Month: January 2017

Reality Checks

Another one bites the dust…

paleosherry4 Comments

Alright, I’ll confess – I didn’t make it to day 30.  I got to 25 and between the travel and the stress, I just couldn’t make it the last 5 days.  Part of me is really disappointed – I was hoping I could hold out to the end, but sometimes you just gotta lose a battle to win the war.

I haven’t come off of Paleo, short of a few dishes over the weekend with some dairy in them, but I have reintroduced some honey and maple syrup here and there, and the scale shows it.   I’m determined to learn from my latest Whole30 experience, however, and limit my sugar intake a little better than I did over the holidays.

In other news, I had my best 5k run time ever (beat my Jingle Bell Run time) on Saturday, and am feeling pretty good otherwise.

If you’re still hanging in there for the last few days, I applaud you!  Keep it up!

Reality Checks

Whole 30 Week #3

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Ok, I thought last week was hard, but I was wrong.  This week was actually the worst – and it really didn’t have as much to do with the diet as it did the job, but that’s when I miss sweets the most.

I mentioned last week that the low energy was getting to me.  That and an an unexpected upward swing on the scale had me ready to chuck the whole thing.  I was tired, grumpy, and just wanted some damn chocolate.

Then finally on Friday morning, I woke up before my alarm with a decent amount of energy.  I had a great run (best one I think in months) and finally felt like I had turned a corner.  The day seemed to be going so well at work too – I had managed to handle the current crises, had a clear plan and a communicated vision to the team… only to get some really bad news at the tail end of the day right before I headed home.  Sigh.

Why did I decide to do a Whole30 during the busiest month of the year?  I must be slightly unhinged.

At least we had some good food this week:

Next week I’ll be travelling for work for a couple of days, so we’ll see how well I’m able to stick to plan.

Is it over yet?  A glass of wine would be the ticket right about now.

 

Whole 30 Week #2
Recipes · Victories

Whole 30 Week #2

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As usual, week 2 was a bit harder than the first.  Extra stresses at work made it especially hard to avoid the sugar, but I managed to make it.

I find it’s particularly hard to find the energy to exercise during the 2nd week of a Whole 30.  Low energy levels and headaches kick in – certainly not nearly as bad as the first time, but bad enough to make me a little grumpy and want a little extra sleep. The grey skies and warmer temps that seemed to linger all week didn’t help either.  I prefer the cooler weather.

For meals this week we enjoyed a mix of old favorites and new adventures:

  • We found pork shoulder on sale, so we did a smoked pulled pork with our favorite simple rub of mustard and black pepper  from this, we made sliders with sweet potato buns, baked pork stuffed sweet potatoes, and our favorite pork and apple breakfast casserole.
  • A double batch of Paleo Chili
  • Slow cooked bolognese sauce with sweet potato noodles – OMG this sauce is a bit painful to put together because of the time commitment, but it rivals any restaurant version I’ve ever had.  Like you’d expect, it really gets better over time, and we’ve continued to enjoy this one all week.
  • Paleo Gyros – this was really pretty good, though pretty dry compared to the ones we get at our neighborhood Greek place.  I made a paleo tzaziki sauce and served this with caramelized onions and asparagus.
  • Paleo Barbecue Chicken Casserole – this was pretty good – even my mom said it had a good flavor, and it was pretty easy to make.  The star of the show, however, was the prerequisite Whole 30 BBQ sauce which is really awesome, and was slathered all over our pork dishes all week too.

img_2286The other thing I’ve been working on is limiting my meal portions.  I was rewarded with a weigh-in on Thursday that was lower than before the holidays by a couple of lbs.  As the weekend kicked in and my portions grew, the scale got ugly again, but I think it’s safe to say I’m back to my pre-holiday position and in a great place to finally lose that last 8 lbs that I originally wanted to drop.    We’ll see if I can keep the stress and the large portions at bay this week.

Recipes · Strategies

Whole 30 Week #1

paleosherry3 Comments

Ok, well it’s been a short week, but I’m feeling a lot better.  Way less swelling, more energy, and generally feeling more like myself.  Down within a couple of lbs of my pre-holiday weight now – and not suffering too much from lack of sweet.

All in all, not a bad place to be.

Here are some of the dishes we enjoyed this week:

  • Paleo Tex Mex Casserole – a perennial favorite.  We have this one about once a month or so and it’s still really good and filling
  • Slow Cooker Butter Chicken with Indian Style Cauliflower – wow, this one was really good, and I think will be one of our new favorites.  As a slow cooker dish, the chicken is really easy and the flavors are pretty awesome.  The cauliflower is pretty simple too but the spices really blend well
  • Roasted Pork Loin – I basically followed this recipe, except used a rub of garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and chopped fresh sage.  Served with half a sweet potato and roasted broccoli.  This turned out way better than I thought it would and may be my new go-to recipe for pork loin.
  • 20-Minute Shrimp & Sausage Skillet Meal – This was really easy to whip up for dinner on a weeknight and was very tasty.  Brendon joined us for dinner so there weren’t any leftovers.

This weekend the temperature is going to mostly be down around and below freezing, so I’m not sure how much adventuring we’ll be doing.  My plan is to finish putting away the Christmas decorations and start thinking about Valentine’s. I think I’m going to miss the garland on the banister most of all – I love the glow when I come home on dark evenings.  Maybe there’s a way to do a Valentine themed banister with lights?

Reality Checks · Strategies

January Reboot: Whole30 #3

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Ok folks, it’s Jan 3.  If you’re like me, you got on the scale this morning and cringed.  Clothes are just a bit tighter, energy levels are down, and wouldn’t some maple syrup-drowned paleo waffles be awesome right about now, even though you just finished your healthy breakfast a couple of hours ago??

Time for the proverbial January kick in the ass.

Time to throw away or freeze the paleo goodies (or the ones your friends brought over), and reset.

Time to give the maple syrup, coconut sugar, and local raw honey a rest.

It’s time for another Whole30.

I know, I know – you were pretty good over the holidays – you avoided the egg nog and milk-laden hot cocoa (mostly because you knew what  it would do to your stomach), and you only ate one or two regular cookies at the holiday party – but I bet if you’re like me, the portion sizes kept creeping up, and the Paleo goodies were sitting right there on the counter and then there was the wine…. yeah.  We won’t talk about the wine.

So, what’s done is done, and it’s time to get back into those good habits you had before all of the holiday crazy kicked in.  Back to regular exercise – maybe even adding some new ones, and kicking the sugar dragon’s ass one more time.

Who knows, maybe we’ll find some new favorite recipes we can enjoy all year long.

Who’s with me?

 

Happy New Year!
Recipes

Happy New Year!

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Happy New year to all of the ODB followers!  I can’t believe 2016 is finally over – I know most everyone has been happy to see it go, but I admit to being a little sad about it.  2016 was a great year for E.J. and I both personally with our weight loss and weekend adventures and professionally.  The scale is not exactly my friend this morning, but I’ve got a game plan and will be putting up another post on that subject later.

We had another successful New Years party (minus the plunge in the pool since the spa heater decided to conk out on us), with some new Paleo nibbles that I wanted to share.

First, I brought back a few favorites from my Favorite Recipes page:

And tried a bunch of new ones that were big hits

  • Lamb and Beef Kofta with Tzaziki Sauce – This was really good, but I think needed more salt and spices.
  • Spicy Party Mix – People were really impressed with this one, wondering what was in it.  It wasn’t too spicy, but had just a little kick with a little sweet from the raisins.  I think this one was a winner
  • Bacon Wrapped Cinnamon Apples – holy cow, I never would have thought to wrap bacon around an apple, but the flavor was fantastic.  Definitely one of the highlights of the spread!
  • Cajun Crab stuffed Tomato Poppers – these were tasty and pretty, but not stellar.  I think I would add more spices to the crab to give it more of a kick next time
  • Bacon and Onion Dip – Honestly this was the biggest surprise of the party foods.  I decided to make it at the last minute and it turned out amazing.  Lots of rave reviews on this one.

Did you find any cool recipes over the holiday?  I’m always looking for new ones!