I've got a few changes to make... (Tuesday/Wednesday thoughts)

Save it until a day that you feel huge and fat to start making realizations…onto that in a minute. Lunch I ordered grilled salmon (no sauce) and the waiter said, it might already be soaked in sauce…..made me think I sure as hell hope a piece of salmon has not just been sitting in a sauce for 10 hours. Regardless, got that and fruit as a side. They also gave me green beans but I didn’t touch that (legumes I think). They actually put a small dapple of sherbet on my fruit!?!? WHY? Why ruin something so good. Anyways, ate about ½ my salmon and all my fruit.

Onto more of a rant. I realized while doing some research that I’m probably now pumping my body full of paleo foods, but ones that are high carbs and fat. I’m eating more fruit then I did the first 30 days and eating all my apples with almond butter. That stuff is good – and good for you, but not good in the quantities that I’ve been having. The quantities haven’t been huge, it’s just more then a serving. I mean, I scoop every apple slice in the butter. Alright, I need to do more then just eat all the paleo foods I can. I need to start working on my portion control. At least I have the mindset now that I *want*, not all the time like, but want to workout.
………
Dinner was leftover grilled chicken and my salmon leftovers from lunch. I got in town in time to go to the DMB concert with a girlfriend. Going into it, I had the mindset not to drink or eat, but I did end up having 1 draft beer and some of her popcorn. Not bad at all. In older time I would have had more drink and suggested we go out after, but not last night. I didn’t feel guilty about the stuff I had at the concert – it just seemed to compound with everything else I was feeling yesterday.

Anyways, woke up this morning still feeling blah. I have no gum on me (at my client site) and no apples/almond butter to eat. The only things I have are eggs, chicken, veggies, and some berries. I’m currently starving. I guess that’s because I’m used to eating more of the ‘bad’ paleo stuff in higher quantities then necessary. Anyways, had a good chat with a fellow primal friend this am and she agreed, it’s all a learning process, but I am eating too many apples and too many nuts. I’m going to work on scaling down on this. It’s nice to have a community that is always willing to help you when you are struggling!

Anyways, meal updates:
Breakfast – 2 hardboiled eggs and a few cups of hot tea
Lunch – leftover grilled chicken, some veggies, and an egg.

I had no other snacks between the two meals. Although I felt like I was going to die of hunger, it clearly didn’t happen and now I’m full after lunch. I think I also need to find a balance between when I’m hungry/full and when I just ‘want’ to eat.

Alright- holding my head up high and I’ll keep working and tweaking the diet. I’m thinking of trying this recipe tonight (sans bread of course): Turkey Burger

Tuesday Rant

Tuesday:

Breakfast – hot tea and 2 hardboiled eggs. Mid-morning snack, I was really craving sweets or gum, so I had an apple and almond butter – feeling decently full now. So now my question is – how much is too much paleo food? I’m hungry all the time it seems like, so I try and have snacks/small meals every few hours between lunch and dinner and making dinner an actual meal with a meat/fish component and veggies or a side if possible. Is that too much in the morning? I’ve been up since 6:15, and it’s almost 11 now. I’m on the road so my team is going to Bahama Breeze for lunch. I’ll order a fish and nothing else, but then I’ll most likely have a snack later in the afternoon and some chicken for dinner. Would that be too much food if I’m eating almost all paleo and usually only drinking water/tea/some coffee throughout the day? This is my normal workweek routine, but I feel like I’m stuck in a rut which is frustrating. I’m not noticing any changes like I did in the beginning, maybe it’s just getting through this point of powering through paleo eating and keeping my workouts up. Fat is stubborn. I don’t like it. I’m working on getting over the fact that I may not get the fastest results, but I want SOME result. Maybe it’s just one of those days…

Thoughts?

Weekend Recap

Friday dinner we ended up going to Roswell and eating at The Bridge (yummy Mexican food). There was a group of 8, friends and family there when we arrived. I was able to resist all the chips and dips throughout dinner and ordered 2 margaritas. (No worries, I definitely think there was more tequila then mix! J ) I ordered a soup and had about ½, it was a green tomato soup – pretty yummy, but also had high sodium contents – I won’t do that again. For dinner I split fajitas with Chris – no rice/beans/tortillas. I only ate the veggies and meat! So good. Afterwards I did have a few beers, but that was it. Sat AM was a GT football game -at the tailgate I had some gluten free crackers and salsa, eggs and sausage, and fruit. Oh yea, 2 mimosas. No other food – which there was plenty of. During the game I only had a water. Post game I needed to get a workout in to feel better about myself so I did Friday WOD: 5 rounds (15 OHS, 400M runs) I ended up doing 45#, which seemed too easy when it was all over with. Next time I’ll try and do more. Otherwise, it was a good workout. Sat pm Chris and I grilled garden turkey burgers and I made some veggies sautéed in olive oil, spices, and a bit of balsamic vinaigrette. We ended up staying in, which led to minimal drinking, a glass of wine or two while relaxing. But then…..we cheated, and a decently big cheat – STEAK AND SHAKE. I ordered a shroom burger (mushrooms, onions etc or something). I took the bun off, ate ½, had a few fries, but demolished my cookies and cream milkshake!! YUM! Well, there’s my big cheat. Sunday am had a breakfast casserole and some snacks around the house, also had an apple and fruit. Also did 3 rounds of the Blake WOD (15# plate, 18-20# box, 14# wallball, 2 abmats – 17:47, and it was killer.) Again, I just felt like I needed to get outside and be active. Dinner was a disaster – went to Geisha house for sushi – don’t ever go there, it’s AWFUL. Anyways, my sushi was not fresh and had way too much rice, I didn’t even finish it. Oh well, after the few cheat I had this weekend, I didn’t need to. Monday was coffee in the am, a banana for breakfast, baked chicken that I marinated in a teriyaki sauce, and some veggies. Snack was a honeycrisp apple and almond butter. Dinner I met a girlfriend at La Parilla. I had no chips and ordered the chicken and steak fajitas (only pico and guac). Ate no other sides, no tortillas and NO MARGARTIAS. Oh well. Got back to my place and didn’t plan to workout – my body needed a rest, but after doing some work, I got up and made a workout up for my apartment gym: 4 rounds (400M run, 25 situps, 10 burpees – 17:38). Again, not too bad, and I feel better being active. I ate some fruit (strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries) when I got back and drank water. Overall, I definitely think I’m understanding how to manage this sort-of paleo lifestyle.

On a side note, I’ve been chewing a LOT of gum lately, and I think it’s because I’ve been missing my sugars. I don’t need gum and I want to stop chewing it. The first goal is to not buy anymore. So, for the rest of the week, I want to not chew any gum – see how I do on that. I’ll try and drink water or tea or do something else instead beside chewing gum. The goal is to keep those unnatural sugars out of my diet.

Less than 2 months now until Hawaii – crunch time.

:)

Thursday:
Got into the gym for the WOD!! Was out of town the last 2 days so unfortunately I missed the 30 minute WOD, shucks. Yesterday's was 5 rounds (15 burpees, 10 KB #35). I did it RX!!! First time I think doing a WOD RX! Very exciting to have that next to my name. My time was around 12:08, no the fastest on the board, but a good time for me. I'm very thankful that Mike and Veronica were cheering me on - it definitely helped.

For dinner I had part of a chicken and veggie kabob from Fresh Market and then we went to Cypress Street to watch the Falcons game. There I had meatball sliders, with no bun, and 2 mojitos.

Friday:
Coffee with creamer (I need to get back to the store and get the soy/dairy free stuff) and cinnamon. 2 hardboiled eggs and 3 pieces of turkey bacon. Mid morning snack was some almonds. Lunch - again, 1/2 of the chicken berast + the sauteed veggies.

Keeping up with the paleo diet post challenge

Okay, so I’m back on the blogging bandwagon and back on the paleo diet. After a weekend off + a few extra days off on top of that, I realized how much my eating really affected me. I felt bloated, sick, not to mention I really struggled through Monday’s WOD. And I mean STRUGGLED. My goal for the next 30 days is to go back to a paleo(ish) lifestyle and to get in 3 CF WOD’s a week. For the next 30 days I plan to just use the blog as a food diary. I already know how I feel when I eat certain foods, and I’m sure everyone has heard me go on and on and on with that, so here’s my food diary since Monday:

Monday:

Coffee

Eggs and turkey bacon

An apple with almond butter

A sautéed garden turkey burger (from fresh market)

Tuesday:

2 hard boiled eggs and 3 strips of turkey bacon

½ of a grilled chicken breast (marinated in sweet chili oil from fresh market)

Pecans

A piece of Hawaiian salmon (from fresh market)

An apple with almond butter

LA fitness for some runs/squats while not in ATL

Wednesday:

2 hardboiled eggs with the leftover chicken breast

Snack throughout the am - almonds

Lunch out with a friend at Artisan Bakery – I ordered the VIP sandwich with turkey. I took of the bread, asked for no mayo, and chose berries and cream as my side. After I took off the bread, the sammy was so small. Turkey, bacon, avocado, and a tomato slice. (I took off the greens because I didn’t like them). Other then the lunch being small – it was great.

Afternoon snack – gala apple with almond butter

----since my team is traveling, we did a happy hour at Bahama breeze – I only had a water – no food and no drink

Dinner was salmon with sautéed squash, zucchini, and mushrooms

I also went for a jog outside later that night – 2.3 miles

Thursday:

Coffee and a banana for breakfast

Morning snack – almonds

Lunch – ½ of a grilled chicken breast I made last night + some leftovers of my veggies I sautéed last night

Fat Test Tank Day - 11/3/10 (and overall thoughts)

So I haven't written for awhile, my last blog was on Thursday after Urban Pl8 dinner and today is Wednesday. For a quick recap - the weekend was a bust. House birthday party with a keg (Sweetwater Schweat - YUM) Friday, Halloween + not great eating Saturday, and Sunday included some pizza and a beer or two. Monday came and I felt heavier then I had in awhile. I felt sluggish and blah. So that's my take on the weekend, that would have made it through the month of October (although I started 5 days early). Regardless, here are my thoughts and reflections on the last month or so of eating paleo.

So when I started this competiton I was scared as hell. Scared at failing another 'fad' diet, scared of letting myself down, letting others down. Scared of not seeing results. Shoot, I was just plain scared. I had originally put my name down on the previous challenge (it was months ago where we'd have to keep a food log, get points for doing workouts etc etc), but somehow I came up with the excuse that I'd be traveling 2 weeks a month and it just wasn't possible to do. So, putting my name down for this one was scary - it meant that I was 'oficially' signed up and participating.

As you read, my first few days (make those 2 weeks) were miserable. I was hungry, craving sweets, wanting to devour cheese and milk and bread and beer - all in one sitting :) But I made it through. I'd happily say I made it through 30 days of 'as strict paleo as possible'. No, I never cut out wine or tequila. I did however cut out beer. As you're probably thinking, wine and tequila aren't paleo, that's right, so here's my reasoning. I definitely tried to go as paleo as possible. I wanted to try and cut out things that I can or would be able to cut back on for a lifestyle change. Now sure i could have not had any wine for 30 days, but really what would that have done for me during the 30 days and for me in the future. But, it really didn't make sense to cut this out, if on day 32 I'd just reintroduce it as it had been in my life previously. There was no need to go 30 days without it, lose an extra pound or 1% of body fat, just to put it back on. I wanted to make REAL changes that I could keep - and I really think I did that.

I realized I don't need to have a bagel with eggs, bacon and cheese every morning for breakfast (I never did that, but if a bagel was available from my work - i'd grab one!), I don't need to have a bag of chips with lunch or for a snack, there's no need to eat pasta for dinner X amount of nights a week. These are things I can cut out and did cut out. I went as paleo as I could for 30 days, and I feel that I could stay that paleo for another 30. On that note....I do plan to try and stay more or less paleo for the next 30 days. It's not a challenge, just another month for me to integrate into more of a lifestyle. Like I said, I feel better and have noticed changes. Not huge changes on the scale, I'm at an ending weight of 132, but I've been wearing clothes I haven't put on in awhile (jeans, shirts etc). I feel more confident because I feel like my arms don't look as fat, AND because I finally feel like I have control over what I eat, and I realize how I feel when I eat different foods.

So, as for my goals for this challenege - I'd like to say I met and exceeded them. I have a better knowledge of what I eat, why, and how foods make me feel. I can run 3 miles. I can sit down in front of a bowl of chips, or a loaf of bread and not eat it. I have willpower. This challenge helped me realize that. So, for everyone who supported me, encouraged me, and helped me make it through the past 30 days. So many times, I just wanted that 'one bite', that 'one piece' - but so many people wouldn't let me, and that helped show me that I didn't need it and I could refuse it. An even more special thanks to Chris, in so many ways he pushed me and helped me through this. He had confidence in me when I wanted to give up - I credit a lot of my success to him. Anyways, thanks to everyone! I did it - so, what are my results....?

Well, I took my after pictures and when I first took them I was really disappointed because I didn't see that huge change I wanted. But, when I got them on my computer and did that ALT/TAB combo between my before pictures and after pictures I was able to definitely see differences. I think I may have started to cry, small differences, but small ones here and small ones there build up to be bigger ones. So, it's not all about the scale people, it's hard to remember that - and I'm definitely working on it. But, like I said again and again, I feel better, clothes fit better. I can see in the pictures why my clothes fit better. That's a great accomplishment, and making through the past 30 days was one as well. Now for one more question...What's in store for the future?

I must say I don't really have a super non-paleo meal planned. Like I said, I want to try and keep as paleo as possible for another 30 days just to try and bring it into my daily routine. One goal is that I want to workout (preferrably CFPT WOD's) 3 times a week. Now, that may not seem like a lot, but between travel for work on the weekdays and personal travel on the weekends, it's super tough to get in there. I'm lucky Chris' garage is a full CF gym with all necessary equipment, but it's always better being in the gym for that extra push. I think I may have only made it into the gym less then 5 times in the past 30 days due to travel and such. That's not great and I'm sure I would have had better results if I had gotten in there. So, let's see what another month of [more or less] paleo can do for me. I'll plan to take pictures again in another month - hopefully I'll be able to see more small changes. I also plan to make bigger strides at CF. I've finally been able to do 3 kipping pullups in a row - let's make it 5, or 7. I'd also like to be able to lift more weight and not feel like I'm going to die when I run (god i still hate running). There's so many more things I want, and I feel empowered enough to go get them.

I did Bali's body fat tested today and I am 80.7% lean body mass with 19.3% body fat (25.45 lbs of fat and 106.55 pounds of lean body weight). He marked me at optimum health and said that I can move up into the healthy range by losing more body fat. I wish I had done this test before the challenge as a benchmark - but looking forward I can always do it again in another 30-60 days. I can do this and make myself leaner and meaner.

By the way, I have this awesome trip coming up in January where I'll be spending 6 days in Hawaii - so, like I've read other CFPT member write "we do this to look better nekked!"

So - who's ready for another 30 day blog?

:)

End of 32

So today I ate 1 egg for breakfast with 2 pieces of bacon. I also had some of the all natural etc OJ. Lunch came early at R. Thomas where I split the flax chips with guacamole and I ordered a tuna and salmon dish. Snacks included 3 large strawberries later in the afternoon along with some pomegranate hot tea. Dinner was set at Urban Pl8 for their 4 course pre-fixe menu. We ordered 1 bottle of wine and split it between 3 of us. The first course was a butternut squash soup (no dairy, they used coconut milk instead!), second course was a mixed salad with pears, walnuts, pomegranate seeds and a light pomegranate dressing, the third was pork tenderloin wrapped around spinach and nuts, served over a parsnip puree with a side of saurekraut. Dessert was the best of course! We got the paleo brownies with a raspberry ice cream - again, no dairy, only coconut milk was used. It was an awesome meal!! I'm full and actually feel gigantic, that's only b/c I'm not used to eating so much. I didn't even finish my first 3 dishes. The meal size just doesn't compare to 1 piece of salmon or chicken from fresh market. Regardless, it was a good meal and great conversation! I'm still on the eating healthy path too. Tomorrow I've got some good and interesting things coming up for food/drinks, but I'll let you sleep on it until then!

Day 31 + some

Tuesday night I drove back into Atlanta from working outside of it and didn't make it in time for any CFPT workouts, so I headed to Chris' to do the workout of the day (21-15-9 DL, HSPU) After warming up, I started the workout, I did 95# DL's and HSPU's with 2 abmats. Well, I flew through the workout, I should have added more weight and tried just using 1 ambat. Next time I'll know better. For dinner we went to Fresh Market and I picked up some salmon and chicken along with a few other items. I ate salmon and had a small apple. For breakfast on Wednesday I had 2 hardboiled eggs and 3 strips of bacon. Throughout the rest of the work day I had an apple with almond butter, 3 big strawberries, and a bit of my leftover turkey burger (not good reheated, so I threw the rest out). I was starving when I left work, but all was good b/c we had dinner plans set in stone. My family and Chris' family were getting together at my FAVORITE italian restaurant in Roswell, Amalfi. I love their chicken parmesan and lasagna, but I decided ahead of time I'll try and get something not breaded or friend and no pasta. They do have good salmon, but I had it for dinner on both of the previous nights, so I ordered chicken limon. It was a sauteed chicken with a lemon caper sauce - not a bad choice. I had some bruschetta, meatball, and a zucchini/eggplant appetizer that was lightly fried. I also had some white wine and for dessert we got a sorbet and a cheesecake slice to pass around the table. I passed on the cheesecake and had a bit of the sorbet. Overall, a successful night I'd say.

Even better were the gifts I got! From my family my parents got me a nice shirt, a cute little rose bush, and a Fresh Market gift card - very very thoughtful. From my brother and his girlfriend, I got The Primal Blueprint cookbook!! My family has been so thoughtful and supportive - these were awesome gifts! From Chris' family they got me a Swim and Sport gift card so that I can get some new bathing suits for Hawaii and such. AWESOME! So the idea is a keep up with the workouts, eat healthy with food from Fresh Market, make food from the cookbook, and then go get some new bathing suits that complement my (hopefully slimmer and more toned) new body! :) Really, all the gifts were great and the atmosphere was wonderful. We talked about NY and such.

After not having a chance to work out yesterday, I got up this AM and did a workout in my apartment gym. For the time I had I did: 4X (400 M run, 15 squats, 15 sit-ups, 15 push-ups). At work already and will probably have some eggs/bacon and maybe some fresh OJ. I have a mentor/mentee lunch today and I think we may go to R. Thomas Deluxe Grill - I've never been, it looks like there are a lot of good paleo items. AND tonight I have dinner reservations for the Urban Pl8 paleo night! YUM!

Day 30!

I can't believe I'm going to say this - I made it 30 days on this challenge. I'll blog more about my thoughts and experiences at the end of October so I finish out the challenge with the group. :)

Breakfast: 2 hardboiled eggs and 4 pieces of bacon at 8:30am. Snack at 11:45 – organic Fuji apple with almond butter + a handful of grapes. I also had some tea this am. Around 2:30 I had ½ of my leftover turkey burger which had onions, mushrooms, eggs and guac – I also added in another hardboiled egg. Other than that I’ve been drinking water all afternoon. If I get sleepy I’ll go back to some tea. I actually enjoy eating these small meals (snacks) every few hours. I don’t get overly hungry and want to eat everything in site. I’m able to balance out what I’m eating. Besides some almonds or grapes I may have later, my next meal will be dinner.

NYC recap + Day 29

First of all, my first real trip to NY was amazing! But, onto the challenge talk (more NY talk later). Last time I blogged was Friday morning. That am I had some fruit and eggs for breakfast. I was out of work early, at 11:30 to catch my flight to NY. I actually packed a grocery bag of food….I cut an apple, bagged some grapes, packed walnuts and my almond butter. I figured this would be a good snack on the flight and in the airport, it’d help keep me from eating all those delicious biscoff cookies in the crown room! Speaking of the crown room, I didn’t have any of their snacks; I ate my apple and almond butter and ordered just 1 vodka drink from the bar that I didn’t drink. On the plane I had a few drinks as well, none of their snacks though.

We then land in NY – we’re both starving and end up taking a taxi (with some random super nice people) to our hotel and get out and throw our bags up. Then it’s off to see part of the city before our 9pm dinner reservation. We walked around, saw a lot of sights (I’ll try and spare you on this part – pictures will be on facebook later!) and we grabbed slices of pizza. Chris got pepperoni and I had a mozzarella, tomatoes and basil pieces. We decided to only eat ½ and continue walking. Chris got a cheese slice at another place, but it was just bleh and he threw most of it away.

Anyways, times for dinner. Chris kept this a surprise until we got there – and it was amazing just walking up to it and into the restaurant. We ate at The Modern http://www.themodernnyc.com/ Now, please skip ahead if you don’t want ALL the details of our dinner – but I must say, this is the most AMAZING meal I’ve ever had. Between taste, presentation and service, everything was perfect.

….we ate in the bar room (menu: http://www.themodernnyc.com/menus/bar_dinner.pdf) We both had a few cocktails while sitting at the bar before we got out table. When we sat down we had a bottle of wine and then proceeded to order. I got the wild mushroom soup and Chris had the Alsatian soup. It was the best soup I’ve ever had – hands down. Since I can probably say that about most everything on the menu, I’ll hold back from saying it for every dish. We then ordered 3 more dishes: the steak tartare, the diver scallops, and the roasted long island duck breast. We then asked the waiter for their recommendations: braised tripe and the Colorado lamb saddle – that means 2 more dishes. (yum) Dessert it was strawberry soup (unlike anything I could have imagined) and the apple strudel. Compliments of the house for my birthday we got another special chocolate desert as well. So, yes, that’s a lot of food, but really all the portions were small and were meant to be shared. [feel free to stop reading if you’d not like to know how my body handled this non-paleo food]. So, like I said, everything was amazing. However, about 2 hours into dinner, my stomach started to hurt – I figured it was just an ache and would go away, but it persisted and then I began to think that it’s probably because I just re-introduced dairy and other items into my body. Well….feel free to guess how my stomach reacted – it wasn’t happy and it wanted it OUT. UGH. That led to a not fun evening. One thing I really wanted to do while in NY was go to a nice rooftop bar and have some drinks and see the city – clearly that wasn’t going to happen on Friday. So, off to bed.

Gotta plug this – Saturday AM C and I went for a jog in Central Park. It was a great start to the day - and it felt great after last night’s meal (although my tummy was all empty). We jogged a few miles and walked some more – what a great day. On our way back to the hotel we grabbed an omelet, nothing special, but it wasn’t bad for us. We did more walking and had lunch at 2:30 at Ocean Grill (http://www.brguestrestaurants.com/restaurants/ocean_grill/) We had some wine, split the calamari which we didn’t finish and both had sushi. It was great sushi and an awesome atmosphere. We sat on the sidewalk – I’d definitely recommend this as a lunch spot near the park in a quite part of town. We pretty much had some drinks throughout the rest of the day – we went and watched the GT/Clemson game at the GT Alumni bar. Afterwards, we had theater tickets for Avenue Q, had a few drinks there and then we had dinner reservation at 11pm at Maialino (http://www.maialinonyc.com/)

Dinner atmosphere was different then the first, still awesome. Our friend is a manager there which is why we wanted to try it. We went with the same idea and ordered multiple dishes so we could get a good sampling of the menu. First up was a meat and cheese platter – 3 of each. We then tried 3 different pastas: Bombolotti alla Norcia, Spaghetti alla Carbonara and I can’t remember the 3rd. They were all so tasty and really light. No heavy cream sauces – that was a plus for the diet! We also had the

Pollo alla Diavola and Cavolo Nero Stracotto as our main meal. We split sorbet for desert and then we were brought 2 glasses of grappa. HOLY MOLY that stuff is strong, supposedly it’s like an Italian moonshine. Wowzas! Again though, the stomach wasn’t happy with some of the food – so we didn’t make it out that night either. Although, it was prime time….we ended dinner at 1:30, heh!

Sunday: Breakfast was at Rue 57 (http://www.rue57.com/#Home) Here we had some mimosas, sushi, and breakfast. I had an omelet and Chris had a waffle. We did sightseeing for the rest of the day and grabbed food at Shake Shack on our way out. That pretty much sums up our NY trip. That city sure has some amazing food – I’m ready to go back and try more places! But, for now, I’m back on the paleo diet.

Speaking of – Monday food (I’m traveling again and am not in Atlanta): eggs and bacon for breakfast. Grapes as a snack, for lunch our team went to The Counter and I ordered a turkey burger with an eggs, onions, mushrooms, and guac. I ordered the 1 pounder so I could have some for dinner. I actually saved it for lunch tomorrow and ended up eating salmon for dinner along with an apple and almond butter. Throughout the day I snacked on almonds and had some hot tea. Overall, a nice day back into paleo. I went and ran for a bit today and just want to be back at the gym. Hopefully soon considering the challenge is coming to an end.

Thanks for making it through – I’ll try to keep the blog up to date the next few days!

Best. Birthday.

So the end of yesterday was FABulous! I ended up not snacking on much throughout the day (except my brownies and some almonds) I never had my chili. I was starving when I got home and really excited for dinner. Chris and I got to BLT Steak and the menu looked great. They had a few specials for the night too, and I was looking at getting a side with our meal of squash gnocchi, but we told the waiter I was on a special diet and he talked to the kitchen and they said their is gluten in that dish, so we passed. We ended up ordering a bottle of wine, I got the tuna tartar for my app and Chris got a duck leg confit. WOW, they were both so great. (let me back up) Before we ordered appetizers, they gave us what looked to be a pate with 2 pieces of crunchy bread. I waited to see if Chris said I should try it, he suggested I do. I first had some without any bread, and then had a tiny piece with it. It wasn't anything to rave about, it was interesting rather. It ended up being a chicken (i think) liver pate. One little bite, and I was done with that. Then the brought over the popovers. I've heard people rave about these. I asked Chris to have some first and see if it was something I should just try (I could have made it through without any bread) He said it was really THAT good and to just try a bite. He pulled a small (very small) piece off for me and I ate it all. Yes, it was good, and it was THAT good, but that's all I ate, just the tiny piece on my plate. Yea, I could have gone for more (or the whole thing), but I didn't have to and it wasn't that hard to pass up while it sat on the table. Good.

Back to the appetizers. Tuna tartar and duck. The tuna came over avocado (picture is a lot prettier then I'm describing it!) It was so good, and healthy. It was served with what looked to be huge potato chips. I broke off a piece of that and tried the tuna with it. The chip didn't add much so that was the end of the chips! Chris' duck was so delicious, can't even describe it!

Onto dinner - we ordered the fish (snapper) for 2. What a great choice. The manager came out and presented the FULL cooked fish to us and then took it back in the kitchen to be filleted. It was served with parts of the crispy skin + some julienne veggies in a type of very very light soy-ish sauce. It was so great! I don't think we could have gone wrong ordering many of the things on the menu, but I was happy we kept everything so light. We were brought a dessert menu and I just asked if we could not look at it and pass on everything. We did. Then I was brought out a bowl of fruit with a candle! FRUIT! Fruit! What a great birthday dessert.

The day was great. The dinner was delicious. My company there was even better. The best part of the day/meal - Chris called ahead and told them it was my birthday. They had originally made cookies for the occasion, but he said I was on a special diet and asked if they could do something a bit for paleo - hence the bowl of fruit for our dessert. (Yes, I held back tears when I found this out) I am so lucky to have such a supportive boyfriend. It's made this challenge much more manageable!

Like I said, it was the best birthday!

I'm off to NY at 1pm today and get back around midnight on Sunday. My plan is to try and stay as paleo as possible (I hope a piece of thin NY pizza doesn't fall into my tummy), but I do plan to have good food as well as an amazing time. Expect an update at the beginning of next week sometime :)

25th Birthday! ..and Day 25 of the Challenge!

I'm 25! Wow, old...hah. But guess what, I feel GOOD! I got into work this morning and a co-worker made me paleo brownies for my birthday! So sweet, and I really appreciate the support beyond belief. It's hard to eat paleo, and especially when I'm always surrounded by temptation! Anyways, I took a chunk of the brownies and shared the rest with the office, I think they were ok received, not necessarily well received. For breakfast, well, you can guess, i had some brownies and water, a tiny bit of coffee with coconut milk and cinnamon. Lunch/snack so far I've had an apple with almond butter.

Dinner tonight will be at BLT Steak!!! I've never been but their menu looks amazing! What I'm ordering is already pre-planned. Tuna tartar for an app and the fish for 2. Supposedly I'll need to ask for non 'popovers' [bread]. I've heard they are great and HAVE to be tried, well, not tonight!

I'm sure I'll snack again before dinner. I've got some leftover turkey chili which looks to be a good 2-3pm snack!

Day 24

So this am I got up feeling pretty hungry. I ate 2 hardboiled eggs when I got to the office and a handful of red-seedless grapes. Water with breakfast. Mid-morning I had some hot tea (non-decaf!). I was super excited for lunch as we went to Village Tavern (not the best menu options, but I had a good one picked out) and a coworker and I split 3 bacon-wrapped scallops and I ordered the spaghetti squash (no cheese and sauce on the side). It came out and looked delicious – I’ve never had this before and I’ve been wanting to try it (just not make it). The bowl had squash, zucchini, peppers, broccoli and onions. The sauce on the side was a roma tomato sauce which looked decently fresh. The meal was delicious, the scallops did have a glaze on it, but it wasn’t soaked in a sauce and I was able to put smaller amounts of the tomato sauce on every few bites that I wanted from lunch. My snack in the afternoon was an apple with almond butter - I shared a few pieces with my coworkers.

By the time I got downtown from work I couldn't get to CFPT, go figure. So I debated trying to workout in my apartment gym, but thought better about it so I went straight to Chris' and did the CFPT workout for the day in his gym. Thank goodness he has a pullup bar and abmat etc. I felt great after completing the workout and not going to a stupid gym with 1 treadmill and elliptical when I had better options!

I brought over dinner for us to make together. 1 piece of hawaiian salmon from fresh market, an apple, a side salad I made with egg, bacon, tomatoes, and chicken and some of the leftover spaghetti squash. It was a mix of food but boy was it tasty! Paleo paleo paleo.

Tomorrow is my 25th birthday - also the 25th day of the challenge!

Day's End!

Alright, so we decided where to eat lunch tomorrow and it's Village Tavern. I've decided on my meal (that way I can't change it) and I just need to ask them to make a few tweaks (no cheese, sauce on the side) and it should be good to go! So excited to finally try spaghetti squash. Anyways, after work today I ran to Whole Foods and got some almond butter and grapes. I've bought almond butter before but never really used it in cooking/eating etc. (see later paragraph)

Anyways, after that I decided to go to LA Fitness. Holy boringness. That is the most un-motivating place. I got on the treadmill and did a walk, ran for a bit, then did sprint on a incline of 11-12 for 20 seconds each (took part of an endurance WOD and modified it) Well, without someone yelling at me or music pumping me up or someone to cheer me on, I walked around the gym for a minute. Studied the scary weight area where ONLY guys were working out and decided I'd just go do sprints on the rower. Did some of those and called it a day. Yea, I sweat and feel okay but it was not a CF workout and it sure as hell wasn't today's WOD. What an eye opener. Sure, I could have pushed myself to run more or go work on deadlifts, but unfortunately the people there looked like boring drones and it just wasn't for me. I am happy I finally got something aerobic in though! I'll see what time I get back to Atlanta tomorrow but I may be stuck going for a run outside (I HATE RUNNING!) or back at LA fitness (see my last capital letters...)

On to dinner and snack. I came in from the gym and was starving, I really needed some energy. I cut up and apple and ate it with almond butter. There's no way to describe how good it tasted. WOW. What have I been missing. What an awesome snack! I brought dinner with me home (staying in Alpharetta for the evening). I pre-made a salad (small side) and I added spinach, eggs, bacon, olive oil, splash of balsamic, and chicken. I also had the other 1/2 of the burger meat. I heated that up but never ended up eating it. I ate my small salad and my mom had made noodles, green beans and ... meatloaf... for dinner! The meatloaf looked delicious, I had a small piece but no more. She said it's ground beef, about 1/3 cup tomato sauce, some breadcrumbs to hold it together, and onions and seasonings. It's not bad for you by any means (although I assume she didn't buy the leanest meat) but I didn't want to make it a cheat with the sauce and breadcrumbs. So a small piece and that was it. She actually wouldn't let me have anymore she said - which leads me to my next paragraph..... the 'what the hell is paleo' talk with my parents.

So I've eaten pasta my whole life. Yes, I love pasta. I love sauces, the love the 2 together. I especially love bread. So my parents are confused by what's been going on for the past few weeks. My dad actually laughed at me, not only today, but this weekend at the GT tailgate. He thought I was ridiculous and could not keep it up etc etc. Honestly, I was hurt. I explained to them both that I'd appreciate the support and it's not the easiest thing. Then i was questioned, this isn't something i claim to be a master at or all-knowing. I'm giving it a shot. So, why meat, chickens weren't alive back then (yea...i know what you are thinking..) they didn't have this and that. Well, i understand that didn't have brownies 10234328798 years ago, but I can make brownies out of all natural ingredients (paleo). What about sauces and cans that say "all natural". Well, I guarantee that they aren't. Flip them over and read the ingredients. We also discussed lean cuisines and how those are NOT good for you no matter how they promote their lower calories and lower sodium meals. The comments that hurt the most were centered around 'let's see how long you keep this up'. Thanks! I've been supported through graduating GT, playing sports, traveling and having a job, but this one thing seems to be different. Great. At the end of dinner, I felt like they did have a better sense of paleo eating, and by better, i mean, they know more now then the nothing they did before. I encouraged them to give it a try and it more or less got shot down. Going over and above, I encouraged them to try CF, and got a ton of excuses from my dad (he has had a lot of medical problems) but I'm sure they could both be more active. Anyways, it's a topic I'd be happy to bring up again at another time. End of story - another good day of eating and some decent conversation with my family. I'm excited for them to warm up to the idea of healthier eating and possibly trying to incorporate some paleo/workout action in there!

Day 23

So I felt good waking up this am. Last night after dinner I had a banana as a snack and drank a lot of water and went to bed. This AM I had hard boiled eggs and some pecans. A banana as a mid morning snack and a few more almonds. I realized from doing some reading/googling that bananas aren’t the best thing for me as they are carb packed. Oops. Article Well, I’ll try and not eat too many bananas. Lunch I had some of my grilled chicken and about ½ of a burger that was grilled on Saturday during our tailgate – YEA for finding leftovers! I took off the bun and cheese and heated both of those up. This was a grass fed burger with fresh cracked pepper from whole foods. I’m on a good roll! I’m staying in Alpharetta tonight so I’ll be able to re-heat the other part of the burger and some more chicken for dinner and hopefully add a veggie side to it. I already have extra hardboiled eggs for breakfast tomorrow and our team is going out to lunch in Alpharetta. I’ve scoped out the places that we may go out and there looks to be something at all places so I should be good. One place, Village Tavern, even has spaghetti squash which I’ve been wanting to try – although I’m more hesitant as to how they prepare it. We’ll see where we end up going out tomorrow.

Again I woke up with my neck being a pain. It’s definitely less stiff then yesterday, but just as sore. Well, I need to get in a workout! I’m going to run some errands up here and get to LA Fitness (yes, I know – I just said the globo gym) But I’ll have a treadmill to run on and who knows what else. I can’t get down to CFPT and don’t feel like doing a drop in somewhere else – not to mention, I’m limited with my neck. Regardless, I just need to be active. NY is 3 days away. And I want to look as sexy as possible. I’m sure my 2 new pairs of riding boots I bought yesterday will help ;)

Day 22

Today ended on a positive note after the weekend that just happened. I never ended up eating my chili for lunch but had some applesauce and OJ. I just wasn't that hungry. My neck was still sore so I didn't work out. For dinner I ate the leftover chili and grilled chicken for the next day or two. I harboiled eggs as well. I'll be working in Alpharetta the next two days which means I need to pre-prepare my meals. I know the team is staying in tomorrow for lunch but we're going out on Wednesday. I'm not sure where, but I'll stay paleo! I'm really hoping that my neck is better tomorrow, I want to get a workout in!

So my birthday is this Thursday - I'm not as excited about the actual day as I thought I'd be. I'm turning 25, and I really hoped a year after 'joining crossfit' (which includes my 6-8 months of being out of town and not committing myself to CF) that I'd be in a better shape then I am. Honestly, there's just this dress that I really want to wear - well 2 of them. They were gifts a year ago - I didn't look good in them/they didn't really zip up, and I don't look the way I want to in them now. It's disappointing and it just points out that I haven't done what I wanted to this past year. I failed not only myself, but people close to me. Well, at least I've learned from this challenge, as I've said time and time again, it's all about the choices you make. I plan (and this time it's in writing) to be a better me this time next year. Whatever that means, making better health decisions, being at a goal weight, having a better mile time etc. I plan to not let myself down again.

On the Happy Birthday note - I've been excited about trips before: the Bahamas, Mexico, etc, but I am darned excited about NY. This is going to a be a great trip!