It's Crunch Time!

So as you can see, I don't really care for the blogging thing.  LOL  I also am not good at sticking to my "challenges."  Too many "start-overs."  I have not been able to get my mind set on sticking to my paleo "diet."  It's not that I don't enjoy eating this way (I do), nor is it difficult (it's very satisfying!), it's just that I've not been able to mentally set my mind to being disciplined when it comes to temptations and distractions to eat junk.  I need to tell myself how bad sugars and wheat are, and the negative effects it has on my body. 

I am moving to Los Angeles in 60 days.  I want/have to lose 20lbs by then!!!!  I know I can do it.  No more falling off the wagon, no more distractions, no more giving in to temptations.  I have let myself keep this weight on for 5 years, and let it frustrate me every day.  I cannot continue to let it ruin my life in the form of making me feel insecure and shaking my confidence.  I want to go to LA and start PT school feeling leaner and confident.  I know when I'm there I can continue the weight loss process.  But first I have to get it started again.  Now is the last time!!!!

On June 27 I am getting a physical done, which means I'll get bloodwork done.  I am very curious as to what my numbers will look like after eating a clean paleo diet for 25 days!!  I want my doctor to be impressed, and I can preach how great the paleo diet actually is!

So here I go again... on MONDAY, June 4 I will give up wheat, sugar, grains, legumes and dairy.  Well, I will allow some dairy in the form of cheese ONLY when going out to a restaurant.  It will be difficult to give up beer, but I'm going to do it.

As for what I'm going to eat, I'm just going to keep it simple, and not worry about "new recipes".  I'm going to stick with the basics for now:
-meats such as hamburgers, steak, bacon, pot roasts and pork roasts
-lots of vegetables
-some fruits such as blueberries, raspberries and grapefruit
-eggs, some nuts such as almonds and pistachios

As for workouts, I'm going to start doing my own Crossfit workouts again. 
-Crossfit workouts 3 days a week
-running 3 days a week
-cycling or mountain biking 2 or 3 days a week

Tomorrow I'm going to an all day country concert, so I'm gonna be drinking a lot of beer, and most likely gorging on some sort of junk fast food afterwards.   In the morning I will feel like crap, and be reminded of why I want to eat Paleo in the first place!  ;o)

I will try to post some blogs.  I'd be more likely to post if I knew people would leave me comments.  So please comment and encourage me.  I really need it.  :/

Why not join me?!?  ;o)

~Tina

Day 3

Had a coffee with 3 Truvia packets and 4 little Vanilla creamers (bad!) this morning.  Then had a Honey Stinger Waffle around 11am.  The waffles are not paleo, but I'm letting myself eat them anyway.  LOL

Ate lunch after work, around 3pm.   Had a bowl of my carnitas, and a couple raspberries.

At 5:30 I did a 21 mile bike ride with a friend of mine, along with a group of people with a local bike shop.  It was quite hilly and kicked my butt!  Felt good to get back out on my road bike, though.  When the trails are too wet to go mountain biking, I want to start road riding instead,

At 9pm my family brought me back Chipotle since they went out to dinner without me.  Good thing, though, because they had Mexican!  No chips for me  :( So I had a barbacoa bol with white rice, tomatoes, lettuce and cheese.  I know true paleo is no grains, but I'm allowing rice on occasion.  Then I had a couple raspberries to satisfy my sweet craving.

My sister brought over homemade cookies for my parents that looked delicious!  I successfully was able to not be tempted to eat a bite!  :)

I'm exhausted now!

Here is the recipe for the Carnitas:  I don't follow them exactly.  I tend to not measure out ingredients and just throw them in as I please!  lol

Crockpot TexMex Carnitas

2-3 lbs pork (butt/shoulder works best)

1/4 c. diced yellow onions

1/4 c. diced green chiles (canned is okay)

1 tsp. fresh minced garlic

1 1/4 c. (1 small can) diced tomatoes

1 tbsp cumin

2 tsp onion powder

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tbsp agave/honey

2 tsp. lime juice

2 tbsp. orange juice

1/2 c. barbecue sauce

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients in a crockpot on low 6-8 hours.
2. About an hour prior to eating (if possible), shred the pork with a fork and stir.
3. Serve in lettuce bowls/wraps.

Day 2

Short post tonight.  My allergies are terrible today.  Running nose and sneezing non-stop.  Headed to bed right after I type this.  :(

Ate my first meal of the day at 1:30pm- half a spaghetti squash with marinara and my homemade meatballs.  Also a few raspberries.

Around 5:30 I had a small spinach salad with some pine nuts and "Garlic Expressions" olive oil dressing, a few cashews, and an apple.  Mostly out of boredom, I wasn't really hungry!

At 6:30 I had 3 strawberries and 2 blanched asparagus stalks (part of the kids dinner, so I had some too).

I ate dinner at 9pm- another spinach salad with tomato, half an avocado, some mushrooms, and a vinaigrette dressing.  Had some sugar-free pudding afterwards, with about a tablespoon of chia seeds sprinkled in.  I shouldn't eat the pudding- it's full of fake sugars and chemicals!!  :(   Chia seeds are a popular nutrition fad right now.  They are high in fiber and Omega 3 fats.

I'll write another post tomorrow night!

May Challenge!!

Alright everyone, the blog is back!

I'm going to try my best to blog every night, however I will be out of town next week, so may not be able to get onto a computer...so no promises!

So obviously it's been a rough few months since I ended my Whole30 Challenge on January 31st.  I had great success with it, and really wanted to continue it, but allowing some cheats every now and then.  Well, that fell through.  lol  It was hard because too often I would be "tempted" by something bad- cookies, beer, pizza.... 

Well it's really crunch time now.  I move to LA in 3 months.  That means I only have 3 months to get my body to a decent weight where I will fee more comfortable and more confident starting my new life, in the city full of beautiful bodies. LOL   I know I will continue to lose weight while I am there, and I'm very confident that eventually I'll get my lean body back!!  But for now, I need to really get mentally focused and remember all of my reasons for living a paleo lifestyle and "eating like a caveman".

So today I started my own "Paleo Challenge", as I am calling it.  It's not the Whole30- it's a bit more relaxed, meaning that I am allowing some cheese, beans, and alcohol.  What I am not allowed to have is sugar or grains.  Basically I'm trying to eat as low carb as possible.  Meats, vegetables, and some fruits.

I've actually already started this challenge- I haven't had any sugars or grains since last Friday!  I have seen the scale start to drop again, so I am now motivated again!!  :)  It's true that all I really need is just a few good days to get me going again!

Today I skipped breakfast since I didn't have time to make anything at 6:30am.  I did get a UDF coffee, which I put in 2 Truvia packets and 3 vanilla creamers and 2 half n halfs.  I probably should cut that stuff out!   I honestly never really got that hunger pang!  I didn't eat until 3pm- I made a salad from the Kroger salad bar; spring mix lettuce, bacon, hardboiled eggs, carrots, peppers, mushrooms, garbanzo beans, sesame seeds, mozzarella cheese, with a vinaigrette.  (I need to make my own salad dressing!)  Then I had a small handful of frozen blueberries.  At 9pm I ate two hotdogs at the Reds stadium (no bun!), and had a serving of Lays potato chips (I should cut this out, too)  So see, I'm not being perfect, but I'm trying to keep my sanity and remain realistic with eating this way for the rest of my life.  

I feel good today.  I ate satisfying meals and didn't have cravings for anything.  Successful day!

Well that's a good start to Day 1 of the new challenge!

Please leave comments!  :o)

Tina

April Fool's!!

;o)

So just as I thought, I'm not starting my challenge today.  Instead I'm eating leftover hot dogs, chips n salsa, and birthday cake from last night's Surprise 50th Birthday party for my mom!  ;)

We're grilling out again for dinner- cheeseburgers and hotdogs.  I stopped by Graeter's in hopes of getting some of the new flavor- Cake Batter Fudge Brownie, but unfortunately they were out.  :(  So I got chip wheelies for my parents and I for dessert tonight.  One last sugar indulgence before I go sugar-free for hopefully a long time!  (next weekend will be tough with Easter candy everywhere!)

Tomorrow we're going to the grocery to get our meats and vegetables.  I plan on making another batch of meatballs to freeze, and will make a new pulled pork recipe (carnitas!).  Going to try to eat only meats, vegetables and eggs this week.  Going as low-carb as possible!  Wednesday night I'm going to see "The Hunger Games" again, so it'll be tough to pass on the popcorn...I may allow it (but no Icee!)   ;o)

I'll write again tomorrow night to check in how I did on Day 1!!

For the LAST time!!

Ok, seriously.  I am starting the Whole30 Challenge over on Sunday, April 1st!!!  (unless I pull an April Fool's! haha)

I have 4 months left in Cincinnati, 4 months left to lose as much weight as I can before I move to Los Angeles.  LA is full of beautiful people, and I refuse to move there being overweight and lacking in confidence.  Besides that, in PT school we have a class where we wear very little clothing and are poked and examined by classmates!!!  That should be reason enough for me to get my act together!!!! LOL

So seriously, I cannot keep wasting time and falling off the wagon.  I'm going full paleo- meats, vegetables, nuts, seeds, fruits.  No more sugar and wheat!!!! 

I am beyond ready to get the weight loss process going again.  I lost nearly 15lbs in ONE month back in January, and I know I can do it again!!  But this time, I will continue!!!   The goal is to lose my cravings entirely... we'll see how it goes.

I'm done talking about it.  Time to start doing it!!!

Start MY version of the Whole30 Challenge ;)

I don't like blogging because I just don't know where to start.  One of the reasons why I hated writing papers was because I was no good at it! My thoughts are so jumbled and I am unable to type them out without trying too hard and spending too much time writing.  So let's try this again...

Today I ran my 3rd half-marathon.  I was pretty happy with my time considering I ran more and faster than I've been running.  I've been training using a 2:1 ration of running and walking, then a couple weeks ago I switched to a 3:1 ratio.  But the other day and today I decided to do a 5:1 ratio, so that I can get a faster time.  The problem is that during a race, I like to push myself.  So basically I didn't follow my interval timer too much.  I ran on the flats and downhills, and walked mostly on the uphills.  Overall I felt good and I'm happy with the progress I've made with my running the past 3 months.  I am also happy I made the decision to switch to doing the Half Pig again instead of the Full marathon.  I just cannot push my body this hard for that long, at this time.  LOL

Anyway... I've decided to start over again on my Whole 30 Challenge.  However, I can't really call it a Whole30 challenge really, because I'm allowing certain things in that are not Whole 30 approved.  Either way, I'm setting my mindset that I'm eating a clean Paleo diet.  That means no sugars or grains, no processed food, no fast food, no pizza!  My exceptions will be the occasional legume and dairy (for example, I may get Chipotle once or twice a month...so I'm ok with eating some black beans and cheese on it)  I do want to stay away from dairy as much as possible, though.  The other exception is beer.  HaHa!! I know, I know.  It's wheat!!  Wheat and gluten are the enemies!!  BUT... it being so nice here in Cincinnati, it's grilling and beer drinking season!!  :)   I want to allow myself to have the occasional Leinenkugel Summer Shandy.

So basically, I am going to try to eat low-carb again as much as possible.  I need my weight to start dropping again, and now that I've just burned some fat during my half marathon, it's perfect timing to keep the fat burning going!  These months are flying by, and time is running out to get this weight off (remember my Los Angeles move is my deadline- August)  I'm hoping that with the warm weather will come more activities such as mountain biking and backpacking, so that will help me, too.  But I need to find my discipline again.  I must avoid cookies or cakes when they are lying around  (like at my cousin's house when I go nanny!)  I've gotta say no to pizza, too!!

I've done ok the past couple weeks.  I got a new cookbook from the library, so will be trying new recipes from "Paleo Comfort Foods."  I did try a banana bread recipe from it, and it turned out ok, but my family didn't like it and honestly neither did I.  It just wasn't sweet or worth eating.  LOL  I also made some pork tenderloin which is always great, but I need to find some new ways to spice it up.

Well that is it for now!  I'll try to write an update post later this week, or maybe sooner if I feel like it.  lol

Tina

I don't like blogging

Keeping up with this blog has not been on my priority list, lately.  I've eaten a pretty clean paleo diet the past week, but had some cheats this weekend that I'm feeling really guilty about!  I definitely need to START OVER. 

Right now I am making a weekly schedule for myself.  What I will eat and when, workout for the day, etc. I'm going low carb as possible.  Serious this time.  At some point, I will declare to have started over with the Whole30 Challenge.  But first, I need to get through St. Patrick's Day!  I've got plans to drink green beer!  (but not too much, I'm running a half-marathon the following day!)

Check back later if you want. I'm just not that thrilled to blog anymore lately.  Need to get some positive feelings flowing again, first.

Tina

Start over again?

So I'm doing pretty well, but not sticking to this challenge 100%.   I've allowed a bit of wheat and sugar in my diet since I've started.  Otherwise, I think I'm slowly finding the motivation to stick to this...  But I'm thinking that maybe I should just start over.  If I do something, I want to do it 100%!!

Today went well- had pot roast, mashed cauliflower, vegetables with red pepper dip, and made a chicken stir fry for dinner.  Then a few spoonfuls of Coconut Cocoa Chia Pudding.

When I weighed myself today, I was 5lbs lighter than yesterday.  The scale is so unreliable!! LOL Anyway, it made me happier to see that I was close to my weight from the start of February.  :)  I think that gave me the kick in the butt today to get motivated again!

Here is the chia pudding:

Chocolate Coconut Chia Pudding

1 1/2 c.  Coconut Milk

1/4 c. Chia Seeds

1/4 c. Navitas Naturals Organic Cacao Powder

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

28 drops NuNaturals Pure Liquid Vanilla Stevia

1. Put coconut milk, cacao powder, vanilla and stevia in a Mason jar, cover tightly and shake well until powder is dissolved.

2. Add chia seeds and shake again.

3. Refrigerate for about 5 minutes and shake again.

4. One more time, refrigerate for about 5 minutes and shake again.

5. Return to refrigerator and this time let it sit for about 50 minutes.

6. Garnish with fresh berries and Navitas Naturals Organic Cacao Nibs.

The stir fry I made didn't turn out so well... it looks more like a stew than a stir fry, but it didn't taste too bad.  I definitely will have to try making a real stir fry again!

Having some trouble...

Well Day 1 on Friday, I already gave in and "cheated".  :(  Went to Frisch's for fish and chips, then came home and ate two bowls of Fruit Loops because I was feeling lousy about my lack of discipline.  haha  Ironic, yes.

Got back on track on Saturday, though.  Ate veggies with walnut red pepper dip and leftover shredded pork loin that I made earlier in the week.  Then I went to run 12 miles.  I was very tempted to get something "yummy" for dinner, but after working so hard for 2 1/2 hours, I decided to be good and eat a healthy dinner of some homemade tuna salad, spaghetti squash with my homemade meatballs and some marinara then for dessert I had frozen blueberries.

This morning I had 4 slices of bacon (although not nitrate-free) and was feeling good and motivated.  I stopped at the grocery after church and got a pot roast to make, so I made pot roast and mashed cauliflower to eat this week, as well as tuna salad.

I also made a new paleo dessert recipe- Coconut Chia Pudding!  It wasn't as appetizing as I had hoped, but I think it might do the trick to satisfy a sweet tooth.  I will post a picture of it and the recipe in my next blog post!

Unfortunately, for dinner I let myself cheat.  Ughhh.  Parents just came home from being on vacation, and they were SOOOO hungry, so we went out to BW3's.  I got a Blue Moon beer and the Sampler of onion rings, nachos, mozzarella sticks and boneless wings.  It was pretty satisfying, but I'm feeling guilty and mad at myself for eating that crap. 

I'm finding it a lot harder to get myself back on track.  I'm hoping that tomorrow- a Monday- will set me straight.  I always do better on Mondays.  A new week, a fresh start! (Sundays are kind of like the end of the week to me...haha)  I've got food prepared, so I should be set for the week on sticking to clean Paleo eating!

By the way, I think that it was the ice cream that triggered the bad acne!  I just heard on a Robb Wolf's Paleo Solution podcast that dairy triggers acne for him, so I'm thinking maybe that it is the culprit for me, also!  I'll have to test this theory, for sure.

So this week, my goal is to eat as low carb as possible.  I may even track my calories/carbs on the LiveStrong.com website Nutriton tracker.  I want to get into ketosis "the body's fat burning state"...which basically means that the body is burning a lot of body fat!  Which is definitely what I'm trying to do!  Eating low carb is very hard, though.  It means little to no fruit, so I'll have to cut out the grapefruit and blueberries that I would normally eat. 

My move to California is rapidly approaching, so I'm working on keeping that in mind!!  I MUST lose a good amount of weight before I move to LA!!! 

Time to find that discipline again!

Tina

Starting Over

I'm BACK!! 

So I know I said that I was going to do a Whole30 Challenge again for the 40 days of Lent, but that went to hell like two days after Lent began.  Whoops!  Then I just continued to eat junk and drink sugar water (pop) this past week. I feel like crap!  :(   Gained a few pounds back, skin is irritated and acne is back with a vengeance.   Not happy about this at all!!

Some of us in the Whole30 Facebook group that I'm a member of is starting another challenge tomorrow, so I'm very ready to find the discipline to eat clean Paleo/Primal again.  This time I have no "end" in sight!  I want to continue past the 30 days, and keep the clean eating going.  I will be allowing red wine and cheese on occasion, so I don't feel too deprived.   But sugar and wheat are to be GONE!! I want to ditch the desire to eat this crap once and for all.  I still have my weight loss goal of another 50lbs to lose by this August, so I MUST do this!!That's a loss of 10lbs a month. I know I can do it if I stick with it!

Eating clean and eating paleo/primal is not hard and actually is very satisfying.  I must remember this as I go back to eating this way these next few days.  Once I start to feel better and weight starts to drop again, it should be/WILL be very easy!  :o)

Please post a comment if you are able to, I need some support at the moment!

~Tina

Round 2!!

Tomorrow I start another round of the Whole30 Challenge!!  This time, I will go 40 days (Lent).  :o)

Since I finished the Whole30 Challenge, I haven't done so well.  I've strayed quite often from the paleo/primal diet.  My plan to only cheat once a week didn't work out as well as I hoped.  Turns out, I'm tempted by sugar and unhealthy foods more than I thought.  :/ 

I feel that if I can do this challenge again, I will hopefully get rid of my taste for sugars and unhealthy foods, including pizza.  I want to have a "reason" to avoid these foods.  These past few weeks I found myself allowing junk like sweets, pizza, and pop too often.

So this time around, I'm going to allow red wine,the occasional bit of cheese, and Truvia/Stevia .  I think I will be very successful with this, and should be able to keep this going past the 40 days of Lent. 

As of today, I am down around 14 lbs since January 1st.  It's a good start, but I need more!! 

So tomorrow being Ash Wednesday, I think I will fast until sometime later in the day.  Will have fish for dinner, along with some vegetables.  Fridays will always be fish days! I've got tuna, tilapia and cod...so I'll be experimenting with some new fish recipes.

I don't plan to write a post everyday, but most likely every other day or so...  so please comment and follow along!

What is everyone else "giving up" for Lent??  Comment below!

~Tina