Tag: 31-Day Challenge

Woke up absolutely starving. Don’t know how – ate tons yesterday. Got to make another batch of egg muffins, and start eating 2 with breakie. Bank holiday long weekend ahead, so trying to write a big to do list and get through all the little tasks that have been annoying me while I have the energy. Moved in 9 years ago, and still have no pictures hung in the living room or bedrooms! It’s the onset of Winter – puts me into nesting mode 🙂

Filling chopped salad with tuna, egg and cheese for lunch kept me going for a bit, but the thought of driving so close to a McDonalds was very tempting. Why? No idea – I don’t even like McFood. Went to a colleague’s leaving drinks after work so had a nice glass of wine and a bowl of sweet potato fries – love that pubs do these now. Home early to make dinner (chicken and mushroom stroganoff with cauliflower rice) and off to bed at a reasonable hour. Still not run all week, but tomorrow is a new week 🙂

Funny, even after all these weeks of trying to be good my pavlovian response to stress is still food. Think I might even try some of those Chicken McBites things I’ve seen advertised on TV. 55% chicken in comparison to the McNugget @ only up to 45% – practically whole-food!

Managed to get home without going via any food establishments, mainly because I knew dinner was already prepared and ready to scoff. Still got through a bag of veg crisps with salsa and a few ricotta stuffed pepperdews before beef stew with steamed pak choi. Prepped some gooseberry compote to have tomorrow night if I still want that custard 🙂

Bank holiday weekend coming up so tempted to say sod it, and just live with the fall out.

Monday’s officially suck. Felt like I took a bit of a kicking at work (why are some people so mean?!) – spent most of my day resisting the vending machine 🙁

Had an egg muffin with my fruit salad breakfast; think they have a much nicer texture after a day or two. The coconut flour can be a bit dry on the palate, so keeping them for a few days seems to make them a bit more moist. Will make more tonight. Nice tub of soup for lunch to keep the cold at bay, supplemented with a teriyaki beef mooli wrap as I was ‘literally’ starving – think I might be preparing for hibernation due to lack of sunshine.

 

Scheduled to make a beef short-rib stew for this week, as Summer has forgotten to come back, but not a cut of meat easily found at Sainsbury’s. Had intended to head out to the farm shop today, but when I phoned they said they don’t do them. They certainly used to! Just had to use shin of beef instead – first world problems, I know!

Had a tasty beef keema with fried, shredded sweet potato for dinner; pretty tasty. Tried to pig out on snacks to make my crappy day better, but too used to avoiding certain aisles so only managed plantain chips and guacamole. Did get a tub of fresh custard so might scoff that tomorrow night.

Saturday was going to be a long day. Early morning park run, birthday party and shopping all to be done. Did have a little birthday cake (it’s the law!) but otherwise managed to eat plenty of good stuff with some red wine. Was feeling a bit lazy come dinner time so went for chicken wings, ribs and sweet potato wedges which could all be baked in the oven. Knocked up a batch of coconut flour egg muffins to have with breakfast this week. Had cooked up quite a storm on Friday night so had paleo-vegan carrot cake bites for dessert.

Sunday made sure we had snacks for the train journey (egg muffins and sausages) and got a big, cooked breakfast before a day at the rugby. Instead of getting burgers and stuff at the ground we had leftover lamb dosa, sausages, mini pork pies (party food) and nuts to snack on during the day, but still had a couple of beers too. By the time we got home, neither of us was particularly hungry, so just had a cup of tea before bed.

Friday – tired and grumpy. Seems I wasn’t the only one to get tummy ache after last night. So maybe it wasn’t falling off the paleo-wagon that made me ill. Hmm?

After walking the length of campus and back again, I settled on chargrilled tuna steak, with roast sweet potato, butternut squash and some tomato and mozzarella salad for my lunch. Pretty good, but did hoover it. Really fancied a chocolate brownie after, but thought it better to wait an hour and see how lunch settled.

I did consider just having it, then not logging it here but that’s really not the point. I’m not writing this to impress other people with my will-power, and I don’t especially want their opinion or sarcastic, eye-rolling comments about “allergies” either. It’s for me to see how I feel when I make the effort to treat my body a little better. If I said I was just giving up fags or going veggie, people would say well done you! Giving up processed junk-food is apparently a bit of a joke.

So far, after 2 weeks, I’ve not always been very good at sticking to my plans and I’ve felt pretty rough afterwards, which is my own fault. Cause and effect 🙂 I don’t want to feel like a bloated, tired sad-sack of !*#@ so I’ll just have to try harder. Easier said than done when all I want to do tonight is eat pizza and chocolate! Yes, I am in a crappy mood.

Distracted myself my planning a dinner of yummy, snacky things that won’t leave me in pain. Nachos made with plantain chips with guacamole and salsa, lamb dosa with coconut and lime dip, and chocolate for dessert! Happy Chicken 🙂

Managed to knock up a ham and feta frittata before work so had that for lunch with fennel and apple slaw – unfortunately only got to eat about half of it due to work. Started to flag a bit mid-afternoon but had plans to go out for dinner with some colleagues so got a double espresso and bounced like Tigger for the rest of the day 🙂

Good, early dinner @ Giraffe. Decided to be sociable and share starters, which meant breaking my plan and having a bit of hummus and falafel. Made up for it with my main of jerk chicken with mashed sweet potatoes. Yum. Sadly by the time I got home had horrible stomach pain – I blame the hummus 🙁

Only lasted an hour or so, so will have to weigh up if I think it’s worth it next time.

Actually slept through last night, having been sent to bed at 10pm and was out cold within 15mins. Will attribute to the fact I was so very, very tired last night and not the vino. Still had to be forcibly removed from the duvet this morning.

Fruit and yogurt down before hitting the road with a beaker of tea and a HunnyBunnySnackPack™ full of protein-based food, along with a tuna niçoise salad for my lunch. Thanks B! Have I mentioned, I have the world’s most amazing husband? 🙂 On customer site all day for back to back meetings, with practically no wi-fi – shock horror. So much to do and feel like my hands have been cut off. Broke a heel on the way in and tights got laddered before my 1st coffee of the day. Boo hoo – poor me. Right, time to put on my Big Girl pants and get on with it!

 

Got one of my favourite paleo dinner scheduled tonight; meatballs and tomato sauce with courgette noodles. Going to be getting home very late so hoping the maid will have sorted it by the time I get back. Not even pencilling in a walk/ run – not going to happen today. Must start eating earlier in the evening, but not possible when I’m away at customer sites. Need sleep…. got a hectic weekend planned now, so no idea when I’m going to catch up!

Didn’t sleep well last night (fear of over-sleeping) and had huge cravings all day for snacks. Usual breakfast of fruit and yogurt, and a beaker of tea for the drive. Good sized lunch salad with coleslaw and roast chicken. Still felt half starved.

Decided to make myself choose ONE snack to pick up on the way home out of all the stuff I thought I wanted, which was a big old list! Would it be pork scratchings, or kabanos? Babybel cheeses or dark chocolate? Went for all of the above, but only had a little of each. The rest will be my provisions for tomorrow’s long drive 🙁

Nice filling dinner of sausages and red cabbage sauerkraut, and a couple of small glasses of wine while watching Ultimate Braai Master on TV. Completely knackered so can’t make me feel worse. Might actually help me sleep.

Back on the straight and narrow. Cooked breakfast at work (sausage, bacon and eggs) and a cup of tea. Had a meeting just before lunch so had an espresso to wake me up. Late lunch of mixed salad, coleslaw and leftover beef, pork and chorizo meatballs. Lush! Bit busy so didn’t get to leave my desk for lunch, but snuck in a 15 minute walk to the kitchen for a brew in the afternoon.

Good intentions to run again tonight, but it’s muggy outside and I’m feeling lazy. Not enough sleep. Proof that vino and bad food are not kind to me.

Kept myself occupied by chopping any stray veg I could find in the fridge and larder for a huge chicken stir-fry dinner.

This weekend all I can say is, oops. Didn’t have breakie on Saturday before going to meet a friend for shopping. Big mistake. Got to dizzy stage and rushed for a lunch including bread. Had a couple of coffees to keep me going and a lot of water too. Then went straight from town to meet the man for an early dinner. Too early even for an early dinner so went for a couple of drinks first; 2 small glasses of white wine. At dinner, had a rather nice glass of fizz as an aperitif and a small glass of red to go with my main course. Then another glass of fizz with my dessert. Then a cognac with coffee. Overall, not enough to prevent me from walking properly, and certainly a lot less that I would have previously put away on a night out, but eek did it hurt on Sunday morning. Probably not helped by the copious quantities of bread dunked in melted blue cheese (starter) and crepe with caramel icecream (dessert). Slow start on Sunday, and a need to do supermarket shopping, meant I missed breakfast again and was only fuelled by coffee. Tried to make up for it with a ‘clean’ lunch of herring, roast beetroot, and a fennel and apple salad. Felt a bit more perky after that and already had my running gear on ready for a light jog in the afternoon. Managed about 40 minutes of running/ walking. It hurt. A lot. This morning I still have sore joints and a banging headache. That’ll teach me.

Good, hearty dinner of bobotie and a pile of sautéed red cabbage, and in bed by 10:30 but didn’t sleep well. Think this experiment might be proving how easily I can break myself 🙁

 

No more than 1 latte a day =  Achieved

Go out for a run 3 times a week = 1

Limit alcohol to 7 units a week  = 13.5 units total (assuming Saturday night’s celebrating only hit 9 units)