Whole 30: Week 1

I made it through my first week of this Whole30 thing! It wasn't too bad, but then, I've done a week of clean eating before so I was never too worried about the first week, its the 3 weeks thereafter that concerns me. Haha But I'm feeling good and committed to finishing this so I'm just taking it one week at a time and not thinking about how many more days I have left. (*cough*23*cough*)

My family even came over to watch the Redskins lose the playoff game and Mark made everyone homemade pizza and I even whipped up some brownies for them and didn't have a bite of any of it! I just ate a sweet potato. Talk about self control.

At the close of the first week I weighed 148.5 - 4 pounds down! I can already tell a difference in the way my jeans are fitting and my stomach feels a bit flatter. Technically I'm not supposed to be weighing myself because this Whole30 thing isn't about weight loss as much as it is changing your eating habits, but lets me honest...Weight loss is good motivation! So I'm keeping track! I've also been being super consistent with a workout routine. I did 3 p90x workouts and ended the week with a 6 mile run on Saturday. Which is also the official kick off of my 2016 Shamrock 1/2 Marathon training.

The first couple of days I got a bad headache in the evenings, not sure if I just wasn't drinking enough water or if it was a side affect of not having any caffeine, but those have faded away now! I've had pretty good energy over all, my only other issue has been feeling a little blah during my run. I've got to find some good whole foods to fuel my body for long runs because I'm totally used to having a few slices of pizza the night before a run to "Carb load."

Here were some of my favorite meals of the week:

Shrimp Avocado Salad:

This once I kind of made up from a few different recipe inspirations. I just sauteed the shrimp in coconut oil and garlic which made them taste almost buttery, and then I mixed in some fresh salsa (chopped tomatoes, onions, cilantro, peppers, salt) and a mix of mashed and chunked avocados and it was soooo gooood! I couldn't finish it all.

Scrambled Eggs:

My breakfast staple - eggs. I usually had fruit and salsa or avocado to go along with it and alternated between scrambled and fried eggs.

Sweet Potatoes:

I've had a ton of sweet potatoes this last week! I had it once for dinner and then a couple of times for lunch in the "baked" sweet potato form. I always bake my sweet potatoes in the microwave. I just wash them, poke holes in the skin with a fork and then wrap them in a moist paper towel. Usually takes 7-8 minutes depending on the size of the potato. When its done I drizzle it with a little bit of olive oil and then sprinkle some salt and garlic powder on top. It's not butter and brown sugar but its good. I'm learning to love  appreciate savory more than sweet.

I also made sweet potato fries twice and plan to do some more this week!

Tuna Salad:

Can of Tuna, boiled egg, fresh salsa, organic pickles, and avocado mixed together and then a little bit of lemon juice squeezed on top. I'm a mayo lovin' girl, so tuna without mayo is sad, but this is pretty good with the avocado to smooth it out. 

Sweet Potato Hash Browns and Fried Egg:

I grated a sweet potato mid way through the week and had enough to use the "hash" it made to make this dish for 1 dinner and a couple of lunches. It was nice to have something "quick" to pull out of the fridge and whip up. I'm definitely going to be shredding some more this week to have on hand just in case.

I just put the shredded potatoes in a skillet with coconut oil over low heat and fried for a few minutes. I add some salt and garlic and mix it around and then let it cook for another minute, then I cracked the egg on top, cover until the egg was cooked and then used a spatula to lift the creation out of the pan and on to my plate. Yummy!

Banana Ice Cream:

1 1/2 Frozen bananas, half a can of coconut milk cream, and a few strawberries. Blended together in the ninja and then put in the freezer to firm up. I made this once before and it was better the first time. I'm going to have to work on my banana ice cream skills a bit.

"Faux"t meal:

Hands down my FAVORITE breakfast so far. 

1 banana mashed until almost liquid, add 1 egg and mix together, add a pinch of baking soda and you're ready to go.

Heat 1 teaspoon of coconut oil in frying pan and pour mixture in, let it cook for about 1 minute and then take a fork and gently scramble it up as it cooks like you would scramble eggs.

Top with fruit and oh man is this heavenly. Its fluffy, sweet, and filling. 

I've even made it for night time snack a couple of times!

We also had taco salad, spaghetti squash and baked chicken for dinner that I forgot to take pictures of.

I already have my menu planned for this week and did my grocery shopping this morning to replenish the produce drawers in my fridge. Hoping for another solid week!