Whole30 Challenge Day 4

Welcome to Day 4! Are you excited? I am! I've been feeling great today.

Breakfast:

1/6 Egg bake (ground beef seasoned with a variety of spices; sauteed onion, mini-sweet peppers, and pea shoots; steamed broccoli; scrambled egg with frozen spinach mixed in; a few black olives) topped with some homemade guacamole
1 banana



Lunch:
Leftover Mexican Pulled Pork w/Onions and Peppers
Asparagus
Cumin-Scented Cabbage Salad topped with a spoonful of our homemade mayo and a couple spoonfuls of my homemade guacamole
1 apple

Dinner:
Slow Cooker Chicken with Apple and Sweet Potato
Green beans with coconut oil and garlic salt
Abi's summer cucumber and tomato salad







Getting enough down at breakfast is the most challenging part of this program for me as I haven't yet planned ahead the night before everything that should go on my plate. I know eating a bigger breakfast would help me throughout the day, so I'm going to work on that.

Tomorrow evening will present one of the toughest challenges of the program so far: a graduation party. Never fear, we shall prevail here.

Whole30 Challenge Day 3

Lunchtime wasn't any fun today, primarily because one of my coworkers had a pre-packaged S'more for her dessert. I was almost ready to go to the store at work and get something for a snack. But I resisted the urge and carried on.

I felt very satisfied after every meal today, which is encouraging. And I've noticed that my cravings have been somewhat reduced already. Not that they're completely gone, of course, but I'm surprised at how easy it has been so far to give up on a lot of things I might otherwise be eating.

My foods for today:

Breakfast:

Leftover Broccoli Frittata (1/6 pan)

1 cup cantaloupe

6 mini-sweet peppers

Lunch:

Leftover Rosemary-Lemon Spaghetti Squash
1 Chicken breast
1 Apple
6 mini-sweet peppers

Dinner:
Mexican Pulled Pork w/Onions and Peppers,topped with some avocado and cilantro and spritzed with lime juice
Steamed broccoli
Green salad w/Olive Oil Mayo from It Starts with Food

Now it's time to get to bed and prepare for a new day!

Whole30 Challenge Day 2

Okay, I'll admit it...I cheated a little this morning. I hopped on the scale after my shower, and the proponents of the Whole30 plan recommend you not do so during the entire month. I realize that most/all of the change was due to water weight, but it was still kinda fun to see I was two pounds lighter than Sunday morning.

My headache last night persisted in a very mild form until I got into bed a little before 10 PM. It was completely gone when I woke up, which was a great feeling. WHAT DID IT DO FOR THE REST OF THE DAY? I feel like I slept quite well, even though I know I woke up at least three times; I felt quite refreshed and rested when the alarm went off at 5:30.

One thing I like about the Whole30 plan is that you can load up on basically as many veggies as you can eat, as long as you're also getting the appropriate level of protein and healthy fats. I've walked away from every meal feeling satisfied, and I've stayed satisfied for several hours. Also a plus, my headache stayed away all day.

Meals today were:
Breakfast:
Leftover Broccoli Frittata (1/6 pan)
1 Banana

Lunch:
Leftover Rosemary-Lemon Spaghetti Squash
1 Chicken breast
1 Apple
Cumin-Scented Cabbage Salad

Dinner:

Baked fish
Diced sweet potatoes
Green salad

Look forward to tomorrow and the continuing adventure!

Whole30 Challenge Day 1

It's been an interesting day, food-wise. Granted, it's only been one day so far, but I found that I didn't really miss bread or dairy products all that much. However, when my coworkers went for their afternoon sodas, I admit I was a little jealous.

I think the toughest part of starting this program is going to be figuring out just how much food I really need at each meal. I felt quite satisfied after breakfast and didn't feel like I needed a snack at my morning break, but I was starting to get a little hungrier than usual before lunch, and I developed a minor headache mid-afternoon. After a good dinner, that went away, and I was able to enjoy my evening much more.

Here's a rundown of my meals today:
Breakfast:

Broccoli Frittata (1/6 of a pan)
1 banana

Lunch:

Cumin-Scented Cabbage Salad
2 small chicken breasts
Handful of mixed vegggies (broccoli, celery, radish, carrot)

Dinner:

 

Rosemary-Lemon Spaghetti Squash
Asparagus
Green salad
Homemade ranch dressing from the book It Starts with Food

Overall, I don't feel awful, but I don't feel great, either. The headache was to be expected, and hopefully I won't have to deal with it again tomorrow or Wednesday; I anticipate by Thursday that I'll be adapted enough to be over the worst of the withdrawl symptoms.

Stay tuned!

A journey of a thousand miles...

Happy Sunday to you all!

So Abi and I have decided to do a Whole30 starting tomorrow. (Note: Link is an affiliate link. If you click through and purchase the book, It Starts with Food, I will receive a small percentage, though your price will remain unaffected.) We went shopping Friday and Saturday to stock up on produce and a few other things. Thankfully we already had a good deal of meat in our freezer, and we have a ready supply of excellent meat through her family. Eliminating sugar is going to affect me more than her because there tends to be some sort of snack or treat at work at least once a week. I've read a few testimonials in which people experienced headaches and other withdrawl-type symptoms within the first week to week and a half, and I wonder just what both of us might go through as a result of this.

I mentioned in my last post how one of my coworkers did a Whole30 and it was obvious changes had taken place. I found out that she lost 11 pounds. Now, she is considerably more active than either Abi or myself, so that gives us an additional reason to get more active. We're not doing this solely for potential weight loss, though that is part of the reason. We're also interested in seeing how various food groups affect our minds and bodies.

I hopped on the scale first thing this morning and the numbers were still somewhat depressing. I'm currently sitting at 236.6 pounds and 38.1% body fat (for you non-math types, that means I'm carrying about 90 pounds of fat on my body). I know the fat number, at least, isn't going to be 100% dead-on, but knowing my history, I know the reading is at least a reasonable ballpark estimate.

For the sake of my back and knees, I'm hoping to eventually get down to somewhere between 180 and 190, along with a body fat value of at least less than 20%, more ideally less than 15%. I want to be able to run, jump, wrestle, and whatever with my family and not feel like popping half a bottle of Ibuprofen afterwards.

We're going to take "Before" pictures later today, and I haven't decided if I will post them immediately or if I'll wait to put them up side-by-side with the "After" images.

We're also planning to blog about this on a daily (or close to it) basis. I will probably put something up here, and we will also be posting on our joint blog, http://jawestbrook.blogspot.com/. We hope this will be encouraging and inspiring to you all. Please feel free to share the links with your friends and families, and comments are always welcome!

With that, I leave you for today. May it be a blessed day for you, and may you see the love and mercy of our great God poured out.

A finished race, a new outlook...

Happy Tuesday!

I've broken my Internet curfew to bring you this important blog update (having my car not start and being 2 hours delayed in getting home also facilitated being online later than normal).

This past Sunday I completed my first half-marathon. I had to walk most of it, though I felt well enough to do a bit of jogging now and again. Two and a half days later, I'm still quite sore. At my current rate of recovery, I expect it will be Saturday or even Sunday before I feel pretty much normal again.

I've been feeling well enough in the past couple of weeks that the thought of starting the C25K program again has crossed my mind. Of course, I need to wait for my muscles to heal, as well as the quarter-sized blister on my left foot, before I start such an endeavor. Also, even though I've been feeling much better, I am hesitant about picking up a running program just yet. Being at the heaviest point in my life, I'm not overly confident in the ability of my low back and knees to bear up under the strain.

Abi and I are looking at nutritional options to combat the weight gain we've both experienced. An option I'm seriously considering is the Whole30 plan of nutrition. It's a paleo-type nutrition plan that you do for 30 days, and the testimonials, taken with an appropriate grain of salt, are impressive. One of my coworkers has just finished the 30 days, and while I don't have a number for weight loss, it is obvious a significant change has taken place. Abi and I would be happy with even a 5-pound weight loss, but it's entirely possible we could see 10 or even 20. What I've read so far gives the Whole30 plan an air of sustainability, a big plus, and I like that after the month is over they want you to experiment with foods you've eliminated to see how your body responds. It's entirely possible that something we're used to eating, something that is generally considered healthy, is causing one or both of us long-term issues.

I hope you're looking forward to what the coming months will hold. I know I'm excited about the possibilities!

By the way, my official race time was 3 hours, 33 minutes, and 49 seconds. I am optimistic that I could complete the necessary training to actually run the race next year and knock 45-75 minutes off of my time.

Challenges...

It's been a trying year as my last post indicated. I spent all of January and part of February off of work because of my herniated disc (things got a lot worse than I had anticipated at the time of my last post), and my return to work was not a smooth transition. There were several nights where I hurt so much that I wondered how I was going to make the drive home. But God was good to me, and I survived every trip.

From a medical standpoint, I really turned the corner when my GP prescribed a three-week course of Prednisone. I'm not surprised, since a steroid prescription two years ago is what seemed to help me get over the hump and on my way to healing.

I'm not, by any means, done with this issue. I have muscle weaknesses in my core that will leave me predisposed to future injury is I don't correct the problem. Thankfully the chiropractor I've been seeing the last few months also has a physical therapy mindset and has given me exercises to do to help move things in the right direction.

I have to say that I've been recognizing just how much of a blessing it is to be able to walk, and to do so essentially fully upright and pain-free. If I overdo things and start to get a little sore, it serves to remind me that I've come a long way since February. I definitely miss running and lifting weights, but I still don't trust my body to be able to handle those activities right now.

However, I am still planning to participate in the Med City Half-Marathon next Sunday morning. I'm going to walk instead of run, and it's going to take me a while to finish even if I don't have pain issues, but the last couple of days in particular I've felt well enough that I think I can make it through the whole course.

Starting tomorrow I'm going to be making a concentrated effort to maintain a complete food diary. One benefit to being laid up as I was was that I didn't have ready access to the junk food that is commonly available at work. I lost roughly 10 pounds that month because I was eating healthier foods and fewer of them since I had mobility issues. Now that I've been back to work for basically three months, I've put it all back on. It's my own fault, and it really disgusts me. It's like I don't have any self-control, and that's something that should never describe a Christian's life in any aspect.

Where do you face your struggles? What are your temptations? How have you found success, no matter how small, in your endeavors?