Faery

I used to HATE salmon. It was so gross. Then on a whim I made it myself on the grill. I then had to go out that night at 10pm to the closest 24hr store so that I could get more because the cravings for crispy salmon were THAT strong. I still remember how it tasted ;_;

Day one: complete! Got in a kettlebell workout (love me some swings, hate me some Turkish get ups) Breakfast for the day was some coffee w/ coconut cream, a slice of veal and two clementines. Missed the veggies this meal but that's a-OK becaaaause Lunch was a salad with tilapia and Tessemae's balsamic dressing (my daily lunch now... I CRAVE this), half a cucumber, 1 Cup of cherry tomatoes, and a cup of strawberries. Normally I wuss out on extra veggies here. Dinner was roasted butternut squash (I like it on the moderately burnt side) with a nice chunk of pork side (mouth orgasm level: crispy salmon). I had a *lot* of squash. It was lovely. So sweet. So salty. So delicious.

In May, my family and I will be heading down to South Padre Island for some fun in the sun. Snorkeling, deep sea fishing, pirate cruises - the adventure of the year, to be sure! And for the first time ever, I have permission to do WHATEVER I want on the island between activities! Say whaaa!? And it only took 20 years. But, to get the most of your adventure, you need to feel good. Not just good, but GREAT! Headaches, aches and pains, fatigue - those will cramp your style. Ruin your fun. Hold you back from major adventuring. I know this. So, after a successful week of whole30 before I was derailed (a surprise "thank you" dinner for tutoring + birthing a lamb) I have decided to stick to whole30 for this challenge! Prior to whole30 I had been trying to eat healthy, close to whole30 meals for 2 weeks. I weighed myself this morning and, despite my Chinese food binge (10 stuffed crabs, y'all) I had lost - dah dah daaaaaah - almost 13lbs! And I am LOVING eating all I want on whole30. No shame over eating sausage. Fatty pork? Why not! O-M-G, crispy grilled salmon! All my favorite foods with no guilt. I had tried to be vegan for a long time and... failed. Miserably. It's such a change and I'm so happy. Plus I feel good too. And did I mention crispy salmon? I have also discovered that I don't like certain foods as much as I thought. Anyhow. I have three goals for this challenge. Dietary Goal: Complete Whole30, (following their meal template) Fitness goal: Do a kettle bell workout 3x a week. Even if it's small, just fit in in. Go on a hike with the dogs once a week. I got a kettlebell, and fell in love with some of the moves. Especially the one where you squat and make figure 8's by passing it through your legs. I'm moving constantly all day at work, so for this challenge the kettlebell and hike will suffice. Of course I might decide to do more, but I am only requiring these two things.

I haven't really felt hungry since I had a migraine yesterday morning. Normally, I become absolutely ravenous. It was hard for me to finish my breakfast and I couldn't finish my lunch. I had to fight to get most of the shrimp in my lunch down, and I LOVE shrimp. And I'm NEVER EVER not hungry. What is this madness!?!

As day 2 begins... "The Hangover" is real ;_;

I completed the first day of my whole30! I honestly can't believe I actually made it! It's been SO long since I've managed even 1 day of any healthy eating. Seriously. At worst, I've just been binging, and at best I've caved and drank something like chocolate milk or fried chicken or fast food. Today I realized the difference between mind-hunger and real hunger, when I was craving chocolate something fierce (paired with an "OH, IM STARVINGGGGG") but all I had was an orange and I refused to eat it. I then realized that if I was ACTUALLY hungry I would've eaten whatever I had on hand. It was weird. Today I had: 1 Aidell's chicken apple sausage 1 egg Shrimp and spinach salad w/ tessemae balsamic dressing Two clementine 1 Aidell's chicken apple sausage 1 egg (I thought I was going to go off plan before dinner when I got hungry so I made tasty meaty options, which really held me over. I need to get more veggies! And lunch needs to be MUCH bigger... that delicious, measly salad was far too small) Dinner was: Rainbow Trout brushed with a garlic/paprika/lemon juice/ghee mixture and grilled Baked sweet potato Coming from a long time of "animal bad, only plant good" line of thinking (filled with harsh cravings, guilt and misery, fear of meat/fat) I really enjoyed today's food, even though I had a minor panic attack thinking that this was going to kill me, because meat and fat gives you cancer and heart disease and diabetes and OMG what if my arteries get clogged, so on so forth... which is ridiculous considering my epic binges. But I digress. On to day two! On to VICTORY!!!

I failed horribly during the challenge before last. The three simple things I wanted to commit to, I didn't. One of them was the simple act of eating breakfast. I couldn't even do *that*! Well, I've been trying to clean up my diet. I started with dinner - I said, no matter what, I would make a "healthy" dinner. For me and my vegetable hating ways, this meant something like fish and rice. And I had been managing to at least have an orange or two for breakfast, instead of just skipping it and drinking sugary coffee for lunch. Well, I was reading about whole 30 and I realized that what I eat isn't *so* different. All I had to do was replace the rice. With vegetables. Ew, gross... Anyhow, I decided to try roasting vegetables. I started with carrots (ew) and green beans (double ew) because they were cheap and I wouldn't feel bad about throwing them out when I didn't like them. I made them with olive oil and sea salt, roasted until the outsides were nice and crispy. And I LIKED them. Like, a lot. So I was making fish and vegetables every night for two weeks or so. I learned how much I need for just me, or if I was feeding the house. I learned how exactly I liked them. I learned that I like them fresh, not as leftovers (gag-worthy experience). Then I tried to prep fish for next day's dinner. On the day I decided to try eating lunch, I tossed some of that fish with balsamic dressing and spinach. Then I ate it. And I LIKED it. A lot. I was sad when I ran out. Who gets sad when they run out of salad!?! Then on a very busy morning, I decided to take some fish with me for lunch, but I ended up eating it on the way to work, along with my oranges. And I was full. All day long. It was great. I am feeling good. I tried being vegan for a long time and it just didn't work for me (no offense to vegans!) no matter what I tried... and now that I'm "allowing" animal products I'm having success. I think I'm finally going to let that old dream die. Years of misery and guilt, then finding something that is working? It's nice. I even started eating chicken again, though I'm still wary of eating too much meat. I'm still afraid of pork, beef, and "healthy" fats and oils but I'm trying. I had salmon for dinner tonight, with my veggies. It was great and I don't feel ravenous. The first night I made salmon, I almost cried because I wanted MORE - I had bought a 4oz filet to try out w/ my dad and it was so good... and then I just had this intense craving for it like an hour later. I've never had a craving like that before. I'm really enjoying my food. Oh, and apparently I also like brussel sprouts. Now I think I'm ready to take the health-bull by the horns... it feels like I'm almost there already, rather than sinking in a sea of failures. Can't wait to start the next challenge!

So I've been trying to find something that would work for me for quite a while. For the longest time I tried to stick to veganism, but couldn't. My latest attempt at healthy eating has involved animal protein at dinner and that has made SO much difference in my "stick-to-it-iveness". However, I'm running out of ideas for the meat portion of my dinner. I prefer not to eat pork, and I eat red meat sparingly (usually lamb, because my lamb is to die for, but I'll eat basically any red meat). I don't consume dairy. I eat mostly seafood or chicken, with some variant of rice and/or beans as my side dish. For example, tonight I had a cod filet wrapped in turkey bacon. (It was amazing) Yesterday, I had grilled shrimp. The day before that, I had "ranch" seasoned tilapia. And the day before that, I had pineapple baked salmon. I really like simple meals. Everything is made from scratch because I'm overly obsessive about my cooking. The most intensive dish is the ranch seasoned tilapia and it has 6 ingredients total. Thank you in advance!

Lame Update: Activate! Have been doing better on eating breakfast since my last post, but gosh if lunch isn't getting me! Also, I have discovered the glory of the Big Ass Salad. Mine in rather lame (HEB garden herb salad mix, cucumber, tomato, corn, and edamame) but it is SO filling and with some dressing it is so tasty.

Not yet. I'm thinking they either knew it was a troll or were too afraid to answer. This may have to turn into a phone call... Anyhow! For the first week, I've managed all my goals except the breakfast/lunch. Really struggling with that. I'm just going to have to sit down and make them in advance since I'm sooooo lazy. My classes start on Tuesday and I'm SO SO SO excited. This semester I'm taking macro/micro econ and financial/managerial accounting and UGH, I can't wait. I finagled my dresser into a standing desk. Put my laptop on a 1ft tall jewelry box, stuck my pencils and such in the drawers. On the dresser itself is the keyboard and mouse which just happen to be at the perfect height for me. Because my bed is right behind me, I find myself hooking my feet on the foot board (It's a VERY tall bed) and stretching my legs out. It seems like it will work fairly well for me. Sometimes I lean my butt against the foot board and stretch my back. It's weird because I don't realize that I'm doing it until I've been doing it, if that makes sense. Dog sleeps at the foot of the bed, so I have emotional support while I do my stuff!

This is probably a really lame woot but I'm really proud So I've had a fitbit for what, four days now? During those 4 days, I've tracked my food daily (with the fitbit app) and gotten to 15,000 steps. That probably doesn't seem like such a big deal, but today I had a donut and coffee. Normally when I do something like that, I get all sad and think "well today is out the window" and then go eat a few villages worth of food. But when I put it in the tracker, I realized that it was actually slightly less than what I would normally have for breakfast and lunch (I am terrible about making either; today I didn't take breakfast or lunch so all I had was the infinitely less healthy/satisfying donut and coffee). SO it really helped me avoid freaking out and eating tons of crap because "I had already messed up". Of course, I don't plan on having donuts every morning. And with the steps, I'm one of those people that take on WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much at once. In the past, I would legitimately try to do a whole bunch of workout videos (and fail), or aim to do 1000 jumping jack, 500 pushups, and 500 squats (and succeed, then wake up with so much pain I thought I needed to go to the hospital). With this, I had set my goal to 10,000 but was only 2-3000 away from 15,000 when I took it off, so raised the limit and did a little bit extra walking. The step goal thing is fairly easy, it gives me something to work towards, feel good when I hit it, and then I can say "Okay, I've met my goal, so I can stop now". And also as far as the challenge is going, I keep having to stop myself from trying to fit in all this extra stuff because I know I'll burn out. It's really helping me pace myself and get over the "all or nothing" mentality so far. I don't feel overwhelmed like how I normally do. So yeah! All is good on the front, so on so forth

So today had some strange Noms in it! Laziness got the best of me and I didn't make breakfast or lunch. When I got to work, they had coffee and donuts so I had a pink frosted donut and coffee. Then for lunch, I was REALLY really hungry so I dug through the pantry and settled on vegan bacon bits that have been in there since before I started working here. Then I got home and took Beast and Co on a walk and hit my 10k steps. I'm going to up my step goal to 15k, I think. Then I had some leftover baked eel (so yummy...) and a handful of ranch corn nuts. So... yeah. Oh, and one of the dog rescue workers came running from the isolation house into our bathing room covered in bloody diarrhea, so that was awkward. We didn't know how to clean her up cause it was EVERYWHERE. Luckily I have a cold so I couldn't smell it!

Well we are going to find out, now that you gave me such a good idea!

What I figured out was that on mine, as your activity raises for the day so does the the calorie allowance. For example, I hit 1600 calories this evening and it said that I should eat more, whereas this afternoon it told me that I had overeaten at 700 calories. The only difference was 10,000 steps (put the band on after work today), which changed the "out" number on the calories in vs calories out page. It's kind of clever but kind of strange o.o Now the only question to be had is if I will continue to stay motivated to get my steps in! Also, in the meantime I got martingale collars for Beast and Co. which worked pretty well. I have an umbilical/hands free leash with the dogs on a leash splitter and it worked great with the collars!

(Out of character post, for ease of posting :P) Not "officially" starting until the 8th, but I'm doing decently okay - Bought a fitbit flex 2 on a whim to track my steps and it has worked well - I powered through my dog walks and rebounder to hit my goal. I'm thinking because I'm so competitive that it will work well for me! The odd thing though, is the food/calorie tracker tells me I've eaten too much once I hit 800 calories. Ignoring that of course as I know it's not true! I ordered an ankle band so that I can wear the fitbit to work - I work as a bather for a show groomer, and being covered in soap, water, and anal glands all day can't be good for it so... ankle it will be, safe inside waterproof boots! Plus, with all of the arm movement we do it would likely trip the fitbit up. Currently have Beast and Co. on slip leads since they come out of harnesses so easily. Ordered a special kind that is supposed to be inescapable for them! As far as the food is going, yesterday I had breakfast but no lunch, and today I had no breakfast, but had a small lunch (4 ribs and 1/2 cup rice, but didn't eat all the rice as I didn't feel well at the moment), and had a cookie for dinner for some unknown reason. Based on past experience, it follows that I will likely feel SO hungry tomorrow that I will eat everything in sight. So that's not going well, but I've resolved to make ahead tomorrow's breakfast and lunch tonight so that disaster might be averted!

Thank you

This is Faery's first challenge, yay! Faery is going easy on herself for her first challenge. Forgive the lack of challenging-ness. Faery has some issues that she seeks to resolve. Faery's Nom Nom Issue: Faery is lazy in the morning and often chooses not (or simply just forgets) to make breakfast and lunch. At first, Faery tried to make stuff the night before, but would always decide not (or forget...) to eat it/ take it. However, Faery has discovered the ease of making protein shakes. This works for her because they are fast, easy to clean up, and taste really good. So, she started making them for breakfast and lunch and feels much better when she has them instead of nothing all day long. Sometimes Faery still forgets to take them, or decides that she will be fine without anything to eat all day (Faery is NOT fine on the "No Noms" diet! She gets raging Noms later and it makes work hard too!) but then she get very hungry and eats all the food... and the people... in the surrounding villages at night. And then she thinks, "I'll just eat all the villages and then there won't be anymore to eat!", but then while she is behaving herself the villages respawn and the cycle continues... So, in order to fix the Nom Nom issue, Faery must remember to make herself breakfast and lunch, as well as eat it! Faery's Rabbit Issue: Faery *had* a magic rabbit that played music whenever he hopped. Unfortunately, he quit his job and left to join the circus. Now Faery has to do that lazy rabbit's job whenever she wants to listen to her favorite jams. Faery's Magic Overload Issue: Faery suffers frim chronic magic overload; this is due to her not using her magical powers as much as she should, causing it to build up inside her... until it can no longer be contained! This leads Faery to find herself awake in the middle of the night with racing thoughts and restless body! On the advice of her family sorceress, Faery purchased a nice Magbit that she can use to track her magical output to make sure she uses enough magic throughout the day! Faery's Beast Issue: Faery has a beast, and the beast is very beastly. Rawr, vicious! But because she works *so* much now, and is so tired after not eating all day half the time, Faery doesn't spend much time with the beast. This makes the beast very sad, because the beast used to go on long hikes with Faery all the time. So, Faery must take the beast (and the beast's friend) out on a 30min walk every day! Challenge Summary: Diet: Remember to make/eat breakfast and lunch. Fitness: Jump on the rebounder while I listen to my iPod. Meet my fitbit step goal (set at 10000 steps a day for now) Life: Walk the dogs everyday for at least 30 minutes. *For the fitbit steps, what I've been doing the past two days is putting it on to walk the dogs and then rebounding until I reach my step goal - I tested multiple different bounces and it was very accurate, so not worried about over/under counting!

What does a cockapoo (cocker spaniel poodle mix) say in the morning? Cock-a-poodle-doo!

I'm taking an orchestration class and someone sent me this: "WOW really? Pffff" And I was very tired because of finals, so I read that as: "World of Warcraft really? Piano Forte Forte Forte Forte"