FRIDAY – I welcome you!

At last it’s Friday. And looking to be a beautiful weekend – keeping fingers crossed. You never know in Texas! Been plowing away at Whole30 like a champ. And needed that day o’ rest! Nobody jumped at my sponsorship request so I guess I just gotta barrel through. I’m really wishing the warm weather would reappear. Thirty degree mornings are wearing me down!

1/18/13 WOD
Like I said, it’s cold and I’m over it. And today’s workout involved rings and the bar for Toes To Bar! UGH. And I’ve done ZERO practice in regards to pull ups so I’m just a glutton for punishment.

Skill/Strength: 3 rounds of Max Ring Dips
I busted out my handy dandy green band and although I feel strong doing this movement with the green band if I use anything less I have nothing. There’s not in between. Plus my rotator cuff, inside of my shoulders hurt like a mofo! I managed to do 10, 6, 10 for my 3 attempts.

1/18/13 WOD

MetCon: 21, 15, 9 of TTB and a 200m run after each set.
Where o where did my Toes To Bar go, o where o where did they go? POOF, At one point I could string a few together now I can’t even touch the bar with my feet! WTH? I’m getting worse, not better. This is not good. Knees to elbows here we come AGAIN! And it sucked cause I’ve lost any semblance of a kip as well. Argh. So needless to say this was not my best WOD. Stumbled through and got a final time of 8:43. Boooo

Whole30 Days 15-17
I left you on a good note for this Whole30 journey and still on it. This whole Mother Nature BS has finally got my mood dragging. But other than that, had a magical wake up on time moment. That’s hard to do when your wake up time is 4:20!

My food has either been chicken soup or ground beef hash/mixup with whatever veggies I have lying around. The kids and Ernie have been on quick to go food mode, mostly due to baseball practice and well cruelness to me! Jokes, Jokes, like I said the whole mother nature thing was dragging me down and I had no motivation to really cook. Although I did bake Spaghetti Squash and Acorn Squash to have as readily available cooked veggies.

1/17/13 Lunch – Chicken Soup with Kale, Carrots, Sweet Potatoes and Chicken. See my ramekin full of coconut flakes!

1/17/13 Dinner – Leftover ground beef with leftover cabbage and added some spinach. That avocado was heavenly!

In other Whole30 news, I had run out of GHEE, gasp, and went to a Sprouts nearby work to see if they had any. Well they had clarified butter but not from grass fed cows, so I took a pass but I did find Coconut Flakes, note not a big fan of coconut! Turns out I liked the flakes, maybe my taste/flavor profiles are changing! Score for me. A new heatlhy fat to add to my arsenal! And I found Avocado oil, cold pressed! I’ve read to use Avocado oil for Paleo Mayo – Super stoked!! And by the end of the day Ernie and kids went to Whole Foods to get me some Ghee! It was a WIN overall!

WOOHOOO!

I also made more bone broth. I distributed it in several containers and let it sit to cool before I threw it in freezer. WELLLLL, I woke up this morning to see said containers still sitting out to cool. EEEK! They were loosely covered, but not sealed tight. I threw them in freezer cause I had to get to the Box but was this wise? Should I have dumped it? Is it safe? I’m thinking it should be fine. I did google it and I found people on both sides of the fence. So I’m going with keeping it and praying I don’t have ill effects from a future soup!

I have chicken thighs defrosting for tonight/tomorrow. Gotta get my mojo back for cooking! Other than that, I’m just peachy. I’ve been strong. More than halfway there and I got this.

Have a super duper weekend. Do something fun! Be awesome!

Halfway there – feeling UNSTOPPABLE!

Officially on Day 15 of my Whole30 journey and it’s definitely the kick in the butt I needed. Going Strong and Feeling Great! But I really need a sponsor! Anyone? Anyone? Stay at home MOM is calling my name! It’d be nice to have adequate time to prep and cook all the food I need to make. I think I do an ok job getting it all done but it’s crazy bonkers and it is wearin’ me down! Gotta keep that chin up so I can chug along the next 15 days. Really I think I’ll just push forward as much as possible day by day hoping not veer off the path too much once I hit day 31 and beyond!

Easier to throw money my way if there’s a cute puppy dog? No? Ah well, worth a shot!

1/16/13 WOD
Brrrr. It’s just so cold at the BOOM Box. It takes forever to warm up and really quick to cool down. I’m just willing Spring to get here early.

Skill/Strength: 3 x 5 Jumping Good Mornings AHAP
I’ve worked on Good Mornings but I’ve never done jumping ones! So you do a normal good morning but on the way back up use those good ol’ hamstrings to propel you off the ground. See the video below.

I worked up to 75lbs and felt pretty good at this weight. The last time we did Good Mornings with weight I only worked up to 55lbs but we were doing a lot more reps. As with last time, my LEFT hamstring was tight and it’s for sure going to be sore the rest of the day!

1/16/13 WOD

MetCon: 3 Rounds of 1 minute of Burpees to Plate, MuscleUps/ChestToBar/RingRows, Jumping Lunges, Rest
So I know I’m physically capable of doing all of those movements, I just don’t wanna. I also have been having abnormal soreness at the top of my knees so I really don’t want to do Jumping Lunges. 3-2-1 GO I didn’t move as fast on Burpees the first round and AS ALWAYS I should have. I tried to catch up Ring Rows but the rings were ICE COLD! And then the dreaded Jumping Lunges, damn you jumping lunges, I really dragged ass on those. Round 1 = 55 reps. I was a little more motivated to move on Round 2 and got a few more Burpees out and a few more Ring Rows. Jumping Lunges = SUCK. Round 2 = 70 reps. By the third round I was just slow. Nothing was great. Round 3 = 51 Reps. TOTAL 176.

Whole30 Day 14 & 15

HOLY SHMOLY, I’ve made it to the half way mark! This has become a good way to return to. Like I have previously mentioned, I did Paleo and I was pretty on mark, but I let honey and fruit take over. I let the the “paleo-ized” treat making take over and although I was eons better than before in my eating, I wasn’t correcting the mental issues that come with all of that “faking” the foods. With Whole30 I really feel like I’m battling all of those issues. I’m rebooting my body and it’s a good thing indeed. I know going forward while I may not be 100% perfect that I have the mindset to stay strong. That I’ve rewired my body to the way it needs to work and my brain and body will actually communicate properly!

Excerpt from It Starts With Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. It really isn’t that hard!

For lunch yesterday, I almost forgot to take a picture. Well I did forget and with just a few bites left I remembered. Not the prettiest shot but there once was 6oz Grass Fed NY Strip Steak, Asparagus and my Creamy Mushroom Cauli Rice experiment. Ernie eats lunch before I do and texts me “what is this new stuff?” And I immediately ask “IS IT HORRIBLE?” He responds telling me no that it’s yummy! Whew! I thought it would be horrid. When my lunch time finally arrives, I was still cautious because Ernie will eat anything! Once I tasted it I was relieved. It was rather yummy. My only downfall is that I probably added to much liquid to it and in turn it turned mushier than I would have preferred but it was still tasty and edible. I had also made some sweet potato chips to go with it, added a few strawberries and a kiwi. Lunch is golden!

1/15/13 Lunch – OOPS almost finished before remembering to snap a pic!

For dinner, I overcooked some skirt steak, FAIL. Overcooked to my standards but still good to eat. I then took a recipe from NOM NOM PALEO for red cabbage. This is now my second time to eat/cook cabbage (other than in salad mixes) and it was good. And the red cabbage looks so pretty. PURPLE of course. And if you don’t know, purple is one of my fave colors. So much that I have purple glasess, purple water bottles and purple hair. Enough of my purple love. Cause I love green and blues too! In addition to the red cabbage and the skirt steak, I had some raw broccoli. I was going to cook it but ran out of UMPH to do so. Overall dinner was a success. While I was cooking dinner, I made some more chicken soup for my lunch today. Pretty productive last night!

1/15/13 Dinner – Skirt Steak, Raw Broccoli and Chez Panisse Braised Red Cabbage

Day 15
As far as food goes, I only had hardboiled eggs for my Post Workout meal. Again with ISWF it said having the carbohydrate when you’re not in a PRIME, LEAN, properly functioning state, it’s not necessary. Experimentation is probably my only real indicator on if I need it now or not. I probably should only be eating egg whites at this point anyways, I’ll have to re-read that excerpt. For breakfast, I had an egg muffin, pork belly, kale chips and sweet potato chips. Easy to eat on the commute to work. I forgot to take out meat to defrost but fortunately I cooked up some ground beef last night. Throw that together with the leftover cabbage and dinner should be fine.

TMI, TMI ALERT, but if you’re a girl maybe not (OR if you’re a grown up and know nature happens). So I got a surprise visitor today. And I was not happy to receive her. I recall during the 21-Day Sugar Detox, I was in a similar situation. According to ISWF, your body goes through a lot of hormone changes when you eliminate all junk and start eating properly. So I guess here I go with hormonal changes Hopefully it’s shortlived. That makes 2 visits in one month. Not a happy camper. The upside is that I didn’t get all the bloated, irritable crap that comes with it normally! Score!

Mood: Happy that I am halfway through with GREAT SUCCESS. Tired of prepping. Mad at visitor showing up unexpectedly. Ah well. Keep on keepin’on!

Happy HUMP Day. We’re almost there kids! Tomorrow is my rest day. I may take a blog rest day too! We’ll see. SO be AWESOME and enjoy your day!

Holy SNIKES, It’s ThunderSnow!

And in Texas we don’t just get one or the other in the form of elements falling from the sky. Nope we get SLEET, RAIN, THUNDER, SNOW. ThunderSnow is what they were calling it on the radio and I like it! And it was mucho frio (cold) this morning at the BOOM Box. It was still above 40° in the box but soooo much colder feeling knowing pellets of ice are falling from the sky. And I’m pretty sure the bars are much heavier when it’s cold right? Can I get someone to confirm that? Thanks!

Skill/Strength: Snatch/OHS
We went through all the PVC warm ups and all the Bar warmups and then worked on Snatch technique because it was in the MetCon for the day. I did a handful that I felt were right. The rest of them just felt weird. I started off with gloves because the BAR is COLD! But that’s not natural feeling so I threw those off, taped up my thumbs and felt a little more confident that way. Eh I gotta do this no matter what so just deal with it.

1/15/13 WOD

MetCon: 12 minute AMRAP of 10 HSPU OR 30 HR Push Ups and 5 Power Snatches (65lbs)
Well, Well, Well, I was not expecting a X3 modification. 30 Push Ups in lieu of Handstand Push Ups. That took up plenty of time as my shoulders fatigue fast. I was looking at the clock but it wasn’t registering in my brain. When I finished my first 30 I just expected to SNATCH that bar but I failed like 3 times before I got it up. So drained. I fought through the best I could but I ended up muscling up the weight up more than anything. I felt that my hands were not cooperating with me and I just might let go of the bar or something. Silly I know. I’m not willing to just let the bar go, but my grip was not confident. I finished 4 rounds and got 1 lonely Push Up in.

Whole30 Days 13 & 14
I finally purchased Sunflower Butter and have been eating it sparingly to use as a fat with my meals. For lunch I just dipped a carrot in it and it was pretty delicious. Got home for dinner and went into prep mode. Cooked up some Steak, Sweet Potato Chips and Asparagus. All the while I did more Cauli-Rice experimenting. Trying a creamy mushroom idea. Cooked it, did not taste it but brought it for lunch so we’ll see! Crossing fingers it’s good cause it’s a good portion of my lunch!

1/14/13 Lunch: Roast Chicken, Broccoli, Sweet Potatoes and Carrot with Sunflower Butter

1/14/13 Dinner: 12oz Steak of which I only ate half, Sweet Potato Chips (cooked in Ghee) and Asparagus with Olive Oil Drizzle

Mood: I woke up without alarm and felt great! But sadly I forced myself back to sleep for 15 minutes! I know I know, I shouldn’t do that but mentally I felt I needed that sleep but my body knows better. Argh. I’ll get better I promise. Except losing the motivation to prep and prepare food constantly I’m still riding the Happy Train. I can’t say this crappy weather doesn’t deter my feeling great, cause it does but I know physically I feel good.

After watching just a little bit of Biggest Loser, I wanted to throw It Starts With Food at every contestant and to the NUTRITIONIST lady as well. I’m almost finished with the book, HOORAY. Again I’m glad they are starting somewhere in regards to finding good health and fitness, but if I took a shot everytime she said eat healthy WHOLE grains, I would of been drunk off my ass. Now I haven’t had alcohol in almost 2 years now, so I wouldn’t really be taking shots but HOLY COW I wanted to punch the lady in the face.

That’s it for today! Have a CHILLY Tuesday and I’ll see you tomorrow! Be Awesome!

Womp Womp!

Argh, this morning my stomach was not feeling settled and I chose not to go to the BOOM Box. In the end I felt fine a couple of hours later and now I sit here wishing I had been able to go. Ah well, it is what it is. I still have Saturday’s workout to recap and of course I will break down my Whole30 weekend. Still going strong and my book came in – It Starts With Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig (founders of Whole30). I’m about halfway through and if this book can’t convict you to change how you eat then you just don’t care about much at all including yourself. Harsh? YES. I know it is but they really make all the “science-y” stuff make sense to those of us who aren’t well read in how our body functions.

1/12/13 WOD
Let me get to Saturday’s workout before I forget all that we did! It was actually humid and not so cold and we did our MetCon outside. I wish today was humid and semi-warm but it’s not!
MetCon: 10 minute AMRAP of 1 minute of Air Squats and Straight and 1 minute of Straight Legged Sit Ups.
Of course it doesn’t sound horrible but give it a whirl trying to get as many reps as possible and your legs will be all jelly-like! And I promise my ABS are still sore today. I started off strong and really slowed down midway. Bad idea. I tried to pick it back up for the last minute but not good enough. Total reps: 261

Skill/Strength: Open Skill Session
Work on your weaknesses is what I say! So I worked on Snatch. It’s been a while since I’ve really done any Snatch work so it was back to the basics for me. I didn’t try to put any weight on the bar, just work on technique.

Whole30 Days 10-13
As I mentioned last week Day 10 lunch was comprised of leftovers and I also finished the day with a dinner of leftovers. I didn’t feel like making anything fresh which was fine by me because I was tired due to my lack of sleep from the night before.

1/11/13 Lunch (notice my book!)

Day 11
Of course, NO PRE-WORKOUT meal. And I hung around the BOOM Box for too long after to make any use of a Post Workout Meal, well at least in my opinion. I know BAD FORM but I made sure my breakfast was legit and full of all the things I needed. Besides heating up some spinach with my Shredded Pork it was more leftovers. I have plenty! Egg Muffins by the way are great reheated! I’m getting rather boring with the leftovers, but I make sure it’s a little bit of everything.

For dinner I remembered I had some bone broth in the fridge that must be utilized so I took some chicken leftovers, cut up some sweet potato, carrots, kale, mushrooms and scallions. Tossed it all in a pot and let it boil then simmer until sweet potatoes and carrots were soft. Now let me tell you, I eat Kale, and I try to find crafty ways to cook it but it’s still not my FAVE veggie. I know it’s packed full of goodness but it’s on the lower end of veggies I will CHOOSE to eat. In soup however Kale is less intrusive on my taste buds and definitely easier to eat. With that said, I’m still trying to integrate Kale into my life more often. The soup was delicious and I wish I had made more but really it was enough. I was plenty satiated when it was all said and done.

1/12/13 Dinner – Chicken soup deliciousness

Day 12
We were in a hurry to get out of the house since we slept in longer than we should have. I had more Egg Muffins with some veggies and reheated chicken. Scooped it down and we were on the road. For those of you new to the blog, we travel about 35 miles south of where we live every Sunday and pick up our grassfed beef, pastured chicken, pastured pork and pastured chicken eggs. We could make one trip a month or two times a month but it’s fun and we’ve become friends with the folks that work there. So it’s a field trip to a great little place called Burgandy Pasture Beef. Every now and then we also eat lunch there. They only serve Burgers and Frankfurters but they are delicious, and we eat ours bunless!

Sneaky Ernie taking pictures of me looking over some asparagus. Ended up being a colorful shot so I thought I’d share it!

After we finished our shopping for the day, we headed over to my dad’s house. He had leftover pancake breakfast foods to share and well I couldn’t partake but I brought the last of my pulled pork, kale and broccoli and a few macadamia nuts, Whole30 says these are the best nuts to eat, good cause they are my faves! I also made more Egg Muffins, Kale included, to share with my dad. Hopefully he likes them. I have to get him on track to a healthier life so he can stick with us a little longer! It’s a hard task though. For dinner, I used up the last of my spaghetti squash I had saved in the fridge. Added some kale, poured pasta/meat sauce and dinner is served. I also had a kiwi to go along with it. I think I’ve done GOOD in the eat more kale department! While I was heating up my dinner I was also prepping today’s breakfast/lunch. By now I’m tired of prepping. Yup, it’s gotten old and I wish I had someone to do it for me. I know I can’t let it bring me down but as of last night I just was blah about it all. Ernie jumped in to help while I ate my dinner. He was a little worried at his slicing and dicing skills. NO they weren’t the way I would have done it but I was relieved to have a small load taken off my shoulders. Thank you kind sir!

Day 13
Whew, I’ve made it this far and I’ve done well, in my opinion at least. I made some broccoli to go with the chicken I roasted last night and the sweet potatoes I also cooked up. I had some of the sweet potatoes this morning with a hardboiled egg and some pork belly. I wasn’t really all that hungry due to my stomach being all weird but I ate anyways. Gotta keep the food habits in place. As always the day of, I’m not sure what dinner will be but I know it will be good. I may make more chicken soup. I think the kids will enjoy it as much as I did. I also gotta get some beef bone broth going. Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow, we’ll see!

MOODI’m pretty sure feeling great is here to stay. I would typically take a nap on a Sunday but yesterday I was not tired. Only the boredom of monotony got me last night, but that’s a mental thing. A lazy thing. Other than my stomach feeling woosy this morning, which could be attributed to a number of things I suppose, I feel spectacular. And guess what?

My fat girl pants that were borderline snug are dramatically loose again. It takes time folks. And you must find patience. All in a matter of 13 days. It’s amazeballs!

It Starts With Food
I’m only halfway through the book so I’m not going to review it now, and I’m not really sure how well I can review a book. I’m wordy but the book is so good so far, I’m afraid a review from me won’t do it justice. As soon as I’m finished with it, I’ll think it over again. I do highly recommend it though. The Hartwigs do a great job in breaking it all down, giving you food for thought and have nice testimonials from folks that have been really “sick” and have either eliminated their sicknesses or on the way to eliminating them! Reading the book also gives me great backup to not screw this Whole30 up.

Now I know why I could eat a whole bag of OREOS! It Starts With Food, Dallas and Melissa Hartwig

And holy guacamole it’s Monday again! Hope you all make the best of it! Remember last week I encouraged you to make a change, even it if it was a baby change? How are y’all doing? Did you ditch the chemically flavored beverages? Cut out sugar? Make a vow to eat breakfast finally? If not, let’s try it again! Make one small change. It doesn’t even have to be food related. Spend 10 minutes in scripture, meditation, whatever, just do something new. Try and make it a habit. Do something for you! And of course be AWESOME at it.

Hard Yolks, Runny Yolks, METAL YOKES?

I definitely did not get enough sleep last night. Stayed up too late and had a hard time waking my sleepy head up. Alas, I did wake up and hauled my butt to the BOOM Box. I better get to bed soon tonight because I have my 5th WOD for the week in the A.M. This is my first full week at the new scheduling. It’s not that I have never shown up more than 4 times a week. But typically the 5th day would be a community work out and more group/fun based. I’m not saying we didn’t put in work but it was a different atmosphere. Granted I won’t be able to tell much after one week, but I can at least gauge how I feel as the weeks build upon each other.

Skill/Strength: 2RM Press
My shoulders have been plaguing me. Mostly I believe because I sleep on my sides and I don’t do enough mobility. So this morning I really had to stretch out and warm up for any part of my shoulders to feel good. As I warmed up I was feeling good at 65lbs. Did 2 reps no problem. 70lbs is my 1RM and I’ve been stuck here for quite some time. Today I made a tiny dent by getting 2 reps at 70lbs. In my excitement I jumped up a WHOPPING 5lbs and it was a fail! I should just be happy I had more than 1 rep at 70lbs! I guess

1/11/13 WOD

MetCon: 4 rounds of MAX YOKE CARRY for 20 seconds, MAX PUSH UPS for 20 seconds
I’ve been calling the YOKE that EVIL SLED, EVIL PROWLER, but in the end it’s a YOKE. A 185lb one at that! The ladies were supposed to put 25lb plates on each corner for this MetCon. I however dropped to 10lb plates. The reasoning behind this is that I picked up the yoke and it was way low to ground and I did not feel confident. So 10lb plates it is. And I also had the bar lowered to get a little more air between the ground. After the bar was lowered I realized it was a little easier and 25lb plates would have been feasible, but this was after I started. No time to change it now A little disappointed knowing I would have been fine at a higher weight. Ah well. 20 seconds doesn’t seem like a lot but it does add up. I did fine until the 3rd round. I think my core had had enough between Push Ups and carrying the Yoke. I dragged on Push Ups which wasn’t good at all. I ended up carrying the Yoke 96yds and completing 32 Push Ups. It was mentioned we will do something similar soon so mentally I will be ready!

Whole30 Days 9 & 10 (1/3 of the way there!)

Pulled Pork ended up being FABULOUS. My lunch yesterday made me a happy camper! For dinner I went with my old fallback of Spaghetti Squash and Pasta Sauce with GrassFed Ground Beef! This time around, since my squash had been sitting in fridge, I sauteed the squash in GHEE with some garlic and shallots. This was very nice flavor profile when combined with the meat sauce. Added some roasted broccoli to the mix and dinner is served! I did end up eating some fruit after all, 6 cherries.

1/10/13 Lunch of Pulled Pork, Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli, Asparagus and Avocado

Day 10, 20 to goSmooth sailing from here I hope. It’s hasn’t been all that bad in the first place as long as I’m prepped. And since I don’t want to fail I have made sure I have defrosted protein and at least one veggie that is easy to cook. This morning I didn’t feel like I exerted my self the same as earlier in the week so I only had one Hardboiled Egg with some Sweet Potatoes for my Post Workout Meal. For breakfast I had some Pork Belly, Kale Chips, TBS of Sunbutter, and I heated up some more Sweet Potato and an Egg Muffin. This is all very easy to eat on my commute to work. Whew. Lunch will be more leftovers of Steak, Broccoli and Cauli Rice.

1/10/13 Dinner of Spaghetti Squash, Roasted Broccoli, Pasta/Meat Sauce, and Avocado

Dinner is TBD as it typically is, I have some Pulled Pork left as well as Pasta/Meat Sauce and plenty of veggies so that will probably be the plan. Like I have previously mentioned, it does get old and routine. I don’t have time to hit up the grocery store daily and my meals tend to have that Wash, Rinse, Repeat rhythm but at least it all tastes good and I’m hitting the mark.

Mood: Overall my BRAIN is clear, my EYES are bright, and I’m just in a good place. Today I’m dragging a lil bit but I know that’s due to not enough sleep.

Have a fabulous weekend. Hopefully there won’t be torture waiting for me at the BOOM Box tomorrow morning!! Other than that Be AWESOME and all that Jazz.

Whole30 DAY 9 – Feelin’ Fine!

It’s a rest day for me from the BOOM Box so today will be all about the Whole30. I had planned on reviewing Choice Organic Tea as well but I’m still waiting to hear about possibly doing a giveaway as well. So if you love TEA stay tuned in.

Whole30 Day 9 FEELIN’ FINE!

I’m on my 2nd day of week 2, almost 1/3 of the way there. YAY! And so far it’s been superb. This morning was probably the only day so far where my meal wasn’t so balanced. But it’s still clean. I don’t think there’s a rule that tells me I have to start over based on an unbalanced plate. Please don’t tell me I have to start over!

Last night, we roasted a chicken, put pork shoulder in the crockpot (link to recipe below) and boiled, stir-fried and roasted a slew of veggies. This morning I FINALLY broke down and made some Egg Muffins as well! And they were a WINNER and now probably a staple in our kitchen for quick breakfast solutions. The kids really enjoyed them and they were full of goodness 🙂

1/9/13 Dinner

Now let me get back to that pulled pork. I haven’t tried it yet, but the kids sampled it this morning and their only words were MMMMMM. I know that’s not a word, so their only sounds were MMMMMM. As most of you know I did the 21-Day Sugar Detox last year in May. And I struggled a bit with that but came out with positive results in the end. Recently I saw a facebook post about PULLED PORK. I love pulled pork preferrable drenched in some yummy bbq sauce on a bun with some coleslaw on top and topped off with another bun! Now seeing as that I can’t have a bun and I’m too lazy right now to find a Paleo cole slaw solution, I was just intrigued in general that it was pulled pork and it was fit to be on the 21-Day Sugar Detox. It just so happens it’s in line with Whole30 as well. I really couldn’t imagine why it wouldn’t be as they eliminate the same food groups for the most part. So I clicked the link to the post HERE and found the recipe. It comes from the folks over at PaleoPot whom I had never heard of until now. I am anxious to see what other recipes they have to share. I indeed had all the ingredients except for SMOKEY PAPRIKA so mine probably tastes a little different because I used plain ol paprika. Either way it smelled WONDERFUL in my house this morning. And it did PULL apart pefectly. I’m excited for lunch today so I can know it tastes as good as it smelled.

In the CrockPot, don’t mind the “burned” sides, I’m sure it’s fine, but I didn’t have time to scrub it down. Pulled apart so easily!

Sampler plate for kids to taste 🙂 MMMMM!

As for the egg muffins, I’ve read about them for a while now and although they sound tasty I am an OVER MEDIUM EGG or Hardboiled egg kind of girl. So scrambled and baked eggs aren’t at the top of my list. We have a lot of eggs we need to get through so I figured EGG MUFFINS would help use them up. I have a feeling we’ll be running out of eggs instead of figuring out what to do with them! As I was perusing PALEO EGG MUFFINS I found tons of recipes. One stood out to me mostly because it sounded like my kind of muffin. I added and took away some things but in the end it’s very similar to the recipe over at EASY PALEO, which in turn comes from Paleo Comfort Foods, which I HAVE but haven’t flipped through it in a while, OOOPS! Ah well, I’ve slightly modified the recipe as to how I made them and I’m glad I found Jennie Harrell’s post at Easy Paleo 🙂 I’ve only read her About Me but she seems quite interesting and has a great story. Check her out!

Fresh out of the oven. I should have included my boys hovering around in the pic!

Breakfast Egg Muffins

1 TBS olive oil

1 large sweet onion, finely chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 cup mushrooms, chopped

1 package of Chicken sausage

12 large eggs, whisked

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp sea salt

You can pretty much add any veggie that sounds good to you!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook Chicken Sausage over medium heat in one pan and Saute onions in olive oil over medium-high heat in another pan for 2-3 minutes. Add peppers and mushrooms, and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes.

While veggies are cooking, whisk the eggs in a large bowl.

Once veggies are cooked, remove from heat and let them cool for a few minutes. Dump them into the egg mixture, and stir well, sprinking in the salt and pepper.

Coat a large muffin pan with oil. Add some chicken sausage to each muffin cup. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, fill each muffin cup with your egg mixture. For me this was enough for 18 Egg Muffins!

Place in oven for 10-15 minutes. The muffins get fluffy and golden. Remove from oven and eat em up. Store the rest in the fridge or freezer. Heat up when you want some more via microwave!

Ready to serve. One batch browned a littler more on the edges but no concern there because they still tasted yummy!

This was a big winner and easy to eat! Woohooo! As far as breakfast for me I had 2 egg muffins and some pork belly. I was missing out on the veggies but I think I’ll be ok Lunch will be comprised of Pulled Pork, roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower, Asparagus and 1/2 an Avocado. No fruit today in case you all may be wondering if I truly AM eating too much fruit. I’m not! It’s been a downfall in my past but not this time around!

Whole30 Mentality
Mood for today is still GREAT. Loving the energy. According to my Whole30 daily email, I SHOULD BE FEELING this way and I’m glad I’m chugging along with this. Here’s what Whole30 says I should be feeling:

In addition, days 7-11 are generally when people report feeling some of “the magic” kicking in. You might start experiencing these positive side effects:

Your energy is ramping up, and becoming more consistent over the course of your day.

You’re falling asleep easier, and sleeping longer and more soundly.

You’re recovering from your exercise or sport faster.

Symptoms like allergies, skin issues, digestive distress, and stress are gradually improving.

Mood swings, a short attention span, and crankiness are starting to be a thing of the past.

You’re strangely…happy.

YES YES YES YES YES and YES

Looking forward to tomorrow since IT’S FRIDAY! Be AWESOME today and every day from now on. GOT IT? Ok GOOD. Happy Thursday!

Happy, Happy, Happy

So I had this whole post that I had written and of course hadn’t saved and something happened with the interwebs and I lost it all! So it’s taken me a while to get back to it and I’m late in posting.

Other than that ENERGY is still great! I am happy, giddy, and just overall GOOD. Joint pain is greatly reduced, head has not ached and I am into deep sleep mode as soon as my head hits the pillow. I’m still on track and happy to be on it. I’ll get back my Whole30 after I recap my BOOM Box morning.

1/9/13 WOD
It was cold and rainy this morning and although we need the rain, it has been non stop and miserable. The good thing about the rain is that we didn’t have to push the PROWLER this morning as part of our warm up. It’s EVIL I tell you, PURE EVIL! I know my WOD recaps are still a lil Debbie Downer but it is frustrating working my way back to a better place since I was such a slacker.

Skill/Strength: 4×5 Pendlay Rows
This is a new movement to me and it was really awkward at first. I worked up and finished at 75lbs. As I moved up in weight I really lost form because I wanted to JERK the weight but that is NOT how you do it. It should be a continuous movement, back stays in place. I was trying to lift my back up and it was all wrong. I learned and finished out relatively strong. Still awkward feeling but at least I know for the next time.

MetCon: 4 rounds – 10 TTB, 20 KB Swings (1POOD), 30 DUs, Rest 1 minute
HIATUS = SKILL LOSS
It’s been a while since I’ve done TTB and I used to at least string together 3 in a row, but not today. I couldn’t even bust out ONE! Knees to Elbows here I come. That was silly too. I lost my kip! I seriously could not get a rhythm! Ugh. My first two rounds went along rather smoothly but my THIRD round was miserable. My hands were burning. I couldn’t string the KTE together. That’s all that took up time was hanging on the bar. I busted out the KB Swings and DUs pretty well. I finally finished with a time of 11:45. Looking foward to my new rest day THURSDAY!

1/9/13 WOD (sorry for the blur)

Whole30 Day 7 & 8
I left you yesterday with a review on my newer experimental version of Spanish Cauli Rice and my unknown dinner. I will tell you that I mentally patted myself on the back the rest of the day yesterday for my faux rice! I also told a couple of people repeatedly of it’s awesomeness. It was excellent. My last version I used Salsa to get a MEXICAN RICE flavor. This time I used tomato paste and my own seasoning preferences. It was wonderful! I didn’t have enough to share with the kids but they approved the small taste I gave them at dinner time and Ernie said he enjoyed his with his lunch! WIN! Next time I make it I will be better at measuring my ingredients so I can share with you 🙂

Ground beef, YUMMO Spanish FAUX Rice, Broccoli stir fry

As for dinner, Steak was on my brain but when I got home and looked at all the leftovers I knew we had to clean that up and get it eaten. I ran out of broccoli on the kids so I used my now favorite go to SPINACH sauteed with whatever protein I’m warming on on the stove. This time it was the roast in GHEE, my now new favorite cooking fat! Also had those Chicken Thighs I made the other day after I crisped them up with more GHEE! Leftovers got eaten up and all was well in our house.

Leftovers: Roast with spinach, Chicken Thigh, Cauli Rice, 1/2 avocado (ended up being less after kids took bites)

After dinner, I went ahead and prepped more food for the morning and possible dinner tonight. Yes it does take some extra time to stay on track eating clean, but it’s not consuming my life. And it’s not hard manual labor. Just a few extra steps. And like I said earlier I am feeling great. I was telling a friend earlier that I believe I’m quicker to happiness because my body is just happy I’ve returned to clean eating rather than a shocking bolt to my system like it may be to those trying it out for the first time.

SNACKING

I had another friend asking me about writing a post about mindless snacking like when you’re bored or BORED! I told her she probably wouldn’t like the answer. And it’s hard to tell someone when they are still eating SAD (standard american diet). Since I’m on the Whole30, I tell you how my brain translates what they have to say.

DON’T SNACK! If you MUST then make it a 1/2 meal. But try to stick to 3 meals a day. Before Whole30 and my off the wagon stint, I was eating 3 meals a day and 2 snacks a day. So essentially 5 meals a day. Now I’m to 3 meals a day per the rules of Whole30 and a Post Workout Meal because so far I haven’t woken up early enough for the Pre-Workout Meal.

The idea with Whole30 is that if you start off with a great grassfed protein, plenty of veggies and a thumbsize serving of healthy fat for your THREE meals then you should be set. So far this is TRUE. I have no HUNGRY moments in the day and I don’t have any desires to SNACK. I’m on Day 8. NO SNACKING required. I also follow the water intake rule of 1/2 my body weight in ounces. I also have 1-2 cups of hot tea. Mostly to keep me warm at my desk, but I do love me some tea.

In regards to CRAVINGS, I have yet to have any. The only day Ernie was buying chocolate, I could SMELL the candy and it smelled good. Chugalug on some water and I was fine. Cravings are definitely a mental battle though so I know it can be tough. I choose to subscribe to the Whole30 daily emails which are great by the way and worth the $14.99 to me. Well in one of the emails they talk about cravings and they say if you can think about steamed fish and broccoli and that really sounds good when you are having a craving, then eat, but eat a meal or 1/2 meal. If you are just craving sugar then most likely it won’t sound good and you need to occupy your brain with something else and drink water!

On a NON Whole30 perspective, all I got is eat a small serving of protein with a healthy fat because that is what I would do. Carbs will just spike your insulin and make you more HUNGRIES!

Please note I’m not a nutritionist or a professional. I’m just learning as I go, changing things as I go but not before I give something a chance. I’m not changing things daily. It’s a learning process and you learn how your body functions and tolerates certain foods with time. If you recall I did the 21 day Sugar detox because I was eating too much fruit and honey! It was a killer on me! KILLER. But I got through it and lost 7lbs! I’m not ready to eliminate fruit again but I eat a whole lot less fruit at this point. So I feel ok about it. If I need to eliminate fruits again I will but it will be hard on me mentally!

Hope everyone has enjoyed their day so far. REST DAY tomorrow, but hopefully I’ll still be sharing my Whole30 food and mood. I may also have a review of some organic tea that I’ve been trying out. Not sure I’m going there yet, but it’s coming soon. You know the sign off … BE AWESOME.

Get Moving!

Yup if you watched the Biggest Loser last night then you know I straight up took it from there. And Yes I am watching the Biggest Loser! I’ve watched it off and on throughout the years and YES the fact that Bob Harper drinks the KOOL-AID keeps me intrigued to watch it currently. And YES it’s made for TV drama – pulls on your emotions kind of thing and now they’ve pulled in kids to really tug those emotions. I’m not going to make it a point to recap the show regularly or whatever but it’s fresh on my mind right now.

It does make me a lil happy that these people are trying. Judge me, Judge the show, I care not. At least they are making efforts. I don’t know what their lives will be like when they get home and I probably will never know. I can just hope they inspired others to get fit and that they continue to stay fit. One of the best quotes from one of the ladies on the show was “I’m not here to get skinny, I’m here to get STRONG”. Hell ya lady. That’s the right kind of attitude. I loved it! The whole idea of last nights show was to GET MOVING. And it’s so right on.

Another thing that stayed with me (totally rephrasing, not verbatim) was when the Dr. on the show that tells the contestants their results of all the tests they took. He looked at this guy and says if I told you that you had lymphoma then you would dedicate 2 hours a day to chemo or whatever treatment that you had to do right? They guy was like YES SIR. He goes on to explain that he has arteries of an 80 yr old man and that he should know his disease is SERIOUS and to dedicate the time to fixing his disease of being overweight. POINT TAKEN! If you can’t understand how important it is to take your health into your own hands then what’s the point? Again, you aren’t here to be SKINNY. Be here to be STRONG and you don’t have to be muscle builder status, Just BE STRONG. Heart Strong, Mental Strong, I can push this CAR strong, I know I can do anything STRONG.

So with that said folks, take a look at you. Whether you’re at the beginning of your journey… debating to have a start point, or well into your fitness. You know where you are. You know if you’re lying to yourself daily. Maybe you’ve hit the healthy point and you just need to keep yourself in check or maybe you’re the person that says I’ll start next Monday. Why wait? Make one baby step to better living today. Put the sugar and creamer down. Don’t buy that fountain drink today. Drink water today only. Then start tomorrow fresh. Walk around the block. I’m the jump in the deep in kind of girl. I tried the baby steps and well there’s too much room for excuses. So COLD TURKEY is best for me. As I see it, it should be the only option. Leaving room for excuses is a bad deal. I will take full advantage in justifying why something is or isn’t good for me. Oh one slice isn’t gonna hurt me, I’ve would typically eat three slices. That’s not right folks. Get dedicated and disciplined first. Then after a few weeks you can, IF YOU REALLY feel that need to eat something sinful then do it. But learn the ways, learn control, know your limits. Hopefully by then when you take a bite of yummy badness it may be too sweet and you can only tolerate a bite. Maybe if you’re like me, will still inhale it but feel like crapola afterwards and really know it’s not worth it.

Pipe down already. You know I’m a rambler. Moving on to my BOOM Box morning. I was asleep before the WOD posted, thank goodness or I would have forced myself to sleep. I awoke to BAR Muscle Up work and Burpees and Pull Ups. Yay fun!

Bar Muscle UP

Skill/Strength: Bar Muscle Ups
Let me begin by telling you I’m scared of being so high off the ground. And the rig at the box has high bars. There are some that are lower that I can physically jump up and grab but they are not set up to do muscle ups. So the BAR that is is SCARY! I can’t even do a Muscle Up but it’s scary! So this morning we worked on the movement, the kip and well I’m scared. I remember in elementary school I could freaking get up on those bars, and spin in circles. The lack of fear in a child’s eye. Oh how I wish I had that now. But I don’t.

1/8/13 WOD

MetCon: 10-1 Burpees Behind Clap, Pull Ups
Anytime you see 10-1, it means you do 10 of the movement and work your way down to 1. So 10 Burpees, 10 Pull Ups, 9 Burpeed, 9 Pull Ups and so forth. As much as I despise burpees, they beat running and pull ups combined. I already wasn’t so great with the pull ups. After my small hiatus, they are even a little less great. It’s really defeating mentally. At some point last year I was really focused on putting in the extra work but it was short lived. I can’t let another year go by without putting forth the practice. But until this moment it hasn’t even been a second thought. 2013 will be the year of my first strict pull up, hopefully multiple and just being better on the bar in general. Yup I just said that. Now I gotta live up to it. But I digress. As for the MetCon, I did well with burpees and sucked with Pull Ups, giving me a sad time of 12:56.

Whole30 Days 6 & 7
I got home last night and was rather uninspired for dinner. I googled all that I could for unique ground beef recipes that included a majority of ingredients I had in the kitchen. Nothing jumped out at me so I just went with cooking the beef with seasoning I like and use it for later. I cooked a serving side for me in another pan, added spinach and some sweet potato and it turned out being really scrumptious. Nothing fancy but really tasty. While I had been cooking the ground beef I was also baking a few chicken thighs. They were done at the same time I was ready to eat dinner so I threw one on top of my ground beef bowl. It was quite tasty as well. Of course I didn’t take a picture but I promise it was good.

This morning I had what’s become a routine Post Workout Meal of 2 hardboiled eggs and some sweet potato. This hits the spot. For breakfast which I ate an hour later I had 2 slice of Pork Belly, 1 cup of spinach, more sweet potato (I may turn orange soon), and some cherries. I know more cherries, I love cherries and I’m not eating them in excess, I promise. For lunch I brought a Kiwi! On the Whole30 lists, I have so far mostly picked the * items which are the more nutrient dense fruits and vegetables. So I feel good with my fruit selections. Also for lunch I brought the ground beef I cooked last night. I also made a experimental version of cauliflower rice. I sauteed so shallots and garlic in GHEE (which by the way is FABULOUS!), added my shredded cauliflower, let that toast up. I then added Vegetable Stock (I bought this because the ingredients were safe, I was rather surprised that my go to chicken stock had sugar in it 😦 ) I don’t have measurements for the stock as I was just pouring it in a little at a time. After what I felt was enough stock I added a can of tomato paste and stirred it all around. Added a little more stock because the cauliflower got a little thick in my opinion. Seasoned it with Cumin, Chili Powder, Salt and Pepper and let it simmer away. I barely tasted it this morning and it seemed to good. But the real test will be for lunch. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Day 7 Pre Work Out Meal
2 hardboiled eggs
1 cup sweet potato

Day 7 Breakfast
2 slices pork belly
1/2 cup sweet potato
1 cup spinach
6 cherries

Day 7 Lunch
1 cup ground beef (approx)
1-2 cups brocolli
2 cups cauliflower rice
1 kiwi

Day 7 Dinner
Probably steak but TBD

I had a super burst of ENERGY last night and it’s pretty much seeped into today. I feel really really really refreshed. I know Whole30 has a breakdown of the days and how you may be feeling. Well if Day 6/7 is FEELING REALLY GREAT then I’m on track! Too bad my body is sooooo sore from all the squats yesterday cause it hurts to walk!

On another note, there was Karma payback for Ernie yesterday. All that junk food junkie got him good yesterday. He finally showed up to the box, did a little warm up on the rower, and pushed the new EVIL sled a couple of times and low and behold he puked his guts out! Not that I wish that on him or anyone cause it sucks… but ya, he was done and out. Came home early and I thought he’s really done, he’s quit CrossFit. But he was just sickly. Hopefully today is better for him. 2 days of clean eating under his belt should help.

Have a beautiful day. Change something NOW, not tomorrow, or next week, NOW! And Be AWESOME while you’re changing!

STAY FOCUSED!

Short (normal) weekends are NO fun after two 4 day weekends in a row. It’s really Monday! Geesh. I vote for 3 day work weeks year round! It seems like I have so much to report on but I know by the time I’m done, it won’t seem like very much at all. Let me just preview that I did (but barely) make it to the BOOM Box on Saturday and I stayed on point for Whole30 which is a HUGE accomplishment for me (especially since Ernie was not so good)! I guess I’ll recap my WODs first then got through the Whole30, days 3-6.

1/5/13 WOD
I can tell you it took everything in me to show up for this EVIL workout. Seriously! And I set my alarm for 6:30 PM instead of AM so it’s surprising I woke up minutes before I had to leave. Why was it so EVIL, I’ll tell you why. RUNNING, 2 miles of RUNNING!

1/5/13 WOD

MetCon: 1 mile, 150 Double Unders, Red Gate Run (approx 1200m), 100 Double Unders, 400m run, 50 Double Unders
There was not Skill/Strength because this was going to take FOREVER if not longer. I had already joked that I’d probably be dead on the side of the road before we even started. For those of you NEW to my blog, I DESPISE RUNNING! It does nothing for me except make me want to cry. When I first started my fitness journey 2 years ago I went from a 11:47 mile to an 8:08 mile in a about a year but that 8:08 mile is long gone, a faded memory. And although that saddens me a bit, I’m not losing sleep over it. So for my first run, 1 MILE run, I took off with high hopes. Those hopes just dissipated before I hit the half mile mark. The only good thing going for me is that I didn’t STOP at all. Which in the recent past was something I couldn’t do. So if I can take anything positive I can say I ran it without stopping to walk. It wasn’t pretty tough though. I know it took me about 11 minutes to get through it! NOT GOOD AT ALL! Try to do a good string of double unders after you fell like DYING and ~~you’re~~ I’m screwed. I was hoping I would just pass out before I had to take off for the Red Gate Run but I didn’t. So I dragged my not so happy ass out the door and onto the pavement. This run was NOT GOOD, I did more of a TABATA run, 20 seconds run, 10 seconds walk. I would sometimes go for longer in the run but try to keep my walk to around 10 seconds. I didn’t even look at the time when I got back. The 100 DUs were easier for some reason than the 150. Went out for my 400m run and there was Chris ahead of me by 200m. I could catch him in the DUs, I really could. I just had a hard time stringing more than 10-15 together. I made it to 45 and hit a wall, I was having a hard time breathing but realized Chris wasn’t done. So I busted out the 5 reps and we both said TIME at the same time! Go figure, we tied. It was a race/struggle to the end. Time: 34:28

My calves did not love me the rest of the weekend and they are still pretty ridiculously sore But I did survive all that running no matter what my pace was, I’m glad I showed up. Even though I dread running, I do hope I can get back to those 8 minute miles.

1/7/13 WOD
Can someone call up Spring and tell it I’m ready for some warmer weather. I know it’s not dreadfully cold here in Texas but it’s too cold for me. I’m tired of these 20/30° temps. Especially at 5 AM! The BOX thermometer said it was 41° inside but it felt much colder! It seemed to take me longer to warm up this morning.

Skill/Strength: 5 x 5 Back Squat @82.5% of 1RM
Last week we did Back Squat at 80% and that felt good. Just a little more weight for this week and it felt HEAVY. I blame the cold air today cause my body just didn’t want to warm up. I worked up to 120lbs which is my 82.5% and chugged my way through the sets. Not one set felt awesome although I did complete them all. I just didn’t feel power or speed. I didn’t feel strong. Maybe it’s me dragging from Whole30, maybe it really is the COLD, maybe it just was how it was supposed to be today.

1/7/13 WOD

MetCon: 12 minutes on the minute 1 Full Clean + 1 Hang Clean AHAP. Score will be weight x 12 rounds.
This was a nice break to our typical cardio/lift MetCon. With my lack of commitment from last month, it’s been a hard come-back. I knew it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park but I knew I wasn’t going to be on death’s bed either. I haven’t SQUAT Cleaned OR HANG CLEANED in a very long time so I took my time with light weight working the movement. I worked my way up to 85lbs and failed 3 times in a row with the HANG CLEAN. UGH! I’m not a fan of this movement. I’m sure there’s something good and positive about it but I didn’t ask nor am I that intrigued at the moment. Just get the work done. Right?!? Finally 4th time’s a CHARM and I freaking Hang Cleaned 85lbs. I was good with this weight for 24 reps. It was nice to have the rest of the minute to rest, rethink the movement in my head, elbows up, elbows up, drop under the bar, etc. By the last couple of rounds I was dreading picking up the bar but I knew I had no choice but to attack it each time. With that said, I felt GOOD at the end of this MetCon, thank goodness! Total weight 1020lbs. No Failed Reps though! Yay! Getting back to feeling good. Itty Bitty Baby Steps!

Whole30 Days 3-6
So I left off with only documenting part of my Day 3. We had baseball practice so I figured I would probably get home and do something with ground beef. Low and behold my oldest son who is 13 prepared the chicken I had out defrosting. He ROASTED it for us so it would be ready by the time we got home from baseball practice! I was amazed. I have learned that roasting a chicken doesn’t take advanced culinary skills but for him to be so proactive and do all the right things, like rinsing it, cutting the neck off, drying it off, salting it, prepping the pan, preheating the oven and following through… I was quite impressed with him. That was a time-saver indeed! So now all I had to do was come up withe some sides. Wooo! I finished out the meal with some asparagus and some Bacon Fried Cabbage! I’ve never cooked cabbage so I wasn’t sure of the outcome, but it was a winner all around.

Bacon Fried Cabbage: (from Fast Paleo)
Ingredients:

12 ounces bacon
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bag prepackaged coleslaw mix (without dressing), or one head chopped cabbage

Cook bacon in a deep skillet over medium heat until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove bacon from skillet and drain on a paper. Reserve bacon drippings in skillet and add olive oil.
Cook and stir cabbage in olive oil and bacon drippings, over medium heat, until cabbage wilts, 5 to 7 minutes.
Crumble bacon over cabbage. Stir and simmer until bacon is warmed, 2 to 3 minutes. Season with black pepper.

Roasted Chicken, Asparagus, Bacon Fried Cabbage. Not the prettiest pic but it was good and I promise it was good!

Day 4
I was dreading the weekend. Those are the days that you just want to eat whatever/whenever. I started off by not setting my alarm properly as previously mentioned. That means I didn’t get a PRE Workout Meal in. So far I suck at this meal. I knew I had to be quick at getting something good in POST WORKOUT. I had hardboiled eggs prepped so I ate those with some sweet potato. EASY! For breakfast I went ahead and had 2 over medium eggs, with some broccoli stir fried in coconut aminos and some Red Boat Fish Sauce. YUMMO. Add a piece of PORK BELLY and some avocado and BAM! Breakfast is done son!

Breakfast Day 4!

Lunch Day 4

So far I’ve been feeling pretty great about eating and not having cravings. Water intake is great! Time for lunch and by now it’s getting boring if you will cause it’s leftovers after leftovers. That’s not the point right now, the point is to stick to the program. And I’m doing just that! At the last minute we decide to go to a movie. Lunch wasn’t that long ago. But the gap the movie will take up may be too long. Kids were hungry, me not so much so we decide Chipotle. Then everyone sees Smashburger! ARGH! Well I drop everyone off at the burger place and I go to Chipotle with one kid. I got the Carnitas Salad Bowl, after doing a quick google and seeing that it was Whole30 acceptable. NO GUAC cause it looked like death and I was sad for it. It was not the greatest dinner but I got veggies and protein in.

Day 5
Sunday was the hardest day in regard to cravings and boredom and not wanting to cook. I can’t even recall what I ate for breakfast. Ah but I do recall, I had pork belly, hard boiled eggs and some avocado. For lunch we did our normal grocery shopping. I ate a beef frankfurter at Burgandy Pasture Beef after double checking the ingredients on the frankfurters. I had to make sure they didn’t add sugar for some reason. And they don’t so that was good. I ate that bunless and ate the lettuce, tomato and onion that typically goes with the burgers. On our shopping excursions for the day included a couple of stops for Mountain Dew and CHOCOLATE! Ernie got in the car with a Mr. Goodbar??!!?? I looked at him like are you serious? And you’re gonna eat it in front of me. And he did and that chocolate smelled oh so good. The DEVIL I tell you. And I looked at him and said I guess I’ll just chug some water! Stayed Strong! Go ME! But wait there’s more. He proceeded to buy Reese’s Peanut Butter Squares at Target cause he’d never seen them. REALLLY???!!???

And then for dinner he chose McDonald’s SUPERSIZED with Sweet Tea…. OH MY GOODNESS the FRIES… THE FRIES! But I just went home and cooked me up a steak, ate leftover sweet potatoes, leftover cabbage and more avocado!

I also prepped a grass fed chuck roast, acorn squash, hard boiled eggs, and kale chips. I was ready for Monday at least!

Day 6
Had a hard time waking up this AM. So AGAIN no Pre-Workout Meal But came home, threw down some hardboiled eggs and acorn squash. I was full and it wasn’t a lot! I knew I had to eat in 60-90 minutes but wasn’t feeling it. I still got some roast, spinach, kale chips and cherries in easy to eat containers because YES I would be eating this in the car on the way to work. My oven sucks so some of my Kale Chips were pretty tasty and some were NOT SO MUCH. I finished them off though and got through most of my protein and all of my spinach and cherries.

I’m feeling tired today but not sure if that’s WHOLE30 workin on my system or what. Lunch was pretty splendid. I had leftover steak, acorn squash, spinach salad with tomatoes and more pork belly. I should be set till dinner time. Ground beef is the only thing defrosted so we’ll see what happens.

Post Workout Meal
2 hard boiled eggs
1/4 acorn squash

Breakfast
4oz Roast
1/4 cup spinach
Sandwich size baggie full of Kale Chips
6 Cherries

Yes it’s KALE!

Lunch
6 oz Steak
1/4 acorn squash
1/4 cup mushrooms
2 cups spinach
5 cherry tomatoes
1 slice pork belly
Avocado

Again another NOT so pretty pic but it’s what I’m eating and it does have flavor 🙂

Dinner
TBD

All in all I feel good. The bloat is gone but the clothes are still a lil snug. I know this isn’t a WEIGHT LOSS program but I figure eating this clean would have some results quick-like. Patience grasshopper. I know! I know this is to RESTART good eating habits. Just anxious to lose some of this fluff! I’m sure by the end I will have lost a few pounds (I HOPE). Headache hasn’t resurfaced. Aches other than soreness are dissipating! 1/5 of the way there right? Hahah. It seems like forever to go. Will I make it? I sure as hell hope so. I do not want to start over.

I guess that’s it for now. Oh I did go to Barnes & Noble to buy “It Starts with Food” by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig from the Whole30 and it’s sold out! Good for them, booo for me! Ordering it today. I tell so many people to buy it but I have yet to buy it for me! It should be nothing less than AWESOME! I’ll let you know how it is once I get it 🙂 Go forth and be AWESOME on this Monday. See y’all tomorrow.

I should have bought this but in the end I did not

Wooo Friday! Keeping my Head UP!

I have had two short weeks in a row, whatever will I do with myself next week when it’s back to my normal schedule! Hopefully everything just chugs along smoothly. I finally got back to the BOOM Box and am interested to see how the new schedule will play out for me. And I’m still kickin my JUNK food slip ups to the curb, going strong into Day 3 of Whole30!

BOOM Box 1/4/13
So I finally made it in! My headache went away midday yesterday which was wonderful, my congestion is clearing up some so I felt good walking in. I wish I had ended as good as I felt when I walked in but that’s part of it when you haven’t shown up in a week and half ass the week before.

Skill/Strength: Push Press 4,4,4,4,4
Coach wanted us to go HEAVY and heavy I tried. After warming up, I started at 55lbs. Slowly and surely moved my way up to 95lbs. I could have gone heavier… I THINK… but 95lbs was my 5th set and I did have some struggle on the last 2 reps. This was the weight I’m supposed to use in the MetCon, sigh.

1/4/13 WOD

MetCon: 10 rounds of 2 Push Press (heavy weight from strength), 5 Lateral Burpees
Welp, I talked myself out of the 95lbs before I even started the WOD but I went ahead and tried it anyways. We had to clean the bar first, so I got it up, Push Pressed, came down and went back up and it was a NO GO. Houston we do have a problem. DoDo Bird here wants to Push Jerk it! So I drop the bar, Clean it AGAIN and just stop. Finally I get it up and move onto my burpees. ROUND 2, it’s not gonna happen. I’ve sabotaged myself into sucking at 95lbs. Not really sure why but I have lost all confidence. I drop to 85lbs and move along. I still struggled on a few rounds with that 2nd Push Press, not sure why but some rounds moved along seamlessly. I’m an odd bird I suppose. The burpees sure did suck by the end. I was disappointed in my lack of mental focus. But at least I did show up. I know once I get consistent again I’ll be rolling along just fine. Until that kicks in, I’ll just try to stay focused. Time: 11:17

Whole30 Day 2-3
Like I mentioned earlier, my headache finally went away. I thank GOOD FOODs for aiding in the process of feeling better. Still no CRAVINGS which is awesome for me. There have been temptations. Someone at work wasn’t aware that you shouldn’t bring Christmas leftover goodies after the start of the NEW YEAR so cookies and what looked like brownies were sitting in the kitchen. And then Ernie has been eating ice cream but I’ve been good and just kept my focus on eating right and cooking right. I’m ready to rock this Whole30 and I’m not going to sink.

I finished out my Day 2 with some skirt steak, broccoli, and sauteed mushrooms. I added half a grapefruit as well and I was good to go. I’m thinking even though I used coconut oil to cook the veggies that I maybe should have added some avocado. Not sure if I had enough “fat” for that meal. Ah well.

Post-Workout Meal

I had all the intentions of waking up early and getting that Pre-Workout Meal in but I struggled REALLY BAD with getting out of bed. I did manage to come home and get 2 eggs and a serving of cubed sweet potato in. I was ready to eat some avocado then but looked back at my WHOLE30 Success Guide for guidance and it said NOT to ADD fat to this meal unless I need the extra calories. Whew! I do not need EXTRA calories and that’s a fact JACK! Almost had a NO-NO. I’m sure it wouldn’t have killed me but I’m glad I checked. As far as BREAKFAST goes. Whole30 suggests I eat my normal meal 60-90 minutes after my PWO meal. Holy crap. I’ll be en route to work at that time, what will I do? I’ll tell you what I did. I packed a ziplock baggie full of raw broccoli, some pork belly and a green apple with almond butter.

GOODBYE DONUTS (I promise it was only twice last month that I committed such a crime) 😀

HELLO BROCCOLI… RAW, PLAIN BROCCOLI!

I like me some broccoli. It’s not my favorite vegetable – sautee it, steam it, roast it… I’m all good. EAT IT RAW, completely raw, NO sauce, NO dip, just crunchy raw… and I STRUGGLED. I finished off my baggie even though I lost my will to chew. I was really happy to move on to my pork belly.

Day 3 Meals
Breakfast
2 slices Pork Belly
1 sandwich bag full of raw broccoli
1 green apple
1 packet of almond butter

Lunch
Left over Skirt Steak
2 cups mixed veggies
1/2 cup of sweet potatoes (cubed)
1 kiwi

(Today I’m slacking on the fat content, argh, it’s always gotta be something)

Dinner
Roast (maybe)
Asparagus
And figure out what to make with cabbage

I’m back at the BOOM Box in the A.M. because now Saturdays are part of the schedule. Hoping to make it there for the 8 a.m. class! Crossing my fingers and praying I’ll not only make it to the early class but that I can be GOOD for the weekend! My problem will either be I won’t eat enough good food or I’ll cave. I can’t cave though. So I just gotta make sure I get my 3 meals in and drink plenty of water. So far I’m PRing my water intake! Go ME!

I hope everyone has a great WEEKEND. Make it AWESOME!!

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Author: livelaughloveandlift

FRIDAY – I welcome you!

Halfway there – feeling UNSTOPPABLE!

Holy SNIKES, It’s ThunderSnow!

Womp Womp!

Hard Yolks, Runny Yolks, METAL YOKES?

Whole30 DAY 9 – Feelin’ Fine!

Happy, Happy, Happy

Get Moving!

STAY FOCUSED!

Wooo Friday! Keeping my Head UP!

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