I don't want to workout so I can eat crappy food

Last January I was trying to figure out how I wanted to go about losing weight.  Notice I didn't say get healthy I said lose weight.  I have tried many things.  The last few years I had switched to eating whole foods meaning I didn't eat things that came from a box.  I made most of our food from scratch a lot of the time.  But it wasn't helping me lose weight.  I went down the list of things - NutriSystem - no because I wanted real food.  Weight Watchers - no way - I cannot keep track of points also I knew enough to know that low fat is not where it's at.  I wanted to find something that helped me lose weight yet still allowed me to eat whole foods.  And working out alone WAS NOT DOING IT.  I used to be thinner and I would run so I could have brownies or a blizzard from Dairy Queen but I didn't want to do that anymore.

I found a blogger who had eaten whole foods in moderation and lost weight.  I thought I could do that.  My problem was still that I couldn't quite control the portions on the things I really loved like homemade bread.  The smell alone of homemade bread made me want to eat the whole thing.

I knew then I needed something that would help me kick my cravings while still eating whole foods.  I just had no idea what to do.  Then my husband came to me (you've heard this part before) and he told me about this thing called The Whole30.  He wanted to do it but he did NOT want me to because he knew how angry I got over food like when I didn't have it when I wanted it, etc.

Well, I read the book and after reading the book you just cannot NOT do it.  At least I couldn't.  It was the way I always had wanted to eat but couldn't ever force myself to do.  This strict form of paleo was just what I needed.  I was also still dealing with nagging depression/anxiety and some aches and pains.  I didn't really believe food could completely help me but after researching things I was sure going to see if it could.

I'd always believed you shouldn't cut whole food groups out.  I believed moderation could work.  It just couldn't work for me because I couldn't control portions of certain foods.  I just couldn't. 

I just knew that everything that I knew about "dieting" before finding paleo didn't work for me long term.  I quit it after a few months or after hitting my goal.  I lost weight on those things for sure but I never felt better.  I still felt crappy and angry and hungry.

While paleo is restrictive in that you can't eat certain things I never felt hungry, like ever.  The first two weeks were exhausting and tough but after that it got easier and I started feeling better.  I started feeling so much better that I couldn't quit and surprisingly I didn't even want to quit.  It has cured SO MANY of my cravings that I thought could never be cured!!!! But it did take months and months to do that.  I don't even want something sweet after I have something salty anymore.  I don't NEED dessert after meals.  I don't have to have popcorn every night and I certainly don't need my coffee creamer anymore.  Those are just of the few things I have gotten rid of.

I am so thankful my husband found the Whole30 just when I needed it.  I'm thankful he kept going paleo with me.  I'm thankful we are still doing it.

Another thing we did was get this paleo thing down before we started working out.  I am really just now finding my workout rhythm.  I will blog on that another day.

 Have you done a "diet" that actually worked long term?  Tell me about it.




 

Just a few more days

I'm coming up on one year of eating paleo.  Never in a million years did I think I could NOT eat bread and cheese on a regular basis because that is crazy talk right?  I mean just completely insane. Because bread and cheese taste good.

Yet, I have lived with eating mostly paleo for almost a YEAR!  I've never done anything for that long - I mean any personal improvement things.  It is exciting because I have "exercised" so many food demons.

I am no longer addicted to sugar and I can go weeks without dessert - weeks!  I couldn't even go like hours before this.  My poor children tell me I haven't made cookies in soooooooooooo long.

There are so many benefits for me that I have found eating this way.  I will begin to unpack those soon. And I think I'm going to do a give-a-way too!

For now here are a few posts I wrote over the last year:

I'm doing the Whole30

Whole30 Update

Why I chose Paleo

Why I chose Paleo

Last year at this time I had four kids, I was pretty overweight and I could not lose a pound.  I was trying and trying to do it the way I used to and I couldn't lose more than like 3 pounds.  I was still almost the same weight I was when I was 9 months pregnant.  Ack!

I have always had a struggle with weight but I had been quite a bit thinner as proof of this picture when I was about two months pregnant with my first child:

But after years of having babies and not really taking good care of myself I woke up and wanted to do something different.  I had done weight watchers before.  I knew I did want to lose weight like that again plus I wanted to eat whole foods and not "low fat", "sugar free", pretend foods, etc.

I also hate counting calories!  So my choices were very limited.  I tried eating whole foods and limiting them on my own and like I said I lost a few pounds but nothing profound.  Then my husband told me he wanted to do something called the Whole30.

I looked at it and thought it was crazy!  But I was desperate by this point and I knew I didn't want to cook two meals so I thought about it.  My husband didn't even want me to do it because he knew how grouchy I'd be without bread and cheese.  I got hangry people!

But more than my weight I wanted to stop feeling aches and pains and headaches and anxiety and depression.  I was game but I would NOT give up my coffee creamer.  You can read my Whole30 wrap up here.  I have since given up my coffee creamer.

After doing the Whole30 I went paleo and I have not looked back.  The only reason I have kept doing it is how truly amazing I feel.  I mean ridiculously amazing.  I mean like no aches and pains, no headaches.  It was pretty unbelievable especially since I was just doing this by eating certain food not taking supplements or anything else.

I lost 20 lbs over the course of time I've been doing it - about 9 months.  I mean  I lost the 20 in the first 4 months and have maintained since then within about 3 or so pounds.  I do need to lose more and I know I've gotten comfortable so I know I need to kick it up a notch and focus on working out a little more too.

But the reasons I did paleo were because of the science behind it.  It makes sense to me.  It works for me.  Positive Changes to Expect when going Paleo:

"Unlike regular fad diets that are usually built with only weight loss in mind, a Paleo diet supports the perfect gene expression for our bodies. Everything about how your system works will start to adjust beginning at the cellular level. You’ll experience all sorts of transformations unique to your own needs as your body begins to balance itself and create homeostasis."

And I've found when you "go Paleo" and it works for you - you become a bit obsessed about it and talk a lot about it and post a lot about it and post pictures of your meals and tell all your friends.  People do get sick of hearing about it and I get that.  I just can't stop.  Also I got my cholesterol checked and I had last year's numbers to compare to this year's numbers - It went down 21 points!  From 160 to 139 - what what?!

A photo posted by Gretchen (@extraordinaryordinarylife) on Dec 12, 2014 at 6:35am PST

Those are all the reasons I am now Paleo and will be for the unforeseeable future. It is not easy but nothing worth doing is.

Have you tried Paleo?

 

Menu Plan Monday - Paleo and some Whole30

Hey I got a new laptop so I thought I would try blogging more regularly again.  Especially since I now do this crazy Paleo thing.  I am posting my menu plan for the week.  I post way more on Instagram so if you want to see that just click the link.

Here is this week's menu.  Some are even Whole30 compliant.

Breakfast:

Eggs, salad and fruit

Paleo sausage egg mc"muffin"

Bacon and eggs and green peppers and apples

Sweet Potato and apple hash with bacon

Lunch:




Lunch is honestly just mostly leftovers from supper or if we fill the grill for the week, we have meat or chicken and then a green smoothie or salad and fruit.

Supper:





Beef and cabbage stir fry

Bunless burgers with sweet potato fries and a spinach salad

Asian meatballs and cauliflower fried "rice"

Cracklin chicken, roasted veggies and fruit salad

Chicken (Leftover from Cracklin Chicken), salsa, guacamole, shredded lettuce bowls

Out to Eat

Leftover Day

  

The Whole30 update - The End and The Beginnning

It is finished.  And yet is isn't finished.  Because I can't quit doing this.  Before I go there, here are my thoughts from my experience.

Here is what I have noticed:

• Sleep - I sleep really well.  I'm tired when I'm suppose to be tired and so I sleep when I'm suppose to.  No more artificial carb induced energy bursts at 11pm.
• Headaches - I've had almost none but I'm still drinking coffee.  I mean I had one headache in 30 days.  I'm not prone to headaches but as I've gotten older I get them more often especially during that time of the month but on this it has been weird how fine I have felt.
• Energy - this one was weird.  I expected to have more.  I was a person that could go from 8am to 11pm but on this I hit a wall every night about 7 pm and my eyes glazed over and I was useless if you wanted me to think.  I could function but I knew my body was telling me to wind down.
• Listening to my body - this was the craziest thing because I have ignored body signals for YEARS.  I ate when I was hungry I stopped when I was satisfied and I never had that stuffed feeling yet I was never hungry.  I mean who wants to eat a lot of roast and broccoli?  I could eat 7 pieces of pizza but I just couldn't chew any more meat or broccoli at one sitting so I didn't over eat.
• Taste bud change - oh my goodness gracious this is the biggest thing.  It does change your tastes.   I didn't realize for years how much I ate food with sauces, with ketchup, with something extra.  I ate fruit with sugar or honey or dip.  I never just tasted my food by itself.  And food is good all by itself.  Fruit is so sweet all by itself.  I still used homemade BBQ and ketchup but it was not sweet at all.  I drank my coffee with cream.  I pretty much can't stand flavored coffee creamer anymore and that has happened just in the last week.

I did not stick with the Whole30 100%.  My husband pretty much did.  I did for the first two weeks with the exception of the coffee creamer.  I would say the first two weeks were the most difficult - more mentally coming to grips with this lifestyle change.  The third week wasn't bad and the fourth week was cake (not literally cake but easy).

I had two meals out with my friend when we went to the homeschool convention and I didn't make good choices.  I also had a day where I just "had to have" the leftover tortilla chips that I kept begging the kids to eat so I wouldn't.  I ate them with guac.  I'm not proud of it.  I did a few other thing little things but I would say the last two weeks I ate 90/10 Whole30.  I caved into popcorn a couple of nights too but it was cooked in coconut oil.

Through all of that I managed to lose 7 lbs.   I know it doesn't sound like a lot but for me it was a break through since I'd been STUCK at my weight for too long.

I am not good at selfies and I always forget to take pictures and such of before but here is an after - taken Friday.  Progress.  You won't be seeing me in a sports bra sorry folks.

People that know me know that I could never give up bread, cheese, butter, sweets - I just can't do that, can I?

Yet I can.  Once I read the way that foods break down in our bodies and what that does to help or hurt us I saw food differently.  I also saw in myself the emotional neediness I had placed on food.  I needed it to get through this or that.  I needed it when I was stressed.  It was super unhealthy and I had to break that cycle.  I think that will be an ongoing work but I will break that cycle.

Where do we go from here?

Well I cannot go back to before this.  My husband and I are probably doing paleo with a heavy lean on Whole30 so we probably won't be making a lot of baked things with almond and coconut flour.  I will still enjoy my life but try do it in a more healthier way.  I will still drink my coffee black.  I will still make the majority of my meals at home using grass fed beef and veggies and fruit.  I may use honey from time to time but sparingly.

I have found some amazing recipes from this. 

Oven roasted cauliflower rice - then use that to make fried "rice".

Apple Sweet potato bake - unbelievable good!

And I went to Qudoba and I got a naked burrito with no rice or beans, lol!  I got chicken, guac, hot salsa and lettuce and it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO good!

Another thing we have found that we love - sweet potatoes and ghee.  Just a simple baked sweet potato topped with ghee is so yummy.  I also have sauteed them and made fries out of them.  They are so good no matter what you do with them.

I would HIGHLY recommend you try this program.  I would get the book first and read it so you can see the why behind it.  You need to understand why you are doing it so that in your weak moments you will have more of a purpose.  Hopefully I will be trying more dishes out and sharing what works with you.

Have you done something  likes this?  What did you think?

Menu Plan Monday - Whole30

Breakfasts:

Paleo chicken bacon quiche

Kale and sausage bake

Bacon and eggs and green peppers and apples

Sweet Potato and apple hash with bacon

Blueberry Tortilla

Lunch:

Asian Cauliflower fried rice

Sweet potato salad with bacon vinagrette

 Garbage stir fry with curried cabbage

 Chicken and Indian pineapple cauliflower rice


Supper:

Spaghetti Squash with bolognese Sauce

Bunless burgers and sweet potato fries and spinach salad

Crock pot mocha rubbed roast and baked sweet potatoes with steamed veggies

Apple and bacon stuffed pork chops, salad and steamed veggies

Kabobs - meat, veggies

Ground beef stir fry with cabbage






 

I'm doing the Whole30 and I'm on Day 10

I am on Day 10 of the Whole30.  I don't normally do things like this.  Things like not eating grains or sugar or dairy.  No, that would be kind of insane for me.

My husband wanted us to quietly do this and not tell anyone we are doing it.   But I cannot do that.  I mean I did that for a few days but I have to share.  I need some support or encouragement or someone to tell me I'm crazy.

I already knew that though.

I thought it would be more difficult and this coming from a girl who LOVES her bread and her cheese and her pizza and her sugar.

The worst thing about it is the lack of variety but that is my fault.  I could make a lot more I just don't.  Because I have to think too much to do that.

breakfast

The thing about this is that it really does make you think - about what you eat.  About not just putting things in your mouth like the kids leftovers.

It doesn't make you hungry at all.  I'm not hungry.  In fact I just wanted to quit eating so much because you have to eat a lot to get all the nutrients and things in.  I don't worry how much I'm eating because what I am eating satisfies me.  Also, who really wants to over indulge in broccoli?  Not me.  But I'll tell you what else I have found - I'm flossing a lot more.  I'm eating a lot more meat and man does that get stuck in  your teeth.  I read that on anther blog - and I totally agreed!

I have days that I want to quit but now I feel like I know too much to quit.  I know what I was like before and what I am like now and right now - I'm fine.  Like really fine.  Like no headaches at all in the last 10 days and yes, I'm still drinking coffee.  My husband keeps telling me my skin is glowing.  My breakouts are less it seems.

Homemade Mayo

The biggest difference I think is energy.  I'm great throughout the day but I'm more tired at night when I'm suppose to be.  I literally can't think past 7 or 8 pm.  I'm awake just not productive.  The book talks about the "carb flu" where you are worse before you are better and I think I'm still going through a touch of that.

I have wanted to eat this way for a long time.  Like if I lived on a mini farm I could eat this way and sustain myself - just eating fruits, vegetables and proteins we could "grow" and kill ourselves.

I wanted to completely avoid restaurants but I couldn't make myself do that until now.  I mean I still go through drive thru's for my kids but I do not get one thing and honestly I don't want to.

This way of eating does make food a little boring but that is great for me.  I need to put food in its place.  I have found it to be an emotional crutch for me.  I was using it when I was stressed.  I was using it when I was happy.  I was using it when I was bored.  I know many of us do that too.

I am seriously considering doing Paleo when I am done.  Except I may still have pizza once a week but I will have to see how I feel after eating to make that judgement.  I do believe in the 80/20 rule.

Also, I have cheated with one thing - coffee creamer.  I drank it black for a while and I did the coconut milk but this one thing has really stopped me from falling off a cliff so I'm keeping it for now.

Also, I have weighed myself.  You aren't suppose to because it isn't suppose to be about weight loss but sometimes I needed a little more motivation to stay the course and I can report the results are really unbelievable.  I'll share more when I'm done.

Have you ever done the Whole30?  How did it go?