Day 8 - Paleo

The start of a new week!  Week 2 of my Paleo lifestyle.  

I have to say today my energy is higher than it typically is on a Monday and it wasn't because I got extra sleep as that didn't exactly go as planned.  The energy is there because of how different I feel and I feel different because of the choices I have been making.

Week 2 Paleo plan is the following:
Monday - Non Paleo breakfast, the rest of the meals and all snacks Paleo
Tuesday - All meals and snacks Paleo
Wednesday - Non Paleo breakfast, the rest of the meals and all snacks Paleo
Thursday - All meals and snacks Paleo
Friday - None Paleo breakfast, the rest of the meals and all snacks Paleo
Saturday - All meals and snacks Paleo
Sunday - All meals and snacks Paleo, 1 square of dark chocolate

Today I had to laugh at myself driving into work for years it has been stop by McDonalds and get breakfast.  Coffee and a sausage egg and cheese biscuit has been the breakfast for a long time.  Well this morning driving in I completely drive right by.  I would have kept going had I provisioned for it but I had nothing to replace my breakfast with and not wanting to skip meals as I knew that would leave my vulnerable to something outside of my plan I circled back to the other entrance and got my breakfast.

While I was eating my breakfast I couldn't help but think it tastes okay but it wasn't as good as the breakfasts I had over the weekend.  For the first time in years my breakfast came up lacking something. Prior to this morning I would have said my Breakfast was my favorite meal that is why it has been the same thing for so long.  But that changed today.

What that tells me is that I am ready to transition to a Paleo breakfast.  Even though I am ready, I am going to stick to my plan and not jump too quickly.  I know talking about jumping quickly one day I am eating anything and everything and the next day I decide I am doing Paleo if that isn't jumping I don't know what is...but I am not going to jump further.

Today's meals:

Breakfast:  we already talked about that, so I will move on.

Lunch: Leftovers from the night before only smaller portion

Dinner: Tonight is Chicken, and Veggies.  I really don't know beyond that right now.  I will update this post with details and possibly a picture later today.

Today's workout:




Some additional things for this week.  Vitamins!  I know with the foods I am eating I am getting a lot of nutrients and vitamins but I decided to start a multi-vitamin as well as a supplement for my skin.  I have a hundred plus pounds to lose I want to start addressing the skin sag now.  I may not be able to prevent any of it, or I may be able to prevent a fair amount but I felt like doing nothing certainly wasn't going to produce any effects.

After going to several stores over the weekend I decided on the following:  I selected these based on what I felt like I needed.  Please do not purchase anything unless you feel it is what you need and please consult a physician if you are taking medications that could have a reaction.

GNC Women's Energy - Everyday vitamin

Collagen+C - for my skin, nails and hair.

 

Finally a Vitamin E Crème for my skin...which is always dry!

 

 

I will keep you all posted on my thoughts for how this products work for me.  My sugar numbers are continuing to look good and I am continuing to adjust my medications accordingly.  I will talk more about this later this week.

 

 





 

Day 7 - Paleo

Well it has been a week since I decided to start a new lifestyle, and I can say that things have gone amazingly well.  I stuck to my plan for the week and I can actually feel a big difference.  I have no idea how well I have done weight wise.  I am refusing to allow the scale any power over me so I am staying off.

I purely going by how I feel, how my sugar numbers are (which they have been excellent), and how my clothes fit and feel on my body.  I also look at my body to see if I see any changes in it.  I don't want something controlling me and I feel like if I make it about the weight loss it will ultimately come to control me.

In the past, I would weigh myself daily or weekly sometimes even multiple times in a day.  I was never successful with any of those attempts at losing weight and keeping it off.  Oh I lost weight, I just never managed to keep the weight off.  Why?  because it was never  lifestyle change.  It was only a means to lose weight.  Or more accurately it was lose weight until I stopped losing weight, for whatever the reason, and then give up on whatever diet I was doing and then go back to not only the bad eating habits I had before but worse.

It has always been a vicious circle.  Lose x number of pounds, some of the times the number was more significant than others only to get discouraged, start to give in to temptations, or just can the whole diet because I never actually started it.  The list is endless as this has been a rotating vicious circle for me for a long time.

So going into this, Day 1 it was a diet before I started this blog.  However, I have decided that this time around I wasn't going to allow history to repeat itself.  I may end up making a mistake along the way.  In fact I know I will, because I am far from perfect.  However, what I am going to work hard at is not making the same mistakes that have sidetracked my progress in the past.

After all the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.  That is exactly what I have been doing for the past 20 plus years.  So that is the reason I decided that if I needed or felt as though I needed to put a label on what I was doing it would be lifestyle change, it would be that I am making better choices.

If people ask me if I want a duck donuts, or other things that aren't part of my new lifestyle, I simply tell them thanks but no thanks I am trying to make some better choices.  That way it is my choice not to have something.  It isn't a diet telling me that I can't have these items.  It is me saying you know for my health, for my goals that option isn't the best option for me and I am going to chose something that is better.

Maybe it is just me, but when I am in control of what I do and the decision to have or not to have then I don't feel slighted or left out or  deprived.  I am not ready to rip someone's arm off to steal their donut or whatever it is that they are eating that I wasn't "allowed" by a diet to eat.

I may not turn down every temptation that comes my way but when the day comes that I don't turn down the temptation and if so, then that is me choosing to partake and not the temptation controlling me.  Also, when that day comes it will be for that moment in time.  It won't side track my whole lifestyle.  It will be that moment I ate x the next time I eat it will be Paleo.

Today's meals:
Breakfast:   All Natural Preservative free Additive free sausage, eggs and fruit salad (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and mandarin orange)

Lunch: Grilled Chicken on Mixed Greens, cucumber, tomato, boiled egg and real bacon fried crispy and crumbled.

Dinner: Beef Fillet cut in slightly larger than bite size chunks, stir fried (med-rare) with minced garlic, ginger and balsamic vinegar.  Sautéed veggies (zucchini, onion and broccoli) and my favorite salad.

Lets not forget my treat for the week!  This is in recognition of all the good I did this week.  All of my accomplishments.  After all if you don't take a moment to look around you, and see what you have accomplished why do it, right?  And for all of that, 1 square of a Hershey's special dark bar!

Day 6 - Paleo

Well today is Saturday, and day 6 of my Paleo lifestyle.  The weekends always seem to be the hardest two days of the week when it comes to a lifestyle change or any other change.  They are the two days when your daily routine is different.  At least for me they are.  I don't go to work on Saturday or Sunday, I tend to do things around the house, run errands, spend time with family and friends, etc.

Those things all have impact on any change you are making in your life.  Be it making better choices for your meals and eating habits or any other change you are making in your life.

So far today while things have been different than my normal Monday - Friday routine things have been good.  I have been able to maintain my new lifestyle adoption while doing different things throughout the day.  I have just had to be thoughtful of my day and make plan and provision accordingly.

My breakfast was all natural, no preservative, no artificial additive pork sausage patties, eggs, and fruit (a mix of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and a mandarin orange.  I had a cup of coffee with almond milk.  I know coffee is one of those some say it is okay some say it isn't.  I drink one cup a day in the mornings and for now I am going to allow that in my lifestyle.  There may come a day when I decide that my lifestyle no longer wants it but until such time I will continue to enjoy my one cup a day.

I had a 12:00 p.m. hair appointment.  here is where I was talking about those routine differences.  My hair looks fabulous by the way, well it did until my workout session.  Toby my stylist is amazing!  I love him! 

Lunch was at 2:30 and it was the Grilled Market Salad at Chick-fil-a, without the granola and salad dressing.  I had gotten the balsamic vignette to have with it but after I read the ingredients I chose to forgo the dressing. I pushed all of the bigger pieces of blue cheese off and to the side and decide the tiny crumbles left wasn't enough to make a difference.

 I am home now and just finished my workout and I am sitting at my bar writing this watching my hubby fix my dinner.  I will have to say a large reason this week has gone as easy as it has for me is him.  He has been supportive of my new lifestyle.  he has questioned everything and he has been responsible for some of the incredible meals I have had this week.

Tonight's dinner is basically a repeat of last nights as we had leftovers.  It was so good that I really don't care that it is a repeat!

Filet of beef with a shallot and balsamic vinegar sauce, coconut shrimp with a carrot and ginger sauce, asparagus and finally my favorite salad.  All of it including the sauces is all Paleo.  My hubby could be an amazingly successful chef.  I will see if he is willing to share his recipe here, but don't be surprised if the answer is no as he often doesn't even tell me.  He did share with me the ingredient list just so I would know that everything was in support of my new lifestyle.  Meaning all ingredients used is on the Paleo list.

Today's workout was one that had my legs and stomach screaming for relief even without the squats! 



Here is a picture of my favorite salad, though I want to say that I don't eat all of it at one sitting.  I eat some of it and then the rest goes in the refrigerator for another meal.  My hubby believes in making big salads!  This salad also has romaine lettuce in addition to spinach.  The spritz of dressing is balsamic vinegar.

Day 5 - Paleo

Well it is Friday!  And while Friday is just starting for me I feel like I have made an accomplishment in implementing my new lifestyle into my life and not let things that would have railroaded my previous attempts at a "diet".

I am trying really hard to not allow myself to call myself dieting.  That is such a horrible word, right?  Diet!  Its a four letter word for a reason, and if you ask me it should be more of a "No No" than saying the grand daddy of all curse words the F word.  Note: I am not above cussing by any means I typically just don't feel like I need to post it on the internet.

It's cloudy, chilly (compared to the weather over the past several days), raining, and I have a day of meetings facing me!  And anyone who knows me, knows I love going to meetings!  So I am going with the following little saying today!

 

So I was informed about an hour before my meeting from 12 - 1 p.m. they will have Duck Donuts there, yet another challenge!  I will do okay, I can turn down all donuts with the only exception being Spudnuts.  A local donut shop that makes them from potato dough.  Those would be a much bigger challenge for me to forgo.  But I have formed a plan and the plan is to take my lunch into the meeting with me.  That way when others are snacking on their donuts I will be having my better choice lunch!

 

Lunch today is grilled chicken with mandarin orange, sautéed veggies (finishing them off) and salad. 

 

Dinner today is going to be delicious beef filet, coconut shrimp (homemade Paleo) and asparagus along with my favorite salad.

 

Tonight's workout is a repeat of Day 1 and it is a killer - 6 Week Six-Pack Workout - Level 1.  Then again it is Jillian Michaels so I would be disappointed if it wasn't.

Yesterday I spoke a little about my blood sugar levels.  Well I am working on adjustments and I was able to significantly reduce my night time insulin and my numbers this morning was excellent, so that is making my day.  We will see if it was a one time thing or not tonight.

Day 4 - Paleo

Well today is Day 4 and all is well!

I have a bit of a challenge today as I am picking my niece up from school and doing a little tutor session with her before we go get dinner.

The challenge find something that fits my Paleo lifestyle at the restaurant we typically go to.  Had this been a week ago it would have been pulled pork sandwich and French fries or Baked Spaghetti, but this being the week that it is, the week that I started a new lifestyle those won't be among my selection.

Even though this restaurant is a local restaurant I was able to find their menu online and I have already made my selection.  Grilled Chicken on a Salad, minus the cheese, dressing their vinaigrette!  I have had this salad in the past but with the fried chicken and the honey mustard dressing along with the cheese!  So today's version, will be a much healthier version!

Well last night the workout.....10 minute AB video.  How bad can 10 minutes be?  in the grand scheme of a day 10 minutes is a mere drop in the bucket right?  10 minutes is what a quick blog read, a quick update on your friend on Facebook, a walk down the hall.  Well the 10 minute AB video can only be described as 10 minutes of pure burning hell.  Well maybe 9 or possibly 8 for those in better shape after all the first or so minutes your mind has yet to catch up to the hell you just immersed your body into.

After that your muscles scream at you to punch the instructor in the face for making you follow her.  She even had the nerve to say you could do the work out once, twice, or twenty times in a row.  For the person who can do it twenty times in a row I take my hat off to you, bow down at your feet for you are far better than I!

Tonight is also going to be a challenge because tonight is meeting night.  I am a local Odd Fellow and tonight is meeting night which means I will be late getting home and I will still need to do my workout for the night.

Tonight's work out is a repeat of day 2 workout.  Yoga and then Butt workout!






So last night I had an incident where my sugar level dropped too low.  I woke up around 1:30 hot, feeling like I was burning on the inside it was odd as I have had low sugar levels in the past and never experienced the sensations I did last night.

I have been taking my normal level of medication for my diabetes as I was before I started my new lifestyle.  Last night when I took my medicine I told my husband that I was going to have to start watching the levels of what I am taking as with my new lifestyle I may be able to cut it back some.  Well I think my low blood sugar of 50 proves I am right.  I need to make adjustments to my medicine.

Now, don't go and get all up in arms when I say that I am making adjustments to my medication.  Yes, I know one should not do this without doctor suggestion, request or supervision but I am going to caveat that with saying those that have been diabetic for a long time know how to take their sugars and adjust their medications accordingly to make this practice safe.  If you have not been trained by your doctors to do so then you should not be adjusting medication levels and should seek advisement from your doctor.  In my case I have been trained, I know the range I need to maintain for my blood sugar levels and I know how to adjust accordingly.

So tonight I will start backing off of my night time insulin and take some measurements and reassess daily.  One goal is to completely come off of insulin, the ultimate goal is to reduce if not eliminate all medications.

So my eating plan for day 4:

Breakfast:  My normal breakfast that I have eaten now for....well a long time.

Lunch:  Grilled Chicken, Sautéed veggies (broccoli, snap peas, peppers and onions) and salad (spinach, strawberries, blueberries).

Snack: Mandarin Orange

Dinner:  Grilled Chicken, salad (lettuce, shredded carrots, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes) with balsamic vinaigrette.

Before Bed: Warm Water with 1 Tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

I typically drink lots of water.  This was something that I have done now for many years.  I stopped drinking sodas and other drinks about seven / eight years ago now.  I typically drink water, though I have one cup of coffee in the morning with my breakfast along with water.  I also drink an occasional glass of ice tea.

Day 3 Paleo

First off let me just start the day by saying that I am feeling different.  I am feeling more energetic and confident and it is only day 3!  I still feel a little lull around the 4 o'clock hour and if that continues then I will come up with a game plan for attack.

I think that is one of the things I have done in the past when I started a "diet".  One it was a diet not a lifestyle, and two when things came up outside of what I had allotted for I typically chose wrong.  I typically just said oh what the heck, I will do it tomorrow, or next week because who wants to start something mid week.   By making this organic, flexible, living thing that is a new lifestyle for me then there is no start stop, there is no will and wont do or oh what the hecks!

So today I am happy to say that I met one of my challenges and succeeded!  The challenge?  How to live my new lifestyle change and still be able to enjoy a lunch with a friend?

I, like many working people, typically eat my lunch at my desk.  Between busy hectic schedules, and meetings, and deliverables which I never seem to be without I typically do not have the time to get out of the office for lunch.

When I did go it would be run down the road to the fast food restaurant, grab something quick from the grocery store down the road or go to the convenience store next door.  I knew the choices weren't healthy for me, but I would choose and buy them anyway.

There are also days that if I leave I leave to shop or run errands but more than not they lead to stops by fast food to grab food to bring back to the office.

I needed to find a way that I could get the stress reduction benefits of leaving the office and going out with a friend and be able to maintain my new lifestyle.  Well only day three into my new lifestyle and the challenge presented itself.

We chose to go to Applebee's.  It took me a long time looking over the menu reading the items that makes up the many choices on their menu.  I knew I wanted to stay away from grains, sugar, fried options and pastas.  I wanted to make my choice be a clean eating choice.  I will say the new Applebee's menu made that choice rather difficult.

My first thought was to look at the salads...fresh veggies right?  Well....

Thai Shrimp Salad.....it contains Peanut sauce not to mention the friend wontons so I decided this wasn't a clean eating choice I wanted to make.

Fiesta Chicken Chopped Salad....it contains black beans and tortilla strips and a jalapeno dressing (which I wasn't sure what it contained) so I decided this wasn't a clean eating choice I wanted to make.

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad....it contains croutons (which I could have asked them to leave off), I wasn't sure what was in their garlic Caesar dressing and not being a fan of Caesar dressing I decided not to make that my choice though it could have easily been a good option for clean eating baring the croutons and possibly the dressing.

Oriental Chicken Salad....this was a possibility as I could have asked them to substitute grilled chicken for fried chicken and ask them to leave the Christy noodles off.  So this could have potentially worked for my new lifestyle.

But Applebee's has a section in their menu for meal options under 600 calories.  Now here is where you have to be careful if you want to stick to the food guides for what is and isn't Paleo.  Many of the items are mixed together.

The New Cedar Grilled Lemon Chicken with Granny Smith Apple sounds really good but it comes with a rice mixture of cranberry, pecans and quinoa.   I asked the server if I could substitute she wasn't sure.  So I went on to the next item of interest.  New Pepper-Crusted Sirloin and Whole Grains now the title of this should have told me not an option if I wanted to stick to the food guides.  However, I thought it may be possible to just leave the whole grains off and have the wilted spinach, roasted tomatoes and Portobello mushrooms.  Well here is where I was told it is all together so I decided that wasn't an option so I moved on.

Here is what I ended up selecting for my meal,  Napa Chicken & Portobello. A grilled chicken breast topped with Portobello mushrooms and onions smothered in a rich red wine sauce and our Parmesan cheese blend. Served over sautéed zucchini, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, red onions and crispy red potatoes. According to their site it is 490 calories.



Yes there is a wine sauce and I don't really know what was in that sauce but the first thing I did was separate my food on my plate.  Move the items out of the sauce and I limited myself to two of the potato pieces after removing the skin that was left on the edge.  All in all I am thrilled that I found something that worked, yet tasted good!    So eating out isn't this big thing that can never happen, or I can't do an still eat clean and while it may not be as clean as a home prepared meal as there are still some unknowns it is close enough for me.  It definitely bets the heck out a bacon burger with fries, or a quick grab from the fast food restaurant when it comes to my health.  So I can be happy with that.  I don't require perfection I only require

So tonight's dinner is chicken with mandarin orange and veggies and my favorite salad spinach with blueberries, strawberries and blackberries.

And tonight's exercise is a 10 minute AB workout....yay let the fun begin!

Day 2 Paleo

All is well.  The food is good and I am actually feeling more energetic.  Which is all good.  The exercise well that leaves a lot to be desired but I am overlooking it and doing it anyway!


Food: Today's food was leftovers from the night before.

Breakfast: is my normal breakfast that I have been having for ever.   That is a yet to be converted meal.  I love my breakfast and while I acknowledge it is horribly unhealthy I know it will be the hardest to adjust to on several factors.

one, my mornings are early, well not for some but for me they are.  I typically get to work around 8:30 - 9:00 which isn't so early as I have in the past been at work at 7:00.  But I really have gotten to the point in my older age where I hate getting up in the morning.  Partly because I go to bed so late, and partly because I like to wake up slowly meaning wake up and hang out in bed for a little while relaxing before having to face the day.

So for a long time my breakfast Monday - Friday has been a large coffee with 6 creams and 6 equal and a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit from McDonalds.  In fact they know me so well they know to add a strawberry jam in the bag.

The plan is first week of Paleo to convert my lunch and dinner to Paleo.  The second week of Paleo I convert breakfast on the mornings of Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday to Paleo and eat my normal breakfast on Monday, Wednesday Friday.  The third week of Paleo I will do the opposite meaning I convert breakfast on the mornings of Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday to Paleo.  And finally the fourth week of Paleo I will convert all of the days to Paleo.

Lunch: has been converted to Paleo.  Today I had Chicken sautéed in olive oil and veggies (broccoli, peppers (red, yellow, orange), snap peas, onions) salad of fresh baby spinach, strawberries, blueberries.

Snack today was morning snack of mandarin orange and afternoon snack another mandarin orange and 5 pecans.

Dinner: Was once again a copy of Chicken sautéed in olive oil with veggies and salad.  Only some balsamic vinegar was added to the chicken when warmed.


While my hubby was fixing dinner for me I locked myself in our sitting room and did my workout...

Today was Yoga and a 10 minute Butt Workout.  Well I will tell you being that I have over 100 pounds to lose I don't need to tell you what that looked like.  The Yoga well, I felt like a beached whale trying to do sit ups.  Not to mention the whole bend deep and put your hands on the mat beside your feet.  Loved that move.  I am like I could do it if my arms were long enough to reach the mat!!!




Well I guess that is why I am doing it right?  One day my arms will reach the grown and not because they grew the 10 or so inches needed to do so!  

I am quite certain had there been a spectator there they would have either been laughing their ass off or horrified at the sight, but I did it to the best of my ability which is better than not doing anything!  I reached I stretched I twisted and I bent as instructed in the video.

The Butt workout was intense and I am sore today but it is a good kind of sore...