Whole 22 - still whole!

Day 5:

Breakfast: The Usual

Lunch: Lamb Burger with cucumber and cuties

Dinner: Pork Lettuce Cups

Day 6: 

Breakfast: The Usual

Lunch: Baked Flounder with Avacado Mango Salsa and cuties

Dinner: Whole 30 Italian Slow Cooker Roast

Day 7:

Breakfast: The Usual

Lunch: Pork Lettuce Cups

Snack: Grapes

Dinner: The last little bit of the pork lettuce cups and a potato

Day 8: 

Breakfast: The Usual

Lunch: Roast

Snack: Grapes

Dinner: Lamb Burger

Day 9: 

Breakfast: The Usual

Lunch: Lamb Burger

Snack: Grapes

Pre-dinner: Sweet potato rounds

Dinner: Baked Flounder with Avacado Mango Salsa

Day 10 (plan):

Breakfast: The Usual

Lunch: Lamb Burger

Snack: Grapes

Dinner: Nom Nom Paleo's sheet pan salmon

Notes: Still headachy on Saturday, but saw improvement Sunday and today.  Tired on Sunday, but ironically didn't sleep well Sunday night.  So super tired on Monday, but no longer sure if it is the diet or if it is the poor sleep.  I was hungry over the weekend a bit more than I usually expect with Whole 30, but I thought it was passing earlier this week, but Day 9 I was suuuuper hungry.  Still craving cookies over the weekend and early this week, but that seems to have passed now.  Discovered The Paleo Way on Netflix and am enjoying watching my way through!

“Whole 22”

I'm doing a "Whole 22" instead of a Whole 30 because I've got some stuff at the end of January that is a deal breaker.  I started on January 1 and I was SO ready to eat cleanly again!!

Day 1:

Breakfast: Beef and Veggie scramble (Myers) with an egg on top. Hereafter known as “The Usual”.

Lunch: breakfast was super late, but bedtime was normal, so it was a two meal day.

Dinner: Chicken Non-Noodle Soup (https://www.realfoodwholelife.com/blog/slow-cooker-chicken-pot-pie-gluten-free-dairy-free) and roasted potato fries 

Day 2:

Breakfast: The Usual

Lunch: Chicken Non-Noodle Soup

Snack: Not very good grapes

Dinner: Lamb Burger with roasted potato fries

Day 3: 

Breakfast: The Usual

Lunch: Chicken Non-Noodle Soup

Snack: Cuties

Dinner: Blue Apron Pork Lettuce Cups (https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/pork-lettuce-cups-with-cauliflower-rice-marinated-tomatoes) with roasted potato fries

Notes: I've been having headaches, really bad headaches.  It didn't strike me that it might be related to the diet until I read some ladies on my support group talking about the carb flu.  Voila!  Ok, so it sucks but at least I know it is temporary.

Day 4:

Breakfast: The Usual

Lunch: Lamb burger (Myers) with cucumber

Dinner: Either the last of the chicken non-noodle or the pork lettuce cups again.

Notes: Headache still present but I don't think it is as severe.  This morning weight was 139.4.  It is amazing how quickly I drop the bloat when I start eating cleanly!  I'm craving a cookie pretty hard right now.  I keep dreaming that I've slipped and I wake up convinced that it was real.  Very odd.

I've exercised every morning so far this year. ;-)

2019 Goals

I'm still not feeling super goal-ish.  I am in a better place than I was for most of last year, but it feels fragile.  I had some success with my more forgiving goals last year, so let's do that again.  My goals are actually very similar....

I want to continue exercising regularly.I want to continue cleaner eating.  Not strictly - I want to practice being a flexitarian and making good choices in context.I want to keep working on and managing my health and get it to a place where it isn't negatively impacting my every day life in a big way.  I may not have control over meeting this goal, but it is a real focus and deserves the mention.I want to take good care of myself mentally.I have one really nice vacation planned and I want to go and enjoy myself and take beautiful pictures and feel filled up with peace and joy.  There will probably be more vacations, and the goal is the same for all.I want to really buckle down on the money thing.  We can do better.  I need us to do better.  I'd like to see 9 months green AND the overall year green, and by more than a few dollars.
There is the potential that I'll be having a surgery this year.  If I do, I want to use down my vacation days at work on things I enjoy FIRST.  (This is important for the money thing too, because there will be bills and no salary for 2 months.) I want to be gentle with myself as I heal.  But I also want to not allow pain to completely derail all of the progress I've made.  Gentle, but then back on the train.

It does help me to note these things: 2017 starting weight was 150.  2018 starting weight was 153.  2019 starting weight is 142, and I've dipped well below that in 2018, so I think there are losses at my fingertips.  There are 3 major differences in what I'm doing. Most importantly is the thyroid meds.  Second, though, I'm eating cleanly for thyroid health (not for weight loss).  I'm not counting calories.  I'm just eating very differently with a focus on whole unprocessed foods.  And finally, I'm not sure if it is really a factor, but when I'm exercising now, I'm not going to the point of mega pain or exhaustion.  I'm not training for anything but life.  That may change in the coming year - I really do miss running - but for now, that is there and it may be a factor.