Paleo-ish ~ Weeks 2, 3, and 4

AKA: The Rollercoaster

Did anyone wonder what happened to this? It has been three weeks since I’ve shared an update on my quest for good health in the areas of food and exercise. Mostly because I didn’t want to be transparent. That is the point, however, of sharing in the first place: Being willing to own my goals. Accountability.

My goal was to complete a modified Whole30. Having completed a Whole30 Challenge last year, I had slightly different goals this time around. The past 30 days I planned to eat Paleo-ish with some dairy thrown in. I didn’t intend on reading labels so closely. Trace amounts of soy or even wheat didn’t bother me.

I also planned to add in exercise, which is one thing I didn’t manage to do the last time around. I knew that I needed to increase my strength and endurance.

My friend Danielle stuck with the challenge for 30 days and had incredible results. I’m so proud of her! It really is a huge accomplishment.

How did I do? Some days I did great. Some days…not so great. But I’m going to choose to look at the past 30 days as a success.

I improved my eating overall (it may not seem like it if you read my tedious food journal, but if you had any idea what I ate before…). My goal is not to eat well for 30 days. It is to create long-term, workable solutions for making good food choices. I’m still wrestling with what that looks like on an on-going basis. I know I’ve said it before, but I love to eat. I’ve always loved to eat. I love quantity. And I love a lot of junky food. And once I get started on junky food, I can’t stop. (I will say that in the past 30 days I once had a few sips of root beer and once a few sips of Dr. Pepper—other than that, I haven’t had any soda. Wahoo!)

As far as exercising goes, I’m so proud of myself! I didn’t work out every day (and I’m far from ‘shredded’…I’m still on level 1 of the 30 Day Shred), but I’ve been fairly consistent. I know that I’ve gained strength and endurance. I have every intention of continuing with exercising 5 days a week. If only I could figure out how to do so and still get to bed at a decent hour. Sigh.

I don’t expect anyone to read my food journal. It is mostly for my own benefit that I have kept track over the past few weeks. But, if it inspires anyone or even if it helps anyone to know that I’ve fought hard and still slipped up, well, I’m happy to share.

Day 8:
Breakfast—Eggs and bacon
Lunch—Taco salad
Dinner—Salad with romaine, chicken, toasted sliced almonds, grape tomatoes, parmesan cheese, and Caesar dressing
Dessert—Apple slices and blackberries fried in coconut oil with cinnamon, a pinch of sea salt, and smothered in coconut milk
(Russ had just picked both the apples and the blackberries…YUM! I thought I deserved dessert after narrowly resisting a piece of pizza!)
Exercise—30 Day Shred

Day 9:
Breakfast—Eggs and Aidells chicken apple sausage
Lunch—Pan”cake” (almond meal, eggs, butter, and Greek yogurt baked in oven) with a drizzle of honey (meh.) and a few pear slices
Snack—Sweet potato chips
Dinner—Sabatino’s spinach with aged white cheddar chicken patty with romaine and spinach, tomato, and avocado and a carrot
Exercise—30 Day Shred

Day 10:
Breakfast—Eggs and Aidells chicken apple sausage
Lunch—Taco salad
Snack—A little fruit leather (only real fruit, no sweetener)
Dinner—Grilled trout with onions and lemon, and roasted yams
Dessert—Apple slices sauteed in coconut oil with cinnamon, sea salt, and coconut milk
Exercise—30 Day Shred

Day 11:
Breakfast—Sliced banana, toasted sliced almonds, coconut milk and cinnamon (with a pinch of sea salt) (I ran out of eggs!!)
Lunch—Taco salad
Dinner—Bombed. But I had so much fun with my family, and I still didn’t eat as much/everything I wanted to.
Exercise—Hiking with the family (including some killer steps). I should have done the 30 Day Shred, but I fell when I was climbing over a log and my arm and back were sore.

Day 12:
Breakfast—Eggs and Aidells chicken apple sausage
Snack—A few pistachios and dried (sweetened) cranberries
Lunch—Bombed. A slice of pizza, a few breadsticks, and a few chocolate chips. We were on the go and I didn’t have anything packed.
Dinner—Pesto chicken (YUM!!), cherry tomatoes, and smoothie (banana, pineapple, spinach, frozen blackberries)
Snack—A granola bar that I should NOT have eaten. But I was hungry and it was my weak hour of 10 pm.
Exercise—30 Day Shred (I put it off until after midnight! and I really had to talk myself into it…but it felt so good when I was finished.)

Day 13:
Breakfast—Eggs
It pretty much went down-hill from there
Exercise—None. Went to bed because I was in a bad mood. Bleh.

Day 14:
Breakfast—Eggs and Aidells sausage
Snack/Lunch/Snack—Not good. Not good at all.
Dinner—I was determined to turn the day around. Mexican Stuffed Green Peppers. YUM!!

Day 15:
Breakfast—Eggs and Aidells sausage
Mumble, mumble, mumble (I did have some leftover filling from the green peppers, cold, while we were out and about and it was yummy.)
Exercise—I walked, and walked, and walked at the Renaissance Faire

Day 16:
Out all day at church and a birthday party. (I *really* enjoyed myself…)

Tomorrow is always a new day. Right?!

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson, (attributed) (HT: Momastery)

 

Day 17:
Breakfast—Eggs and Aidells sausage
Snack—Pistachios and dried (sweetened) cranberries
Lunch—Leftover stuffed green peppers
Dinner—Taco salad
Exercise—30 Day Shred
(Wahooooo!)

Day 18:
Breakfast—Eggs and Aidells sausage
Snack—Pistachios and dried (sweetened) cranberries, dried apples, pea pods
Lunch—Pastrami, cheese, and a banana
Dinner—Sausages (some yummy chicken kind), roasted cabbage with fennel, sliced avocado
Dessert--Paleo Pear Crisp (meh.)
Exercise—Walked for hours at the Oregon Garden

Day 19:
Breakfast—Sliced banana with coconut milk, toasted sliced almonds, cinnamon, and a pinch of sea salt
Snack (ha!)—Eggs and sausage (I was dying of starvation by 10:30. That will teach me to skip eggs in the morning!)
Lunch—Pastrami and cheese. Chocolate chips. Hmmmm.
Dinner—Melt in Your Mouth Chicken (with Greek yogurt and parmesan cheese), roasted broccoli and cauliflower, sliced avocado, and cherry tomatoes
Snack—Toast. Sigh. That 9pm hour kills me.
Exercise—30 Day Shred (I almost skipped it because it was LATE and I couldn’t find the DVD player remote, but I persisted—finally found the remote and worked out at 11:30. It is SO. HARD. to take the time to exercise when I have a long to-do list and I need to get to bed earlier!)

Day 20:
Breakfast—(I bet you can’t guess…Ha!) Eggs and Aidells sausage
It really went downhill from there. For a few days. Sigh.

…Day 21:
Dinner—I did make sausage with cabbage noodles for dinner. That’s something, right?

Day 22

Day 23…

 

A new start. Again.

Day 24:
Breakfast—Eggs and Aidells sausage
Snack—Pistachios and dried cranberries
Lunch—Celery with almond butter, cherry tomatoes
Snack—Pea pods
Dinner—BBQ steak, grilled onions, roasted yams with olive oil and sea salt, avocado, cherry tomatoes
Exercise—30 Day Shred (I managed to start at 10pm and be in bed by 10:40! It’s a start in the right direction.)

Day 25:
Breakfast—Eggs, Italian sausage with kale and parmesan cheese
Lunch—Leftover steak strips, and banana with coconut milk, sliced toasted almonds, cinnamon, and sea salt
Dinner—Taco salad
Dessert—Paleo pancakes (AKA: a way to use up my too-ripe bananas since I can’t eat banana bread. All four kids gave them a thumbs up!!) (3 eggs, one mashed ripe banana, 1 cup almond meal, a smidge of sea salt/baking powder/cinnamon, and just a little arrowroot powder for the fun of it—mixed and fried up in coconut oil. With a *smidge* of maple syrup.)
Dessert #2—I know. I know. But, seriously. My husband walked in late in the evening with an apple pie hot out of the oven. My friend had made it for him because he had fixed her computer. Hot, home-made apple pie smell wafting through the house. It was a sin to waste it, that’s all I’m saying.
Exercise—It was late, but I owed it to myself after dessert #2. 30 Day Shred at 11pm. Sigh.

Day 26:
Breakfast—Eggs, Italian sausage with kale and parmesan cheese
Lunch—Taco salad
Snack—Yes, that apple pie was still sitting on my counter. I ate some leftover steak to balance out the sugar a little.
Dinner—Beef and Broccoli (my own concoction) topped with toasted sliced almonds
Dessert—Banana pancakes (I’ve got to stop eating in the late evening, but I’m so hungry around 9pm!)
Exercise—30 Day Shred (I’ve also got to stop working out after 11pm, but it is hard for me to finish my other tasks before then!)

Day 27:
Breakfast—Eggs, Italian sausage with kale
Lunch—Steak, romaine lettuce, and spinach-parmesan dip, dried apples
Dinner—Thai cilantro grilled chicken and green salad
Exercise—30 Day Shred (I thought I’d try level 2—die.) (Worked out after book club, but done by 11pm—wahoo!)
(A great day in the end, but I was in such a snacky mood. I went to make chocolate Larabar, but I was out of pecans. I tried to add some cocoa powder to almond butter, but it tasted yucky. I would have caved if someone had brought dessert to book club, but luckily no one did. Only three of us there, but great conversation. I just love those ladies.)

Day 28:
Breakfast—Eggs, Italian sausage with kale
Lunch—Leftover beef and broccoli
Dinner and Dessert—Date night with hubby. I ate whatever I wanted. {grin}

Day 29:
Breakfast—Banana pancakes (I didn’t feel like making eggs, and I figured the pancakes with egg and almond meal would have more protein than a banana with coconut milk.)
Lunch—Leftover Thai cilantro chicken
Dinner—Spaghetti meat sauce sans noodles
Snacks—I made bad snack choices today. (Ritz crackers and chocolate chips. Sigh.)
Exercise—30 Day Shred (level 1 again—ah, much better…in fact, it felt really good…if only it weren’t at midnight…)

Day 30:
Breakfast—Eggs, Italian sausage with kale and parmesan cheese
Lunch—Ham and cheese roll-ups
Dinner—Bun-less burger with spinach, pesto, and chopped grape tomatoes, and a fruit/spinach smoothie
Snacks—Bad choices again today.
Exercise—30 Day Shred (at 11:30 pm)