Day 10...it takes a village...

You'll have to excuse me....I'm a bit ferklempt right now.  Seriously, I'm overwhelmed by someone else's actions right now.  You see, today is February 28th.  It is the last business day of the month.  It is cake day.  Not just any cake day, but MY cake day...for my birthday month.  I totally forgot all about it until I returned from lunch to find a small note from Saint Weaver notifying us of the day.  My heart sank.  I'm not going to get cake on MY cake day.  This is a tragedy, a true tragedy.  Stacy tried to console me by telling me flat abs are better than cake.  I'm not so sure I agree with her today...yesterday maybe, but not today.  I want cake!!



 

And then, 5 minutes into my pity party, Saint Nancy entered my office.  She said, "it's cake day and this is YOUR cake" as she offered me a pint of mixed fresh tropical fruit.  She said, "this is so you won't cheat.  You get yours first."  OH.EMMMM.GEEEE.  How thoughtful and supportive and sweet is that?  Immediately, the feeling of deprivation and defeat fled my body.  I can do this.  I may not be able to do it on my own, but I have support...I can do this.  Thank you Saint Nancy for your extreme thoughtfulness.  You just saved me.

Let this be a lesson.  Accountability, though sometimes embarrassing, is often necessary for an addict....whatever your addiction may be.  I think I totally would've justified cheating today if Nancy hadn't been there reminding me of my resolve.

Until tomorrow....

Day 9 and I feel fine!

So day 9 is upon us and I'm dying to get on the scale to see what I weigh.  I feel great today.  Lean and mean.  Yesterday I had a great workout and post workout with Kristina.  My bum is sore from CrossFit this week and it's the good kind of sore.  The kind of sore that lets you know that something is working!  I love it!  My jeans fit good this morning and everything.  I really want to know what my number is.  But, I won't.  I will not do it.  A few of reasons why I will not do it: 1) I said I would not (reason enough...I must be a person of my word thus saith the Lord), 2) I can't imagine what I would do if I wasn't at the weight I thought I should be at.  It would send me into a downward spiral and I can't afford that, especially since it's a beautiful day and I don't want to waste it on self loathing thoughts.  3) If the number was much lower than I expected I could get cocky real quick and think I can do no wrong...that I am just that fit.  I've experienced this feeling which usually leads to celebration which usually leads to the pounds coming back.  No thank you.  Therefore, given the aforementioned reasons, I shall not weigh myself.  I will just bask in the feeling of awesomeness that I have today and I will be content with it. 

Meanwhile, I am having a wonderful salad for lunch today.  Truly amazing.  Mixed greens, arugula, red onion, avocado, red bell pepper, tomatoes, and oranges dressed with olive oil, juice from my orange, and a tsp of my mango dressing.  So fresh and delicious.  I highly recommend it.  Also, one reason that I don't like making salads at home is because they never seem to be mixed enough or dressed enough.  To solve this problem, I throw all my salad ingredients in a freezer bag including oils and dressing and shake so everything is mixed.  Then I pour onto my plate.  Genius and perfection.  Please feel free to pin :)

I'm going to try and figure out how to fit in a workout in the next 3 days.  I have church tonight, a church meeting tomorrow, and there's no Friday CrossFit class.  Might have to bite the bullet and wake up early...yuck.  Definitely not ideal, but might have to happen. 

I hope you too enjoy the sunshine today.  I'm loving it even though I won't be running in it.  It is God's anti-depressant and I'm so thankful for it.  Thank you Lord.

Enjoy your day!

Until tomorrow....

I'm a slacker and cheater!

Ok, so I've been a real slacker on posting.  I'm going to make an excuse.  The weather.  The weather makes me angry.  It makes me tired and lethargic.  It makes me want to curl up on the couch in my flannel and watch reality TV.  I just haven't had the energy to drag out the laptop and get it done.  I apologize. 

While I'm confessing and asking for forgiveness, I also must note that I cheated.  Last night I had chili from Wendy's.  Not a huge indiscretion, but a cheat nonetheless.  The chili would be fine except for the beans.  Oh well, I really have nothing against beans and I'm not sure why cavemen do either.  Not an excuse; still a cheat but I'm totally justifying it.  Also, while I'm at it, you should know that I've been eating the dressing that comes on the Panera salad that I get.  I'm sure it has sugar but I don't want to check.  So, I'm pretending it's fine.  This challenge without the points and competition makes it easy to slip. 

Now I feel better.

So the past couple of days have been good even though I cheated.  I've still eaten clean except for those slips.  I feel fine.  I'm not feeling too deprived.  Although, I'm having chili again for lunch today (it's freezing and raining, people!!) and I just threw away my saltine crackers and felt a little deprived.  I really would like one but I won't let myself slip that much.  That will send me down the whole carbolicious slope.  No sir.  Oh, and last night while having chili, Marcus made a pizza.  The smell made me feel deprived too.  Then I watched Fashion Police, Oscars edition and remembered that I love clothes and love to buy clothes that fit and so the deprivation subsided.  Thank you, malnourished Hollywood in tiny designer clothes.

Speaking of deprived....I still have not weighed myself.  Tracy let me know this morning that she is back down to fighting weight after losing 7 pounds in the last 8 days.  Bravo, Tracy, bravo.  This again confirms that she was clearly a caveman in her previous life.  This also proves that eating this way works if you do it right.  However, this information made me want to find out how I was doing.  Of course, I didn't weigh before I started so I won't know how well I've done but at least I could know if I was at fighting weight.  Oh well.  I promise not to cheat on that vow.  I will not weigh myself until the end.  I do feel better.  I know for sure that's an improvement.  No sugar and no grains (specifically wheat) will do that for you.  I'm not so bloaty. 

Ok, I think that's all for now.  Marcus says that he's not sure anyone cares about what I eat everyday so I'm going to omit the food diary.  Never fear, I'm still documenting it in my little book, I just won't bore you with it.  If you need some ideas of what to eat, just let me know!  By now, you can probably tell that my diet is pretty boring and not that eventful (unless my in laws are cooking!).

Enjoy the rain.....no, wait, please pray for sun (this blog depends on it, clearly).

Until tomorrow....

Day 6...Paleo sucks on weekends

Sorry I missed yesterday's post.  I was tired.  After work I had a stressful hour plus drive to the big city of Social Circle with 2 neurotic Brittany Spaniels.  Marcus has been working the Southeast Bike Expo in Conyers this weekend.  Since it's about 15 minutes from his parents' house, he decided to stay at their house.  He stayed there Thursday night so I said me and the boys would come join them Friday after work.  I also managed to sell my bike on Craigs List and the buyer was going to come to the bike expo to pick it up.  So, I was tasked with packing the car with a bike and 2 dogs.  Marcus took the car with the bike rack so my packing had to be strategic.  I really didn't want to take the dogs in my new car, but I had no choice.  I strategized and decided that I could fit the bike in the back of the car and to minimize the jumping around on the leather seats, I would put sheets down and buckle the dogs in through their harnesses.  Genius!! They couldn't jump around on the leather and in the back on the carbon bike and everything could fit.

So the plan was perfect.  I had the bike packed and the seats covered with sheets.  I decided to get Tanner buckled in first because he goes crazy when left in the house alone without Chester.  Easy.  Done.  I went back in to get Chester.  I was gone for 3 minutes....maybe.  I came out and Tanner was twisted around backwards and stuck.  No worries, I would just get Chester settled and go untwist him.  When I went to untwist'him, I noticed he was chewing neurotically on the seat belt  He had managed to almost chew a hole through the seat belt and the edge was frayed.  It was so frayed in fact that it wouldn't retract anymore.  Great.  New car seat belt broken.  Whatever, I didn't have time to worry about it now.  So, I unbuckled Tanner and kept Chester buckled in.  Not a good idea.  Tanner has no sense of personal space so he ended up seating on Chester's head.  I had to pull over 3 times on the side of the road before I finally unbuckled Chester and let the mayhem ensue.  Windows down, heads out the window, heat on high, Florence and the Machine blaring, hair flying everywhere, pouring down rain, dark country roads.  A calm Friday night.  I had to stop to get some things at CVS in Monroe and was trying to roll the windows up a bit so my insane hounds wouldn't jump out.  I managed to almost decapitate Tanner.  The window kept going up and his head was stuck.  So much so he couldn't even yelp.  Luckily, it went down quickly.  Ah!!!!  I needed a drink...but I couldn't have one because a caveman wouldn't have a drink!!!

When I finally got to my in laws house, my wild banshee dogs continued their antics.  Tanner (65 lbs) hiked his leg on my in laws' coffee table.  He has NEVER peed in the house EVER and he chooses to do it at my in laws'!!!  More reasons for a drink! 

By this time I was starving and luckily, my in laws prepared a wonderful Paleo friendly meal.  Eggplant with turkey marinara.  It was delicious.  Then they made morning glory muffins for dessert!! Awesome!  I was so glad this was the meal waiting for me after the catastrophe in the car because if there was anything else in site, I probably would've caved and stuffed my face. 

So, the day ended much better but I was too tired to post.  Today has been good so far.  The weekends are really hard for this.  I love the weekends to indulge in whatever I want.  It's terrible when it's rainy, cold, and you have to eat healthy.  I stayed at the house with my in laws today and probably ate more calories than normal but still managed to keep it clean.  I even fit in a 3 mile run.  I was going to try and make it longer but the neighborhood stray dog Shaggy followed me the entire way even onto the main road in Social Circle.  Although not my dog, I felt responsible for him and I didn't want him to get hit by a car so I decided to turn around and stay on their road.  It was a good run though.  I was just happy to get one in because I was prepared for the monsoon all day. 

A Paleo salad is on the menu for dinner.  Thanks to my in laws and Marcus for suffering with me this weekend.  It is much appreciated.  I am wishing that we worked a cheat day in the rules for this challenge.  Maybe Tracy will like that idea and agree with me :)

Until tomorrow.....

iPhone post with midget thumbs

So this one is going to be pretty short because Marcus is not home tonight and he has the laptop. I'm not a good at texting anyway. So, all in all not a bad day, but the food lusting continues. While running I ran past Arby's and their sign that said "hurry! Chocolate molten lava cake makes you melt". I hurried all right, hurried right past it. When I got home I was drooling over the Dr. Pepper bottle that Marcus left on the counter. I don't really even drink sodas. But I managed to make a fabulous salad. Ingredients below. I'm still hungry. I might have to mix up a smoothie. Sorry again for the brevity and spelling errors. See below for the daily diet.

Breakfast:
2 eggs and 1.5 slices of bacon (would've been 2 but I burned it pretty bad so Chester helped me out)

Snack:
Apple with 1 tbsp cashew butter

Lunch:
Turkey burger patty with soy sauce
Sweet potato with olive oil
2 clementines

Snack:
1 oz cinnamon almonds
1 mini Lara bar
10 turkey pepperonis

Dinner:
Salad a la alexis:
Spring mix and arugula
Red onion
Tomato
1 clementine
1/2 avocado
2 tbsp Mango dressing (bolthouse farms)
1 tbsp basil infused olive oil (aldi)
Salt/pepper
Put it all in a freezer bag and shake it up and then pour in a bowl. Fab!!

Snack: probably a smoothie before bed :-) its been 30 minutes after my salad and I'm still hungry.

Until tomorrow and until I can get a real keyboard....

Day 3...resisting the company lunch

Day 3 started the beginnings of the cravings.  It was bound to happen.  Hardcore motivation fizzled out after 2 days.  Mind you, I still did fine, but I had lustful thoughts about food today.  The morning was fine.  The morning is always fine.  Each day a fresh start; a desire to succeed and start of on the right foot.  How could you go wrong with my smoothie? 

The hard part started at lunch.  It was company lunch day because we were welcoming a new employee.  Luckily, we catered Shane's Rib shack.  Not a huge favorite of mine.  However, when you're limited in diet, anything sounds good.  The BBQ chicken looked glorious.  The only other items that made my mouth water were the individually wrapped brownies and chocolate chip cookies.  I considered not going to the lunch at all.  After all, I did bring my lunch.  I have a thing about being anti-social so that was not really an option.  So, being the dedicated Paleolithic eater that I am, I prepared my salad and took it into the auditorium and watched everyone else eat the forbidden food.  Willpower at it's finest.

The afternoon was busy and went by pretty quickly.  I decided to treat myself to a salad from Panera for dinner because it was youth group night and I didn't have time to go home before church.  Plus, I knew that if I didn't eat something that all the sugar that comes with the 7th grade girls that I teach would do me in.  Not to mention that I have a bag full of Blow Pops that I carry around in my car so I can bring and bribe the girls to stay focused.  I wanted one so bad and instinctively almost ate one.  I made it though. 

After church I was hungry again.  So, as soon as I got home, I prepared a smoothie.  Still hungry, I ate a mini Lara Bar.  Now, as I type this minute, I'm still hungry.  It's 10:00 and I can't eat anything else....unless maybe I snack on the little pepperonis that I bought.  Yes, I'll probably do that.  So that I can do that now, I'll cut to the chase and get to the daily menu:

Breakfast:
Smoothie (same as usual)

Snack:
Apple w/ 1 tbsp cashew butter

Lunch:
Spring mix and arugula salad with avocado, tomato, red onion, and balsamic vinaigrette

Snack:
1 oz. cinnamon almonds

Dinner:
1/2 chopped chicken salad with avocado, onions, tomatoes
1 apple

Snack:
Smoothie
1 mini Cashew Cookie Lara Bar

Snack:
Pepperoni

Until tomorrow.....

Caveman Hands!?!?!

Today on day 2, I discovered that I may not be as lean looking or a strong as a caveman but I might have caveman hands.  For those of you that know me well you may be thinking this cannot be true due to my extremely small thumbs, but I tell you, it's true.  First, they are extremely calloused and rough from my cross fitting escapades.  You see, there is a big fat bar (for pull ups, toes to bar, etc) that is high of the ground.  This is the guy bar.  There is a lower skinnier bar for the girls that is easier for them to hold.  However, due to my above average height, my feet are flat on the ground when I reach up to the girl bar.  Therefore, I am forced to use the guy bar.  I think my small thumbs contribute to the difficulty of me holding the bar.  So now I have extremely ugly, rough palms. 

As if that weren't enough, I also realized in the past couple of days that the width of my palms is also "above average".  I've always been a little claustrophobic when it comes to toe socks, a binding dress that gets stuck on my shoulders in the dressing room, and especially bangle bracelets.  All of these constricting items cause an unexplainable anxiety attack whereby I'm pretty sure my muscles and bones swell making the constriction worse.  While I can easily avoid toe socks and trying on binding dresses, bangle bracelets are so hard for me.  I love accessories and they are so pretty.  Every time I try to get one on, I freak out and can't get it over my hand.  My mom has tried to force them on me while we shop because she doesn't understand with her dainty little hands.  This weekend was my birthday and my husband bought me 2 beautiful bracelets....both with no clasping mechanism to release them.  Clearly, he hasn't been accessory shopping with me.  Even though they were bangles, I absolutely loved them and really wanted to keep them.  I've been forcing them on my hands for 2 days.  This afternoon when I was taking them off for Cross Fit, tears actually filled my eyes.  It hurts so bad.  After Cross Fit, I went to Mom and Dad's to use their treadmill.  I showed Mom my new bracelets and explained my predicament.  She again tried to show me the proper way put them on.  Then I tried and she saw how wide my hands were and said that I just couldn't wear them.  It's because of my caveman hands.  Rough, calloused, wide but short, with midget thumbs.  Luckily, Dad said he thinks a jeweler could add a clasp for me.  Crisis averted; thanks Dad.  He understands because apparently the caveman hands come from him.

In other news, my diet was pretty good today.  A lot of the same things as yesterday as you will see except for dinner.  Marcus grilled some turkey burgers that I made up awhile ago that were in the freezer.  He also bought a new blender (ours was blending sub par smoothies), so I had to try it out to make sure it could do the job with my smoothie recipe.  The first test was to see if it could chop ice.  Chop ice?? More like shave ice!!! Looked just like snow cone quality ice.  So then I tested my recipe even though I'd already eaten dinner.  The best smoothie texture I've ever made! Well done Marcus, well done.

Without further ado, below is my daily food intake.  Oh, random, but hopefully helpful, if you want some good running music that keeps a good beat and cadence, download the Ceremonials album from Florence and the Machine. 

Breakfast:
Smoothie (same as yesterday)
4 oz. green tea mixed with 4 oz. peppermint tea with 1 tsp honey

Snack:
Apple with 1 Tbsp cashew butter

Lunch:
3 oz. turkey
1 sweet potato with 1 tsp olive oil, salt & pepper
2 clementines

Snack:
1 oz. cinnamon almonds

Snack:
1/2 freeze dried berries (from Target)
Pecan Pie Lara Bar
mixed nut and cranberry trail mix packet (from Trader Joes)

Dinner:
turkey burger patty w/ avocado
1/4 yellow bell pepper
smoothie (same as breakfast)

Good night.  Until tomorrow....

Day 1 Results

So day 1 was as expected, not that bad.  Day 1 is never bad.  You have motivation and anticipation on your side. It's Days 4-15 that are not so good.  On those days you start lusting after food.  You don't even lust after good food.  The lust is for the bread on a sandwich or the black beans with your fajitas. 

Since we just finished up Valentines Day and my birthday, I have extra candy lying around.  This morning as I was making my smoothie, I saw half off a sea salted dark chocolate bar which my sister-in-law, Tracy, gave me for my birthday.  I looked at it and thought "Ha! I'm not even tempted by you!" I honestly thought to myself that I would have no problem resisting it and the bag full of Lindt truffles from my Dad for the whole challenge even though they would stare me in the face every morning.  Then I remembered days 4-15.  I realized I would have to get the crack out of the house before the dawn of day 4. 

To succeed in healthy eating, you must never let yourself get hungry.  I found that is the key.  I know this, but yet I still let it happen.  Once you get hungry, your 300 lb, couch potato, alter ego Helga takes over and you can't be held responsible for anything that goes in your mouth.  There are 3 distinct times that I know I can't let myself get to that blood sugar dropping hunger state: 1) Before I go to the grocery store, 2) Before I go to lunch at work (especially if chips or bread are served for free before your meal), and 3) Before I leave work.  Those are my 3 most vulnerable moments.  The goal for today was not to get hungry.  So, I decided to eat something small every 2-2.5 hours.  I also tried to drink my water.  I did pretty well today.  I tiptoed in the danger zone after Cross Fit on the way to the grocery store, but I managed to take back control by heading straight to the deli counter first.  I got a pound of turkey and helped myself to a few pieces while I shopped.  I'm sure it was real attractive watching a grown woman eating turkey out of the Ziploc bag while browsing the salad dressings.  Hey, I had to do what I had to do.  It could've been a bad scene, but crisis was averted. 

It's no 8:45 and I have made a conscious decision not to eat anything else even though I'm a tad bit hungry.  I will sleep much better than if I eat something else and have a too full stomach.  As promised, below is what I shoved into my mouth today.  Very boring, but successful:

Breakfast:
Smoothie (1 c. unsweet vanilla almond milk, 1 banana, 1 tbsp cashew butter, 1 tbsp unsweet cocoa, 1 c. of frozen black cherries)

Snack:
10 oz. green tea w/ 1 tsp. honey (Tracy believes honey is allowed; therefore, I believe it is allowed)
1 Apple (a sour green one :( yuck!)

Lunch:
3 oz. deli turkey (Boars Head only - no preservatives)
1 small sweet potato w/ 1 tsp. olive oil, salt & pepper
2 small clementines

Snack:
1 oz. cinnamon almonds (no sugar)

Snack:
Pecan Pie Lara Bar (one of THE best flavors)

Snack:
5 oz. deli turkey

Dinner:
2 scrambled eggs
1.5 slices of bacon

Tomorrow will probably be more of the same; however, I did purchase some chicken sausage so variety might be on the horizon if I can overcome my lazy cooking gene.  I clearly need some more vegetables...but I don't really like them.  Maybe asparagus....or salad....

Until tomorrow....

Here we go again...

Day 1....29 to go....

Good morning everyone.  You may be asking why you're seeing another post from me.  Well, unfortunately, I've decided it's time to do the challenge again.  Yep, that's right, 30 more days.  It's time for a detox again.  After the challenge last time, I continued to eat pretty well and lose more weight.  Slowly but surely though, I've let my bad habits creep back in and control me.  Before they become too great to overcome and before I lose everything I've worked for, I figured I better get back in this game....for real.  I've started every week and every morning with intentions of eating Paleo, but every day seemed to turn out a little (or a lot depending on the day) differently than planned.  I've rallied my partner in crime and sister from another mister, Tracy, to join me once again on this challenge.  She has graciously obliged and I'm so glad.  It really does help to have accountability.  That's why I'm posting here again.  This gives me great accountability. 

I'm going to do things a bit differently this time.  First, I'm not using the scale or measurements.  I'm not going to let myself get caught up in the numbers.  I'm an accountant and that's what I like is the numbers, but I get so caught up in them that some days I'm a train wreck when they don't come out like they are supposed to.  I know where I should be.  This 30 days is not about really getting below where I know I should and can be.  It's about cleaning out my body and being good to it again.  It's about fueling my body for my training so my performance is at its peak.  It's a different mindset.  I will only weigh at the very end of the challenge to see where I am.  Other than that, it will be a blind challenge.

I also hope to post what I eat on here.  Why?  It's not that I think you want to see why I put in mouth everyday, but it's the ultimate accountability.  If I cheat and I have to tell you what I ate, it will make cheating less desirable.  Also, though I tend to eat pretty blandly and tend to have the same things over and over again, you may find something you like that you could try in your diet to mix things up a bit.  The posting of the food is important because last time I did it, just not on here.  I posted what I ate everyday on our challenge group's facebook page.  We had to so we could track points.  No points involved this time, just pure accountability. 

Lastly, I hope Tracy will do some guest posts :) She has no idea about this part, but I hope she will agree because she is freaking hilarious!  She will definitely add a lot to the posts.  Also, she is an amazing cook and can probably share some way more exciting recipes than I ever will be able to.

So, stay tuned.  Today, February 18th, is day one.  Day 30 will be on March 19th.  Like training for my 2nd marathon, it seems a lot more doable this time.  We shall see....we shall see.