Day 4: Give it your all!

I have made it to day 4 pretty much unscathed! I was really worried about feeling yuck and tired as I had read so many people experiencing online. I guess all these months of cleaner eating helped since my diet was not totally wrecked. 

Today I felt pretty good and energetic. I had another hectic day at work but I was able to keep going without feeling like I needed a snack. Note to self: increased protein and some good fats may hold the key to no drips between meals. I had two situations today where I was faced with 'temptation'. It was not too hard to walk away even though the donuts ( which I normally wouldn't give a crap about) looked fresh and inviting. Like the picture above says , I am doing this and I am giving it my 100%. After all it is not donating blood ;)! 

 Here is my food for the day: 

 Breakfast: scrambled eggs with mixed power greens ( swiss chard, spinach and other greens), an apple chicken sausage, half an avocado and 1/4 apple. 

Lunch: Mixed greens dressed with some fresh lime juice, a hard boiled egg, grilled chicken and half an avocado. 

Dinner: Diced up compliant hotdogs cooked with some compliant hot and tomato sauce served on butter lettuce with a baked sweet potato. 

 I hope y'all had a great weekend. I am looking forward to my Friday ( Monday for the rest of the world) since I have a huge to do list to get through during my "weekend". Until next time!

Day 3 is here

Hey everyone! I made it to day 3! I have to say Day 2 and so far Day 3 have been much much nicer to me than Day 1. No sugar dragon or anger on my part. No mood swings(yet ;) ). I haven't had any headaches and my head seems pretty clear. 

Yesterday, I actually felt more energized than usual. I was shocked that I wasn't yawning and ready to pass out by 9. I wake up super early so I also try to get to bed early. 

 Here is my food for Day 3: 

Breakfast: Prosciutto, hard boiled egg whites and a quarter avocado with fresh blackberries and grape tomatoes.

Lunch: tomato, cilantro and onion salad with fresh lime juice, chicken and avocado.

Dinner: compliant chicken Apple sausage  sliced and served over butter lettuce boats and baked sweet potato.

 Day 3 has been good because I have had no headaches at all. It has been crazy busy at work today and I had clocked at 10,000 steps before 1 pm. That's more than my usual workday. 

I know that while doing the whole 30 you are not supposed to snack but I felt like I needed a little something to pep my step since I was already starting to get tired. Not sure if this was due to the "hangover" timeframe or just a busy hectic day. 

 I caved around 3 and had a cup of coffee and a tablespoon of almond butter. Probably not the best choices but truly all I had that was compliant around me. To keep myself from snacking, I am only packing my meals and no extra snack stash. I was glad I had the almond butter I had purchased the other day. I went to our little market and other than fruit, I couldn't find anything else that was compliant. I really didnt want to do the fruit for the sugar. I knew the almond butter would keep me going for the next few hours. 

 How is your weekend going? I hope you are enjoying some rest and relaxation with your loved ones. Until next time, Stay Happy!

Day 1 Aftermath and onto Day 2

Well day 1 is in the books and I think I did well. I successfully stayed on plan and my only complaint was a dull headache  all day. 

I know the headache was from caffeine withdrawal. Even though on the whole 30 you can have coffee ( recommended 2 cups max ideally before noon so it doesn't affect your sleep), I decided to try to quit it for good. 

Not sure why I thought I had to cut down all the way to zero lol but I regretted that all day because of that headache. It finally went away around 3pm when I decided to just drink a cup. This is pretty much how I felt :

 I had been having close to 4-5 cups a day plus the caffeine that coke zero had. On the bright side I already liked my coffee black so I have no issue about it lacking sweeteners or creamer.

On to Day 2: This morning I was worried about how I would feel. According to the book's timeline, day 2-5 is usually when the "hangover" hits you.  I felt good today, I drank one cup of coffee and had no headache. I actually feel a bit more energized tonight and I know it ain't related to caffeine haha!

Here's the food of the day:

Breakfast: beef patty, leftover hash and a hard boiled egg white

Lunch: zucchini noodles aka zoodles with  homemade marinara, chicken , a couple of radishes and a small slice of avocado

Dinner: stir fry with beef and mixed veggies ( broccoli, carrots, snow peas ) seasoned with a dash of coconut aminos.

Looking forward to a successful Day 3! Have a great weekend. Until next time, Stay focused!

I'm Back and on Day 1

Oh my! It sure has been a hot minute since I last posted. There are many things that have happened since. I got sick and better. I had a birthday Yay!. And I went on a much needed short vacation.

 I did not go completely out of control during my vacation but I have slowly noticed myself being more lenient with my food intake. I went from not having any grains, to slowly allowing me some here and there. I also never got to the point where I could give up legumes completely. I have insulin resistance so I know and understand how what I eat affects me. 

 Although nowhere near my old self, I could sense the start of old patterns justified by my birthday/vacation. I haven’t gained any weight, however I am stuck where I was 4 weeks ago and that is not where I want to be. 

I have a long long way to go before I get to maintenance so at this point maintaining is not a good thing. I could almost say that at least I haven’t gained but I am not about trying to enable my bad habits.While hiking during my vacation , I decided that enough was enough. I have come a long way through lots of effort. Letting loose and continuing to be increasingly lenient would only end up a disaster. I know I do not want to tear down what I have accomplished and I feel like I can eventually get there by falling back into old habits. 

So I decided to try the Whole30. Not because it is a media and Instagram fad, but because in reading the book(It starts with food), a lot of it resonates with me. I felt like I needed to get back to being strict in order to reestablish my health routine. 

So I am on day one of the Whole30. I have been bad about my coke zero. I have cut down but continue to make excuses to justify one or two a day. Today is it. No alcohol, sugar, sweeteners, grains, legumes, processed food and dairy for 30 days. I am scared but excited, I am looking forward to the challenge. So to keep myself accountable I have announced it at work so that I am not offered crap and I will journal it on here.

With all that said, here is my food for Day 1:

Breakfast: compliant bacon over potato hash, hard boiled eggs and fresh berries. I ate one egg and saved the rest.

Lunch: chicken, avocado, radishes and tomato.

Dinner: chicken, carrots,green beans and tomatoes 

I hope everyone is doing well. Onlooking outward to catching up with y'all's blogs and sharing my journey through the whole30 with you. Until next time, Stay strong!!!

Nope! It has not happened!

It has been way longer than usual for my posts! Before anything else, let me make it clear that no, I have not fallen off the bandwagon unless it’s the blogging bandwagon! 

 I have been real busy at work, working extra hours and days. We have been short staffed for several weeks and have had to pull together to see everything through regardless of how much our workload increases. I am blessed to have a job, and one that I love but it leaves me, on most days, ready to relax in my garden or in my hammock as soon as I get home. 

 My day off (yes, a single one) is usually full of chores, food prep and catching up. The one thing that I have not allowed myself to put in the back burner is my food prep. Without it, I know I would have been out of control a long time ago. So I do make a point, regardless of my schedule, to make sure I have meals packed and ready to go for work. 

 It has been worth the effort because it keeps me on path. The scale continues to move, at times slower than others with an occasional bump up that will go back down after a day or two. Other than having some delicious tacos the other day, I have been good about sticking to my food template. 

 Of course, I did catch the horrible stomach bug that has been going around. But hey, working in a Petri dish…how can I not catch something every now and then? It took 3-4 days to get well and feeling back to normal. During those days saltines, ice chips and tea were my friends. I did not really care about the fact that I was eating crackers, I was happy that something was staying inside me!

 I hope y’all have been doing well and are looking forward to a long weekend. Although I worked this weekend, I do get Monday-Wednesday off next week!! HALLELUJAH!!I am looking forward to enjoying some sun and outdoor time with family. Stay safe and strong! Until next time!!

A Sunday well spent

They say a Sunday well spent brings a week of content. I wholeheartedly agree with this! If this is your first time reading here in sure you're thinking:"what the heck Alati it's only Wednesday!!?!??". It is for most people but it is actually my Sunday!

 I work the Thursday though Friday work shift and the longer I do,the better I like it. Because at this point, I've chosen not to have many responsibilities, this schedule allows me time during the week to get things done.When I need the weekend off for a special reason, it's nice to be able to use my time off. It works for now, I am truly happy and blessed at my job!

Today, I got my food prep for the week done. I am a firm believer that if you fail to prep, you prep to fail.so I got my lunches for the week ready. Here's a picture of the first batch:

I'm currently obsessed with mason jars! I love how easy to clean up and don't pick any of the food smells. The cuteness is just a bonus lol!

This week I made salad dressing using balsamic vinegar, splash of lime juice and evoo. I poured 1.5 tablespoons at the bottom of my jars, added a handful of grape tomatoes and filled them up with my favorite power green blend (Swiss chard,kale,spinach and a bit of shredded carrots). They say they should be fine for a whole week in the fridge but I am skeptical so I always fix three at a time.

I also have an ounce of feta cheese in each of the lil container that I will mix into the salad as well as a hard boiled egg that I will chop over it as well. 

The bottom jars have baby portabellas sliced, green beans, chopped onions and parsley. There's a cup of that in each jar which gives me something 'warm' to eat after my salad. Delicious!

I really need to revamp my breakfast routine. I am trying to make sure I add fats and proteins but feel I need some variety. How do you prep for the week?

Hope all is going well with you, remember taking some extra time now will make a big difference later on. I leave you with a little inspiration:

This and That

Things continue going well. Gotta love the bright sunny days even though I could do without the really warm temperatures but hey its not been too bad so far this year and you can't have your cake and eat it too ;)

 I have been doing exceptionally well with my food, but have not been as good at trying to progressively increase my step goal. I have sort been stuck at the same goal for a few weeks. Admittedly part of it has been a 'defense mechanism' trying to conserve my energy as I have been working extra hours. I walk a lot during my work day and I have found that my bad ankle ( broken once, sprained several others)seems to be achy most nights.

 I know if I increase my step goal, I will push myself and that may end up in me hurting my ankle bad enough again and going backwards instead of forward. I am afraid I might have to dig out the ole brace and hope it helps. In other news, I have continued to stick to my meat and veggies foods and find that its how I thrive. I am well satisfied and have enough energy for the day when I stick to it so this is where I will be until a need to change comes.

 I had another NSV the other day. It was a painful one haha. My feet have always been extra wide and finding cute shoes that fit well has always been one of the baisn of my existence. In my brain, my feet wouldn't 'shrink' but I have found that my 'spring' flats have become a tad too big since last year and my foot slides. This causes not only to rub blisters but also to make walking and keeping them on uncomfortable. So I now have a great excuse for new shoes yay!

Speaking of new shoes, I have been inspired by Gwen from The Sunny Coconut to organize and declutter. I have now planned to get some decluttering started next week. I have no much 'stuff' that I really do not need. I have also made a deal with myself that if I need to get something new ( like shoes) I will donate or get rid of the ones I will not be needing anymore. Someone else will probably use them, and there is no need for me to have more clutter. I also want to simplify and declutter.

When I moved here, six years ago I had 2 50 pd suitcases. If you told me that I had to move again and repack, well I would need several several suitcases. Why do I need so much stuff? So slowly I will try to declutter and reorganize. The less stuff, the easier it will be to not only keep neat but also be much more zen for the home. We will see how it goes.

Hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy some sunshine wherever you are! Until next time, Stay strong!