Tuesday, April 24, 2012

whole30 challenge, day 24 -- 20 Sit Ups!!!!!

so, six more days to go on the whole30 challenge.  it has been an interesting month.  i will say that i am feeling good.  no heartburn, my energy level has gotten better, and today i did 20 sit ups!!! by myself! for not being able to do any at the beginning of the month, that is a huge accomplishment.  i am proud of myself!  i still don't like getting up at 5 am to exercise, i miss chocolate, and i am looking forward to the end of the challenge so our food repertoire can increase a bit.  i do not plan on going back to drinking hot cocoa every day -- i will save it for saturdays, and maybe one other time during the week.  i will not be eating wheat very often -- there are lots of recipes out there for baking that use alternatives like coconut flour and almond meal.  i had started using quinoa flour in my baking as well, but it looks like i need to do further research on that.  some paleo sources say quinoa is not as good for you as the industry would have you believe.  i don't know.  i will do some more reading and will let you know what i find.  and BACON!! it will be our weekend treat once again!!

my eating today was good.  i came in at just under 1600 calories -- 1589 to be exact.  my hunger was kept at bay, and i am thankful for that. for breakfast i had one egg scrambled with an egg white, a large chicken sausage, some leftover veggies and an orange.  it was a lot, so i spread it out over approximately 30 minutes.  for lunch i had a large chicken breast seasoned with cumin, cilantro, chili powder, garlic and basil.  i sliced it into strips and dipped the strips into some homemade guacamole.  yummy!!!  i also had a whole cucumber, some grape tomatoes and about a cup of cantaloupe chunks.  dinner was a baked chicken thigh, some kale sauteed with onions, and an apple.  my total protein intake was 31% of my calories (119 grams), fat came in at 43% (76.2 grams) and carbs totaled 26% (113.7 grams) of my calories for the day.  i also ate 26.3 grams of fiber.  i seem to feel best when my protein intake is more than my carb intake.  that should not be a surprise, but for someone who has lived on mostly carbs for her entire life, the concept is life altering.  i was also happy that my fat intake was less than 50% and that i got my quota of fiber for the day.

for exercise today, i worked on my arms. i did several reps of bicep curls and side arm lifts, both while holding 5 lb weights. next month i am going to try 10 lb weights (i think . . .). i then used a 15 lb weight, held it in both hands, laid down on my back and did a sort of modified bench press (at least that is what i was trying to do!).  i sat up and still using the 15 lb weight, i did a kind of pull down behind my head (again, i can only work with what i have!! lol!)  i also did 10 one armed push ups on each arm (while laying on my side. i haven't tried regular push ups yet.), some arm circles and leg lifts, and for the grand finale, i did 2 sets of 10 sit ups, for a total of 20. my husband and i took our walk in the evening after work, but before dinner.

i ordered some of the books i had originally checked out from the library.  when i get them i will start posting recipes.  i plan on continuing this blog, and will post on some topics relating to memories and scrapbooking as well as on our journey on the paleo path. 

as 5 am comes very early, i will sign off now.  i thank you for reading. 

Saturday, April 21, 2012

whole30 challenge, day 21 -- wishing for some comfort

i checked the "paleo comfort foods" cookbook by julie and charles mayfield out from the library, and found some really great recipes.  i had to return it today (it was really overdue) but i am going to purchase it because it has lots of ideas that fit with the way we eat.  not just paleo eating, but the kind of stuff we like all the time.  for example, i have been searching and searching for a breakfast sausage that we liked and was paleo (meaning no sugar or preservatives among other things) and have just been coming up short every time.  this cookbook has a recipe for a homemade breakfast sausage, and i made it recently and it was really good.  i liked that i could tweak it for our own taste.  i used 2 lbs of ground turkey and 1 lb of ground pork, and seasoned it with the likes of sage, basil, salt, pepper, chili powder, a bit of cayenne pepper, and some others that i cannot remember.  my husband suggested for the next batch that i add fennel seed, which i plan on doing.  when this cookbook comes in, i will be posting the recipe.  if you can't wait, you can see if your local library has it for you to check out.  it also has recipes for tortillas made with coconut flour, a paleo bbq sauce and ketchup, paleo chili (no beans!) spiced mixed nuts, and lots of other yummy dishes.  eating paleo is not boring, but sometimes i just wish some of those "comfort foods" that i relied on for so long were still available.  with this cookbook, some of those dishes seem within reach while still being healthy.

on thursday, day 19, i did my exercise and walk in the early evening before dinner.  i didn't keep track of my meals, but it was pretty much the same as almost every other day -- eggs, veggies, fruit and chicken.

for friday, day 20, i did my exercises (arm day) in the morning and went on my walk with my husband -- in the rain. got soaked, but at least it was warm!  for breakfast i had two eggs and an egg white scrambled with some veggies, and an orange.  then i was so sleepy i took a nap!!  didn't really have lunch, just snacked on some almonds, cut up raw veggies and an apple.  for dinner we had chuck roast in the crock pot, veggies and some salad, and some really good cantaloupe.  that night we went to our son's college (also our alma mater) for his jazz band concert.  he plays the string bass and bass guitar, and he absolutely rocked it.  he has become a very talented musician, and we are very proud of him.

today, day 21 -- for breakfast i had a link of chicken/apple sausage (purchased from costco and legal for the whole30 challenge) along with a couple of eggs and an egg white scrambled, and some pineapple. the pineapple was really, really sweet.  i think my taste buds have definitely become more sensitive over the past month.  since my breakfast was late i just had some almonds and an apple for lunch, then later i just had an orange.  for dinner i had oven baked chicken (a thigh and a leg) and some roasted veggies. my total calories for the day came to just over 1600 (too much!).  fat totaled 50% of calories (91.5 grams), protein came to 22% (88.6 grams) and carbs totaled 28% percent of calories (121.6 grams).  in there was approximately 21.3 grams of fiber. i do think the past couple of days i have had too much fruit -- tomorrow i will have to scale back a bit.  i have lost weight, and i want to keep that momentum going.  too much fruit will raise my blood sugar, which will in turn raise my insulin levels, which will then make it harder for me to lose weight.  alas, i did no exercise today -- i did keep busy, but i will be back to the exercising tomorrow.

on to tomorrow -- goodnight all! off to the comfort of my bed!