Sunday Funday

It’s weird, because even though I gained weight (how much fat or how much muscle I’m not sure – I don’t trust my measurements, obviously :-p) and only lost a fraction of an inch, I really do feel like I look leaner than I’ve ever looked so I’m doing something right!!!  That being said, I think I did better when I was eating less protein.  I felt much less stuffed to the gills trying to get 120+ grams/day this week.  With the weight gain and that feeling, I think I’ll dial down the protein and calories a bit this week.  My body seems to do really well at 1000-1100 calories a day.  Overall, I don’t know if that’s what stalls my weight loss, but obviously I must have eaten a little too much this week if I gained eating only clean foods.  I’ll aim for around 1100 and know that if I get a little more I won’t break the bank .

This week I’ll be aiming for:

• +/- 1100 Calories
• 100-105 g Protein
• 50-55 g Total Carb (or less)
• 100 g Total Carb on Refeed Days
• Remainder as Fat

So more Primal than Leangains oriented, I’d say.  I think I’ll be happier this way.  But I’m going to have to measure more carefully, because the fat is going to add up!

Today I had two larger meals rather than three.  I’m pretty full now, but my brain is having cravings for something sweet.  I’m either going to either have to make a small cup of hot cocoa or have 1/2 a tsp of almond butter or just go upstairs and brush my teeth right away.  My gut tells me that the former will cause me to get all cravey.  My Mum just made huge, sugary, delicious cinnamon muffins, and it was a huge accomplishment for me not to run over and run even my pinky finger through the batter, so I want to keep this streak up for the night.

Ok, it’s the time I dread each and every week!  Picture time – yet again with unkempt bed head and no makeup.  Looking especially rough this week – sorry folks

Also, I took my “side” view from the wrong side of my body, which shouldn’t make that big of a difference for normal people who don’t have one side of their ribcage stick out a couple inches further than the other – weird, right?  Great.  Now I’m sure that’s all you can focus on.

I hate posting these pictures, because I don’t feel like they’re an accurate representation.  I feel like I look better than this .  That’s progress, people.

Also, I have wicked shin splits from jumping rope.  Hope it doesn’t affect me tomorrow – good thing it’s not a Lower Body day.

Stats

Daily Schedule

*Also plan on doing Hamstring Gravity Stretches

Daily Meals

Saturday – Better Late Than Never….

Finally.  A good night’s sleep .

I woke up at 7:15 AM and was totally refreshed…but then accidentally fell back asleep for another hour and a half and had crazy ass dreams.  Whoops.

Did my HIIT this morning…even though I didn’t want to.  I did Jump Rope “Sprints”.  Didn’t get as winded or exhausted as I did with regular sprints, but on the positive side I didn’t nearly die/get some sort of asthmatic bronchitis so I’m not complaining.  Though I did notice a bit of hives on my upper body afterwards…double whoops.

Furthered my exercise by painting my entire kitchen.  So LHT for moving refrigerators, stoves, and other furniture.  And for rolling and rolling and rolling paint (works the arms!).  Bonus cardio points for rocking out and dancing while doing all of the above.

My parents wanted to go out for dinner, so I convinced the to try out a new place down the street that has only farm fresh ingredients – organic vegetables, grass-fed beef and bison, amish eggs, ect.  I got a trio of sliders that I was really anticipating.  Here’s how they were described on the menu:

So here’s how I filled out my Food Diary before leaving:

Man…I have to say, I got SCREWED.  I ordered it on a bed of mixed greens, and was unaware that when you do so they don’t give you any toppings.  It’s just three dry little pieces of meat on a lot of lettuce – no glazes or sauces even.  So that was bummer #1.  Bummer #2 was the fact that the two meat burgers were smaller in size than an oreo cookie.  No joke.  The salmon was a tiny bit bigger than a cigarette lighter.  WTF?  I hate it when restaurants do this, it’s so cheap.  I know how much food I’m supposed to be getting when the menu says “2 oz” or “6 oz” or “9 oz” because I friggen measure everything, so I always feel screwed.  Bummer #3 was the worst – instead of the turkey burger, they gave me the vegetarian black bean burger.  No!  Not Primal!  Fortunately, it was all of ONE BITE, probably like 4 black beans in all.  And it was just beans and vegetables.  And to boot…it was the most delicious of the three burgers.  Blasphemy.

I came home and downed a casein shake, because I was starving from my lettuce dinner.  I knew if I didn’t have it I’d get all cravey.

So overall a pretty good day.  Tomorrow kitchen painting and working myself to insanity resume!

Daily Schedule

HIIT – Jump Rope Sprints

In the form of Mercola’s Peak 8

30 sec full exertion (intensity level 10)

90 second rest (intensity level 0 – 1)

Repeat 8 times

Daily Meals

Fat?! I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Fat!…

…on my refeed day that is!

And yea, that might just be me validating this Leangains protocol, because keeping fat low is dang hard!!!  I’d MUCH rather have a high fat day!

In other news, I figured out what I’m allergic to!  As I was laying in bed gasping for air last night and coughing myself to exhaustion, I remembered that I used liquid fabric softener when I washed my sheets and blanket the other day :p.  Had no idea I would be super allergic to it!  So I just fell asleep on my comforter with a big fluffy blanket.  I had to rewash everything with vinegar today, but praise the Lord, I might finally be able to get a good night’s sleep tonight!

I worked out a little later in the day this morning.  It kind of ruined my work schedule, but I’m glad I didn’t skip it.  I did so many hindu squats I thought my legs were going to fall off my body!  I’m enjoying the workouts I created for myself, and try and challenge myself every new day to get more reps and push it a little further.  It’s working well for now, I believe, but I should probably look into swapping in a couple of new exercises within the next two or three weeks to keep things going at a good pace.  I could either just sub in a couple of new moves (I need to do some lungessss) or I could start a new type of program.  I’ve been looking into Starting Strength, so I’ll do more research into that program before I make a decision.

Sweet potato today = amazing.  I used this recipe to cook the potato, and sauteed some onions and garlic in a large frying pan before tossing the potato cubes in and crisping them up.  I also threw in some fresh cilantro, dried parsley, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, and a little bit of stevia and cinnamon (hey, it worked).

Dinner was Turkey Chili – this time I mixed in some Cilantro-Lime Cauliflower Rice and Broccoli.  It was better – added a little bit of texture.  I need to finish off this Chili though.  It’s kind of gross…chili without beans or anything.  Just sauce and meat.  Especially when the meat is Ground Turkey – it’s kind of…rubbery.   My sweet Mum said to me, while making it: “Oh…I thought you wanted it!  I even got the ground turkey just for you!” Me: “Why turkey?” Her “‘Cause there’s less fat, of course!”….*facepalm to the max*

I also had some deli meat today, which I don’t make a habit of.  But this was really high quality meat, so I’m not too worried.  I didn’t have any other protein available to me, so turkey breast it was .

Daily Schedule

LHT – Lower Body

Daily Meals

*It should be noted that I DEFINITELY ate more than this today, but for the most part all protein.  I nibbled on more turkey breast than I measured and I more chili in sampling while reheating.  I probably got a good 15-20 g extra of protein than shown.

The most exciting thing I’ve noticed over the last week is that I can really start seeing how my body is going to look in a few weeks.  As pointed out in earlier posts, I have lost a lot of weight in mere days over certain periods of time.  But this time is MUCH different. I’m more…solid now. I really am, for the first time, leaning out.  I’m not just losing weight.  My body is become stronger.  It’s more of a change I can feel, physically and emotionally, than I can see.  This is really, really cool .

I’m not sure how my “weight loss” will go, but the body recomposition is going insanely well, so I don’t care.  I have a feeling that the inches will melt away slowly over the weeks, but as long as I stick to it and tweak when necessary this is really going to work!

Please remind me of this when my thighs get bigger :p : I have already reconciled with the fact that I’m pretty sure my thighs will get bigger before I even start losing fat on them.  Bummmerrrr.

Aw Dang Why Do I Keep Doing This?!

By “this”, I mean that I weighed myself today.  Gained 5 lbs.

This is me not stressing about it BUT giving myself full permission to flip a shit if my measurements suck on Sunday.  Seriously?  If I gain weight on 1100-1300 calories of meat and vegetables, I’m gonna go back to eating 3 Lean Cuisines a day…….lol kidddinnngg.  But seriously that would suck .

I was having problems at dinner today eating all that food.  I think it’s because I had a huge bowl of soup beforehand, but the soup had so little nutritional value I felt obligated to finish my Turkey Chili as well.  Sometimes I just feel stuffed after these meals.  I’ve upped my protein this week to between 115-125 grams/day, so I feel like I’m getting stuffed rather than satiated.  I’m not sure whether to keep this macro breakdown or to decrease my protein and up the fats in a more “Primal” fashion.  I’ll figure it out within a couple of weeks, I guess.  I feel as though it will be hard to get as many calories as I need from fat without added dairy, but I’ll play around with the numbers later.

I also got up too late to do HIIT this morning, which bums me out.  I’m going to have to force myself to wake up earlier on Saturday to do it.  I think there’s something in my room that I’m allergic to, because once I lay down I start coughing like a madman.  It’s like every time I move I start coughing my brains out…cute, huh?  I took about a tsp of Dramamine (aka HFCS) because I thought it would help me out (and knock me out), but I’m not really sure if it worked.  Meh.

All I know is that I need to start getting sleep, so I can wake up refreshed and work out and such .

And dagnabbit I’m still bloated!  Though twice today I took 2 TB of Organic ACV in a large glass of water and I really think it helped!

Daily Schedule

Daily Meals

Darnit.  I meant to eat Salba with my Crepes but I already brushed my teeth!

I tried to make a dairy-free high protein alternative to my final meal, and overall it was less than exciting :p.  I feel like I could tweak this Egg Crepe a bit – right now it’s just 3 eggs and 3 TB of Almond Milk.  It’s just tooooo eggy .  I thought stuffing them with Coconut Cream would be good, but the crepes were too hot so the cream just melted and didn’t really cover up the eggy-ness.  Bummer.  I’ll have to play around with it a bit.

Alright, Ciao my Primal and Paleo lovers

Wednesday = Done. Ova tha Humppp

Today my hormonal-based cravings went away.  It’s insane.  Like a switch in my brain just turned off.

For some reason, a good amount of bloat remains, but I’m not too worried.  I’m on an excellent track.

I’m verrrry tired though.  I’ve been nursing a cold/sore throat for a few days now, and working like a dog throughout it.  I think I might go to bed early tonight .

In other news, I made a Chipotle Faux-rrito bowl that completely knocked my socks off.  I’ll post a recipe soon

Daily Schedule

LHT – Upper Body

Daily Meals

Primal Non-Dairy “Crack” Creamer

I love cheese.  I really, really, love cheese.  And I could eat butter by the stick.  The stick alone.  I know, it’s gross, but we’re a honest little community here, me and all…3?….of you blog viewers.

We don’t even have to get into ice cream.  Or ricotta cheese.  Ughhh.

But I’ve always toyed with the idea of cutting those from my diet.

My Achilles Heel has always been my beloved Half & Half.  There are things in life that make you indescribably happy, and I just couldn’t even consider parting with a good cup of coffee.

So I approached this Coconut Creamer with extreme trepidation.

My only other experience with Coconut Milk was less than pleasant.  I was attempting to do a Coconut Milk Whipped Cream for that Primal Christmas Stollen (beyuchhh).  I excitedly opened the can, marveled at the thick Coconut Cream, and dipped my pinky in to taste.  My gag reflex jumped in automatically.  I have to say – I HATE tossing food, but I didn’t even blink while I dumped it down the disposal.

But after seeing so many glowing reviews on Primal and Paleo threads, I thought that my aversion to Coconut Milk MUST be in my head.

I’m not a quitter though.  With a new can of Coconut Milk (Thai Kitchen Full Fat – thanks for the recommendation, Rivvin ) I whipped up this interesting concoction.

I am going to admit: I didn’t have high hopes or expectations.  I tasted the new milk and it was certainly more palatable than the last…but I still had my doubts.  So how did it fare?  Check after the recipe for my review!

Primal Non-Dairy Coconut “Crack” Creamer

Courtesy of Margot and Patty, at
http://followingmynose.blogspot.com/

Ingredients:

• 1 Can Full Fat Coconut Milk (room temperature)
• 1 Large Egg
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 TB Coconut Oil
• 1/2 Packet Stevia
• Pinch Nutmeg
• Good amount of Cinnamon

Dump everything in a bowl.  Whip with an electric mixer.

Melt Coconut Oil in Microwave, about 10 seconds.  Slowly drizzle oil into mixture and beat, mixing until emulsified.

Well that was really difficult.

I dumped the concoction in a plastic container with a tight lid and tossed it in the fridge overnight.

Today I opened up that container to find a thick, off-white creamer.  The consistency is thicker than I expected, but it is light and airy.  When it’s dropped into coffee it disintegrates almost immediately.  And 2 TB turns the coffee a milk chocolate color, much darker than 2 TB of heavy cream would.  At first, this was off-putting.  I wanted to add more and bring it to the color I know and love.  But then I tasted it.

And I.  Was.  In.  Heaven.

I’m going to put it out there and say that I might like it more than regular half & half.  Blasphemy, I know!

Whereas the cream by itself has somewhat of a funky taste (maybe it’s just me, but I still think coconut milk tastes kind of “funky”), it is extremely light and pleasant in coffee.  I love it.  And I may never go back to cream!

My most loving thanks go out to Margot and Patty for this one.  Coffee lovers everyone – I URGE you to try this – it’s amazing!

Gettin my Drank (of Water) Onnn

I’ve been downin’ shots today like it’s my j-o-b.

And by shots I mean glasses of water.  Trying to get rid of this bloat.  The only thing I’ve done other than guzzle H2o is pee.

Today was a good day.  I ate a variety of vegetables.  I’m getting all freaked out on calories again.  I know, it says I hit over 1200.  PLEASE don’t lecture me with “OMG You should at least be eating at minimum 1600 calories you’re going to starve!  You have an eating disorder! BLahhhh” because I’m well aware of how many calories I should be eating according to online calculators.  I get it.  I also value the opinion of paleo/primal resources though, that tell you to eat until you’re full and not stuff yourself.  So one step at a time.  And though that higher number scares me a bit somehow, I know that I’m being irrational, considering all I’ve eaten is meat and vegetables.  I also may be consuming more than I think I am, or my nutritional data may be wrong.  Guess we’ll just have to see!  I’d be really excited to be able to form the ability to take on more calories though .

I didn’t do HIIT this morning.  I had a hard time waking up.  I’m actually trying to shake a pretty a nasty cold, so I’m glad I got a little extra rest.  I’ll either try and fit a HIIT session in on Thurs or possibly Sun.

—————-

Ok, so I have a big ol’ question mark that is going to affect my daily supplements.  And that question mark’s name is Barley Grass.  I have been watching my Mum consume Barley Grass for the past two weeks, and she is like a crack addict with it.  She looks for excuses to drink it.  And after hearing about the myriad of health benefits over and over again, I took the plunge today.

I do have to say, there is something oddly refreshing about it.  It tastes like cold, unsweetened green tea.  Not good, but not bad either.  And I really, truly did feel….good!  I felt energized and vibrant after drinking it.

The problem is: is it Primal/Paleo?  I’ve seen staunch reviews from both sides.

I can see the problem with pre-made juices and manufactured powders: many of them contain brown rice powder and/or gluten.  The type we have is Organic 100% Barley Grass Powder.  Barley Grass and noooothing else.  Including to this article, and several other online, pure Barley Grass in itself does not contain gluten.

There is also speculation as to whether it is a grass, or a grain, or more of a “vegetable”.  I’m confused.  Unless someone can show me blatant evidence as to whether this is good or bad, I guess I’ll just not worry about it .

Daily Schedule

Daily Meals

Erin – 1. Omelette – 0.

I just demolished the most massive omelette/frittata I’ve ever laid eyes on.  I owned that bitch.

And it was, like, chock fulla vegetables.  And it didn’t have a single gram of dairy in it.  That is a phenomenal victory for me.

That’s really all I wanted to say.  I should have taken a picture of that monster.  Next time, next time.

-Erin

Also, it just kind of dawned on me that with the elimination of dairy (and the fact that I don’t really eat chocolate or drink alcohol) I think I’m more on the Paleo side of things right now than the Primal side.

What...The...Fuuu

Goodbye My Lover, Goodbye My Friend…

Today I ended a very serious relationship.  A love affair that has lasted all of my 24 years.

 

…..I said goodbye to dairy.

But we’ll get to that.  First off, my hormones are realllly making me a Debbie Downer.

I turn into a sugar monster.  And it’s not the kind of thing that you can just push from your mind.  It’s all encompassing.  I literally can’t stop thinking about carbs.  All damned day.

So yesterday I had my dark chocolate snafu, and POOF – bloat to the max.  I looked at least 6 months pregnant.  No joke.

Today, it strikes again.  MY GOD, I NEED SUGAR.  So I ate a handful of Dark Cocoa Roasted Almonds, which I normally don’t even look twice at because I think they’re gross.  But hormones demanded I find something even remotely sweet.  And damnit, I’ve exhausted or tossed every other resource in the house so Dark Cocoa Almonds it was!

PoooooooF – Bloat.  Double bloat this time.  I’m pragnant again .

From NUTS?!  Why does my body hate me so much?!

I’m still bloated now, at 10 PM.  This is crazy.  It’s kind of hard to be all pumped and excited for tomorrow when I physically feel like absolute crap today.  I’m just going to attribute as much of this as possible to my girl issues and really, really hope tomorrow is a new day .

I’m bummin’ it.  I don’t want to get up and do HIIT tomorrow.  We’ll see how it goes :-/.

So as far as tomorrow goes, I do feel like it’s a huge new chapter in this whole lifestyle.  I’ve decided to eliminate dairy in hopes that it levels out my blood sugar a little.  Compared to a year or so ago, the amount of dairy I eat now is miniscule.  But the cheese sauces, half and half, and greek yogurt do add up, even if it’s just a tablespoon or so at a time.  I should add that I DO NOT intend on eliminating my Casein, which is a dairy-based product.  So, in essence, I won’t be 100% dairy free, but I really think the benefits of the Casein far outweigh the negatives.  Plus, without a tiny bit of anything sweet or chocolaty and I’m sure I’d fall off the wagon and binge on the weekends.

I made a nondairy Coconut Milk Creamer tonight for my coffee – I’ll let you know how I feel about it tomorrow!  If not, I also found Mimmicream, a coffee creamer substitute made out of almonds and cashews.  I’ll give a thorough review of both

I would love to get as close to The Whole 30 as I possibly can.  So I’m following their guidelines, but I am still allowing myself sweeteners (stevia and xylitol) as well as dairy/processed foods in the form of my Casein.

Other than that, though, it’s just all whole foods: good meats, a variety of vegetables, and lots of coconut oil and almond milk .

Daily Schedule:

Ugh, you know what guys.  I didn’t do well on the schedule today, and I really don’t want to fill it all out right now.  Nothing out of the ordinary, though!

LHT – Lower Body:

Daily Meals:

Goodnighttt lovers

What I’ve Learned about IF

First of all, let me say a big THANK YOU for all of your kind comments.  It’s crazy to know that people are actually reading this.  I hope I can help someone with even a tiny fraction of what they desire to accomplish .

Well folks, it’s been three weeks since I’ve eaten a meal before 12:30/1 PM.  I have learned a lot just within this short period of time, which I wanted to share with anyone who has questions or concerns about possibly making the 16/8 hour plunge.

The Bad:

• So far, I haven’t seen any significant weight loss.  Whomp whomp.  Probably because it’s only been 2 WEEKS.  Dangit I need to chill out .
• INVEST IN A GOOD QUALITY BCAA.  Seriously, folks.  I dread taking this stuff.  If you have the cash, just pony it up for X-tend or Purple Wraath or something.
• Some days, I kind of do miss my morning cup of coffee .
• Fasting can be a difficult thing to explain to friends and family, and you definitely will hear “You’re not eating anything?!” or “You’re starving yourself!” or “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day” often.  Don’t cave.

Man, and that’s even stretching it.  I really am having difficulty digging up the negatives, here.

The Good Great

• I’m not hungry in the morning, but still feel refreshed and willing to take on the day
• I’m drinking a lot more tea (green, black, and herbal), which can’t be a bad thing
• Even with eating large volumes of food, I’m still looking lean all day.  I’m not getting bloated.  It’s insane.
• Eating is mindless.  2 to 3 large meals a day.
• Because I eat so much in a sitting, I’ve had little to no desire to snack.
• A slow protein at night (casein) has caused me to lose all craving for desserts or late night snacking, which is more than a small miracle in my book!
• I’m eating way more whole foods than ever
• I really am looking leaner than ever.  I know I said it before, but I can’t get over it – I’m really excited to see how this progresses
• Refeeds even once a week are awesome.   It’s good for a change of pace.

This way of life has become easier and more intuitive every day.  It’s easier to track my diet, make changes.  I really can’t speak any higher of this lifestyle.  I’m sure I’ll be adding more “pluses” to the great category each week.

Speaking of which, I’m thinking of cutttttin out the dairy this week.  With the exception of my casein powder, I’d really like to try and go without it.  I’m planning on trying to make Patty’s ever-so-popular Primal Coconut Creamer, but if it doesn’t work for me I’ll just cut out all diary other than the cream in my coffee and casein.  We’ll see how it goes!