Thanksgiving weekend and Monday

Did I make ya think I was gonna stop posting??? Nah, not any time soon! I did take a hiatus from posting over the long 4 day weekend since we were so busy, but I'm right back on the grind. I did let it slip a little bit, and had a few things on the No-no list. It wasn't AWFUL, but I'm back buckling down. On Thanksgiving, I had literally two bites of homemade mac n cheese, and one bite of stuffing. But did good with everything else. Friday, I had some broc rice casserole, which was a really bad idea as I suffered all evening from that!!! Saturday was still ok (I did have a few chips at Chilis, but made sure my meal was good.), up until the Mom's Night In that I hosted. I ended up having a couple of little appetizers that were bread, and a cookie. Blech. And Sunday I did ok for the most part. I had a couple of Dibs (the icecream/chocolate things) and another cookie. But the cookies are gone now out of my house, so no more temptation there!!

Today was back to the daily grind of work. I had some leftover lil smokies sausages and apple slices for breakfast. Lunch was a small piece of cheese and some almonds. I wasn't super hungry. Dinner to be decided later...lol Will likely be pork chops and a sweet potato, and broccoli, but we'll see. I've been slacking the last week on trying a new veggie so I might go by the store and figure out something new.

Day 30

I made it 30 days with no grains!!! Go me!! And now on to the next 30 days...lol

Today was an off day again as we got off work early and I had D with me all day. So, for breakfast, I had a small piece of cheese and some beef jerky, plus a few grapes. I also got a sweet tea, but diluted it by half with unsweetened tea. Lunch was a salad from McDs (I dropped D off there with a friend for a bit to play). In the afternoon, I had half a banana. This evening, we went to go see ICE at the gaylord hotel, and I had a small cup of hot chocolate. Dinner was late and at Outback Steakhouse. I had a dinner salad with ranch, plus a sirloin steak, with veggies and a sweet potato with butter. YUM!!!!

Day 29

Almost to 30! I weighed in this morning as today is the official 4 week mark, and have now lost 17.4 lbs in only 4 weeks! I'll take it!

Today was a lightish day. I had to leave work early to take D to the doctor so I didn't have much all day. A banana for breakfast, and then some almonds and turkey midday. Dinner was cube steak, green beans (a legume, I know...), and leftover cauliflower. And I had a small piece of chocolate in the evening.

Day 28

Monday Monday. We're gearing up for thanksgiving and I'm plotting out what to eat and what I will bring. Wish I could make a decision!

I wasn't super hungry today for some reason, so didn't have a lot. Breakfast was a banana, a can of tuna, and some almonds. That really kept me going strong most of the day though. I did have a small piece of chocolate in the afternoon. Dinner was scrambled eggs with spinach and cauliflower. (But the cauliflower wasn't mixed in with the eggs...lol)

Day 27

Today was another lazy day at the house. AF is still being a PITA so we didn't do much, and you could tell that D was feeling cabin fever. So it was a long day!

I didn't really eat breakfast as we got up late. I had scrambled eggs with spinach and half a banana for lunch. Dinner this evening was left over cube steak, a baked sweet potato with some butter and salt, and cauliflower. Yum! This evening I had a small piece of the chocolate I have stashed away.

I'm not sure why I'm all excited about hitting 30 days here in just a few more days, as I don't plan to change anything, but, i guess it's a mile stone...lol I've never gone this long without bread, pasta, rice...etc. So it's exciting to me, I guess!

Day 25 and 26

Friday was a sparse day. I was running out of groceries and AF started. Urgh. NOT a good combination. I had an apple and a few strips of bacon for breakfast. Lunch was a can of tuna, and a tomato (but it ended up being OVER ripe...blech! so I tossed it.) I did end up having a piece of chocolate at work. Dinner was cube steak, and a baked sweet potato with some butter, plus some broccoli. Later in the evening, I was having some INSANE carb cravings. It was awful, I came so close to blowing the whole no grain thing. I keep a package of spaghetti high up in a cabinet (out of sight, out of mind, right?) in case I need something quick for D, but I just kept thinking about it (and it's been there since BEFORE this diet started)! Finally, a glass of my dark chocolate almond milk killed the craving and I was able to relax. That was crazy though, I was about in full blown anxiety attack mode over that. What the hell?!

Saturday was a better day. AF was still being a total PITA. I had another glass of almond milk for a late breakfast as we slept in. No real lunch, I just wasn't hungry. For dinner, we had the rest of the cube steak, plus a salad with some ranch, and homemade guacamole (the avocado was FINALLY ripe enough!). I made a grocery store run to get some essentials we were lacking and did get a little package of dark chocolate to store in the freezer. I had a small piece of that this evening. Other than that, it was a decent day.

I'm getting so close to the 30 day mark!

Day 24

Yay for Thanksgiving meal leftovers...lol I'll prolly be saying that next Friday too.

Today I had a big meeting in the morning, so I grabbed a banana to eat on the way, but no meat. :( And I sure was feeling it. So as soon as I got to work, I dove into a plate of leftover turkey. Yum! For lunch, I had a little more turkey, dill carrots, a few pieces of cheese, and grape tomatoes with a bit of light ranch. In the afternoon, I had an apple. Dinner was leftover hamburger patties, a few bites of spaghetti squash (I tried to cook it again, and it seemed to have been cooked long enough this time, but uggh, I just couldn't get into it. So I'm giving up on the spaghetti squash for now), and a sliced tomato.

Day 23

My first thanksgiving feast of the diet. I did very well, and was quite proud of myself (aside from ONE thing, see below about the evil person...lol). We were all asked to bring something so I steamed carrots and then mixed them with some butter, garlic salt and a bit of parmesan. Delicious!!!

Breakfast this morning was a banana and the one pork chop left over from last night. Some evil person had put out an appetizer of chocolate dipped...bacon. Yeah. Chocolate dipped bacon. It wasn't completely dipped, just half of each small piece was. But...yeah I had a few pieces. And considered that my dessert...lol It was hard to really consider that being awful though, as it wasn't grain or starch. Just some chocolate. But oh my it was so good. For the feast, I had turkey (no gravy), ham, my carrots, a salad with light ranch, and some mozzarella/tomatoes with olive oil. And then went back for seconds of the turkey and carrots. I was full and definitely satisfied. Dinner was hamburger pattys plus a california veggie mix(broccoli, cauliflower and carrots) steamed bag.

Day 22

So, this morning was my official 3 week weigh-in. And I'm happy to announce that I am down 14.4 lbs! Woohoo!! I bet it would go down even faster if I were to tighten up on the dairy and sugar in dressings, but for now, I'm good with this.

I've also been getting some really good feedback from D about all this. Last week, he was excited about coming home to eat. Over the weekend, when we went to my grandma's, he asked if I was going to help cook. I told him that, no, it's usually already cooked by the time we get there. And then I asked him if he likes how mommy has been cooking lately, and he goes "Yeah! So are you gonna help cook?" And then this morning, he asked if we could go pick something up to eat after I picked him up from afterschool care. I said "No, remember, we're going to come home and make pork chops and guacamole" He said "Oh I think that's a great idea!" I'm loving seeing him come right along with this new change, rather than resisting it. He's eating the majority of what I cook, and that is definitely more motivation to keep this up!

Ok on to food today. Breakfast was a banana and a few strips of bacon. Mid morning I had some almonds. Lunch was a sliced tomato and a can of tuna. This afternoon, I had an apple. Dinner tonite was pork chops, baked sweet potatoes with some butter, and sliced tomato (can you tell I ADORE tomatoes, at least the hothouse ones, and fresh ones from East Texas). We were going to make guacamole but it wasn't ripe yet. So we wait on that.

Day 21

Three weeks, baby!!! This past three weeks really has flown too! I'm still pushing on. Last night was pretty tough, with my first mexican food eating out since starting this. And I know I looked longingly at the chips, but in the end...I didn't need em. And my dinner was so full of flavor (the taco salad, but didn't eat the shell), that I didn't even miss what I normally would have gotten.

Today for breakfast, I had a banana, plus some beef jerky, and baby carrots with a bit of light ranch. Midmorning, I had some almonds. Lunch was an apple, small mixed greens salad, and some leftover bbq brisket (sugar though) from up at work. It wasn't drowned in sauce so I figured it'd work well enough. For dinner this evening, I ended up making some cube steak in the skillet, plus tomato slices, and a small salad.

Day 20

Well the day isn't quite over yet but I already know what I'm having for dinner and I have a free moment so...here goes.

Today was quite the challenge. We went to my grandma's house for lunch, and what was already dished up on my plate? Chicken n Rice casserole and...pigs in a blanket. Yeah. But I managed to overlook it all, and stuck with asparagus, green beans (though they are a legume), some cottage cheese, a few chunks of chicken that I picked out of the casserole, and two mini sausages that I removed the breading from. Sheesh. That was tough! But I did it, and didn't cave into, "Oh just one bite of casserole won't hurt" lol This afternoon, I did have a little piece of a hersheys with almonds chocolate bar, and then a string cheese later on. This evening, we are meeting friends at Chuys for dinner. I've already scoped out the menu and since I haven't had salad yet today, I'll be getting a salad, prolly with sliced fajita beef on it. I know it comes with some guacamole too. Yummy!

Day 19

It was quite a long day, as we were away from home from 730am til 930pm, but I still managed to stick it out!

We went to the zoo, so before leaving I made some scrambled eggs and had a bit of leftover stirfry beef that we had. At the zoo, I had a hamburger patty with cheese on it (and some ketchup), and some pickle slices, plus a side salad. For an early dinner, we hit up Rudy's with some friends. I had the lean brisket (with a bit of sauce), plus corn on the cob (I know, it's borderline, but they really don't have anything else there that I could eat) and a small slice of cheese. Much later on, we went to Souper Salad with friends and I had two big bowls of salad (mixed greens, raw cauliflower, tomatoes, etc) with low cal ranch.

Day 18

Wow, only 12 days left to go. Though it has become increasingly clear that I want to turn this into a lifestyle, not just a 30 day challenge. As for Thanksgiving, which is the day after this first 30 days is up, I do plan to keep it as paleo as possible. I can't say I won't have dairy or maybe even some sugar, but definitely going to keep the grains out of it. Now to decide what side dish I want to take!

Today was dicey. I ran out of meat at work and had no time this morning to go by the store. So breakfast was an apple, carrots, and some almond milk. Not meat protein, but it worked. Lunch was a salad with light ranch, and since I had no meat, I ran up to KFC and got 2 grilled boneless filets. Quite a tasty addition to the salad! In the afternoon, I had some almonds. Dinner was scrambled eggs with chopped spinach mixed in, and bacon.

Day 17

Today I learned a few things. I've been reading old blog posts by The Paleo Chix and just trying to learn more about all this. Some of their posts really hit home when dealing with the emotional aspects of this. I think I mentioned last week about how I no longer have a comfort food in grains/starches to turn to, so this diet actually made it so much easier on me. But I'm beginning to delve deeper into that. And I'm realizing that I don't even need those. I realized today at how I'm already beginning to feel like I'm eating to NOURISH my body, rather than "just" feeding it. I mean, this is probably the first time in my entire life that I didn't include pasta, bread, etc, plus processed food, in a diet. (Well, if you don't count the dressing I use...I'm working on that). And I like this feeling. I like knowing that what's going in is the good stuff. Not just mindless crap.

I did keep cheese out of the picture today since I ended up having so much yesterday. No real side effects from it but, it was def too much. For breakfast, I had an apple, some carrots, and a few strips of bacon. Lunch was a springmix/tomato salad with some light ranch, and some deli smoked turkey slices, plus some almonds. That carried me through the afternoon pretty well. Dinner was tenderized cube steak sauteed in a skillet, shredded sweet potatoes, a sliced tomato, and half a banana. Later this evening, I was a bit hungry still so I had the two small leftover pork chops and another sliced tomato.

Day 16

It was a cheese day apparently. I didn't intend it to be, but it happened. I ended up going out to eat twice and that's what did it. I've been pretty good about not even buying it at home. Just need to work on that when out I guess.

Breakfast this morning was scrambled eggs and a piece of sausage. No morning snack as I didn't really need one. Lunch was with friends at Cafe Brazil. I got an omelette with cheese, bacon, and bell peppers, plus a side of fruit. In the afternoon, I had some almonds. Dinner was at Jason's Deli. I had two bowls of spring mix salad with light ranch, plus a cup of broccoli cheese soup, and some apple slices. See? Cheesy day. Tomorrow will be a no cheese day...lol

Day 15!

I've made it halfway! That means 15 days now of no bread, tortillas, rice, pasta, etc. Go me!!!

I'm not quitting now...this morning I had some beef jerky and then some almonds. Lunch was a BLT salad (spring mix, tomato, and bacon bits) with light ranch. No iceberg wimpy lettuce here! In the afternoon, I had an apple. Dinner was scrambled eggs (about 2.5), with chopped spinach and deli roast beef chopped up in it, plus half a banana. This evening, I had a sliced tomato with a bit of ranch on it as a quick snack, and then after my workout, I made two small porkchops for some protein.

So the official 2 week weigh-in was today, and I am down 9 lbs. In two weeks! Woohoo! I do wonder how it would change if I cut out the dressing, but for now, while I adjust, I'm not willing to cut that out yet. We'll see how things go in a few weeks.

Day 14

Two weeks down!! And one day shy of being halfway through the first 30 days I committed to. Really, I am loving this!! It has SO simplified my eating. I get some meat, cook it. Get some veggies, add some dressing if needed to a salad, or cook the veggies. Add some fruit and nuts. The only processed foods I've had are supplemental, like dressing, some beef jerky, cheese, seasoning, etc. Otherwise, it feels good to be going so natural. I don't have to hassle with how to make something as much.

I got some advice to make sure to have some animal protein at breakfast, so I had deli sliced turkey (from the deli at Sprouts) along with a banana for breakfast. That really did keep me going til lunch. At lunch, I went by the store to stock up for the week on meals. So I had a spring mix and tomato salad with some light ranch, and real bacon bits. Plus a string cheese (dairy), and a cup of almond milk. This afternoon, I had some almonds for a snack. Dinner was my new veggie of the week. I steamed some cauliflower. Yes, that's right, I had never tried cauliflower... :( It was good!!! We had the rest of the bacon, plus I finished the last few pieces of beef from last night, and D and I split a head of cauliflower with just some Tony Chacheres and garlic salt, no butter even needed. It was quite tasty!

Day 11, 12, 13

Posting for the whole weekend.

I think I did a really good job of staying prepared this weekend. Friday I was at work. And I had some errands to run so I grabbed a chargrilled and fruit salad from Chick Fila. I've really been trying to eat what I have at work, and not grab fast food for it, but my lettuce had gone bad. :( An apple, almonds, and banana was the rest of what I ate at work. My work catered in pizza, which smelled divine but it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. I wanted to go to Sprouts after work, so I did grab two slices of pizza to feed D so that he would be chill. After our Sprouts run, I made italian chicken and some salad. Yes, I realize that I basically ate the exact same thing for both lunch and dinner...but the way I cooked it, and the flavors, made it completely different. I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything.

Saturday, was interesting. We went and cheered from 11-3 for the SGK 3 Day Walkers. We decided to hit up Golden Corral for a filling breakfast beforehand. I had eggs with salsa, bacon, and some sausage, and half a banana. Yeah, it was odd to not get all the good stuff there, but it's a good thing I love me some eggs and bacon...lol For dinner, I had a big salad and some thin sliced roast beef before heading to a Mom's Night Out. At the MNO, I did get hungry at Main Event, so I ate the meat from a kids hamburger and had a garden salad. Plus a rum and diet coke. lol Yum Yum.

Today, was a calm day. I went to go get D from his overnight. Then came home and made some bacon and eggs. I added a banana to that. For dinner this evening, I had some extra lean beef for stew. So I sauteed that in a bit of olive oil spray, and then added it to a big salad with some ranch.

Overall, other than dealing with some bowel issues (TMI, I know) from all this, I'm feeling good. Carbs aren't NEAR a problem anymore. I stay fuller longer, and am really not as hungry during the day. Can't wait for my weigh-in on Tuesday.

Day 10

Yup, 10 days down! It was another good day foodwise. I did learn a hard lesson though. But first, breakfast was applesauce, lunch was at Genghis Grill where I loaded my bowl with beef, sausage, broc, and carrots. Yum! I can't remember if I had anything for an afternoon snack though. Dinner was at Snuffers with friends. I got a cheeseburger salad (a burger with no bun, on top of a salad.) It was way good but my lesson learned was that my body no longer tolerates high fat meat very well. Oops. It was an interesting evening after that. And not in a good way. :( But good to know for future reference.

Day 9

It was an interesting day. I wasn't very hungry all day, but I did eat. Breakfast was applesauce and then later, some raisins and almonds. Lunch was just some smoked turkey. Midafternoon I had another applesauce (unsweetened). For dinner, I tried to cook a spaghetti squash, and it didn't quite work out. I had a few spoonfuls of it but not much before ditching it. But I learned from it. I ended up having scrambled eggs for dinner.

Today was a day that I really could have turned to comfort food, but I'm proud of myself for not doing it. It helps that there is nothing I can eat that is true comfort food to me, so I'm not even really tempted.

Day 8

I weighed this morning, and have lost 6.4 lbs this past week on this diet. Granted, it's the first week of it and I'm sure cutting out all the starches is going to make a big first drop. I loved seeing that though.

I had a banana for breakfast this morning, and then some raisins and almonds mid morning. It got really cold and rainy today, so what sounded good for lunch? CHILI! Ok the chili wasn't completely paleo as it did have beans in it, but I picked around those as much as I could. There was some cheese on top (dairy). I also had a salad with that. Midafternoon, I had an apple. Dinner was baked chicken with a bit of bbq sauce (sugar, blah), the rest of the sweet potato fries, and a few banana slices.

Day 7

So here we are at Day 7, one week into this. I'm feeling good about it, and I'm really enjoying the "freedom" of this diet. I don't have to count calories, I do keep meat, nuts, eggs, etc in moderation, but I like that I can eat veggies/fruit whenever I want, and not have to worry about it. As long as I keep on top of having food around that I can eat, I do believe this is going to work for me long term.

Since I had quite a bit of sugar yesterday for Halloween, today is taking it easy. I had a banana and almonds for breakfast. Lunch was sliced turkey, a tomato, and broccoli with some cheese sauce(dairy). My afternoon snack was an apple and a cup of almond milk. Dinner is going to be pork chops, asparagus, and sweet potato fries again. I do have a spaghetti squash I want to try out soon. I might give it a shot tonite but we'll see.

Weekend survival

It was quite the interesting weekend, esp with it being Halloween. I survived it though. I'm glad that I have kept dairy and some sugar in, as having that outlet, made it easier to abstain from bread, pasta, rice, potatoes (aside from sweet potatoes), cookies, chips, etc. I still have had none. Go me! (I did have some candy yesterday, probably more than I should have, but it was halloween...)

Saturday was a pumpkin carving party, and it was potluck. I knew that would not go well for me, so I planned ahead, and fixed a lunch to take of turkey sausage, sweet potato fries, and red bell pepper strips. I had a string cheese before we went. All of that held me over just fine and I was able to resist all the goodies! It ended up being a long time after that before I ate dinner and my blood sugar dropped, so I had a small dumdum sucker to help that. Dinner was fun. We joined friends at Genghis Grill. It really was easy to say no to the starch. I filled up my bowl with beef, some sausage, carrots, broccoli and green beans, with some stir fry sauce. Delish!

For Halloween, I cooked us a good lunch of steak (beef loin tri tip) and scrambled eggs with a salad. And then had a banana before we headed to a fall festival. The protein from lunch held me over for a LONG time. After the festival, we first stopped at Sonic. And I was SO tempted to get something, but really...there is nothing there I can eat. Except the chicken from a grilled chicken sandwich...or a salad. That's no fun. So we ended up at Jason's Deli. I had a cup of broc cheese soup (dairy), and then a big salad with light ranch (more dairy). Throughout the evening, I did have some candy from D's halloween stash.

Overall, this weekend, I did struggle, but I feel like I pulled through it just fine.