Tales of the Mildly OverWeight: Part One

Pulling a 17,000 lb Bear Cat
 with 9 other women.

Weight loss is such a hot topic in today's society. For a lot of us, the number haunts us, it dictates how we feel. Recommendations to "ditch the scale" don't work for those of us who are constantly faced with those numbers. I can feel fabulous at 185* but the second I walk into the doctor's office they are spouting questions like, "What do you eat? Do you exercise? You are obese. You need to lose weight." 

Thank you, I know that. But I eat healthy, I exercise, I do not think I am obese, I think I'm built a little differently than your 5'3" and 130 lbs statistic. So, how can you help me?

There are SO MANY stories of people who have lost 50, 75, 100 lbs and have kickstarted a new, healthier lifestyle. While they are inspiring, they are also discouraging. I don't need to lose 100 lbs. Fifty pounds would be pushing it for my body. I 'm thinking somewhere between 20 and 30 lbs would be a good weight for me. Strong enough to lift all the weight I want, while healthy and lean enough to run the way I want and feel comfortable in my body. Where's the support group for that? Where's the magic, life-altering, safe way to do this?

At a 5k race. March 2015

I know. Exercise more and eat healthier. If only it was that easy. Yes, when I did Whole 30 during January I lost 10 pounds. But Whole 30 is not meant to be sustainable. Its not meant to be the rest of my life. And it was really hard to run while on it. So that's eating healthy with minimal exercise. So that is out. Yes, I run, I trained for and completed a Ragnar Relay, averaging 12-15 miles a week. And, running is not the way to lose weight, its just not. So, where does that leave me?

I have no idea. Truly. And I'm sure there are more of you out there. I'm positive, in fact. So what are you doing? What are you trying? What has worked? What hasn't? Let's talk about this.






*Not my actual weight, I'm not ready to divulge that yet.

Halfway!

Since it is 30 days, is 15 the halfway mark or 16? Maybe I'll just celebrate both days.

Friday, Day 15
Breakfast - two fried eggs
Lunch - Kahlua pork with cabbage
Dinner - pizza meatballs (ah-mazing!)

Saturday, Day 16
Breakfast - scrambled eggs with pepperoni
pre-run snack - applesauce
Lunch - chicken club lettuce wrap
afternoon snack/early dinner - California salad roll
late dinner - chicken apple sausage skillet

Oh, and Maggie and I ran 5 miles yesterday!

Another two days down. 14 more days. Here we go!

Day 14

The last few days i've been having mental failures. Oh, I really want this or I really want that. I haven't given in at all, but its been there. I want to stop, I don't want to do this anymore. But I am still going, and that is what is important.

I managed to eeke out a 2 mile run Thursday morning early. It was cold, my legs were tired, but that was done. Only one more long run this week.

Breafkast - chicken apple sausage and scrambled eggs
Lunch - romaine lettuce BLT
Dinner - kaluha pork with cabbage, red cabbage, and potatoes

I also meal planned dinners for the coming week. Its probably time to clean out the fridge and do some reevaluating on things we've bought and things we need. But tomorrow, is halfway day!

Day 13 - A Birthday!

Today we celebrate my dear husband's birthday. But not with cake ...

I woke up at 5 and headed out on a run, I ran the same distance as yesterday afternoon, but 3 minutes faster. And on tired legs, which is the whole point of Ragnar Training, in my mind at least.

Breakfast - chicken apple sausage and scrambled eggs
Snack - cashews
Lunch - tacos with salsa and guacamole on romaine lettuce
Dinner - Texas Roadhouse! We went out to a restaurant we knew we could get good food at. I had a steak with mushrooms and onions and a side of grilled shrimp; a baked potato with bacon and steamed veggies. It was ah-mazing!

So excited that we were able to celebrate a birthday without getting out of whack over food. This is a huge mental step. Two more days until the half-way mark!

Day 11 - The Second Third Begins

Today was another good day. Since I was teaching this morning, I ate breakfast at home. I had some breakfast meatloaf and a fried egg. Yum. I haven't had a fried egg since we started this, since I usually make my breakfast and then take it to work.

I had some cashews about 11am and then had leftover soup from last night.

An apple about 4pm held me over until this awesome dinner. I would have never thought about adding coconut milk to sweet potatoes, but it was great. Gave it that creamy consistency. Everyone loved it! Only downside is that we have no leftovers.

I worked out before dinner, did the Bikini Body Mommy Challenege Day 8. Strength workout. Felt nice to get something done in less than 20 minutes.

Another day done. Couldn't feel better.

The Weekend

Day 9: Saturday

Saturday's are usually our slow days on the weekends. This week, that is not so. My daughter starts gymnastics this morning and husband and son are working hard on organizing and cleaning the garage, with a quick trip to the range. I meal planned yesterday for the week and will be hitting one of two grocery stores today for supplies. I've discovered that Wal-Mart's produce is cheaper than the commissary, with more options. So I'm doing that and any canned goods and a massive amount of eggs there. I'll get meat at the commissary later. I'm very excited about our meals for this upcoming week.

Breakfast -eggs with pepperoni
Lunch - unstuffed cabbage rolls
Snack - coffee
Dinner - steak, grilled veggies
Movie snack - vegetable juice

Day 10: Sunday

No joke, I'm 1/3 of the way there. I can't believe it. This is where I completed my first journey in July of 2013. Now I'm in the swing of things and feeling great. I'v e got a good week of meals planned, a lot of them are easy peasy in the crock pot. I completed Week 1 of Ragnar/Half-marathon training and I'm feeling good.

Breakfast - roast beef and an apple
Lunch - pulled pork, salad with raw veggies and salsa, and fruit
Dinner - spicy sausage and sweet potato soup

Day 8: TGIF

The only thing I dread about work days and Whole 30 is the amount of prep they  required. I'd give almost anything for a fried egg and that just isn't going to happen during the week. But, I made it through a full week at work being Whole 30 Compliant. My coworkers are awesome and didn't try to tempt me.

pre-breakfast - apple sauce

Breakfast - grapefruit

Lunch - sushi! Well, my kind of sushi. I had lettuce rolls with cucumber, carrot and crab meat. 

Snack - coffee

Dinner - Pizza Pile! The base of this is spaghetti squash, then I added tomato sauce, sauteed mushrooms and pepperoni. The kids added cheese. It was yummy! 

Days 6 & 7 - I've Got This!

Day 6 was another easy day. So easy I forgot to write about it!

I ran 2 miles in intervals on the treadmill.
I had scrambled eggs and sausage for breakfast.
Lunch was vegetable juice and some chicken salad.
Then a grapefruit for snack.
Shrimp stir fry for dinner.
Then a quick strength workout before bed.

Day 7: I'm totally getting into this. Its great.

I ran 2.2 miles this morning in a light rain, it was delightful.
Breakfast: scrambled eggs and sausage and applesauce
Lunch: leftover shrimp stir fry
Dinner: well, the planned meal did not go over well, so I had a egg salad with guacamole and then cashews. Wasn't really hungry, so didn't stress over it too much.

Day 5 - Simple?

Today is Day 5. And it may have been the easiest. I'm most certainly battling something, whether its a cold, the change in temperature, or the "Whole 30 flu." So food was really the last thing on my mind.

Breakfast: scrambled eggs with sausage
Mid-morning: coffee
Lunch: vegetable juice and lunch meat
Dinner: tilapia & avocado on spinach salad

And that was it. I am bummed that I couldn't run this morning. And I'm bummed that I probably won't get in my miles tomorrow, but if I push it now then it'll be worse later.

Day 4 (and Day 1)

This morning I woke up earlier than I have been to get back on schedule. The kids are heading back to daycare/school and I need to get used to early morning workouts. I woke up at 5:30 and completed the Bikini Body Mommy Challenge (BBM) 3.0. This morning was a fit test and all told lasted 16 minutes. Easy.

I had chorizo chili with some guacamole for breakfast and then had one cup of coffee and a bottle of water.

Lunch was the last of the lasagna soup. With a small apple.

I had a quick afternoon snack of veggies and guacamole, about 3 o'clock. I'm still having a hard time making it all the way through the afternoon without a snack.

We had dinner with friends tonight and chowed down on breakfast casserole and paleo crepes. Yum!

Another day in the record books!

Day 3: Suprisingly OK

I woke up dreading this morning. Seriously, I knew that it was going to be a rough day, because that is what they freely tell you. I drank a lot of water last night, so I was hoping the Hangover wasn't going to hit me so hard. I woke up with a slight headache, but decided to take Tylenol before it got unbearable. That worked.

Breakfast was hurried but healthy: Scrambled eggs with avocado that husband made. (If you were counting, I started this journey with 5 dozen and 9 eggs, I'm not down to 4 dozen and 2 eggs.) Anyway, we headed off to church where I brought my water bottle to avoid the need for more coffee. We sat down and I turned to husband and said, "I smell Hazelnut Coffee Creamer." He looked at me like I was crazy.

I went food shopping for the few things we needed to make it through this week. It went pretty quickly as I avoided all but 2 of the inside aisles of the store. Produce, canned tomatoes, fruit pouches, meat, meat, meat. Easy.

For lunch I made grilled portobello mushroom caps and then whipped up some crab cake yumminess. Real crab meat, a little paleo mayo, mustard, dry mustard and Voila!

We had AWANA this afternoon, and as I expected my time was spent herding cats, I mean elementary school children who have been cooped up inside and out of school for two weeks. But I did drink a lot of water

Thankfully, I had Chorizo Chili in the crock pot for dinner. And there is just barely enough left over for breakfast tomorrow with a fried egg.

More water will come tonight, and maybe a banana or apple. But I'm going ahead and declaring Day 3 complete!

Day 1 - Off to a Great Start

Its 8:10 and my food prep has already paid off!

I woke up this morning, later than normal because I just didn't want to get up, and weighed and measured myself. One of the Whole 30 "rules" is no scale for the 30 days. However, I'm part of a competition that requires me to weigh in on Mondays. So I will be weighing in only on Mondays for that purpose. Anyway, I will be taking before pictures tomorrow morning. I will not be posting them right now. Maybe, MAYBE in the future.

So, I decided on some cabbage and bacon for breakfast, part one. While this was heating up, I packed up another serving for part 2, along with a banana and then mixed up my chicken salad for lunch.

I headed off to work, where I had my second half of breakfast, along with a cup of coffee. A few hours later, I ate the banana.

I had two hard boiled eggs and chicken salad for lunch about 11:30. And, I decided to join the big, scary world of instagram. You can follow me at: armywife12.29 but be prepared for lots of food photos!

That lasted me until about 3:30, where I had a glass of water and then another cup of coffee.

Dinner was Lasagna Soup and I had a light snack of a few banana chips and more water before bed.

Day 1 - SUCCESS!

Food Prep

Like any new adventure, there's a lot of work behind the scenes. I finished up meal planning for the next few days and with a quick Walmart trip, was ready to go.

Here's what I prepped today:
Chicken in the crock pot (for chicken salad)
Hard boiled eggs
Bacon
Paleo Mayo
Cabbage with bacon
Browned sausage for breakfast
Lasagna Soup

Now I'm pretty sure I'm ready for the next few days, at least. Dinners will still need to be prepared, but its easier to grab something and when the only things in the fridge are Whole 30 Compliant, that makes life easier.

My Whole 30 Journey

Today is Day 0, tomorrow I start on 30 days of a new way of looking at food. Here’s the basic of what the Whole 30 entails.

I will eat:

• Meat, seafood
• Eggs
• Vegetables, some fruits
• Good fats: oils, nuts, fruits, seeds

I will NOT eat:

• Sugar – real or artificial
• Alcohol
• Grains
• Legumes (yes, this includes peanut butter)
• Dairy
• Carrageenan, MSG, or sulfites
• “fake” desserts – ie Paleo cupcakes

The few exceptions to this rule:

·         Clarified butter or ghee

·         Fruit juice as a sweetener

·         Certain legumes (green beans, snap peas, snow peas are ok)

·         Vinegar

·         Salt

So, I will eat the things that are allowed and not stress over the things I can’t eat. I will not cheat. I will make food as interesting and fun as possible and I will start viewing it as fuel and release its psychological hold over me.

Yes, my family is doing this with me. The kids, of course, will still have dairy and grains. But desserts are gone from the house. There is nothing bad or dangerous about this, so there is no reason they can’t participate.

So, why am I telling you? Because this is important to me. Very important. So please do not:

1.  Try to convince me this is not what I should be doing. I’m intelligent enough to do my research.
2. Offer me things you flat out know I can’t have. Like birthday cake. Or a bagel.
3. Let me eat things I cannot. If, in a moment of weakness, reach for something I should not eat, be a good friend and slap me. Throw it away. Save me from myself.

This is my plan for the next 30 days. January 2^nd through January 31^st. They keep telling me this is not hard. That having my coffee without creamer isn’t hard. That if I could handle childbirth, multiple deployments, several moves, and finishing a Spartan Race, I can handle this. I can handle this! Who knows, I may even like it….