Half term and .... 7 weeks on Whole30

We've just had half term which was lovely to step off of the hectic conveyor belt for a few days.  It's been busy but still really lovely.

I felt like I have achieved some good things.  I have ordered, and taken delivery of,  a nice big shed for the garden which will be half for storage and half as a workshop.  I now just need to find and buy a greenhouse.  Hopefully the garden will take shape over the coming months as we have BIG plans. I will take some 'Before' photos next week before the real work begins.

I have also been continuing to make my quilt and after piecing together what felt like zillions of pieces the top is almost finished.  

It's 7 weeks today and I am still Whole30 compliant.  I have lost a stone in weight and feel tons better but I am now breaking up with my scale as that's just another bad habit I want to break.  My Daughter is 17 in a week o I am going to find a Paleo (not Whole30) recipe for a cake or some sort of treat for her.  Her birthday is a week tomorrow (on a Monday) so that will be nicely after 2 whole months of Whole30. I was thinking making Paleo waffles or pancakes as she likes them.  By the way she was doing Whole30 with me for the last 7 weeks as has had some depression and anxiety issues which Whole30 has really helped. In fact its been remarkable and made much more difference than a year of therapy and pills.

:)

 

Happy Valentines

Yesterday was Valentines Day and I had a few nice surprises.  Mostly because I had already had my gift from my Partner a few weeks ago on a shopping trip.  He had bought me two dresses which I was really pleased with.  However, on Valentines I also got a lovely card and a Teddy Bear.  The Teddy Bear was wearing clothes and had a satchel around him.  In the satchel was a pouch and in the pouch was a heart pendant with the inscription 'Love'.  It's really gorgeous.

These are our cards on the shelf.  The one on the left was from him to me and the one on the right I made for him.  I hand stamped it and thought it was fun because we both love the film 'Grease'.

and here is my Teddy Bear.  He now lives on my bedside table and I'm calling him Valentine.  Of course.

We had a lovely dinner which was all Whole30 compliant. We had slow roasted Beef and herb crust with roasted sweet potatoes, sprouts,/chestnuts/(spoilt pig, whole30 compliant) bacon, carrot/swede mash and roasted parsnips. Afterwards my partner had a cream eclair (well, two actually) and I had a small portion of coconut meat.

Yum.

Tomorrow will be 6 weeks on whole30.

5 weeks and counting ...

Yep, I have done 5 weeks on Whole30 so far and don't feel the need to eat any differently. I still feel very well and very happy and I want to stay that way.

I have just had a nice weekend.  A busy one but it was really nice.  One more week then a week off work :)

So, this weekend I have mostly done lots of eating like this: -

and this (lunch in my sewing room on Saturday): -

and this: -

and finally after cutting more then 200 fabric pieces I finally started sewing my quilt: -

as well as some much needed down time in the evening reading my Paperwhite Kindle (which I love) in a comfy reading spot here: -

Happy days ...

:)

Post Whole30. Where was I? … Where am I now?

Day 0, you will recall, I was ashamed.  I was in a rather rubbish state of health.  I was ashamed because I had been in really good shape and great health previously.  I had once upon a time had a healthy outlook on life and had always made a really conscious decision not to eat anything out of a packet.  I consumed nothing processed and I had been tee-total for over 10 years!  I had an excellent figure, a sensible BMI and was very fit and healthy.  I was proud to have run 13 half marathons, 2 duathlons and 3 race for life events.  On day 0 I even confessed  the fact that my child was profoundly Autistic and barely slept didn't used to make me tired either.  So what happened?  well, unfortunately life happened ... marriage separation, divorce, house move, new job and new partner happened …. Oh, and a 3 stone weight gain happened!

I had basically slipped and become someone I didn’t even recognise anymore.  I had, over time, reintroduced alcohol and all kinds of processed food.  I had even switched my daily 2 litres of water for nearly as much Pepsi and it was killing me.

So, 31 days ago I was at that point when you know you have to do something but all you can do is cry because of the impossible task in front of you and lets face it no one really enjoys hard work especially with no guaranteed results do they? and by that I mean a low calorie commercial diet which basically make you miserable and if you do get lucky and lose some weight you don't actually feel better.

It was no good to keep asking myself ‘how an earth did I let that slip away?’ Because I had and somehow it was time to look forward.  Thankfully my good friend (who clearly loved me more than I loved myself) told me all about Whole30 and I was instantly hooked.  This was just what I needed - a new and sensible lifestyle choice.

30 whole days later (and all those days are blogged) I have completely Whole30 and the results speak for themselves. I never once felt resentful or deprived and I never had any of the flu like symptoms or anger issues I had prepared myself for. It still would have been worth it by the way!

I had only one headache for the whole duration and that was the first day which I suspect kicking my Pepsi addiction was the cause.  Only one headache in a month is crazy for me as I constantly had head aches before which I always blamed on my tiredness.  Talking of which ....  I slept better.  I don’t generally sleep much and I certainly couldn’t/can't get the recommended 8 hours a night, try as I might, but my boy keeps me up with his nocturnal activities and nappy changes.  However,  I noticed on the same amount of rubbish sleep I felt more refreshed and rested.  My skin was/is clearer and I am told I look fresher.  My partner told me I look brighter and in a weird way younger too but I think that's because I am happier.  Am I allowed to say I think he fancies me more?? Anyway, my hair dresser said my hair condition had changed for the better and my eyes were sparkling,  “so what are you up to?” she asked wanting to know my secret which of course I shared.

It was never going to be about the weight loss as for me it was about taking control back and feeling good again.  I still lost 9 lbs in weight bringing my BMI down from 29.1 to 27.7. Result. Furthermore and probably the most fascinating thing for me was that I dropped an inch off my hip measurement, an inch off the top of each thigh and a whopping 3 inches off both my bust and my stomach.

I can honestly say that I have found my Whole30 journey totally enjoyable as I now feel fantastic and incredibly optimistic. I have therefore decided to keep going but to just have the odd thing off plan when I really need to – like if I was at a wedding banquet or out on a special occasion and it was not possible to eat so clean.  I have chosen that most of all I want to stay eating clean and I definitely wont let any Pepsi back in the house.  I believe in Whole30 not as a diet but as a way of life and a lifestyle choice I choose.

In short, Whole30 made me determined, whole30 gave me my life and health back but one thing Whole30 did not do …. was make me hungry :)

Day 30. I did it!

It's day 30.  I feel really, really good and I feel really, really happy but more about my actual journey tomorrow. Today this is short and sweet as I will be writing in full tomorrow about my whole30 experience.

I cooked cod tonight.  I had a whole half of a cod fish and so I cut it into pieces and then cut strips of bacon and dressed it on top.  I baked it in the oven wrapped in foil and toward the end I opened the foil to help crisp up the bacon.

This is it before it went in the oven.  Unfortunately (and again) I forgot to take the after photo.  I am too greedy!

So until my Whole30 recap he's my food today: -

Day 30 :)

Breakfast

Hard boiled egg
Cherry wine tomatoes
Raw carrot
Closed handful of cashews

Lunch

Mackerel
Rocket
Cucumber
Cherry vine tomatoes
Spring onions

Dinner

Oven baked cod with spoilt pig bacon
Roast sweet potatoes
Broccoli
Carrots
Cabbage
Closed handful of almonds

:)

Day 29

Bizzy B is back from respite and has big dark grey and red patches around and under his eyes which is known as 'Allergic Shiners' and usually means he has eaten something he is allergic to, like dairy.  I can't ask him and he can't tell me so I will have to ring the children's home he stays in to ask.  Things like this make me think even more about the sorts of foods we put in our bodies and what it does to us.  I am so close to the end of my Whole30 I can't believe it!  I will blog in further detail on the 31st day as tomorrow is day 30 so is technically still part of the program.

Tonight after dinner I have cut up a further 105 pieces of fabric for my quilt.  I have back ache ... I must be getting old.  All the preparation takes time but it will finally feel good to start piecing it together on my sewing machine.

At the weekend I started reading 'The fault in our stars' by John Green this has just wrapped up its filming and will be out in the cinemas in the Summer and I am reading it as part of the monthly book club that A Beautiful Mess is doing which is a blog I love. My first impression of the book is that I really love it. 

Here's what I have had to eat on day 29: -

Breakfast

Hard boiled egg
Cumber
Cherry vine tomatoes
Closed handful of cashews

Lunch

Left over bolognese sauce
Rocket
Cucumber
Cherry Vine Tomatoes
Closed handful of cashews

Dinner

Salmon fillet
Roast Sweet potatoes
Roasted veg consisting of:

Red, yellow and green peppers
Mushrooms
Onions
Garlic (added over half way through otherwise they shrivel up)
Courgettes
Cherry vine tomatoes (these were added toward the end so they didn't perish in the heat)


Here is a photo of it about to go in the oven. Yum.

 :)

Day 28 ... it's Sunday

Day of rest ... sort of! Well, I had a fairly relaxing morning and I prepared and started cutting up my fabric for my pending quilt.  I took a break at lunch to make us a cooked breakfast and my partner helped with that.  They are always very labour intensive aren't they?

Anyway after lunch the cutting resumed and it's still not finished.  Mind you I am talking about sorting, measuring, colour matching and cutting 405 pieces of fabric. 245 to go ...

Here's a few I have done

in other news Murphy the Black Lab ate my favourite leather gloves which I have had forever :-( I hope I can find a suitable replacement.  They were amazing. My partner and my Daughter are going on a hunt to two separate places to find out.  Fingers crossed.


Here is the rest of my day 28 in food: -

Breakfast

Last of the leftover pork
Rocket
Cherry tomatoes
Kiwi

Lunch

Cooked breakfast consisting of: Fried eggs, mushrooms, cherry vine tomatoes and homemade sausage patties. I also had a side salad in a separate bowl.

Dinner

Homemade bolognese sauce with extra mushrooms and peppers
Roast Sweet potatoes
Carrots
Melon
Small portion of coconut meat

Sorry about the photo I had already started eating when I realised I should actually have taken a picture ... oops

I made the same for my partner apart from he had his extras like his favourites (he's not on my journey) which was - Baked beans, friend bread, commercial sausagesand I can honestly say I did not miss them.



Yay for me.

Day 27 ... out and about

This weekend Bizzy B is away on respite which happens once every 4 weeks.  He goes to his special needs school on Friday morning and transport take him to the children's home and they bring him back to school on Monday morning.  I miss him terribly but I do find the rest very valuable.  It gives me some time and space to recover a bit and a chance for me to spoil the other members of my family who usually miss out.

Usually, I am guilty of being so tired I don't actually go out or do anything exciting.  This weekend though we decided that we should do something so my Partner and I planned a day out shopping. So, we went to the city of Bath.  It was perfect.  I wont go into detail but being a parent to a profoundly Autistic child who can't communicate, who wears nappies full time and has aggressive tendancies is tough and it puts paid to even the most simple and ordinary things  - like going to the shops.

It's not my birthday for 5 weeks but we thought we would go and I could choose some presents.  So my partner treated me to a new coat (embarrassingly mine was a few years old and looked it ... you know when it goes bobbly and the linning is torn and the fastenings are dodgy ... the whole thing was past it!). 

and he also got me these ....

I have huge plans this year for our garden and I have been saving for a new shed and greenhouse so that can help contribute towards my lifestyle choice.  I grew up in a household that grew their own fruit and vegetables and it was brilliant.  I miss it. So these boots will come in very handy for the garden as well as all this rain we are having and maybe if we get any snow.  The welly socks really make them too and I love the colour of the boots which is 'Mint'.

Anyway, this was the first day during whole30 (on Day 27) that I have actually been out and about for lunch time (not counting the funeral) so that shows that I don't go out much.  so after a hearty breakfast I packed a salad in a tub and took a cold bottle of water to drink with the intention of buying some protein in the form of plain prawns. 

I bought a pack of plain prawns with a cocktail sauce on the side (which of course I did not even open or eat) and a small box of plain cashews which I only ate half of and another bottle of water. 

So in all I had a lovely day and this is what I ate altogether on Day 27 ...

Breakfast

Leftover pork fried in the pork jelly (fat removed)
Rocket
Raw carrot
Cherry vine tomatoes


Lunch

(As above)
Plain prawns
Rocket
Red Pepper
Cherry vine tomatoes
Raw carots
Cucumber
Closed handful of cashew nuts

Dinner

Fried chicken
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Rocket
Cumber
Garlic mushrooms made with ghee and parsley
Small portion of coconut meat.

what a lovely day :)