Lifestyle changes

Last night Hubby and I got all dressed up for a formal event to benefit a scholarship program for a local college.  I love a night to get dressed up and feel special. Hubby wore the same suit he bought last year. He had no trouble buttoning the collar on his shirt and felt more comfortable than last year. His suit was looser as well. I had fun trying on new dresses because I felt better. We stayed mostly on track with our eating...except the cheesecake! We said no to the dinner rolls but the steak, roasted potatoes, asparagus and carrots were on the healthy side. I think we both cleaned our plates. We had no sweets the month of January and very few sweets this month so we splurged. Hubby got up this morning with a headaches and thinks it was the cheesecake.

We still eat 3 meals a day during the week at home. We ate out for Valentines and eat out for lunch on Sunday but are mostly eating at home. I had a chance to look at what we spent on food the month of January. We actually save several hundred dollars by eating healthy food at home. Our grocery bill was nearly double what we usually spend but because we were not eating out and were not wasting food but eating most of our leftovers we ended up saving money. So yes eating healthy is expensive. Buying fresh food costs more than eating off the dollar menu at a fast food store. But when you add in the cost of regular visits with your health care provider and medication to treat chronic illness it's less expensive to eat at home.

This is a season of Lent. A season to give up something to which we are addicted and focus instead upon Christ and that He should be the Lord of our lives. I cannot say enough what a positive difference this program has made in our lives. So if you are still not sure what you want to give over to God during this season of sacrifice consider doing the Whole 30.

Life After Whole 30

Christmas Day I was helping my sister in law cook Christmas dinner and texting my sister at the same time. My sister said "We should take the girls an American Girl store sometime." And thus began the planning for a girls weekend. There was bargaining over where we would meet because there is no store halfway between us. Then my mother says "You really think this is going to happen?" She's known us (my sisters and I) for over 3 and a half decades you would think she would know by now that a comment like that only makes us  more determined to make it happen. So this past weekend my 9 year old daughter and I flew to Nashville to meet my mother, father, sisters and nieces for a girls weekend. I was way off what has become my regular diet the first day and by the end of the day I bloated and having a lot of abdominal pain. That alone convinced me to try to stick closer to my plan. It's not easy eating out and staying on a strict diet. I ate a lot of grilled chicken and salad. I know the dressing was on the plan but I did not eat as much of it as I once would have. I found some Larabars at Target and packed those for breakfast on the trip home. We stopped at Cracker barrel for lunch and I had grilled fish and sweet potato but had to scoop off the brown sugar.

I got home just in time for our Super Bowl party with the students from church. I ate off plan in a big way Sunday night. Monday morning though I just got back on track with eggs and thin sliced steaks. Lunch was chicken strips, roasted sweet potato and asparagus. I never thought I would be looking forward to my routine lunch but it was so good. This morning I cooked up the rest of the thin sliced steak. We had some for breakfast and saved the rest for lunch.

I put a roast in the crock pot for dinner and covered it with Tessemae's slow roasted garlic and added potatoes. The kids had 2-3 helpings each of the roast so I guess it was good stuff. I also used the Chesapeake Mayo as dip. First time I've had mayo in over a month. I've been a mayo addict longer than I've been a coffee creamer addict!

I gained 1 pound back in my off plan eating over the weekend but Hubby was at home and stayed on target. He's lost almost 20 pounds now. A lot of people have commented about his weight loss.

I did drink some coffee with real creamer and even one Starbucks coffee this past weekend. But Monday morning I went back to my coconut milk and cinnamon. Today is Fat Tuesday. Lent starts tomorrow. A lot of people will give up something for Lent. Sounds like a great time to start your Whole 30 journey!

Whole 30: Reintroduction

Reintroduction is scary. Because the program works well. We eat well. We feel well. We're in a routine. Why change things now? We can continue if we want but that's not the way the program works. Part of the point is to find how certain food affect your body. Being in control of your choices and not letting cravings dictate what you eat and how much of it you eat is a huge gain.

Yesterday morning I got up, pushed the button on my Keurig and grabbed the new container of coffee creamer out of the fridge. Regardless of what the book said about reintroduction I was having creamer! And it was GROSS! The taste was all off. I had 3 cups of coffee with real creamer and today I went back to coconut milk, cinnamon and cocoa. It was much better and less sugar and less calories.

We had edamame at dinner. If you haven't ever tried this green legume you should (after your whole 30). We were introduced to them at a sushi restaurant and the whole family loves them. But by bedtime and again this morning my stomach was hurting. I think it was the coffee creamer but it may have been the edamame.

Tonight I made chili with plantain chips for dinner. It was pretty good. I think I let the plantains sit too long because I read they make better chips if they are green and mine were not. But we ate it. Two different students at church told Hubby he looked thinner. I think that made him feel pretty good.

Friday we get to reintroduce dairy. We'll see how that goes.

Whole 30: Day 30!!!!!!!

This is how I feel right now! We did it...as long as we can last the next 2 hours and 49 minutes. Today our food was mostly just about getting through the day. We had poached eggs and pork chops with greens and cherry tomatoes. I made 4 pork chops at breakfast so lunch was already cooked. We heated up roasted sweet potatoes (I like roasted sweet potato but I'm about sick of it just to be honest) and had salad with our pork chops for lunch. Dinner was baked salmon, asparagus and I made homemade french fries. So that's it. Our last official day. We still have another 10 days of reintroduction and will quite likely do a whole 10 or whole 14 several times in the next few months. 

I've lost a total of 8 pounds this month. And I was not hungry. I realized in October that I needed to lose about 15 pounds. I counted my calories religiously and went to bed hungry for 6 weeks and barely lost 2 pounds. This month we ate. A lot. And the weight was easy to come off. I have not added exercise to my plan yet. Quite honestly I have a stressful job and I come home to 3 kids ages 2-9. I have a hard time figuring out where to fit exercise. This month was about food and it took all my energy to cook 3 meals a day and keep the kitchen somewhat clean.

So a few pieces of advice I would give anyone thinking about taking on the Whole 30:

1. Read the book. Visit the website.- Make sure you have all the information about the how and why. In my experience if you understand why you are doing something it makes it easier to stick to the plan.

2. Get on pinterest and Instagram. - I can't tell you how many recipes I got off Instagram. Don't try to come up with your own food combinations. Thousands of people have done this before you. Take advantage of that.

3. Amazon.- Find the products others are raving about and order them. Our first week was rough because we had not done research on some of these products. Once we broke down and bought them it made things more enjoyable.

4. Have a buddy.- This is not something you can do alone. You need someone to sit down and eat meals with who can make a meal if you are sick or get too busy with other things in life. Accountability is key

5. You can do this.- I live 45 minutes from the nearest Wal-Mart and who knows where the nearest Whole Foods store is located. I work full time and am raising 3 kids. If I can do this so can  you!

PS- I am going to add a little creamer to my coffee tomorrow.