Boudreaux and I were talking at lunch yesterday, and I was saying that I really think that one of the things that keeps us from buying junk food and unhealthy things is knowing that Saturday comes every week because Saturday is treat day! And yes, I prefer "treat" day to "cheat" day for the reasons that Dallas and Melissa Hartwig point out. "Cheat" implies that you're doing something wrong, that you're breaking a rule, that there's something about which to potentially feel guilty, and food should never make you feel guilty. The "treat" on the other hand isn't a reward, but it's something special, something out of the ordinary to enjoy. While I try not to "look forward" per se to my "treat days," it does help knowing that if I'm having a bad week when I would normally dive into a box of cookies (GF or otherwise) or drown myself in a pint of ice cream, I do get a day where I can eat what I want, and it doesn't become about emotional eating. And for me, that's a huge deal. And I suspect for most people, emotional eating is a giant battle to overcome.
If I know that on Saturday we can go out to lunch or dinner and I can get some chips and salsa, then that's all I need to keep me from buying them at the grocery and mindlessly eating them all week. Let me point out, too, that on "treat day" we don't go whole hog crazy here either. If we have a food and veg fest, it's Paleo stuff that I cook at home, so it's meatzza and fajitas and salads and paleo ice cream or paleo cobbler. Because I notice pretty soon after I eat how I feel, even when we eat out, I don't go nuts. Yesterday, I wanted chips and salsa. And you know what? Applebees, of all places, has really good chips and salsa. They must have upped their game or something or we just happened to have lucked out with a good chef or manager here in our little town, because they have surprisingly good meals. But I digress. My point is, I got a nice and actually quite beautiful salad for lunch with my chips and salsa. It still surprises me that that's the thing that I want.
Last week after lunch on the way home from the G'parents I was starving, so we stopped at Burger King because they have sweet potato fries, which were actually quite good, btw. I think they are "breaded" in some kind of cornmeal, so you know, not really Paleo, but of all the things I could have possibly eaten, well, anyway, they were good. But I decided last week that yesterday I would have what I hoped would be glorious, the Bacon Sundae. Oh sweet jeebus. Vanilla ice cream topped with bacon, chocolate, and caramel. Wow. I bought two for myself. I recommend this whole heartedly. It was a beautiful, beautiful thing people.
Was it worth how I felt after? Hell yes, because I did it twice. I bought two, remember? I have grown so accustomed to Boudreaux's Paleo ice cream concoction that I don't crave ice cream anymore (if you knew me pre-Paleo IRL, then you know that I'm like Forrest Gump when it comes to ice cream, especially mint chocolate chip. I must have ice cream!). Boudreaux's Paleo ice cream is not made with sugar. At all. We put honey on top. That's as sweet as it gets. But my big treats that I've chosen this month have been of the super sweet variety--wedding cake and the bacon sundae. I'm just glad that I had some ginger ale still squirreled away for my belly ache after eating half of the first sundae. I left the half and had the other whole one after the healthy dinner I made, so it didn't tax me as badly as the first one.
The thing is though, that even though my "big treats" have been super sweet, since I don't crave sugar anymore (outside of fruit, but even that's gone down dramatically--I don't "crave" cobbler after dinner anymore or the ice cream really), these things hit me really really hard. I think this is good, actually, even though I do feel like crap afterwards, because it means that my body understands that this stuff is extraordinarily sweet and has the appropriate response. And that's a good thing. And it's like mental muscle memory, too. Like on that very off moment when I think I want chocolate, my brain kicks in with "remember how sugar makes you feel? Do you want to feel that bad during your workout tomorrow? Is it worth it?" And that's enough. And again, I think that's good.
But the combination of chocolate, caramel, and bacon--oooh, the sweet to the salty ratio was almost perfect. Of course, I wished there were more bacon in it. It needed bacon crumbles blended into it like a blizzard to be perfect really. But, oh wow. It seriously was a beautiful, beautiful thing.
I feel surprisingly okay this morning. I thought for sure with the wine and the sugar that I'd be a holy hot mess this morning, but I think because of the wine and the sugar taxing my poor body, I fell asleep on the couch before 8:30 last night. I think it was just too much. And then I was asleep pretty quickly once I went to bed and slept fairly solidly for 7.25 hours (eyes opened at 4:15, per S.O.P.), but I managed to drift off again for another 2 hours, so I'm sure the sleep is what helped. Yay sleep!
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Close to being really tired here.
Oy! I'm a tad tired this week and a little bit broken down.
I have to confess that I'm not entirely sure why I'm as tired as I am. I mean, I feel a bit more tired than normal. On Monday I took 2 naps. Yes, that's right, 2. Fortunately I have that luxury right now.
But I suspect I may know what's going on. I just don't want to acknowledge it.
Part of it is that Boudreaux has started going to the 5 am class, which means that when he gets up at 4:15, I get up at 4:15. I make the coffee then; I make the lunches; I make the breakfasts, and then I go to the 6 am class. I have been getting up 30-45 minutes earlier this week.
Perhaps it's the accumulation of 6 weeks of CrossFit taking its toll because I don't actually rest that much right now. Here's why: I know I will have to when classes begin, and I actually have to start working again. Right now, if I'm tired, then I can nap and recover, so I can't force myself to take a mid-week break. Yesterday, I may have perhaps, for the first time, really overdid it because, like Maverick, my ego likes to write checks my body can't cash, and I really really struggle with the fact that after 6 weeks (to the day) I'm not perfect at every single thing, and it's driving me nuts. And I do often walk a fine line between pushing myself and stupidity. I think I may have tipped the scales into the stupid realm yesterday because today I am ate up.
So when I break it down, since the box opened, in the last 6 weeks I've had only 7 rest days, and two of those were because of travel; otherwise it'd be only 5 actually. Yeah, okay, so no wonder I'm tired, broke down, worn out.
But I HATE missing out on stuff!! But today is definitely a day in which I would have benefited from a rest day. My shoulders are so tight that I had trouble even with the PVC drills overhead. And we won't even talk about the rebar that is the left side of my body right now. It's so bad that I just put my pants onto the floor and try to step into the leg holes and make a reach for it in the hopes of grabbing the waistband and hoisting whatever needs to go on the lower half of my body up. Sheesh. I can honestly say though that in my condition today, thrusting 65 pounds of weight overhead for 100 reps would have been impossible. But I'm pissed that I had to do only 55#. But if I were smart and rested and let my muscles recover, then I probably could have gotten that. But I hate missing workouts! You see the problem.
So, I'm tired. I'm starting to get cranky around 2 pm, so I know that there's some kind of adjustment going on here.
Another real issue this week, too, is that I've been exceptionally LAZY with our food because I've been tired. And I've been tired because of our food. About every four weeks I just kind of zone out and don't prepare, get lazy, etc. I just get tired. But this is something that I'm really going to have to work on when classes restart. I will have to spend part of Saturday prepping the food for the week. I will have to have a plan not only for dinner but for lunches as well. Preparation is going to be key here. Plus, an hour or two on Saturdays is going to save me like 5 hours I don't have during the week. And if I keep that in mind (this worked when I applied to my teaching prep last year), then life will be easier.
That's all I can process on this for today. I do think that I need to consider a Whole60 after Labor Day. I've got that weight to keep budging and more inches to go. Aside from the vanity issues, I'm still not quite where I want to be health-wise yet. I think there are things on which I clearly need to keep working, especially because I feel more often than not, I do still get an afternoon slump that I'm not too keen on, and about once a week I still get that "tired but wired" feeling before bed. So I clearly have some more work to do. And I need the clean eating to help me stay on top of my work, too, during the academic year. I think there will be more on this later.
I have to confess that I'm not entirely sure why I'm as tired as I am. I mean, I feel a bit more tired than normal. On Monday I took 2 naps. Yes, that's right, 2. Fortunately I have that luxury right now.
But I suspect I may know what's going on. I just don't want to acknowledge it.
Part of it is that Boudreaux has started going to the 5 am class, which means that when he gets up at 4:15, I get up at 4:15. I make the coffee then; I make the lunches; I make the breakfasts, and then I go to the 6 am class. I have been getting up 30-45 minutes earlier this week.
Perhaps it's the accumulation of 6 weeks of CrossFit taking its toll because I don't actually rest that much right now. Here's why: I know I will have to when classes begin, and I actually have to start working again. Right now, if I'm tired, then I can nap and recover, so I can't force myself to take a mid-week break. Yesterday, I may have perhaps, for the first time, really overdid it because, like Maverick, my ego likes to write checks my body can't cash, and I really really struggle with the fact that after 6 weeks (to the day) I'm not perfect at every single thing, and it's driving me nuts. And I do often walk a fine line between pushing myself and stupidity. I think I may have tipped the scales into the stupid realm yesterday because today I am ate up.
So when I break it down, since the box opened, in the last 6 weeks I've had only 7 rest days, and two of those were because of travel; otherwise it'd be only 5 actually. Yeah, okay, so no wonder I'm tired, broke down, worn out.
But I HATE missing out on stuff!! But today is definitely a day in which I would have benefited from a rest day. My shoulders are so tight that I had trouble even with the PVC drills overhead. And we won't even talk about the rebar that is the left side of my body right now. It's so bad that I just put my pants onto the floor and try to step into the leg holes and make a reach for it in the hopes of grabbing the waistband and hoisting whatever needs to go on the lower half of my body up. Sheesh. I can honestly say though that in my condition today, thrusting 65 pounds of weight overhead for 100 reps would have been impossible. But I'm pissed that I had to do only 55#. But if I were smart and rested and let my muscles recover, then I probably could have gotten that. But I hate missing workouts! You see the problem.
So, I'm tired. I'm starting to get cranky around 2 pm, so I know that there's some kind of adjustment going on here.
Another real issue this week, too, is that I've been exceptionally LAZY with our food because I've been tired. And I've been tired because of our food. About every four weeks I just kind of zone out and don't prepare, get lazy, etc. I just get tired. But this is something that I'm really going to have to work on when classes restart. I will have to spend part of Saturday prepping the food for the week. I will have to have a plan not only for dinner but for lunches as well. Preparation is going to be key here. Plus, an hour or two on Saturdays is going to save me like 5 hours I don't have during the week. And if I keep that in mind (this worked when I applied to my teaching prep last year), then life will be easier.
That's all I can process on this for today. I do think that I need to consider a Whole60 after Labor Day. I've got that weight to keep budging and more inches to go. Aside from the vanity issues, I'm still not quite where I want to be health-wise yet. I think there are things on which I clearly need to keep working, especially because I feel more often than not, I do still get an afternoon slump that I'm not too keen on, and about once a week I still get that "tired but wired" feeling before bed. So I clearly have some more work to do. And I need the clean eating to help me stay on top of my work, too, during the academic year. I think there will be more on this later.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Treat Night/Cheat Night
It was a modest one as I struggle to recover from vacay.
And poor Boudreaux is so tired of Mexican that I think he's ready to make a run for the Canadian border, but I can't get enough fajitas in me, and it's really the most Paleo friendly of the eating out variety.
But I had me some chips and salsa. Oh yes. They were wonderful. For Boudreaux, it's sandwiches. That's the thing he has to know he can have with the 85/15 rule. At least one sandwich every week or two. I thought for me it'd be pizza, even of the GF variety or some dark chocolate or a GF cookie here and there. And you know, yesterday at the movie theatre I had some of Boudreaux's milk chocolate covered almonds (The Expendables 2--killer, btw). I was unimpressed. I never thought that would happen--that I wouldn't enjoy chocolate. Or at least milk chocolate. Perhaps had they been dark chocolate that'd be a different story.
I digress.
It turns out I really missed chips and salsa. Corn tortilla chips and salsa. Now, I probably won't buy chips and salsa and bring that home, but if I can have them on a Saturday night when we go out to eat, then I can live with that. And chips and salsa should be occasional anyway.
And we had wine. A very lovely Cabernet as we watched Arachnoquake.
And we had an awesome work out in the morning and then helped some friends with their CrossFit commercial.
It was a treat of an entire day indeed!
And poor Boudreaux is so tired of Mexican that I think he's ready to make a run for the Canadian border, but I can't get enough fajitas in me, and it's really the most Paleo friendly of the eating out variety.
But I had me some chips and salsa. Oh yes. They were wonderful. For Boudreaux, it's sandwiches. That's the thing he has to know he can have with the 85/15 rule. At least one sandwich every week or two. I thought for me it'd be pizza, even of the GF variety or some dark chocolate or a GF cookie here and there. And you know, yesterday at the movie theatre I had some of Boudreaux's milk chocolate covered almonds (The Expendables 2--killer, btw). I was unimpressed. I never thought that would happen--that I wouldn't enjoy chocolate. Or at least milk chocolate. Perhaps had they been dark chocolate that'd be a different story.
I digress.
It turns out I really missed chips and salsa. Corn tortilla chips and salsa. Now, I probably won't buy chips and salsa and bring that home, but if I can have them on a Saturday night when we go out to eat, then I can live with that. And chips and salsa should be occasional anyway.
And we had wine. A very lovely Cabernet as we watched Arachnoquake.
And we had an awesome work out in the morning and then helped some friends with their CrossFit commercial.
It was a treat of an entire day indeed!
Saturday, August 18, 2012
On Paleo eating on vacay and splurging a little
I promised a post on eating Paleo on vacation.
It's harder in the burbs than in the city.
Unless there's a Chipotle around! It is by far mine and Boudreaux's most favorite place to eat on the road. If I could, I would marry Chipotle.
But I digress.
First time around in Cali this summer, Paleo and GF eating were much easier. We had a wonderful little restaurant across from our hotel that served huge meat and veggie filled dairy free omelettes with fruit on the side. And as there are more choices of restaurants in a fancy place like SF, with some great fish choices, it was easy.
This time around, meh. Our first night in was actually good, and that's because we ate a fancy-ish place that had GF pastas (not that I ate that, but at least they are sensitive to GF life at the very least), but at least cooked their meats in one place, their veggies in another, and gluteny and grainy things somewhere else. Of course there's always the risk of cross contamination, but here it was minimal. My cousin and I each got glorious veal dishes which we shared (my dish had me at prosciutto, you know, bacon's Italian cousin), and wow. Meat, veggies, the appropriate amount of fat. Perfect. I even splurged a bit on dessert--panna cotta--since the dairy was a thick cooked custard (is that redundant), so it gave me minimal trouble. But was worth it. That was okay.
And even Saturday and Sunday morning were good, too. IHOP can be very Paleo friendly, believe it or not, at least in Cali. The catch is that for the omelette, you must get the egg substitute because their regular omelettes are made with buttermilk and pancake batter. So one of their "Fit and Healthy" omelettes, minus the cheese, add some bacon to the side, some avocado on top, and the fruit, and bam! You're in business. No stomach distress or trouble after those meals either. Score!
Saturday night though was the wedding. And I splurged, really, for the first time in months. Bacon wrapped crab cakes? On it (the crab cakes were most certainly breaded)! Ahi tuna on a sesame tortilla? Scarfed down. Baby bbq chicken tostadas? Yummy yummy yummy in my tummy tummy tummy! As the lamb chops were indeed the most Paleo of the appetizers, I made sure to have four of them. Also, there was wine. Lots and lots of wine that was free in which I willingly and copiously partook. The wedding dinner: walnut apple blue cheese salad. Delicious. I got the sea bass which also had bacon in the side dish (were they potatoes? I cannot remember, but I cleaned the plate). And then the wedding cake. Oh glorious wedding cake. It is by far my most favorite of all the cakes in the world, and it is good that I do not have access to it. I ate three pieces! THREE! So worth it. So incredibly indeed most certainly worth it. If I married Chipotle, I would cheat on it with wedding cake.
Well, it will come as no surprise to you then that I didn't sleep all that well Saturday night and that at about mid morning Sunday I started to really feel the effects of the wine and the cake and the night of debauchery (during which I ripped my dress dancing AND worked my calves so hard by hopping around on the dance floor non-stop for about three hours, no lie) and was definitely worse for the wear. I went and laid down in the car during the first stop of our wine tasting on the way out of town Sunday morning. I had a little hair of the dog at the second winery which helped and by the third I was starting to feel more normal again.
But the damage was done. I will fully admit that from Sunday on I was an insufferable bitch even after the hangover wore off.
As I knew pizza would be served later, I insisted on stopping at Chipotle so I could eat. That was fine. I think the mistake was getting the chips (but I hadn't had chips and salsa in soooooooooo long. I just wanted at taste!) And I was fine until I had some of the fondant from the cake topper (no way was I having another piece!) But the sugar just sent my stomach into overload. But I made it up Monday morning and went to the nearby CrossFit box. On our way to Napa we stopped at a cafe I had eaten at before. In theory it was perfect. I got eggs with lox, some bacon, fresh fruit. Perfect. Except I didn't bother to ask if the eggs were prepped with milk. My cousin's girlfriend and I were both starting to feel a little ill, and as it was just the two of us lactose intolerant people, we decided that the eggs had milk. Grrrr. And what should have been a great dinner--gourmet beef hamburger wrapped in lettuce with avocado and bacon (even though I did get the french fries, which I never eat), there was so much cross contamination in the food (even though this was supposed to be fancy) that I swelled up like a balloon and felt like shit driving back to our hotel. And then Tuesday morning wasn't any better. Another diner neither my cousin's girlfriend or I thought to ask about dairy in the eggs, and some stupid potatoes (they were red, not white, still off limits, but the diner's specialty--they were filled with veggies), and bam! Instant grossness. Instant grumpiness. Instant cramping.
I will admit that I made a couple of bad choices, but I think I just opened the door for trouble and just never recovered. Boudreaux giggled at how swollen my belly looked when he saw me. My aunt was like, "oh, it looks like you have a baby in there! how I wish!" (Me: GRRRRRR! That's something all non-pregnant women want to hear: "Oh you look pregnant!"). My head hurt. I was congested. And sad!
It's true! Not only is there an effect on the body from the gluten but on the mind, too. Mentally I just felt horrible.
And let's talk about the sleep issue here, too. The first time in Cali this summer when I was able to minimize the cross contamination gluten issue, I slept great! This time, between the gluten and the wine--ugh! Horrible, horrible sleep! One to two hours, then I'd wake up. Then maybe two to three hours, then I'd wake up. My cousins said one night I was just thrashing in the bed tossing and turning, so clearly that was not some restful sleep at all. Even when I got to my own bed, the effects were devastating. I went to bed at nine. I tossed and turned and was wide awake until after midnight, and I had even take three melatonin at that point to try to sleep, but to no avail. Last night was really the first night in over a week that I got a solid 8 hours, and I feel much better.
Was it worth it? Yes and no. The wedding cake--definitely! But I was just a horrible person for the second half of the trip because I didn't feel well, and I feel really bad about that. I would have preferred to enjoy myself a bit more and not be so nasty to everyone. I had a short fuse, too.
I think next time I need to stick more to salads when I travel than to get hot meals. Depending on where one is, that might be the best way to avoid the cross contamination issue.
It's harder in the burbs than in the city.
Unless there's a Chipotle around! It is by far mine and Boudreaux's most favorite place to eat on the road. If I could, I would marry Chipotle.
But I digress.
First time around in Cali this summer, Paleo and GF eating were much easier. We had a wonderful little restaurant across from our hotel that served huge meat and veggie filled dairy free omelettes with fruit on the side. And as there are more choices of restaurants in a fancy place like SF, with some great fish choices, it was easy.
This time around, meh. Our first night in was actually good, and that's because we ate a fancy-ish place that had GF pastas (not that I ate that, but at least they are sensitive to GF life at the very least), but at least cooked their meats in one place, their veggies in another, and gluteny and grainy things somewhere else. Of course there's always the risk of cross contamination, but here it was minimal. My cousin and I each got glorious veal dishes which we shared (my dish had me at prosciutto, you know, bacon's Italian cousin), and wow. Meat, veggies, the appropriate amount of fat. Perfect. I even splurged a bit on dessert--panna cotta--since the dairy was a thick cooked custard (is that redundant), so it gave me minimal trouble. But was worth it. That was okay.
And even Saturday and Sunday morning were good, too. IHOP can be very Paleo friendly, believe it or not, at least in Cali. The catch is that for the omelette, you must get the egg substitute because their regular omelettes are made with buttermilk and pancake batter. So one of their "Fit and Healthy" omelettes, minus the cheese, add some bacon to the side, some avocado on top, and the fruit, and bam! You're in business. No stomach distress or trouble after those meals either. Score!
Saturday night though was the wedding. And I splurged, really, for the first time in months. Bacon wrapped crab cakes? On it (the crab cakes were most certainly breaded)! Ahi tuna on a sesame tortilla? Scarfed down. Baby bbq chicken tostadas? Yummy yummy yummy in my tummy tummy tummy! As the lamb chops were indeed the most Paleo of the appetizers, I made sure to have four of them. Also, there was wine. Lots and lots of wine that was free in which I willingly and copiously partook. The wedding dinner: walnut apple blue cheese salad. Delicious. I got the sea bass which also had bacon in the side dish (were they potatoes? I cannot remember, but I cleaned the plate). And then the wedding cake. Oh glorious wedding cake. It is by far my most favorite of all the cakes in the world, and it is good that I do not have access to it. I ate three pieces! THREE! So worth it. So incredibly indeed most certainly worth it. If I married Chipotle, I would cheat on it with wedding cake.
Well, it will come as no surprise to you then that I didn't sleep all that well Saturday night and that at about mid morning Sunday I started to really feel the effects of the wine and the cake and the night of debauchery (during which I ripped my dress dancing AND worked my calves so hard by hopping around on the dance floor non-stop for about three hours, no lie) and was definitely worse for the wear. I went and laid down in the car during the first stop of our wine tasting on the way out of town Sunday morning. I had a little hair of the dog at the second winery which helped and by the third I was starting to feel more normal again.
But the damage was done. I will fully admit that from Sunday on I was an insufferable bitch even after the hangover wore off.
As I knew pizza would be served later, I insisted on stopping at Chipotle so I could eat. That was fine. I think the mistake was getting the chips (but I hadn't had chips and salsa in soooooooooo long. I just wanted at taste!) And I was fine until I had some of the fondant from the cake topper (no way was I having another piece!) But the sugar just sent my stomach into overload. But I made it up Monday morning and went to the nearby CrossFit box. On our way to Napa we stopped at a cafe I had eaten at before. In theory it was perfect. I got eggs with lox, some bacon, fresh fruit. Perfect. Except I didn't bother to ask if the eggs were prepped with milk. My cousin's girlfriend and I were both starting to feel a little ill, and as it was just the two of us lactose intolerant people, we decided that the eggs had milk. Grrrr. And what should have been a great dinner--gourmet beef hamburger wrapped in lettuce with avocado and bacon (even though I did get the french fries, which I never eat), there was so much cross contamination in the food (even though this was supposed to be fancy) that I swelled up like a balloon and felt like shit driving back to our hotel. And then Tuesday morning wasn't any better. Another diner neither my cousin's girlfriend or I thought to ask about dairy in the eggs, and some stupid potatoes (they were red, not white, still off limits, but the diner's specialty--they were filled with veggies), and bam! Instant grossness. Instant grumpiness. Instant cramping.
I will admit that I made a couple of bad choices, but I think I just opened the door for trouble and just never recovered. Boudreaux giggled at how swollen my belly looked when he saw me. My aunt was like, "oh, it looks like you have a baby in there! how I wish!" (Me: GRRRRRR! That's something all non-pregnant women want to hear: "Oh you look pregnant!"). My head hurt. I was congested. And sad!
It's true! Not only is there an effect on the body from the gluten but on the mind, too. Mentally I just felt horrible.
And let's talk about the sleep issue here, too. The first time in Cali this summer when I was able to minimize the cross contamination gluten issue, I slept great! This time, between the gluten and the wine--ugh! Horrible, horrible sleep! One to two hours, then I'd wake up. Then maybe two to three hours, then I'd wake up. My cousins said one night I was just thrashing in the bed tossing and turning, so clearly that was not some restful sleep at all. Even when I got to my own bed, the effects were devastating. I went to bed at nine. I tossed and turned and was wide awake until after midnight, and I had even take three melatonin at that point to try to sleep, but to no avail. Last night was really the first night in over a week that I got a solid 8 hours, and I feel much better.
Was it worth it? Yes and no. The wedding cake--definitely! But I was just a horrible person for the second half of the trip because I didn't feel well, and I feel really bad about that. I would have preferred to enjoy myself a bit more and not be so nasty to everyone. I had a short fuse, too.
I think next time I need to stick more to salads when I travel than to get hot meals. Depending on where one is, that might be the best way to avoid the cross contamination issue.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
The Post-Whole30
Wow! It's been a whole week since I last updated! It's been a busy post Whole30 week here at Chez Cavegirl.
There are things that I continue to notice about how much my body has changed on several levels since starting and finishing the Whole30.
First of all, thanks to Melissa and Dallas Hartwig for linking my blog on their FB! What an honor!
I believe that I reported last week that on Day 31 I had some GF pizza with cheese. Oy. This jacked up my system. Totally. Granted I also had some wine. But I don't think the effects of that lasted longer than Sunday. I was really sort of low grade sick all week. Perhaps a bit TMI, but my belly just hurt for about four days after that pizza, even thought it was GF. Since the Boudreaux is a medic and had told us that there was a nasty stomach thing going around his unit, I thought that maybe I had a either a low grade version of this or that it was low grade because of my stellar eating the month before. He said it was more likely the the dairy and the grains. In any case *I* think it was a combo of both--I've been a little sluggish in the afternoons, feeling wiped out with belly aches in the morning. So if I am fighting something, there's a testament to eating Paleo--I fight it better with better results.
The parents were in, and I introduced them to a strict Paleo household. And I'm glad that Boudreaux is on board with this--Paleo house, but when we eat out, we don't have to stick to strict Paleo. (It's better for me though if I do). However, they were impressed at how wonderful veggies can taste. My dad is less than adventurous, so this was a big week for him--CrossFit AND zucchini noodles (see Well Fed) and spaghetti squash! We introduced the 'rents to Paleo ice cream and Steve's Crunch Bacon "Granola." So it's been a little hectic here this past week.
But there are some other things that I've noticed. One, as I mentioned, if I'm fighting some kind of bug, getting laid out by a bug clearly isn't as devastating as pre-Paleo. (I didn't miss a single day of class). Another thing that I've noticed has been my skin! Significantly fewer breakouts this month! I mean, seriously, I'm too old for zits anyway, but my arms, chest, and face--significantly better! (okay, minus the after effects of the chemical peel).
Granted I still have a loooooooooooooooong way to go here, but it's so nice that my stomach is significantly flatter than it was a month ago. Also, one thing that has surprised me in this past week, too, is that all those things that I thought I was going to miss right, all those things that I thought I was going to want to have, like how I was just DYING for some chips and salsa? I still haven't sought them out. If I never see pizza again, I'll be totally fine actually. Just the memory of how bad I've felt this week post pizza is enough.
So how do I want to maintain this? I am tempted when I get back from vacay, perhaps after Labor Day (since I know there will be a family visit that weekend) to do another Whole30--no cheating, no alcohol, limiting the going out to eat, and making a better effort to meal prep and plan. It's an excuse to get another cookbook. :) Perhaps I'll concurrently try to cook my way through Well Fed, too. Really doing it again would be all about vanity--I'm happy that I lost five pounds and all those inches. But I'm not there yet. I am starting to question if with the CrossFit and as I build muscle, if losing another 15 pounds is feasible let alone reasonable. I may have to settle for dropping only another 5-8 pounds.
Look, I know the focus here of the Whole 30 and CrossFit too is on how one feels and performance improvement--not weight loss (unless one is overweight or obese). This is why I think that perhaps another Whole30 would be beneficial for me--it keeps the focus on how I FEEL rather than how I LOOK or what the scale says. Aside from all the "health" benefits here, the Whole30 and CrossFit are teaching me patience, as painful as that is.
And maybe what it might come down to is that I don't actually need to do the whole Whole30 again right now. Perhaps I need to take elements of it--put the scale away for a month at a time and do measurements once a month. Let Saturday night be the "treat/cheat" night with a glass or two of wine. And then reevaluate in a month to see what the what-what is. And it's not that I want to be a Paleo fascist here about this, but I don't even think it's worth "cheating/treating" once a week for me (Boudreaux needs it though--he needs to know that he can have a sandwich once a week or something of the like to keep him sane--the man loves his sandwiches!) because I just cannot emphasize HOW MUCH BETTER I FEEL! It's so not worth it to me anymore to feel like crap, even once a week. Like I said in one of my first posts--I gots $hit to do, yo!
For those who are still out there reading, I'll do a better job with the updates, too. Next up, eating Paleo on vacay.
There are things that I continue to notice about how much my body has changed on several levels since starting and finishing the Whole30.
First of all, thanks to Melissa and Dallas Hartwig for linking my blog on their FB! What an honor!
I believe that I reported last week that on Day 31 I had some GF pizza with cheese. Oy. This jacked up my system. Totally. Granted I also had some wine. But I don't think the effects of that lasted longer than Sunday. I was really sort of low grade sick all week. Perhaps a bit TMI, but my belly just hurt for about four days after that pizza, even thought it was GF. Since the Boudreaux is a medic and had told us that there was a nasty stomach thing going around his unit, I thought that maybe I had a either a low grade version of this or that it was low grade because of my stellar eating the month before. He said it was more likely the the dairy and the grains. In any case *I* think it was a combo of both--I've been a little sluggish in the afternoons, feeling wiped out with belly aches in the morning. So if I am fighting something, there's a testament to eating Paleo--I fight it better with better results.
The parents were in, and I introduced them to a strict Paleo household. And I'm glad that Boudreaux is on board with this--Paleo house, but when we eat out, we don't have to stick to strict Paleo. (It's better for me though if I do). However, they were impressed at how wonderful veggies can taste. My dad is less than adventurous, so this was a big week for him--CrossFit AND zucchini noodles (see Well Fed) and spaghetti squash! We introduced the 'rents to Paleo ice cream and Steve's Crunch Bacon "Granola." So it's been a little hectic here this past week.
But there are some other things that I've noticed. One, as I mentioned, if I'm fighting some kind of bug, getting laid out by a bug clearly isn't as devastating as pre-Paleo. (I didn't miss a single day of class). Another thing that I've noticed has been my skin! Significantly fewer breakouts this month! I mean, seriously, I'm too old for zits anyway, but my arms, chest, and face--significantly better! (okay, minus the after effects of the chemical peel).
Granted I still have a loooooooooooooooong way to go here, but it's so nice that my stomach is significantly flatter than it was a month ago. Also, one thing that has surprised me in this past week, too, is that all those things that I thought I was going to miss right, all those things that I thought I was going to want to have, like how I was just DYING for some chips and salsa? I still haven't sought them out. If I never see pizza again, I'll be totally fine actually. Just the memory of how bad I've felt this week post pizza is enough.
So how do I want to maintain this? I am tempted when I get back from vacay, perhaps after Labor Day (since I know there will be a family visit that weekend) to do another Whole30--no cheating, no alcohol, limiting the going out to eat, and making a better effort to meal prep and plan. It's an excuse to get another cookbook. :) Perhaps I'll concurrently try to cook my way through Well Fed, too. Really doing it again would be all about vanity--I'm happy that I lost five pounds and all those inches. But I'm not there yet. I am starting to question if with the CrossFit and as I build muscle, if losing another 15 pounds is feasible let alone reasonable. I may have to settle for dropping only another 5-8 pounds.
Look, I know the focus here of the Whole 30 and CrossFit too is on how one feels and performance improvement--not weight loss (unless one is overweight or obese). This is why I think that perhaps another Whole30 would be beneficial for me--it keeps the focus on how I FEEL rather than how I LOOK or what the scale says. Aside from all the "health" benefits here, the Whole30 and CrossFit are teaching me patience, as painful as that is.
And maybe what it might come down to is that I don't actually need to do the whole Whole30 again right now. Perhaps I need to take elements of it--put the scale away for a month at a time and do measurements once a month. Let Saturday night be the "treat/cheat" night with a glass or two of wine. And then reevaluate in a month to see what the what-what is. And it's not that I want to be a Paleo fascist here about this, but I don't even think it's worth "cheating/treating" once a week for me (Boudreaux needs it though--he needs to know that he can have a sandwich once a week or something of the like to keep him sane--the man loves his sandwiches!) because I just cannot emphasize HOW MUCH BETTER I FEEL! It's so not worth it to me anymore to feel like crap, even once a week. Like I said in one of my first posts--I gots $hit to do, yo!
For those who are still out there reading, I'll do a better job with the updates, too. Next up, eating Paleo on vacay.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Day 24 to the End!
I did it! I finished the Whole30 without cheating! Yay me! It feels great to have finished this!
While I don't want to bore you with my actual weights and measurements, I will give you some stats from my Whole30 journey. Keep in mind, too, that I was also doing some heavy CrossFitting during this time, so my loss in inches is more dramatic than my loss in weight which I think if I were not actively building muscle during this time (light weights, more running), I think the results would be inverted--more pounds lost, fewer inches lost.
I lost 5 pounds this month. Given that I had been only averaging .42 pounds a week loss between January and June (not even a half pound a week average, but I guess steady progress), that jumped to an average of 1.25 pounds per week on the Whole30. I also lost 8 inches! Yes my friends, 8 freaking inches total from my body. The only place I didn't lose inches was my upper arms--they stayed the same. That didn't surprise me really. But they are getting more toned. And I lost a whole dress size. And I did this all without counting calories, measuring food, worrying about fat. Although at first I was bummed that it was only five pounds, my husband correctly pointed out that I "lost five pounds eating bacon." All those clothes that I've been whining about for years about not being able to wear--yes my friends, I have a whole "new" wardrobe of clothes that I've had that have either never been worn (clothes I bought for school for example that didn't fit by the time school started or clothes that should have fit given the rate of past weight loss but by the time they arrived I had started on the regain) or clothes that I've not been able to wear since 2004 but are still in excellent condition. Now, I still have a ways to go, but for the first time since February, I feel like I have made some real progress.
58% of my total inches lost since January happened during this month of the Whole30.
39% of my total weight loss since January happened during this month of the Whole30.
Some other surprising things:
I finished the Whole 30 while Aunt Flo was in town. This I think was the real test here. Um did I have any sugar cravings or was I dying to get my hands on some chocolate and pizza? NO! Holy craziness Batman! Right now, the thought of chocolate makes me physically sick to my stomach. Seriously. I can't imagine eating it. If I do have a hankering, what do I want? Paleo ice cream with honey. That's right--ice cream made with coconut milk and eggs (no sugar!) mixed with some berries and honey. That's about as sweet as I get now. And do you know how good that feels? Do you know how liberating it is to find even the thought of Ben & Jerry's repulsive? And do you know that it didn't even involve any willpower at all during Aunt Flo's stay not to have sugar, salt, or any of the other "normal" cravings? None.
This is also the first time ever that Aunt Flo has visited that I didn't have one debilitating cramp. Up to this point in my Paleo journey, there would be one day were I'd just be in pain (which was down from the three or four) among other things, and this time, just a slight twinge twice and maybe some lower back stiffness, but nothing debilitating or messy at all! So yes, even GF grains hurt my body in this way because clearly eliminating them makes my life so much more comfortable.
When the house is too hot, I can't always say that I get great sleep, but on the average, when the house is comfortable, I sleep a good 7-8 hours and wake up most mornings before my alarm goes off feeling rested and ready to go. Because I'm much more rested, I don't drink as much coffee now (except Saturdays and Sundays when I like to enjoy my coffee and lollygag around). And while I'm in a steady state of soreness and tiredness (but the good kind; not the painful or exhausted kind), I am able to wake before my alarm and go to my CrossFit class every morning, six days a week for the last month. And do you know how long it's been my friends since I was working out six days a week, consistently? Not since High School. So that feels pretty amazing, too.
Since yesterday was Day 31, and since Boudreaux had drill, when he came home, he didn't feel like grilling out like we had planned (plus it was still about 100 degrees outside). So here's another amazing thing. We ordered pizza. I got the GF crust (I'm not going to go crazy here!), and I did get cheese (I wanted a Hawaiian pizza), and I really thought I would relish the taste of this glorious goodness of cheese, ham, pineapple, bacon, peppers, and onions, that it would taste the way I remembered it tasting and that I would bask in this forbidden goodness. No. Not at all. Compared to the foods I had been making all month, this was bland. (Have any of you made the Meatzza from Well Fed? That's a pizza!) I was surprised at how much I did not enjoy it, surprised at how much I didn't care for the cheese at all, surprised at how disappointed I was. The good thing is that I know we won't revert back to our old habits of ordering pizza once a week.
And the wine was good. I don't normally drink white wine, but it's so damn hot here, I had bought a nice sort of sweet white blend for Day 31. And I had some cider while I chopped veggies and cleaned the kitchen. The wine was good. It was nice to have wine with dinner again, I'll say that much. I was surprised that it didn't hit me hard at first. I thought after 30 days of no alcohol when I was used to 2-3 glasses of wine with dinner a night that the cider would lay me out. And I thought for sure that the first glass of wine would be more than enough. But it didn't hit me right away. However, when it did, I was out for the count. I passed out, yes passed out--not fell asleep, not went to bed, but full on passed out, at 8:30. I am not hungover this morning from either the food or the wine, thankfully, but I do feel slow. And I can't imagine having had that meal and that wine last night and having to work out this morning. I think if I had to work out with that on my stomach, I'd puke.
Saturday will be my "treat" days. I don't want to be so super strict about my Paleo eating that I feel guilt about non-Paleo foods (that defeats the purpose), and I do like some chips and salsa every once in a while and I do like to veg out on Saturdays with the Boudreaux and watch some monster movie marathons. And since Sundays are my work out rest days, then Saturdays are the days for chips and wine. Because truth be told, I don't want to go back to a non-Paleo way of eating. I have more great days and good days than I have crappy days. Even my days when I feel like I have a crappy workout are better than good days before the Whole30.
Trust me my friends, those first two rough weeks of crappyness, sluggishness, and withdrawal are 100 million % worth it to get here. So thank you Melissa and Dallas.
While I don't want to bore you with my actual weights and measurements, I will give you some stats from my Whole30 journey. Keep in mind, too, that I was also doing some heavy CrossFitting during this time, so my loss in inches is more dramatic than my loss in weight which I think if I were not actively building muscle during this time (light weights, more running), I think the results would be inverted--more pounds lost, fewer inches lost.
I lost 5 pounds this month. Given that I had been only averaging .42 pounds a week loss between January and June (not even a half pound a week average, but I guess steady progress), that jumped to an average of 1.25 pounds per week on the Whole30. I also lost 8 inches! Yes my friends, 8 freaking inches total from my body. The only place I didn't lose inches was my upper arms--they stayed the same. That didn't surprise me really. But they are getting more toned. And I lost a whole dress size. And I did this all without counting calories, measuring food, worrying about fat. Although at first I was bummed that it was only five pounds, my husband correctly pointed out that I "lost five pounds eating bacon." All those clothes that I've been whining about for years about not being able to wear--yes my friends, I have a whole "new" wardrobe of clothes that I've had that have either never been worn (clothes I bought for school for example that didn't fit by the time school started or clothes that should have fit given the rate of past weight loss but by the time they arrived I had started on the regain) or clothes that I've not been able to wear since 2004 but are still in excellent condition. Now, I still have a ways to go, but for the first time since February, I feel like I have made some real progress.
58% of my total inches lost since January happened during this month of the Whole30.
39% of my total weight loss since January happened during this month of the Whole30.
Some other surprising things:
I finished the Whole 30 while Aunt Flo was in town. This I think was the real test here. Um did I have any sugar cravings or was I dying to get my hands on some chocolate and pizza? NO! Holy craziness Batman! Right now, the thought of chocolate makes me physically sick to my stomach. Seriously. I can't imagine eating it. If I do have a hankering, what do I want? Paleo ice cream with honey. That's right--ice cream made with coconut milk and eggs (no sugar!) mixed with some berries and honey. That's about as sweet as I get now. And do you know how good that feels? Do you know how liberating it is to find even the thought of Ben & Jerry's repulsive? And do you know that it didn't even involve any willpower at all during Aunt Flo's stay not to have sugar, salt, or any of the other "normal" cravings? None.
This is also the first time ever that Aunt Flo has visited that I didn't have one debilitating cramp. Up to this point in my Paleo journey, there would be one day were I'd just be in pain (which was down from the three or four) among other things, and this time, just a slight twinge twice and maybe some lower back stiffness, but nothing debilitating or messy at all! So yes, even GF grains hurt my body in this way because clearly eliminating them makes my life so much more comfortable.
When the house is too hot, I can't always say that I get great sleep, but on the average, when the house is comfortable, I sleep a good 7-8 hours and wake up most mornings before my alarm goes off feeling rested and ready to go. Because I'm much more rested, I don't drink as much coffee now (except Saturdays and Sundays when I like to enjoy my coffee and lollygag around). And while I'm in a steady state of soreness and tiredness (but the good kind; not the painful or exhausted kind), I am able to wake before my alarm and go to my CrossFit class every morning, six days a week for the last month. And do you know how long it's been my friends since I was working out six days a week, consistently? Not since High School. So that feels pretty amazing, too.
Since yesterday was Day 31, and since Boudreaux had drill, when he came home, he didn't feel like grilling out like we had planned (plus it was still about 100 degrees outside). So here's another amazing thing. We ordered pizza. I got the GF crust (I'm not going to go crazy here!), and I did get cheese (I wanted a Hawaiian pizza), and I really thought I would relish the taste of this glorious goodness of cheese, ham, pineapple, bacon, peppers, and onions, that it would taste the way I remembered it tasting and that I would bask in this forbidden goodness. No. Not at all. Compared to the foods I had been making all month, this was bland. (Have any of you made the Meatzza from Well Fed? That's a pizza!) I was surprised at how much I did not enjoy it, surprised at how much I didn't care for the cheese at all, surprised at how disappointed I was. The good thing is that I know we won't revert back to our old habits of ordering pizza once a week.
And the wine was good. I don't normally drink white wine, but it's so damn hot here, I had bought a nice sort of sweet white blend for Day 31. And I had some cider while I chopped veggies and cleaned the kitchen. The wine was good. It was nice to have wine with dinner again, I'll say that much. I was surprised that it didn't hit me hard at first. I thought after 30 days of no alcohol when I was used to 2-3 glasses of wine with dinner a night that the cider would lay me out. And I thought for sure that the first glass of wine would be more than enough. But it didn't hit me right away. However, when it did, I was out for the count. I passed out, yes passed out--not fell asleep, not went to bed, but full on passed out, at 8:30. I am not hungover this morning from either the food or the wine, thankfully, but I do feel slow. And I can't imagine having had that meal and that wine last night and having to work out this morning. I think if I had to work out with that on my stomach, I'd puke.
Saturday will be my "treat" days. I don't want to be so super strict about my Paleo eating that I feel guilt about non-Paleo foods (that defeats the purpose), and I do like some chips and salsa every once in a while and I do like to veg out on Saturdays with the Boudreaux and watch some monster movie marathons. And since Sundays are my work out rest days, then Saturdays are the days for chips and wine. Because truth be told, I don't want to go back to a non-Paleo way of eating. I have more great days and good days than I have crappy days. Even my days when I feel like I have a crappy workout are better than good days before the Whole30.
Trust me my friends, those first two rough weeks of crappyness, sluggishness, and withdrawal are 100 million % worth it to get here. So thank you Melissa and Dallas.
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