Week 3

Week 3!

Pounds lost this week: 2

Pounds lost so far: 9

Pounds to go: 36

I am shocked that I lost two pounds this week. Summer kind of got the best of me and I definitely got off track several times. Ice-cream (I mean Sunday was National Ice-Cream Day), dinner out a few times, etc. 

I thought I would share a few of my favorite meals from the week:

Taco Salad: This is a delicious and easy way for the whole family to have dinner together. The kiddos had their tacos with shells and I just had mine on a bed of lettuce. This is taco meat, tomato, peppers, avocado, salsa verde and regular salsa. Easy peasy and so tasty. Plus, it leftovers great.

This is my absolute favorite breakfast... but I made it this week for lunch. I sauteed sweet potatoes and onions in coconut oil and topped with fried eggs. 

And this little shake keeps me very happy. It might not be the purest paleo food but it is healthy (er) than some other things I could have. It is a shake made from throwing a banana, a heaping tablespoon of almond butter, crushed ice, and some chocolate almond milk in the blender. So tasty. I am going to try adding in coffee next time I make it. I will report back on that one! 

So, here's to another week down!

Week 2

Pounds Lost This Week: 3
Pounds Lost So Far: 7
Pounds To Go: 38
Successes: I worked out twice which was an improvement from last week but I would still like to get into a routine and get more serious with it.
Things To Improve: I had a few more "cheats" than I would have liked. I am hoping to do much better this week.

I am feeling pretty awesome about a 3 pound loss. Especially since I had a few more cheats than I would have liked. I feel like I am getting in the groove and having fewer constant cravings for junk food!

Here are a few of my meals from this week:

Grilled chicken, grilled mushrooms, baked sweet potato, and a salad

I made Paleo Pancakes! I also used some frozen fruit to make a "syrup" and then had a side of bacon

Tilapia (cooked in the oven in a foil pocket), and sauteed onions, sweet potatoes, and apples

Omlette with leftover chopped grilled chicken, peppers, and salsa on top

Hamburger topped with mashed avocado, tomato, and bacon in a lettuce wrap, broccoli slaw, and cherries

I hope everyone is having a good week!

My Grocery List

First of all... I was kind of a big fat cheater at lunch. It was a "healthy" cheat... but...

I grabbed Chick-fil-a to take home and I just really wasn't in the mood for a salad (which I should have gotten because CFA has super yummy and healthy salads). I was also super hungry so I didn't get a kid's meal with grilled chicken nuggets and a fruit cup (which would have been a great easy choice). Instead I got their new Cool Wrap. It just sounded yummy packed with grilled chicken, yummy veggies, and on a whole wheat wrap. It clocks in right around 400 calories I think and I got the fruit cup with it which was a great choice...

But, I am not sure whether to blame the whole wheat tortilla (most likely) or the cheese in the wrap (possibly... dairy is not my best friend), but after eating I felt majorly ick. Very bloated and just lathargic. I didn't realize how good my tummy was feeling and how much energy I had after eating a Paleo friendly meal. But, I guess it was a good learning experience.

Anyhoo, the real point of this post is to share my basic grocery list/must have foods for eating Paleo friendly. Let me start off by giving a quick overview of what exactly Paleo entails (and I am still learning and there is actually some debate... so, we all have to make our own choices!) BUT, basically, you can eat

1. Meat and poultry (grass-fed, free ranging meats are ideal)
2. Fish and other seafood
3. Eggs
4. Vegetables
5. Fruits
6. Nuts and seeds
7. Spices and herbs (salt in moderation)
8. Healthy fats (coconut oil, olive oil, coconut milk, fish oil, etc)
9. Condiments like mustard, soy (without wheat), salsa, etc)

You cannot eat

1. Dairy (milk, cheese, etc) *butter is debated- but if you do use it use the grass fed variety
2. Grains 
3. Processed Food
4. Sugar (and especially artificial sweeteners of any kind)
5. Legumes
6. Starches
7. Alcohol

So, the good news is that the list of things you can eat is longer than the list of things you can't. The bad news is that most of the things you can't eat are the things that make up the majority of the average American diet.

For me eating this way has mostly been pretty simple because I have kept a lot of staples on hand that make throwing together a quick meal very easy. Here is my basic list of what I like to keep on hand:

• Chicken breasts
• Chicken sausages (from Trader Joes)
• Frozen salmon and tilapia
• Canned salmon
• Eggs
• Sweet potatoes
• Peppers
• Lettuce 
• Any other veggies that I find on sale or that look good! (great for throwing on the grill or chopping up in a salad... or adding to omelettes or roasting in the oven...)
• Frozen veggies
• Bananas
• Berries (variety)
• frozen berries
• Almonds
• Almond butter 
• Almond flour
• Coconut oil
• Mustard
• Salsa
• Lots of spices
• Lara Bars (these are great for when you need a quick breakfast on the go... for me this is essential on Sunday mornings after getting everyone up and out the door for 9am church!) 

So, there you go! Those are my "staple items"! 

Here's keeping my fingers crossed for a successful eating weekend. Eating on the weekends is always a challenge. There are always so many fun things to do and eat on the weekend... :)

I will hop back on here on Tuesday for my week 2 check in! Have a great weekend!

{small victories}

Today was one of those days that easily could have turned into a disastrous eating day... but it didn't!!!!!! I am beyond happy about this small accomplishment which is hopefully a baby step in the right direction.

This morning Nick and I had physicals in order to get new life insurance so we had to wait to eat breakfast until afterwards. I was starving by the time we could eat and it was so tempting to pour myself a carb-alicious bowl of cereal or just grab some cheese crackers. But, I went ahead and drank a big glass of water to hold me over for a few minutes and then went ahead and made myself some scrambled eggs. Small victory!

Next on the agenda was taking my grandma to get her haircut. It was right at lunch time when we got out so we hit up the Pizza Hut Buffet. I need to preface by saying that one of my very favorite things is Pizza Hut's pepperoni pan pizza. It is just so perfectly greasy and delicious. Of course it was the first thing I saw when I walked up to the buffet. Argh! But, somehow I managed to make it through the entire lunch eating just salad. Small victory!

Then things got super intense. We went back to my mom's house after lunch and she offered to give the boys haircuts (awesome!). She buzzed the boys heads (perfect summer cut for sweaty little boys) and we gave them ice-cream sandwiches afterwards. Not just any ice-cream sandwiches. Fat Boy ice-cream sandwiches... have you ever had one? I even initially told myself I was going to have one. But, I decided to start with a bottle of water instead and within a few minutes I got busy with other things and I decided it was better to skip out on it. Small victory!

The hubs is out grilling right now so dinner will be grilled chicken and mushrooms, baked sweet potatoes, and salad. So, Lord willing, today will end up being a pretty good eating day... Yay for small victories!

And in other news! I got my first question on the blog so I will be posting soon about what my personal grocery store staples are for eating Paleo!

Here we go...

So, I guess you could say this first post is more of a disclaimer than anything else! I have decided to blog about my current weight loss attempt... I guess maybe saying attempt is setting myself up to fail... but then I guess one should also be realistic... Anyhoo! ;) Here goes nothin'...

Awhile back I was using the Trim Healthy Mama plan to try to shed the baby weight + some other pounds I have had packed on for far too long. There was a lot I liked about the plan (no sugar, the structure, the ability to eat foods that wouldn't leave me hungry all the time). But, there were also some things that just weren't working for me personally (lots of dairy, some strange ingredients that were hard to come by). I have heard a lot about the Paleo diet recently and have seen some people getting healthy and having great success with it. So, I have decided to give it a whirl... sort of... 

Here is my disclaimer: I plan to share a lot of what I eat on here and I am in no way attempting to be a paleo purist. I will still have a piece of cake on my kid's birthday and I will definitely be eating a smore's every now and then (come on, it is summer!) But, my hope is that about 90% of the time I will be eating the paleo way and making better choices.

The point of this blog is pretty much for my own accountability. But, I decided to go ahead and make it public because I personally enjoy reading weight loss blogs. 

So... here goes my first little check in/post after almost a week of eating paleo (with a few cheats here and there).

Pounds Lost: 4

Pounds to Go: 41

Successes: I have been drinking lots of water! I have been much better about not eating after dinner. I also eat more fruits and veggies in a day now than I used to eat in a week.

Things to improve: I really haven't gotten into an exercise routine and would really like to start a couch to 5k program so I can start running. 

Here are some of my meals from this week:

 This was my favorite breakfast by far. Fried egg (cooked in coconut oil) over sweet potato hashbrowns with bacon and raspberries on the side. Sweet potatoes are amazing in hashbrown form. Try it today.

 Leftover BBQ pork from the 4th of July in lettuce, roasted veggies and strawberries. The BBQ sauce probably made this not perfectly paleo... but it was perfectly delicious. Also, I am obsessed with roasted veggies. Especially when there are onions involved.

 Italian sausage and shrimp, grilled peppers and watermelon. My husband fixed our grill over the weekend and I am so thankful!

 Pork steak (I only ate about half of that piece, it was huge!), grilled mushrooms and asparagus wrapped in bacon, salad with homemade peleo friendly Caesar dressing.

Scrambled eggs with leftover roasted veggies and raspberries.

And scrambled egg, raspberries, and cherries. Simple and yummy.

I must say if I can keep it up, eating this way is so easy. If you have the staples on hand throwing a meal together is so simple. And I am using up leftovers like crazy which is good on the pocket book!

So, here goes nothing! Thanks for joining me on the ride!