Back On the Wagon!

Oy.

That didn't go so well.

Just when I thought I had a handle on my emotional eating, I got kicked in the teeth by my own self-pity. I'm still not quite ready to share this with the whole world (meaning I'm not ready to leave the house with my head uncovered), but here's a snap-shot of the source of my self-pity:

This photo shows a little less than half of my total hair-loss. In fact, in just over two months I have lost about 50% (maybe more) of my hair. And what hair I do have left has changed texture, and is prone to matting. I wake up with dreadlocks every morning. Two days ago, I actually took a pair of scissors and chopped off about four or five inches, so it's now a fair bit shorter than it was in this photo.

Blah, blah, blah. Enough about my freaky head. This was supposed to be a post about getting a grip on my food intake.

I've decided to jump back into a Whole15(ish). I'm going to eat the way I did on my Whole30, at least until my parents arrive to celebrate Music Man's birthday next month. I know it will be hard with them here because we often go out to eat, but even when we do I'll just stick to meat and veggies. (I just won't fret about what kind of cooking oils they use.)

I'm currently 4lbs away from my next mini weight-loss goal. I've been hovering around 122lbs, mostly because I went back to eating some absolute GARBAGE. (Seriously. Mini KitKat bites? They're not even GOOD.) I would really love to see 118 on the scale, and here's why: The second time I did Weight Watchers was when Music Man was a baby. Just before his first birthday, I got down to 138lbs and was overjoyed to be at my lowest-ever adult weight. I think it would be amazing to see a number twenty pounds less than that. :)

After that (assuming I get there), my goal is to put away the scale, and focus on my measuring tape instead. I've started working out with Bob Harper's Inside Out collection of DVDs, and they're kicking. my. butt. daily. Love it. I'm already seeing a difference in the definition in my arms! I'd love to shrink my mid-section by a few more inches, and (if I can dream) shrink my upper thighs by a few more as well.

The plan is to return to blogging here more to keep me accountable. Feel free to nag. (Thanks Alexis!) :)

Easter Eats, Old Friends and Beginning Re-Introduction

I've not been intentionally neglecting this little blog, but our preparations for Easter seemed to end up consuming far more of my spare time than I'd anticipated. And speaking of Easter, I thought I'd write a little about how we ate yesterday.

My husband's Whole30 happened to end today, meaning he'd either have to stay squeaky clean in the midst of Easter feasting or wrap things up after only 29 days. We discussed it for several days, tossing around a few ideas. We had, for a while, decided that it wouldn't be so bad for him to end just one meal early, and be able to enjoy something extra at Easter dinner with his family. In the end though, we decided that we could enjoy a Whole30 Easter dinner, and that he would complete his 30 days.*

*Since I finished my Whole30 some time ago, I did enjoy about half an ounce of dark chocolate while the kids napped yesterday. YUM.


Breakfast - The kids feasted on coconut flour pancakes and for the grown-ups I made a bit of a hash - browned Italian sausage, shredded sweet potato, kale and onion cooked in coconut oil, then covered with whisked eggs and scrambled together. Delicious!

Lunch - Enchilada Chicken Stew

Supper - This was the tricky one, since we were eating with the whole extended family (on my husband's side). My mother in-law was cooking a turkey, and the rest of us divided up what would go with it. We volunteered to bring a salad and roasted broccoli and cauliflower. Other than that, the menu consisted of cheesy (white) potatoes, bread-based stuffing/dressing and dinner rolls. I decided to make some sweet potatoes to bring as well - I roasted them then mashed them with diced onions (which had been sauteed in coconut oil - and I added the remaining oil from the pan to the potatoes as well), a little garlic and some curry.  And then there's dessert. I know, not really Whole30-kosher. But on day 30 and Easter Sunday, well - I don't really feel this needs any defending at all. :) I made this cake but baked it as cupcakes, which I then topped with the thick part of a can of coconut milk whipped with cocoa powder. The first bite was disappointing, I think because the whipped coconut milk really looked like chocolate frosting. (I even piped it on with a decorative tip.) But after the initial un-sweetness wore off, they were sublime. Seriously, the cake part was incredible! (Obviously I made the extra-banana-honey-free version.) We may or may not have eaten more than one cupcake yesterday. Possibly more than two. Shhhhhh....

In between lunch and the family supper, we dropped by to visit some old friends from our former church who always have a large gathering on Easter. (We've been eating with them on Easter, Thanksgiving and just after Christmas since before we were married.) We hadn't seen them for many months, as our lives have been busy, and even a 30 minute drive seems inconvenient when it messes up my kids' naps. Speaking from a purely vain perspective, it was a great boost to hear from them how much I've changed over the recent months. While it was nice to hear how much smaller I look, the absolute best compliment was when one friend commented on the muscles in my arms. You see, it's never been my intention to become skinny. That's not my build, and I would have to do unnatural, uncomfortable and unhealthy things to achieve that with my body type. What I'd like to be is athletic-looking - with visible muscles, but not "ripped". Make sense? In any case, that was confirmation to me that what I've been doing over the past year is working.

Finally, we are beginning our process of re-introducing foods as of supper tonight. Things we haven't missed will wait until the end (if we bother at all), but there are some things we're really looking forward to trying out - like cheese! Tonight we'll feast on pizza and garlic fingers, made on coconut flour crust, with sugar-free sauce, veggies and unprocessed meats - but with mozzarella ALL OVER IT. Can't wait. :) I'll post tomorrow to let you know how it goes!

Off-Roading: The First Two Days

Saturday was my first "day off". What's a girl to do when she promised her husband she'd wait to reintroduce foods when he's finished, but she has a girls' night out at a fun restaurant? All she can do is try her best!

I ordered a gluten-free burger, hold the bun. There were three topping combinations to choose from, and two of them were cheese-laden. The third option was tomato, avocado salsa and bacon. Yes, I ate the bacon. Sue me. It was good. The whole burger was delicious, and eating it with a knife and fork slowed me down, and made it feel more like a restaurant and less like a fast-food joint. I skipped the fries (as I suspected they were wheat-coated, since they were nowhere to be found on the gluten-free menu), and had a salad with a lemon Chardonnay dressing. It probably had sugar in it. *shrugs*

Okay, big confession - I had a glass of wine. 6oz of a zinfandel, and it was delightful. Since my husband couldn't care less about alcohol I didn't really feel guilty about having that without him. And, to be totally honest, I didn't really feel guilty about the bacon either. He has been eating prosciutto several mornings a week, so the bacon hole has been filled for him.

Sunday meant staring temptation right in the eye. A family lunch at my in-laws' house included noodles with pork and vegetables, dumplings and spring rolls. (I even watched my sister-in-law drink a can of cranberry ginger-ale.) I knew I'd need to bring something extra yummy to stave off the temptation. I whipped up a double batch of our new favourite taco chicken [drumsticks] with guacamole dip. Everybody loved them, and my father-in-law even requested I pass along the recipe to his wife. :)

Sunday night wasn't so hard. We went to a birthday party for a dear friend (with about 70 of his closest friends and family!), and there was plenty to eat without fear. Burgers with no buns, we brought our own homemade ketchup and BBQ sauce, salads, veggies (minus the dip), and I brought two kinds of muffins made with Whole30-approved ingredients for dessert - coconut banana muffins (minus the honey) and banana cinnamon bun muffins (minus the maple syrup).

Today, I'm right back on track with 100% Whole30 eating. The only thing that looks different now than the way I was eating a week ago is that I've added eggs back in. First, it was too hard. It was making me miserable. I've grown so fond of my egg and kale scramble at breakfast! Secondly, what I have is an autoimmune condition, not an autoimmune disease. It doesn't affect my over-all health, just my scalp and my vanity. I *know* that nuts are inflammatory for me if I eat them in large quantities, so I'll continue to save them for special occasions (like a Coconut Cream Larabar!), but I don't notice a difference in my inflammation levels (pain, nasal passages, etc) after eating eggs so they're back in.