The Template

How do I know how much to eat during Whole30?

Well, wouldn’t you know they thought of that!  After the first few days of adjustment, it’s really not that tricky.  It is recommended that you eat only your three main meals per day, and add in pre-workout snacks if you need them, and post-workout snacks to help start the recovery process.

{grilled pork loin with Dijon, served with steamed asparagus and mashed rutabagas and carrots with clarified butter}

The template is simple.

1. Add protein about the size of your palm (yes, everybody’s palm size is different…but your palm fits your body!)… whether it be a chicken breast, a couple of eggs, or a can of tuna.  I erred on the larger side when unsure.

{prosciutto wrapped baked turkey breast over kale sautéed with coconut oil, served with steamed carrots}

2. Fill the rest of your plate with veggies (yup, plates are all different sizes, but I bet if you chose a dinner plate it will all work out for you!)… preferably a couple of different veggies with different nutrients.  I like to add something green, and something a little more carb dense like carrots or yams.

{spaghetti squash ‘fritter’ made with an egg, topped with an egg, served with yam roasted in coconut oil}

3. Add a good sized serving of healthy fat to your meal and call it a day.  To be helpful they do actually offer some idea of measurements for fats, since depending on what you chose the quantities can vary.  I’m partial to the ‘add half an avocado to your plate’ measurement!

{homemade turkey vegetable soup…the homemade broth counts towards the protein…drizzled with olive oil}

{bigass mixed salad with olives and olive oil, served with homemade meatballs and sautéed mushrooms}

Follow the template for every meal.  Try not to snack, but if you are starving chose some protein to fill the hole.  If eating eggs for breakfast every day is boring or unappealing to you then switch things up.  Nothing wrong with chicken for breakfast!

{grilled chicken breast topped with mango avocado salsa, with baked yam topped with coconut oil and almond silvers, and steamed asparagus}

As for fruit, it is recommended to only include it as part of a meal, not as a separate snack.  And never let it push something else off your plate.  I either incorporated it as part of the recipe, or would eat it right before or after my full meal.  This is to help keep the ‘sugar dragon’ or ‘snack monster’ at bay.  Many people, myself included, can unleash the dragon with just one orange or dried apricot.

Personally I found the template very useful.  I can say with certainty that after the first two days (while my body adjusted to the new plan) the only times that I actually got hungry were when I failed to plan and didn’t eat based on the template.  Too little steak on the plate = hungry.  Skimped on the fat in a meal = hungry.  Didn’t fill my plate with veg = hungry.

Don’t skimp on the good stuff!

A Good Food Adventure

Years ago, before I ever started this blog, I dieted.  Actually dieted.  None of this ‘chose a better lifestyle’ or ‘pick a new food way of life’ stuff…but went out of my way to diet to lose weight.  At the time, it was the best thing for me and it worked.  I stayed with it after I lost my 24 pounds and learned to work some of those diet ideas into a more balanced menu for myself.  I eventually became the girl behind Embracing Balance and happily went along balancing healthy foods with indulgent foods and enjoying every bite while maintaining my happy weight.

At some point a few years ago that balanced lifestyle stopped working.  I gained back 15 pounds gradually, focused a little too much on cheeseburgers and a lot too little on portion control. No surprise that those pounds just hung on for dear life.

You’ve all seen me get back on the healthy eating and workout bandwagons a few times since this all happened, but doing it multiple times hasn’t done anything for me.  I would make it a few days with clean eats then decide a cheat day or three won’t hurt.  Then I kick the scale when it doesn’t move.  And console myself with Cheezies when my old pants still don’t fit.
Guess what?  I’m human.  I need to pick myself up, dust myself off, rethink things, and make new choices.  And sometimes I need to do it over and over and over again.  This time, I woke up and decided that the thing to do was try another diet.  An actual diet.  With rules, guidelines, and restrictions.  Something I could really work at and be proud of.

The problem was that the diets of yesteryear don’t fit my food beliefs anymore.  I’m not going to turn to no-fat yogurts, 100 calorie snack packs, and diet soda this time.  I want to eat real food.  I want to eat a lot of real food. 

This is how I found Whole30.  It’s all about real, good food.  Sure, it’s not meant to be used as a ‘diet’ per se but the handy side effect of regulating meals and eating a specific assortment of foods can be weight loss.  Plus, it’s something that can work even after the weight loss portion is achieved.  It’s good food for life.  

To start I decided I needed to be as strict with myself as possible which is part of why I opted to try Whole30.  30 days of eating by the rules. 

“Eat real food – meat, seafood, eggs, tons of vegetables, some fruit, and plenty of good fats from fruits, oils, nuts and seeds. Eat foods with very few ingredients, all pronounceable ingredients, or better yet, no ingredients listed at all because they’re totally natural and unprocessed.”

No sugar, no booze, no dairy, no grains, no legumes, no additives, no spuds.

I know it sounds like a lot, and it is…but with a great book and a website full of guidelines, support and recipes I was ready to get on board.

As an added bonus, it’s basically an elimination diet…so the option of finding out what foods cause me gastric grief, joint pain, body aches, or anything else was what really sold me.  I never knew legumes could cause body aches…and guess what I eat a ton of?  Yeah…damn you chick peas, black beans, and peanut butter.

At the very least I knew that is was 30 days I could be proud of.  A personal challenge if you will.  Even if I didn’t shed a pound, or jumped face first into a bucket of ice cream after 30 days, it’s still a month to be proud of.

So the next round of blog posts will review how my Whole30 went down.  I finished a week ago and have a head full of thoughts swirling around that I have decided to share.  If you have any questions, please throw them out and I will attempt to address them as I go along.
 

Hitting My Stride

Here we are--now more than a full week into the New Year and it appears the resolution motivation has taken over the world!  Or, at least the world inside this little bubble of my life.  :)  Totally loving all of the excitement, challenges, happy faces, sweaty faces, healthy eats and workout plans that have taken over Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

I purposely haven’t set any written goals.  My return to the gym was a gift to myself--not a resolution.  No unnecessary pressure for this gal.  I have motivation and enjoyment in my corner, and that is everything I need right now.  All I need is to push myself just a wee bit harder every time I step in the gym door, and as long as I see even the teensiest of results each time I will be a happy camper.  Fitting the gym into my hectic schedule has been tough but it’s doable and making it happen is a priority to me.  And when I meet my priorities it’s easier to keep on going.

The one goal I did set is a weight loss goal for January because we are going on vacation in February and I will be a whole lot more comfortable in last Summer’s shorts if I lose a few pounds.  I’ll even treat myself to a new bathing suit if I can reach my goal.  You know, because bathing suit shopping is soooo much fun. *grumble  Bahaha!

Happy thoughts for this week:

• I’ve already lost more than a pound.
• I upped my weights for bicep curls and tricep kickbacks.
• I went from jogging 1 minute at a time, to 3 minutes at a time.
• My bum looks great doing deadlifts.
• We discovered a deeelish low-cal curry shrimp recipe. 

What keeps you motivated?  Did you set New Year’s resolutions?

The New Plan

It has been a long while since I have posted about workouts or fitness fun.  That is because it has been a while since I have worked out or did anything really fitness related.  Doh.

As I flipped through my calendar yesterday I found that I haven’t been to the gym in over 5 weeks, and prior to that I had a 3 week lull.  What the heck happened?  It was all ‘hip-hip-horray, let’s workout every day’ for January, February and March.  Then…pffffffffft. 

I have no excuses or explanations.  Maybe I burned out, maybe I was annoyed at the lack of results, maybe I was really hoping to lose 10 pounds even though I said I was more concerned about getting fit, maybe I got busy, maybe I got lazy.  Any and all of these things could apply.

The good news is I seem to have found my motivation.  I think.  I’ll be honest and say I still feel a little wobbly on it.  I’ve been kicking ass for two whole days (ha!) but still have the feeling that it could run off the rails at any moment.  I’m taking my own advice and trying to simplify things this time…focusing more on eating right, eating less, drinking more water and not worrying about trying to get to the gym 5 days a week.  Less beer, more walking.  I think I got a wee bit overzealous with my plans the last time around and experienced a case of burnout.  I missed one or two workouts and that just pushed the motivation out the window.

This past weekend I stood in front of my full size mirror in my sports bra and my short-shorts…and took pictures.  Pictures of how tight that bra is.  Pictures of my soft shoulders.  Pictures of the snugness of those shorts.  I then changed into my all time favourite pants, which I damn near lived in a couple of years ago and took pictures of how I can no longer do them up and the insane muffin top I get if I do squish myself into them.

I now have ‘goal pants’.  I’m admitting that I really do want to lose the extra weight I’ve gained and held on to in the last two years.  I tried to tell myself it didn’t matter to me…I’m not overweight…but it does matter.  It was hard work to lose weight in the past and it was hard work to keep it off and become fit for four years.  I now realize I feel bad for letting it go.

Well, I refuse to feel bad about this anymore!  I have one of those ‘before’ photos taped to my bathroom mirror as personal inspiration and it’s time to get serious.  Gulp.  I will be comfortable in my own skin!  And I will be comfortable in my favourite pants!

All images from {Pinterest} of course!