My Whole 30: The Last Ten Days

If the middle of my Whole30 was the worst part, the last ten days were my magical days. I'm not sure what tiger blood is supposed to be, but it wasn't some kind of mystical thing for me. I just gradually started to feel amazing. Noticeably happier. More patient. I let more joy into my life. I had energy whenever I wanted to use it. I WANTED to do things like clean out the garage and sweat. I felt my body toning up and changing. I had a little hiccup at the end, but when I turned to Whole30 food, the food was healing. Anyway, more on all of that in my wrap up post. 

The last ten days I felt a lot more comfortable with the food which means the meals got a little less fancy. I have rediscovered my love of tuna salad, so you'll see a lot of that. and lots of eggs. Details and food from the last ten days below.

Day 21:This was one of the first days I noticed my energy just running really constant and high. We helped some friends clean up from the flood and then I came back to feed the kids and put them to bed. And I was ready for more. Breakfast (no picture) was bacon, eggs, and berries.

Lunch Day 21: tuna salad, dates, almond butter, leftover apple

Dinner Day 21: Grilled salmon with a mayo based caper dill sauce,
roasted asparagus, and sauteed zucchini with red pepper.

 Day 22: So much extra energy, I decided to spend all morning cleaning out the garage. In the June heat with the mosquitoes. That was a change of pace. Then took both kids to the pool at the Y with friends. Two kids vs one me at the pool. I don't know if they won or we all lost. Or maybe we all won. Hard to say. Lots of energy all day.

Breakfast Day 22: poached egg with tuna salad over baby spinach
and aged balsamic.

Lunch Day 22: AMAZING. Cherry tomatoes, green pepper, onion, Ghee
and garlic sauteed with zoodles. Chicken and sun dried tomato sausage.

Dinner Day 22: Clean out the fridge salad with a fried egg on top.

 Day 23: Back to work. Noticing loose clothes, overall happiness and great focus. Not losing my patience with the kids = better behaved kids. Who knew?

Breakfast Day 23: Scrambled eggs with pesto, cantaloupe, tomatoes
and avocado.

Lunch Day 23: Even more Tuna Salad at work. Jealous?

Dinner Day 23: Roasted chicken, roasted veggies on top of tossed
baby spinach salad.

 Day 24: This is my 5am pilates day and for the first time in a LONG time, it was not murder to wake up at 4:30am. I'm not saying it was fantastic, it was just not murder. Still with the constant energy and focus. Lots of great sleep happening.

Breakfast Day 24: Tuna Salad. Because eggs get old. But apparently
Tuna Salad does not.

Lunch Day 24: At work. Greek Salad with leftover roasted chicken
and an apple.

Dinner Day 24: Brisket with gravy, roasted carrots, sweet potato,
and spinach.

Day 25: Things were really starting to come together. I just felt really good in my own skin. I could remember tons of things without having to make lists and my energy was off the charts. I had to put on a bathing suit for my son's swim class and I didn't even think twice about it.

Breakfast Day 25: The day I discovered monkey salad. With
fried eggs over sauteed spinach.

Lunch Day 25: At work. Tuna Salad in a bell pepper, cantaloupe,
apple.

Dinner Day 25: Zoodles and ground bison topped with tomato sauce

Day 26: I was feeling amazing. Fun wedding this night (which was sober and cakeless but still a blast) and got to have lunch with Landy. AND the dress I wore to the wedding was one I bought right after my own wedding when I was pretty trim. Non scale victories.

Breakfast Day 26: Fried eggs over spinach, fresh berries and banana.

Lunch Day 26: Chicken veggie salad that came with a blob of goat cheese
on top. I had a hungry four year old with me and I was STARVING so I just picked it off.

Dinner Day 26: Dinner at a wedding= mood lighting. I had to give lots of evil side eye to the
roast beef slicer who continuously tried to skimp me.

Day 27: Was a busy one. Running on not a ton of sleep from the wedding the night before and we had some of our dear friends over for brunch before they headed out of town. Then an afternoon birthday party. The kids were a mess, but it was actually pretty ok. My energy at the end of the day was not as high, but not as low as it could have been.

Breakfast Day 27: Monkey salad with banana, blueberry, shaved coconut
almond butter, and chopped dates.

Lunch was actually breakfast. We had friends over and did bacon, eggs & fruit salad.
and a pyramid of donuts, but guess who didn't have any? Spoiler alert: It was me.

Dinner Day 27: can you tell I am getting lazy by this point? Leftover
roasted chicken, baby kale and spinach salad and the avocado my son
wouldn't finish.

Day 28: The day that did me in. Sunday was busy. I took the kids to church, came home to put them in bed, and then we spent the afternoon at the pool. And I probably drank one glass of water.

Breakfast Day 28: Eggs scrambled with a little coconut water. Topped
with tomatoes and avocado. Side of fruit.

I almost forgot about lunch this day. It was Sunday and the kids ate at church and I was
a little worn out. So at 2pm I grazed in the fridge on Tuna Salad, boiled eggs and a banana.

Dinner Day 28: Sunday Roast with roasted veggies and a mayo based
horseradish dipping sauce.

Day 29: I woke up feeling awful this day. I managed to load up the kids and head to the grocery store and while I was checking out I regretted it. Weak and achy and a little out of it. I made it home and got the little one down for his nap. Then I did something I never do.. I called for backup and went to bed. I was feeling horrible, but still hungry. I was SO tempted to give it up, grab a gatorade, cook some brown rice and give in. But I stuck with the whole30 food and it made me feel better. But this day is a little disjointed food wise.

Breakfast Day 29: Monkey Salad

After I took myself to bed I ate small quantities of things. A cup of chicken broth,
a banana, some unsweetened apple sauce. Then later almond butter and dates.

A sickbed gift from my husband.

Dinner day 29: My attempt at Whole30 sickness comfort food. Looks gross, huh?
Sweet potato (baked then mashed), chunks of chopped steak (you know, for iron),
and spinach. It looks awful, but was actually good.

Day 30: After refueling with around 150 ounces of electrolyte water, I woke up this day feeling much better and pinpointing that I was definitely dehydrated from the weekend and possibly fighting a cold. My last day was pretty uneventful. More eggs for breakfast (that I forgot to take a pic of) and more tuna salad. Those were easy, reliable things that made this doable.

Lunch Day 30: At work. Tuna salad with green peppers and an apple.

Dinner Day 30: thanks to my husband for being hungry for this. Kale
caesar (minus the parm) with grilled chicken.

More to come. Hopefully tomorrow.

B

My Whole30: Days 11 through 20

These days were rough on me. All ten of them. The food was amazing, but I just felt... slow. Like I was walking through cottage cheese. And irritable. I'm sure it didn't help that I had a special ladies only visitor for a portion of these ten days. The timeline said days 11-14 would be hard. All ten of these days were hard on me, which just emphasized the fact that this process is unique and different for everyone. And with that, here is the food from the very middle of my Whole30. 

Day 11: By this point I was finally getting the hang of the food. I was also SUPER bloated. Which was hard to take considering I was working so hard on all this food and washing so many dishes. But I kept on..

Breakfast Day 11: Mixed greens topped with leftover sweet potato
cauliflower mash, and a fried egg.

Lunch Day 11: Apple, yellow bell pepper, & Tuna Salad.

Dinner Day 11: Leftover Chili with avocado and a baby kale salad

 Day 12: The Friday before Memorial Day weekend. This was the first day I had a burst of amazing energy. After breakfast I weeded and mulched the entire back yard. I wasn't even hungry, but when I noticed it was 2pm I forced myself to eat lunch. Then went back out and finished. I felt really great this day.

Breakfast Day 12: fresh baby kale topped with leftover lettuce wrap
filling, scrambled eggs and avocado.

Lunch Day 12: Leftover sweet potato/cauli mash, baby kale salad,
last bit of leftover tuna salad, and celery stuffed with almond butter
and topped with chunks of dates.

Dinner Day 12: Baby spinach and kale tossed with evoo and aged balsamic,
chicken and mushroom sausage on top of chunky tomato sauce.

 Later this night I did some memorial weekend prep. We left town for two nights and so I packed some stuff for meals and for extras.

Included above - Greek salad ingredients, slaw ingredients, thai
zoodles ingredients, and even more tuna salad.

Day 13: was a travel day for us. We woke up, ate breakfast, packed up the kids and the car and headed out. It was a busy day, but a fun one. It was also a really tough day as far as resisting temptations. I ate A LOT of dates and almond butter this day. Without regrets.

Breakfast Day 13: pretty self explanatory.

Lunch Day 13: I had a big greek salad and a hard boiled egg. I was hungry
and didn't take a pic.

Dinner Day 13: Leftover Greek Salad, my whole30 slaw, and corkscrew
bbq brisket and ribs. I am fairly certain these were not compliant. So there's
my confession. There was something in the rub that gave me a headache.

But look at this brisket... I had no choice.

 Day 14: Busy day with the kids in and out of the pool. Still not as convenient being away from home, but I managed just fine. 

Breakfast Day 14: papaya with lime and tuna salad topped with
grapes on a bed of spinach.

Lunch Day 14: Cantaloupe, San Daniele Proscuitto & sauteed spinach

Dinner Day 14: Strip steak, roasted green beans, roasted broccoli &
leftover slaw.

Day 15: Memorial day was a little fast and furious. Quick morning and then loaded up the kids to head back home for lunch with my in laws. I was still feeling the cravings and feeling bloated.. and feeling over it.

Breakfast Day 15: fried eggs over easy, leftover roasted broccoli and
green beans, and a bowl of papaya.

Lunch Day 15: Was not photo worthy. It was leftover slaw, fruit salad and two
hard boiled eggs.

Dinner Day 15: Grilled chicken breast smothered in Whole30 Tomato
Sauce, steamed broccoli with lemon & even more leftover slaw.

 Day 16: This day was a mess. The night of Memorial Day we got 11 inches of rain overnight. We live half a mile from a bayou that came way out of it's banks. We were up all night with the kids (who don't like thunder) and then couldn't go to work the following day because the roads were still flooded. I do remember having lots of energy on this day. And not really being too concerned with feeling sorry for myself because I couldn't have bread.

Breakfast Day 16: Tuna salad with grapes & fresh baby kale and
spinach salad.

Lunch Day 16: Chili with avocado and an apple.

Dinner Day 16: This was one of my absolute favorite dinners so far.
The shrimp is from the Whole30 cookbook. It is tossed in pesto at the
end and is fantastic. With roasted mushrooms and sweet peppers.

 Day 17: Back to work. I was busy and irritable and still bloated. I was actually getting a little fed up with the program on this day. I almost got out the scale, but didn't. I really had to power through. 

Breakfast Day 17: Fried eggs over sauteed spinach. A banana.

Lunch Day 17: At work. We grilled extra chicken Monday and mixed
it up with chicken salad. Exciting, I know. On top of butter lettuce with
avocado and green pepper.

Dinner Day 17: Trying to meet weird cravings. Leftover Chili,
prosciutto and melon.

 Day 18: I was feeling more optimistic. I decided to try and drink 100oz of water a day. It was a game changer. Definitely got me over some kind of invisible hump.

Breakfast Day18: scrambled eggs topped with leftover pesto, tomato
and aged balsamic, watermelon and cantaloupe.

Lunch Day 18: Zoodles topped with chicken sausage and
tomato sauce. This was amaze.

Dinner Day 18: Salmon sweet potato cakes with a mayo based
sauce (with dill, lemon juice, capers, pesto and fresh pepper) and
green onion. roasted green beans and baby bellos. This was AMAZING.

 Day 19: 100oz of water a day was making me a happier person with lots of energy. And so was the Whole30. On this day I noticed my clothes were fitting better. Great fuel for the weekend ahead.

Breakfast Day 19: Chicken and sweet potato hash from the Whole30
cookbook. A great egg alternative for breakfast.

Lunch Day 19: I threw together a spinach salad and topped it with
whatever  I could find. That included sweet potatoes, cherry tomatoes
and a hard boiled egg.

Dinner Day 19: Grilled NY Strip, roasted sweet potatoes and more
spinach salad with a dressing that was made even more awesome with
toasted prosciutto and sauteed green onion.

 Day 20: I threw myself a pity party on Day 20. We had to cancel plans to leave town due to storms and an ear infection. And I also threw a pity party for all of the dishes. I felt like the dishes were never ending. And I wanted them to end. But it was Saturday, I was feeling leaner, and I made my breakfast all in the same pan. Sometimes it's the little things.

Breakfast Day20: fried eggs over sauteed spinach, bacon & blueberries

Lunch Day 20: Chicken salad, apple slices & dates with almond butter.

Dinner Day 20: Grilled fajita steak, homemade guacamole, mashed
sweet potato & roasted sweet peppers.

 These were rough days for me. I was overall pretty over the whole thing and had to talk myself in to "trusting the process". It was a huge game changer for me mood and energy wise when I started drinking more water and added in more starchy vegetables. It's like a little mystery body formula I had to figure out.

It is currently day 30 for me, so I'm hoping to post meals from days 21-30 tomorrow. Then a recap. Haven't decided if I'll actually display before and after pics. Because I love the internet and things... but seeing my midsection on it is a bit much. Maybe. Who knows.

Greetings from a converted Whole30 cult member! 

B