Whole 30 Week 2: Loose Pants and a Clear Mind

Well, today marks our official halfway point!

15 days through the Whole 30 experiment.

If you’re wondering what the Whole 30 means exactly, then check out last week’s Whole 30 post.

This past week was a little rough. Two days of 2-hour delays, plus a surprise on Thursday, really sucked out time from my days to get work done. While being stressed isn’t really a trigger for me to overeat, I’ve realized it’s a trigger for me to want quick, less healthy fixes: grabbing take-out, pouring a glass of wine, or grabbing an extra snack. Interesting to see that so clearly during this challenge.

Plus, the little lack of food prep on Sunday made the next couple of days feel like a kitchen marathon, especially just the daily routine of veggie chopping. Some things I prepped during the week:

• Meatballs
• Breakfast sausage patties
• Curry Chicken Salad
• Hard-boiled eggs

As far as weight goes, I don’t have much to lose overall (10 lbs would be ideal), but two weeks in I already tell a difference in how my pants fit, both in the waist and around my thighs.

And my mind! It just feels different. Sharp, focused, crystal clear. More on that in Day 12.

What I Ate and How I Felt: My Week 2 Meal Plan

All in all, not horrible amount of prep, but hubby helped too. It really saved me some time over the week not having to do so much. Some recipes below!

DAY 8:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Fried eggs, homemade sausage patties, mixed fruit (melon, pineapple, strawberries, grapes)

Meal 2: Leftover steak with salad, leftover roasted red pepper and cauliflower soup with avocado.

Snack: Half a Larabar (Cashew Cookie)

Meal 3: Asian meatballs on lettuce leaves, stir fry zucchini, snap peas, mushrooms, peppers, fruit and half a Larabar.

Kid dinner alternatives: Meant to make them udon noodles but forgot! They liked the meatballs and fruit, and ate a little veggies but not much.

HOW I FELT
Today was the first day I broke from the no snacking embargo I put on myself. While Whole 30 doesn’t ban snacking, it’s discouraged as you are supposed to eat enough during the three meals to hold you over to the next meal (unless you workout, then you need more food). However, the forums suggest if you didn’t eat enough and are hungry, then eat.

They also say skipping a morning veggie can make you hungry, even later on in the day. Oops.

My lunch wasn’t super filling and knowing dinner wasn’t going to be until 6:30 or 7, I knew I HAD to eat something. So I just grabbed half a Larabar. The Cashew Cookie bar is simply cashews and dates, but it’s pretty tasty. After dinner, I finished it as a dessert of sorts.

And those meatballs were amazing! (recipe at the end)

DAY 9:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Eggs, sausage patties, fresh fruit

Meal 2: Leftover meatballs and stir-fry veggies, fresh fruit

Pre-Workout: Hard-boiled egg with pistachios

Post-Workout: Handful plantain chips

Meal 3: Baked tilapia with mango salsa, roasted butternut squash and parsnips

Kid dinner alternatives: Made them try the tilapia and since they hated it, we made them grilled cheeses. Noah liked the butternut squash but Ethan didn’t like anything.

WORKOUT
Zumba for 1 hour

HOW I FELT
Did NOT feel like eating this morning but knew I needed to. Good thing is that I thoroughly enjoyed my sugarless coffee. WHO AM I?

Big deal alert: I’m proud that I less desire to snack that I’ve had thus far (even after yesterday’s Larabar snack). In fact, even at 11:30 at night, I wasn’t really even hungry.

DAY 10:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Fried eggs, leftover parsnips and butternut squash

Meal 2: Curry chicken salad on bed of lettuce, apple with cashew butter

Meal 3: Sopa de Pollo (Chicken Soup) with yuca, zucchini, squash, and carrots, monkey salad (banana, nuts, strawberries, sprinkle of coconut)

Kid dinner alternatives: Added egg noodles for the kids. Kids DID eat the soup and tried all the veggies, but ultimately just liked the chicken, carrots and noodles.

This soup is my mom’s recipes with Adobo seasoning and Sazón (which I had to make myself since the brand we buy has MSG). She also typically adds corn on the cob and then rice when you serve it. Obviously we had to adjust it but we loved it just as always. I’ll post a recipe when I’m done with Whole 30!

Oh and hubby turned our fresh fruit into something fancy with some dried mango and dates. Yum!

HOW I FELT

Today marks 1/3 of the way through this crazy thing! Feeling better than expected, honestly. That’s not to say I don’t salivate over the donuts in the store, but I’m dead set on doing finishing like a champ. That donut can wait.

I didn’t get to my 5:30 am Zumba (which I do every Wednesday) because of freezing rain. The kids had a two-hour delay so I got to sleep in (yay) but forgot my workout snacks (boo).

DAY 11:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Scrambled eggs with spinach and mushrooms, broccoli, sausage patties

Meal 2: Turkey rollups with leftover soup

Pre-Workout: Hard-boiled egg with pistachios

Post-Workout: Plantain Chips

Meal 3: Burgers on lettuce with pickles and spicy mayo (just Cholula and mayo), garlic potato wedges, green beans

Kid dinner alternatives: See below.

WORKOUT

Zumba for 1 hour

HOW I FELT
Angry. Bitter. All the bad words.

Long day that started off with a two-hour delay. Then I dropped Noah off at camp (he’s in year-round school so currently tracked out) and took Ethan at preschool.

I work part-time at Burt’s Bees and was hoping to head to the office yesterday. With the delay, it didn’t happen. Today I was hoping for a long day of catch-up since my older guy was at camp until 3:30 and my mom was taking my little guy until 4. The only “errand” I had to run was signing Ethan up for kindergarten, which I figured wouldn’t take long.

Um, it took TWO AND A HALF HOURS. WHAT??!!! I have friends who said it took them 10 minutes at their school. So I barely got any work done before I had to round up the kids and take them to their Thursday tennis clinic.

After that it’s home and to the gym for my Zumba class. I felt bad dragging the kids out but I really needed to burn off some stress. On days like this, I’d probably yell EFF ALL THE THINGS and go get take-out. But on the Whole 30, we really don’t have that luxury and I didn’t want to drag the kids around the Hot Bar at Whole Foods while I read labels.

So we got them fast food (I know I know), Daniel cooked while I put them to bed, and we ate late. And alone.

Hey, maybe we should do that more often.

DAY 12:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Bacon, broccoli, monkey salad

Meal 2: Curry chicken salad on bed of lettuce, carrots and guacamole, leftover soup

Meal 3: Spaghetti with zoodles (zucchini noodles), salad with Tessamae Balsamic dressing, and apple with cashew butter

HOW I FELT

Mentally, I felt amazing during the day. Today it was like a flip switched in my brain. I felt… clear (and I didn’t even know it wasn’t clear before). I had energy. I had super-spidey concentration. And I was stoked I got so much done today!

But Fridays are the hardest nights for me. It’s when hubby and I usually rent a movie on Amazon, pop some popcorn, grab our beverage of choice, and hang out. While we’re pretty much doing the same thing now, it’s just not the same without the food and drink. Amazing how just adding food to our experiences makes them that much more meaningful.

DAY 13:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Sausage and potato hash with Cholula, one hard boiled egg, monkey salad

Meal 2: Turkey rollups (roll lettuce, cucumber and avocado up in slices of turkey), broccoli

Meal 3: WHOLE FOODS HOT BAR (in all caps because we didn’t have to cook and do dishes!)

Snack: Handful pistachios

HOW I FELT

Saturday is usually grocery shopping day. Okay, usually it’s more fun than that but we’re running to Costco, Trader Joe’s, and sometimes Whole Foods every week now so it takes a while. Noah had a tennis tournament (super informal) so we decided to make today easy and do Whole Foods.

Chipotle’s carnitas are another Whole 30 option, but of course there’s a recall on JUST CARNITAS right now. Of course.

So I hustled up to Whole Foods… by myself… to read labels and pick out some grub. Our first time eating out in 13 days! We got the kids their pizza slices. We ended up with amazing Peruvian Chicken, almost-as-amazing Ropa Vieja, potatoes and veggies.

I have never been so happy not to cook.

By the evening though I was super hungry. We were watching a long movie and I finally couldn’t take it so I grabbed a few pistachios. Even at bedtime I was STARVING but wasn’t about to eat something else. So I went to bed hungry.

Day 14:

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Scrambled eggs with mushrooms and spinach, bacon

Meal 2: Chicken salad with apples and golden raisins on a salad

Pre-Workout: Leftover meatballs (2)

Post-Workout: Plantain patties (smashed up and sautéed)

Meal 3: Shrimp tacos on plantain strips with cabbage, pico, and avocado, side of zucchini and Anaheim peppers

Kid dinner alternatives: Tortillas, cheese and sour cream for tacos, chips and guac.

Daniel made dinner while I took my oldest kiddo to basketball. While he was in the kitchen FOREVER, it was well worth it.

We had almost forgotten we couldn’t make paleo-tortillas during Whole 30 (no recreation of baked goods or treats allowed). So he simply sliced plantains on the mandolin, overlapped some strips, then heated them on the stovetop for a minute before baking them in the over.

We served all the taco fixings on top and then ate with a fork and knife (can’t really pick it up). They were ah-mazing!

WORKOUT

15 minutes running, 45 minutes weight lifting

HOW I FELT

Today was busy, from church to the gym to basketball practice. After Noah’s practice, they gave the kids cupcakes. Cupcakes!

And while Noah put on his jacket to go outside, I had to hold his half-eaten cupcake IN MY HAND.

I didn’t sneak a nibble off it. I didn’t even lick my finger from the frosting. I just handed it back, cursed a little in my head, and smiled from passing another temptation.

Recipes I Used

Asian Meatballs (We couldn’t find this fish sauce ANYWHERE so I used coconut aminos instead and it still worked)

Breakfast Sausages (Oh these are so, so good)

Mango Salsa (For the tilapia- so so yum)

Curry Chicken Salad (We made our own but this one is pretty much like ours but with celery)

Whole 30 Tips (aka Things I Learned)

Food Dreams are Crazy! I’ve had a few food dreams since I started Whole 30. They’re hilarious because I’m always with someone and we eat bad food and I try to spit it out or scrape it off my tongue.  One day, after hearing a guy talk about making “snow” in his front yard for neighborhood kids, I dreamed of a yard full of candy. Another night I dreamed of eating at Outback. I’ve learned to just roll with it. They’re par for the course.

It’s okay to snack… if you absolutely have to. I’ve learned to distinguish “I need to chew stuff” hunger (aka a craving) and real, bona fide hunger. While I did go to bed a couple of times hungry, I also did grab a couple of snacks this week when I really needed it.

Engage with the community. While I’m not really a forum person, I do love me some Twitter. I keep the #whole30 stream in Hootsuite so I can easily follow it. I’ve followed new people and had some good conversations just by jumping in there and connecting.

These recipes will live on after Whole 30. We’ve always been ones to try new foods, but even we get stuck in our old ways. Whole 30 has forced us out of our comfort zone into trying new recipes. And we’re excited to add them into our normal rotation once the challenge is over.

Got questions?

We’re moving into our third week of Whole 30. Yes! Throw any questions you have my way. Have you done Whole 30 before? This making you consider it?