Over The Past Week

Day 8:

Breakfast shake. Shocker! I also had blueberry coffee with almond milk and vanilla stevia.

Lunch was similar to yesterday, but I had leftover roast beef from dinner last night instead of lunch meat. Yay more tough beef. I prefer to only eat red meat 1x/week max, yet my last 3 meals have been beef. Whoops. At least it's grass fed? Better nutritional profile. JJ Virgin's book says to eat grass-fed red meat 3-4x/week, but that still seems excessive. I'll try to stick to 1-2?

Oh. So lunch. Yes. Around 2 or 3 pm, I forget which, I had a roast beef wrap with organic greens and mustard, mixed nuts (pistachios, pecans, and raw almonds), + blackberries. I'm going to turn into a blackberry pretty soon.

I didn't get home from work until late (what else is new?), so I didn't eat dinner until, I don't know, 8:30? 8:45? Lunch did a nice job of holding me over. Imagine that? Real food works better with satiety than shakes? Whoulda thunk...

I did space out and completely forget to make the ground turkey for the spaghetti sauce. After I plated up dinner (spaghetti and salad) I had to scoop the spaghetti back into the pot, cook the meat, and mix it all together again (well not the salad-obvi). DER!! I never would have noticed if my dad didn't ask where the "meatballs" were. I said I made meat sauce, looked at our plates, and OHHHH. No, No I did not. Whoops!

I also had to make the sauce "from scratch"....the only jar I had used soybean oil. Ugh! I took a can of organic diced tomatoes, added basil (fresh and dried), oregano, garlic, garlic gold, onion powder, crushed red pepper flakes, and went to town. After I added the meat I had to add one of those lil 5 oz or w/e cans of plain tomato sauce, but mostly because I like my sauce more....well, saucy, than meaty. I prefer jarred still haha, but my Dad approved. Oh, and we ate brown rice noodles, but I always only use those even when I'm not gluten-free, so no big change there.

Day 9:

15 minute elliptical, 15 minute treadmill, extra light stretching to start the day off right.

Breakfast shake and STRONG black coffee around 9:45 am. No pic, but that shake was GOOD. I don't know what I did differently, but I liked it, I liked it a lot. It had spinach AND kale in it too. Now that's the kind of shake I could get behind every morning. I had enough to save for my shake tomorrow, too. Let's hope it keeps well!

Lunch around 3:45 pm was leftover spaghetti. I didn't feel like packing a salad too, so I just wilted a bunch of spinach and mixed it in that way (I had already added a bit of spinach and kale to the sauce last night too, forgot to mention that).

We run a group from 6:00-7:00 on Wednesday nights (used to be 5:30-6:30, but the group voted to move to 6. WHY????) and they like to stay and chat a bit after, so I always get home super late. At least this time they ended and left mostly on time. Sometimes it can take 30+ min to get out of here. We had errands to run on the way home too, but my Dad was nice (or maybe just hungry haha), so after we picked up 1 thing, he dropped me off at home to start dinner. It came together suuuuper quickly, so I was rude and ate without him. :-x.

At his request I made fish (flounder--first bag I saw in the freezer that wasn't salmon lol) with old bay seasoning and olive tapenade + I topped mine with a bunch of hot sauce. We also had more butternut squash mash and salad with avocado. & I had a few handfuls of cashews and pecans while it cooked.

 After I ate I was still a littttttle hungry, but assumed if I just waited it out I'd be fine. You know, the whole pesky  it takes your brain 20 minutes to register being full thing. But then I remembered I had toasted up brown rice tortillas in the oven. And forgot about them. Oops. They were more like a giant cracker at that point, but I liked it! I ate it since I did still have a little hunger feeling. BAD MOVE. I don't know if it was the tortilla, slightly overeating in general that night, or something specifically I ate, but my stomach felt uncomfortable all night. I didn't feel nauseas or anything-- just like I had a rock in my stomach that was weighing me down. I vaugley remember waking up in the middle of the night with a weird stomach feeling too.

Part of my problem with this plan, which I've mentioned time and time again, is the meal timing (speaking of time...ha). It's a little better now that I'm having a real lunch too, but I still kinda feel like I have to stuff my face during dinner to not be hungry later on, since I know I "can't" eat. I'm sure it will either level off once my body gets used to it or I'll switch things up and listen to my body's needs-- not a silly plan, but somehow I have to do away with that mentality and not overstuff myself at night! I've never been someone who could eat too much at a time. I'm the person that ALWAYS takes food home at a restaurant. I prefer to eat off salad plates (stacked high, but still) as opposed to a dinner plate. Yet now I'm using my big dinner plates, stuffing them to the brim, and nearly licking the plate clean. No bueno!

Maybe this is why I'm only down a pound. I know I wasn't doing this for weight loss, but if I'm going to be hungry all the time it might as well be a perk! And I don't feel particularly better yet either. I'm giving it time, but argh. Aside from not getting horrible stomachaches in the mornings (especially on weekends), which I'm already aware is likely due to both eggs and excessive amounts of coffee, I feel more or less the same in every way....or worse, since the candida die-off is reignited. Which, admittedly, does mean dietary change was something necessary (particularly in regards to sugar), but certainly not pleasant.

Day 10:

Breakfast shake success. The leftovers turned the shake into more of a pudding-like consistency, but the taste stayed the same. Nom Nom. Now if only I could replicate it.... 

For lunch I had rice crackers that were really gross with "chicken salad" (baked chicken shredded up and mixed with roasted red pepper hummus), blackberries, and mixed nuts (pecans, cashews, and raw almonds). It was filling but the crackers ruined it. I was so looking forward to approved crackers too! Bummer. The search continues!

Lunch held me over awhile. Good thing since Thursday is another late night. As is becoming a pattern, I had dinner close to 9. I wanted more chicken but my Dad wanted fish. I was going to just bake both, no biggie, but I saw we only had 2 pieces of orange roughy left and went with that for us both. I topped it with garlic gold herb blend, made simple salads with mixed greens/evoo/lemon juice/blueberries, and nuked sweet potatoes and filled them with almond butter. Good stuff. My Dad had never had a sweet potato with almond butter before--he approves. I was full but not stuffed. I even gave my Dad both the bigger potato and piece of fish, whereas earlier in the week I would have hoarded at least one if not both for myself. Baby steps!

I forgot my brother was coming over to watch Big Bang Theory. He eats nothing of nutritional value and I had dumped all my Ryan-approved foods over at his house when I started this plan. I had to think fast! I had some leftover shrimp cocktail, so I took some flour out of its hiding place (lol I took everything out of my pantry that I can't currently eat--out of sight out of mind!) and made him fried shrimp & heated up leftover potatoes from Monday. Crisis averted.

Day 11:

Hey, look at that. Double digits and still going strong! I'm also down another pound. It's about time.

Breakfast shake was good today. Not great like the last two days, but enjoyable. I'm getting the hang of this! I still drank it way way too slow. I had been getting better with that, but backtracked when I took it with me to work. Must slurp faster at home! :-P I had it with (almond) milky black tea instead of coffee.

Lunch (2:30 pm) I had baked chicken, green beans, blackberries, & mixed nuts. Was relatively tasty, but didn't hold me over long. Super hungry before the end of the work day, which luckily happens to be NOT a late night.

I didn't blog at all over the weekend, obviously. Going by pics and memory again.

For dinner I had an organic beef burger topped with cheddar rice "cheese," lettuce, mustard, I think that's all, on brown rice toast served with steamed broccoli & a side salad with evoo & balsamic.

I usually grill burgers, but it was too dark for the real grill and I didn't feel like dragging out my giant Foreman, so these were made stove top and they were DAMN good. I had both my parents over and they agreed. We loved it! The bread was shit and the cheese wasn't exactly good, but y'know. All together it worked :). I used my toaster oven (like actual oven not just a toaster for bread) for the first time (got it for Christmas) and charred one side of the bread, but we still ate it.


Day 12:

Breakfast shake and butter toffee flavored k-cup coffee with almond milk and vanilla stevia. I've wanted to try that flavor ever since I got a keurig, but never had! It smelled like popcorn. Tasted ok. Not very toffee-y, but they rarely taste heavily flavored. Backtracking a little-- I used cherries in the shake this time. I'm only noting that because although it could have been the coffee, I had a pretty bad stomachache all after noon after breakfast. Ugh! Will try cherries again (it was one of the foods the homeopath said I was allergic too, but I've eaten them every summer in copious amounts and thought I was ok--just want to further test them out to see--next time without coffee).

Lunch was pretty quick & easy: the last of the flounder with half a brow rice tortilla crisped up like a chip again + trader joe's zucchini/eggplant side dish that was really good! Not very substantial, but I think I was full enough. More than I expected to be. Yay for fiber.

For dinner I made lemon dill chicken with tricolor quinoa and a simple salad. I don't think I rinse the quinoa enough, but it's hard to drain it since they're so small and not have all the grains go down the drain too! Maybe I'll use my lil steamer next time? It has smaller holes.

Pretty low-key weekend. Just hung out with my Mom and watched movies and tv. I did take an errand break during the day to stock up on more food, but I skipped the office (was going to briefly check in) and gym.

I'm also down another lb. Nothing big yet, but I'll take slow and steady if it keeps on keeping on.  Although 3 lbs in 12 days isn't that slow I guess. :-x But no 7 lbs in 7 days or anything like that either...


Day 13:

Breakfast shake with caramel vanilla coffee with almond (or was it coconut?) milk with vanilla stevia. I think I had a small stomachache? But nothing major.



For lunch I made what I thought was a big salad, but I should have made it even bigger because I was really hungry 2 hours later. It included organic mixed greens, organic kale, kalamata olives, cashews, blueberries, and evoo with lemon juice (massaged into the kale with a lil more drizzled on top), and broiled steelhead trout that looks and tastes like salmon. I forgot I added the olives or I probably wouldn't have added the blueberries too, but they were both great with the other ingredients--as long as I didn't eat them together lol. I just wished I could have had some goat feta!!

I started getting weak and dizzy when I stood up, so I said eff it and made a snack 2ish hours later. I diced up an apple and sauteed it in a little coconut oil with a few chopped pecans. It was really good! I had that with some chai tea with almond milk (or was it coconut? I never remember if I don't write it down immediately!).

For dinner I wanted to grill chicken legs, but they were frozen solid. Whoops. Plan B! I used up the last of the chicken tenderloins. I dipped them in coconut milk and then dipped them again in a gluten free seasoning blend (kind of like a shake and bake made from rice flour and herbs) to oven fry them. I dipped mine in mustard--kinda weird, but I looove mustard, so it was okay. I also made kale and mashed sweet potatoes. It was a really good dinner! Loved the chicken.

I also made a dessert *gasp.* I mixed together pumpkin, (melted) coconut butter, (melted) coconut oil, cocoa powder, vanilla stevia, a tiny bit of vanilla sunwarrior protein powder--mixed it all up & topped that with a lil almond butter and froze it. Not bad. Kind of like an ice creamy fudge.

Day 14:

20 minute ellipical, 10 minute treadmill. 

Shake. No coffee. Ate late  (10:30)

I'm still doing HORRIBLE getting enough fluids. MUST work on that.

Lunch around 2:30. Turkey sandwich made with brown rice toast, rice "cheese," roasted red pepper hummus, mixed greens, a little piece of tomato, and mustard. I heated up the cheese with the bread, which formed a glue-like substance, therefore I couldn't add in the turkey and toppings and had to eat those on top. Weird. Also had half a serving of pistachios and half a pint of blackberries.

For dinner I decided to grill outside--in the cold--when it was dark outside. Yeah, I totally burned the chicken black. I couldn't see! Better than last time I did this when I though the burgers were plenty done and they turned out to be raw in the middle. Whoops! Luckily, the inside of the chicken was still awesome and I don't eat the skin anyway, so my Dad scraped as many burnt parts of as he could. Team work! I also made some broccoli with coconut oil & simple side salads.

 I was still hungry, so I kept dipping in the knock-off organic cherrios, almond butter, and sunbutter & also had 1 square of 90% dark chocolate topped with almond butter. Technically I don't think you're supposed to have that until Cycle 3 and I'm still in 1 :-x, but to be fair, 1 square is less than 1 gram of sugar--come ON. A low-sugar tomato sauce has 6 grams! Not that 90% dark choc is that tasty. It's alright, I'm sure it would be great with a glass of red wine lol, but I'm more of a 70% kind of chocolate eater.

I had a weird, SHARP stomach/right side pain while lying down in bed watching tv. I was hoping it wasn't appendicitis! Luckily, after I peed (tmi?) it went away. Bizarre!! Still no idea what that was.

Day 15:

I know I shouldn't make daily weigh-in's a habit, but I did today anyway and was down another lb. Weird, but I'll take it. Looks like weeks 2 and 3 were better to me than week 1. Unusual, but hopefully that means it's not water weight. Hmm. 

I made an apple-pumpkin pie shake for breakfast. Not sure why I didn't think to add pumpkin before! I didn't want pumpkin and berries, so I diced up an apple, threw that in the blender with vanilla sunwarrior, a couple tablespoons of pumpkin, a squirt of vanilla stevia, almond milk, coconut milk, and almond butter. Pumpkin pie in a glass!  Good stuff.

Still got hungry 2 hours later though. C'mon, shake power!

Around noon I got a headache. I wonder if it's caffeine related? Though I didn't have any caffeine yesterday either (well, a cup of tea, but late late in the afternoon) and was fine. I took 3 advil, but I'll make a cuppa tea too. Trying to cut back on coffee every day and just have it some days.

My stomach/even side again sort of hurt/feel off today too. Not horrific sharp pains like last night, just a bit uncomfortable.

I ate lunch at 2:15-ish, but kept it small. Turkey sandwich on brown rice bread with roasted red pepper hummus, organic romaine leaves, tomato, and spicy brown mustard. We're finally out of that crappy bread. Oh, darn!

I had also brought a pear and pistachios, but decided to save those for another time. 


Stomach still felt about the same after I ate, maybe even a bit weirder. I was pretty tired too, even though I slept a good 8+ hours last night.


SO SO much going on at work. It's hard to do actual work, ironically, because my brain is trying to keep so many to-do lists in order! Ahhh. I guess being too busy is a good thing, though.

I felt fine hunger-wise until about 6 when I started to get really hungry. Which would be fine/right on target, except I was still at the office.

All I could dream about was fruity pebbles, reeses cups, kit kats, and red + pink mike and ike's. I thought cravings were supposed to be the worst the few few days?I'm also dying for turkey bacon & chicken sausage. I hate bacon and sausage of all kinds, so not sure why that is!


I probably ate dinner somewhere between 8 and 8:30? I grilled (foreman this time...) steaks, made mashed cauliflower, and side salads.

Can you tell we like mashed cauliflower? I put some nooch and coconut oil in this time. Tasted like coconutty cheese. I promise it was more appetizing than that sounds.....


Also had another nut butter covered 90% dark chocolate square. I wanted a glass of wine with this sooooo badly. And a real reeses, but y'know. 

Maybe I'll get lucky and dream about mike n ike's tonight. One can (errr) dream!


xo,
Amanda