Eggcellent

Day 36:

EGG DAY!!!! Did I mention I love eggs? Yayaya.

But first things first: workout. Mixed a little BCAA powder in my gym water and completed 41 min elliptical with light stretching. I think I need to switch up the cardio, my hips are starting to feel a bit off. from the repetative motion. MUST buy ipod nano asap. I keep putting it off 'cause I'm cheap, but seriously, Amanda? They cost like $50. I spent nearly $80 on impulse buys  at a boutique the other day. Priorities!!!! Some of that included just-because gifts though. Love you, Mom!

ANYWAY.

For breakfast I toasted half of a gf english muffin topped with mashed avocado, peppered (nitrite free) turkey bacon, and a runny egg. AMAZING. Everything I dreamed. I'm not ashamed to admit I licked the plate. What? You would too.

I had that with a breakfast tea latte.

And added two clementines at the end. AHEM not just for kids, cutie sticker!

I got the teeniest tiniest of stomach discomfort, but I'm pretty sure more from the tea than egg. But either way it was NBD. If I was out with friends/family I wouldn't have thought to say "my stomach hurts" or any of my usual food-related complaints, so so far so good. Fingers crossed!

Full disclosure: I did also have a small headache on the way to work, but it was raining again (same type of headache I had when it rained last week) and it was gone by the time I got to the office, so we'll make note, but write it off for now.

Usually I eat breakfast around 9:30 or even closer to 10 if it's a shake, but today I ate around 8:30. I was sure I'd need a snack, but I held off eating lunch until nearly 3! Partially because I was so busy, but I also didn't have any dire need.

Alas, when lunchtime did roll around I had a turkey burger salad. I forgot dressing though (I made the salad the evening before, but usually dress it in the morning-I HATE soggy lettuce!), so I made do with mustard and hot sauce. Hey, it worked. Two of my fave condiments, why not?

My neck is freaking KILLING me today and my shoulder has been even more angry lately. I thought this diet was supposed to reduce inflammation??? I'm an anomaly. I should start using my laptop stand again. I randomly stopped a couple weeks ago for no reason. It keeps my work computer at eye level so I'm not constantly straining my neck to look down. You know, how I do when I look at my cell or iPad 24 hrs a day. :-x

I was about to brag that I left work at 5/5:30 like a normal person, but then I remembered we stayed an extra hour doing paperwork. Ah well. We tried.

For dinner I made ahi tuna steaks topped with shrimp/avocado/red pepper. It was pretty good, but some of the shrimp still had the veins. Deveined my ass! GROSS. I was scarred from a bad shrimp-vein experience as a kid, so I'm extra cautious these days. The avocado was also slightly too hard. But alas, a little seasoning and some lemon juice and it was not bad. We also had asparagus, also not a huge hit, but got the job done.

For dessert I made my soon-to-be-famous (not really, but they should be *drool*) almond/sunbutter cookies. I met my self-imposed challenge and perfected the frosting this time. Hallelujah. The secret was to whip the coconut oil but not melt it first--uh, DUH. These cookies are a dream, I'm telling you. I'll have to give a more exact recipe one day soon.

Day 37:

30-some odd minutes on the treadmill (32? 33?). Combo of jogging and walking, both at a tiny incline. Also light stretching, natch. No water additives today, au natural.

For breakfast I made a cherry/strawberry shake with cashew butter and choccie sunwarrior. It was a little thin, but good.

Now, what was GREAT was the coffee (misto) I made. OH MAN. I used a creme caramel k-cup for the first time and also frothed up some almond-coconut milk with cinnamon and vanilla stevia. Incredible.

Last time I used cherries in a shake I got sick, but this time I felt in the clear with both the shake AND coffee. Holla.

My body pains were also slightly improved, though my hands are still a bit hot to the touch and slightly red. Odd. They've been that way ever since the gluten. Huh.


Outfit of the Day:

One physical  change I noticed today--my calves must be shrinking. I naturally have very muscular calves, so it's always been somewhat difficult to find tall boots to zip over them. These boots I wore today have usually been wearable, but very tight. Once or twice I had to give up and choose another shoe that day as the very tops wouldn't close. Today, however, I noticed they zipped up effortlessly and although they feel snug, I can even see a small gap in the fabric when I walk. Pretty cool. But I guess this proves they weren't just muscle to begin with. LOL

For lunch I had a salad made with organic romaine, organic baby carrots, diced red pepper, black beans, leftover turkey taco meat, and topped with salsa and olive oil. It was good, but I left a lot of carrots behind. I really do try to like them. There probably wasn't enough protein either, as I was STARVING around 6:45 (& I ate lunch at maybe 3? It was a busy day--really I just picked at the salad all late afternoon). I keep forgetting to add avocado to all my lunches even though I bring one every single day! Grr!!

Luckily I was able to scrounge up some snacks, so my stomach didn't have to eat itself until dinner (although that's a bit of a gross visual, it would actually not be so bad now that I think of it--haha). I ate an apple, half a pack of chocolate hazelnut butter (it had sugar, but only about 3 grams for half the pack), and a coconut sparkling water....thought maybe the carbonation would help the fullness feeling. I knew I had a chocolate nutbutter of some sort stashed, I was just hoping it wasn't of the peanut variety. Jackpot.

Just the thing to tide me over 'til my breakfast-for-dinner feast. Nom, nom.

By the end of the work day my neck was still pretty ok, but my upper back was hurting. Can't win! But it was still an improvement over yesterday.

Dinner happened really late and kept getting more and more elaborate as my Dad and I continued throwing things in it. What started as a simple eggs and turkey bacon turned into that + black bean vegan chili, a slice of gluten free toast with mashed avo, and green peas. Random! But good. I had to toss out (well, I saved them, not sure if anyone will end up eating them) the first two eggs. My Dad flipped them and they became over hard. When you don't know when your next egg will be, runny all the way. No room for hard yolks!

I looked at the ingredients of the bread multiple times yet somehow missed corn in THREE forms being in it. UGH how is that possible? Boy do I feel dumb. But that wasn't the culprit of what went wrong, it was the stupid yeast again. I NEED to be really careful about that. It's really no fun having a sore tongue all the time. But egg wise I *think* we're still doing okay. Keeping those fingers extra crossed.

For dessert I took two bites of a coconut vanilla raw tart from Hail Merry. It was almost too sweet, but it tasted delicious. Love that company!

xo,

Amanda