Whole30 wrapup

I meant for yesterday to end with a big bang instead of a pfffft, but work and commitments piled up this week, leaving me a little bit worn down. I need quite a bit of personal/quiet time in order to refresh -- I think it confuses some of my more gregarious friends that spending time with people (even loved ones) actually tires me out, especially given that my chosen profession involves a lot of interpersonal interaction. With the conference last weekend, Chinese New Year, and another meeting on Monday, I don't feel quite myself (read: I'm getting a little snippy and bitchy).

Over dinner/drinks last night and dessert at the meeting on Monday (it looked so great, you guys), the only thing keeping me from going rogue off the Whole30 was the fact that I was 2 days away from finishing. Had this been any other situation, I would have given in and eaten the dessert or the chips (I love chips!). It also made me want to just finish this damn Whole30 and not go for round 2 with Crossfit Irvine that I committed to doing just last week. I just want some damn dessert! Even if it's honey on nuts with dried fruit!

This morning, though, after another 8 hours of sleep, I'm feeling a little bit better. I'm probably halfway to my goal of fitting into my almost fat pants. My thinking is that If I'm dreaming of all the "cheating" I'd do should I go off the Whole30, then maybe I'm not quite ready to finish the Whole30. I'm hoping that another round of 30 days will make my food choices more automatic. So, as much as I would like to have some honey covered nuts and fruit, I'm going to commit to round 2. My eczema has also flared up again, and I want to see if I can get it completely under control with another 30 days.

Ok, enough with the serious. Here are my wrapup stats:

1. 9 lbs down!

2. 1.25 inches off waist, 1 inch off hips

3. acne all gone!

4. no more coffee/caffeine dependency! I drink it now only once in a while because I love the taste.

5. better sleep? Hard to say... at the very least, this experience has taught me how important sleep is to my sanity and what role it plays in my need to feed my face vs. actual hunger

6. better mood. I am not half as bitchy (especially at students) than I was before all this. Ask them!

7. clearer head = more organized at home and work. I am less behind, and less easily stressed out at work.
8. I earned the right to post this graphic:

 Woo hoo!

Here's to round 2! I will actually be going for a Whole62 if you're counting (CFI's 30 days don't start until Friday). I haven't decided if I will be as meticulous about posting every meal every day here (aren't you tired of reading about what I'm eating??) or not. I want my food choices to be automatic so that it's just a given that I'm eating well, but if it gets too tempting to cheat, I will start posting again to keep myself accountable.

Whole30 day 30!

I can't believe it's day 30!

sleep:
7.5 hours? I got home around 10:40 last night after a meeting, and needed to fart around for a bit to unwind before going to bed, so I'm not exactly sure what time I went to bed. This also meant I didn't make it to crossfit before work (again).

exercise:
none, except for CPR training (you try doing chest compressions and rescue breaths for 2 minutes at a time and tell me it's not a mini-workout).

meal 1:
spicy mexican beef stew (I turned nomnompaleo's recipe into a stew) over a bed of broccoli slaw (yuck)
kale stir fried in olive oil and garlic

meal 2:
chicken salad bowl from Chipotle (no rice, no beans, but with guacamole and mild, medium and hot salsas)

meal 3:
mexican beef stew (as a small meal before going to meet a friend for "drinks" to catch up)

meal 4:
ceviche (did not eat the chips) with a little guacamole
al pastor meat from a taco (did not eat the tortilla)


30 days down... will post some thoughts/results tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

Whole30 day 29

Sleep:
8 hrs. But that meant I didn't have time to go to CrossFit before work.

Exercise:
None

Meal 1:
2 eggs scrambled with veggies (no more Kalua pork!)

Meal 2:
Spicy Mexican beef
(Need veggies)
Macadamia nuts

Meal 3:
Small bowl of spaghetti squash, sauce
Ate this before going to a dinner meeting so that I wouldn't be tempted to eat bread and butter, dessert

Meal 4 (at the meeting):
Mixed greens salad
Ribeye steak with green beans (didn't eat the potatoes, and didn't eat the delicious chocolate/peanut butter ganache either!)

Long day. 'Nuf said.

Whole30 day 28

4 weeks down... hard to believe it's been that long!

Sleep: not exactly sure how much sleep I got, but I didn't officially get out of bed until 10:45 am. That's a freaking record for me -- was probably making up for the sleep deficit I amassed during the meeting. Also, crying makes me tired.

Exercise: none. Just felt like vegging out on the couch all day, so I indulged myself.

Meal 1: 

kalua pork and veggies -- because it's the first day of the new year, and the tradition is to eat leftovers on the first day to signify that the previous years' prosperity will overflow into the next year. Then I threw out the rest of the kalua pork (because I only had a little bit left, and I'm getting pretty sick of kalua pork).

Meal 2:

Green juice from WholeFoods -- apple, celery, spinach, lime, lemon, and some other veggies that I can't remember. 

I was out buying groceries for the week. I know I should have had some protein and fat as well, but I just wasn't hungry.

Meal 3:

1/2 roasted chicken from Chicken Dijon

baba ghanoush

steamed veggies

macadamia nuts

My pants felt really loose yesterday. I think I plateaued during the last week or two because I was snacking on nuts a lot (I may not have recorded them on the blog, now that I think about it; but I did snack quite a bit on nuts), and my clothes weren't getting any looser. Being away from home and not having nuts to snack on at the meeting broke my plateau. I put my smaller jeans on yesterday, and I'm able to button them up! They are still ridiculously tight (in addition to giving me an awesome muffin top), but I can at least button them, which is a huge improvement from not even getting them up past my butt a few weeks ago.

Lesson? Stop snacking, dummy!

Also, probably a good idea to do another Whole30, as it seems I still have the habit of putting things in my mouth even when I'm not hungry.

Whole30 day 27

Sleep: 5.5 hrs :o *yawn

Exercise:
None (COA house of delegates)

Meal 1:
Bag of cashews ($4!)
Banana and cup of berries ($6!)
Not ruining my whole30 (priceless)

Meal 2:
Went to misfit bar in Santa Monica. Had a burger made from grassfed beef, onion, pepper, tomato, avocado (no bun, of course)
Kale salad (there was quinoa in it so I stopped after a couple mouthfuls)
roasted brussel sprouts

Meal 3:
some veggies from Chinese New Year dinner at my Mom's

Meal 4:
leftover spicy Mexican chicken
kabocha mash

Had a mini emotional breakdown at my mom's house, which I totally wasn't expecting to happen. Had nothing to do with the food (or lack thereof of my eating). I don't mention this to make a big deal out of what caused it, but just that it took me totally by surprise. Maybe I've just been avoiding the issue, and I finally wasn't able to avoid it anymore? Who knows.

The cool thing is that I usually turn to food for comfort, and I didn't feel the need to do that this time. Maybe letting myself feel things instead of medicating with food is the way I'll be dealing with things now?

Whole30 day 26

Sleep:
Crap. Hotel beds are the suck. Probably slept 6 hrs but woke up with red, puffy eyes. Felt like I slept for 3 hrs.

Exercise:
None. Meeting all day

Meal 1:
Catered breakfast at the hotel of scrambled eggs (possibly from powder?)
Bacon (a LOT of bacon -- I traded my hash browns for bacon from a vegetarian fellow attendee. Great trade)
Fruit (2 strawberries, slice of pineapple)

Woke up with rash on my legs again, I think from eggs that were in the salad I ate last night. I might need to get some antihistamines for the rest of the day considering I added to the fire by eating eggs again this morning.

Meal 2:
Chicken and beef fajita meat
Salad without dressing
Jicama salad (jicama, cucumber, oranges, chili powder, vinegar?)
Strawberries

No cookies or brownies, rice! And it wasn't hard!

Meal 3:
ALT umami burger (lettuce wrapped, no cheese)

Whole30 day 25

Sleep:
6 hrs. I always end up staying up too late the night before traveling.

Exercise:
None.

Meal 1:
Kalua pork with veggies
Kabocha mash
Avocado

Meal 2:
Spicy Mexican chicken
Butternut squash
Cashews

Meal 3:
Chicken salad from panera

My fuelband didn't sync right last night because I was at almost 2800 points by 10am and hadn't moved nearly enough to be at 700.

Posts will be less well-formatted because I'm blogging from my phone.