Day 25 - Whole30 - Really? Day 25? Time Flies when you are enjoying the ride

1:14 PM Man, I was busy as soon as I walked in my office door this morning.  So you get a lunch hour post today.

I was out of bed at 6:14 I think.  I was awake earlier, but not much earlier.  The hubby slept better last night, but came to bed rather late.  He was tinkering...he loves to tinker and that makes me happy.  Anyway!  Breakfast was a small leftover turkey avocado burger, smashed cauliflower, and mayo with coconut oil coffee.  And then....I forgot my lunch at home!  I was so proud of myself because I had time to empty the dishwasher, we left home with a clean kitchen, not a single dish in the sink, and the bed was made AND I even had time to curl my hair! I was patting my self on the back all the way to work until I got out of the car and got my 3 bags...my book bag, my purse and my lunch....whoa wait a minute....no lunch bag!  Fortunately my dad meets me at work almost every morning for about a 10 minute visit.  He has a key to my house and he more than willingly went to my house, got my lunch, and brought it back to me.  Do I have the best dad or what?

So - lunch is the same!  Turkey avocado burger, smashed cauliflower and leftover grilled squash.  I know you might be thinking "Doesn't the same thing 3 meals in a row get boring?"  Actually, it does not.  The things I am cooking and eating now are so different that I enjoy getting to really experience the new recipe or the different way of eating.  Bringing my lunch of leftovers beats anything I can get at a restaurant!  I mean seriously, there is only so much eating out in Tahlequah, OK a person can take!  Also I brought a small and larger burger - because you know I am still having a hard time believing I am going to be fine with smaller amounts of food.  I ate the small one and there is no way I can eat the other one too!

This morning I have no idea what my husband and I were talking about that led up to this but he said, "You are not as grumpy anymore"  which he followed with, "I am not saying your are NOT grumpy any more, just not as grumpy."  I choose to just ponder on the, "you are not as grumpy anymore"  I count that as a huge PLUS!

Okay -back to work for now.  Talk to you tonight!

10:47 PM Wow! What a night! At our employee appreciation I ate shrimp with lemon squeezed over it, fresh vegetables and a few blackberries. Afterwards my family and my daughters family went to the carnival! We had a blast! I rode everything! One daughter commented on how great it was that I didn't stand back, afraid to ride because of my size and then she yelled while we were on a ride "let's hear it for the skinny mom". Then to top it off she posted the sweetest "I am proud of you mom" post on Facebook. I just live this new freedom I have! We got home after 10 and I am just not hungry! I am about to go to bed and haven't eaten a thing since about 4:50pm!! 

I am feeling abundantly blessed tonight. I believe this is only the beginning!!

Lots of love!

Whole30 - Day 24 - One day closer!

9:32AM Good Morning!  Up at 6:16 this morning.  Hubby was a bit restless last night and I was awake several times through the evening.  I am hoping he is ok today.  He surely did not get a lot of sleep.  Okay, so I got up and again, it slipped my mind that today was....do you remember....it's Wednesday and what do we do on Wednesday??  That's right, it's "Walk to school day!!!  So I am thankful because I actually did a little bit of preparation last night!  So it didn't take me as long to get my lunch packed and Brandy chose an easy peasy option for lunch.  I ate breakfast while blow drying my hair - gross to some I am sure, at times a necessity for me.  I had steak strips, tomatoes and avocados.  Day 3 for steak in the morning.  It is quite yummy, maybe my favorite!

Last night I got home later than I usually do.  I had planned on cooking my dinner, already knew what I was going to have, but planned on being home at least 30 minutes earlier.  25 days ago I would have been 9 kinds of stressed and worried.  I mean, I ate my lunch at 1:30 and now here is was going to be past 8 when I eat dinner.  That is over 6 hours without food! 25 days ago, I would have been near tears.  Why?  I really don't know.  It was "that kind" of dependence on food.  I am sure deep down I was thinking I was going to die!  Or maybe I felt like a failure because I had let myself go that long without food.  I know it sounds silly but the panic and emotional upset was very real.  Again, I want to tell you, I AM FREE!

I am still pondering over the great message I heard Monday night.  The theme: BE BRAVE!  On Day 1 I was brave, on Day 2 I was Brave, and even on day 3.  I was battling something that was controlling me and once I was in control I didn't need as much bravery.  I will need a certain amount of bravery going forward to stick to this new change.  But not as much as I need on those first few days.  Isn't that true of any fear or issue that controls us that we try to overcome?  We must be extremely brave at the beginning but as we begin to conquer we need a little less Brave.  We become more confident.  We become more skilled.  Choosing not to fear takes Bravery.  Choosing to overcome fear takes Bravery.  Eventually the fear becomes a thing of the past. The quicker we put on the brave the quicker the issue becomes part of our past.

  

I want to encourage you in BRAVERY today.  God will honor this and help you in the process, you are most certainly not along.  Be set Free!!

9:47 PM Well! I am tired! But I am finishing this post and reading a bit more of It Starts With Food before going to bed.  Tonight I made turkey avocado burgers on the grill. The recipe was for chicken avocado burgers - but turkey worked great! I made smashed cauliflower to go with it along will grilled squash. The recipe made 4 burgers. So hello lunch and maybe breakfast! I am still in shock over the mayonnaise I made yesterday! So good!

Tomorrow night I have an employee appreciation banquet that will be serving "heavy hors d'oeuvres"...trying to not get nervous about that and then to the carnival that's in town. I am not worried about eating there at all - ick! But it may be another late night before I get home to eat. Fortunately I have a leftover salmon patty and coleslaw. That will be my dinner, its planned, that should make me feel better.

I really want to talk to everybody about Whole30 - I am so excited and encouraged by the awesomeness of it!

Until tomorrow sweet people!

Whole 30 - Day 23 - Just in Awe!

8:21 AM First of all I was out of bed at 6:06 this morning!  New record for this journey!  We left the house a few minutes ahead of schedule.  So far it's a pretty awesome morning! For breakfast I fried up some more steak strips, cut up a tomato and added some avocado along with black coffee today.

I can't even begin to tell you how much is going through my head lately.  This is and has been a truly wonderful experience.  I mentioned yesterday how I feel like I am finally free.  It's true, I am free!  But, the battle is not over.  I hate to compare my reliance on food to a drug addiction or to an alcohol addiction but yet, to make my point I need to.  Once someone has been "clean" 14 days, 30 day, 60 days, etc., they still have to stand firm in their clean choices.  I don't know if the desire to go back to the old lifestyle ever goes away.  I wonder if there is always a sense of comfort from what was.  I don't expect this battle to be over in the next 7 days.  Nor do I expect it to be over in another 30 days.  As I continue to make progress there will be challenges.  At this point I am confident that I will overcome but I am not so prideful to think it will be easy and not require effort.

I feel like my body and my brain are communicating far better than ever before.  I had a friend who talked about "listening to her body" a lot.  When she was tired, she slept.  When she woke up, she got up.  I am beginning to understand this.  It's very clear to me in the evening.  I just get to a point that I am tired, undeniably tired.  So I have been getting to bed a bit earlier.  Last week I was waking up before 5AM - that was crazy!  But I decided this week I was going to try to get up, like out of bed, when I wake up.  The past two nights I have slept pretty hard and have woke up with my alarm. This morning I easily, almost without thought, got out of bed just a few minutes earlier.  When eating my mind and my eyes are dismayed be the much smaller amounts of food that I eat.  But they are quickly swayed into satisfaction as I begin to eat.  I am not stressing nearly as much about food and yes, starvation, as I was.

I am still pondering over last nights message.  The speaker and the message struck a deep chord with me.  I am still trying to process through it.  I can tell you this, God has been so good to show me lately just how far I have come in many areas of my life, my physical day to day life, and my spiritual life.  I am so encouraged by this.  I feel like I am standing on a mountain top looking down at all my past struggles, disappointments, and failures.  You would think the view would't be so pretty.  But it is magnificent.  I don't resent all these things, I embrace them, because they have made me into a better person, a happier person, a person full of peace and joy.

8:47 PM So tonight since I am just cooking for myself - I have class and get home after everyone has eaten - I cooked salmon patties (My daughter calls them crabby patties and yes - she eats them!) I planned to make the Whole30 mayonnaise but was thinking "no way"! This stuff is amazing! It blows store bought mayo out of the water! I made tartar sauce out of it and used it to make cole slaw. My dinner was the bomb!!! 

Oh goodness! I didn't tell you about lunch! Leftover grilled chicken, fresh spinach, dices tomatoes and avocado.

Today has been a non stop day and I am so thankful I have the energy and desire to get through it boldly! I have a couple of things to do before bed. I feel an exceptional sleep coming on!!

Thank you again for reading!!

Day 22 - Whole30 - Have I mentioned how awesome this is?

8:54 AM I am anticipating a busy day.  But, I am ready for it.  I have clear thinking, focus, and energy...not to mention I am in a great mood.  Have I mentioned how awesome it is to feel this way? And did I mention I feel like this EVERYDAY.  I am just praising the Lord for Whole30!  Some of you may laugh at that thought - but I know God intends good for me, He intends great health for me.  He is blessing my efforts to be responsible for this one body He has blessed me with.

This morning was quite the yummy breakfast.  Breakfast I think is where I have to step outside the box the most on this program.  I cooked up some lean steak strips in olive oil and warmed up the other half of the sweet potato I didn't eat last night.  I ate that with my coconut oil coffee. Steak is totally yummy for breakfast and the sweet potato is like a luscious treat! This morning I also did not have to force it down.  I still wasn't "hungry" but I wasn't all ick about having to eat breakfast. I woke up this morning at about 5:40 and got out of bed at 6:16.  I have told myself, this week, I will get out of bed when I wake up just to see what happens.  I could really like this getting up much earlier all on my own, no alarm, nobody else up, yes, there could be some serious awesomeness in this.

OHHHHHHH and the new Whole 30 book should arrive at my house today!  Being the nerdy reader that I am I will not read it until I finish reading It Starts with Food cover to cover. Perfect timing though if you ask me.  If I decide to do back to back Whole30's my next one will start on May 6th.  That gives me 9 days to finish the first book and jump into the second.  Perfect!

Let me tell you this as well.  Bless my husbands heart.  He has been through so many ups and downs with me trying to lose weight and become more healthy.  His "gift" is not encouragement or support so to speak.  His heart is totally there - but what is in his heart doesn't come out of his mouth very well.  He tries though.  Either I am just feeling so much better and I am so much LESS emotional with this program OR he is greatly improving in his ability to voice encouragement and support.  I have asked him a couple of times if he was okay with how this was going....meaning how my doing whole 20 is affecting him.  He has said he is good every time.  I think he enjoys the eating more at home and the things we are cooking.  We talked last night and I asked him how he felt about me doing another Whole30 - meaning 60 straight days.  The biggest area I think it could affect him in a negative way is when we do go out to eat we have to consider what is available for me to eat.  We talked specifically about that.  He is totally in support.  He basically said it is obvious that this is working and so we have to keep going forward.  This morning he showed me a profile picture he took of me of March 25th and tried to explain that I have really become smaller.  Of course I look at it and don't really know.  So he makes me take another profile picture this morning to compare the March 25th picture to.  I think I see it!  That is probably the most supportive thing he has done for me. I have a good man.  He does make me totally crazy sometimes, but he is a good man!
 10:14 and super tired! Wonderful blessed night! Hearing Carrie speak was amazing. Meeting her was amazing! Having all 3 of my daughters with me and my friend Kandra was amazing! They had an amazing taco bar as well which I navigated with ease. A little chicken, guacamole, tomatoes and lettuce. I added some chicken that I had brought with me which led to another completely successful whole 30 day! 

I am sure I will have more I say about tonight when I blog tomorrow. 

Lots of love - I am off to sleepy land!

3 Weeks on Whole 30 - I won't turn back even if I could!

9:17 PM  I just realized I haven't written any thing all day! 

This morning I scrambled up 3 eggs with onion and spinach and had some black coffee.  I only at about 2/3 of it.  For lunch we went out....again.....I had a 6 oz steak, salad with lemon juice as dressing and green beans.  I went grocery shopping - spent a little over $100 and that included extra for cooking dinner for my folks tonight.  So I really should finish this Whole30 for about $400 for the month for my entire family.  I have tossed some things that spoiled before we ate them, so with a little better planning skills it will be even less. I think this is pretty reasonable.

Tonight we grilled steaks, chicken, brats, and hot dogs along with summer squash, zucchini, and onions.  I love grilled veggies.  I also cooked a sweet potato.  Let me tell you that sweet potato rocked!  Let me also tell you I need that home cooked meal instead of eating out.  As I have been cleaning up the kitchen I have my lunch prepared for tomorrow and a back up dinner as my daughters, a friend and I are going to a Women's Spring Banquet at my best friends church.  I am so excited - I am pretty sure I have posted that the speaker is the blogger that, through her posts of her Whole30 journey, convinced me to take my Whole30 journey! 

People are starting to comment on my weight.  Like, A LOT!  I am getting very excited to weigh in on day 31.  I honestly don't know what to expect.  I wonder if I will be shocked or disappointed.  How could I be disappointed if the weight loss is significant that people are noticing and commenting?  I am an odd creature - it could happen.  I have a number that has stayed in my head even though I have tried to shake it...if it is less than that number I am afraid I will be disappointed.  I am going to try to be realistic...hello it will have only been 30 days! 

On paper it is looking like a busy week.  I know I will be ok,, but I want to be more than ok and I know that is all within my power. 

Okay - one more thing for today and I will be done.

Today as I was talking to my pastor about Whole30 (because he noticed my weight loss) I told him, like verbalized, "This is really the first time in my life I feel like I am in control of my food."  This made me think of 2 Corinthians 10:5 -  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ,  I have been able to apply this scripture to many areas of my life and in some very difficult situations.  I have never been able to take captive my thoughts over food.  NEVER.  Now that I can, I can't help but to be convinced I am on a good path with this Whole30. 

Thank again for reading!  As always - feel free to comment or facebook me! 

D. J.

Whole 30 - Day 20 - wonderful day!

2:53 PM I only thought I was tired last night! My fitbit has me at almost 15000 steps and I still have lots of daylight left!

This morning at about 7:10 I are a half of an apple and had my coffee with coconut oil. I do not like to eat much before a race so I planned on having breakfast afterwards. My goal today for the race was to get in the 43s...as in less than 44 minutes. I came in at 43 minutes 54 seconds! Then we did not go eat breakfast - instead we came home and changed and headed to the festival. The strip the festival is on is about 3/4 of a mile and I walked up and down at least 4 times! It's a beautiful day though and I see so many people I know plus it just exciting to see how this festival has grown and how many people are visiting our city. 

We had lunch early at a local diner. It was just after 11:00. I am sure the meat was probably not very "organic-y" but I still count it as a success. I ordered a hamburger patty with grilled onions and mushrooms and a side salad. I couldn't eat all of it! That's always exciting! 

So I came home and showered. I swear I had 4 layers on sunblock on me and I still burned! Ugh! Oh well. It's been a fabulous day. I am going to read a bit and take a nap and then who knows what!!

9:02 AM Here is what I am thinking.  I ate dinner out Thursday night, I ate lunch and dinner out yesterday, I ate lunch out today and my folks brought over grilled KFC for dinner tonight.  I am not loving it.  I feel different, less satisfied I guess. Bottom line, I am not loving it.  I had the grilled chicken tonight, some green beans and I made a spinach salad with vinegar an oil.  I was totally not satisfied.  I added an apple and some almond butter.  That was about 3 hours ago and I feel like I could actually eat right now.  I haven't felt this in over two weeks.  My hubby has just put on his shoes to go get more food for him as he is hungry too after dinner.  I am having to just suck it up and deal.  I will be ok.  It's just an eye opener at how eating out repeatedly can so quickly have an affect. 

I decided to go ahead and post that I have had a successful day - doing so, I know I won't fall off the wagon tonight.  I will, however, have some herbal tea and I plan to have a significant vegetable omelet tomorrow! 

One more thing.  Last week I started waking up on my own, before my alarm, at around 4:00 AM!  Crazy!  If you have been reading my posts you know I am not getting out of bed until after 6:00.  Last night we had a more active than normal night and I went to bed about an hour later than normal.  I still woke up before 6:00 and I actually got up!  I just meandered about and my husband woke up so we visited.  It was odd.  This whole waking up before my alarm is odd.  But I am learning that my body has a lot to say...you know, I am paying more attention to it.  This has just been an interesting journey. 

I don't know if I have posted this but some people choose to do a Whole45 or a Whole60 based on what happens during their Whole30. I am thinking I may be one of those that would benefit from doing the Whole45 or Whole60. 

Okay - that my post for tonight all!

Lots of love!

Whole 30 - Day 19 - Planning/Preparing for the weekend

11:17 AM - Hello friends!  

This morning was simply two eggs fried in olive oil and black coffee.  I was out of bed at 6:17.  This morning was more rushed than I would like - again, I could have done prep work the night before and didn't.  Have I mentioned that I actually have a "PM List" that is laminated that I have used maybe twice!  If I would use it I sure would save myself a lot of head ache.  That may be my focus next week.  

Let's talk about the weekend which basically starts when I get off work at 5:00.  It is Red Fern Festival weekend! I love love love the festival.  We have an amazing car show, lots of vendors, and....LOTS of food!  We have friends coming over from Arkansas and tonight we are going out to dinner.  We have planned on where we are taking them, so I have an eating plan.  If we don't go there I am going to have to be focused and committed to sticking to it.  Tomorrow will be very up in the air as far as eating.  I run in the morning so I will have an egg and fruit with coffee.  Lunch and Dinner - no idea!  So tonight I am preparing and packing enough food to take care of lunch and dinner.  Tonight will be busy, tomorrow will be ALL DAY at the festival and into the evening.  Sunday I will be tired!  A nap will be a priority on the list!  But I will also have to take care of everything I normally spread over Saturday and Sunday, which includes grocery shopping.  I plan to be successful through this weekend! 

Hopefully I won't be too out of it tonight to post!  I plan to keep you updated through the weekend!

9:55 PM I am tired! This afternoon for lunch we took our secretary out to lunch.  I had a spinach salad with chicken and walnuts. They had olive oil and lemon juice that I used for dressing. It wasn't too exciting or overly flavorful.  Our friends don't get here until about 7:30...that means I didn't eat dinner until after 8:00. I will not lie, I was hungry and panicking about it. Fortunately no body died. This was my most tempting meal of my whole30. We ate at my favorite pizza place tonight. My favorite appetizer and pizza were ordered. I ordered their wonderful salad with chicken and brought my own dressing. I would have loved to have had a piece of both. But how I have been doing and how I have been feeling won out. I made it through day 19!! 

Hoping for a great run tomorrow and a fun day at the festival!!

Thanks for reading!!