Primal Living 21 Day Challenge, Day 3ish

So, I fell off the bandwagon, already. I did pretty well. I was noticing a difference in bloating and energy. In fact I ate breakfast at 7:45 yesterday morning and didn't have lunch until 2pm.

And then I was STARVING!!!

It was our anniversary and I had planned on making hamburgers and sweet potato fries (baked of course), but then I was so, so hungry, and we had a gift card to Darden Restaurants. So we ended up at Red Lobster. And I made bad choices. I had three rolls (because you can't go there and not have at least one!) and popcorn shrimp and a baked potato and it was all so glorious! And as soon as I was done eating I was ready to pass out.

So, clearly following this primal lifestyle gives me energy and allows me to not eat every couple of hours, while eating out and making bad choices makes me tired and overweight. That being said, I have leftovers from dinner last night, and I have every intention of eating them for lunch today. I will still eat my primal breakfast and I will eat my primal dinner, but I just don't want to waste the delicious rolls, popcorn shrimp and potato that remain. Can you blame me?!

Also, as we were leaving the restaurant last night Jay got a call from our neighbor that their house was flooded. Jay raced home to help them get the water up and minimize the damage. I spent the evening trying to get Aiden down. So, I really don't even know what day 3's challenge even was. I may try to combine day 3 and 4 challenges, or re-evaluate. My co-worker who was going to do this with me decided to wait one week. I don't really want to do that, but I know I haven't followed the lifestyle to a T. On the other hand, I don't want to be too hard on myself. Mark suggests 80% compliance after the 21 day challenge, maybe I'm starting my 80% a little early.

No, I must commit. I will eat my non-compliant food for lunch and then back to it. Well, probably. Jay has a brownie and ice cream left over from last night that has been calling out to me since we left. See! This is why we can't have this stuff in the house!

Ok, let's just take this day by day. Thanks for sticking with me!

Primal Living 21 Day Challenge, Day 2

I have officially made it through two days of this challenge. I'm shocked at how difficult it is to go without carbs. This is silly! However, on the bright side, I'm starting to notice less bloating. :)

Yesterday I had a bit of a breakdown in the afternoon, which I partially contribute to the change in diet. Thankfully I'm doing much better today.

For breakfast I had the blueberry banana fritata that I mentioned yesterday. I'm very excited to report that it is still good a couple of days later, reheated. It is the perfect balance of sweet, not too sweet, but better than just eggs. I also had a mocha with it. I went with regular milk instead of skim milk like I usually do. I probably should have skipped the chocolate, but I think I'll be ok. However, I think I might have an intolerance to milk. I'll try again later in the challenge to see how it makes me feel.

For a snack I had some raw cashews. I purchased them for a recipe and thought I would eat them as a snack. I love cashews, but I think I prefer them to be prepared in some form other than raw. I ended up eating an almond and walnut mix along with some raisins. I can't promise the raisins are part of this diet, but the ingredients listed dried grapes and no added sugars, so it seems like it should be ok.

For lunch I had left-over pina colada chicken. It was really good, once again.

For dinner we had lemon-pepper tilapia. We greased the cookie tray with coconut oil, laid out the tilapia and sprinkled with lemon-pepper. It was very easy and pretty tasty. I ate mine with an avocado and some grapefruit. After dinner I had a glass of red wine and two squares of dark chocolate with sea salt.

Other than my love for bread and pasta, this lifestyle change isn't really all that restrictive. At least it isn't horribly different from what I was eating before. I still can't promise that I will make it 21 days, but I'm going to try.

Oh, and the challenge for day 2 was to go shopping. Since we did that Friday night we decided that we would clean out the pantry and fridge on day 2. Jay doesn't want me getting rid of everything, and Aiden won't be following this lifestyle as strictly, so not everything went. However, when I got home from work yesterday I was suprised and excited to see that Jay had already cleaned out the pantry and took care of the fridge while we were preparing dinner. All things non-primal are on the top shelf or the floor so I don't have to look at them. These items are primarily for Aiden but some of them are for Jay.

I also want to pat myself on the back for a minute for not using the elevator once at work yesterday. I work on the 5th floor and often take the elevator from the first level. I always walk if it is only a floor or two. But yesterday I took the stairs. It's challenging at 7am with your coat and purse and lunch bag, but I did it. :)

According to what I have read, I will start to see changes within the first couple of days and feel better after the first week. As I mentioned above, I noticed this morning that I'm not as bloated as I have been in the past. Hopefully by the end of the week some of my clothes will start fitting just a little bit looser!

Don't forget, you can do this challenge yourself by checking out Marksdailyapple.com and clicking on the 21 Day Primal Challenge link.

Primal Living 21 Day Challenge, Day 1

Welp, I made it through day one without killing anyone. This is even more of an accomplishment as we were snowed in our house after a foot of snow fell and temperatures were in the negatives with wind gusts making it feel like -30 or colder. Just in case you don't know (although I'm sure you do) I live in Indiana and we aren't used to this kind of cold, or snowfall for that matter, but the cold is what really made it bad.

Usually we do our grocery shopping on Sunday evening but with the storms coming in we decided to go on Friday evening. Oh. My. Goodness! With the impending snow the place was a MADHOUSE! I figured there would be lots of people there getting bread, milk, and eggs but did not anticipate that all veggies with the exception of broccoli, cauliflower, and celery would be sold out. I guess we know what veggies people don't like! So, we got as much as we could Friday night and then Jay went back on Saturday morning to get everything else we needed to start our Primal Living Challenge.

Sunday afternoon we worked together to prepare a bluebarry banana fritatta that I came across online. http://www.edibleharmony.com/blueberry-banana-frittata/ We made it on Sunday and then I heated up a portion of it on Monday for breakfast. I wasn't really sure what to expect because the whole banana and egg combo did not sound appetizing, but it was really good! In fact, we burnt it a little bit and I am still eating it! I had it again for breakfast this morning and it was tasty. For lunch I had some leftover vegitable soup that Jay made on Saturday. It was good as well.

For dinner I made a Pina Colada Chicken recipe from Paleoparents.com (http://paleoparents.com/2013/review-well-fed-2-with-pina-colada-chicken-recipe/). It was really good. Jay said it was ok, but I'm not sure he's 100% on board with this whole new lifestyle. That being said, yesterday afternoon he did surprise me by making paleo pumpkin donuts (in the form of mini muffins) that were really good!

I had two pieces of Promises dark chocolate with almonds just before bed last night to top off my first day of primal living. I managed to stick with the proposed diet for one full day. Yay!

We did not empty our our pantry and fridge like we were supposed to on Day 1, but Day 2's challenge was to go shopping (Which we already did), so I hope to clean out the pantry and fridge tonight. However, I'm pretty proud of myself for not leaving the house yesterday and not giving in to all of the food temptation that stared at me all day long. This challenge is going to be more difficult that I thought, but at the same time I'm finding I can eat more food types than I thought. I guess we will just see how this goes.

Oddly enough, I don't have the support that I thought I would with this plan. I guess we will see how long I last.

Oh, and if you want to check out the Primal Living 21 Day Challenge for yourself go ot Marksdailyapple.com and click on the link.

Hoosiers Outrun Cancer

Cancer has touched my life. I think you would be hard pressed to find someone who has not been affected by cancer. It's a horrible word, it's a horrible disease, and we all need to fight for a cure. One way I try to help aid this fight against cancer is to participate in Hoosiers Outrun Cancer. I have participated over the years by being a volunteer and by taking part in the race. It is seldom really a race per se. We walk. Generally very slow. But, we walk, and we visit and we do it together.

Together we fight to end cancer.

We walk in memory of so many loved ones.

We walk to celebrate those who are fighting cancer.

We walk for those who have won the battle.

This was Aiden's third walk. He has been to too many funerals in his short lifetime. Most were for loved ones who were taken from us by cancer.

This group of ladies has participated in some form for as long as I can remember.

Tricia, me, Amy, and Sarah

My sister, Sarah, me, Jay, and Amy. The Zija distributors, representing at HOC.

I know that there are a ton of races out there. I know that there are many ways to raise money to help fight cancer. This. This is the one thing I do every year to honor those who are fighting. Those who we have lost. Those who have beat cancer.

Success

NOTE: I wrote this post last week but have had difficulty in getting my photos uploaded. It's no longer timely, but I figure everyone likes this kind of post, so I'll do it anyway. Enjoy!


I managed to get my booty out of bed and to the gym every. single. morning last week (two weeks ago now)! I also completed all but my Friday afternoon post-work workouts. :) To say I was exhausted would be an understatement. In fact, I was fighting to stay awake when I gave in and went to bed at 8:30 on Friday night. Yup, I'm pretty cool.

I'm going to count this as a successful week of workouts. We were supposed to do arms on Friday morning and I was supposed to do cardio Friday afternoon. However, we ended up doing a cardio circuit with jumping jacks, jump rope, shadow boxing, push-ups, lunges, and sit-ups for a good 45 minutes Friday morning. I shall count that as my cardio for the day. I'm really proud of myself for completing the week!

So, in celebration, check out some progress photos of me. I gained a lot of weight while I was pregnant. My Doctor never said I was gaining too much. I recently looked up something online that showed how much weight you should gain with a pregnancy based on your starting weight. I was surprised to see that I only gained a little bit more than is suggested. So, here is a picture of me pregnant. I believe it was a couple of weeks before Aiden was born.

Here I am about a week or so after Aiden was born.

Photo by SBChilds Photography

Here I am six months out.

Here is a picture just after Aiden's 1st birthday.

Photo by SBChilds Photography

This is a picture from earlier in September, right around Aiden's 2nd birthday.

I've come a long way. I've worked hard. I still have a ways to go, but as my blog title says, it's a journey.

Change of Plans

Good news, yesterday was upper body day and it went well! I modified my workout by lifting less weight but doing more reps. It felt kind of silly doing chest flies with five pound weights. In fact, I increased to 7.5 weights after my first set. That was probably the only time that I really felt my shoulder. I was careful not to go to far and stretched really well after I was done.

We then did my favorite abs workout. Two of us lay on decline benches and Dale throws a medicine ball to one of us, we both lay back and sit up, do a twist, and the person with the ball throws it back to Dale. He then throws the medicine ball to the other person and we repeat. It's a good workout for the abs, and it's fun. After we finished he had us turn around so we were holding on where we usually lock our feet in. We would then pull our legs up in a pike position and he would throw them down. Neither of us lasted long, but it was an awesome workout and I felt it last night.

Yesterday I met one of the girls who works out in the morning for lunch on the Monument. I'm pretty sure that yesterday was really my first time on the monument. I often see people sitting there to eat their lunch, but I had never done that. Unfortunately I had forgotten my lunch, so I grabbed a salad from When Eddie Met Salad and joined my friend. I couldn't believe how peaceful it was. Well, with the exception of the fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars that went by three different times. I will have to have my lunch out there more often! Here is a little picture of my view while eating.

I was planning on doing cardio with Jay after work, until my co-worker reminded me that we had a meeting last night at the Children's Museum. There was just not enough time to pick up Aiden, get to the Y, work out, shower and get back downtown. In fact, there wasn't much time to get Aiden, head home, make dinner, and then head downtown. So, Jay was so kind as to pick up Aiden and fend for themselves for dinner so that I could go to the downtown Y for cardio with my co-worker. We just did a quick 30 minutes on the elliptical, but it felt great to get that cardio in. Then we showered and headed for our meeting. Which was great by the way. I need to get to the Children's Museum with Aiden and Jay very soon.

I am so appreciative that Jay supports me in my quest to become healthier. He could have told me to get Aiden and make dinner, but he didn't. He did however go to a German restaurant that I have been dying to go to for years. Now I'm jealous! :)

Back in the saddle again.

Who isn't singing "Back in the Saddle Again" by Gene Autry now? You're welcome.

I'm two days in to returning to my regularly scheduled workouts. Yay! Technically today was supposed to be my first day back, but yesterday was legs day, so I figured that if my shoulder started to hurt (which it shouldn't) I would take it easy. Everyone at the Y was happy to see me again. It appears that they noticed my two week hiatus. It turns out that Dale was actually asking some of the ladies what they did to me to make me not come back. I'm not going to lie; it was nice to be missed. :)

So, I knocked out legs yesterday morning. It felt great! I didn't push too hard, but I am definitely feeling it today.

Then yesterday afternoon I did the elliptical for 50 minutes. It felt great. I managed to forget my iPod at home, but between the music playing at the Y, my reading materials, and the televisions, the 50 minutes went quickly. Still no shoulder pain.

Actually, my legs were starting to feel pretty sore last night so I took a minute to stretch. Never mind that I was stretching on the kitchen floor while my peach was broiling. The result of that stretching session was great. I got a good stretch and when I was done I got to eat a peach sprinkled with brown sugar, drizzled with honey, and stopped with vanilla bean ice cream. Yummy!

This morning I got up to swim. I grabbed a kickboard just in case my shoulder hurt. I considered just using the kickboard, but decided to try a couple of strokes in the shallow end, just to see how it felt. Amazing!!!! No pain at all. I was able to swim the entire 50 minutes without using the kickboard. I was even able to do push-ups in the deep end. I didn't do as many as Dale wanted me to, but I didn't want to push it too far on my first day back to swimming.

When we were done Dale complimented me on my improved swimming. He said that I have improved 100%. I mentioned that it would have been difficult to get much worse. He agreed, but was really pleased with my progress. I'm doing so much better with breathing and getting more comfortable in the water. It still bugs me to no end to have water in my ears, but I have swimmers ear that I use when I get out of the pool. Hopefully someday I'll get over that.

I am so happy to be working out again. I was so busy the past two weeks and in so much pain for a portion of it. I'm glad to once again be pain free and moving. Thanks for sticking around!