Whole 30: Week 1 Recap

Hey hey!  How was everyone's winter break?  Ours was glorious!  Filled with tons of playing, friends, family and art.  The kids and I were both bummed when Monday morning rolled around and they had to go back to school.

The other thing that as quite the bummer about Monday was Mark and I starting the Whole 30.  Are you familiar with it?  It's basically 30 days of eating nothing processed, no dairy, grains, soy (or legumes of any kind), MSG, or anything that tastes delicious.  The point of it is to 'reset' your system, relearn how to eat the way nature intended (eating until satiety, instead of engorgement), and to just generally feel better.  We've done this once before, 2 years ago, and both loved the way that we felt, so we decided to do it again!

We started on January fifth, so today is day 8 for us.  I feel like I'm finally turning the 'bloated, withdrawing from sugar/carbs' hump, and am feeling good!  I've also made my way back to the gym, where I am spending way too much time working on my upper body.  I'm only cleared from the ribcage up, so I'm basically turning these shoulders into boulders, and I'm trading in my boobs for pecs.  Sexy, like a man.  Anyways.  I've made some super delicious recipes this week, and wanted to share my top 3 with you guys!

Cinnamon Roasted Butternut Squash 

(Recipe from Make With Your Hands)

Ingredients:
1 whole butter nut squash (3 c. cubed)
2 tbs. coconut oil (melted)
1/2 tbs. dark cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tbs. fresh ground black pepper

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Toss squash, coconut oil & cinnamon together until all of the squash is thoroughly coated with oil and cinnamon.  Lay the butternut squash on a parchment lined baking sheet, or silpat and bake for 35 minutes.  Pull it out of the oven and  immediately toss with the nutmeg and pepper.  Put it back on the baking sheet and allow it to cool.

Seriously, this is delicious.  Use the full TBSP of pepper.  The nuttiness of the nutmeg, combined with the spiciness of the pepper and the sweetness of the cinnamon is an unreal combination.

Chipotle Meatballs  

(Recipe from Health-Bent)

Ingredients

1 lb ground meat (we used beef)
1/4 c almond flour
2 eggs
1 T chipotle adobo sauce 
1 t dried oregano
1 t onion powder
1 t garlic powder
salt

For the Sauce

1 c chicken stock
15 oz can tomato sauce
1-2 finely diced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce or you could use just sauce
2 t dried oregano
2 t onion powder
1 t garlic powder
salt

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Combine all of the ingredients for the meatballs, and roll into small, 1.5 inch x 1.5 inch balls.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.  While the meatballs are cooking combine all ingredients for the sauce in a saucepan over medium-low heat, and allow to simmer until it reaches desired thickness.  We served these over roasted spaghetti squash with a side of avocado, because this is a spicy recipe!  The original recipe serves it with a side of guacamole.

These meatballs are delicious!  But, our favorite part about them is the sauce.  Because you can't have ketchup or BBQ sauce on the Whole 30, things sometimes seem a bit dry.  This sauce is the perfect solution!  

Bulletproof Coffee

Ok, let's talk about this one.  I was nervous about it too.  It crossed my radar a long time ago, and I immediately thought "Yuck! Hell to the no!"  But, I decided that I needed to woman up, and give it a go, and I am so thankful that I did!  That first day that I tried it I was like the freaking energizer bunny.  I could not sit still!  Which was kind of a bummer, because my bursitis was CRAZY bad, and it hurt me to move, and I couldn't bring myself to sit still.  I didn't make true bulletproof coffee because I'm not having dairy, and the real recipe calls for butter.  Anyways, give it a try!  

Ingredients:

1 tbsp Coconut Oil (virgin coconut oil gives a stronger flavor, so if you don't like coconut just look for regular coconut oil)

1 cup of brewed coffee.

Directions

In a blender combine the coffee and oil and blend until frothy.  I used an immersion blender in my cup, because I hate doing dishes.

Let me know if you have any questions!  These are my top 3 recipes, but I made SO many more!  Missing all of my food posts on Instagram?  Don't fret, I made a new account, just food and fitness related.  Follow me @kendalgetsfit. 

Wednesday Weigh In!

.....you know, the kind without the scale.  Oh man, I am dragging this morning.  This basically sums up my feelings of the day.

Last night I was craving Thai food.  I mean, I would have given one of my children away to get it.  But, I'm committed, so no cravings were going to derail me.  I came home and whipped up a quick stir fry that was ah-mazing.  It totally satisfied the craving, had almost no oil in it, and was way lower in carbs and calories than real Thai food!  It was so good that I'm adding it to the freezer cooking rotation, so I'll take pics and post the recipe tomorrow. 

Onto our main event.  I don't know how I feel about these pictures.  I know I cheated all weekend, and I know I have to pay the price, but I hate it.  One thing is for sure, it's crazy motivating.  I was really tempted to weigh myself this morning, but I know that I can go from eating healthy to full blown disordered eating in two small pounds, so I think it's best for me to stay off the scale.  Anyways, my diet has been perfect these last few days, and all of last M-F, so hopefully I'm able to stay on track this time!

(holy bloat, Batman)

Hopefully in the next two weeks things start moving in the right direction.  Speaking of things in the next two weeks, I'm focusing on surgery prep & my post op needs. 

Post Op Needs:

• sweats (light weight & loose fitting)
• clean out the office so I can put a bed in it
• figure out where Everett is going to sleep
• word on the street is that I need a toilet extender.  I'm sure I'm old enough to buy that.
• order pads for crutches
• freezer cook

Day before surgery:

• mani/pedi
• wax my legs, because I won't be able to bend and do that for 4-6 weeks

My surgery is the Wednesday before Labor Day weekend, so I'm contemplating sending my kids on a trip with my parents for the long weekend.  Cam is so, so touchy and always on top of me, so I feel like it might be safer.  Then again, I wonder if it will stress me out more having them gone.  Augh, so many decisions to be made, and I have virtually no control over anything about to happen in my life.  You'd think I'd be dropping stress weight like crazy.

A Little of This and A Lot of That

Things are about to get crazy around here.  Fall sports are starting, which means we literally have something to do every...single....night for the next three months.  Oh, and I'm having hip surgery at the end of the month and will be on crutches for most of September.  No big deal, I can totally get three kids in three different directions for a month, all while not being able to drive.  Ha!  What doesn't kill us, right?  Actually, how I'm really going to get through this is my amazing village.  Everyone is offering to help in any way that they can, and I am totally taking them up on their offers. I swear, I have some of the best friends.  Oh, and I also have Everett's hernia repair surgery the second week in September.  Poor planning on my part, to put it mildly!

Cam started soccer last night, and it may have been the cutest thing that I've ever seen.  He is totally loving it, AND, he's actually paying attention and following the rules!  If this is any insight as to how kindergarten is going to go I feel like I can take a huge sigh of relief.

I mean, look at how sweet that smile is.  Clearly he's the next pint sized David Beckham.

Reese is in cheer, and tumbling, and flyers class and every other thing that seems to come with cheer, but I've never seen her like a sport as much as she likes cheer.  We tried everything first, and she just doesn't have that competitive spirit that seem to be required for the other sports.  Sometimes (most times) I think that she has a heart of gold.  She is so quick to point out the positive, and is fiercely loyal to her friends, and I love that with cheer the group of girls she started with will be the same group that she cheers with through high school.  Anyways, I don't have any pictures of her because my phone broke (errr....got dropped), and I can't use the right side of the screen to do fun things like take pictures, or make calls.

So I previously mentioned losing 15 lbs, and how proud I am of myself for it!  I worked my butt off for those pounds, and I am so happy with the results.  Coming out of the challenge I was so nervous about rebounding and gaining all of the weight back.  I'm still not at my goal weight, and now isn't the time for me to worry about getting there, but it also isn't the time for me to pity eat a bag of Cheetos every night either, ya know?  I've been taking the diet more in moderation, not tracking calories or macros, just eating as clean as I could while still enjoying life.  I've been so nervous that I've gained weight that I haven't stepped on the scale since the 4th of July.  But, surgery is coming, and my goal is to go into it weighing 132 pounds.  I was 138.6 on the 4th, and I have no idea where I am now, but all of my clothes are fitting the same, so I'm hopeful that I've maintained.  With only three weeks until surgery now is definitely the time to buckle down if I want to accomplish that goal.  So, I'm back on the MyFitnessPal app, consistently weighing and tracking my food, and back in the gym 4-6 days a week.  Oh, I'm also back off of the booze train.  It just sucks all of your weight loss away from you.  Life can be such a bitch like that.  

I need to keep track, and since I'm not going to step on the scale until surgery morning I need to keep track somehow.  I've decided that I'm going with weekly photos.  This is really putting it all out there, and taking a huge chunk of courage, but part of this journey is building my self confidence, so here goes nothing.  This is what I looked like on the morning of 4th of July:

And here is where we are at this morning:

(remember when I said I broke my phone?  no fancy apps to fit everything into one pic anymore)

I wish I would have done the same pose for the original and then this week.  Next week I for sure will!  Hopefully over the next three weeks there will be a noticeable difference.  And then, hopefully there are abs there next summer. Hey, a girl can dream, right?