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.

2018 in Review

Here were my 2018 "non-goal" goals:

I want to start exercising again.
I want to start eating more cleanly.
I have had some health issues... I want to get those under control.
I have had some mental health issues... I want to get those out of crisis mode.
I have two really nice vacations planned and I want to go and enjoy myself and take beautiful pictures and feel filled up with peace and joy.
I want to continue working on the money thing.  Last year was good - we need to build on that and get a little savings cushion so I quit feeling like the next hurricane might blow us out of the water. 

This is really really fascinating to me because I consider 2018 to be an absolute shitshow for me.  I truly truly feel like it was a terrible horrible no good very bad year for me in general.  Mostly because I felt so exhausted for so much of it due to the thyroid issues and the inability to get the management of that down.

With that said, looking at these goals, I did it.  I started exercising again, even pretty regularly here at the end.  I started eating more cleanly, and while I am not 100% clean 100% of the time, I really have made a strong change to my diet in an attempt to support my health.  My health issues - the jury is still out on whether or not those are under control but I'm cautiously optimistic for the first time in a year, to be honest, so I'm going to consider that an E for effort.  I have managed to stop having panic attacks when it rains (a gift of Harvey), and that was the mental health issue to which I was referring.  Now in all honesty, the extreme exhaustion caused by hypothyroidism brought on a very strong depression, and I have constant and real work that I need to continue doing for my mental health. But no rainy panic attacks = win.  My vacations were lovely.  I am very pleased with the photos I got this year, although I would like to do more shooting.  Money.... worse than last year by a bit - 7 months green, 5 red.  Overall in the red but just by a bit.  We did end up buying a new car this year - if we hadn't, we would be green.  So it is okay-ish, but I want to get to a point where these incidentals don't tank us, and we are clearly not there.

I did write a post after my goal setting post about counting each one of my successes.  Like I ate well this morning, I  exercised today, I crossed something off the to-do list.  I lost sight of that as the year went on, but I realized when I was reading back that I did embrace this philosophy unconsciously and it worked well for me.  It is healthy for me.  

So all in all?  2018 is another year I'd prefer to forget.  If 2017 was the Year of Harvey, 2018 is the Year of the Thyroid.  I am ready for 2019 in every way, and I am ready to have a good year.

Whole 30 Day 9

I am proud of myself. I survived a vendor lunch and remained in compliance! I researched my options ahead of time and determined that there were 2 dishes I could eat. I got grilled chicken and veggies. There was hummus but I learned I couldn’t eat it. It was on the side so I avoided and didn’t eat the bit of chicken that was touching it. I couldn’t be more pleased with myself. That was such a win!

I had a normal breakfast and am eating a lamb burger for dinner.

Yesterday I had normal breakfast, pork cauliflower fried rice for lunch, and pork lettuce cups for dinner with watermelon for dessert and grapes for a midday snack.

This morning and yesterday morning weight: ONE THIRTY NINE!!!!!!!

I am having one nightly wake up just after midnight and a bit of trouble falling asleep, but I think that is work stress.

I am on day 16 consecutive of exercise.

It finally got cool here yesterday!!!

Whole 30 Day 7

I am so proud of how things went this weekend. There were temptations all around but having my pre-prepared food with me made it easier to stay on track. The guys did make steak and baked potatoes last night so I did partake, with ONLY salt on my baked potato! WIN!

We did stop by Bucc-ee’s On the way home and as I was walking in I saw some granola bar looking things called Thunderbirds. They say paleo-approved on the label and lots about real food, so I looked at the ingredient list and they look to be Whole 30 compliant. I don’t want to resort to packaged food much or at all really, but I do really want something like this for my purse or my desk at work for a just in case scenario. I bought two. Will post a review when I try them!

I have some concerns about this week coming up. There is a vendor visit on Tuesday which might mean lunch. I am really not sure how to go out and remain fully compliant. Then I have Astros tickets to the NLCS on Wednesday and I do love me some Ballpark food. And finally o have a huge presentation on Friday that I’ve been preparing for for weeks - that is a stress eating trigger for me for sure. I am going to try, y’all. I’m going to try.

W30 Day 5

Days 3 And 4 went well. I am eating very boringly. But that works for me for diets like these. It is best to always have something to eat whenever I’m hungry and that means making stuff with leftovers and being boring. Luckily, I tolerate eating the same food over and over with no angst. So it has been days of Beef scramble for breakfast, Pork fried cauliflower rice for lunch, and lamb burgers  for dinner after a grape snack.

I’m still on the exercise train. Day 12 and hopefully counting.

The hopefully is because we are taking a little family trip this weekend and that often messes things up for me. I may just take my running shoes and y’all walks and count it as good. Because it is good for me and where I’m at mentally.

This time I’m experiencing almost no cravings... it is almost weird. Last time I’d have sold you zoe for a piece of bread. I’m guessing it is because since April I’ve basically been eating this way. Oh, I’ll have the occasional burger or pizza, but generally I’ve been caffeine, dairy, and gluten free since April. Not sugar free though - that is my weakness. But I’m not even really craving that. Last time I had fruit for after dinner, or sweet potatoes to cut that craving. This time I’m just... done. It is great! But not what I expected. We will see how it goes when I get hormonal, which should be soon.

I’ve got enough food to take it with me for this weekender. So I’m feeling confident and prepared. Onward!

Weight this morning was 140.2. Cooooome to meeeee magical 130’s!!!

I’m back! Whole 30 take 2

So it turned out that that the complete and utter exhaustion that I was feeling was my thyroid going wonky. I made an appointment for last week in desperation. I didn’t realize my numbers were off - I was just going to ask for a brand change to my meds (synthetic to natural) to see if that helped. But when they ran my labs leading up to the appointment they saw that my numbers were actually off and they needed to up my dosage. It is early days yet with the med change. Today is day 5.

I’ve been working out every day since Monday of last week.  Today is day 10.

I started Whole 30 Monday of this week. Today is day 3.

I had been having terrible interrupted sleep, but for the past 2 nights I’ve had good sleep. So something must be helping. I’m still waking up exhausted, but the sleep is definitely better. The meds are giving more energy but I can still feel the underlying exhaustion.

So, 2 days of whole 30. I ate my typical breakfast on Monday, followed by Blue Apron Chicken Curry, grapes on the way home, and Blue Apron Pork Lettuce Wraps (which were freaking fantastic) for dinner. Even the hubby liked the wraps. Had some cantaloupe after.

Day 2 there was drama at work so I only got through half my breakfast. I ate the other half for lunch, grapes on the way home, and lamb burgers for dinner. I was concerned that I’d be hungry due to the lack of lunch but I really wasn’t. I didn’t even eat fruit for dessert.

Today my plan is for a normal breakfast, Cauliflower Pork “fried rice” for lunch, grapes, lamb burger, and I’ve got a banana that needs eating.

Start weight was 142.8. Weight this morning was 140.2. I can already see myself losing the bloat, which absolutely fascinates me.