Progress & Whole30 V4.0

Hey y'all!  Guess what?!  I'm doing another Whole30!  This is my fourth one.  After reading Primal Body-Primal Mind by Nora Gedgaudas, I've decided the Hubs and I should approach this Whole30 with her suggestions in mind.  That means that we are skipping the sweet potatoes and fruit this time around in an attempt to really find the elusive ketosis.  I am a little nervous about being so low carb and doing CrossFit, but I won't know how it works until I try it.  The key here is to eat PLENTY OF FAT (for fuel) and a moderate amount of protein.  

Here I've been pushing myself lately to eat a lot of protein...  

I think with my activity level (CF 3-4 times per week plus other things like running, rock wall climbing...etc) I am safe to still eat around 100g of protein a day.  As long as I am eating a TON of fat too.

My goal is to see my abs when this over.  I've gotten stronger and leaner, but just need to remove that little layer of fat.  It's ON!  

I thought this would be a good time to take progress pictures too.  I had taken some when I first started CrossFit in November 2012 and hadn't taken any since.  My husband took them for me and I looked at them immediately said "I look the same!  Nothing has changed!"  Later I used my PicStitch app to put the old pictures next to the new ones and I could really see a difference then!  The biggest differences I noticed were in my posture and my thighs!  I'm really sorry, as much as I want to show them off, I'm too nervous to post pictures of myself in tiny shorts and and a sports bra all over the interwebs... Y'all will have to trust me that my progress has been good.  I plan to take the same pictures again in 30 days.  I can't wait!  

Oh yeah, I'm also tracking my food on My Fitness Pal.  I know that tracking during a Whole30 is a no-no, but I've done 3 of them without tracking and feel pretty confident that it won't effect how I eat.  Also, I want to be sure to keep my carbs are low enough and that I am eating enough fat.  And I'm a curious person, so I want DATA.

So, here's my menu for week 1:

1) Cabbage Goulash

2) Waldorf Tuna Salad *obviously there's a litte fruit in here, but it's less than half an apple/svg.

3) Skillet Taco Pie w/homemade guacamole

4) Whole Roasted Chicken 

5) Hard Boiled Eggs/Egg Salad

6) Smoked Sausage w/Kraut (I just fry up a little uncured smoked pork sausage from the farm with some Bubbie's Kraut) 

7) Stir-fry/fajitas 

Whole30 January 1!

I'm really excited to be doing another Whole30 in January!  In fact, I feel like I NEED to do it!  Husband is on board and so are some friends.  It's gonna be great!  You should join us!  In fact, I've started a FaceBook group for us!  See you there!

Tips for a successful Whole30:

1. Plan, plan, plan!  Plan your menu at least a week in advance.
2. Pre-cook as much as you can over the weekend (or whenever you have the most free time).
3. Make dishes that have meat & veggies all in one so that you don't have to plan to make a veggie with every meal.
4. Start stocking up on seasonings now (to avoid a high grocery bill in week 1).
5. Start stocking up on kitchen basics now (to avoid a high grocery bill in week 1).

I have compiled a list of compliant Whole30 Recipes that I have personally  made and enjoyed.  The list has hyperlinks to each recipe.  Please keep in mind that some minor modifications may be needed in order to be Whole30 compliant (such as using ghee or clarified butter in place of butter...etc.)  Also, some things may be SWYPO for you, such as the banana ice cream.  If that's the case, please don't use those recipes!  If anyone has any recipes that they would like to add to the list, please let me know.  There are a ton of resources on the web for Whole30 recipes including the Recipe Sharing portion Whole9 forum, which I strongly suggest that EVERYONE use!  I browsed that forum every single day of my first Whole30 and I still browse it at least once a week.

I always do a lot of prepping & cooking on Sunday for the following week.  I strongly suggest you make a menu plan each week and do as much of the cooking as possible on one day so that there is always healthy, compliant food available with little or no work required.  Below is a typical sample week that I would do.  This * symbol represents what I will be cooking up ahead over the weekend.  

Week 1 Menu

*BBQ Crockpot Chicken with steamed mixed veggies

*Crockpot Shredded Beef (add lots of onions & peppers to pot or make additional on the side)

*Ground Beef & Cabbage 

*Beef/Turkey Cabbage Soup

Ribeye Steaks with Sweet Potato Fries & homemade mayo

Baked Lemon Pepper Cod with sauteed Asparagus
Shredded Beef with Fried Eggs

*Sausage & Egg Scramble

*Hard Boiled Eggs

Week 1 Shopping List

Whole Chicken

Beef Roast

3lb Ground Beef (or turkey or venison...)

Ribeyes (you can grill extras and use it for lunch the next day)

Pork Sausage (be sure there is no sugar or nitrites/nitrates)

Fresh Wild Caught Cod - I watch for this to be marked down at the grocery store and then buy it and cook it  within a day or two

Mixed Veggies (fresh or frozen)

Onions

Bell Peppers
Cabbage

Broth & Stock (I make my own)
Soup Veggies - celery, onion, carrots, zucchini, green beans, whatever you like
Tomato Paste 6oz

Eggs (I buy 4-5 dozen per week!)

Sweet Potatoes

Asparagus

Weekly Cook-up & Banana Bread Muffins

 My weekly cook-up this week wasn't nearly as extensive as last week, but we had several servings of soup left over as well as the spicy pork.  So... on Sunday I cooked the two spaghetti squash that I had in the pantry from the farmers market.  I tossed it all in butter with some garlic powder, salt and pepper and then let it cool and put it in storage containers in the fridge.  I also made a batch of chunky marinara sauce using the recipe I found on Spark Recipes.  Sunday night I sauteed some shrimp and reheated the spaghetti squash by sauteing it in (more) butter with fresh garlic.  

This "shrimp scampi" wasn't as awesome as I thought it would be.  I think I need to do a better job cooking the shrimp next time.   






Monday night I reheated more of the squash using the saute method again and topped it with the chunky marinara.  This has quickly become a favorite dinner for me! 


                                                                                    
 

I also made these banana bread muffins.  I replaced the olive oil with coconut oil and left the walnuts out (because I didn't have enough of them).  I topped one with coconut butter (first time trying coconut butter ever!) and it was really good!  These were a hit!

I've decided to go to CrossFit on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights (and maybe Saturday mornings) for now, so tonight I will cook up the 3lbs of boneless chicken breasts that I have and saute any veggies that are in my fridge.  That should get us through Thursday or Friday.

Catching up...

There's been a lot going on in the last week and half and I haven't even had time to share it all!  

On November 18th I participated in a 3-1/2 hour CrossFit Fundamentals class.  I'm hooked!  I went back the very next day and did a WOD that was spending 30 minutes determining your one rep max deadlift. I had never done a deadlift before, so I had no idea what to expect.  I started with 95lbs (you are only lifting the bar from the floor to a straight standing position, mostly using your lower back muscles and hips to move the weight, allowing for much heavier lifts).  I then tried 115, 135, 145 and finally 155 pounds!  I was proud as a peacock to have lifted that much on my first night!  

My friend Billie & I after we totally
ROCKED the Turkey Day 5k

That was only the beginning of what was to become an incredible week of accomplishments for me!  I had been planning on running the Turkey Day 5k on Thanksgiving morning for the 2nd year in a row and while I had been pretty excited about it, in the weeks leading up to it I felt very unprepared and not ready.  There were over 800 runners!  What a rush!  I was convinced this was going to be one of my worst 5k races.  Last year I finished it in over 35 minutes.  That's about what I expected this year.  You can imagine my shock and astonishment when I finished in 30:06!  That's over 2-1/2 minutes faster than my record.  Also, it was the first time that I have ever ran the entire time.  NO walking!  My next 5k will be under 30 minutes and I will bring home a trophy before the heat of summer in 2013 stops me from running.  Mark my words.

After the race we had Thanksgiving lunch with some of Husband's family.  I had deviled eggs, veggies with homemade ranch, turkey, potatoes & gravy, sweet potatoes, fruit salad, cranberries and even a paleo cake that his Aunt made for us!  

I have since done 2 more WODs at my local box (CrossFit Jackson) and I felt a sense of accomplishment after each one like never before!  Husband has been CrossFitting since April and since he works 3rd shift, he attends the 7pm class (would be the equivalent of me going at 6am).  Since April, I have been making dinner while he's gone to the gym and when he would get home (after 8pm most times), I would either have already eaten dinner or we would eat together.  He really wants me to workout with him at 7pm, so I had to figure out how to make and eat dinner in that time frame.  Since this is the first week we are trying that schedule, I spent time this weekend cooking up a ton of food so that all of our meals would be ready to heat & eat.  Here's what I made:

Paleo Blueberry Muffins

Chicken Salad (with homemade mayo, grapes, salt & pepper)

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Steak & Chicken Fajitas

Spicy Pulled Pork (I skip the sauce) Served with green beans

Smoked Beef Brisket with steamed broccoli

Beef/Venison Cabbage Soup  

I also made 10 hard boiled eggs and baked a cookie sheet full of bacon.

We are nearly out of boiled eggs and the bacon is gone, so tonight I will fry up a pound of pastured pork sausage together with a dozen eggs and portion it out in the fridge for the rest of the week.  We like to heat it up and top it with Frog Ranch Salsa.

These Blueberry Muffins by PaleOMG were pretty good!  However, an entire cup of almond butter is a lot of money and when I think of it that way, they weren't good enough to warrant that kind of spending for a dozen muffins.  Also, if I were to make them again, I would put an entire cup of blueberries in them because you can never have too many blueberries in your blueberry muffins.

The recipe says it makes 8-10 muffins, but I easily filled all 12 muffin cups.  Also, it didn't say how far to fill the cups.  As you can see, I filled mine about 3/4 full.

Day 29

Over the weekend Husband starting referring to my homemade paleo mayo as "heaven juice".  He even planned our meals around having something to dip in it or smother in it.  He says I should never buy "regular mayo" again.  So, there ya have it!

It's hard to believe that our first Whole30 is almost over already.  We plan to stick close to plan while we are traveling next week and he wants to start another Whole30 when we return.  I plan to make some paleo treats for a friend at work that is leaving.  I'll be sure to share the recipe and experience later this week!  Prior to our Whole30 we were "mostly paleo", but now I think we are total paleo converts!

I had some fun creating our breakfasts over the weekend.  On Saturday we had Sweet Potato Hash Browns with fried eggs. 

I started by peeling & shredding 2 sweet potatoes.  Then I mixed them with

some green onion (Husband's Idea).  I fried them in coconut oil like I would 

regular hash browns an served them eggs over easy!  YUM!

On Sunday I made this recipe from Every Day Paleo.  It was pretty good.  Husband wasn't sure he liked the eggplant and I was unsure about the tomato slice, but it was a fun experiment and we will probably make it again (maybe with our own additions/subtractions to the "stack" next time).

 For our weekly cook-up we made:

• Crock Pot Smoked Beef Brisket
• Slow Cooker Chicken & Veggies
• Sausage & Egg Scramble

I also plan to make something with a pound of ground beef that I have thawed out and a package of drumsticks.  Also, after removing the chicken and veggies from the crock pot, we put the bones back in with more veggies and water and I am making my first batch of bone broth!  Hope it works :)

Ouch

My in-laws are here.  I have been cooking some wonderful Paleo dinners, but we've been chasing them with homemade rhubarb cake they brought along and ice cream.  I'm paying for my Paleo sins.  My gut is a mess.  Whole30 cannot come soon enough...

Here's my menu for Week 1of Whole30 (July 9-15).  Sunday is still undetermined because that's the day I plan to try a new recipe and I haven't decided which one yet.

Here is Nikki's Week 1 Menu (makes mine look lame):

Menu Planning ~ Week 6

Here it is! I'm losing my creativity, so I only have 6 days on here.  Also, some of my meals from this week turned into 2-day meals, so I'm hoping the same will happen next week ;)

This Week's Menu (6/10/12)

Better late than never...

I'm looking forward to making lamb for the first time!

Menu Planning ~ Week 4!

Here it is!

The bacon wrapped shrimp recipe can be found here and the beef roast recipe here.  We're having friends over to grill out on Saturday, so I thought the shrimp would make a great snack and go well with the steaks!  Have a great week everyone!

Holiday Weekend Menu Planning

We're going camping/4-wheeling this weekend. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE cooking over an open fire!  I don't want to use camping as an excuse to fall completely off my eating-clean train, so of course, I'm planning our menu!  I AM planning a little bit of cheat in there, but we'll get to that later...  Here's what our menu generally looks like:

This menu is pretty general, but we'll be in the woods for 3 nights and about 2-1/2 days and I don't intend to plan exactly what we'll eat when.  We can only eat what we take with us, of course.  The Pudgie Pies (think toasted sandwich pocket) are a total cheat food.  We basically NEVER eat bread, but I plan to make these as they are a favorite camping treat and we haven't been camping in almost 3 years!  I intend not to eat more than one PP a day (if even that).  I planned to take bottled water and some lemon wedges to drink, but husband has asked if we can take some diet soda.  That would be another "cheat" for me.  I'm not sure if I want to do that.  Although, I guess I can take them for him and I can just drink water.  I've already purchased 6 different flavors of Bold Blue Diamond Almonds for snacks (instead of chips...etc).  The only downside is that another couple is coming along and I suspect they'll have a ton of junk food with them.  I just have to be sure to resist :)

I plan to create another menu for the rest of next week before we leave so that we won't get off track.  I feel SO much better knowing what we will have for dinner each night and knowing the ingredients are all ready at home waiting for me!

Weekly Menu Planning ~ Week 2

I meant to post this last week, but ran out of time.  Here's our menu for this week (although, I forgot that we'll be camping on Friday so, I can save that meal for next week):

I made the woodchuck chicken from this recipe.  I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts in stead of the bone in thighs and I used raw honey in stead of coconut crystals.  It was really good!  Now I have yet ANOTHER reason to love woodchuck!

Preparing for the Week Ahead

The second part of my  preparedness for this week was getting my groceries bought and my veggies all prepared for the week.  I recieved these lovely containers from a friend long ago.  I believe they are from tupperware.  They are meant for storing fresh produce, complete with little vent holes for air.  They stack nicely in the fridge.

I started with my Bell Peppers.  I had 3 different colors; green, orange & red.

I cut them 3 different ways, the ones on the left are for sauteeing, the ones in the center
are for these little breakfast gems, and the ones on the right are for snacking!



I left one bunch of carrots unpeeled and just cut the tops off for
using in my beef roast crock pot recipe later in the week.  The other
bunch, I peeled and cut for snacking.  Same with the celery.



I cut a head of broccoli and a head of cauliflower, also for snacking,
but could be used for steaming if needed.



Lastly, I made my favorite ranch dip for dipping my veggies.  Yes, I
realize this is processed and dairy and totally NOT paleo, but it
gets me to eat my raw veggies and I'm just not ready to make my
own ranch yet! 

I also bought a head of cabbage, but I forgot to photograph it.  The tupperware set includes a large round bin for lettuce...etc.  The vendor that I purchased the cabbage from at the Farmer's Market had copies of a great recipe for people to use!  The basic recipe calls for cutting the cabbage in quarters, buttering the cut sides, adding salt & pepper, wrapping it in a piece of bacon and then tin foil and baking it!  YUM!  I plan to do this on the grill this week!  So, I left 2 quarters of the cabbage for that recipe and then chopped the rest of it up for sauteeing.

I also purchased tomatoes, cucumbers and onions for this week, but those are better off being cut when ready to use, IMO.

So, far this has already worked out great, as my husband and I have been snacking on raw veggies all weekend since they are so accessable!  All the washing, chopping and slicing took less than an hour and I only had to dirty up the kitchen once!

Menu Planned for the Next Week!

I think today is day 4 of sugar free.  I haven't had any sweets.  I was at a wine down last night and drank plenty of wine, which I am sure had some sugar in it, but I passed by the desserts (and ate meatballs instead) and I've turned down sweet treats in my office every stinkin' day this week!  So, I would say I am doing pretty good.

I have planned our menu for the next week.  I based it off of the meats we already have in the freezer.  I will have to pick up most of the veggies at the farmer's market tomorrow as well as the brats and eggs.  Here are the daily dinner menus (which double as lunch the next day): 

SATURDAY

Chicken in the Crockpot

Sweet Taters

SUNDAY

Hibachi Grill for Mother's Day

Leftovers from Saturday

MONDAY

Brats on the grill

Cucumber/tomato salad

TUESDAY

Honey Garlic Wings

Creamed Cucumbers

Celery w/ranch dip

WEDNESDAY

Steaks

Sautéed Peppers & Onions

THURSDAY

Burgers on the grill

Sautéed cabbage & onions

FRIDAY

Beef roast in crockpot with onions & carrots

I plan to make hard boiled eggs and/or deviled eggs for snacks along with raw veggies and ranch dip.  For breakfast we'll have our usual eggs, bacon...etc.  I do plan to try these recipes this week  for breakfast though!

Photo from Mom Click