The Whole 30 Series- Week 3

Whew. I have to say- I’m really glad that we’re done with Week 2. I know I said it in that Week 2 post, but seriously it just feels like such a struggle. By Week 3, you feel like you’re more used to the new eating habits, plus if you still have food cravings, you can at least see the light at the end of the tunnel. Luckily, we’re not having as many cravings as we did in the first half of this. Week 1 and 2 were definitely full of headaches and me wanting carbs. Not so much anymore! But I won’t totally spoil it- keep reading to get the daily details. Oh and also some AMAZING new recipes that we tried.

Day 15

Feelings: We’re halfway through! My feelings all day today were ones of just being so so glad that we did this. My body feels so much better. I feel mentally happier, I don’t have guilt surrounding food, and my skin and slowly but surely making improvements too! Today I worked in the office, and let me tell you everyone was so very impressed that I made my own bulgogi. I came home from work and my husband and I finally decided to tackle a project that we had been waiting to do for a while- make our flower bed not look like a nightmare. And it was a success! I mean look at that before and after! By the time we came back in from that we were one big sweaty, hungry mess. So breakfast for dinner it is. Breakfast food is always so easy and satisfying.

Food: I brought a Stasher bag of mixed veggies to hold me over until lunch. I enjoyed my leftover bulgogi, cauliflower rice, and some grapes for lunch. The food highlight was definitely our “Breakfast of (Dinner) Champions”. Our plates were full of eggs, bacon, chicken apple sausage (I seriously love Aidell’s products), roasted carrots, greens, and avocado. A serious breakfast for dinner.

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Day 16

Feelings: Yesterday we did most of the flower bed, but what you didn’t see is that other side of it that wraps around the house. We weren’t able to use the tiller on that “wrap around” portion because there’s lots of wire for the cable/internet. I thought: well I could easily wait for him. He could do this shoveling and trees and grasses that are growing up the wall. But I didn’t. I put on my big girl pants and went out and finished it, loaded 15 bags of mulch into my little Jeep wrangler, and got after it. I’ve never been more proud. And so I rewarded myself with 2 dinners. The leftover Warm Lemon Pepper Chicken Salad at 6pm when I was so starving I couldn’t wait, and then shredded beef tacos and plantains later on when my husband got home.

Food: I started this morning off with a breakfast salad, complete with lots of sautéed onions (nope, that craving hasn’t changed). Then I ate dinner #1 at 6pm- the final leftovers of the lemon pepper chicken salad and dinner #2 at 830pm- shredded beef tacos and plantains. I used this wonderful crockpot recipe for these crispy shredded beef tacos from The Sophisticated Caveman on the Whole 30 instagram. He doesn’t have this recipe on his website, but I snagged it from the Whole 30 Recipes Instagram feed, so make sure you check that out!

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Day 17

Feelings: Today we finally got to see some friends and have a little brunch together! It really is amazing all of the Whole 30 breakfast things that you can do. Almost no one will even realize that you’re doing Whole 30 and you can still impress them with a huge breakfast spread. To top it off I made fancy water with strawberries+cucumbers+Vital Proteins Collagen Powder. I’m telling you all- I know I talk about this collagen powder a lot but it’s because I seriously love it. Add in 1-2 scoops into a huge mason jar of water and shake it until it fully dissolves, then add in your fruit and veggie essences and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours to get all of the flavors. Everyone feels fancy when they’re drinking a fancy drink.

Food: Big brunch style breakfast with friends: eggs, bacon, blueberry sausage patties, roasted potatoes + onions + butternut squash with salt + pepper + rosemary (we put all of these things together on a sheet pan in the oven at 425 degrees x 35 minutes) and watermelon. i served my fancy collagen water and the whole brunch was a hit. For dinner we had our leftover beef carnitas in lettuce taco cups.

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Day 18

Feelings: Today I got up 15 minutes earlier than normal because I wanted to start my Monday morning off a little more relaxed. I took a hot shower and then put on a robe and did a charcoal mask. I love the charcoal mask to exfoliate my skin and I usually do it once a week on the weekend and forgot this weekend. So I made it my Monday morning thing. And man did it put me in a good mood! Work breakfast is never as pretty as at home breakfast, but a little healthy fats and veggies in the morning keeps me full for a few hours. And I love to try to use breakfast as a time to get some veggies in because it’s not typically a meal that’s very vegetable heavy. I’m here to change that! I made it my New Years Resolution to eat more vegetables daily so I started bringing in a bag of raw veggies to have with my breakfast every day and I love it.

Food: Avocado+tomato+cucumber salad and a stasher bag of carrots+celery+mini peppers for breakfast. Leftover bulgogi (from the Korean Paleo cookbook), roasted carrots, and grapes for lunch. For dinner I made a ground turkey hash that is mindblowing. Seriously. Most ground turkey is so flavorless but the way we infused the flavor into this hash was incredible. I’ll be posting the recipe soon- stay tuned!

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Day 19

Feelings: I’m really in a Whole 30 groove right now. Like one where I’m not feeling like I’m missing out on things and I’m feeling pumped about my progress. My workouts have been good. I’ve been feeling happy and I’m getting this burst of creativity in the kitchen too. Today I worked from home so I found myself at the kitchen table on my computer most of the afternoon. Which also meant that I found myself snacking for no reason, on Whole 30 compliant things (like frozen banana slices- which is like the tastiest frozen treat). But I wasn’t hungry. I was just mindlessly eating. Pre-Whole 30 Chelsea would probably have gotten frustrated with myself. But I really feel like I have a clearer head now. I realized it. Put the next banana slice down. And instead, I made a refill of the strawberry cucumber collagen water. I filled up a 6 cup mason jar with water, scooped in my collagen powder, shook it up, and then added sliced strawberries and cucumbers. I told myself every time I thought about snacking, I’d drink that instead. It worked! The flavor of the water gave me the satisfaction of flavor I was looking for. I just love that the Whole 30 allows us to realize these habits and break them!

Food: The sautéed onion cravings continued so I had scrambled eggs, sautéed onions and spinach and a cucumber+tomato salad for breakfast. So filling and a nice mix of different flavors! For dinner I had prosciutto and was feeling very creative so I came up with a new stuffed chicken recipe! It’ll be on the blog soon- but you can see these photos for a sneak peak of what’s inside!

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Day 20

Feelings: Today. I was on cloud 9. Because I used my instant pot for the first time ever. I have to admit I’d have this guy since Christmas and the whole pressure release, crazy steam, valve situation always freaked me out. I was pretty much constantly scared that I was going to blow up my instant pot. But today I was craving Chipotle for dinner and didn’t feel like paying them too much for mediocre guac. So I decided to go for it and make my own brisket tacos. Normally, I would do this in the crockpot. But it was 6pm when I made this decision, so instant pot– here I come. With 3 phone calls to one of my best girl friends and only an hour later, I had amazing brisket tacos with homemade, way better than chipotle (if I do say so myself) and guac. I think it’s safe to say that today I was very proud.

Food: I started the day off with a homemade breakfast of scrambled eggs, roasted potatoes, and a cucumber+tomato+toasted almond salad. I added in a little Gingerberry Kombucha for a mid day snack at work and then ended it with the meal I am the most proud of during my Whole 30- Instant pot brisket tacos. This recipe is courtesy of The Defined Dish and I think that the real magic is in the sauce. Definitely worth tackling the fear of your instant pot for this. We had the brisket with sautéed peppers and onions, homemade guac, and sweet potato fries.

Pro tip: When you’re making guac- or really anything with avocado that will require leftovers- save the pit from the avocado. If you keep the pit in with the guac in the leftover container it won’t get as brown! You’ll see the pit saved in my guac container in my lunch leftover tomorrow!

Pro tip: Kombucha can be Whole 30 as long as their isn’t any sugar added after the fermentation- and I love this Synergy Gingerberry one. I pick it up at Aldi.

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Day 21

Feelings: Saying no to foods that used to tempt me at work isn’t really a challenge anymore. “Hey Chelsea, someone brought donuts in the break room!” “I made muffins for our team room!” Both of these things happened today. And both times I just said “Ok awesome- thanks for letting me know!” and ate nothing. Surprise, surprise- no one said anything. People don’t really notice the foods you do and don’t consume. And honestly, it wasn’t that hard to avoid either of these. I was pretty happy about my food choices that I brought with me to work (yassss left over brisket and guac). Like I said- Week 3 is so much easier.

Food: I placed a Daily Harvest smoothie order because I had to see what all the fuss was about. I definitely don’t have one every day, but I can totally see why they’re great in a bind. Today I didn’t have any real breakfast prepped for work, so I tossed this Banana + Greens smoothie in a blender with some collagen powder and called it breakfast (with a side of veggies of course). My leftover brisket, crispy brussel spouts, guac, and grapes were an amazing lunch. My dinner was not quite as put together. I had some leftover stuffed chicken and watermelon, that I totally forgot to take a picture of- whoops!

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Overall Feelings

Energy: Same old, same old. I feel super energetic! I know I said this before, but I got lucky on this Whole 30 and never had an energy slump. My husband, on the other hand, said he didn’t feel so hot during his workouts for the first 10 days of our Whole 30, especially with lifting. But he said that’s totally passed and now he feels great, more consistently energetic than when we started.  

Emotions: I feel like I am smooth sailing in this department. No more emotional roller coaster. Don’t get me wrong, I still get some anxious feelings about a busy day at work or an important meeting, but overall, I feel so much happier and more comfortable in my own body.

Sleep: My sleep has been on point this entire Whole 30 except that first week. I still wake up feeling more refreshed than when we started! So many wins!

Skin: I think my skin is the only thing that I haven’t seen a complete 180 with. It’s definitely improved, but I still have maybe one or two cystic hormonal acne spots right on my chin that flare up. Man, if I could just get rid of the left corner of my chin I’d be golden! But still, even that is an improvement from before Whole 30 when I felt like every day, I had something new pop up in a new spot on my cheeks, jawline, and chin. Small steps in the right direction.  

Weight: Ok so I weighed myself again at the end of this week. I know, I know I’m breaking the rules. But seriously- this is helpful! Last week, I had actually gained weight. This week, I am down 2 pounds from my starting weight. Most importantly, I feel so much more comfortable in my own body. I like how my clothes fit better and don’t feel as self conscious in shorts. And you might think, wow a 2 pound weight loss in 1 week! But no, this is a 2 pound weight loss in 3 weeks of consistent healthy eating. It’s still not a ton. But it’s not all about the scale!

Morale of the story- power yourself through Week 2, because Week 3 holds so many more healthy mindset gems, without all the carb cravings.