Day 15: new rewards and motivation

Today's whole30 email was all about being halfway there!!! One of the thjngs they recommend is rewarding yourself for being halfway there. I did that!!! Last night, actually. I went ahead and bought some really nice exercise pants (from splits59--a company some of the Paleo folks I follow LOVE). I'm really excited about them because they look like they are going to be amazing. Soft, hug me in the rigt spots and not to mention lightweight. A lot of my exercise clothes are close to 10 years old. Which I believe is strange. I also bought a bright yellow sports bra for a different look under a black tank top. I also went ahead and rewarded myself with some cheap books off of amazon. I find all my tv shows are ending so reading will be a much better use of my time. 

Rewarding myself with something other than food is a huge thing for me. I have always rewarded myself with food. For as long as I can remember. With whole30, I am much more intentional with my food and my intake. Being more intentional and mindful about rewards is changing another mentality for me. I can take money and spend it on something I'll have for more than a few minutes, something that will expand my mind, and maybe make my butt look better! ;) (the two are not related obviously!)

So motivational Monday today means for me reward yourself with something you've wanted or had your eye on. It's funny because today's whole30 email was almost the same conversation I had with my friend yesterday who encouraged me to buy the damn pants. 

Most of you don't know this but I supported my ex for a year. Yes, it was a decision we made together but it became obvious to me recently, I have NEVER been in charge of my money for me. I have never had my own money. Since making a decent pay check, I've never seen it for more than a few minutes. But now, I get to reward myself and try to not feel guilty. And now I can reward myself with something other than food. As soon as the new exercise clothes come, I'll be sure to share a review!

Thanks for listening to my rambling!

Enjoy your day!

Get it day 15!!

Whole 30, day 14

Things are going well. Though I must say....having your period and doing whole 30 is ROUGH. I'm craving chocolate, brownies, cookies, ice cream, hot chocolate, chips, crackers.... the list goes on. So instead, I made some delicious CRISPY wings friday night and bought "roasted plantain chips" from trader joes. OH and because I'm on my period, I bought gluten free joe-joes (like oreos) from TJs for after the whole 30 (I knew they would most likely be out of stock when I'm done with this so I thought I'd get them now). Yesterday morning, I wanted something different than eggs and steak or sausage or whatever. I took it upon myself to make a version of a potato pancake (which growing up in a part Jewish home, these are something I miss a great deal). I made them with zucchini and coconut oil. I will say, they were bomb. Light, fluffy, filling, delicious on their own! 

So before I move on to how I ate out at restaurants yesterday, let me tell you how to make the crispy wings.

preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
put a wire rack over the cookie sheet.
place the wings on the rack, spread them out. 
season with salt and pepper to taste.
stick them in the oven for 30 minutes.
after 30 minutes, take them out, flip them, then season to taste again.
once the second round of 30 minutes is done, take out of the oven, remove from rack.
place in a heat proof (pyrex) bowl, drench in Tessemae's "Southwestern ranch" dressing/marinade. 
THEY WERE BOMB!  you must make them, TODAY!

As for the zucchini fritters, I just googled a recipe and you can find them very easily.

Okay so yesterday was a day spent in LA. Two meals out of the house. First was Pho! I know, I know, you must be wondering "how on earth is that whole 30 compliant?! " Well when I ordered I asked the kind server to give me no noodles and extra chicken.  PERFECT. I ate it allllll and then some.

For dinner, I couldn't resist Korean BBQ, as I was super close to my favorite place (Manna Korean BBQ in Little Tokyo). This one is easy. It's meat, period. I didn't eat the rice paper, go me! I did however eat a ton of the bulgogi (thin sliced meat) with turnip paper, which is EFFIN BOMB! I also had tea and seaweed soup. All in all, it was a food good day. :) 


It's getting easier to eat out. It's not a huge difference from my everyday but now I've totally eliminated white potatoes which is a big deal for me. I like fries, mashed potatoes, and other yummy white potato things but I don't miss it. I actually am not even sure I miss sweets (chocolate etc.) I think I just want the option to enjoy them. 

At this point, I have no idea if whole 30 is working except I look different when I look in the mirror. The reason I have no idea is if it's "working" is because I stopped weighing myself in December. I put the scale away and haven't taken it out. It's seriously not a measure so I'm just looking at my clothes and my waist but also my activity level. I don't get winded walking up stairs, I don't get tired as much in Pilates. I can do more activities at the gym and not feel like I'm going to faint. All new things for me. My Pilates instructor is super sick, so I think I'm going to attempt a class this week at the studio and one at the gym (AH). Wish me luck!

Okay friends, thanks for reading! 

Whole 30, day 10

I cannot believe 10 days has passed. I'm still doing whole 30 and for sure yesterday, felt like I had bloated up significantly and just felt gross. Come to find out, it's almost that time of the month.

The other interesting thing that's happening is I'm definitely loosing fat. I'm starting to see a huge difference in my stomach and back. More specifically, the "back fat" that I've always had around my waist...DO you know what I'm talking about?

The biggest thing about whole 30 for me has been the goal setting. I think it really has kept me on track with my workouts and maintaining my activity level. I went from pilates twice a week, to the gym mixed in there but just cardio and now I'm lifting weights again, doing cardio and pilates twice a week. So I would call that a win!!! I'm so happy I am able to have energy to workout and work and have a life. Paleo changed my life over a year ago and now the whole 30 is restarting and resetting paleo for me.

Once the 30 days are up, I will post my before and after pictures. 20 more days and things can only improve! 

Day 7!!!

So it is finally day 7 and things are going well!!! Yesterday I had THREE workouts. 

-30 minutes uphill /downhill with a dog in the am

-45 minutes at the gym (20 minutes of cardio and the rest arms/legs)

-1 hour uphill/downhill walk with dog

And today I just walked the dog for 45 minutes already and starting to plan my next workout. I'm also trying to get psyched for spinning tomorrow. I do have pilates tomorrow night so I'm hoping spin doesn't kill my legs/knee. We shall see! 

I will say things are good in the whole 30 world. This am, I could really go for coffee but instead I'm eating my Lara bar and drinking sparkling mineral water. I miss the taste of coffee and might try to drink it again when it's time. I bought ghee so technically I could make bullet proof coffee if I had an immersion blender.

So that's enough of my rambling. 

Day 7 and feeling fine! Thanks for reading!

Day 4

Welcome to Day 4.

I think it's going better today. I'm starting to feel a little different. While the whole30 isn't completely foreign to me, I know I have an issue with sugar and baked goods. So not having those for 4 days is new to me. I'm making better choices all around so we shall see after 30 days....

Last week before deciding to do the whole30, I had bought whole me (http://www.wholeme.com/) sampler pack and it came today. There are two bars in it and some almond crunch (similar to granola/cereal). One of the bars has chocolate in it and the other is pure dates. I decided to open the cereal and try it. It's so good! I ate breakfast but was still hungry after drinking some green tea and water so I indulged a bit. The only thing in the ingredients is honey which is not technically whole30 approved. But I can handle that. :)

So today is a simple spring break day at work and then maybe a visit to a mall. I also walked my friend's dog this am and will do that again this evening. I'm meeting my goals and haven't given up on the whole30 yet ;)

It's weird to think that last night I had dreams about donuts (Paleo donuts actually) and today's email from the whole30 was all about cravings and it mentioned food dreams. I don't typically have food dreams but I did last night. INTERESTING.....

Yesterday was hard. I woke up with a killer migraine, so much so that I was out of work. That's rough because I couldn't tell what it was from but I ate my food through out the day and it was gone by 8pm. I was so glad that my head finally stopped pounding. I'm not sure if it was from this no sugar diet or detox from coffee business but it was a big one and I haven't had a migraine in quite some time. Haven't had coffee yet today so we will see what happens there.

Well that's it from me. I'm going to attempt a spin class Saturday morning so wish me luck with that one. 

Day 2 and it's a little easier

So I'm reminded frequently that this is how I normally eat and I shouldn't be getting in my own way.

The whole 30 isn't that hard as long as I get out of my own way and that's what I'm doing. I've gotten up early, went to the gym (despite being sore from a kick-ass Pilates class last night) and ate my breakfast filled with protein and good fats as well as carb dense veggies (not to mention the most delicious grapefruit I've ever eaten)! I'm feeling good. Lunch is going to be some tuna and shrimp with some veggies. I like cooking and I think my problem yesterday was my fridge was pretty empty and I felt like there just wasn't enough to eat! It is all in my mind, I know that. 

The gym was good, started the day with cardio. The physical gym was good and empty so that's nice. My trainer last night really kicked me in the butt and had me doing moves with more resistance and tension. Her favorite phrase is "now it's going to get harder" and she's never kidding!!!! Oh she kills me every time but that's why I keep going back. I never say 'can't' or 'won't' I just do it. Even if I don't think I can do it, she knows that I can and she's watched my body change and get stronger. It's expensive but it's so worth it. After my next set of lessons I might move to a semi-private class so I can have a friend with me and that will cost half of what it does now. 



okay I must head to work. More from me later, hopefully this afternoon will be as easy as this morning :)

It's day one

It's only day one and I'm already frustrated. I thought this was going to be easy considering I'm Paleo already but adding in so many more restrictions makes it hard for me to think about healthy, delicious meals. Not to mention, this probably wasn't the best week considering I'll be house sitting for a little while thus meaning not in my own kitchen. And maybe I'm over thinking. I'm trying to find whole 30 meals but not having luck, which I think is a fail on the whole 30's part. Not to mention, their website annoys me and isn't really user friendly. So now I'm just googling Paleo recipes and reading through to make them whole 30. I actually thought Pinterest would help more but it didn't. 

I'm not sure why I'm frustrated. I was able to enjoy some black coffee and had a sensible breakfast scramble with avocado and banana. I think I'm just realizing that this is going to be harder than I thought and I became complacent with my Paleo - ness. 

I just need to get over it and eat more food, I think I'm hungry.......It'll be fine and won't be that hard after a few days. What did that email say this morning? It's the transition week and I think I thought it'd be easier for me because I'm use to this lifestyle but I guess I was wrong. Planning ahead now, like for reals.

What is the whole 30 really about?

well my friends, it's a 30 day challenge. its paleo to the extreme, no dairy, no rice, no white potatoes, no processed foods, no sugar, no gluten (obviously), no paleo treats (eeeeekkkk).... sticking to clean foods, fruit and veggies. we are planning on eating more veggies than fruit or meat but taking in enough protein and fat and nutrients. i just hope i can do it. i know i can do paleo, it's just a matter of sticking to the restrictions and re-starting my paleo journey.

so this means no almond milk coffeeeeeeeeeeee. (i can make my own almond milk but i need a blender and a cheese cloth). oh paleo.....might mean i need to buy a blender ;)

happy night before the 30 days begin...for now i enjoy my gluten free brownies in peace :D

Starting the Whole 30

I took the plunge and signed up for the Whole 30, it begins tomorrow. Today I spend some time meal prepping and taking a look at some websites and figuring out what the heck to make for a weeks worth of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Nom Nom Paleo has a great list of recipes which I will most likely be pulling from. Luckily I am not in this alone. I have two friends doing it with me. I know that the Whole 30 probably won't be as hard because I generally eat a lot of the foods anyway and don't eat most of what's on the list but I have gotten lazy and do enjoy my fair share of RICE, bacon and white potatoes. 

I like this idea of the Whole 30 because it suggests you set goals for the 30 days and take a before and after shot. I never did a before shot when I started Paleo and I wish I had. So today I will be thinking of some goals and what I want to accomplish in the next 30 days.....

Goals:

1. I will walk/lift weights/do Pilates for 45 minutes 5 days a week.
2. I will do the loop at least 4 times during the 30 days.
3. I will take 4 classes at my gym in the 30 days.


For now, 3 goals is good. 

Day 00 and 30 more days to go. Here goes nothing. I will attempt to blog frequently during this process so be on the look out! Keep me accountable and cheer me on :)

Coffee and almond milk

A few weeks ago, I gave up dairy. I have been having coffee with almond milk only and if I have dairy, I bloat up almost immediately and get tons of gas. I will say that cold brew coffee and almond milk are an awesome combo! If I make it at home, I do not need sugar, which is even better because I'm not adding those calories. 

I'm just sharing my experience. You'll be surprised at how awesome almond milk is and how much it can change a cup of coffee.

Happy Thursday!

Yummy paleo snack!!!

These almond butter bars are amazing! I just had one as a snack and they are so yummy!!!! Creamy and delicious. I highly recommend them!

This is what cutting dairy looks like

Most recent photo of this Pilates addict!!! Progress, progress, progress 

On the left was 3 years ago

On the right was taken last year

Don't believe me that I eat real good good and haven changed my body? That's proof! 

Happy Sunday!