dietSNAPS Log - Dec 17, 2011

Dec 17, 2011 9:05 AM

Breakfast

Eggs and brisket!

Dec 17, 2011 11:40 AM

Snack

Making cookies at mom's house.. I tried 4. One of each kind.

Dec 17, 2011 2:40 PM

Lunch

Canned chicken, laughing cow cheese and BBQ/Tabasco/French dressing sauce.

Dec 17, 2011 5:25 PM

Dinner

Mcdonalds bacon angus burger and 1/3 of large fry.

Dec 17, 2011 10:00 PM

Snack

@Toni's - corn pops and gummy bears

Dec 17, 2011 10:30 PM

Journal Entry

Today's eating started off well, but needing to first watch my mom (she's sick) and then my Niece and nephew, it just went to heck. I'm not stressing about it.

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dietSNAPS Log Dec 16, 2011

Dec 16, 2011 7:10 AM

Breakfast

Eggs, cheese, deli chicken and hot sauce.

Dec 16, 2011 8:10 AM

Journal Entry

I have a nasty ass of a headache today. I'm chilling out for a bit before I head to the doctor about the vasculitis. Hopefully today was my last steroid. I need to get back on track. I've not been eating as horribly as I was pre-December, but I've had a few setbacks. I'd like to see those stop. My goal for the rest of the month is to ignore calories and track using pictures and this app. I'll post to the blog at the end of the day. This will keep me accountable to y'all and myself. Eating is my largest part of the battle. Once I can handle this, I'll up my exercise again. Right now, I've just been walking. :)

Dec 16, 2011 8:40 AM

Journal Entry

Dr appt. BP- 130/82 Weight - depressing I have to stay on the prednisone.. It's only in my skin, but I still have to be closely monitored. She increased my cholchicine to twice a day. :(

Dec 16, 2011 12:50 PM

Lunch

Tuna patties with mustard, pickles, steamed sugar snap peas and a pear with cinnamon.

Dec 16, 2011 3:55 PM

Snack

Dark chocolate and pistachios!

Dec 16, 2011 7:25 PM

Dinner

Dickey's Brisket, green beans and pickles!

Dec 16, 2011 9:05 PM

Journal Entry

Today, albeit emotional, was a good eating day. I spent a lot of time thinking about where I want to go eating wise. I'm pondering following an autoimmune paleo protocol starting after the first of the year for six weeks and seeing what happens. I'm happy with my food choices today.

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dietSNAPS Log - Dec 15, 2011

I'm testing seeing what happens if I email post my dietSnaps log. :)

Dec 15, 2011 6:05 AM

Breakfast

Eggs, salsa and bacon!

Dec 15, 2011 11:50 AM

Lunch

Holiday party... Salad and chicken

Dec 15, 2011 2:55 PM

Snack

Almond mix with dark chocolate and tea for the train.

Dec 15, 2011 5:30 PM

Snack

Ham and cheese snack.

Dec 15, 2011 7:30 PM

Dinner

Dinner out with family. Forgot to take a photo. Dinner was at Kelsey's Steakhouse. I had salad with garlic dressing, a porterhouse steak and red potatoes. Yum!

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December 2011 Goals

I have decided that I'm fed up with the way I've been living for the past few months.  Sure, I've got reasons for it, but I'm tired of using excuses for not living a healthy active lifestyle.  Today, that changes.

I reached out and told a friend, I need help.  He suggested that I come up with a list of goals for the month of December as well as for 2012.  I'm still working on my 2012 goals, but they will be broken up into the same categories that I've broken my December goals into.

I've broken my goals into five "F" categories.  Fitness, Food, Faith, Family & Finances.  Each goal has a point value and there are bonus points earned for every pound I lose.  Based on the number of points I earn by the end of the month, I've given myself a list of rewards I can earn.  I created a Google Doc spreadsheet to track my points every week.  I'll post my progress every week as well.

December 2011 Goals:

Fitness:

• Workout 20 minutes on 20 days.  This could be any workout, as long as it's 20 minutes
• Restart the 100 push-up program.  3 push-up sessions a week.  These will be done on my knees

Faith:

• Attend 6 church services
• Read the Bible using the Bible App on my phone and the 90 day reading program
• Finish up the devotional: Need Him: Finding God using the Bible App on my phone
• Jonas & I will do the Christmas/Advent devotional readings

Food:

• 90% Paleo (Breakout: 50% fat, 20% carbs, 30% protein)
• 1 or less servings of fruit a day
• Aim for less than 100g of carbs a day
• Track food via MyFitnessPal

Family:

• One game night a week
• Two family fun nights (Jonas' choice)

Finances:

• $100 into saving account (min)
• $20 per week for offering

Total Goal Points: 400

Rewards:

• 400+ Points: Kinect Workout Game
• 300-399 Points: Movie Night
• 250-299 Points: Board/Card Game
• 200-249 Points: Book

Its been a while...

I realize it's been a while since I last posted.  So much has gone on, so many emotions have run high, I didn't want to post and sound whiney.

So what's happened?  (in bullet point list form!)

• The boyfriend-type moved out and away 500ish miles.
• I have some small blood vessel disorder and have been on a slew of medications to try and make it lessen,these medications are mainly a steroid and a toxin.  Fun, eh?
• I've stopped eating Paleo for a while due to recovering finances and mental health.
• I've stopped exercising for a while, mainly due to the flux of chemicals in my body and not knowing which way is up.
• I'm working on finding myself, again.  Doing this by going back to church, spending some time with me, thinking about where I am and where I want to be.
• Working fiendishly on increasing my knowledge in the Business Intelligence world.

So, now that all that has happened, what are my plans?

• I need to start eating better again.  I felt so much better, physically and mentally while eating cleanly. 
• My plan is to start following the bulletproof diet. This is a Paleo-esque diet.  
• Basically what I'll eat in a day looks like this: 1-2 servings of fruit, 4-6 servings of animal protein, 5-9 (50% of daily calories) healthy fats, 6-11 servings healthy vegetables. 
• Why?  There is a very strict layout of what is good, what you should avoid and what falls in the middle.  I need a better guideline than eat animals, fats and plants (fruits/veggies).
• I'll also start tracking my food again, mainly so I know how many servings of each I'm eating.
• I need to start working out again.  
• Right now, I have two walking races scheduled.  A 3 mile walk on Thanksgiving and a 5k a few weeks later.  Both of these are going to be done with Jonas.  
• I am not comfortable doing any jogging or heavy lifting right now.  Raking for 30 minutes made my hands break out into painful sores/rash from the vasculitis.  Until we can stop playing round robin with steroids and toxins and can get this under control, walking and some body weight exercises are about all I'm going to aim for.
• I need to make sure to get at least 7 hours of sleep at night.  Since I wake up around 5:30, that means bed by 10 at the latest for me.
• Go to church every Sunday.

That's about it for now.  As these plans start getting put into effect, I'll write more.  They will slowly get put into place as I am ready.  Today, I'm working on letting my adjust to the increase in steroids before doing more than making sure I get enough rest and don't eat everything in sight. It's one step at a time.  Baby steps for me.

Challenge #4 Begins

The new Nerd Fitness Challenge has begun.  A lot is happening over the next six weeks.  I planned my goals around that, planning for days that will be hard to stay on focus.

Eating Goals:

• Primal, following The Primal Blueprint
• Other than below mentioned events, there will be no straying.  If I stray, I shall have to do 200 kb swings (Thanks CB for the idea), and tweet it for my public (well, fellow NF-ers anyway) humiliation.

• Menu - Create and follow it
• Water!  Not Crystal Light, Water!  (Ok… tea and coffee too)

Fitness Goals:

• Following the Primal Fitness eBook, (except I'll be doing 3x Lift Heavy Things per week)
• 1 Day Sprinting - 50 Meter running sprints, 6x per session. (Sunday)
• 3 Days Lift Heavy Things - Push-ups, Pull-Ups, Squats, Overhead Press & Planks (MWF)
• 3 Days Play - These will be mostly Jonas lead activity days, min 30 minutes per day, can be broken up into multiple play sessions.  Total time aim is 2-5 hours per week. Walks during my lunch breaks count towards my total time here. (TRS)
• Side Note: Tuesday: Family Skate Night, $5.50 per person includes skate rental… Done!

Life Goals:

Events: 

This go around we're going to go with things that will be happening in the next six weeks and how I'm going to deal with them.

• Family Reunion 9/10 (aka The Family Hootenanny): There will be paleo friendly food.  I'll have it and nothing else.  I'll also stick with water to drink, no moonshine!
• Dad's Birthday 9/13: I'll bring my own food for dinner & have 1/2 cup of ice cream, no cake.
• The Big Move Out 9/24 & 9/25: A lot of emotions will be running high this weekend.  My goal is to stay on goal no matter what emotions hit me.  There will be NO binge eating.
• Sister's Birthday 9/29: She's due to be having a baby any day, I am off this day so I will offer to make dinner for everyone.  I'll also have 1/2 cup of ice cream.
• New Baby's Birthday (Someday soon!): I can visit the hospital and not eat bad hospital food.  I can eat before I go so I'm not tempted to eat on the drive to the hospital.

Personal Fun Stuff:

Because I need some fun and excitement in my life!

• I'm putting in a reading goal.  I read a lot, but never really kept track of the number of books or anything.  So my goal is 6 books, yep an average of a book a week!
• Knitting Project - 500 rows complete by end of challenge.
• Hang a rope from the big tree in the backyard, try to climb said rope!

It's Called Being a Responsible Adult Stuff:

• Relay the back patio (Yes, this will be fun.  Lifting 50ish bricks, laying black paper and sand then putting the patio back into place).
• Weed the flower beds, put down more mulch.

Baked Chicken Thighs & Patty Pan Squash

This morning started with a trip to a local farmer's market.  Every week when I go, I like to try something new. This week, it was a patty pan squash.

Thanks to a "Chicken Fairy" I also have a ton of chicken parts (legs, thighs, breasts).  So dinner tonight was a combination of Baked (and stuffed) Chicken Thighs and the patty pan squash.

So what did I do with the squash?  I cut it up, put some butter, salt, pepper & fresh basil on it and cooked it in the oven, at 425 for about 40 minutes.  The result?  Tasty.  Not something I could eat a ton of, but it was a good side to the dish.

Onto the chicken.  I chopped up half a red onion, a couple basil leaves, some butter and put it into a bowl with a spoonful of crushed garlic.

Then, I peeled the skin off the chicken legs some, making a pocket and stuffing a spoonful of that mix under the skin.

When that was all done, I brushed the skin with some olive oil and dusted it with salt & pepper.

Into the oven they went!  425 for about 40 minutes...

Golden, brown and boy was it delicious!

My plate.  I also cooked up some green beans I had gotten at the market with a bit of the red onion and added a side salad of cucumbers & tomatoes from my garden, tossed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. This dinner was totally primal/paleo. As you can see, it was a lot of delicious food, most of which I picked or bought from the farmer's market this morning.  It was easy and quick (an hour total) to make.

Overall, this dinner got two thumbs up and a full tummy.  The chicken was so moist and delicious.  I will be doing similar techniques in the future, trying different "stuffings".

What do you guys think?  Do you like seeing various recipes that I make from time to time?