Re: Meh - Megan

I slept a LOT this weekend. I'm starting to feel more human. Went home sick from work on Friday and took a three and a half hour nap, then got massage therapy. Seems to have helped a bit at least. Cheated all weekend - back on the train today.

Got a bunch of good foods this weekend between costco, the farmer's market, and madison market:

costco:

• another 6lb bag of protein powder, this time CHOCOLATE so i don't have to suffer through the disgusting vanilla anymore
• 18 organic eggs
• turkey breast slices
• bananas 

Broadway farmer's market:

• 3 organic necatrines
• 4 organic apricots
• rainbow chard
• fresh carrots
• 2 of those little boxes of raspberries, 1 blackberry

Madison market:

• 1 organic fuji apple the size of your HEAD
• zucchini

Now if only I could get inspired to cook it.......

Meh. - Megan

Quick blog since I've been MIA -

Basically I was doing great, then I was doing fair, then I was doing poorly.

I need to get it together, this wedding that I am in is on Sept 3.

I started nazi-lockdown diet Aug 1. It's basically legitimate paleo, with finally cutting out the dairy.

Goes a  little something like this:

5 meals, 3 hours apart.

bfast: protein smoothie
snack: protein bar, usually coffee
lunch: meat and veg
snack: fruit and fat
dinner: meat and veg

So this went successfully for the first 3.5 days until last night I started feeling really crappy. Really lethargic. Like, death tired. I got home around 630 and sat on my bed and could have instantly fallen asleep. I was supposed to go do stairs but was too tired.

Sooo...... I bought myself pizza for dinner. and a wee bit of yogurtland. And? I felt a whole hell of a lot better.

The fitness director at work who has his MS in exercise science has talked to me about planned carb cycling days and their benefit for the replacement of glycogen, so I don't feel like it was a failure, really.

Don't think I felt better because of the "junk" food - I think I felt better because I needed more calories and fat added. That being said, I wasn't restricting calories very low, so I have no idea what the deal is. I was still at or above 1500 each of those days.

I had a long thread on my trainer's page between myself, him, and his wife about calories vs workouts - They're also convinced I wasn't eating enough. I'm beginning to resign to the fact that I simply don't think I will ever figure out what my body's trick is, since everyone is different and nothing is working. Either that or I'm just doomed. I'm really tired of fighting this.

Also: Kimmy - 1000 calories?! I am going to drive up there and smack you in the forhead. In the most loving way possible.

I feel crappy again this morning. I might actually be getting sick. Meh.

ADD: Oh yeah, it might be worth mentioning.... I've also been profoundly lethargic for a number of days now. I've been having memory problems for a little over a week. The lethargy... It seems to happen a few times a year, for no reason. Where I'm so deeply tired that I just don't think I'll ever snap out of it. It interferes with workouts, among other things. In the past when I've experienced this I've been questioned about everything from pregnancy to depression to anemia. I should start taking my iron again. Also, memory problems. I can't remember my plans, or what I did a few days prior.

Do you guys ever have this???

Psycho-Nazi-Paleo --Brigitte

It's the first of the month, and a Monday...seems exactly perfect conditions for a whole30 challenge for me!

The last one I tried didn't go as planned; I had an unexpected trip to California thrown at me (to help my best friend clean out her grandmother's house), which led to a frightening amount of crap being eaten. Also in the last few weeks I lived through several double shifts at work, and my husband's birthday meals. OINK.

So. Away I go.

I didn't eat til about 3:30pm today. Drank lots of water to make up for it, but was trying to give my body a chance to flush out whatever amount of junk it could before I started putting healthy stuff back in. Once I got home from errands and yoga, I chopped up the leftovers from last night's ribeye steak, and threw it in a pan along with two scrambled eggs. Topped with avocado, I can definitely say the first meal of the new month was a WIN. Tonight is my small group night, and I know I won't be home around the dinner hour, so I threw together zucchini hummus and a fruit/spinach smoothie to round out the next couple of hours.

Zucchini Hummus (shamelessly copied from www.fastpaleo.com)
2 peeled and cut zucchini
3/4 c. tahini
1/4 c. olive oil
1/2 c. lemon juice
4 cloves garlic
2 1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 Tbsp. ground cumin

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Blend thoroughly.

My review of above recipe: too salty. Too tahini-y. However...I rarely eat hummus by itself, and once I dipped cherry tomatoes into the mix, I liked it! Next time, though, I will cut back on the salt and tahini.
For my smoothie I combined fresh raspberries, frozen strawberries, a banana, a handful of spinach, and some coconut milk. Scrumptious :)

Now here's the real business.
I am going to post my measurements.
Egads.
This to keep me honest...and vulnerable, and accountable. Because I know I won't want to post the same numbers at the end of the month! This is NOT intended for any reason other than that.

As of August 1st:
Biceps: 11
Waist (at belly button, cuz that's where I'm widest): 33
Hips: 36.5
Rt Thigh (at the widest): 21.75
Rt Calf (at widest): 15

My upper body looks leaned out, muscular. The bottom two-thirds...not so much. Looking at those measurements, I see a recipe for heart disease (not enough difference between waist and hips)! Planning on this month changing these stats a bit.

Onwards and Upwards!

Plateau -- Kimberly

I was at the OB's office again this week and had the chance to spend some time talking about all of this--weight, Paleo, diabetes, you name it--with one of the doctors there who manages gestational diabetic patients. I expressed to her my dedication to kicking these pounds and this diagnosis...but also told her that I was concerned with how slowly it is going (considering that I normally conceive around my baby's first birthday). She was very encouraging. I told her that I am noticing changes still (the jeans I couldn't get on four weeks ago now fit totally normally) but that my scale is reluctant to change. She said two things: One: that losing weight is like quitting smoking---it is a LONG process, and Two: that she suspected I was in starvation mode. Apparently breastfeeding requires about 1000 extra calories a day and I've only been eating about 1000 calories total (ahem). I've been using my milk production as a gauge of whether I need to eat more, and Henry is nursing just fine and getting plenty to eat. But apparently my own body has shut down. Soooo, at doctor's request, I have now joined Weight Watchers, as they have a system to track nutrition for breastfeeding mothers--to monitor that I am getting ENOUGH calories to lose weight--AND I can continue to eat whole foods without caving to that prepackaged "diet food" garbage. Win-win....hopefully!

Pounds lost: 4.5

Yuppie. - Megan

My god.

It's finally happened.

I am a late-twenties Seattle yuppie.

I'm drinking sparkling water with lemon. I'm driving to Whole Foods for maximum variety of organic products. I'm turning up my nose at any produce that isn't labeled organic - and paying MUCH more for it. I'm hassling the guy behind the fish counter for the best wild choices. I'm staring in the condiment aisle to find the darkest bottle of olive oil labeled "cold pressed". I'm spending work hours discussing the best butcher to find local, grass fed beef with my office mate - And I get headaches at the same time every day if I don't have my espresso.

Oi.

(Almost) End of week recap, and true confessions - Megan

I've had a few things swirling around in my brains that I've wanted to share - Hopefully I can remember them all.

First and foremost, I would like to make note of the fact that the longer I do this, the easier it's getting. Yes, there's cheat days, and yes, there's small amounts of sugar usually each day (one or two hard candies, or a square of chocolate) - but for the most part, I feel as if my insulin has regulated itself impressively well after all this time. I think this is my 7th week now, not sure. So that's almost two months.

I'm cutting it because it's long ... follow the link below to read the rest of the post

an experiment -Brigitte

...so, it turns out, when I'm sucking at eating well I don't want to write here.

I forget sometimes this is a journey. (I forget this concept in the broader spectrum of my life, as well.)
It doesn't have to be perfect.
Sigh.
I want to be perfect at it.
I want to be successful.
I want to remember when I can hear the peanut butter m&m's calling my name how wonderful I feel when I ignore them.

This last week has been an interesting one in regards to the diet. I completed a 31 hour fast for the first time in my life last week. I did it for two reasons: my pastor had talked about being able to hear God's voice more clearly during a fast, and I ate total crap the weekend before, and felt the need to cleanse my poor body. And, I loved it! I mean, it totally sucked not eating dinner. Or a snack before bed. The first part of the day was easy; I often get running around so fast that I forget to eat until about 3pm or so. Once that time hit, I had to be conscious about my decision to not eat until the next morning.
Result: I will definitely be doing that again.

Other interesting thing. It was an emotionally turbulent week/weekend for me; whenever my brain gets a little wonky my food choices are the first to go. I either don't eat enough, eat enough but of pure crap, eat 2000 calories at breakfast and then, filled with self-loathing, continue the process the rest of the day...you get the idea.
And yes, I fell into this common trap.
BUT. I made better choices than usual. So: win.
(ooh...and, I didn't get drunk. Double win.)

Today? So far? (Because yesterday no longer matters and tomorrow isn't here yet...)
~Half an avocado for breakfast.
~a handful of nuts and berries for snack.
~(minimally) processed grilled chicken strips and a few pieces of dried fruit for lunch.
~two handfuls dried pineapple (unsweetened, organic) for snack
~hamburger patty, piece of bacon, a few sweet potato "fries" (dollop of ketchup included) for dinner

Definitely need to do better on incorporating more veggies. Need to be better about drinking my water. Reeallly wanting to start lifting again. (where in the heck am I going to find the time for that??!)

The reward??
On Friday, I bought the smallest size jeans I've worn in twelve years.
I guess I can stick with this after all :)

Final thought...
Would anyone be interested in doing a 30-day challenge with me? That's how I started this whole process, and I found I was much more willing to follow the "rules" when there was an "end-date".
Let me know!

To Megan -- Kimberly

I. LOVE. YOU.

I love that I can hear you speaking as I read your words, ha!

My scale is definitely flying all over too, but it's at its lowest point now again. Yay! The winning combination seems to be running, limiting my calories, and sticking to Paleo for the things I am eating. Having some weird side effects though and haven't been able to trace them to anything yet. I've been really dizzy all week, and late last night I felt suddenly like my head was too heavy to hold up on my own anymore. I figured it was just fatigue, and went straight to bed, but then it happened again this afternoon and freaked me out a little bit. I suddenly thought I remembered that dizziness is linked to diabetes (is that true?) so I took my sugar and it was TWO HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN. Good Lord. I have never been that high in my life. Panic! I had just eaten, but only a hamburger patty with a little bit of mustard and homemade relish sprinkled on top...have NO IDEA why it was that high. Is it normally that high right after you eat? I have no idea. I thought my machine was off, checked the calibration and retested: 190's. Yikes. I immediately went to bed (couldn't hold my head up) and within an hour post-eating I was 117. So who knows what that was all about. I have decided to start testing regularly for a while now and see if I need to call the endocrinologist.

Anyway. Crazy dizziness aside, I feel great today, like my body is adjusting nicely to the lower calorie intake.

Pounds lost: 3.5

Sugar Monster - Megan

ooooh it's been a rough one!

This week went okay as far as the Paleo thing goes. Thursday night I had a really hard cardio workout, and for some reason those are the ones that make me ULTRA ravenous - so Friday I wound up with some cookies and a PB&J for dinner. That's what I could find at work, and I didn't have the patience to deal with anything else. Plus I heart PB&J. That was cheat day.

I'm not sure why but i'm definitely craving the sugar more this weekend than I have in a bit. To be honest, I'm certain it's an emotional thing. I did a lot of - eh - "bleeding out the poison" as my friend Bre would say this week. I've managed to keep it under control, mostly.

I guess what I wanted to touch on is a few things - one is : TWO of my friends have now said to me (without provocation) that they've followed my/our suit (not necessarily the Paleo, but increasing the protein) and they've both exclaimed how much better & more satiated they feel. This is exciting.

Secondly is, it's amazing to me how much protein can kick the Sugar Monster's ass. I'll be honest, there were three - yes THREE nights last week that I ate an entire can of tuna for dinner (plus maybe some other stuff) because I knew if I didn't get protein in stat I was going to find an entire cake to eat. Furthermore, I've concocted my own version of a smoothie that keeps me full for - are you ready? - FOUR HOURS. This is guiness-book record breaking, people. Coming from the girl who's always ALWAYS hungry.

Ingredients:
6oz NF yogurt (sorry ladies I know you're not doing dairy...)
1/2c-3/4c frozen fruit - almost always berries
1 scoop whey protein (30g!)
1.5 tsp flax oil
Water/ice




It's amazing, and I've been having it every single day for breakfast - sometimes lunch instead. Toying with following your lead and adding spinach. We'll see. Two problems : one is sometimes I get bored with it but I'm remembering that it keeps me ridiculously happily full, and two .. I am SICK of my flavor of protein powder. Blech. But I  keep at it, because it's a 6lb bag I got at costco last novemeber when I got sick after being deficient of protein and iron and vit d and bla bla bla....

Which brings me to today. Today was rough. Went a little like this:

• 730am: Woke up STARVING, and still tired - but couldn't fall back asleep

• Bitched and moaned to myself about not wanting to go to the gym

• 845am: Went to gym. Did about 45 mins cardio/weights

• Came home - actually didn't make aforementioned smoothie. Since I have more time on the weekends, i'm trying for eggs instead.

• 10am: Scrambled 2 whole eggs, 1 egg white with cherry tomatoes and baby sweet peppers. Ate a stupid amount of cherry tomatoes while cooking.

• 12pm: Got two shots over ice from Starbucks, added my own SF vanilla and almond milk (hello, 50 calorie venti iced latte!)

• 1 or 2 (can't remember) : Lunch with mother. Hungry. Wanted everything garbage-y on the menu. Gave dirty, glaring looks at the 9 year old girl next to me eating mac and cheese with a side of fries. MAC AND CHEESE WITH A SIDE OF FRIES. Sigh. Those were the days. Ordered a seafood louie salad. Lettuce, cuc, tom, peppers, crab, prawns, 1 hardboiled egg. Got it with vinagrette instead of whatever crap it came with. Definitely inhaled that whole thing. Didn't order alcohol. Refused the bread the waitress offered. Go me.

• 330 or so HUNGRY again. Downed 16oz water to see if maybe I was just thirsty (i've been doing AWFUL at keeping hydrated lately)

• Still hungry. 
• 4pm: Began frantically text messaging everyone I knew to find a dinner partner. Nothing was working out.
• 5pm : At this point I was fairly certain I was going to die. Not that I couldn't live off of the fat reserves - no no, surely death was upon me. Here's the clutch - ALL I WANTED was yogurtland. I really gave it very serious consideration. Even though I have an official date with a coworker to go there tomorrow, I was going to go there for dinner tonight too. If not yogurtland, something equally as evil and sugary. The Sugar Monster was about .073 seconds from sinking his fangs into me.

• Decided to hell with waiting to find a dinner partner - began mowing on a bag of turkey jerky. Then 3 cups of leftover salad from dinner last night (i've been doing poorly at my veg intake too, so this is good) - then, I made my own yogurtland: 

6oz nonfat strawb yogurt
1 Tbs carob chips
1/2 C frozen raspberries
1/2 Tbs honey
Chocolate sprinkles


And? I couldn't be happier. This meal was approximately 29g protein - and the Sugar Monster has retreated with his tail between his legs.

GO TEAM PROTEIN.

My goals for this week that somehow I've been slacking on:

• No alcohol until the big pig roast BBQ on Sat (I'm becoming convinced this is a HUGE factor in my non weight loss)
• More water
• More veggies
• Probably should work on less food overall....

Anyhoo - on another note : Kimmy - my scale is not budging either. I finally bought a fabric measurer on friday and took my measurements, because my scale is ALL OVER THE PLACE. It's fluctuating wildly with a span of about 8lbs. I know this is not possible, so I'm trying not to rely on it. That being said, the most prominent/often occuring weight is actually the highest I've weighed in seven years - and would mean i've gained about 5lbs since starting this - and the closest to my weight when I was the biggest I'd been before. I'm also about 6 sizes smaller though. I've got a hell of a lot more muscle now.... STILL not fitting into the clothes that fit me 6-12 mos ago ... but...Brig says I look nothing like I did at the heaviest (?) so... it's getting there, I think. I hope.

Post-4th -- Kimberly

YES to falling off the wagon. But I feel good that I didn't totally overdo it for the holiday...I mean I definitely indulged last weekend, but had plenty of meals and moments that my willpower kicked in and I was able to make decent choices. Like eating a bowl of fruit for breakfast, instead of the french toast/cinnamon rolls/leftover brownies/homemade mochas that were being offered. Ugh.

Scale is still not budging. Which is frustrating because I feel like I am eating very little, and am exercising every couple of days...but I do still feel like I am getting results, so I'm sitting on that for right now. The pair of jeans that I couldn't even button last weekend I am wearing this week with ease. I'm thinking I need to try to hunt down my measurements that I took at the beginning of this experiment and use that as a gauge for a while until my scale wakes up again.

OH, and the biggest eye-opener is realizing just how crazy-many calories I was eating before. I snack enough while I am COOKING the dinner to make up for the actual meal. No wonder all of these baby pounds are sitting around!

Pounds lost: 3.5

Post-holiday weekend - Megan

So... uh... Anyone else fall off the wagon this weekend?

Pretty sure I started drinking, fell off the wagon, got RUN OVER BY the wagon, drank some more, took a nap in it's tracks, and woke up to find I was 3 miles behind it.

Yikes.

Love this - Megan

Re: fat in smoothies: I got myself some organic flax oil a few days ago - had it in my smoothie today. woohoo!

I was just sent an article that is not only simple and easy to read, but basically is a summation of what we're already doing. I've bolded my favies. yay!

Scale - Kimberly

So my scale has hit a standstill. Not a huge surprise since my version of Paleo while I've been transitioning has been lots of nuts, fruits and meats and not a ton of veggies (take too long to prep). I'm revising things today. Went for a nice 40 minute run/walk at 5:30 this morning and have been charting my foods on an online calorie counter today just to try to pay attention to what I'm actually putting in my mouth. It's enlightening if nothing else! I love all the geeky little charts that show you what nutritional deficiencies you have for the day. I don't know that I would take the time to chart daily, but it's a good tool while I am still settling into my new norm.

Pounds lost: 3.5

Son of a...... - Megan

Well, guess what? It's 345am and I'm awake. Why? So tonight wound up being a cheat. Two cocktails, 1 roll/ bun thing ( first bread in AGES ) and a big old ridiculous serving of yogurtland. Here's what's weird. I've woken basically every hour on the hour to DOWN water. Excess glucose causes your cells to lose a lot of fluid (which is why one of the first signs of diabetes is excessive thirst). So the strangeness comes here - this USED to happen to me whenever id really REEEEEAAALLLYYY overdo it on crap, like at a party or something. It used to take a plate of fries, a drink, a sandwich, two cupcakes and ice cream for this to happen. Now all it took was a hamburger - type bun and yogurtland. Granted or course there was a lot of YL, there always is... but this is WAY less than what it used to be. Yeesh. Lesson. Learned. (Again.)

Wednesday - Megan

Wednesday day off post.

Sitting here watching the sun pop in and out of the clouds, filling my apartment with the most brilliant yellows and whites, then back to greys and browns. Listening to (yet another) side project of my utmost favorite musician - he's got a whole lot of side projects, and this is my first time listening to this one. It's simply gorgeous. Then again, I am biased. The man can do no wrong in my opinion.

Breakfast in front of me.... 2 whole eggs scrambled with 1 slice 2% cheese, 2oz turkey deli meat (that was the last of it) and the last of my mini sweet peppers with salsa. Hot black tea with almond milk and a splash of SF vanilla syrup. Water with about 2oz low sugar pink lemonade for flavor. Ladies... if you like black tea... you haven't known black tea until you get PG Tips. It's british. and it's amazing. the tastiest black tea ever - you'll never go back :).....but this scramble is actually kind of gross. I think there's too much salt between the deli meat and the cheese. Noted.

I actually have not legitimately craved sugar in a LONG ASS TIME. WIN!  A small victory if nothing else is going the way I want it to :) I've still had a bit here and there, but the last two nights in a row I've walked past yogurtland around dinner time, and both times gave serious consideration to having it for dinner - and both times thought "eh - it doesn't even really sound that good......" and continued walking. Awesome.

Calm before the storm - I've got a very busy day ahead of me. Hopefully getting to the grocery store, doctor appointment at 1120, training with Brandon and Nicole at 115, massage therapy at 3, hair appointment in northgate at 430. Cutting it all pretty close.

After my extreme frustration and kicking my own ass repeatedly - the going theory is that I could potentially be over training. I didn't have all of the symptoms, but I definitely had a good handful of them. I had a headache for about 9 days straight (and I never get headaches), was having insomnia, constant muscle pain - which is normalish, but mine never subsided. So when you shock your body into such intense training, research shows that it gets all spooked and starts - yes, of course - holding onto fat (out of fear of starvation or something of the like, I am sure - which goes back to our evolutionary biology, and probably some old-brain processes as well)

So, this is frustrating (hey, how many times can I use the word frustrating in one week? hah) - reason being is that I KNOW damn well other people -lots of other people - train this hard. I talked a long time with my good friend Beth who's recently lost a LOT of weight and a LOT of inches, basically went from a size 12 to a 6. I happen to know that she was working out like 2 hours a day too. So I called her up - turns out she's not doing the same type of things I was doing. She said many days she did "easy" activities like the elliptical. 

New plan.
The most frequently suggested method of working out is 3 days on - 1 day off - 2 days on - 1 day off.
Soooo that's what I'll do. and it's actually what I used to do way back when I was on track in the past also. So, it will be Mon off, Tue-Thu on, Fri off, Sat/Sun on. Hopefully this will give my body more time to recover. I was also told not to double up ... which I'm not too happy about. Ultimately though what I am least happy about is that my running has indeed again re-aggrivated my foot. I CANNOT let myself run. I'm basically tethering myself into the apartment to not run. Especially when the sun is out. Been icing again. Going to go buy some more naproxen.

Beth asked me if I was going to run the Seattle half in November. I told her I hadn't thought about it. Well then of course I started thinking about it. What if I ran the whole? I wonder if I could do it? Truth is though i don't think I'll be healed even in time to begin that type of training to be ready by November.

As you've noted, we've been talking about the effect of dairy on the insulin spike. I can tell you that I haven't noticed any cravings or additional hunger with the keeping of dairy. I've toyed with the idea of cutting it out the last couple days , and I want to read more - and I know it keeps with "traditional" Paleo - but I just don't think it's smart for me right now. I don't know. I will share any data I find as I go on.

Work has gotten to the point where I'm basically babysitting a whole bunch of folks and I don't actually use my education or hardly remember it - or learn anything new for that matter. I feel like such an idiot that I can't figure out my own nutrition, yknow? I've got to go back and revisit some texts.

I'm going to ask the doc to check my bloodtype today! Still not sure if I put much stock into the diet-bloodtype thing, but can't hurt looking up.

??? - Megan

So, does insulin make you fat? Or does it just make you more HUNGRY? Anyone know?

Might start considering dropping the dairy. FML.

Couple links I haven't read all the way through but you might want to:

Glycemic Index by Mendoza

Article from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Re: Dairy/insulin

Pale"O" -- Kimberly

I had an interesting conversation with a friend a few weeks ago about Paleo--well, interesting in the fact that I told her what I was eating and not eating, and her immediate response was to ask me what my blood type is (O). I, too, have researched the Blood Type Diet in the past but only briefly; all I really remembered from the book was looking up the O diet and seeing VEGGIES AND RED MEAT and smiling somewhere deep inside (YUM!). She, too, when I mentioned I had O blood, said, "Wow, you must be so happy then!" And right she was.

I immediately called Brigitte to pass on the observation because I knew how well she was also responding to her Paleo foods and I knew she was also an O. (Interesting too that O's are not to eat dairy, and both Brigitte and I do much better without it). I've been thinking of this same discussion recently in light of all of Megan's posts about what she's eating (protein bars, dairy, and fruit and veggies) and how different it seems from my diet (whole eggs, meats, fruits and veggies). SO now I'm curious: Megan, what is your blood type? When I first decided to go Paleo, even though I knew that Justin would be wholly supportive, I also knew instinctively that he wouldn't be able to do it for himself--he's much happier with grains and no/little meats, and I am the opposite. As it has turned out, he has been eating many of the same things I am, but with his grains/breads added in (he is Type A).

Now I am not a subscriber usually to ONE type of diet, and that is true even with Paleo. I like many things about this eating plan but I also fully intend to cut way back on meat and add in my legumes/vegetarian options once I get some of this baby weight off. So I'm not willing to throw all of my eggs in the Blood Type basket either...but I find the links between them interesting, and maybe worth a discussion. Any thoughts?

Pounds lost: 3.5

Blood sugar...attack!! -Brigitte

Woke up last night around 12:30am with a low blood sugar attack.

LAAAAMMME.

Instead of eating the kids' fruit snacks (I know there's some left somewhere!) I ate almonds and golden raisins. And then I ate leftover chicken cabbage salad from last night's dinner.

Went back to bed full.
Still woke up to my alarm. (That doesn't usually happen the nights I have to get up to eat.)
Wasn't bloated or sick-feeling when I woke up. (Other than the cold that has it's claws in me).

Brigitte: 1
Excess insulin: 0

bwahahahaha!!

I used the chicken carcass leftover from last night's supper to make some broth; gonna throw some veggies and chicken breast in there and hope it helps me get over the crud. I'll let you know how the soup (without noodles? or rice?) turns out!

well, hello there! -Brigitte

I feel like I haven't posted since '89.

According to Megs, that's about correct. (teehee)

I feel like poo today. Not from my food/workout/diet stuff, just trying to legitimately catch a cold, I think. (My dear friend Kelli, an herbalist, says, "When doing a detox (which Paleo basically is at the start), your immune system might get a little screwy. Lots of onions, garlic, echinecea, and lemon in your water will help.")

Lots to say...where to start...

*SLEEP
I don't sleep enough. Lots of Paleo blogs I've been reading in the last week talk about sleep being one of the cornerstones of a healthy body. I'm just sitting with this concept a bit; I kinda like that I run on minimal sleep. Let's face it...there just aren't enough hours in the day for most of us. I'm supposed to sleep EIGHT HOURS?! That's crazy talk. But...maybe I need to rethink this. And work on it. If changing to a Paleo lifestyle is about health and strength like I say, I suppose I owe it to myself to become aware of how more sleep might affect me, and how a lack of sleep does affect me.

*SCALE
Did anyone else see the blogpost on Everyday Paleo about throwing away your scale?? Sister, I know your primary goal going Paleo includes losing some of the excess baby weight...so I get the weigh-ins. Hell, I weigh myself 3 or 4 times a week, and I'm not really trying to lose any more pounds (although I won't complain if I do!). Check out the blogpost if you didn't see it, and let me know what you think. Another concept I'm gonna work on...because, for me at this point in my life, the scale may not be all-knowing. Radical thought.

*BALANCE
Sister, I loved your post about "all or nothing". As for me, I uber-suck at "everything in moderation"...and not just about food. Whether it's cleaning, or spending money, or eating healthy, or exercising~ if I'm not doing it to the nth degree, I feel like I'm not "good enough", and then I stop. I am getting better at this...thank you to my therapist, and my Al-Anon group!...but I have discovered some truths about eating Paleo within the last week, as it relates to me (and maybe me only?) in regards to balance.
--I do best if I don't cheat. At all. When it comes to grains FOR SURE. Gluten makes me binge now. It's not pretty. I'll describe in a bit.
--Fruit actually does cure my sugar cravings. So I need to stop whining about chocolate chip cookies, and eat some cherries.
--If I am gonna cheat, a bit of cheese usually is okay. Baked goods~ a no-no. Alcohol~ iffy.
Again, disclaimer...this may just be me.

*BOOZE
I love vodka. And I don't see anything wrong with drinking a vodka soda or two on occasion. But here's my discovery (again, for me): my favorite little cocktail bloats me. And makes me more likely to cheat the next day (on gluten, the DEVIL.). Therefore, I've decided...booze only on special occasions. A real occasion, not just like "it's Thursday and I like Thursdays" or something like that. :)

*LAST WEEK
Whooooaaa Nelly, last week pretty much sucked for me eating Paleo. Until Thursday. Then I pulled it together....but the first part of the week I crashed and BURNED. Hard.
On Monday, I was the "sweet treat" girl at my small group. I made a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies. I took most of them to group. I encouraged said group to take the cookies home with them. I still had almost two dozen at home (for the kids. Riiiiight.). I didn't eat enough dinner Monday night, because I was at group. I went to bed at normal time. ~and then, I woke up around 1:00am with a blood sugar crash, and I ate like 7 cookies. I woke up Tuesday with a sugar hangover, but determined to make better choices. I did the exact same thing Tuesday. Wednesday? A new day, right? I did the exact same thing Wednesday. Right down to the not eating enough dinner (ooh and Wednesday I had a cocktail too...) and getting up in the middle of the night and gorging on cookies.
Thursday morning, I again looked 5 months pregnant, and I was violently pissed with myself. I filled an entire garbage bag with shit from my pantry and refrigerator... and I've been just about 100% clean since then. Thank heavens.

So. That's what I've been up to.

I'm having a bit of difficulty meal-planning on this "diet"...mostly because I usually have a hard time meal-planning, period. I hate sitting down and figuring out what is going to sound good in like three days for dinner. It's always really lovely when I do it, to have a grocery list already planned, or to know what to expect for the dinner hour~ but it's finding the motivation to sit down with a pencil, my computer, a pad of paper, and my cookbook and figure it all out. Also, I'm pretty new at using veggies for the only side dishes for dinner. It's so much easier to add "potatoes" to a meal...harumph.

Lastly, a couple of food-type observations and/or ideas:
~The chocolate coffee Larabar is BOMB. Try it. You'll thank me. (Second fave: Cherry Pie.)
~Kerrygold butter is AMAZING. And, because I use it rarely, I can justify the ridiculous expense. It's the only dairy I use these days. And it is so, so good. I mixed a couple tablespoons with some fresh-chopped chives and some minced garlic and shoved it under chicken skin and baked some chickies...dreamy, easy dinner. And just as good for leftovers the next day.
~When I can't figure out a side dish, my go-to has become...an avocado. YUM.
~I'm finding that when my fridge only includes Paleo foods, dinner isn't such a chore anymore. Cook some protein, cover it with veggies or top some veggies with it, add some fat (olive oil, avocado, chopped nuts), and dinner is done! Dessert is whatever fruit I'm craving that is fresh in the fridge. Or maybe a smoothie, made with said fruit and coconut milk and ice.

Today (feeling like crap), I bought a rotisserie chicken, deli-style (natural) roast beef, some cabbage, a cucumber, and some bananas. Dinner is gonna be either cabbage/carrot/green onion salad with shredded chicken, or roast beef slices rolled around red pepper and cucumber slices (maybe dipped in guacamole?). Or maybe I'll just rip chicken pieces off with my fingers and eat them while standing at the counter. Whatever it turns into...it's all super healthy. And I feel really good about that.

I'm really going to try to meal plan this week. You can keep me accountable! :)

Week 4, Day 1 - Megan

In response to Kimmy's blog last week regarding diet soda and cravings: You were mostly right. I kindof knew the same answer, but wasn't really able to articulate it well. I've found this article that seems to sum it up nicely:

Diet Soda - by Jonah Lehrer

Also something I found interesting from The Frontal Cortex (Jonah's Blog...)

Why do we like the taste of protein?

I like this article. Kinda explains how once I re-introduced protein now I want to eat it *ALL THE TIME*

Now, on to my actual post.......

Is the belief in what you're doing and trying your best enough? Shouldn't we be getting an A for effort?

It's been an interesting experience looking back on the last week. I'm going to cut it so it doesn't take up the whole blog... Whining is involved... so continue as desired :)

Good to know you're not alone - Megan

45 minute convo with Brig.

It's always nice to know you're not the only one struggling - that applies to every aspect of life - not just Paleo!

Anyhoo, I'm not the only one who's cheated all week. Now to find that motivation again. Where did I put it.....

"Not fat til Monday - fat til midnight!"

xoxo

*&^*&(%^$ !!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Megan

I'm hungry ALL THE TIME.

WHAT is going ON?!

It's causing more cheats. I've only had two truly clean days this week, which were tues and wed.

I just don't understand. I keep telling myself that the development of muscle needs the calories and that's why I'm hungry, (and I have been excruciatingly sore from this week's workouts ) but I just don't think a girl of my size NEEDS as much as I feel like I am legitimately hungry for!

Today....
430am 16oz triple SF vanilla nonfat latte
7am Luna bar
?? High fiber fruit leather
9am Approx 1oz meat, 5ish strawberries
1130am around 1.5C braised cabbage, probably 3-4 oz chicken/beef - BBQ'ed peppers and onions
?? decent-sized cookie :((
?? 1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese
?? diet coke
530 bunch of grapes, probably like 8 strawberries, 1 square dark chocolate

There was also like 64oz water in there today too

That's already ~ 1400 cals! WTF!!!? That's like - what "traditional diets" tout. Often times even less. How are people satisfied like this?! Yeah I had a few cheats but this is making me want to tear my hair out.
 
I'm working reaaaaaallllly hard on discounting calories - but I just can't help but think I'm going to take steps backwards in terms of health with all of this if I am still taking too much in.

Life is just frustrating me in general - Getting to that point where even *I* am annoyed with myself. I've snapped at a number of girlfriends this last week (sorry......)

shrfmmmmmmmmmmrmmfmfmfmf;l;;;;;;

(Kimmy - I'm proud of you ;)         )


EDIT: Talked at length with another trainer whom I trust. He says to be drinking my whey protein powder TWICE A DAY. Sick. I'm going to do it though. Sick and tired of being hungry.

And yes, this evening turned into my official cheat day - Boo. I wanted french toast tomorrow ;)

Today - Kimberly

I got out for my first run since Henry was born four weeks ago (15 mins) and my scale is steadily going down, despite my penchant for raisins & almonds, and my dips off-Paleo (thai chicken Papa Murphy's for dinner last night). Not much to complain about!

Pounds lost: 3.5

....... - Megan

All or Nothing - Kimberly

Justin and I have debated over the years about whether a lifestyle of eating should be "all or nothing" or "balanced". Meaning, he has always touted "all or nothing", and I have always disagreed, maintaining that life should be nothing if not balanced. But I might be changing my tune.

One of my favorite things about the Paleo diet is that it is (in my mind) all or nothing. All fruits, vegetables and meat! (okay so not really...but you know what I mean). No grains or sugars! Period. End of sentence. Don't bother even looking at the bakery, it is off limits...

This helps me greatly in the area of willpower. Having a food be forbidden somehow takes away my human ability to touch something and screw it all up. Because, really, am I going to eat just one cookie or one slice of bread? Erm, no. The proof is on my scale.

That said: yes, I cheat! But my choices as "cheats" work out to be just that: cheats, and nothing else. Two bites of bread, or half a cookie. But that's all. If I know I am allowed two pieces of bread to begin with, or two cookies, well, in actuality that equals a loaf of bread and two dozen snickerdoodles. And that's not a cheat, that's a loss-by-a-landslide. AND, while we are on the subject, I drank another Diet Pepsi tonight, and am stalking around my house looking for peanut m&ms (as though there might be some in the house that are uneaten, ha!)....settling instead for my little Paleo bowl of almonds & raisins and feeling quite satisfied.

On another note: I made the vampire stew last night for dinner and Justin and I LOVED it. I added extra broth to make it a soup, and only cooked the apples for about 15 mins, so that they still had a bit of crunch to them, and I doubled the recipe to feed the seven table-eaters in my family. I wish I had made more, I would have had it for lunch today. I sauteed some red cabbage in a little oil, sprinkled with salt & pepper and just a wee pinch of white sugar, added a splash of apple cider vinegar at the end, and put a nice little plunk of this on the top of each soup bowl....served with a side of roasted salt & pepper asparagus. Some of the boys liked the soup but not the cabbage, some didn't like it at all, and Justin and I couldn't get enough. That still counts as a "make again" in my book. AND it was super easy. AND I made them apple-honey challah from scratch. So they didn't go to bed hungry!

For lunch today they all had peanut butter & honey sandwiches, and I had the whole rest of the cooked cabbage with the four jalapeno/mango/chicken sausages sauteed and placed on top. YUM. Wasn't sure about the cabbage when I was making it last night, but I will definitely be cooking this combination again. Tonight I grilled chicken and planned to serve it with the peaches, but they weren't quite ripe yet. So we had a big salad and some boxed herbed Pasta-Roni for the boys. I thought I cooked enough chicken for tomorrow's dinner (fajitas) and for me to nosh on for lunch tomorrow, but now, looking at what's left, I don't think it's enough. I'm going to figure out something else for tomorrow's lunch and save the meat for tomorrow's dinner.

That's all that's new here. Might try the Paleo Egg Cupcakes for breakfast tomorrow. Have either of you made these?

Pounds lost: 2

Protein. Still. Again. - Megan

Okay just so everyone knows I don't intend on using this as a forum for a food diary - however, today I am going to again post my consumption as I am curious to find out how much protein I am getting in my diet while actively TRYING to GET more protein in my diet. The weightlifting trainer I am working with suggests 1g protein per pound of body weight - this is something I've heard many times but have not applied for myself personally. Luckily he also is going to cut me some slack and suggested to try for 110g per day rather than my actual body weight (which is NOT 110!) - as he is aware that i'm ramping back up into the whole meat/dairy thing.

Last October and November, I was training very hard. I was crossfitting 2-3x a week, and training for the Seattle Half Marathon. As soon as the half marathon was over, I began to notice extreme lethargy and fatigue. I tried a few things - multivitamins, sleeping more, etc etc... it wasn't helping. Finally I went to the doctor. I was anemic, vitamin D deficient, and obviously eating nowhere near enough protein. If I remember correctly I'm pretty sure it was mostly yogurt, english muffins, special K red berries with almond milk, baby carrots, and string cheese that my diet consisted of...well and of course all sorts of sugary junk! I added it up one day and was consuming on average about 30g of protein a day. NO WONDER I got sick! Additionally, the doc told me that after training that hard and completing such a taxing task, one's adrenals are often so significantly depleted that it does take a few weeks to get back into shape. I was skeptical of this as people train this hard ALL the time - but she also made note of the fact that I had never done it before, and it was new to my body. ... I went straight to the thai restaurant and ordered beef and broccoli, and began taking iron supplements as well. It took 3-4 weeks to fully gain my energy back I'd say.

Today is  my day off - Meeting with Brandon at 130 to lift again - I am thinking about possibly going to his butcher beforehand. Haven't decided. Depends on if I ever get off my couch :)

SO! Here's what we talked about yesterday: Bill the Butcher is a local company that appears to have awesome, responsible meats. Grass fed, local, etc etc. He actually suggested buying a quarter of an animal as it comes out so MAJORLY cheaper than bits here and there, but I am nowhere near that level. haha.

Today's intake, with protein calculations:


9:00 :

• 2 organic eggs  (12g) - holy crap I ate whole eggs instead of the whites!
• 2oz deli meat (10g)
• 4 mini sweet peppers
• 1 half of an avocado 
• waaaayyy too many grapes. 2 cups maybe?

1pm:

• 12oz nonfat latte (9g)

130:
----workout: metcon relay team thing with Nicole - 15 minutes straight of one person holding a 25# plate overhead and lunging like - 80 (??) feet or so while the other person did 45# power hang cleans. Stop what you're doing every three minutes and do 10 jump squats. Resume lunching/cleaning----

Today was one of those days where the workout is explained to you, you think "piece of cake" .. and then you start... and it is NOT ANYWHERE NEAR CAKE. This was a hard workout. I definitely got dizzy during, and was still shaken up by the time Nicole and I got to the smoothie bar. Good thing there was deliciousness waiting for us there. :)

245:

• Emerald city smoothie with added peanut butter (64g)

6:00:
---- workout round two: 3 miles of interval running/walking (stupid foot. stupid decreased lung capacity because of stupid foot) and 10 rounds up the bleachers - 570 of the "up" stairs total. ----

8:00: 

• 3 or 4oz chicken (36?)
• 2 cups frozen veggie stir fry, cooked in olive oil
• iceburg for lettuce wraps
• 1/2 cup beets
• 1/2 cup broccoli
• 1 Tbs poppy dressing
• 2 Tbs sesame dressing in stir fry
• 16oz honest tea - lightly sweetened 

---------------------

Okay so wow, I did hit about 130g today... which is almost my body weight. Hrm. It's all because of the MASSIVE protein in that smoothie. Normally I'd be nowhere near this. Oh well, good day for it with two workouts! :)

Sidebar: We've also been discussing the BENEFITS of a cheat day, and how "confusing" your body and thus forcing it to work harder to metabolize eating crap once per week can actually (and likely will) speed UP weight loss (if that's your goal). I haven't gotten through the article yet but if anyone's interested i'd be happy to post it.

Okay, back from Bill the Butcher. GORGEOUS store. Really helpful (not to mention cute) employees who helped walk my meat-challenged self. Meats acquired: 1/2 lb organic grass fed ground beef, 2 servings organic flank steak, 2/3 lb organic top round...... or something.

Today! - Megan

7:15: 1 slice ham, 1 string cheese, 6oz vanilla yogurt, 5 strawberries, black tea with splash almond milk and SF vanilla syrup
11:15: Balance bar, 1 cup decaf with 1 creamer
12:15: about a cup of grapes
1:30: about a cup of cubed chicken (I wonder how many oz this is?), baby carrots, celery, sweet peppers. 1 or 2 Tbs pear gorgonzola vinaigrette. Few bites of the paleo "apple pie" (the apples baked in honey), coke zero.
315: 2 hard candies
4:00 : high fiber fruit leather
4:45 : Ghirardelli chocolate square

----worked out - 5 sets of 5 each: 60# push press, 115# squat----

830: 1 sweet tea vodka/soda, half of an appetizer of sweet potato fries, small house salad with added chicken and vinaigrette

945: 1 square dark chocolate

I am reaaaallly full. Back on track though! :D

Meal Plan! - Kimberly

Holy cow Megs, even I am hungry just READING your post! Where is the giant grilled steak with sauteed mushrooms and onions?! That's what you need to settle your hunger!!

...but I will bite my tongue since I know you are having protein (read: MEAT) difficulties :)

I went shopping last night to Fred Meyer and got an entire cart worth of great stuff for not very much money. I felt sad standing in the checkout line and watching the people in front of me...a youngish couple with a preteen son.....their faces all looked washed out and sad and totally lifeless. They were buying three giant bags of knock-off sugar cereal (Marshmallow Mateys, anyone?) and four ENORMOUS boxes of Eggo waffles. I didn't see what else was on their conveyer belt. But I felt sad for them. And I looked at my waiting cart, which was full to the brim with fruit & vegetables and nuts out of the bulk bin, with packages of meat balanced on top of each other on the lower rack, and I thought immediately of how much life I was bringing home to my family. Life begets life. And the converse is also true...

Among my spoils: A sweet onion, five pounds of apples, a pound of creminis, chicken sausage with mango & jalapeno, nuts & raisins, almond butter, two dozen eggs (I already have 3 dozen in my fridge), cilantro, red leaf lettuce, 8 pounds of bananas, 7 pounds of peaches, limes, celery, cukes, mangoes, spaghetti squash, tomatoes on the vine, Bob's unsweetened coconut, jicama, 6 avocados, zucchini, jalapenos, 5 pounds of potatoes (for the fam), 6 assorted colored bell peppers, 3 pounds of broccoli, a pound of organic ground beef, a package of fresh burger patties, two huge bags of bs chicken thighs, and a carton of chicken livers. YUM! Add in some canned goods and a container of sour cream for the boys and my grand total was $133.54. Wowza! Now this isn't enough food for a week for us, granted, but my food budget is $300 a week. I spent the other $170 over the weekend on fun party/Father's Day food, so I'm still maxed out until next week, but STILL. I'm curious now to get to next weekend and do another week's meal planning and see how much I might possibly be able to save?

Here are the things I bought for: green smoothies (they just taste like fruit--all the veggies do is add some texture!), crockpot chuck roast with a scrumptious-looking sauce and broccoli on the side (from Civilized Caveman), shredded barbecue beef-topped baked potatoes (with more of the broccoli, sour cream & cheese for the dairy crowd--I have the cooked meat in my freezer already), homemade barbecue sauce (sans sugar), homemade ketchup (same), banana cake, apple banana cookies, guacamole & bacon-topped hardboiled eggs, vampire stew (chicken, apple, garlic, onion & spices--from The Clothes Make The Girl), chicken fajitas with jicama, mango and homemade salsa (from whole9life), taco salad, grilled chicken with peach salsa, and yogurt with blueberry sauce (for the boys to have at their picnic tomorrow as a treat)! Doesn't that sound amazing? I can't wait to get eating!!

Oh and I'm thinking I'm going to end up doing a lot of soups...I can cut down on the amount of meat consumed...and add plenty of legumes to the family's portion....stock up on veggies....play with spices....yum, yum! So many of my favorite soup recipes can be tweaked just a tad and made paleo. Hot & sour soup, chicken, yam & sausage, and chicken tortilla soup are just the ones on the forefront of my mind!

Off to tackle some housework...Megan, get GRILLING! xo

Pounds lost: 2

Failure - Megan

Today was a fail. Started off well enough, but ended up failing! Sad. I'm not sure why but there are some days where I am UNCONTROLLABLY hungry. Brandon's looking for blog topics so I just suggested that to him - is it from a workout? is it from poor food choices yesterday? Is it because I'm a woman and have wacked hormones? Anyway, I really hate feeling hungry. It bothers me a lot. Soo... yeah. Today.. not so paleo. Which is frustrating since I spent a lot of time on such beautiful food prep yesterday!

I started off with one of my paleo apple muffins, grapes, a slice of ham and a slice of cheese for breakfast. Then 3 hours later my daily protein bar and coffee. like,  ninety minutes later I was hungry AGAIN and I had a half an avocado, an entire ziploc bag of the veggie chips I baked yesterday, 2 egg whites, some strawberries, and some grapes. Two hours later it all went down hill! Now that i'm looking though - I think I see the problem. Nowhere near enough protein. Noted.

Kimmy: Liked the intro. I think these last two days for me have been similar to yours - the diet coke downward spiral (didn't you used to be legitimately addicted to it?) - well I know what you're saying. The one thing triggers a sugar domino. Re: 10# pounds per baby ... when you put it that way, that's something to be damn proud of. I mean yeah you don't feel as comfortable as you could, but after SIX children, 10 remaining pounds per baby ain't bad, I say. What do your green smoothies taste like? I'm not gunna lie, I cringed when I read that.

Brig - Your body reacts visibly like I can't believe. I FEEL better, but I can't SEE a difference. You have lost pounds and inches and notice bloating vs not bloating - that is awesome - and I am jealous. :) Also - fever and allergy symptoms??? so weird! Awesome that they're alleviated. I liked our convo yesterday too about the paleo kids idea. The fact that once you remove the junk, it's not an issue anymore.

I don't have a ton of meal ideas but so far the favorite one I made was chicken stir fry (in newman's own sesame salad dressing, strangely....) in lettuce wraps. I already said that dinner is my weak spot, so i don't have a whole lot to contribute there :)

So yes, after cheating on cookies and lemon bars at work, I actually got a headache and became really lethargic. I just wish it were easier to remember feeling crappy when temptation strikes! ;) On the upside, all that sugar gave me lots of immediate glucose energy for an hour long cycling class! ha.

It's a damn good thing there isn't any legitimate sugar in the house - I definitely came home from spin class and was - yes again - HUNGRY. Ate a yogurt with slivered almonds, probably a half pound of strawberries and a half a banana in sugar free chocolate syrup (i know. gross. It's better than a lot of junk I normally would be eating tho), a SF jello mousse cup (there's only one left, I'm not buying them again once they're gone) and like two squares of the dark chocolate bar - which was REALLY underwhelming. That's what I get for buying safeway brand chocolate!

Tomorrow. new day. Fingers crossed.

Links a go go! - Megan

Brandon just posted an awesome article per my request on protein sources.

I must say, it's refreshing to know a young man who is actively trying to gain, eating an ungodly amount of food every day, and increase lifting power - but is still respecting animal's living conditions as well as addressing food politics as a whole instead of trying to cram in the cheapest food available. I didn't really expect that to be part of the article - but I am so glad it is!

A comparison of protein sources

Ladies - I fully intend on responding appropriately to both your posts sometime today :)

Fresh Start...Again. -Brigitte

Happy Monday!!
This last Saturday I catered an event for 60 people, and decided that I would put Paleo eating on the back-burner for 72 hours. I knew I'd have to be tasting my creations, and I knew that I would not be planning/preparing meals for my own family Thursday through Saturday, and I knew that Sunday was to include an epic Father's Day Brunch in the Big City of Seattle. Therefore...goodbye Paleo! See ya again Monday!
Can I just tell you how ecstatic I am that it's Monday?!
I've been Paleo for 4 weeks tomorrow. Very few cheat meals other than this last weekend. After the gluttony of yesterday (see Meg's post below), and the taste-testing of the party for which I cooked, here is what I have discovered when I do not eat Paleo:
When I eat like I used to, I...
~look five months pregnant when I wake up in the morning from bloating
~have terrible hay fever symptoms upon waking (why did Paleo rid me of this? I'm not sure, but I'm thankful)
~spend much of the morning feeling "off" (until the coffee kicks in)
~have swollen fingers and toes from the sodium and processed foods
~never know when the depression will rise up and lay me out FLAT for the remainder of the day

When I follow Paleo principles for my eating, I...
~wake up to the flattest stomach I've ever had
~can breathe, through my nose, the whole day; and don't have to wipe those weepy, allergy eyes
~am focused and positive
~can actually see my ankles (mmkay this one is huge for me)
~just.feel.good. all over.

So. Back to it I go.
This morning, I ate a quarter of a cantaloupe while waiting for my 11 year old son to finish showering and hurtle out the door for the last Monday of the school year; once I got home from chauffeur duty I fried up 4 strips of nitrite-free bacon, and scrambled three organic eggs. Threw some pine nuts on top of the eggs and...voila. First meal (second go-around): win.

I found an interesting recipe for chicken liver pate on balanced bites' website, and am going to try to find some organic chicken livers today so I can make that for snacks. I hard-boiled 8 eggs this morning, to bring with me to work this week. I asked the kids what kinds of fruits/veggies I can get at the store today, for snacks for them (Joe's response: baby carrots, cantaloupe, red grapes, bananas.) I'm trying to plan suppers now...thinking tonight will just be a rotisserie chicken, shredded, that I can throw onions, lime juice, salsa, cilantro, and avocado on top of, while the fam can make corn-tortilla tacos. Ooh and I'm gonna check out homemade Larabar-type recipes online today too. :)

You guys have any ideas for dinners??

Introduction - Kimberly

Hello! I haven't gotten around to posting my bio yet on the sidebar, so I thought I'd give a quick introduction. I know that the three of us have different reasons for trying out this eating plan, but my main one is to drop a bunch of baby weight. I'm finally sitting down and looking at the numbers and I am 59 pounds heavier than I was at my wedding 10 1/2 years ago. It's not a crazy out-of-control number when you consider the source--I mean, that's only 10 un-lost pounds per baby (not to mention the months I was sick on the couch with a miscarriage)--but, STILL. Time to get it under control. I am not discontent with my body and feel a great sense of pride when I look at my six strapping sons and know how hard my body has worked this past decade to bear them....but working my job as their mother has become increasingly difficult the more weight that I am lugging along with me. I am three weeks postpartum with Henry and am DYING to get back outside and running again.

So, here we go. I followed a Paleo diet for just a few weeks before Henry was born, but since delivery I have added a few grains back in from time to time--mainly just the occasional slice of pizza when someone brought us dinner, or a few bites of rice with my curry. The thing I'm having a hard time with is sugar. I know from last time that once I get up and rolling, I won't care about the sugar, but it's hard to get going with gusto! During a particular taxing day last week, I caved and drank a Diet Coke...and then spent the next three days or so eating sweets because of it.

Anyhoo...Favorite breakfasts here are green smoothies (one apple, one banana, half a cucumber, a handful of blueberries, garlic or ginger [or both or neither], and spinach or romaine leaves, all blended with some water to smooth it out)....and bacon & eggs for filler. For lunch, I try to keep some grilled meat on hand to have with a big salad of greens, red cabbage, shredded carrots, cucumber, avocado and sunflower seeds. Dinners aren't down-pat yet, but I'm concentrating on planning meals for the family that I can also partake in, keeping the starches and breads as side dishes instead of main events. I did make spaghetti last week with homemade sauce (for hubs and the kids), but I cooked up a couple of hamburger patties for myself and ate them on a bed of lettuce & tomato with guacamole, dijon and yellow mustard on top. Yum!

Keep posting food ideas, girls, I'm hoping to hit the food planning hard this week!

Pounds lost: 0

A Quick Post - Brigitte

Just thought I'd post real quick-like and say hi, I feel like crap from the junk food consumption of the last two days, I'm glad it's Sunday night and I can get back to Paleo tomorrow, and Family Guy was a re-run tonight.

Will share food planning and grocery ideas tomorrow...

Sunday Funday - Megan

Whooeee.

Boy did we do it up today!

Today was father's day - Brig and I had EPIC CHEAT DAY in celebration. Eight of us went to one my all time favorite restaurants, Barrio . They had this phenomenal brunch menu, which we all took sufficient advantage of. The fathers both got pork belly Benedict (yumtown), I got a make your own breakfast taco dish (fried potatoes, guac, salsa, eggs, and chorizo with corn tortillas) AND a size of biscuits. With syrup on the side. Did it COME with syrup? No. Did I ORDER it on the side and pay TWO extra dollars for it? Yes. Hey. I wanted french toast AND breakfast tacos. I couldn't have both! So I improvised (at the disdain of my tummy - and my waistline. ha!) Brig got the croque seniorita - The fancy spanish version of a croque madam. So of course chips and salsa were involved, and I had two AMAZING cocktails - blood orange mimosa, and a marmalade sour (tequila, orange marmalade, lavender bitters, and egg white) - mouthgasm! So good.

Well, so it's cheat day, right? Naturally we all (and by we all I mean Brig and I) decide it's time for YOGURTLAND. - (p.s. dear family: I think the fact that no one else was interested in stuffing their faces with MORE food - SUGAR - is further proof that us third generation baer girls have problems!) So, yogurtland occurred and massive quantities of garbage was consumed there as well.

We went our separate ways, and did other father's day activities. When I got home, I decided to prepare all of the food for this week so I can get back on track.

Adventures in Grocery shopping (with pictures!)

Got home, strapped on the ipod (necessary for all activities) and hoofed it up the hill to Safeway. I should have walked the  mile to Trader Joe's to try and further digest my gluttony, but Safeway had more things that I needed.

Grocery shopping has always elated me. Okay, maybe not elated - but it really is a mostly relaxing activity for me. The only time it's not relaxing is when there's someone (usually a man) pressing me to make up my mind quickly. It's not that easy, people! There's things to consider! There's brands to compare! There's calories vs nutrients vs ingredients vs price vs package size vs organic to take into consideration! Anyway, I usually take an obscene amount of time in the store. And dangit I'm not sorry!

Today was a little different - I was looking for different things on the labels. I found it quite distressing how much sugar really is in everything. It's disgusting. See label for Odwalla's pure protein shake:

 cane juice. fourth ingredient. Boo.

(there was an ENTIRE huge paragraph in here  that somehow got deleted - I am trying to retain my fury. It was a lot of things that I wanted to talk about. I will attempt to re-create what I can remember)  :

I've been paying more attention to organic lately. Kimmy - I remember some time ago in the past discussing organic vs non organic with you as far as cost goes. You mentioned that you felt it was worth it as the nutrient value was so much higher, you didn't need to purchase as much food. I'm beginning to understand this now. In the past, I would buy one or two things organic and shun the rest because of the cost. This is definitely beginning to shift. I don't buy organic things that have thick skins - bananas, oranges, etc. That's dumb and a waste of money. I do know, however, that things like berries, apples, and ground veggies absorb the most chemicals. I've worked on getting almost 100% organic dairy now that it's back in my diet (re-introduced this a year or so ago). Organic eggs are EXPENSIVE. oi. I know that a lot of brands tout the fact that they don't have recombinant bovine growth hormone - yet they still aren't labeled as organic? Not sure what's up with that. Okay - organic meat. Where do I find this? Maybe I didn't look hard enough. Are there guidelines for it? Things that should be looked for, things that can be glossed over? I'm curious for any wisdom you have (and you too, brig) on what you choose to buy organic and what you choose not to, and why.

I'm generally a pretty good grocery shopper. Yknow, stick to the outer aisles, focus on the fresh food, etc. When I lived in Arizona, I bought a lot more food that required preparation. I began doing this same thing when I moved out on my own - and finally, FINALLY have relented to the fact that I'm simply too lazy for this. I've now decided that if I am going to eat healthy, it needs to be easy. If that means paying another dollar for some machine to cut and wash my veggies - so be it. I can't change who I am! And who I am is lazy - and someone who will resort to cereal because it's easy. Ha.

Furthermore - There is something profoundly depressing about grocery shopping by yourself - for only yourself.

Moving on. I tried to buy meat today. I really did. I perused the butcher section. I looked at the sales. I looked at the different cuts and styles. I thought about getting sausage or kielbasa but figured that would fall into the "overprocessed" category, so decided not to. It comes down to this: I don't know how to buy meat. I don't know how to cook meat. I can broil or sautee chicken - but I have NO IDEA how to cook anything cow. Except ground beef - and if I can i'd get ground turkey or ground buffalo first. The thought of attempting to cook red meat completely grosses me out - partly because... ew. and partly because I know I don't really want to spend the MONEY on a good cut, but getting a bad, tough cut of steak? Sick. I'd rather pay a restaurant.  I mean really:

What in god's name am I supposed to do with THAT?!!?!?

Needless to say, I walked out with the only meat being deli lunchmeat. I'm beginning to think I'm going to have to start going back to B& E meats in des moines (the most awesome butcher ever) if I am going to legitimately begin eating and cooking meat again. Bah. More expensive ass food.

ANYWAY - The point I am getting at with all of this is - yes, I'm noticing changes with adulthood even when it comes to grocery shopping.

Today's loot:

• Lowfat cottage cheese
• 4 yoplait "light" dessert flavored yogurts (i know - completely disgusting. Normally I am a yogurt purist - even a snob - but I'm putting them in the freezer to have as ice cream during moments of weakness)
• 1 dz organic brown eggs
• 3 bananas
• 3 avocados
• 1 lime
• 2 lemons
• 1 zucchini
• 1 beet
• 1 english cucumber
• 2 yams
• 1 mango
• 2 pounds organic strawberries (they were buy 1 get 1!)
• 2 bags premade salad (bad, I know. that's where the convenience thing comes in)
• 5 pounds green grapes
• 1/2 lb deli turkey
• 1/4 lb deli black forest ham
• ziploc bags
• 1 can peaches in juice
• 1 box almond milk (to bring to work for coffee - I've already got a half gallon here)
• 3 bottles honest tea (the "barely sweetened" versions)
• 1 large dark chocolate bar (hey - it's got antioxidants!)

total = $57.52. Not sure if that's a good deal or not. Not going to worry about it though as I got some really good, healthy choices. 

Soooo... what is the plan for all of this, you may be asking? WELL! I will tell  you! I just spent 2 hours prepping everything for the rest of the week. Kinda makes me oddly proud.

I completed:

• Cooking approx 1# chicken tenders and cutting into cubes
• Blanching the remaining 1.5# of broccoli that I got from costco last week
• Roasted half of the beet and cut into cubes for salads
• Used my mandolin for the purpose in which it was bought for and made veggie chips from the zucchini, one of the yams, and the other half of the beet. This was something I'd been wanting to try for a long time, and I think it's going to need some adjusting. Half of them are burnt, and half of them are undercooked. Not sure what the trick on these will be. Has anyone made their own veggie chips before? I baked them at like, 325 for 50ish minutes. Going to have to work on this one.
• Hardboiled 4 eggs
• I've got a TON of apples that are about to go bad, so I cut up a little over half of them, put them in a quickbread pyrex with honey and pumpkin pie spice, and baked at 350 for 30 minutes. These are FRICKIN AMAZING after they are refrigerated. It's like apple pie - paleo style.
• Washed, sliced, and prepped all 2# of strawberries and 5# of grapes

If this doesn't inspire clean eating this week, hell - I don't know what will. It doesn't get any easier than grabbing this stuff to go! :)

I think part of my favorite part of this whole Paleo-overhaul is the fact that for the first time I am taking active steps to feed myself well. Not only is the food nourishing - but it's nourishing to my well being to treat myself this nicely.

On that note - I've had a few cheats - of course, that's part of the game... 80/20 rule, right?

Clean eating has been profoundly motivating for...clean eating. Almost every time i've cheated (not today, thankfully) I've gotten sick to my stomach. Yesterday Haley and I had some fried food - Very little in comparison - but still - we both got sick. She wound up going into a legitimate food coma on my couch for 4 hours. I just laid there in a daze watching Julie & Julia. It's kind of awesome to not want to cheat because you KNOW you will feel crappy. It's kind of awesome that my body feels good enough for the first time in months (years?) to be able to distinguish this.

Viva la Paleo.

Megan (yes, again!)

Today started off just as crabby as yesterday but thankfully got progressively better!

7am: 1/2 C lowfat cottage cheese 1/2 C peaches ~16oz tea with SF vanilla
10am: balance bar and 10oz coffee w 1 creamer
1pm: 4 or 5 (not sure?) oz chicken breast w mustard - baby carrots and sweet peppers, coke zero
430pm: high fiber fruit leather thing
8pm: 2 carne asada street tacos, 1 pork street tacos - all had added guac :) on mini corn tortillas.

Not so bad! 6 mini corn tortillas all together, but I mentioned before - I'd rather cheat on corn (or MAYBE potatoes) than some over processed bread or cereal or something

Hit the weights AGAIN today. My body hurts more than it has in MONTHS. After spin class on Monday, rowing 4000m and power vinyasa with brig on wednesday, doing a HORRIBLE "barbell complex" (to be explained) on wednesday, and then today another pseudo-WOD of deadlifts and box jumps... my body hates me.

It's no surprise that about 730 my body screamed FEED ME MEAT NOW!!!!

Very curious for a girl who'd cut most of it out of her life in the last few years. I haven't craved meats this often, or of these types in  - so long I can't remember. Years. It's a super weird feeling. I've given in to it whenever it happens, but I still feel socially irresponsible (among other things) eating so much meat. :(

So: Barbell complex: Consisted of the following:

6 deadlifts - 6 hanging power clean - 6 front squats - 6 push press - 6 back squats -Then repeat.
FIVE TIMES.

I did the first three rounds with just the bar - 45# - then Mr. hilarious thought I should try out 55# for the last two... I wanted to die, but somehow my fifth round (with the 55# bar) was actually my quickest - at just under 2 minutes. Neat.

Today I had to deadlift 21 times - 21 box jumps (18 inches). Then deadlift 15, then 15 box jumps. Then 9 and 9.

Few issues with this: One - as previously mentioned - I'm DYING of pain. He said "good!" .. ha. Two - I'm instructed to deadlift 95#. Holy mother of god. That's over 50% of my max. Three - I've had a nasty bad experience with box jumps and am pretty terrified of them .... Here's what happened beginning of Jan:

Yep. Fell off the box after getting fatigued. Still have a scar 6 months later.

Aaaannyhooo I sucked it up and wound up completing the WOD in approximately 11 minutes. And I only got yelled at like twice for slacking form. I still hate box jumps. Then we did some other stuffs that's too difficult to explain.

Tomorrow I will do the rowing machine and Sunday I am doing N-O-T-H-I-N-G. Except going to brunch with the fam, and drinking excessively to celebrate my father :)

Quick something that I forgot - Megan

THIS BOOK  by Geneen Roth is amazing. Seriously.

I've virtually given up on books that are made for enlightenment as I don't have the attention span for them - I really loved this one. She's like the voice in your head that can't articulate what you're thinking into words - somehow Geneen does.

Re: Weirdness -- Kimberly

So I know this is my first post here and I should probably address something a little more vague (like a personal introduction), but I'm going to comment on Megan's last post instead. Megs: Reading your words reminded me of several episodes of The Biggest Loser I've seen where the participant is "doing all the right things" but not seeing results because of some sort of emotional blockade. (Have you seen the show? We love the psychology of it.) I'm always amazed to see these individuals counting every calorie down to the nth and working their you-know-whats off in the gym, and then standing on the scale every week and seeing no change. And then they have some sort of revolutionary breakthrough in their destructive thought patterns, and suddenly a ton of weight falls off of their bodies. Mind-blowing.

So my question to you is: What is your goal with all of this? To feel better? To drop a few pounds? To continue to PR at the gym? I think I am correct in assuming that one of your main goals is to kick that sugar craving we all possess to the curb. It seems from what I've read like that is happening somewhat....but it also seems like you have reached an emotional or hormonal low today (ie your comment about having many things invested in that are not producing returns...). Maybe it's worth wading through. Maybe it's worth stuffing back into an oreo for a while, ha!

Anyway. Don't know if that's helpful at all...just thought of the show and figured I would throw my observations your way. It might help to nail down what your intention of Going Paleo is--and then focus your analysis of the results on that. At the very least, it would help you determine if you'd like to continue.

Weirdness - Megan

I'm feeling weird this morning.

I'm frustrated because yesterday was an AMAZING day. I had such a lovely day yesterday.  (my day off now that i'm working four 10's) Started off at the gym with a 4000m row, came home and got ready, met Brig at work and went with her to her yoga studio for a free trial - got my ass completely kicked in an hour of semi-hot yoga (wowza! I've not used my muscles like that in a long time) AND managed to complete like 85% of a freestanding headstand! THAT was awesome. (which, by the way - after I left the class and went to my friend's house later that night i actually DID complete a full yoga headstand. awesome.) after yoga had a salad the size of a house, chatted with brig some more, went to an appointment, met two girlfriends and walked a lap of greenlake, and then had japanese happy hour (even stuck to the Paleo there, except 1 glass of wine) with teriyaki beef, tempura broccoli (ok a little batter there), and some sweet potato things. Great day, no?

I dunno, for some reason this morning is 180 degrees different. I feel completely like this isn't working as much as it should. I've not seen a SINGLE change in my body, and i'm on day 10. Is that unrealistic? I'm feeling very discouraged. Which is dumb because i know i've felt physically better than I have in a long time - but I just don't understand how i am working out 5ish times a week and FINALLY got my eating habits under control, and still nothing. I'm trying to teach myself that I don't HAVE to be psychotic about diet and exercise just to be in shape - Trying to learn that you can be healthy and normal and still have what I want without being a crazy, no fun, obsessive dieter/exerciser. Ugh.

I think part of it comes back to the fact that it's just another thing that i'm realizing (within the last week or so...which all came to a head late last night) that I'm simply putting a whole hell of a lot of effort into a lot of things in life that aren't returning the favor.

Le Sigh.

Apple muffin modification - Megan

Last night I made these paleo apple muffins courtesy of everyday paleo and brig's suggestion.

I did a few mods though:
added 2 apples instead of 1
added almost 2 heaping scoops of vanilla whey protein powder to the mix (whey = not paleo, but again, I have trouble getting protein in)

I had enough batter for 12 muffins AND a loaf of quick bread.

I did the breakdown and each serving is approximately 175-200 cals. Holy almond meal!

Sadly, the addition of approximately 50grams of the protein didn't break down to much per serving - only an additional 2 g.  Might have to tinker with it.

First post! - Megan

Herrooooooooo out there!

Welcome to Baers go Paleo.

I'm on week 2 of this adventure right now. On my one "cheat" day last Friday I absolutely felt sick after eating an exorbinant amount of cookies and ice cream. Amazing what a mere 4 days of clean eating can do. I feel much better than I have in quite some time.

Breakfasts are usually consisting of eggs (egg whites, I know Paleo calls for the yolk I'm working on it...), maybe some cheese, salsa, or greek yogurt (22g protein per serving!) with fruit and slivered almonds. Yes, I'm still putting creamer in my coffee - but no sugar!

Snacks are still protein bars. I know there's sugar in these, but I just can't bring myself to part with them yet. Giving up the cereals and granola bars and breads was hard enough... Keeping the protein bars a while longer

Lunches have been inspired by Brigitte - lots of chicken salad. I made a chicken and grape salad that I lived off of for a few days - also we discovered a mighty tasty broccoli, carrot, grape, and bacon salad that I made in bulk also and have been eating quite a bit. Mixing these with iceburg lettuce in wraps.

Snacks ( I snack a LOT) - nuts, some fruit sometimes - fruit leather, string cheese

Dinner - my weak spot. Living alone is hard for dinners. Doing better though - last night I had chicken stir fry in lettuce wraps with the broccoli salad.

Trying to operate on the 80/20 rule - You can only be good 80% of the time because otherwise you're going to drive yourself mad. That being said, I definitely had a cheat today I wish I hadn't had - one of my sweet employees brought mini peach cobblers (ramekin sized), complete with ice cream AND two cookies on the side. Naturally I ate it all. Boo. But it was my first cheat in 4 days or so. Can't win em all.

Workouts are getting more consistent now that my foot is slightly more healed. Still causing pain though. I'm alternating between spinning classes, rowing like a madwoman (ugh), trying to run (slowly testing the foot), and lifting heavy shit with my trainer 2x a week.
I PR'ed all of my prior records last week and am STUPID excited about it:
My max weights:
Backsquat: 140#
Push press: 70#
Deadlift: 170#.

Yes - I lifted 170 pounds off of the ground . Makes me feel a little unfeminine, but mostly I feel like a badass.

That's all for now :) Tomorrow is yoga with Brig!!

Oya I found this and liked it: