Whole30 -- Day 14

Good news, friends: I made it through yesterday without binging on cookies. Several people have told me that Day 13 was the toughest for them, too, but I think I know one reason why it was especially hard for me:

I got my period today. Unexpectedly. Damn hormonal birth control. (Oh, and my apologies if you are a dude reading this blog. Since I'm pretty sure the only one who reads it is my mom -- who also gave TMI on her blog today -- we're probably good.)

That lovely little visitor also likely accounts for the massive headaches I've been getting lately. Again, damn hormonal birth control.

Good thing I have an appointment on Friday. This lady needs something new.

For a Sunday with no plans, I was quite busy today. I woke up early (seriously, like at 7:00, which was actually 6:00!) and brewed some coffee to drink while I wrote a post that will be published tomorrow morning. After I was finished writing, I made breakfast, and then my morning was gone.

This afternoon, I spent about three hours planning my meals for the week. I don't know what the heck too me so long, but I just could not figure it out! One thing that was tripping me up was the fact that I have parent-teacher conferences this Wednesday (followed by bowling), which means that I will not be home to cook dinner. I can only handle so many leftovers, so figuring out what to do for dinner that day was a challenge.

(Stay tuned: I have a meal-planning and grocery-shopping post planned for later this week.)

Finally, I headed to the grocery store:

You can thank me later for color-grouping the produce.

You may think that this was inexpensive, but you'd be wrong. This entire haul at Hy-Vee was just over $96. But hey, at least I kept it under $100. A good portion of that (around $25) was meat: pork loin roast and two pounds of shrimp. The rest, though, was organic eggs, coconut aminos, olive oil, two things of tomato paste, salsa, and a shit-ton of produce. (Yes, shit-ton is an accurate measurement. Don't judge.)

When I got home from the store, I put all of the goods away, brined some chicken, and headed out for a run with my friend Beth. (I originally planned on running 4-5 miles today as part of my training plan, but a.) the day got away from me, and b.) it was really, really, really windy. Beth pretty much dragged me out of the door.)

Initially, she and I had planned to head to Gray's Lake, but as we drove past, we realized that everyone in Des Moines had the same idea. So, we headed to the Loop of Doom in Water Works Park. (This is the two-mile loop that I dread during the Des Moines Marathon and Half Marathon. Interestingly, it wasn't so bad today. And, the road was clear -- no ice, no puddles, no balancing act!)

There were some cool nature things on the route:

One of my new favorite pictures.

It's hard to tell from the photos, but the ice formations were crazy cool.

Beth and I did some "off-roading" to get the shots in the photo collage. And...my shoes paid the price. They are no longer a beautiful teal but instead a dingy mud-coated hue. Oh well. It was (kind of) worth it.

I'm really, really glad we went for a run. I was sore (and am now more sore), but it was definitely a good thing.

Beth looks great. I look like no make-up + sweat + forehead-for-days.

When I got home, I finished cooking dinner, ate (some of) dinner, took a hot bath, am finishing this up, and will head to bed immediately after.

It's been a busy day!

Breakfast:

Because it's a Sunday (I'm not sure why that matters, but it sounded good), I decided to try something new for breakfast: Pumpkin Scrambled Eggs w/ Coconut Aminos, Cinnamon, & Shredded Coconut. It was pretty good, but I didn't really care for the texture. I absolutely hate this word, but it was just...moist.

I'll probably make it again but doctor the recipe a bit. One of my new Instagram friends suggested adding coconut flour as a thickening agent. Sounds interesting, if nothing else!

Lunch:

You know I couldn't go a whole day without my favorite meal! This one was even better than normal, but I'm not sure why. Maybe because I didn't just dump everything on the plate and actually arranged it in a pretty way? Unlikely. Anyway, it was really good.

Dinner:

Dinner tonight was quite the process. I made a Whole30-recommended recipe, The Best Chicken You Will Ever Eat. Ever. It first required brining the chicken, which I've never done and, to be honest, I'm not really sure what brining does. But, I did it regardless. After that was done, I put the rub on it and cooked it on the stovetop. I also cooked up a spaghetti squash (topped with a spritz of olive oil from my Misto and a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of cayenne) and sauteed some salt-and-peppered asparagus.

I also had a Coconut La Croix, which I guzzled.

Halfway through dinner, I decided I was no longer hungry and kind of started feeling a little icky. It wasn't the food that made me feel gross -- it was pretty tasty. I just wasn't in the mood to eat anymore, which is so unlike me.

I ended up only eating half:

And I drank a second La Croix. (I limited myself to one a day since they're kind of expensive and since regular water is just fine, but the first one tasted so good that I just had to go for round two.)

Physical: Like I said, I'm not feeling too wonderful, but I can't really pinpoint what exactly isn't feeling good. I just don't want to eat. Maybe that's my body saying it has enough nutrients for now?

I'm also exhausted and will likely crash as soon as I lay down, but that's definitely due to my busy day.

If any of you have done Whole30 and have suggestions for how I can better fuel before and after a workout, I would greatly appreciate it. I seriously think a lack of nutrients (due to exercise) has been an issue the last couple of days. Thank you!

Emotional: Great! I'm a smidge irritable, but that could just be because I'm sleepy.

Cravings: NONE -- thankfully!

Does a third La Croix count as a craving? Seriously, that's all that sounds good right now. Weird.


This was a much longer post than anticipated. I had hoped to be in bed long ago! Peace out 'til tomororw, yo.