Whole30 Reset: Day 25 - 30

I DID IT!!!

I was so busy preparing for our shredding event and Kensington walkabout that I was not able to keep up with this blog. I'm definitely disappointed because I feel like it shouldn't be that hard to make one entry a day, yet here I am. On Friday I was really busy getting prepared for the events on Saturday and I'm sure I had my usual breakfast and then I think I had Chipotle for lunch maybe... And for dinner I've been making that chicken potato dish because it's super easy and really yummy and I just ran out of the Cajun spice I've been using from Weber. Saturday was the shredding event and the Kensington Walkabout which went really really well. We met some great people from our neighborhood including neighbors from our street so that was really nice. We also met a few people who might be able to use our services which of course is wonderful. After the event I was so tired. My legs hurt really bad but I really wanted to see Isle of dogs so Damion and I went to go see it at a new theater we hadn't been to.    While the theater was terrible the movie was  Excellent! It's honestly one of the best movies I've seen in my opinion especially of its kind. It was funny it was sad the story was interesting the work that went into the movie was incredible. They did this thing where they would show the same scene from two different views for example one would be first person and the other would be  An aerial view.  I feel like everyone should see it and maybe it's not for everyone but it's definitely an incredible movie. Sunday I had my normal breakfast I can't really remember what I had for lunch but I went grocery shopping and bought more groceries so hopefully I can finish strong. I did realize that I'm going to Disneyland on Wednesday and I thought that that would be my day 30 but my day 30 is actually on Tuesday because I started the day before I announced it on my blog so at least I did actually finish it and I don't have to feel like I have no willpower lol. Today I have my normal breakfast I'll update later with what I had for lunch and dinner but I definitely feel good and I can't wait to see what my results are as far as weight loss goes. But I have definitely benefited from getting used to cooking at home again and finding snacks in the produce section instead of less healthy aisles.

4/20/18 Update: Well I COMPLETED it!  It was definitely difficult to keep up with the blog when I had so much to do but I'm just glad I can say I completed it.  I lost ~25 pounds.  I didn't weigh myself on day 1 so I had to go off old numbers.  But I can say more importantly I gained back those good habits I need in my life going forward.  Melissa just started a 9 day mini reset that I am really excited about.  I can totally fit that in between my trips coming up!

Thank you for coming along this journey with me.  For those of you reading this that helped encourage me along the way, THANK YOU.  Without you, I don't know if I could complete this.  Surrounding yourself with people that support your choice to change your lifestyle is the best thing you can do for yourself if you want to try this.  But I guarantee you will be happy with the results.  <3

Whole30 Reset: Day 24

Boy am I counting down the days.  I have 6 days left.

I need to remind myself that this reset has been to help me get back into better habits, NOT to dream about when it is over.  Trust me, I am still learning.  I definitely cannot wait til I can have ice cream again, but I think I am going to save those cravings for special things.  Like ice cream in Australia and New Zealand!  I mean look at this place called iCreamy.  I want pretty flower ice cream cones!

For breakfast today I had eggs, bacon and mixed lettuce. 

For lunch Damion took me to Chipotle and I had my usual.

For dinner: That delicious chicken dish I made the other day (See Day 21) is what I will make tonight.  I am going to enter this early so that I do not forget to enter it later. :D  I'll update if there are any changes.

Whole30 Reset: Day 23

Today I had my normal breakfast.  I've been wanting to make egg bite cupcakes but I keep forgetting and never prepped it.  I need to go grocery shopping again.

For lunch I met my darling friend, Megan, for lunch and we drove down to Old Town to try out Ceviche House.  It was very good.  I was surprised by how few people there were inside considering the food was excellent!  And the bowl of ceviche I was given was only $10!  It's right next to Cafe Coyote. 

Megan ordered some kind of Chorizo potato ball 'Papas & Chorizo' that she enjoyed.  She mentioned it definitely had a spicy 'kick'.  The menu said it was Opah Abductor (what is that??), Kennebec Potatoes, Panko, Roasted Salsa Verde.

I ordered the Puerto Ceviche which consisted of White Shrimp, Jicama, Sweet Peppers and Pico.  It was very fresh tasting with just enough lime to not be too sour.  It had zero sugar/soy in it so I was all set!

I will definitely be returning!

For dinner, Damion made Steak with Potatoes, onions and bell pepper.  He made an over easy egg for my plate cause I asked nicely.  hehe...  I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture but it was delicious!  I used a little of Tessamae's ketchup.

My goodness am I still suffering from wanting garbage food.  I ALMOST ate a small taster piece of cake from Nothing Bundt cakes but left victorious.  I went there to get a cake for my coworker, Terri, as it is her birthday tomorrow (4/12).  I also got her this beautiful plant called an Orange Star Blossom.  I LOVE THIS PLANT.  I'm excited to give that to her tomorrow.

Whole30 Reset: Day 22

I cannot remember what I ate.  I am late with this entry.... I think this tends to happen near the end because a few of my meals are repeat meals so I don't take pictures of them and then I forget what I had!

I believe I had my usual eggs, bacon, mixed lettuce for breakfast with a black cup of coffee. 

For lunch I think I went home and didn't have time to make anything so I grazed a few things like an orange... and carrots.  This was really bad so I was super hungry when I got home and Damion was kind enough to rush me over to Chipotle for my usual carnitas salad. 

Nothing exciting happened this day.  I have been super busy at work trying to work out the best deal for a new copier.  Negotiating is fun but doing all the research behind each company and the equipment being offered can get a little hairy!  Anyways... sorry for this boring quick entry! x.x

Whole30 Reset: Day 19 - 21

The weekend went by too fast!! On Saturday, I spent the day with my friend Gloria.  We went to go see a family member perform in the Temecula area.  She was really super talented.  I ended up eating random stuff from Trader Joe's and honestly cannot remember what it all was.  I had a smoothie from Nektar that was very good.  It just had fruit and veggies and ice.  Nothing with 'juice' or sugar.  We went shopping and definitely got a lot of steps in our day.  So while I did not keep track of what I ate, I DID stick to my Whole30 rules.  :)

On Sunday, I made my usual for breakfast.  Then my pal Mark (universe twin) came down to visit me.  We were sad as we attempted to play MarioKart 8 and learned that my Wii U Disc reader is not working properly :(  So we watched Pixar shorts instead.  We also watched Wall-E!! I forgot how much I love that movie!  For lunch we went to Point Loma Seafood.  Mark ordered a super yummy looking Scallop sandwich.  I ordered the grilled catch of the day which was swordfish (I asked what they grill it with and they said extra virgin olive oil so that worked!) and it came with steamed veggies and rice but I asked for no rice so they gave me extra veggies.  It was super filling, I couldn't even finish it!  For dinner I made Steak Frites.  I used ghee to grill the steaks and for the fries I seasoned them with salt, pepper, parsley and garlic.  I cooked them with onions as well.  It came out really good.  :)

TODAY!  So this morning Damion made me eggs, bacon and potatoes.  For lunch I ate leftovers from 3 days ago.  Funny enough I made it for dinner too!  See my Day 18 entry for the recipe!

So I will try to get better at not missing entries.  I just had too much fun this weekend.  I always love when I get to see my friends here so I threw my blog out the window.  Sometimes it is more important to fully experience the things around you and I find logging them can be distracting for me.  So I have stopped trying to capture everything and focus on things that are important to me.  That is not to say that I think this is the 'right way to do things' I love when people catalog and share, I just find that I cannot fully experience things when I am distracted by 'checking in' and taking pictures or ... I don't know.  Maybe I am on a rant again. lol... anyways.. I will try to get better at logging for the purpose of keeping track of my progress.  I am learning that the real reward for this journey is that I make accomplishments every day with each good choice.  The scale can no longer tell me whether or not I have succeeded and so it should not.  :)

Ok, I am going to focus on watching Harry Potter with my gal pals now <3

Whole30 Reset: Day 18

Is it day 18?  It's gone by so fast.  

I am in the timeline stage of 'Tiger Blood' where I am supposed to feel like I GOT THIS.  But honestly it seems like I am still fighting cravings.  I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I am planning the trip coming up and I have to look at pictures of food to see where the eateries are for meals in between driving and what not.  I am doing what I should not be doing, obsessing about good (bad) food.  I need to participate less in conversations that glorify bad foods.  I can't expect people around me to walk on eggshells when it comes to talking about food.  A lot of my friends are 'foodies' though not necessarily health foodies.  I feel strongly about respecting everyone's lifestyle and not comparing your own or trying to make anyone feel like you are better than them, because really, we all balance out somewhere.  I am not 'better' than anyone.  I guess I just need more support and less negative influence.  But you know... I should see it as a challenge.  I should take this opportunity to learn to be stronger when it comes to resisting temptations.  I am resisting them physically but I NEED to resist them mentally too.

I'll be honest, I have an issue with self-control.  It's weird to say that here.  I mean I don't think very many people read these posts anyway so I'm not exactly 'putting it out there' but I do have issues with self-control.  I don't ever 'reward' myself because my habits were to eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and that leaves no room for rewards!  Rich foods were part of the daily!  When I say that now it makes me wonder why I thought that was normal.  I believe it is because it is what is readily available.  It is what's pushed in my face from media.  It's everywhere and you can't escape it.  But I CAN TURN IT OFF.  So that is what I am going to do.  I will no longer fantasize about bad food.  I will no longer call it 'good' food.  It is bad food.  And when people talk about desiring it I will just turn it off in my head.  Yes, it tastes good.  But it is not normal to eat it regularly.  It is a treat!  I've never even thought of food as a treat before!  This is such a 1st world problem and I am super embarrassed to have it.  I get angry about that fact that we have so much garbage food pushed on us every day.  Ugh!  Ok.  I am going to stop my rant.  I'm sure you have lost interest in hearing my rage against the machine. lol

Anyways, here are the food choices I made for myself today:

Breakfast - I had my usual, bacon (from Pederson's Farms as they do not use sugar...have I told you that?) and eggs (organic, non-gmo, no steroids, free range) with a handful of organic spinach.  You don't need a picture, do you?  Good, cause I ate it all.

Lunch - I stopped by Chipotle and had the carnitas over a salad with diced tomatoes, guacamole and red salsa.  No beans, no rice, no dressing.

Dinner - For dinner I bought organic skinless chicken thighs, zucchini, potato, onion and mixed lettuce.  I seasoned the chicken with Weber N'Orleans Cajun seasoning and then set the ninja cooker to stove-top hot.  I chopped the potatoes and the zucchini and onions into thick slices and placed them in the ninja cooker with a little olive oil.  I seasoned them with salt, pepper, parsley and garlic powder, mixed them around and then scoot them all to the side.  I placed in the chicken to the right of it and then covered it with the lid.  After about 10 minutes I turned the heat down to medium.  I want to say it was done in about 25 minutes.  I really should have timed it.  The chicken was definitely cooked.  It smelled divine and the taste was as true as the smell.  I definitely need to make that again!

Luckily I had leftovers so I will definitely use those for dinner tomorrow!  :)  I am super sleepy and it is 10:06pm... When did that become the new 2am.  GOODNIGHT WORLD!

Whole30 Reset: Day 16

I really wish I could weigh myself.  I don't like when I cannot see progress.  I know Melissa wants us to separate the number on a scale from what we think is healthy so that we can focus on the habits we are making that will keep us healthy but man... I feel like I can't measure the success!  Though I will say that my clothes are starting to fit a little better.  In fact I think I already told you that. 

I stopped taking photos of breakfast because it was the same thing every day and today was no exception.  Today I had 3 eggs over spring lettuce and 2 pieces of bacon plus my black cup of coffee.

For lunch I came home and used that chicken from last.  I put it in a salad with hard boiled eggs and tomatoes and topped it with Tessamae's Ranch dressing.

For dinner I made a sort of...deconstructed Bacon Burger.  I used the Black Angus Burger Patty from Trader Joe's and cut it up.  On the plate I layered with the mixed spring salad as the base, cherry tomatoes, grilled onions, chopped bacon and finally the chopped beef patty.  I drizzled a little of Tessamae's ketchup all over and put a side of pickles. It was pretty darn good!

For dessert I had a small bowl of watermelon.  I've been lazy with how I write these.  I love to throw some solid comedy in there but lately I feel like I am just dumping what I ate into my entries and running for the hills after.  I lack focus.  I would love to find ways to improve my focus!

I did learn that I will be getting my own office later this year!  Woohoo!  I am very excited for that.  We are going to expand our business from the main floor to both floors so we will officially have the whole house!  (If I haven't told you, I work in a craftsman historic home that was built in 1910)  I mean look at this house, isn't it beautiful!

So yay for that.  Ok, I am tired so I am going to watch youtube til I drop my phone on face and eventually fall asleep.  Goodnight!

BE honest.  You've done it too.

Whole30 Reset: Day 15

DAY 15!!  HALF WAY THERE!

I can't believe how fast this is going!!! Half way there means I am half way to my trip to Disneyland with gal pals and half way to my trip to New Zealand!  Whaaaaat??  I feel really good today.  I went to bed a little earlier than usual yesterday so I woke up well rested.  I made my usual bacon and eggs on a bed of spinach and had an extra cup of coffee this morning.  I do not have lunch prepared but I am thinking I might run down to wholefoods to make a salad.  I have dressing in the fridge here at work so that should do!

I ended up stopping by Trader Joe's and picked up some mixed spring lettuce, cherry tomatoes, avocado to go packs and prosciutto.  I picked at the prosciutto and made a plain salad with Caeser dressing.  I ate it pretty fast as it was very busy at the office.

The day went by so fast I didn't get ANY pictures of my meals!  Sorry!  What a lame half way there post!  I feel like the closer I get to the end the less enthusiasm I have to enter in these diaries.  But I am going to do it and I am going to finish!  My dinner was ugly looking anyways.  I put some chicken in Matt's BBQ sauce and added a little red hot.  Then made garlic fries just like I did a couple days ago (recipe is in that post... I'll update with which post if your interested in how to make healthy french fries).  It was delicious together but the dish did not look pretty.  I had a little extra chicken so I put it in tupperware and will use it for a salad tomorrow.

Whole30 Reset: Day 14

Today I woke up and made a usual breakfast of eggs and bacon on top of mixed spring lettuce.  And my Sprouts Breakfast Blend coffee.  My clothes are starting to fit a little better.  Yay!  It's so strange to think that with all I eat I am LOSING weight.  It just happens because I am no longer consuming all the sugar and crap in processed foods.  but it is amazing.

I had to run to the post office and a media store on my lunch break but I was able to get home and made a super quick Steak Fajita plate with avocado slices.  It was so easy to make!  I just put on a steak that I seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and chili.  I heat up a little less than a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and put the steak in there for 6 minutes each side.  I added sauteed veggies that I purchased from Trader Joe's so that I would not have to chop up all the veggies.  Those bad boys are life savers!

I have a feeling I am just going to eat the leftovers of this when I get home because it was enough for two people so I was able to put some aside for later.  I am happy for that!  NO MORE COOKING! lol... I mean, I love to cook...but man sometimes I just want to go home and sleep.

Whole30 Reset: Day 13

Damion made us breakfast today.  He made scrambled eggs (he added a little almond milk to make them fluffy), bacon and fruit salad (bananas and strawberries).  It was very good and I was so hungry I didn't take a picture of it.  :( 

For lunch I made us Blank Angus Burgers with french fries.  I placed a bed of spring mixed lettuce on the plate, added the burger meat, and topped it with a fried egg.  I chopped up a potato and threw them in the Ninja cooker with a little bit of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and seasoned them with cayenne, garlic, salt and pepper and threw in some sliced onion with them.  Turned the cooker on medium stovetop heat.  I used a little of Tessamae's ketchup and let me tell you this was the BEST lunch I have made so far!!  I bought an enormous jar of pickles as well so I cut one up to serve on the side.  I definitely have to make this again.

I skipped dinner but that's because I ate watermelon spears and was too full to eat anything else!  I felt emotional today.  I'm not sure what made me feel so sad but poor Damion was on the receiving end of a tantrum I had because I dropped my iced coldbrew from Starbucks.  Honestly I don't deserve him.  He is so incredibly patient with me!  But I did get myself together and felt better near the end of the day.  Every day stress has been getting to me lately.  With all these travel plans coming up I feel the pressure financially to be able to keep up with it all.  I need to find balance in my life in that aspect.  

Why can't we just all have a million dollars each?? I need a stimulus!! :P

Whole30 Reset: Day 12

Spring is here!!!! I read online about the Flower Field in Carlsbad and about lost my shit.  (Pardon my English)  It looked so beautiful, I just HAD TO GO and what better way to take Lucy back home than to stop by this beautiful spot in bloom.  So we decided to do it.  For breakfast, we all had potatoes and eggs with a little spinach.  Pretty much what I have been making every day but with a little more spinach and potatoes.  I forgot to take a picture x.x We also stopped by Dark Horse Coffee where I got a cold brew.

We decided to get the wagon tickets which were only $5 per person.  It was TOTALLY worth it.   Here are a few photos from our day.

 

I didn't have lunch prepped so we stopped by Trader Joe's and I ate some weird combo stuff. lol  I had prosciutto, manzilla olives, and watermelon spears.  I ordered a hot coffee for the trip to Whittier and headed off.  We dropped Lucy off and I was able to see my sisters Amara and Nicole and my wonderful nephews <3  It made my day.  I wish I could have stayed but we had evening plans.  We caught so much traffic back that we were late. x.x  

For dinner, I had the chicken leftovers and we ate a LOT of strawberries (we bought them from the flower field!).  That was my Saturday.  I can't wait to go back to that flower garden!

Whole30 Reset Day 11

Today I had the day off work.  I did a terrible job staying on top of taking pictures for the purpose of this blog.  I was using Snapchat a lot though!  I wanted to take Lucy to Better Buzz so she could try the Better Breakfast Sandwich (AKA Best breakfast sandwich in the WORLD) so I made myself breakfast while they were sleeping.  I wake up really early.  So I made my usual and had a cup of coffee.

After breakfast we all got ready and headed to Better Buzz in Hillcrest.  I ordered a cold brew and drank it black.  It's SO YUMMY!  Best cold brew I have had.  Honestly I am in love with this place.  Lucy LOVED the Better Breakfast sandwich (as I expected) and Damion had one as well.  I sat there like a good girl and sipped my cold brew completely satisfied.  :D

Lucy and I dropped Damion off at home and we went out gallivanting (we went to Marukai and Tokyo Central & Main) and a couple other random stops.  We were pretty hungry by lunch time so we went to a few groceries stores to get things we needed to make drumsticks 3 ways.  We did buffalo style using red hot, bbq style using Tessame's Matt's BBQ sauce and then we did a Lemon Pepper wing using a Primal Kitchen marinade, lemons and some spices.  They turned out delicious!!  We also had a side plate of veggies and used Tessamae's Ranch Dressing for dipping. 

We painted in the evening... I think I skipped a meal without realizing it.  I know I had a Chomp beef stick somewhere in there to hold me over but I do need to stop letting that happen.  Skipping a meal makes you hungrier which leads to over eating and I know my body metabolizes differently when I skip meals.  Anyways, it was a fun day.   <3