Eight to Great – Day 6 & 7

I got on the scale on Saturday morning.  One of the rules of Whole 30 is not to get on the scale for 30 days.

Now I understand why.  It was disappointing. Very. Very disappointing.

However, I feel so much better eating this way.  It’s a struggle, though.  A constant struggle, especially on the weekend – the time that is easy for chips and margaritas.

But I breathe and appreciate the promise that I can do this challenge.

And check out the nom nom shrimp lettuce wraps for dinner on Friday, and so easy.  Just sauteed some onions & mushrooms, and grilled some shrimp in a pan with lime, salt & pepper. So easy.

DAY SIX – Saturday

The Expert and I went to bed on Friday night at 10:00.  I tossed and turned again, most of the night. When I did sleep, the sleep was good.  But I was struggling to sleep.

We woke up at 6:00 to head out for an open water swim and ride.

Swam for 40 minutes and rode for 2 hours and 15 minutes.

I was interested to see how the lack of “sugar” would be on the workout, and suprisingly, it seemed to be okay.  I added 1/2 a sweet potato to dinner last night, and also cooked up and mashed a few to take on the ride.

The ride was good.  I am surprised at the loss of fitness since Ironman, but I am also pleasantly surprised at the “base” that I seemed to have maintained.  It’s not super, but I have not lost everything. Thank goodness.

Pre-Workout: coffee with almond milk, 1 whole egg, 1 handful of cashews

During Ride:  (1 hour in) 1/2 mashed sweet potato (taken in a baggie like a gel!),  (1 hour and 45 minutes in) 1 clementine; over the course of the ride, I had 2 Salt Sticks tablets and 3 bottles of water.  I brought an extra 1/2 mashed potato and cashews, but I didn’t eat them.  If I had ridden the full 3 hours, I would have taken these in.

After Ride:  (11:10 am) Immediately I had 2 egg whites, salted, and an organic Braeburn apple.

Lunch:  (12:00 noon)  We went to Outback Steakhouse and I had a salad with vinegar and a dash of olive oil, and a 6 oz. tenderloin, plain.  Very good.

Next Lunch:  (3:30 pm)  Was really hungry by mid-afternoon, and the Expert was making food… so we had scrambled eggs, leftover shrimp from last night, avocado, tomatoes and salsa.

Dinner:  (6:45 pm) beef short ribs (in slow cooker), mashed cauliflower with ghee (from Nom Nom paleo), kale.  (We decided against the other recipe from PaleOMG… we’ll try it again soon.)  This was soooooo good.  It felt like a real steak & potatoes meal—-and it kind of was. Minus the potatoes.

 

All in all Day Six was a bloody massive success.  I am proud of myself and the Expert for making these changes.

DAY SEVEN – Sunday

Slept 9.5 hours last night! YIPPPPPPEEEE!!  One of my SBM friends posted that she began to “sleep the sleep of princesses” after Day 5 of Whole30.  This was my first sleep of princesses.  Wow. I felt amazing.

I had a nine mile run scheduled for today. [Yes, I am quite certain that my coach wants to kill me.]  This would be my longest training run since I had the tragic run at Silver Comet found out about my hip condition back in April. Yes, there was an Ironman race squished somewhere in there – but suffice it to say – longest training run in a long while.

And it was a great run. I can tell that my body is adapting to this way of eating, and I am really liking the way I feel.  My clothes feel slightly less painful in the waist… the weight is not falling of me, like it has with other “plans.” But this feels more permanent-possible, more sustainable as a way of eating.

Breakfast / Pre-workout:  coffee with almond milk (unsweetened), 4 mini chicken sausages (Whole30 compliant), 2 hardboiled eggs, salted.

Okay, so this wasn’t my most favorite meal… and it was gross looking.  But it was practical.

During Workout:  10-12 dates, 12 ounces of natural coconut water

Lunch:  Evos restaurant – had a double stack burger, bunless, with lettuce, tomato and onion on top of a salad with olive oil.  Then hit the pool with the kiddos.

Had a handful of cashews a little while later – still hungry.

Dinner:  The plan was dinner Zoe’s Kitchen.  They have awesome steak kabobs, but they are clearly covered in some sort of delicious sugary soy sauce.  So I ordered them plain with plain veggies. I old the cashier, absolutely no sauce on anything. The cashier was clear: No sauce.  He told the kitchen, no sauce. The kiddos were done with their meal.  The Expert was almost finished with his.

I still had no food.

Then finally they bring it out, and there it is:  covered in sauce. ARGH.  To their credit, the manager came over and tried to make it right. But I was over it.  You might say, big deal, just let it go and eat. But I couldn’t that would have destroyed the goodness that Whole30 promises — the complete re-vamping of my system. Injecting a sugar soy bomb might have sent me to the nearest bar to order a draft beer with onion rings.

At this point, I was done with Zoes.  Everyone was done eating, so we left and I popped into a Genghis Grill where I was able control my mongolian bowl and get it how I wanted it.  With no gunk, no soy – just veg, steak and shrimp.  Very good.

I apologized to my fellow diners (two kids who didn’t care and the Expert who knows what’s going on.)  But I know for a fact that eating out is a challenge.

But I wasn’t ashamed to kick up a stink – I was clear that I couldn’t eat it that way, so I didn’t.

And now, I’m off now to record a radio show with Dr. Fitness & the Fat Guy (no, I’m not the fat guy!). Stay tuned! Should be a blast.

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What is SBM’s Eight to Great?

So I started the SBM Eight to Great to give us all some motivation and incentive to be better together.  Eight weeks of full commitment. So whatever changes are you are going to make, whatever eating regime you plan to follow, let’s do the healthy things together.  We already have almost 500 people on the Facebook group! You can join the Facebook group here.

The main tenets of the Eight to Great are:

1) Eat clean– no junk food, no (or very limited) processed food, low (or no) sugar, no booze or Filet-o-Fish sandwiches (written more with myself in mind here). I am following Whole 30, but there are many ways to get to healthy—-we all must find what works for us.

2) Train hard – work hard in your workouts with your big goals in mind. If you need a free beginner tri guide, go here.

3) Just Keep Moving Forward – if you fall down, you pick yourself back up and go!

Go here to sign your commitment to GREAT, and let’s get ready for an amazing, life-changing 8 weeks! Go here to download an awesome goal-setting worksheet from Whole 30.