Food as Reward - Whole 30 Challenge - Day 5

I have treated myself to an overpriced coffee drink after a long day of work and right before grad school because "I deserved it." After all, I have a demanding career--both professionally and emotionally--and I'm pursuing a second masters. I surely have "earned" a treat or two or six, right?

There's no doubt that I work hard and I'm not alone in my feeling of wanting to reward myself. However, what if the reward was not food-related? I want more time: more time to spend with my husband, my family, more time to read, more time for myself. I also want to try new kinds of exercise classes and indulge in something relaxing.

I doubt my body thinks I've earned the unnecessary calories of my favorite coffee drinks. Don't get me wrong, enjoying food is important to me and I will return to eating desserts after this challenge. Real desserts, not the ever present chocolate at work or the not-even-that-tasty random sweet treat from the corner store. I've already started to disassociate rewards with food. And for the sake of motivation, here are some rewards I'm thinking about for the end of this thirty days:

Aerial Yoga Glasses at Loom Yoga Center

J. Crew Bikini

Spa Day

Nutrition
I had three delicious meatballs for breakfast. For lunch, I ate last night's grilled turkey with roasted carrots and sauteed spinach and for dinner I had roasted broccoli and sweet potatoes. I probably wasn't that hungry because I had nuts and dried fruit for a late afternoon snack. I've been drinking a ton water and had a lemon zinger tea.

Exercising
The kneeling back extension in this Advanced Core Workout is a lot harder than it looks.

Mobilizing
Once my abs were on fire, I did this stretching routine and I could have stayed in each pose much longer.

Lifestyle
I started reading It Stars with Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig and got about seven and half hours of sleep. Close, but no points. Just in the first hundred pages, they tackle a lot, including how deeply connected people's emotions are with food.

Poor Planning - Whole 30 Challenge - Day 4

As you know, I had my grad school class last night. Not only did I not get my eight hours of sleep, but I also didn't cook anything for dinner. There are very few good food options around where I work, so nearly every lunch I have as work is made up of the previous night's dinner.

I was worried this morning. I headed to work without my super cool lunch bag filled with healthy foods. I figured I'd order something and be annoyed at myself for not planning better. When I started talking about this, my lovely friends shared all their paleo goodness. Every single thing I ate during the work day was because of my awesome friends. Yeah, I sort of felt like a charity case, but I will return the favor tomorrow.

Nutrition
I ate my buddy's JS's Lara bar and PK's chicken breast for breakfast. I ate AM's spaghetti squash with rich meat sauce for lunch--so good! NB provided snack: roasted sweet potato and Brussel sprouts. I got my act together for dinner [I actually made two dinners] and ate grilled turkey breast, roasted carrots, and sauteed spinach.

One of My Great Work Buddies

Exercising
I did this quick and challenging HIIT workout: HIIT Workout for Fat Loss

Side Winder Mountain Climbers = Brutal

Mobilizing
I stretched right after my workout.

Drinking
This will clearly be the easiest two points of the challenge.

Lifestyle
I got my full eight hours and I'm feeling great today!

Sans Pain Pour Le Dîner - Whole 30 Challenge - Day 3

I had my grad school class tonight. On normal days when I'm not eating like a cavewoman, I have either an Amy's frozen burrito or Chipotle right before class. The latter was out of the question because I doubt I'd enjoy a burrito bowl with no rice, beans, or cheese. I chose Au Bon Pain instead and was immediately assaulted by the smell of delicious bread. Obviously, it was everywhere: baguettes and croissants and muffins and every flour-based morning treat you can think of. I walked around, admiring what I couldn't have, but flinched at the calorie counts [Thank you, Mr. Bloomberg]. Even outside of this competition, eating 520 muffin calories is insane. I did linger by the cupcakes, but my class's start time was approaching and I had to make a choice. Salad. Perhaps cavewomen didn't have access to dried cranberries, but they were surprisingly sweet and exactly what I needed after many repeated meals.

Nutrition
I had more beef hash for breakfast, my leftover fish stew for lunch, a handful of almonds and an apple for snack, and a spinach, chicken, walnut and cranberry salad from Au Bon Pain for dinner. I drank a lot of tea today: lemon zinger, french vanilla, and chamomile.

Exercising
If I work out before work, I should earn 4,000 points at a minimum. Since it was an especially long day with my class, I set an alarm earlier than my normally obscenely early wake up time and did this Butt and Thigh Workout. Wall sits are cruel and unusual, but today I earned 4,002 workout points!

Mobilizing
I did my ten minutes of stretching before bed again.

Drinking
2 points!

Lifestyle
I got home at around 8:30, so I would have had to go to sleep about half an hour after walking through the door. It didn't happen.

Beef, it's what for breakfast! - Whole 30 Challenge - Day 2

Variety is going to be the name of this game. I'm tired of frittata. I also made a mediocre beef hash that I ate for breakfast. That felt really odd. Like most people, I think breakfast means eggs, oatmeal, cereal. I need to experiment with more recipes.

For an extra degree of competitiveness, we are now in teams for this challenge. My team captain is a badass that can dead lift more than you. Don't challenge her. You'll be sorry. We have a legit team name that I can't reveal here for legal reasons and we're supporting each other this week by bringing snacks to share at school.

Nutrition
I had that weird beef hash for breakfast, [MORE!] frittata for lunch, strawberries as a snack, and fish stew for dinner. The food made me feel good, but it wasn't the tastiest. The dinner was good, but I know I'll need to make things I really like to be successful. What's for breakfast tomorrow!? Beef? Fish?

Exercising 
I did Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 Week 2. Please watch just so you can see her flirt / sexually harass one of the women.

Mobilizing
Right before bed, I did some hip openers.

Drinking
I don't miss alcohol so far.

Lifestyle
I finally got 8 hours of sleep. I was exhausted just from the routine of being back at work. I also think the stretching immediately before helped.

Feeling like a F***ing Champ - Whole 30 Challenge - Day 1

Right. This is the honeymoon phase. Well, I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts because I feel very energetic. So much so, that I got two, count 'em, two short workouts in today. After each meal, I just feel full. I don't feel like taking a nap. I had a packed day and plenty of energy for all of it. I really hope this trend continues.

All of this energy is sans coffee. My wonderful grandmother got me hooked on a light and sweet version early in life. I love a latte, cappuccino, and other milky coffee drinks. I'm not quite sure if a straight cup of it black will be for me, but I haven't missed it since the soft start.

Nutrition

I had a bacon frittata for breakfast again. I was off to lunch with my family and had a grilled chicken breast hiding under a heap of arugula, and shrimp and broccoli for dinner. Mr. Crying Cook had brown rice with his dinner. I had strawberries for dessert and a cup of coconut mango tea.

Exercising

I ran 2.44 miles and used the app Rock My Run for the first time. I liked the mix that included [no judging!] Taylor Swift and Rihanna. I liked listening to the mix better than using Pandora because there's no need to skip or mess with my phone at all during the run.

I also did the 20 Minute Total Body Strength and Cardio Workout because... see the title of this post, son! 

Mobilizing

I stretched for ten minutes immediately after the run. 

Alcohol

None. Easy. Two points. 

Lifestyle

Since last week was just a soft start, our lifestyle goal actually continues to be 8 hours of sleep. I chose Game of Thrones over sleep. No points for me.