Day 20: 2/3 done!

Weekends are always lovely and a little slow around here. Silas isn't plan a sport right now so we pretty much lay low on the weekends. Today was my day to sleep in so I got up and ate some bacon and one egg before barre3 class.

For lunch Jamie went to 5 guys burgers where I got a burger in a lettuce wrap with veggies and added my own condiments at home. 

(That's Parkers lunch on my plate too)

We went on a big walk to a new park today before quiet time. The weather was gorgeous today!

Dinner was chicken legs in the instapot with my go to salad. 

Just got done planning my meals for the next week. Will hit WholeFoods tomorrow and be ready to tackle the week ahead!

Day 19

Today we had a 2.5 hour framing walk through at the house and I wanted to keel over. But I made it through and stayed on track!

Breakfast: just eggs

Lunch: I ate the salad I made at the salad party last night. 

Dinner: I got take out from Symbowl again and it was delicious!

I also finished week 3 of my couch to 5k!!!

Day 18

Today was a basic rinse and repeat of yesterday, minus the run.

Breakfast: hash and eggs

Lunch: salmon salad with bell peppers

Dinner: leftover night. I had a little of everything!

My friend and fellow Whole30er Laura invited me to a salad making party tonight. It was fun, I came home with lunch for tomorrow, I have a new shirt I got on sale and I successfully avoided wine!  Win!

Day 17

I had a great day today. On Wednesdays, I usually get to run and go to barre3. So, I've been noticing I'm extra hungry in the morning after the run. Today I added some fruit salad to my eggs and hash. I'm so weird, I eat fruit more often if I cut it up and have it ready to go but rarely take the time to do this!

I also make sure to have a snack before barre, even though Whole30 isn't all about snacks, I know my body needs them. That is something I've learned. I don't snack every day but I recognize when I do and honor that. Lunch was just some turkey roll ups and then we had my parents over for dinner. We had hamburgers and tomato/avocado/basil salad. 

On a side note, I found this chicken for Jamie at the store and then realized it is compliant!  How confident for salads or a quick protein snack!

Day 16

On the way down towards 30!  Feels great. I'm in the groove and today was a typical meal day.

Breakfast: hash and eggs

Snack before barre3: 1/2 apple and nut butter

Lunch: salmon salad I whipped together 

Dinner: stir fry with cauliflower rice. This is another Whole30 staple. So easy and family friendly!

Mid way check in-with pictures

Here is my mid-Whole30 report.

Things I've learned:

-as per usual, food prep and grocery shopping are key

-I'm really enjoying my two week calendars for meal planning and seeing family activities that may get in the way of things

-love having a friend on the journey

-family support is key: Jamie is very helpful  and my parents are trying their best to understand and help me stay on track

-falling right to sleep and sleeping like a rock (when no kids/dog wake me up)

Still waiting on:

-I still have a 2pm slump. Not sure if that is from "routine" (aka I've taken a nap at 2 everyday for the last 18 months on days that I haven't worked 😳😳😳)

-still don't feel the "tiger blood" people speak of

-my skin totally broke out, I think that was its detox and should be done now

-still have shoulder pain

In keeping with the Whole30 guidelines, I do not weigh myself at all. I have been keeping up with my exercise goals. 

Here are a few comparison photos. Hoping to do this every two weeks during my journey. 

Before:

2 weeks in:

Side by side 

Day 15: half way point

At about this time, Whole30 has become easier and more routine, but not boring or work yet. Today I knew Jamie and I were going out so I planned ahead and made sure I ate a bigger lunch in case I couldn't find much to eat at the restaurant. I also had a Whole30 fail and didn't have any breakfast food prepped, so breakfast was just eggs. Luckily I love eggs so it wasn't a huge deal.

Lunch I ate leftover meatballs and spaghetti squash. So so good the second time around!

After digging through our storage unit, Jamie and I had dinner at Billy Gs. I had a burger on a bed of veggies and a salad. This tends to be my go to eating out option. Sadly no one seems to carry lettuce wraps on a bun alternative, but I made due. I added avocado and mustard for a little extra flavor. Happy to be on the "downslope" towards day 30!

Day 14

I've been at this for two weeks and have really found my groove. So happy to be back in control of my eating-especially the sugar dragon!

Sundays are usually a pretty lazy down around here. I got to sleep in, then ate some eggs and headed off to barre. Lunch was simple hot dogs and salad. 

For dinner, we did another primalpalate recipe and it was amazing. I highly recommend it!  I also roasted some Brussels sprouts with bacon. Also delicious!

http://www.primalpalate.com/paleo-recipe/chipotle-lime-skirt-steak/

Day 13!

It's almost been 2 weeks and I've stuck to all my plans. Whole30 everyday, blogging everyday, 2 new recipes a week (minimum), Couch 2 5k and Barre3. I'll do a mid change report on day 15!

Today I had a big breakfast to start out my day. Eggs and compliant sausage with some sweet potato toast. Funny enough, all my food tends to be perfect for Parker!

Lunch was left over salmon salad. Then the girls and I were off to Luckys to pick up some staples and a few things for our recipes this week. 

We had my mom and Paul over for dinner and made delicious meatballs and sauce from a great website I found (http://www.primalpalate.com/paleo-recipe/pasta-with-meatballs/).  I had mine over spaghetti squash and the kids had pasta.  Primalpalate.com has tons of recipes and a way to organize everything by dietary restrictions. So far we are very impressed!

Symbowl

My close friend Laura and her husband Brandon are also doing Whole30 and told me about a great restaurant near by us. It is called Symbowl. It markets itself as a Paleo menu. However they have Whole30, auto-immune, and tons of other optional menus. It was so great not to have to ask a million questions!

(things in pink are whole30 options!)

Day 12

Friday!  It is here!  Today was great because I got my run in and found a restaurant that has a Whole30 menu (more on that later!).

Breakfast was simple, eggs and sweet potato

Lunch: this is my go to!

Dinner I ordered this from Symbowl and it was delicious!

Day 11

I'm trying really hard not to be grossed out by the weather here and how hot it remains. I'm ready for soups and stews and jeans and long sleeves!  Alas we are not there yet.

Today I got stuck taking Silas to the dentist and waiting for quite some time to get my finger prints done...I am ready to go back to work and needed this to finish my licensing. But I managed to stay on track and got to a barre3 class!

Breakfast: quick and easy eggs and SP toast

While out and about I had an almond milk latte. I'm sure they loved my million questions and reading of their product labels 😂😂😂😂.

Lunch was a salad and for dinner we had leftovers!  Parker loved the refried beans...I wish I had taken a picture!

Before/during

Here is a picture of our fridge before I went grocery shopping on Saturday. You can see I'm out of many things and there are no leftovers or prepared food. 

By mid week, my fridge is full of Tupperware full of leftovers and prepared food. This is how to survive Whole30. Always have food ready to go!

(Note noncomplant food is there for the other 4 people in my house!)

Day 10 done!

My biggest goal for today was to get my Couch to 5k run in, but I knew we had a busy day ahead of us. So I got up and did it at 630 this morning. I was not a fan of the morning exercise routine 🤷🏼‍♀️. But it got done. After that we started our morning!

Breakfast: frittata and coffee

Snack before barre3: sweet potato toast and a hard boiled egg

L
unch: after I got the girls down for a nap, I made some salmon salad and had that for lunch with an apple as my "cracker". It was delicious. 

Dinner: we had stuffed potatoes!  So good, quick, and family friendly. We put the chicken in the instapot frozen with a can of salsa. It was a little dryer than normal but still delicious. Then we had a toppings bar and everyone got to build their own potato. Fun and good for you!

(Note: some toppings are not Whole30 compliant, small children needed them)

Today I prepped the sweet potato toast and salmon salad today for the next few days. Also made it to barre3 in addition to my run this am. It was a great day!

Day 9

Another busy day in the books!

Breakfast: fried eggs and 2 pieces of bacon

Lunch: leftover meatballs, pineapple and a hard boiled egg

Dinner: taco salad!

See, it is possible to eat and eat with the family. The kids ate a meat and bean quesadilla and I just ate the meat on a salad. So easy and still just one meal for everyone!  I also made it to a barre3 class today and am signed up for tomorrow!

This afternoon I made some bacon wrapped dates to have on hand for a quick emergency snack: protein and a stabling sugar if needed. They are delicious!

Day 8

Mondays. Ugh. Never a fan. But today was a good day. Having made my frittata the night before, I was ready to conquer the day. I was able to go for a run  today, so that made me very happy.  However I then had to spend hours looking at appliances for our new house, and that did not make me happy.

I ate a frittata slice in the am and another before I left for errands.  For lunch, I had leftover turkey meatballs. For dinner, we were rushed, so the family ate pizza and I had a chicken apple sausage, leftover spaghetti squash, and tomatoes. So helpful to have compliant foods on hand!

Grocery shopping!

I went to a new-to-me, local grocery store that sells lots of organic, local, good whole food. It's called Lucky's Market and I got a lot of good stuff.

I love having spiralzed "noodles" on hand. They also had some good, Paleo flour to use for some recipes, like homemade chicken fingers.

Sugar free bacon and sausage are so hard to find. I found out that the "Naked" company is a local company too. I had one this morning and it was delicious.

The other cool thing about this store, not that I partook in, is they serve tap beer to drink while shopping!  I mean how cool is that?!?  I can see how dangerous that could be. 

Day 7

The first week is coming to a close and I'm starting to feel great. Today I managed to hold strong at the Greentree Festival, which was full of delicious smelling food and glorious looking beer. But I made it through. I also survived a dinner at my mom's house. My parents have been lovely helping me through this. My mom asked me all the things I could and could not eat and made some delicious hamburgers for dinner with spaghetti squash. It was great!

Tonight I did some meal prep: here's my first frittata of this Whole30. I'll be eating that first thing in the morning!

Day 6!

We went to the Greentree Parade today and very much enjoyed it!  I went to an early barre3 class so had a quick breakfast. Food prep came in handy as I ate a hard boiled egg and some sweet potato toast.

Lunch was turkey roll ups. 

Dinner was delicious turkey meatballs in the Instapot over zucchini noodles. Plus a tomato/avocado/basil salad with olive oil and balsamic. Grocery trip post coming up!

Day 5

Friday's can be quite busy around here and today was no different. My plan for dinner went astray but I just ate leftovers and all was well. Plus day 3 of couch to 5k is in the books!

Found this nut butter at Trader Joe's and it was delicious for a snack!

A plate of leftovers!


A nearly empty fridge. Must be time to shop and prep again! (keep in mind there is a lot of non-whole30 food in there...as I am 1 of 5 people that live here.)