Just. Breathe.

[Not even lying that I started this almost two weeks ago and am finally going to finish and post...] I'll skip to the end first: Whole30 ended at about Whole21. It wasn't a failure though. I was reminded of quite a few things during the three weeks.  It's called Whole30, not Whole365 for a reason -- it is just next to impossible to maintain that level of strictness every single day. Getting sick was just the first part -- when nothing tastes good or sits well, you eat what you can. Next, an anniversary deserves to be a celebration! I was not going to feel "deprived" by not having a glass of wine or a breadstick.... These things came up during the month I'd had planned, and that's just how life works.  But I was reminded of how I feel when I choose certain foods over others. I can't eat cheese and feel good. Period. I can't eat much bread/flour and lose weight. Just can't. It's also a trigger food for me -- once I'd broken that af...

This week didn't turn out exactly as planned.  Monday's bootcamp was ridiculous: 50 mountain climbers 20 squats 20 push ups 50 lunges 100 high knees 20 sumo squats 30 moving push ups 40 step ups (20 per leg) 50 run lunges FOUR TIMES THROUGH We made it through three times -- and my hatred for push ups stands. Ridiculously sore on Tuesday and Wednesday, which made what happened Wednesday even more difficult to figure out.  Monday's dinner was the lovely chicken and lime soup I wrote about here , and on Tuesday we took chicken and beef fajitas to Bug. She's house- and animal-sitting this week for friends -- and by animals, I mean 11 dogs, 14 horses, some number of rabbits, chickens, pigs, alpacas, and goats. It's been cold this week, so she's having fun feeding animals at 6am when it's 26 degrees. We fed her, then went and visited the animals. That adorable baby pig was fast! He didn't want to be held, obviously. Around 2pm Wednesday...

I totally intended to post this on Tuesday, and then stuff got all in the way. So here's a new Tasty Tuesday-ish.  I stole this recipe, I'll admit. Actually, I steal most of my recipes. But I try to give credit! This was on Pinterest as Chicken & Lime soup from budgetbytes.com. It was Paleo without even trying. But I made some adjustments, and it really reminds me so much of a chicken tortilla soup (without the tortillas) and is one of my new favorites. I didn't know it was going to be, so I didn't take step-by-step photos...Go to this link  if you need to see that kind of detail. It's really easy. As with most of my recipes, the amounts here can be scaled up or down depending on how much you want. I love leftovers, so I keep that in mind when I'm making soups.  Okay, what you need: chicken breasts - I used about a pound, and they were frozen when I put them in 2-3 stalks of celery, diced onion, diced, about a cup 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 ja...

The last time I started a Whole30, I quit after four days. I'm at the end of Day 7. Here's how it's going. I'm back to drinking my water - yay! I make this up every day in the big pitcher, and refill my glass every time I get up. Lemons, cucumbers, and oranges go in mine most of the time.  I have gotten in a very bad snacking habit, especially when I'm stressed. This week has definitely tested my determination, with a lot of work and long hours, and just that craving to grab something crunchy or chocolate. Instead, I'm making do with this: These raspberries are some of the best I've ever tasted. Those are walnuts on top.  The meals have gone according to plan this week. Chicken salad for lunch on Monday and shrimp/chicken stir fry on Monday night. Tuesday was grilled pork chops... ...with butternut squash and kale saute, with pecans. Why yes, that IS a "K" branded on top of my pork chop. RDub was playing with his Christmas present....