One Third Finished! (Whole30, Day 11)

Finally got a good batch of cooking done last night. Didn't do it over the weekend and suffered for it Monday and Tuesday... having big packed lunches is definitely helpful when doing a program like this. I made two dozen spicy tuna cakes. We ate some for dinner last night and I divvied the rest up for lunches. Had some today with leftover mashed sweet potato! I've also packed a salad, an avocado and some sugar snap peas for later.

spicy tuna cakes were reheated in the toaster oven...still perfecting my technique.

I have to leave a bit early today; a job interview off-campus. It'd be with a theatre company which is great, but part time (not great) and in the box office (sigh). Still, it's a job. And with the number of interviews I've faced in the last 3 weeks I know I can handle it.

Speaking of which, at the big interview from last Tuesday (during which the guy said only 2 people had been called in for in-person interviews) I was told I would hear "something" by Thursday. Almost a week's gone by, and nothing, not even a thanks-for-coming. So...great to know I'm your second choice and you're stringing me along in case your first choice bails! Grr.

Honestly I haven't noticed any huge changes in the last ten days, except that I'm sleeping a little more heavily (still waking up dead tired in the mornings though). My skin has cleared up a tiny bit...not enough for me to credit the food. Rather, it looks like "decent non-PMS skin". I'm hoping for much better than that. We'll see.

Oh and in doing my taxes it looks like I owe over a thousand dollars...? I've never owed taxes, any year, EVER, so I'm praying I just fudged something in the entries. I'm taking my stuff to an actual tax professional this year to see if he can sort it out.

Happy Hump Day!

Week 1 is in the Books! (Whole30 Day 9)

What a frickin' weekend. Last week was...long, let me tell you. Between tech for my show, interviews/ callbacks for upcoming gigs, opening, Dave's matinee, oh and WORK...it was tough not to want to sit down with a giant bag of buttered popcorn and a Diet Coke. But somehow I managed to stay on plan without a lot of muss or fuss!

A big part of that was Alan Obata, our producer and "snacks manager," as he calls himself. A tiny company like Limelight will sometimes have snacks, water and coffee set out backstage (microcraft services, sort of). Because the Whole30 is so restrictive, he was kind enough to set out fresh fruits, nuts (not peanuts!), water, and a pot of black coffee just for me at my station (over which I cried, I was so happy to see it after a particularly long day at work and before a particularly tough evening of tech).

A few nights ago I dreamt that I sat down and ate five huge bowls of Banana Nut Crunch cereal, and it was glorious. Which is weird, since I haven't eaten that cereal since I was a child (haven't eaten any cereal, really, since college when I began Atkins and started my morning ritual of eggs.) My subconscious craves it, I suppose. And while I do miss cream in my coffee, it's mostly cheese I miss. I didn't realize how much cheese I ate until I started this thing. Not adding it to my salads, omelets, etc. is really, really weird. Things still taste good, don't get me wrong, but ...I mean... CHEESE.

Haven't had any crazy mood swings, either, which I'd expected to be a big huge deal. All in all, while it can be annoying to stock up on all-compliant foods, I'd say this way of eating is certainly sustainable long-term. Maybe if the remaining 21 days go well, I'll find a pattern that works where I can have treats for a day or two, then go another 30 days of this, then 2 days of cheese and popcorn, then 30 days of this, then 2 days of chocolate and peanut butter...

It's similar to what many people do on long-term health or weight loss regimes, where you have a fun day or cheat day every month or so. I need to be more strict and aggressive, since I have so much weight to lose, but I like having the solid "30 Day" structure in there so I'm not tempted to cheat before then. It's a long time, but on the other hand, it's just a month. I can survive meat and vegetables for a month.

I've been really tempted to weigh myself, but I haven't. Partly because it's the rules, and partly because I have a sneaking suspicion I'll be disappointed. I really hope not, though. I know this isn't a weight-loss plan or "diet" but that's the big ticket item I'm gunning for.

On a side note, my skin's looking a little better. At age 30, I still have the breakouts of a teenager and I HATE them. It's still a little oily and blemish-y, but has calmed down considerably. It may in fact be the dairy, but I don't know yet. If my skin were to clear up considerably, noticeably, by the end of this 30 day period, I would be willing to consider forgoing dairy (or significantly cutting down my intake) for the long haul. And that is saying something huge.

Because I LOVE cheese.

Dana Sucks at Updating! (Whole30 Day 3)

I almost turned back on Sunday and didn't start the Whole30. For many reasons, but the main one being I didn't finish "It Starts With Food" on time. I am still reading it and plan on studying it more in-depth as I have more time, but I didn't read it while I was in Southern California and by the time I got back on Thursday night I was so exhausted (and jumping right into the final pre-tech rehearsals for Rose's Dilemma) that I just couldn't finish it.

But, I felt confident in the knowledge I'd gained from their website and from the blogs and advice of friends and acquaintances, and I knew that writing *this* blog would hold me accountable to start when I said I would.

So I did.

It has begun very basically - I have abstained from all the "harmful" foods without a lot of difficulty but haven't replaced them with anything complicated or exotic or expensive (because of funding and lack of experience). Rather, there's been a lot of very basic vegetables, raw or prepared simply, a lot of eggs (there's always a lot of eggs on any low-carb plan) and "approved" bacon. I had no idea bacon was such a minefield - finding uncured bacon with no sugar or crazy chemicals is really fucking difficult. Even with the approved stuff I found, I'm a little leery, so I won't be eating bacon every day like I'd like. Phooey. Oh and a lot of avocados, I frickin' love avocados.

Last night for dinner I made a dozen Spicy Tuna Cakes (the Nom Nom Paleo recipe). Panda and I each had 3, and I packed up the other 6 for lunches this week.

Today's packed lunch/ dinner consists of:

 A small container of dry-roasted macadamia nuts for a snack...which I just ate
 Some mashed baked sweet potato with salt and pepper
 3 spicy tuna cakes
 A simple green salad with mixed lettuces, spinach, a hard-boiled egg and lemon, salt and pepper, with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dressing
 A handful of sugar snap peas
 An avocado
 One more hard-boiled egg. For good luck, I guess.

The best advice I got regarding this plan was to prepare. I definitely should have prepared more, but I'm really glad I have so much chicken in my freezer that I can defrost and prep throughout the week. Tech week is always a pain in the ass, food-wise. So, tonight might be a late one making stuff for the rest of the week.

As for Panda...he's been on a few health rollercoasters lately and to be honest, while this plan seems pretty harmless I was dubious about having him join me, simply because it might upset his system (or he might face withdrawals, which would be miserable for both of us). He offered to join me, and to be honest, I cook most of the time so he tends to eat what I make, so a lot of what he eats in the next 30 days will likely be Whole30 approved. But I don't believe he's been able to read the website (on Day 1, he sat next to me eating a bowl of Ramen and said "so, about this 30-day thing we're doing...what?"), and he also has a lot of Medifast shakes left from the last time he ordered them. So, I'll be strictly on plan for the next month while he's on a combination of Whole30-approved foods and his Medifast meals. It's not ideal, but we'll both be sort of kickstarting ourselves into behaving better around food. So, that can't hurt.

I weighed myself on Day 1 but I didn't take any measurements. I'm kind of wishing I did. I guess after 30 days if the weight loss on the scale isn't significant I'll go by how I feel in my clothes? Hmm. But clothing doesn't change too much in 30 days.

After this week I am beginning to jog the Couch to 5K plan again...I just can't handle it yet. As it is, I'm up at 6, at work by 7:45, out at 4:30 and on the road for a 2-hr commute to Gilroy, at the theatre by 7, home by 10:30 or 11. Once tech week is over I can use my evenings for walking/ jogging in the park by my house. And I'll take walks on my lunch breaks until then to make sure I get *some* activity.

Holy crap this was a long one. Sorry about that. Just wanted to make an entry detailing that I *have* begun, I'm hard at work on my Whole3 (of 30) and I'm feeling pretty good. I haven't noticed any significant changes, but I also haven't been wailing with cheese cravings (yet) which is a relief.