiction. Before Whole30, I expected peanut butter to be a must have on my next grocery trip. Nope. I bought another thing of almond butter instead. This is a far cry from where I was a few weeks ago....
- My drink victory is coffee. I'm fine drinking it almost black now. I've been putting a teeny bit of sugar in it. Before I was using 1/2 packet per cup (that was because I'm a tight ass and those boxes of stevia packets are pricey), now I'm using 1 packet for 4 cups! I put some creamer in the other day, just because I could, and I didn't love it enough to justify the empty calories.
- All of my pants fit! It's been 2 years since I've been able to say that. That is a good feeling.
I'm still using the Whole30 meal guidelines to build my meals in terms of how much protein, how much veggies, don't snack on just fruit, etc. My snacking is still at bay. I have a bedtime snack still, but I don't have a morning snack and rarely have an afternoon snack.
- Finally, Whole30 taught me what eating right alone can do for me. Because of my stress fracture, I wasn't able to work out. The 5 lb weight loss and the confidence I gained in my body over those 25 days came from what I was fueling my body with.
While Whole30 taught me some positive things, there is one negative: Ain't no self-employed, firefighter wife, toddler mama got time for that. This one doesn't anyway.
I'm not going to say the experience wasn't worth it, especially since before that I had like $75 worth of jeans sitting in my closet not being used. But it was hard. It was exhausting. My dishwasher is tired. It had no idea why it was being used once, if not twice, a day when its used to getting a break. My house got so messy and dirty from me not having time to clean because it seemed like every spare moment I had went to cooking, doing dishes and meal planning. There were times I would wash a skillet or bowl, just to use it again. This might be lazy of me, but this alone would keep me from doing this again, at least in the near future. If Danny had a different job, or Tucker and other kids were older and could entertain themselves instead of crawling up my legs and pulling my pants down while I did what I needed to do, I might have a different attitude.
I definitely don't regret doing Whole30. It was very eye opening and I think I got what I was going to get out of it.
Even though Danny and I ended our Whole30 at 25 days, I feel like that is long enough to know what you got out of the experience. Here are some of the positives:
- I have found healthy alternatives that I can see me using long-term. Spaghetti squash and zucchini noodles are perfect substitutes for actual pasta. Using these in place of pasta gets rid of the guilt, especially when I want a piece of garlic bread with it.
- Cauliflower. Why didn't I realize how great this veggie is until now? It's the perfect filler for virtually any meal. Whether it's mashed to be used as mashed potatoes, or just chopped up to used as a rice substitute, it's delicious! Again, this will help me get rid of the guilt when I want something like Chinese. I can just order sesame chicken without the rice and make my own "rice" when I get home.
Basically Whole30 taught me how to cheat.
- I've retrained my brain in terms of dessert. If you read any of my posts on what our meals and snacks consisted of, you noticed I ate a ton of Larabars. Well, a week and a half later, I'm still eating one every day. While I know I still like cookies and ice cream, I find myself looking forward to my nightly Larabar. Either by itself, or crumbled over some strawberries.
- I've broken my peanut butter addiction. Before Whole30, I expected peanut butter to be a must have on my next grocery trip. Nope. I bought another thing of almond butter instead. This is a far cry from where I was a few weeks ago....
- My drink victory is coffee. I'm fine drinking it almost black now. I've been putting a teeny bit of sugar in it. Before I was using 1/2 packet per cup (that was because I'm a tight ass and those boxes of stevia packets are pricey), now I'm using 1 packet for 4 cups! I put some creamer in the other day, just because I could, and I didn't love it enough to justify the empty calories.
- All of my pants fit! It's been 2 years since I've been able to say that. That is a good feeling.
I'm still using the Whole30 meal guidelines to build my meals in terms of how much protein, how much veggies, don't snack on just fruit, etc. My snacking is still at bay. I have a bedtime snack still, but I don't have a morning snack and rarely have an afternoon snack.
- Finally, Whole30 taught me what eating right alone can do for me. Because of my stress fracture, I wasn't able to work out. The 5 lb weight loss and the confidence I gained in my body over those 25 days came from what I was fueling my body with.
While Whole30 taught me some positive things, there is one negative: Ain't no self-employed, firefighter wife, toddler mama got time for that. This one doesn't anyway.
I'm not going to say the experience wasn't worth it, especially since before that I had like $75 worth of jeans sitting in my closet not being used. But it was hard. It was exhausting. My dishwasher is tired. It had no idea why it was being used once, if not twice, a day when its used to getting a break. My house got so messy and dirty from me not having time to clean because it seemed like every spare moment I had went to cooking, doing dishes and meal planning. There were times I would wash a skillet or bowl, just to use it again. This might be lazy of me, but this alone would keep me from doing this again, at least in the near future. If Danny had a different job, or Tucker and other kids were older and could entertain themselves instead of crawling up my legs and pulling my pants down while I did what I needed to do, I might have a different attitude.
I definitely don't regret doing Whole30. It was very eye opening and I think I got what I was going to get out of it.
May 6, 2015
Weigh-In Wednesday: 5/6/15
I have just enough spare time this morning before I get started on work to join in Weigh-In Wednesday and share the rest of Danny and I's meals with you. Since we ended early, I'm giving you the last 10 days all at once. I'm hoping tomorrow or Friday I can recap the Whole30(more like Whole25) experience for you all and give you my thoughts.
Let's start with the weigh-in though. I'm going with the number I saw on the scale Friday morning since that was the first day off of the Whole30. Plus, today's number would have been rough. We had friends over last night and I'm feeling the effects a 16" pizza(obviously I didn't eat this all by myself) and 2 bottles of wine (we each drank the equivalent of one). It was such a good Tuesday though. Anyways...
Last time: 158.8
Post Whole30 weigh in: 153.8
I lost 5 pounds. I am more than happy with these results. Now Danny? He lost 20 pounds. 20 freaking pounds. Men..
Onto the food.
Day 15:
Breakfast - 3 eggs with spinach and hot sauce, pork and cantaloupe
Lunch - salad with chicken, tomatoes, egg and salsa (I went out with friends)
Dinner - some extremely lemony chicken, cauli rice and broccoli
Snacks - larabar and watermelon
Day 16:
Breakfast - sausage and sweet potato casserole (hands down, the best thing I ate the entire time) with watermelon
Lunch - more non compliant honey Dijon pork, cauli rice, broccoli
Dinner - hamburger patty on salad with a potato
Snack - larabar over strawberries
Day 17:
Breakfast - 2 sausage links, 3 eggs with spinach, watermelon
Lunch - salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and pork with Southwest Ranch Tessamae's dressing, carrots and blackberries
Dinner - 2 chicken drumsticks, broccoli and butternut squash
Snack - strawberries with almond butter
Day 18:
Breakfast - sausage and sweet potato casserole with watermelon
Lunch - spaghetti squash with turkey meatballs and sauce, banana
Dinner - shrimp taco salad (another Mexican restaurant failed me again and didn't mention beans being in the salad on the menu). I ate 2 chicken drumsticks before we went since I knew I wouldn't get full
Snacks - I had 2 larabars this day. whoops.
Day 19:
Breakfast - 3 sausage links, 3/4 apple, strawberries and almond butter
Lunch - salad with chicken from 2 drumsticks, cucumbers, tomatoes and green peppers with SW Ranch Tessamae's, 3/4 sweet potato and a banana
Dinner - ribeye with brussel sprouts
Snack - Larabar
Day 20:
Breakfast - banana and bacon
Lunch - chicken sausage (wasn't compliant but didn't know until after I opened the package) with peppers over lettuce with maro
Dinner - chicken dinner fundraiser. I ate mashed potatoes. This was my first intentional cheat.
Snack - cashews, larabar for dessert after the dinner
Day 21:
Breakfast - eggs & larabar
Lunch - zucchini noodles, turkey, blackberries at home. then I went to a bridal shower where I had pulled beef (no bbq sauce), raw veggies and fruit. I also had champagne punch. The writing was on the wall at this point.
Dinner - lettuce wrapped burger with broccoli and cauliflower
Day 22:
Breakfast - bacon and apple with almond butter
Lunch - turkey lettuce boats with tomato and mustard, cucumbers and celery dipped with SW Ranch and a Larabar
Dinner - grilled chicken salad with tomatoes, peppers, and cucumber with Zesty Ranch Tessamae's I think.
Snacks - another larabar and bacon. the salad wasn't filling.
Day 23:
Breakfast - 3 eggs with mushrooms, spinach and ham, strawberries
Lunch - spaghetti squash with chicken sausage peppers and sauce, blackberries
Dinner - egg roll in a bowl with cauli rice and shrimp (another favorite that we will have frequently!)
Snack - larabar
Day 24:
Breakfast - same but kiwi instead of strawberries
Lunch - same but an apple with almond butter instead of blackberries
Dinner - subway salad with chicken, peppers, tomato, cucumber with SW Ranch
Snack - larabar
Day 25: The last day
Breakfast - 3 sausage links (the cut up sausage is Tucks) and apple with almond butter
Lunch - stew. People took me out and this was as compliant as I could get
Dinner - meatloaf muffins and mashed cauli
Snack - carrots and cucumbers. And then I had a cocktail after Tuck went to bed to celebrate the awesome day I had.
And that's a wrap on our Whole25. And that's it for today. I'll be back sometime with my thoughts on the whole thing.
Let's start with the weigh-in though. I'm going with the number I saw on the scale Friday morning since that was the first day off of the Whole30. Plus, today's number would have been rough. We had friends over last night and I'm feeling the effects a 16" pizza(obviously I didn't eat this all by myself) and 2 bottles of wine (we each drank the equivalent of one). It was such a good Tuesday though. Anyways...
Last time: 158.8
Post Whole30 weigh in: 153.8
I lost 5 pounds. I am more than happy with these results. Now Danny? He lost 20 pounds. 20 freaking pounds. Men..
Onto the food.
Day 15:
Breakfast - 3 eggs with spinach and hot sauce, pork and cantaloupe
Lunch - salad with chicken, tomatoes, egg and salsa (I went out with friends)
Dinner - some extremely lemony chicken, cauli rice and broccoli
Snacks - larabar and watermelon
Day 16:
Breakfast - sausage and sweet potato casserole (hands down, the best thing I ate the entire time) with watermelon
Lunch - more non compliant honey Dijon pork, cauli rice, broccoli
Dinner - hamburger patty on salad with a potato
Snack - larabar over strawberries
Day 17:
Breakfast - 2 sausage links, 3 eggs with spinach, watermelon
Lunch - salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and pork with Southwest Ranch Tessamae's dressing, carrots and blackberries
Dinner - 2 chicken drumsticks, broccoli and butternut squash
Snack - strawberries with almond butter
Day 18:
Breakfast - sausage and sweet potato casserole with watermelon
Lunch - spaghetti squash with turkey meatballs and sauce, banana
Dinner - shrimp taco salad (another Mexican restaurant failed me again and didn't mention beans being in the salad on the menu). I ate 2 chicken drumsticks before we went since I knew I wouldn't get full
Snacks - I had 2 larabars this day. whoops.
Day 19:
Breakfast - 3 sausage links, 3/4 apple, strawberries and almond butter
Lunch - salad with chicken from 2 drumsticks, cucumbers, tomatoes and green peppers with SW Ranch Tessamae's, 3/4 sweet potato and a banana
Dinner - ribeye with brussel sprouts
Snack - Larabar
Day 20:
Breakfast - banana and bacon
Lunch - chicken sausage (wasn't compliant but didn't know until after I opened the package) with peppers over lettuce with maro
Dinner - chicken dinner fundraiser. I ate mashed potatoes. This was my first intentional cheat.
Snack - cashews, larabar for dessert after the dinner
Day 21:
Breakfast - eggs & larabar
Lunch - zucchini noodles, turkey, blackberries at home. then I went to a bridal shower where I had pulled beef (no bbq sauce), raw veggies and fruit. I also had champagne punch. The writing was on the wall at this point.
Dinner - lettuce wrapped burger with broccoli and cauliflower
Day 22:
Breakfast - bacon and apple with almond butter
Lunch - turkey lettuce boats with tomato and mustard, cucumbers and celery dipped with SW Ranch and a Larabar
Dinner - grilled chicken salad with tomatoes, peppers, and cucumber with Zesty Ranch Tessamae's I think.
Snacks - another larabar and bacon. the salad wasn't filling.
Day 23:
Breakfast - 3 eggs with mushrooms, spinach and ham, strawberries
Lunch - spaghetti squash with chicken sausage peppers and sauce, blackberries
Dinner - egg roll in a bowl with cauli rice and shrimp (another favorite that we will have frequently!)
Snack - larabar
Day 24:
Breakfast - same but kiwi instead of strawberries
Lunch - same but an apple with almond butter instead of blackberries
Dinner - subway salad with chicken, peppers, tomato, cucumber with SW Ranch
Snack - larabar
Day 25: The last day
Breakfast - 3 sausage links (the cut up sausage is Tucks) and apple with almond butter
Lunch - stew. People took me out and this was as compliant as I could get
Dinner - meatloaf muffins and mashed cauli
Snack - carrots and cucumbers. And then I had a cocktail after Tuck went to bed to celebrate the awesome day I had.
And that's a wrap on our Whole25. And that's it for today. I'll be back sometime with my thoughts on the whole thing.
Apr 22, 2015
Weigh-In Wednesday: 4/22/15
Another week of Whole30 is in the books. We are currently in the middle of our 3rd week with 16 whole days being completed. It's actually gone by pretty quickly. But, now that we are over halfway through, we have some challenges coming up: chicken dinner and a birthday party on Saturday, bridal shower and another birthday party on Sunday, a work lunch next week sometime, then more bridal showers next weekend. All difficult events foodwise with a plethora of non-compliant foods.
Again, I will be going over what we've been eating day by day. My foods are different than Danny's some days since he isn't afraid of eating the wrong thing anymore. He's kind of taken control of his lunches with some guidance. So, here we go.
Day 8:
Breakfast - 2 1/2 egg muffins that had pork, mushrooms and spinach (Tucker ate 1/2 of one), strawberries with almond butter.
Lunch - turkey and cucumber "sandwiches" with mayo, sweet potato chips and grapes. The chips were a rule breaker in terms of it being a "sex with pants on" food(visit the website for info on what sex with pants on foods are), but they were still compliant and I don't feel bad about them. If having a handful of compliant sweet potato chips will help me keep going, then I'm doin it! I also ate a Larabar
Dinner - beef and green bean stir fry over cauliflower rice. Danny cooked the stir fry and just started throwing coconut aminos and spices in the pan. It turned out SO delicious.... and I don't have a picture of the dinner.
Snacks - cashews
Day 9:
Breakfast - same as yesterday, except I took a picture this time.
Lunch - leftover stir fry on a salad with mayo for dressing
Dinner - green beans and potatoes, tilapia. The green beans sucked. No flavor.
Snacks - apple and Larabar
Day 10:
Breakfast - 2 sausage links, 3/4 banana and 3/4 apple with almond butter. Tucker ate the missing parts of the fruit and the 3rd sausage link I made for myself in addition to the sausage link and waffle I made for him.
Lunch - 4 lettuce turkey and tomato wraps/boats/I don't know what to call them, green beans and potatoes, grapes
Dinner - pulled pork sweet potato sliders, broccoli. Now this dinner was delicious and probably my fave.
Snacks - NONE!
Day 11:
Breakfast - 2 1/2 egg muffins, 3/4 banana and almond butter
Lunch - avocado chicken salad with red peppers on lettuce leaves, cucumbers, carrots, and cantaloupe
Dinner - grilled chicken, potato and carrots
Snacks - I don't have any written down
Day 12:
Breakfast - banana and apple with almond butter, 2 slices of turkey
Lunch - salad with turkey, cucumbers, tomatoes with Tessamae's southwest ranch dressing, broccoli, Larabar
Dinner - chicken sausages and potatoes, zucchini and peppers baked in foil
Snacks - NONE!
Day 13:
Breakfast - scrambled eggs with salsa, cantaloupe
Lunch - steak taco salad. I had a slip this meal. We took some family to lunch and I ordered a taco salad. I either missed where the menu said it had refried beans or it just didn't say it. I avoided them as much as possible.
Dinner - honey Dijon pork chops with potatoes
Snack - I had some potatoes from Friday
*This was a slippery day. A reader kindly pointed out that the honey mustard is not compliant. In my mind, Tessamae's automatically meant compliant, but that is not the case. I haven't had any of the honey mustard since. Apparently the mental clarity that people get from Whole30 is going to be a late benefit for me.
Day 14:
Breakfast - Larabar and cantaloupe. It had to be quick since we slept late and had to get ready for church quickly
Lunch - salsa chicken on lettuce, cucumbers
Dinner - leftover pork on a potato (okay so I had a little bit more honey mustard), cucumbers
Snacks - a couple pieces of fruit and a hard boiled egg to see if I actually boiled eggs successfully.
So, this week was a little loosey goosey in terms of rules. One I knew we were breaking/bending, a couple of others were unintentional. This Whole30 isn't perfect and I knew it wouldn't be, but I think we're doing alright with it!
Again, I will be going over what we've been eating day by day. My foods are different than Danny's some days since he isn't afraid of eating the wrong thing anymore. He's kind of taken control of his lunches with some guidance. So, here we go.
Day 8:
Breakfast - 2 1/2 egg muffins that had pork, mushrooms and spinach (Tucker ate 1/2 of one), strawberries with almond butter.
Lunch - turkey and cucumber "sandwiches" with mayo, sweet potato chips and grapes. The chips were a rule breaker in terms of it being a "sex with pants on" food(visit the website for info on what sex with pants on foods are), but they were still compliant and I don't feel bad about them. If having a handful of compliant sweet potato chips will help me keep going, then I'm doin it! I also ate a Larabar
Dinner - beef and green bean stir fry over cauliflower rice. Danny cooked the stir fry and just started throwing coconut aminos and spices in the pan. It turned out SO delicious.... and I don't have a picture of the dinner.
Snacks - cashews
Day 9:
Breakfast - same as yesterday, except I took a picture this time.
Lunch - leftover stir fry on a salad with mayo for dressing
Dinner - green beans and potatoes, tilapia. The green beans sucked. No flavor.
Snacks - apple and Larabar
Day 10:
Breakfast - 2 sausage links, 3/4 banana and 3/4 apple with almond butter. Tucker ate the missing parts of the fruit and the 3rd sausage link I made for myself in addition to the sausage link and waffle I made for him.
Lunch - 4 lettuce turkey and tomato wraps/boats/I don't know what to call them, green beans and potatoes, grapes
Dinner - pulled pork sweet potato sliders, broccoli. Now this dinner was delicious and probably my fave.
Snacks - NONE!
Day 11:
Breakfast - 2 1/2 egg muffins, 3/4 banana and almond butter
Lunch - avocado chicken salad with red peppers on lettuce leaves, cucumbers, carrots, and cantaloupe
Dinner - grilled chicken, potato and carrots
Snacks - I don't have any written down
Day 12:
Breakfast - banana and apple with almond butter, 2 slices of turkey
Lunch - salad with turkey, cucumbers, tomatoes with Tessamae's southwest ranch dressing, broccoli, Larabar
Dinner - chicken sausages and potatoes, zucchini and peppers baked in foil
Snacks - NONE!
Day 13:
Breakfast - scrambled eggs with salsa, cantaloupe
Lunch - steak taco salad. I had a slip this meal. We took some family to lunch and I ordered a taco salad. I either missed where the menu said it had refried beans or it just didn't say it. I avoided them as much as possible.
Dinner - honey Dijon pork chops with potatoes
Snack - I had some potatoes from Friday
*This was a slippery day. A reader kindly pointed out that the honey mustard is not compliant. In my mind, Tessamae's automatically meant compliant, but that is not the case. I haven't had any of the honey mustard since. Apparently the mental clarity that people get from Whole30 is going to be a late benefit for me.
Day 14:
Breakfast - Larabar and cantaloupe. It had to be quick since we slept late and had to get ready for church quickly
Lunch - salsa chicken on lettuce, cucumbers
Dinner - leftover pork on a potato (okay so I had a little bit more honey mustard), cucumbers
Snacks - a couple pieces of fruit and a hard boiled egg to see if I actually boiled eggs successfully.
So, this week was a little loosey goosey in terms of rules. One I knew we were breaking/bending, a couple of others were unintentional. This Whole30 isn't perfect and I knew it wouldn't be, but I think we're doing alright with it!
Apr 17, 2015
Friday Favorites
I really enjoyed participating in the Friday Favorites link-up when I did it a few weeks ago, so I'm joining the fun again.
Let's start with Tucker first. Here are some of my favorite Tucker moments of the week. Sunday we were sitting out on the back porch with my mom. He was being a total goofball, which is to be expected after an almost 3 hour nap. He was running in place, making funning noises and laughing his tiny little butt off. Then he did this.
He was completely fine by the way, which is why I have no problem laughing really hard every time I see it. I'm so glad I caught it on camera.
When he is done eating, he thinks Diesel needs to use the tray of his high chair to eat. If one brother eats off of it, then they both should right? He's got some quirks in his personality that are coming out. I love it.
Another favorite moment happened yesterday. Every once in a while I get kind of down about my work situation. I was thrown in the boss's seat and didn't earn it in any way. Business has been kind of sucky and the only way I can remotely describe the last 5 years is that it has been a shitstorm. Growing up, I wanted to do one thing when I was older: Sell insurance with my dad. I'm selling insurance, kind of, but not with my dad. I like what I do, but I think I really just wanted to work with my dad. Knowing that I'll never, ever be able to do that sucks sometimes. Mostly on the days where there is NOTHING going on at work and I'm the only one here. It had me pretty upset yesterday and my mom called at just the right time. She's like that. She just knows when I need to talk. I hope one day I can have mother's intuition like she does. (And now she's probably crying since she's probably reading this)
Danny and I are on Day 12 of our Whole30. On Wednesday I tried on one of my last 2 pairs of pre-Tucker jeans and they fit me! And that meant I had just one more pair of jeans to fit this booty in. I was feeling skinny this morning so I thought what the heck. They fit like a glove and I will probably be wearing them all weekend. Non-scale victories are always a favorite! I mean, putting them on went a little bit like this, but they are on and they don't look bad. (Note: There was never any twerking. I don't twerk. I also feel like grown women feel this struggle more than teenagers. Oh well.)
I've got another favorite related to the Whole30. You are going to be sick of hearing about Whole30 by the time this is over, but I freaking love this diet/program/challenge/whatever you want to call it. I don't like the word diet so I try to avoid it. Anyways, Danny and I love condiments. I especially love dips. When I was in college, we had a Chik-Fil-A in our food court (which would explain part of the Freshman 20) and I would leave the area with no less than 3 different sauces. Sauces and condiments are going to be what get Danny and I through this. Danny ordered some more Tessamae's products (Whole30 approved), one being their honey mustard. We both went nuts over it and we both think it tastes like Chik-Fil-A honey mustard too! This might become a staple.
My final favorite this week is our first camping weekend has been partially planned, provided Danny can get one of the days off since he is scheduled to work. We've had our Memorial Day site booked since before we even owned the camper, but that seems like forever away. We want to go now. We've decided our first outing will be Mother's Day weekend. I'm hoping that Saturday I can do minimal mom-work. Not likely though. Tucker has taken up an almost permanent residencein my ass wrapped around my leg.
Alright. I'm out. I hope you all have a good Friday and a wonderful weekend!
Let's start with Tucker first. Here are some of my favorite Tucker moments of the week. Sunday we were sitting out on the back porch with my mom. He was being a total goofball, which is to be expected after an almost 3 hour nap. He was running in place, making funning noises and laughing his tiny little butt off. Then he did this.
When he is done eating, he thinks Diesel needs to use the tray of his high chair to eat. If one brother eats off of it, then they both should right? He's got some quirks in his personality that are coming out. I love it.
Another favorite moment happened yesterday. Every once in a while I get kind of down about my work situation. I was thrown in the boss's seat and didn't earn it in any way. Business has been kind of sucky and the only way I can remotely describe the last 5 years is that it has been a shitstorm. Growing up, I wanted to do one thing when I was older: Sell insurance with my dad. I'm selling insurance, kind of, but not with my dad. I like what I do, but I think I really just wanted to work with my dad. Knowing that I'll never, ever be able to do that sucks sometimes. Mostly on the days where there is NOTHING going on at work and I'm the only one here. It had me pretty upset yesterday and my mom called at just the right time. She's like that. She just knows when I need to talk. I hope one day I can have mother's intuition like she does. (And now she's probably crying since she's probably reading this)
Danny and I are on Day 12 of our Whole30. On Wednesday I tried on one of my last 2 pairs of pre-Tucker jeans and they fit me! And that meant I had just one more pair of jeans to fit this booty in. I was feeling skinny this morning so I thought what the heck. They fit like a glove and I will probably be wearing them all weekend. Non-scale victories are always a favorite! I mean, putting them on went a little bit like this, but they are on and they don't look bad. (Note: There was never any twerking. I don't twerk. I also feel like grown women feel this struggle more than teenagers. Oh well.)
I've got another favorite related to the Whole30. You are going to be sick of hearing about Whole30 by the time this is over, but I freaking love this diet/program/challenge/whatever you want to call it. I don't like the word diet so I try to avoid it. Anyways, Danny and I love condiments. I especially love dips. When I was in college, we had a Chik-Fil-A in our food court (which would explain part of the Freshman 20) and I would leave the area with no less than 3 different sauces. Sauces and condiments are going to be what get Danny and I through this. Danny ordered some more Tessamae's products (Whole30 approved), one being their honey mustard. We both went nuts over it and we both think it tastes like Chik-Fil-A honey mustard too! This might become a staple.
My final favorite this week is our first camping weekend has been partially planned, provided Danny can get one of the days off since he is scheduled to work. We've had our Memorial Day site booked since before we even owned the camper, but that seems like forever away. We want to go now. We've decided our first outing will be Mother's Day weekend. I'm hoping that Saturday I can do minimal mom-work. Not likely though. Tucker has taken up an almost permanent residence
Apr 15, 2015
Weigh-In Wednesday: 4/15/15
This week is flying by and I'm not too thrilled about it. The next couple of weeks are going to be somewhat challenging. Danny's rotations for those weeks have him working Tuesday and Thursday. He is also starting a 4-5 week class that is on Monday and Wednesday nights from 6p-10p. Basically, I'm getting a taste of the single parent life during the week. And I can't drink wine since I'm doing a Whole30. #helpme
As most of you know, if you followed along with Heather and Erin during their Whole30's, you know that you can't weigh yourself. At all. You'll be breaking the rules. And there are lots of rules. So, I'm doing my best to not weigh myself. I may have stepped on the scale about 4 days in out of curiosity since the Easter binge would have disappeared from the number at that point, but hopefully that's it. I wanted to make sure the starting weight number was accurate, and it was pretty close. I'm not going to report that number because it has no bearing on how I feel about the program thus far.
Since I can't weigh in, I thought I would share what we've been eating. We as in Danny and me both. Tucker eats mostly what we eat as well. The little mooch HAS to have what is on your plate. Forget the tasty waffle. He wants your eggs and spinach. I found it helpful when Heather showed her meals. I feel like she ate "normal" food and that's what I'm striving for during our Whole30. I don't have pictures of every single meal since dinner is usually a rush. I'm trying to improve on that for next week though.
Day 1:
Breakfast - 3 eggs with ham(Applegate, which from everything I've read is compliant), spinach and red pepper and some strawberries
Lunch - avocado chicken salad (I used Tessamae's mayo, which is compliant), carrots and cucumber (I had more than what is pictured
Dinner - hamburger patty on potato and zucchini hashbrown with tomato and mayo
Snacks - strawberries and cashews
Day 2:
Breakfast - the exact same thing
Lunch - hamburger patty over lettuce and tomato with mayo (mayo was very dressing like), carrots and blackberries
Dinner - pork with carrots and mashed cauliflower
Snacks - Danny and I split a Larabar and I had strawberries and almond butter before bed
Day 3:
Breakfast - 2 fried eggs with spinach(I really wanted them to be over easy but that is difficult apparently) over mashed cauli and some watermelon
Lunch - chicken sausages (Aidells) with peppers and mushrooms over lettuce with mayo (seriously this stuff is great!). Danny had his over a baked potato. I really liked this lunch!
Dinner - spaghetti squash with ground beef, green peppers, mushrooms and spaghetti sauce.
Snacks - cashews and strawberries before bed
Day 4:
Breakfast - 3 eggs with spinach and ham with watermelon. The little plate is Tucker's.
Lunch - leftover spaghetti squash (it was just as good the next day), cucumbers and carrots with Tessamae's Chesapeake mayo for dip to get some fat in
Dinner - steak fajitas with extra lettuce. (these were take out an didn't sit well with me after. I'm sure they weren't 100% compliant, but we did the best we could with our time crunch since we got home late from running around)
Snacks - Larabar, apple, turkey and cashews (I was hungry this day!)
Day 5:
Breakfast - 3 eggs with spinach, 2 slices of turkey, 3/4 of an apple (Tucker ate the other 1/4)
Lunch - salsa chicken w/ cauliflower rice. Danny had his over lettuce at work.
Dinner - shrimp, sweet potato rounds and zucchini for me. Danny had a T-bone, sweet potatoes and broccoli.
Snacks - Larabar
Day 6:
Breakfast - 3 eggs with spinach, sweet potato rounds, turkey, strawberries
Lunch - cucumber slices, apple, Larabar (that time of the month so I felt sick)
Dinner - chicken and bell pepper burger (these were great!) over lettuce and potato
Day 7:
Breakfast - 3 eggs with spinach and hot sauce (Tessamae's again), 2 slices of turkey, strawberries
Lunch - chicken over a potato with salsa, carrots
Dinner - sausage and sweet potato soup in the crock pot. (this was great!)
Snacks - apple with almond butter, Larabar
Overall it was a pretty good week I think! I obviously depend on the Tessamae's sauces a lot, but they are compliant so I don't feel guilty about it. We ordered the sample pack and it has been worth every penny. Larabars are another staple. I limit myself to 1 per day, if I even have one, and I try to have it after dinner. Drinks are the same every single day. Coffee with breakfast, La Croix at lunch, tea at night (peppermint or blueberry), and water all day in between. I've made a few things that I wouldn't mind eating once this is over, so that's a definite plus! Mashed cauliflower is actually really good and could easily satisfy a craving.
That was it for this week. Hopefully I'll have more photo evidence for you next week!
As most of you know, if you followed along with Heather and Erin during their Whole30's, you know that you can't weigh yourself. At all. You'll be breaking the rules. And there are lots of rules. So, I'm doing my best to not weigh myself. I may have stepped on the scale about 4 days in out of curiosity since the Easter binge would have disappeared from the number at that point, but hopefully that's it. I wanted to make sure the starting weight number was accurate, and it was pretty close. I'm not going to report that number because it has no bearing on how I feel about the program thus far.
Since I can't weigh in, I thought I would share what we've been eating. We as in Danny and me both. Tucker eats mostly what we eat as well. The little mooch HAS to have what is on your plate. Forget the tasty waffle. He wants your eggs and spinach. I found it helpful when Heather showed her meals. I feel like she ate "normal" food and that's what I'm striving for during our Whole30. I don't have pictures of every single meal since dinner is usually a rush. I'm trying to improve on that for next week though.
Day 1:
Breakfast - 3 eggs with ham(Applegate, which from everything I've read is compliant), spinach and red pepper and some strawberries
Lunch - avocado chicken salad (I used Tessamae's mayo, which is compliant), carrots and cucumber (I had more than what is pictured
Dinner - hamburger patty on potato and zucchini hashbrown with tomato and mayo
Snacks - strawberries and cashews
Day 2:
Breakfast - the exact same thing
Lunch - hamburger patty over lettuce and tomato with mayo (mayo was very dressing like), carrots and blackberries
Dinner - pork with carrots and mashed cauliflower
Snacks - Danny and I split a Larabar and I had strawberries and almond butter before bed
Day 3:
Breakfast - 2 fried eggs with spinach(I really wanted them to be over easy but that is difficult apparently) over mashed cauli and some watermelon
Lunch - chicken sausages (Aidells) with peppers and mushrooms over lettuce with mayo (seriously this stuff is great!). Danny had his over a baked potato. I really liked this lunch!
Dinner - spaghetti squash with ground beef, green peppers, mushrooms and spaghetti sauce.
Snacks - cashews and strawberries before bed
Day 4:
Breakfast - 3 eggs with spinach and ham with watermelon. The little plate is Tucker's.
Lunch - leftover spaghetti squash (it was just as good the next day), cucumbers and carrots with Tessamae's Chesapeake mayo for dip to get some fat in
Dinner - steak fajitas with extra lettuce. (these were take out an didn't sit well with me after. I'm sure they weren't 100% compliant, but we did the best we could with our time crunch since we got home late from running around)
Snacks - Larabar, apple, turkey and cashews (I was hungry this day!)
Day 5:
Breakfast - 3 eggs with spinach, 2 slices of turkey, 3/4 of an apple (Tucker ate the other 1/4)
Lunch - salsa chicken w/ cauliflower rice. Danny had his over lettuce at work.
Dinner - shrimp, sweet potato rounds and zucchini for me. Danny had a T-bone, sweet potatoes and broccoli.
Snacks - Larabar
Day 6:
Breakfast - 3 eggs with spinach, sweet potato rounds, turkey, strawberries
Lunch - cucumber slices, apple, Larabar (that time of the month so I felt sick)
Dinner - chicken and bell pepper burger (these were great!) over lettuce and potato
Day 7:
Breakfast - 3 eggs with spinach and hot sauce (Tessamae's again), 2 slices of turkey, strawberries
Lunch - chicken over a potato with salsa, carrots
Dinner - sausage and sweet potato soup in the crock pot. (this was great!)
Snacks - apple with almond butter, Larabar
Overall it was a pretty good week I think! I obviously depend on the Tessamae's sauces a lot, but they are compliant so I don't feel guilty about it. We ordered the sample pack and it has been worth every penny. Larabars are another staple. I limit myself to 1 per day, if I even have one, and I try to have it after dinner. Drinks are the same every single day. Coffee with breakfast, La Croix at lunch, tea at night (peppermint or blueberry), and water all day in between. I've made a few things that I wouldn't mind eating once this is over, so that's a definite plus! Mashed cauliflower is actually really good and could easily satisfy a craving.
That was it for this week. Hopefully I'll have more photo evidence for you next week!
Apr 8, 2015
Weigh-In Wednesday:4/8/15
Some exciting stuff happened yesterday. Our new home away from home on wheels officially became ours! We brought it home long enough to put a few things in there, then took it to Danny's dad's to store until our driveway is big enough. It literally takes up the entire driveway as it is right now. We LOVE it and are so excited for this summer! Once it is back home, cleaned up a bit and ready to go for the year, I will do a tour.
Anywho, Weigh-In Wednesday. Since Danny and I are working on our Whole30, weigh-ins are out for the time being. But, I figured I could use these posts as a journal of sorts and to share what our (mostly mine) experience has been like. Maybe I can talk Danny into sharing what its like from a man's perspective. He's very hostile about it right now though. I've "taken away everything he loves" and he's just sad.
So far, things have been pretty good. We are right on track with this little timeline.
As with most things, Day 1 is pretty easy. Luckily I had seen this timeline before, so I knew to expect some confidence on Day 1 and a hangover the next 2 days. I was very much hungover yesterday. I woke up at 3am with a headache. I ate a Larabar, took some Tylenol, requested that Danny get out of bed and get me a wet rag and went back to sleep. I woke up with a lingering headache that wasn't as strong. Danny had a headache for most of yesterday. The jury is out as to whether or not my headache was caused by Tucker trying to knock me out Monday, the weather, or Whole30.
Hunger wise, I've felt okay. I haven't felt starved by any means, but I can tell when it's meal time. I've only felt the urge to snack after dinner. Last night was strawberries and almond butter with a cup of tea. The night before was strawberries and cashews. Danny on the otherhand has been starving. Depsite my writing down suggested meals and snacks, he's been eating way too little and not the right things. He was afraid the first 2 days to eat something against the rules. I gave him some things to look over from the Whole30 website, which can be found HERE that have been helpful to me.
Now the food. I'm enjoying the food much more than Danny. In my opinion, Danny is focusing too much on the things that he can't have (milk, bread and cheese) and not the things that he can have. The man ate 3 small hamburger patties with mayo for dinner Monday night and was sad he couldn't drink milk with it. I think if I can find some drinks for him, things will get better. So, I'm off to the store this afternoon while I run errands for work.
Would you all be interested in the food? I'm thinking about posting most of my meals for the week once every week is over. So, next Tuesday I would start. I know when I first decided to do this, which was over a month ago, I poured over Pinterest and the Internet for food ideas. The sources that were the most helpful were blogs that showed what they ate day to day.
That's all for now. Now its time to power through my day with this "hangover" I've got going on.
Anywho, Weigh-In Wednesday. Since Danny and I are working on our Whole30, weigh-ins are out for the time being. But, I figured I could use these posts as a journal of sorts and to share what our (mostly mine) experience has been like. Maybe I can talk Danny into sharing what its like from a man's perspective. He's very hostile about it right now though. I've "taken away everything he loves" and he's just sad.
So far, things have been pretty good. We are right on track with this little timeline.
Hunger wise, I've felt okay. I haven't felt starved by any means, but I can tell when it's meal time. I've only felt the urge to snack after dinner. Last night was strawberries and almond butter with a cup of tea. The night before was strawberries and cashews. Danny on the otherhand has been starving. Depsite my writing down suggested meals and snacks, he's been eating way too little and not the right things. He was afraid the first 2 days to eat something against the rules. I gave him some things to look over from the Whole30 website, which can be found HERE that have been helpful to me.
Now the food. I'm enjoying the food much more than Danny. In my opinion, Danny is focusing too much on the things that he can't have (milk, bread and cheese) and not the things that he can have. The man ate 3 small hamburger patties with mayo for dinner Monday night and was sad he couldn't drink milk with it. I think if I can find some drinks for him, things will get better. So, I'm off to the store this afternoon while I run errands for work.
Would you all be interested in the food? I'm thinking about posting most of my meals for the week once every week is over. So, next Tuesday I would start. I know when I first decided to do this, which was over a month ago, I poured over Pinterest and the Internet for food ideas. The sources that were the most helpful were blogs that showed what they ate day to day.
That's all for now. Now its time to power through my day with this "hangover" I've got going on.
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