WHOLE ME | Whole30 Week 1

Lately, I feel like I've been right on the edge of something extraordinary. It's been a slow climb but I feel like I've finally landed on something that feels like home. The Whole 30. Some of you probably know what this is, some of you don't. For thirty days, I am abstaining from grains, legumes, dairy, alcohol, and sugar. 

You're probably thinking..." That sounds horrible! Why would you ever do that??!!" 

Well, I'm doing it because I want to change my relationship with food and finally feel good in my own skin. Ever since I had a baby, a year and a half ago, I have been on a constant struggle with my weight and how I feel about myself. Somedays, I think about it constantly. Other days, I avoid it with everything within me and reach for another cookie and then another. 

I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. I've set out to change that. I want to feel confident and actually love the person that looks back at me in the mirror. I like that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. In my mind, I can do anything for 30 days. I tried this about a month ago and failed miserably in the process of getting new floors in our home, not having a kitchen for a week, and then going on vacation and eating whatever my heart desired. My head wasn't in the game. It is now. 

I have been taking photos of all of my meals, in an effort to document everything that I am eating. I have scheduled out all of my workouts for the month and it's been really good getting back into the swing of things. I'm doing a combination of the HIIT program, 30 Day Shred, Yoga Inferno, and PIYO. I will probably incorporate in other workouts if I get bored and I want to take a lot of walks with Marin. 

(Side Note: If you are looking for an amazing planner, check out the GetToWork Book. I am so obsessed. I believe this round is sold out, but she will be releasing them again.) 

Here is what I ate in the first week. I totally nerd out when other bloggers post about this stuff, so if you aren't a fan of food photos, quit reading. You've been warned. 

The one thing about this plan is you cook a lot. I'm constantly washing dishes but I feel so much better about what I'm putting in my body. It's worth it. 

B: Aidell's Sausage from Costco, Fried Egg, Melons, Coffee (Black) 

L: Chicken, Steamed Veggies, Melon

S: Apple w/ Almond Butter

D: Turkey, Paleo Avocado Mayo, Bell Peppers, HB eggs, plantains, guacamole, dates for dessert

B: Scrambled eggs (no milk) with Aidell's Sausage, Spinach, Black Coffee

L: Spinach, Cruciferous Crunch from Trader Joe's sautéed in avocado oil and ghee, Chicken, Grapes

S: Plantains, Avocado, Salsa

D: Chicken Wrapped in Prosciutto, HB Eggs, Steamed Veggies

B: Smoothie (mango, berries, spinach, almond milk) 
*I know the rules are all about not having smoothies. My kid drinks these and still plan to make them.

L: Same as Day 2's dinner

S: Iced Tea (unsweetened), Dates

D: Plantains, Avocado, Chicken, Salsa

B: Banana, Blueberries, Almond Butter, HB Eggs, Black Coffee

L: Turkey, Bell Peppers, Spicy Mustard, Guacamole, Plantains, Grapes

D: Watermelon, Ridell's Sausage, Broccoli, Mustard, Berries for Dessert

B: Larabar, Banana, HB Eggs, Iced Coffee. Later on I had an apple. Hungry at work. 

L: Chipotle! Carnitas, Salad, Salsa, Guacamole. So delicious!! Ice Tea. 

D: (Went to the movies and didn't get popcorn and a soda!) Plantains, grapes, Iced Tea

B: Bacon & Eggs (It was really hard trying to find compliant bacon.) 
L: Tuna with paleo avocado mayo, lots of greens, banana peppers, sauerkraut, and sweet potatoes. (The kitchen sink salad) 
S: Coffee & Banana
D: Sweet Potatoes, Shredded Salsa Verde Chicken, Peppers, Guac, Plantains for added crunch, Salsa

B: Larabar, Banana, HB Eggs, Iced Cold Brew from Starbucks
L: Same as dinner last night, minus the plantains. (I behaved myself today.) 
D: Veggies, Chicken Wrapped In Prosciutto, Pineapple

What I'm Learning: 

1. This takes a lot of prep and cooking. 

2. I need to make sure I drink a lot more water.

3. I need to eat even more veggies. 

4. I need to lay off of the plantains so much. Those suckers are good. 

5. Chipotle is amazing.

6. Sugar is in everything. 

7. I always want to step on the scale in the morning and have to remind myself that I can't. 

8. I love how I wake up sore from my workouts the day before. It feels great to work my muscles. 

9. I need to not snack in the afternoon. 

Currently Clicking #19

Each and every week, I gather links of all of the places I have been perusing in the great, grand internet. There are plenty of people out there doing big things and small things. Some of these are practical, some are inspiring. This week I realize that I always need to eat more salads and figure out how to eat healthy on a budget. I am also drooling over a house tour, wondering how you know a trend is truly over, dreaming of a peach dish to make, thinking about what it means to separate work from motherhood and whether or not is possible, and reminding myself about the reasons we all have to let go of our past. 

1.  I always need to eat more salad. Here are 5 Tips for Making a Week's Worth of Salads on a Sunday. 
2. Trends come and go. My ever changing hair over the years should probably be a sign of that. How do you know if a trend is done and over with? How do you know if a trend is officially over? 
3. I am completely in love with this house tour. They make living with two children in a 1100 square foot house actually seem doable. I love the back yard space and the flooring throughout the house. I am becoming more and more ready to get our house on the market and find a new place to call home. 
4. We always need tips on healthy eating on a budget. This post has some great tips to keep in mind, especially when aiming for a whole food, plant based diet. Also, might I add her grilled peaches and sweet cream with crunchy bits looks so darn delicious. 
5. Now that I am a mother, even more of this post rings true: 10 Things Women Like To Do Alone. 
6. One of my goals someday, hopefully, is to have the ability to work from home or something that looks somewhat like that, in a job that is creative and challenging. Here is a great post about working from home for entrepreneurs.  But on the flip side, here is another point of view of being a work at home mom. Both of these links were seen at Shutterbean and I love her list posts so very much. As a mom and a person in the work world, can we every truly find balance between the two? Are we meant to? 
7. And lastly, a good reminder: 10 Reasons to Let Go of Your Past. 

Oatmeal Raisin Bites

The man and I have been on Weight Watchers for a while and we really love it, as far as diets go. I guess I should really call it a lifestyle because I hardly ever feel deprived and that's why I've returned to the plan time and time again. One thing is for sure though, I still love me some baking. It's therapeutic for me to put some headphones and tunes on, get myself covered in flour and brown sugar, and bake something yummy. Some recipes suck in this regard because they aren't good for you, but some, like the ones from WW's are a godsend. I still get my cookie/bread/cake fix and know that I won't totally blog my diet. Win, win. 

The recipe that I recently tried was for Oatmeal Raisin Bites. I only altered the recipe a tad. I added one more egg (which might take this up to 3 points per cookie, instead of two), because the dough was really dry. 

The hubby, roommates, and any other person that walked into our home greatly approved. I will remember this recipe. 

You will need: 

1 1/2 cups uncooked rolled oats

3/4 cups whole-grain wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp table salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 cups regular butter, softened

1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1/4 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

1 cup raising, chopped 

• 
  

Preheat oven to 350ºF

In a medium bowl, combine oats, flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; set aside. 

Using an electric mixer, cream butter and both sugars until incorporated. Add egg and vanilla; mix thoroughly.

 Add egg and vanilla; mix thoroughly. Add oat mixture and mix until just combined; fold in raisins.

The hubby helped. 

Drop rounded teaspoons of batter onto 2 ungreased cookie sheets, about 1-inch apart each. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes for chewy cookies or 11 to 12 minutes for crispy cookies. Remove from oven and let cookies rest on cookie sheets for about 2 minutes; remove cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Yields 1 cookie per serving.

Side note: I left these in the oven a tad longer because of the addition of the 2nd egg. They took a little longer to bake completely. 

I'm sad they all have already been eaten. 

I Want to Be a Loser

I know what you're thinking: What an emo title. What a great read for my Tuesday morning. Stay with me, I promise I will make some sort of sense. 

If any of you know me or have read my blog for any given amount of time, you probably know that I'm always on some sort of diet. I'm always scoping out the next meal plan or fitness routine. It is a struggle. My weight has been a constant force the past few years, a force to be reckoned with. A force that I cannot allow to sway my days any longer. 

I've been on a new plan and going to the gym very consistently as of late and I feel awesome. I feel awesome until the fateful time I step on the scale every week, only to be hit with the same darn number. My muscle mass is going up, my fat mass is going down, but still no budge. Not even a smidgen. It stares back at me like something that has been etched long ago into cement, never to change or morph. 

I'm sick of staring at that scale. I don't want to any more. I want to wake up every morning knowing that I'm feeding my body extremely well, taking care of it, lifting my weights, and sweating my butt off. That's all I need. That's really all I want. 

I still want to be a loser though. A loser of pounds. A gainer of muscle, confidence, and strength. My jeans are buttoning easier than they used to and I've had to wear a belt with my favorite blue jeans. I am not only a number. I am a strong women that is taking this one step at a time. 

As I was cooking my meals for the week last night, it really hit me. No more scale. No more measuring. No more stressing out and feeling miserable. Just living and breathing, sweating and enduring. That's it. Healthy meals, healthy habits, kick butt workouts. 

Simply put this morning: I want to be a loser. But, the scale and I are going to break up for a while. 

And I feel totally alright with that. 

My Vegan Journey: January Update

I have a love hate relationship with food in most circumstances. I love a good cheese, some french bread, and wine just like the next person, but my hips and tummy probably would disagree most times. I want to get through my day knowing that I ate the best that I could, nourished my body with the fuel that it needs (which probably shouldn't include drinking quite as much coffee. Maybe green tea!), and being nice to my self and the misconceptions I may have about my body and health. 

It's a constant journey. I cannot eat like an angel for a few days and then completely sabotage myself on the weekend just because I kept it up for a few days. I think I make it far more difficult than it needs to be at times. 

January was a good month. I ate mostly vegan. I would be lying to you if I said I didn't allow myself a cheat day every once in a while, but I can say that I only consumed meat maybe 3 or so times. That in itself is a triumph. Whenever I could eat vegan I would. When we would go out or I wanted to have a nice date with my man, sometimes that's harder to do. Those times would be when I would eat vegetarian at least. 

Don't get me wrong, eating vegan is wonderful. I feel better. My stomach loves me so much more. I enjoy planning meals and actually cooking something. But, a girl has to have some cheese every once in a while. Let's not get all crazy. 

My journey for February......

I plan on still eating as close to vegan as possible but I will allow some dairy every once in a while. I miss my greek yogurt and the occasional veggie pizza. But, meat? I don't really desire it as much as I used to. I'm alright with that. 

I like the challenge. It's good for me to plan my meals out before hand. I enjoy cooking and baking with a vegan bent in mind. I plan on continuing on this journey for the months to come. One thing I would like to add to this journey is more exercise. Sitting at a desk all day isn't helping anyone. I also would like to embrace using my juicer more often. 

Hello, February. 

Healthy Eating

I stumbled across this company, Door to Door Organics,  a few days ago and I was so stoked to find that they deliver locally. I love the idea of supporting local farmers, having a box of delicious, organic vegetables and fruits delivered straight to my doorstep twice a month, and knowing that I am taking better care of myself and my husband. 

I can't wait for Monday! (Never thought I would say that.) Monday is the day that they deliver to our area and I cannot wait to cook some meals I have never endeavored upon and to know that I'm eating healthy. For those of you that don't know, I recently went on a diet and lost thirty pounds and my goal is to maintain that weight loss before I continue on the next stretch come January. (More on that in another post.) Being able to finally lose the weight has made me completely rethink the food I put into my mouth and I really do desire to eat healthy foods. 

Here is what will be in our box this coming Monday: 

5 ea. Roma Tomatoes

1 ea. Red Leaf Lettuce

1 ea. Collard Greens bunch

1 ea. Fennel Bulb

1 ea. Carrots 1LB. Bag

2 ea. Zucchini Squash

1 ea. Cucumber

2 ea. Pomegranate

2 ea. Anjou Pear

2 ea. Kiwi Fruit

2 ea. Pinova Apple

2 ea. Pink Lady Apple

4 ea. Navel Orange

I can't wait! I need to grab my mom's chocolate chip zucchini bread recipe from her and actually try it out! 

Again, please go check out their website. 

Door to Door Organics 

Do Yourself A Favor

Find out where this man is playing music, go there, listen, buy his records, enjoy.

It is pretty rare for a band to move me as much as Nathaniel Rateliff and the Wheel do. I'm always left breathless and nearly in tears at their shows due to the pure emotion that drips from their songs, their vocal harmonies are unlike anything from these parts, and they just seem like a group of down to earth musicians.

Go here. Listen now.

They played in Fort Collins last night at one of our beloved venues and I was yet again, not disappointed.

In other news, I ordered this book and just began reading it yesterday. Lets just say that my stomach hates me most days and I'm pretty dang sick of it. I'm currently researching my options and hope to find some solutions.

What a Week....

I'll begin with the gross part of this post. Earlier this week, we thought that I had been bit by a spider (gross!) on the back of my left leg. Later did we find out, after I finally went to the doctor because my leg was swelling up like a balloon and hurt, that I had a skin abscess.  Which means, they had to cut into my leg and get all of the gross infection out that my body had been using to combat a bacteria that I could have gotten anywhere. Needless to say, the doctor had to re-stuff my leg with gauze or what they call "packing." I have to get it taken out tomorrow, which is not going to be an enjoyable event! But, atleast it wasn't a spider bite. 

SIDENOTE: SORRY FOR THE GROSS POST! :) 

I also began this week with a new diet extravaganza! Ryan and I went shopping and stuffed our fridge and cupboards full of good, healthy food! It feels so nice to eat better. I even created meal plans for the week, which I have followed pretty well, except our dinners get kind of scattered every once in a while due to the craziness of life. 

I originally was contemplating going vegan, no meat, eggs, cheese, dairy, etc. Which is quite a massive task. But, due to the sanity of my poor husband that puts up with me and my healthy eating tangents, I decided to keep a little meat in the diet. 

Once my leg heals, I'll be back exercising again. It feels so nice to be taking care of myself. Since college, my self-image has been on a roller coaster ride. And now I have hit a plateau in a place that I'm not to fond of. But, my current goal is just taking far better care of myself than usual. I am always running a million miles an hour with my hand in far to many things, that eating and exercising kind of gets toss aside. This must change! I'll keep you updated as well! :) 

The Goal: *Which I haven't seen in quite a while! :)