After 5 days of my Whole 30

I woke up with very little knee pain!!!  Very surprised by this. 

Last night I felt as though I had a lot more energy too and was quite alert, even at 10.30pm.  Usually a get an energy slump around 3-4pm and then again around 10pm.  Not last night.  I also woke up and felt alert - not my usual just woke up groggy feeling at all.

So what have I been eating?

Most breakfasts have been eggs of some sort - fried with bacon, fried with sautéed grated sweet potato, etc.  One morning I had 2 pork sausages with sautéed veges and this morning I had left overs from last night's dinner.

I made a batch of chicken soup and have been having that for lunch.  Dinners have been Apricot chicken (my fave), Lasagne with zucchini noodles (a bit wet), slow cooked Beef Goulash (forget the other 2).

The day I made the soup felt like I was cooking all day.  A draw back of this style of eating I suppose.  But now it is made all I have to do is reheat a bowlful.  I think that is the key to making this easier - precook a bit of food and batch it into single serves to be reheated over the next few days.

When I went shopping on Monday my fridge was chock fill of meat and veges - so much so that I couldn't fit it all in the appropriate areas.  But I did plan and shop for 2 weeks of meals.

I will admit that I have not been following the Whole 30 plan strictly.  I have tried it and decided that I still need/like to have 3-4 cups of tea a day with milk.  I have cut down the amount of milk I use to around 1 tablespoon - enough to make it a brown tea as opposed to black or white.  The Whole 30 police will probably be on my back about this but it is my life and diet and I should be able to do and eat as close to the program as I feel I can possibly manage.  Who knows, once summer hits I may not drink tea at all.  I have not eaten anything made from grains of any sort, not eaten any legumes or sugars - except what is naturally in fresh/frozen fruit.  So there....

Oh, my sleeping patterns are still roughly the same - disturbed at least once a night.  Unless of course the cat sleeps with me.  Then it's more like every time I need to turn over I get disturbed.  He likes to sleep hard up against me or even on me.  I have a large personal space and when he invades that of a night I find it hard to sleep well.  Solution - shut the bedroom door and hope that hubby keeps it closed when he goes to work at ridiculous am.

Starting a Whole 30

is going to be tricky.  I have read the book 'it starts with food' and it all makes sense.  I have also read a bit about eating paleo and the reasons behind it all and that all makes sense.  So now it is time to be the lab rat and JFDI.

I will try to be here daily to write about what I eat and how I feel - both physically and emotionally.

Today is Day 1.

Physically:

My knees hurt when I stand, so much so that getting out of bed in the morning is a slow and painful process.  My legs seem really stiff too.  It does loosen up during the day and I am sure the pain killers I take with my morning vitamins help take the morning pain edge off.

It is spring here in Australia so my hayfever is playing up too.  I spent the last week bush camping among trees that were shedding their seed fluff and that certainly hasn't helped the allergies.

I find I don't sleep well either; possibly due to allergies but more likely due to age related hormonal changes.  As a result I wake up groggy and it takes a bit for that feeling to go away.  Though i find playing some games on the computer helps with that.

Emotionally:

I am apprehensive (is that an emotion?) about doing a Whole 30.  I can get my head around dinner and lunch - I just need to be organised.  Dinner is probably the easiest meal to plan.  Lunch I need to ensure I have food ready to go - either precooked or at least easily and quickly cooked.  It's breakfast that I am going to struggle with.  What is breakfast if it's not toast or cereal or pancakes?  Ok, I can do bacon  and eggs and even add in some grated sweet potato - but eating that everyday is going to get rather boring after awhile.

Snacking is not allowable within Whole 30 'rules', but at least if I get really hungry I know I can eat some fruit or some nuts.  Eating anything else is not difficult as I tend to not buy biscuits or cake, etc anyway.

I am going to miss my tea - haven't had sugar in it for over 30 years but I do add milk.  Looks like I will be having weak black from now on.  At least I will be if I can stand the taste.


So why am I doing this?

Initially it was to lose weight, but after reading a few blogs and some books on eating paleo I am now doing this to see if I feel any better - with my knee, with my sleeping habits, etc.  Previously I have cut grains from my diet for around a week and noticed less knee pain and an alertness in the afternoon not felt before, so i am hopeful this will do me good.

So, wish me luck.  I am off to have some eggs and bacon and sweet potato and plane some meals for the next week....

Feel too Fat to be Photographed?

Well read this link and feel that way no more.

I have had my eyes opened.

Thank you Theresa!

Another Fast Day

Under my belt.

Yesterday I ate 1 yoghurt and 1 nectarine at around lunch time.  Then I had pasta bolognaise for dinner.

I was starving most of the afternoon - copious amounts of water did nothing to alleviate it today.  I was even hungry after dinner.  So much so that at 10pm-ish I had a jarrah hot choc in a tall mug.  I'm sure I was hungry when I went to bed!

Today I am alert and whilst having had 2 slice of toast and a banana and 2 cups of tea I am still hungry!!!

And I thought I was going to be lucky and not be very hungry on/after fast days......

Post Holiday thoughts

Hi there - it's been awhile hasn't it?

I went away with most of the immediate family for 2 weeks.  I was going to try to eat well and get in some pool exercise but that did not eventuate.  About the only thing I did 'healthy' was to do 1 low calorie consumption day.  I had intended to continue this whilst on holidays decided against it.

I ate morning tea - cakes usually - and had desert - choc coated soft serve - most days.  I did have cereal or berry bruschetta for breakfast and dinner was usually bbq meat and salad.  I also drank a lot of water.

Back home I weighed myself - gained 1.2kg.  Not too bad considering.  So back on the wagon I go.  Starting the whole 5:2 lifestyle thing and 5 days later I have lost 1.3kgs.  Today was supposed to be another fast day but I had to have breakfast early as I had an early appointment.  I prefer to 'fast' on days where I don't have to go anywhere early.  That way I can have breakfast later in the morning, like around 11am.  This then tides me over until dinner at around 7pm.

One thing I have found with the whole 'fast' days or low-cal-consumption days is how hungry I don't really get.  From what I have read and from what those I know who live like this have said is that initially they are ravenous a lot of the day.  Not me.  Maybe I am just lucky in the way.

So for my 2 fast days this is what I have eaten:
Day 1 - 1 nectarine, 2 kiwi fruit, 1 banana, handful of fresh berries (breakfast); chicken stir fry (dinner)
Day 2 - 2 rustic white toast spread with choc philly and topped with raspberries (breakfast); 1 1/3 snags, 1/4 large steamed kumara, steamed carrot and peas (dinner).
Day 3 - I forget what I ate, but I know I snuck in 3 lindt balls...
Day 4 - 2 toast with marg and jam, followed by half a chicken breast baked in the oven and topped with salsa and a sprinkling of grated cheese, two thirds of a potato sliced into chips and oven baked, steamed carrot and peas.

Each day I have 2 cups of tea and lots of water.  I will admit to being hungry when I go to bed of a night.  I have found that I have approx. 16 hours of not eating before I break my fast and a further 8 hours till dinner followed by a further 13 hours before breakfast the next day.  I try to be strong and not have anything else but those 2 meals a day.  I could do better with the calorie count I'm sure.

I am back to writing up on the fridge a weekly meal plan.  Breakfasts and lunches are all sorted and I have even gone so far as to decide what type of meat we will have for dinner - beef or chicken, etc.  At the moment I have the next 4 nights dinners planned in my head.

Oh and I have lost 2.1kg since I got home from holidays......

5:2

I watched a documentary the other night about this doctors quest to find a way of eating that would lower his cholesterol and such.  He eventually came up with a program he called 5:2.  It's where you pretty much eat what you want for 5 days of the week and then 'fast' for 2 non consecutive days.  The 'fast' is actually eat reduced calories - around 1/4 of what you would normally eat.

I did some research of blogs etc and found many people do this are living well on it.  One blog even has a whole list of meals for under 500 cals listed.  I have ordered the book on it from my local library too.

I think this may be a doable thing.  So today - Sunday - I am having my first fast day.  I am going to watch a calisthenics concert later this afternoon/early evening.  So I am going to have eggs and bacon for a late breakfast and then a roll and some strawberries for dinner.

I am hungry now - having not yet had breakfast.  I will try to blog about my experience here.

I weighed myself on Monday morning and then again on Wednesday.  Monday I was 106.1 and Wednesday I was 105.4 (and that was after having had breakfast but also after having been to the toilet).  Thursday a friend commented on how good I looked and asked what I had lost.  Yesterday I posted 2 pics of myself on FB.  One was 12 months ago at a function,

the other was 1 year later in the same dress taken at home.   The dress positively swims on me.

It's moments like these that make you feel good....

So sick of this yo-yo-ing

The last few weeks have seen my weight go up and down, up and down.

I am tired of it.

I know the cause of it all - bad eating.

I know how to stop it - better eating.

So yesterday I sat down and actually wrote out a weekly menu plan for myself.  Considering I usually have the same or similar things for breakfast and lunch, it wasn't that hard.  This meal plan caters to my tastes and my style of needing something to eat quickly.  I really hate having to take ages to prepare a meal - unless it is for a special occasion and there's none of them around.

Now all I have to do is follow the plan and watch portion sizes.

Breakfasts will be either Berry Bruschetta or cereal with scrambled eggs on the weekend.

Morning snacks will be fruit.

Lunch will be a sandwich, homemade vegetable soup or a treat on the weekend ie pancakes.

Afternoon snack will be nuts or a muesli bar.

Dinner will come from either 12wbt or my Symply Too Good cook books and will alternate between beef/lamb and chicken.  We don't eat a lot of fish - not really a fan of the taste.

There will also be dessert - a yogurt or something from the Symply Too Gook books (but only once or twice a week).

I have even got little boxes on the plan for water intake.  Maybe, just maybe, having to tick off a box will encourage me to drink more water.

I have also written on the plan what exercise to do each day.  Again alternating with cardio (walking the block) and toning stuff. 

Once I get to under 100kgs I will start going to the pool to exercise - but I need to get a routine fixed in my head for that.  I'm told there's plenty of youtube videos that can help in that respect.

So plan is printed - now to stick it on the fridge.