Whole30...Day 17

We have had eggs every morning so something has to give tomorrow!  I need a little change up from eggs.

Today wasn't very difficult for me in the food department. I was still tired but not exhausted.

I had a going away dinner at night so Ben made burgers & fries for dinner and made enough for lunch tomorrow.

For dinner, we went to a yummy place called Bite Bistro. I've been there several times and love it. I had ordered a salad dressing "to go" dispenser so I could take out to restaurants but I left it at home. They had 1/2 price bottles of wine and that was super hard for me to resist. The red wine that someone was drinking across the table smelled SO good!!!
After looking at the menu, I opted for a double burger made of short rib & brisket (meat only) and a side of fruit. When they came out with my dish, it was accompanied by a plate full of delicious looking fries that I know were fried. I was able to share that with the table and I resisted.

Before the food arrived, I just had a feeling that my stomach issue was about to arise and it did. By the time we left dinner my stomach was in lots of pain. It was kind of depressing because this tells me that it's probably not a food. Lets be real, I had thoughts of throwing in the towel but decided I can still do this.

Whole30...Day16

Today is Tuesday and I had another event tonight. I cooked Balsamic chicken in the crockpot overnight so I would have it for dinner.

• 4-5 chicken breast
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tblsp. dijon mustard
• 6 cloves garlic
• salt
• pepper

Cook on low for 7 hours. 

It was easy and tasty but before I got to dinner, I had to suffer through work again with famous amos, oreos, chips, grandma's cookies - all of those old school favorites.  I even resisted Willy's for dinner and stuck with eating my balsamic chicken and broccoli.

Was still tired a lot of the day. Per the timeline, I'm suppose to be in Tiger Blood mode and feeling good energy. I'm hoping that comes soon!

At the same time, it's not as difficult to not eat "that" stuff.

We made it to the other side....

Whole30...Day 15

We woke up still exhausted. Really, all day we were tired.  

Breakfast consisted of sausage & eggs.  We are really liking this chicken & apple sausage from AppleGate. Lunch was leftover bacon wrapped chicken tenders.

For dinner, I made this TASTY beef stew. Definitely keeping this in my repertoire. Lets be real, I love beef stew with a nutty beer taste. It was missing that BUT still really good.  

Randomly, I was hungry all day long and we went to bed exhausted...

BUT...we made it to the 1/2 way point!!!!!

Whole30...Day 14

Oh Sunday...always a busy day! Started off the day with bacon and eggs - can't go wrong with that.

After church, we headed with our friends to eat at Taziki's. We eat there all the time (when not on Whole30) and new exactly what we could get. Lamb and potatoes. It was tasty but I got a headache after so I am not sure if there was something in it or not. Ben felt fine so it could have just been in my head.

We were super sluggish ALL day on Sunday and tired. I just wanted some energy and couldn't find it. We even took a nap - I can never take naps and did.

We had bacon wrapped chicken tenders for dinner.

• Wrap the tenders in a piece of bacon. Cook on 350 for 55-60 mins. 

Easy and tasty. We had green beans with it. Nothing fancy but good.  

Whole30...Day 13

I woke up with no eggs for breakfast so I found a recipe and decided to try it.

• 1 potato cubed
• 1 sweet potato cubed
• 1/2 bell pepper sliced 
• 1/2 onion
• 1 chicken/Apple sausage
• oregano
• salt 
• pepper

Put in cast iron skillet, drizzled with oil and bake on 420 for 35 mins. It was tasty!! Definite WIN in the breakfast department. This could easily be eaten for any meal.

Lunch we had leftover meatballs - and they were still tasty. Deacon even got in on the meatball action. I made him some noodles and he had his first helping of spaghetti and meatballs. He was loving it!

For dinner, we picked up steaks and had fries with it. That little potato cutter is coming in handy. Ben cooked and seasoned and cooked the steaks perfectly. He even had the perfect amount of EVOO and rosemary to our fries.  It was delicious!

I dreamed I ate a cookie. Not even a good cookie from Ali's Cookies. One of those old school cookies that looks like a flower and you put on your finger like a ring. I don't even know the name to them but they taste like sweet butter. I ate it in passing and then realized that I ate it after the fact because I was running around!

Glad when I woke up I discovered differently. If I am to cheat/quit with something on Whole30, it better be something irresistible!

Whole30...Day 12

Friday is always tough for me because I'm at home. Just being at home makes me want to eat more. After breakfast, I had to eat some of Deacon's banana to not make me feel so hungry - even though I wasn't hungry.

For lunch I had leftover buffalo chicken and potatoes.  The big WIN came from dinner.  I made meatballs, spaghetti sauce & spaghetti squash.  The squash was almost over cooked so it make it mushier - which helped it be our "noodles".  For the meatballs, I hodge-podged two recipes:

• 2# of beef
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 eggs
• salt
• pepper
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. oregano
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp. basil

These were SUPER yummy and I will make again for sure.  

Whole30....Day 11

This day was hard for me emotionally on so many levels. It was my co-worker and friend's last day with us. She wanted our team to go to lunch. We headed to Bantum & Biddy and I had a yummy lunch of roasted chicken and double sides of fruit.  I had to fill up if I was going to resist what was to come.

Yes, I resisted these creamy grits!

We planned her going away party with all of her favorite things...Flying biscuit grits, queso & chips, mini cupcakes, M&Ms, swedish fish, sweet tea and coke.

For dinner I had put chicken breasts in the crockpot all day with a little broth. Came home and shredded the chicken and added Frank's Hot Sauce.  I roasted some potatoes and it was simple and good.

Before bed, Ben said "this is the first day when I actually feel good."  What he meant was - he was starting to actually think this thing might show some results.  I can tell he is looking thinner! That baby weight he gained is slowly going away...

Whole30...Day 10

Nothing dramatic happened today except I had a team lunch....at an Italian restaurant :/ These glorious garlic rolls were sitting in front of me until a co-worker felt bad for me and moved them.

I had a salad with grilled chicken and it was decent. I definitely need to get me a on-the-go salad dressing dispenser to take with me to restaurants.

That night, we had burgers and sweet potato fries. It was my gloriousness for the day! Instead of a bun, I cut a thick piece of tomato for it to sit on and then we smashed avocado on top. For a little more flavor we added some yellow mustard.

As for the fries....Ben ordered us a potato cutter. These little shoe string fries were amazing! I baked them and they were seriously...glorious!

Whole30...Day 9

If any day was the day I should go off the handles, today was the day. It was a crazy 15 hour event day at work. Didn't even get to sit down for lunch leftovers until 2:30 so I scarfed down a Larabar to keep me from passing out.

I was surrounded by cookies, chips, candy, etc for most of the day.  It was tough but I made it through.

The night before, I prepared cauliflower rice and crock pot pulled pork. The pulled pork smelled SO good! I had it for dinner while I was still at work. It was good but nothing to do cartwheels about.

Let's be real...I made it!

Whole30...Day 8

Monday morning....per the timeline, we were suppose to feel bloated, but we didn't - which was a plus.

We had a belated birthday lunch at work for me and a co-worker. I talked her in to going to a place were I knew I could get something.  The bison burger was good, but the salad was lacking....

For dinner I made an almond crusted "fried" chicken with green beans. It was tasty!

Nothing new on the "how we feel" home front. We aren't feeling bad, just normal...

Whole30...Day 7

Sunday was a crazy day! With Ben away at Guard and I had a meeting regarding our middle school fall camp that Ben and I will be attending with our groups, things just got nuts.

I did take my leftovers to the meeting and they were having Honey Baked Ham - one of my favorites! I resisted....

For dinner, I made what is now my favorite Whole30 recipe. I adapted this taco meat recipe to a non-crockpot recipe because I was just cooking for me and then Ben's lunch the following day.  I made a taco salad with lettuce, meat, tomatoes, and sautéed onions. For my "salsa", I used a can of diced tomatoes and added a little garlic and onion powder. It added a nice kick and was very tasty!

I was pooped by the end of the day, but I made it!

Whole30...Day 6

Being at home alone with a new crawler in the house is exhausting to begin with but add this Whole30 thing to it and I was drained by the end of the day.  I also decided to start painting a bedroom in the house so I was DONE!

I felt ok when I woke up, just tired. I had leftover meatloaf from earlier this week (yes, there was still meatloaf left!). Deacon and I hit up the grocery store and lets just say that staying on the perimeter for the most part at a grocery store is expensive.  I'm telling you, I better look like Rachel Zoe when I'm done ;)

Poor Ben had two retirement parties at work with one consisting of pizza and wings - his favorite. He resisted and I'm so proud of him. He did go to Barbarita's at night to get an approved meal so he could save his chili for Sunday lunch and dinner.

I picked up some already cut fajita veggies and already sliced fajita meat threw them in the pan with some asian dry spices and dinner was simple and good.  One thing was missing - WINE! After this exhausting day and "re-directing" a 9 month old, I just wanted a big ole glass of Pinot!

Exhausting Day 6 is over!

Whole30...Day 5

So...that whole crockpot chili recipe I put together the night before...well, I forgot to take it out of the fridge and turn on but for some reason I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and remembered. I jumped up and put it on high so it would be done before Ben left.

Day 5 was on a Friday and since I don't work on Fridays, I was able to get an ice chest of food ready for Ben to take to Guard. His usual guard food is basically hot pockets, Arbys, something fried, etc.  I packed him the no-mayo chicken salad for him to eat on the way down for dinner and then two servings of chili. I also packed him several bananas and Larabars to live off of for the weekend.

Ben made us a fried egg in the morning using a "different" method.  I have no idea what he did but it was tasty.  For lunch, Ben went to a sandwich shop that slices the meat and got a sandwich without the bun - basically, a salad. I decided to eat the chicken salad that I made the night before.  Took one bite and spit it out. So I had a Larabar and a banana...

For dinner I had the chili and it was delicious! I will definitely make it again even when we aren't doing Whole30. Ben had the chicken salad and didn't hate it as much as I did but I don't think he'll be begging me to make it again.

EDIT since original post: I made the chili again and it was not that good. Maybe we were just really hungry since it was during our first week of Whole30.

Whole30...Day 4

I woke up Thursday feeling like a completely new person! Ben felt good too.  I had crumbled some of the leftover meatloaf from the night before and through it in with some scrambled eggs and breakfast was yummy.

Honestly, all day we both felt pretty good. The WORST part of the day was around 9:30 a.m. when I had to make a Sam's run for a work event and my car was filled with Oreos, pretzels, Famous Amos cookies, Grandma's cookies, chips. All I want to do was rip into a bag of Famous Amos cookies!!

I was headache free until Deacon head butted me right between the eyes on the nose - painful!!

For dinner we had buffalo chicken stuffed peppers....we threw the extra one away if that tells you how much we did not like it.

Ben leaves for guard the next day, so I put a crockpot chili on overnight so he could have some for the weekend and make a chicken salad.

Day 4...conquered!

Whole30...Day 3

During the night, I woke up and had a headache...I woke up again and still had a headache....the alarm went off and a full on migraine was there.  Per the "timeline", day 2-3 is when many people get headaches. Apparently advil is not compliant and this is all we had at home. Since I knew via the Whole30 timeline that this was probably going to happen, I still got up with Ben and worked out.

Since I prepped breakfast the night before, I threw it all in the pan - eggs, chicken & apple sausage, onion, and jalepeno.  It was tasty but I felt so terrible that it was making me ill to eat. I knew I had to eat, so I finished it.  The headache would NOT go away! Ben found online that Tylenol is compliant so after I dropped Deacon off at Weekday, I headed to target for some much needed Tylenol.

The severe pain went away but a nagging headache stayed for hours...and hours...basically all day!!

It was just a bad day all around. I didn't want to talk to anyone and I just wanted to sulk - HA!

That night, we had meatloaf and roasted potatoes for dinner.  The meatloaf was ok - I probably won't make again - but I made enough for lunch the next day, so that's what we ate.

At the end of Day 3 when going to bed I said to Ben "I hate my life"....

Whole30...Day 2

Day two started off decent...

We got up and did a work-out then Ben made us eggs & bacon (sugar free bacon which is not easy to find!).

I normally have my coffee with a flavored cream - I mean, who turns down sweetness in the morning?!? Since that is clearly a "no" during Whole30, I decided to try what they recommend....add coconut milk.  Lets just say, I was NOT a fan. I tried for like 5 sips and then my stomach started hurting. It looked like oil was floating on the top of my coffee - YES, I stirred the coconut oil.

I started getting hungry around 10:30 but held off until around 12 and had left overs from the night before. It was tasty and I was full.  Ben felt the same way with his leftovers until I called him and he was starving and headed to the grocery store to pick up approved Larabars to snack on.  We are eating more protein than we did beforehand BUT it's that we "can't" eat sweets, etc that is making us hungry!

Ben also got a bad headache during the day. This is apparently "normal". I got a small one but nothing too terrible.

I got home and started feeding Deacon and cooked peas and tried a few to make sure they weren't too hot and BOOM....these were not compliant - oops! Do I need to start over?!?! Well, since I seriously only ate 5 and it was for the good of not burning my babies mouth I decided to press on.  (Ben did give me the stank eye when I told him about it!)

For dinner we had a YUMMY carne asada that I will make again and again. I bought a large one so we would have leftovers for lunch the next day.  I steamed some green beans to go with it and dinner was delicious.

Ben has a meeting tomorrow night and I wanted to make sure he could eat something compliant before he leaves for his meeting so I whipped up Day 3's dinner and put in the fridge. I also decided to prep breakfast for the next morning. Lets just say I basically was in the kitchen for the majority of the time I was home and was not happy by the time I went to bed.

The grumpiness is starting to set in...

Whole30...Day 1

It's clearly been awhile since I blogged but I wanted to keep a record/my thoughts on our journey with Whole30. There are a few reasons we are doing this...

1. Over the past few years, I have had stomach issues where I'm in so much pain. While pregnant, they thought they pinpointed it and I was able to get the virus out but it came back...
2. I have about 5/10 more lbs of pregnancy weight to lose and lets be honest, I just want my jeans to fit like they did prior to pregnancy.
3. When we are eating healthy, it makes us want to work-out.
4. Ben still has his "pregnancy weight" and would like to lose it.
5. We also hope this helps jump start eating healthy as a whole - especially since Deacon can begin eating "our" food now.

Day 1 started on Labor Day. I hadn't gone grocery shopping or anything. My family was in town all weekend and we binged ate - cupcakes, desserts, mexican, pizza, etc. 

Ben had done some Whole30 research but since I usually go to the grocery store, I clearly needed to know something.... I had a few friends who have done Whole30 before and told me they have recipes on their Pinterest board. The night before we started, I went through and pinned some things from their boards and then Ben and I sat down and figured out our meals for the week. We are going to attempt to make enough food for dinner and then lunch the following day. (We will see how that goes...)

The next morning, Ben made us an egg... I refrained from coffee since you have to drink black or with coconut milk.

I was off on Labor Day but Ben needed to go into the office. Deacon went down for his morning nap and I finalized the grocery list and finally did research so I wouldn't be completely in the dark on what the heck I was doing over the next 30 days. 

Lunchtime happened and all I had in the house was a sweet potato so I added little cinnamon (I had to look and see if I could even add this) and popped it in the oven. I found out later that Ben basically had a gourmet meal - a bun-less bison burger with avocado on top...

After lunch, Deacon and I headed to the grocery store. I felt pretty organized but it still took me an hour! Searching for stuff like coconut milk, almond flour, ghee, bacon with no sugar, etc. I could not find any of this at Kroger but, we did buy lots of other meets and veggies.  I'm hoping the rest of my grocery trips aren't as stressful - lets be real, it was painful!

Once Ben got home, we needed to go to the new Sprouts that just opened near our house. We were able to find no-sugar bacon and all of the other "Whole 30 approved" items.  

Dinner on night 1 was pretty yummy. I edited the Baked Coconut Shrimp recipe in order to comply with the "rules".  I also steamed some squash and Ben added a spice concoction he threw together. For the sauce on the shrimp, instead of using pineapple preserves, I muddled fresh pineapple. It didn't turn into a sauce but more of a chunky liquid but added some flavoring. For the shrimp, I substituted the cornstarch for almond flour. 

We made 2 lbs of shrimp and have PLENTY for a lunch meal. 

We are both dessert people...Ben gave me a pitted date to help with my sweet craving. I will not make a comment on that one pitted date I had after dinner...

All in all, Day 1 wasn't terrible...