Monthly Archives: February 2015

Day 39-Dena Doesn’t Eat Cheese…

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Drunk Dena, However…That’s another story. Everyone has their weaknesses and temptations when it comes to food.  By now, it is very easy for me to avoid my food allergies of gluten, dairy, and eggs under normal circumstances. I have had enough experiences over the years where I have eaten food containing these ingredients and have felt the negative effects. Logic kicks in and I know to avoid it. On the other hand, give me too many drinks and I need cheese immediately…and I mean immediately. Exhibit A: 30th Birthday,October 2014. Exhibit B: New Years Eve 2015.  I do not know what it is about cheese, but for me…It was what I lived for as a child.  My earliest memories of food obsession was visiting my grandparents’ house. After dinner, my grandma would tell me that I had enough macaroni and cheese and would put the tupperware away in the fridge.  I recall sneaking into the fridge quietly and would help myself to additional noodles.

I guess what I am trying to say is: know your temptations.  Is it a specific food? Is it situational?  Try to be aware of what they are so you can do your best to control the situation.  Do not keep these items in the house if you can avoid doing so. If you are going to a party, eat something small before hand and do not be afraid to pack your own snacks. My favorites are mixed nuts and cut up vegetables like celery and carrots. Last week, we went to a super bowl party and Cliff had to remind me that it would be weird to bring left over pork so I refrained from doing so.

In addition to cheese, I learned that another weakness of mine is desserts that I can technically eat because they do not contain ingredients that I am allergic to. This past Saturday, Cliff and I had some people over to our apartment and I wanted to make some dessert.  I found this amazing Paleo friendly 7-Layer Bar recipe as well as a Paleo Egg-Free Chocolate Coconut Macaroon recipe online that I decided to try.  Now remember, just because something is Paleo or gluten free, does not make it healthy!  It had been over a month since I had sugar and various items like alcohol and grains so I wanted to treat myself and see how my body reacted off the detox.

Between Saturday and going to a friend’s house warming on Sunday, I consumed a few drinks, grains (quinoa), starchy vegetables (sweet potato), chips, soft corn tortillas for homemade tacos, and my Paleo friendly desserts sweetened with honey. The most noticeable reaction that I had was in response to the sugar.  There was a lot of honey in the desserts that I made and as I got shaky after tasting them for the first time!  I decided that Monday I would get back on track. To do this, I knew that I could not have any left overs Paleo desserts in our apartment.  I had to give all the leftovers to Cliff to bring in to give out to his co-workers.  If I brought them into my own work, I would gravitate towards them throughout the day. Interestingly, the past couple of days has been harder at night for me. Monday I had the worse headache.  It’s crazy how my body was feeling withdrawal just from indulging during the weekend. Also interestingly, I  have been craving something sweet at night and I have been snacking on grapes after dinner to try and satisfy my cravings.  In hindsight, the smart thing to do would have been to introduce one item at a time to see how it made me feel. Maybe next time!

-Dena

Cliff Progress Photos!

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I will keep it short and sweet today.  I’ve lost 9.8 pounds and I have a before and after picture. Look what changing your diet and some exercising can do for you in just 30 days:

Before_After_DetoxBefore_After_Detox_Side

Day 34- Phase 2- Getting Over That Plateau Of Mine

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Sooo… It is safe to say that I have hit a plateau…I have been hovering around 129 lbs for the past 20 days which brings my weight loss to around 6.4 lbs in the past month. It is a bit hard not to get discouraged after seeing a consistent weight loss.  After doing the detox last March, I got down to around 123/124 lbs. However, I was slightly lighter at the beginning when compared to this time around.  Moving forward, I need to record my body measurements to see how my body is changing as time passes.

It is so easy for me to focus on the negative (weight staying the same).  What am I doing wrong? Am I eating too much? Exercising too little? Is stress contributing? Not enough sleep? Is my new medication making it harder from me to drop the last 5/10 pounds?  Etc Etc. It takes effort, however, for me to focus on the positive and I have to remind myself of my accomplishments.  It truly is quite amazing how good I feel from eating this way and I rarely have cravings. Jillian Michaels has a post on breaking through weight loss plateaus which offered me some reassurance that plateaus do exist and I need to just keep on my healthy life style. Please refer to the link below.  I plan on sticking to eating this way but I will allow myself some alcohol and added sugar on occasion.  My main fear for me is that the introduction of sugar will bring back those cravings I had.  The best I can do is to remain conscious of how my body is feeling after eating certain foods.  I will keep you posted on that!

This week I also introduced working out at home for those days I do not want to trek through snow and ice to the gym.  I picked up a couple light weight dumbbells from the drug store and follow the “Sparticus” circuit based workout by watching a youtube video that takes you through each exercise. Link Below. This work out is one of my favorites because it is challenging and does not require a lot of machines or weights.  There are ten exercises you perform for 60 seconds each, 15 seconds of rest in between.  In total there are three rounds with two minutes of recovery between each round.  The entire workout takes 41 minutes.  I am working up to completing all three rounds.  So far, I can tell you that two rounds left me glutes sore for days. The ten exercises are as follows:

  • 1. Goblet Squats- 60 seconds, 15 seconds of recovery
  • 2. Mountain Climbers-60 seconds, 15 seconds of recover
  • 3. Single Arm Dumbbell Swings-60 seconds, 15 seconds of recovery
  • 4. T Pushups with Weights-60 seconds, 15 seconds of recovery
  • 5. Split Jumps- 60 seconds, 15 seconds of recovery
  • 6. Dumbbell Rows-60 seconds, 15 seconds of recovery
  • 7. Dumbbell Side Lounges and Touch- 60 seconds, 15 seconds of recovery
  • 8. Push-Up Position Row-60 seconds, 15 seconds of recovery
  • 9. Dumbbell Lunge and Rotation-60 seconds, 15 seconds of recovery
  • 10. Dumbbell Push Press-60 seconds, 15 seconds of recovery

This completes 1 round! Rest for 2 minutes and repeat for three rounds total

Jillian Michaels On Weight Loss Plateaus:

http://www.jillianmichaels.com/fit/lose-weight/break-through-weight-loss-plateau

Sparticus Workout:

Cliff Day Almost Finished: The hardest part of cooking right…

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is cleaning all your stuffff.  If we did not have a dishwasher, this whole detox would have gone a much different direction. I’d like to apologize for going MIA for a little bit there, life got busy.  We are still doing the detox (albeit with a slip up or two, ie super bowl) and it is still going great.  Dena has finished up her 30 days and she will be continuing it into the foreseeable future.  I will be done on February 6 and I will be continuing for the most part.  Any meals out will be anything goes and all meals at home/lunch will be sticking to the diet.  Alcohol will be consumed responsibly.

So, I know youre dying to know how much weight we’ve lost, how great we now look, and all about the great things we’ve been cooking.  Ill let Dena dive further into her stats when she posts, but for me now I am around 138, down over 8 pounds!  I’m considering this as low as I want to go and will be increasing calories to above 2000 each day (at least trying to).  Before/after pictures will be posted.  I can definitely see my face looking less inflamed and the abs are back.  Dena most certainly did not catch me checking myself out in the mirror.. As expected, I have been struggling most with the going to bed on time, as many nights I have to stay up past midnight to do work.  I feel so old wanting to go to bed before 11.

As for the gym, my elbow has healed, just got the all clear from the doctor, and I am ramping up my weightlifting.  Unfortunately, I have started getting awful shin splints, and I will be starting physical therapy on those.  As for the morning shake, it is time to start adding amino acids, and maybe a touch of creatine.  I have decided that it is a must to go in the morning to the gym.  In fact I decided this last week when I started a blog post but never posted.

“I also need to get my ass in gear in the AM and hit the gym then. This after work at 7 is not cutting it.  Just like I couldn’t do the shake in the morning without protein, I just can’t seem to get a groove going to the gym at night.  Cannot emphasize this enough, remember it all about adjustment and what works for you.”Going at 7 or 8 at night is just not sustainable.  Your energy is completely gone from working all day, you are either hungry or full depending on if you ate dinner, and the euphoric feelings you get from working out in the morning are glorious.  My most productive days at work are after I work out.

All pictures of the food we have been eating can be found on our instagram, and we will be posting recipes later this week,  Get ready to be hungry my friends.