Whole30 Diary Entry: Days 7 - 12

I have been absolutely horrible about updating my blog daily. . .so here's a quick post with my meals Days 7 - 12.

Quick Summary - I finally "turned the corner" on Day 9, and my energy levels started to pick back up. I'm not quite feeling the magic yet, but I do feel a million times better than I did Days 1 - 5!

I'm really struggling with snacking . . . I'm snacking on healthy stuff - mainly spinach muffins, pickled okra, and a few raw almonds, but it is still snacking and I need to get a handle on it. One thing that I've found is that having bite-sized fruit (like cherries) in the house is a BAD idea. . . I usually won't break down and eat an entire apple or orange in between meals, but somehow grabbing a handful of cherries is much more tempting.

Still no news yet on the MRI - I've started PT though, and am sticking to my Foam Rolling / Icing / Liniment routine.

I did get back on my bike today for the first time in 2.5 weeks, and it was AMAZING!!! I missed it so much. I can't even put into words how great it felt to get back out on it :)

Whole30 Diary Entry: Day 6

As you'll see if you read my Day 5 post, I'm entering my Day 6 Diary Entry a little bit late - toward the end of Day 7.

Just a quick summary: Because I laid around so much on Saturday, I had a hard time actually falling asleep on Saturday night (duh!). I got caught up in a book, and ended up reading until about 12:30 am. . then proceeded to sleep until 10:30am on Sunday. And I don't think I actually rolled out of bed until close to 11. . . BUT it went uphill from there!

I fixed myself breakfast, mapped out my meals for the week, and then took the dogs for a walk (since that's about the only exercise that I can do right now other then swimming, and the Aquatics center was closed all weekend for a swim meet). It was actually a really pretty day on Sunday, so the 2.5 mile walk felt great, and gave me the chance to soak up a little bit of sunshine, which brightened my mood considerably.

I spent most of Sunday afternoon doing laundry and prepping food for the week (chopping up all my veggies, making spinach muffins, hard boiling eggs, and making a few "grab and go" lunches).

I felt much more accomplished by the end of the day on Sunday, and got to bed at a slightly more decent hour, although still not as early as I had hoped (10:30PM).

I snacked a bit more than usual again on Sunday, but not NEARLY as much as Saturday.

I think part of it has to do with it being the weekend, and the fact that I'm not rushing from one deadline to the next all day long - I'll have to be much more conscious of my snacking next weekend.

Whole30 Diary Entry: Day 5 - Snacky McSnackerson

Okay, Truth Time: I did NOT write a blog/diary entry at the end of day 5 . . or day 6. My energy levels hit the floor, and my brain decided it was going to go on holiday as well - seriously - I couldn't put together a coherent thought for the life of me on Saturday. The weather was cold and dreary and I had one of those "don't feel like doing ANYTHING . . can't make me!" kind of days.

On top of this, I'll be honest - I was a bit depressed over the weekend. Not clinically depressed, or hormonal raging thyroid-out-of-whack depressed, or #omgthrowherinastraightjacket depressed. . . . more like throwing myself a pity party depressed because I'm sick and tired of my freaking knee hurting. And I miss Cycling. And I miss Weightlifting. And I miss CrossFit. And I miss just being active in general! I fall into a "funk" really easily when I go too long without regular physical activity, and I haven't been able to do much of anything since my bike accident at the end of November. I'm rational enough to know that I've got a pretty amazing life - I've got an the world's best hubby, a supportive and loving family, two precious dogs, a wonderful job, and some really great friends. There are people out there battling cancer, serious auto-immune disorders, and all kinds of things that are SO MUCH WORSE than a silly bum knee. . . but even knowing all of this, I still threw myself that pity party - and it felt kind of good to get it out of my system. Don't get me wrong - I'm still pissed as hell that my knee is preventing me from doing so many of the things that I love to do - but I'm (trying to be) over the "poor-pitiful-me" feelings. There's nothing that I can do that I'm not already doing. . . Foam Rolling, Stretching, Ice, Ibuprofen, "Mountain Magic Liniment " (yes, I'm desperately trying anything and everything that might help), and above all else - REST. That's the hardest part. Not a single fiber of my Type A brain wants to rest right now. But I'm doing it. Because I know that it's what I need to do in order to heal. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't suck! So - because there is nothing more that I can do that I'm not already doing, I'm doing my best to be as content as possible, take the extra time on my hands to do some productive things :-)

Okay, Rant over.

So, on Saturday, I was low on energy, a bit on the "gloomy" side, and just generally in a funk. I stuck to my Whole30 guns 100% in regards to food quality, BUT looking back, I realize that I snacked a LOT more than I should have. I snacked initially out of hunger. . .then I snacked because I was sad. . . then I snacked because I was bored. . . then I snacked because I felt guilty about all of the snacking . . .( a bit counter-productive, don't ya think?). Now granted, all of my snacking was on "good" foods - leftover chicken livers, raw almonds, cherries, spinach muffins . . . but I was feeding my EMOTIONS rather than a true HUNGER, and that's one of the unhealthy habits that I'm hoping to break with this Whole30.

Sooo - I'm glad that I am able to recognize this snacking for what it was, and now I will try to be much more aware of how I'm feeling before I grab my next snack. Am I really hungry? Or am I just trying to feed my emotions?

Well, that about wraps up this Diary entry. I did get up Saturday morning and went to the Farmer's Market and the Grocery store, and I fixed Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner . . . but that is where my productivity ended for the day. Chalking it up to a bad day. . learning from my mistakes. . and moving on :-)

Whole30 Diary Entry: Day 4 - Still no energy

General Attitude/Mood:
I definitely woke up this morning feeling better than I felt yesterday - but I was still super low on energy all day long. I really didn't feel like swimming after work again, but the Aquatics Center is going to be closed all weekend, so I knew I had to suck it up. . . and I felt MUCH better once again after my swim :)

I'm still irritable/cranky/snappy but not quite as much as yesterday - I'm trying really, really hard not to be irritable w/ my hubby b/c it's certainly not his fault. .  . I'd say I'm having about 50% success with that. . .

By the end of the night (9pm), I was SO tired, that I skipped the diary entry, so I'm actually posting this retro-actively on Day 5.

Meals:
I made a butternut squash Hash this morning w/ some onions and a little GF beef and topped it with two eggs fried in Ghee. . . this was SO yummy, and kept me full until lunch :)

I had a sports massage scheduled for 1pm to work on my IT bands/quads/hamstrings. . so I didn't end up eating lunch until about 2:30, and I was pretty freaking hungry by that time, but I ate a Premade Paleo Meal, and drank a couple of glasses of water, and I was once again feeling full and happy :)

I had a cup of bone broth after work because I was feeling chilly/achy/drained, and it really did the trick - it warmed me up and gave me a little energy boost.

After my swim, I was once again ravenous, so I ate a couple of Spinach Muffins while I was preparing dinner.

I found this recipe for pork chops that I thought I'd give a go last night, and it was TO DIE FOR! My (decidedly UN-Paleo Hubby) even liked it :)

Cravings and/or "Issues":
The cravings didn't seem as bad today, but I did still crave sugar after both lunch and dinner. It took less time for the cravings to pass today though, and the weren't as intense.

Whole30 Diary Entry: Day 3 - SO IRRITABLE!!!

General Attitude/Mood:
OMG - KILL ALL OF THE THINGS!!!!!

I guess that I posted a bit too early last night - my poor hubby! I got SO grumpy and irritable after dinner last night, it's not even funny. I ended up getting about 7.5 hours of sleep last night, but woke up again this morning feeling like I had only taken a brief nap. I had a headache all of last night, and this morning, and have had no energy all day today - BUT I soldiered through!

I snacked a bit more today (trying to eat my way to more energy?). For dinner, I made a butternut squash hash that was TO DIE FOR with ground beef, kale, and swiss chard. Thank goodness for starchy vegetables is all I've got to say . . . . I felt SO much less irritable and more "sane" almost immediately after eating dinner :)

Meals:
A bit hungry all day long today (hence the extra snacking), but plenty of variety in my meals, and didn't feel "bored" with any of them. I felt so ridiculously much better after eating butternut squash with dinner tonight, I think I may try to work a few more startchy veggies into my earlier meals tomorrow, and stick to the leafy greens with dinner.

Cravings and/or "Issues":
I craved sugar ALL DAY LONG today!! OMG - it was so horrible. After lunch, I got THIS close to hoovering a Lara Bar just to shut up the voices in my head demanding sugar . . . but I drank a cup of water, took a few deep breaths, and filed it away as "craving" rather than "hunger".