Whole 30 Day 5

February 9 - Day 5:

Sick day. Blah.

Breakfast/ Lunch: apple slices with almond butter. Eggs, avocado.
Supper: Veggie & chicken skewer, kimchi.

After going to work for a bit and coaching I went for a massage and then a spur-of-the-moment culture evening. I went to a contemporary dance performance and then ate out with a friend.

I'm pretty sure that the skewer was marinated in a sauce that included soy, but considering that this was my first Whole30 meal out, I think I did pretty well.

Breakfast staple

No workout today...

25 days until March 5.

Slow Cooker Boston Butt Pork Roast

I never know how to cook roast without drying them out. I'll try this next time.

Slow Cooker Boston Butt Pork Roast (from here)

I have adopted a minimalist approach to cooking big pieces of meat in the slow cooker; I am cooking the meat with spices and one cup of water. I like the flavor I am getting cooking the meat without a lot of vegetables or extra liquid. This approach makes the meat taste “meatier” to me. Try it, you’ll like it.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 9 hours

Ingredient list:
4.5 pound Boston Butt pork roast
Ground cumin
Ground coriander
Red chili powder
Garlic powder
Salt

Directions: Prepare a spice rub with cumin, coriander, red chili powder, garlic powder, and salt. Season roast generously on all sides and lay in the slow cooker. Pour in one cup of water. Place cover on slow cooker. Set temperature to slow cook (200 degrees on my unit) and time to 9 hours. That’s it! The house smells great after a few hours and continues to smell great until after you pack the leftovers away in the refrigerator.

Notes: About 3 hours before time was up on the pork roast, I cut 2 to 3 rutabagas into bite-size pieces, seasoned them with salt, garlic powder, and red chili powder, and tossed them into the slow cooker. There was already plenty of liquid in my slow cooker, but you could add a cup of water with the vegetables if needed. The rutabagas were well cooked by the time the pork roast was done and flavored deliciously.

Whole 30 Day 4

February 8 - Day 4:
Woke up feeling pretty gross again today. Hopefully this is the worse that my cold will get. I'm trying to suppress it with Vitamin C and lots of sleep.

Breakfast: overcooked eggs (gross), avocado
Lunch: last of 'vegan delight' with leftover veggie meatballs
Supper: roasted veggies, pork chop

Brussel sprouts, bok choy, carrots, onions - pre roasting

Mmm, supper

Back Squats at lunch were so-so; only went up to 170lbs, down sets at 155lbs.

26 days until March 5.

Whole 30 Day 3

February 7 - Day 3:
I'm getting a cold and feel like garbage. Not a good start.

Breakfast: eggs, leftover veggie meatballs, avocado, tea
Lunch: pork chops slow cooked with onions, bok choy, broccoli
Supper: same as lunch

This challenge isn't very different from how I was eating before, so how is it that I'm starving even though I'm eating more than enough food? It's been a very frustrating day; mostly because I'm hungry right after meals, but also because there was no room for me to workout at the 4:40 class. I changed, warmed up, started squatting and then had to give up my bar.
Instant bad mood and headache. My emotions rule my life...

27 days until March 5.

Callipers & Before pics

Took some terrible pictures last night, and they are now on the world wide web for everyone to see.
Mieka also graciously lent me her calliper skills and pinched bits of fat all over my body.
I don't actually know how the Whole 30 will affect these numbers, but it will be interesting to see if the lifestyle has the desired effect on hormones. If it does, my umbilica numbers (belly fat) should go down.
If squatting more had the desired effect, I should see my triceps numbers go down. High fat in that area indicates low-levels of testosterone. Squatting heavy regularly is supposed to trigger the central nervous system and boost testosterone - clearly not working for me. Yet?

Cheek: 7mm
Chin: 7.5mm
Wing: 11.5mm
Scapula: 18.8mm
Tricep: 13.2mm
Iliac crest: 21mm
Umbilica: 18.5mm
Calf: 13mm

Scary, scary numbers by the way. They indicate that I'm in a relatively messed up place in regards to my hormones and how they affect my health.


Before Whole 30 - February 6, 2012

Whole 30 Day 2

February 6 - Day 2:
Training at work during my lunch break. I did Front Squats yesterday, so I'll be doing Back Squats today. I'll also go to Oly class tonight at 7pm.

Breakfast: eggs, bacon, black coffee
Lunch: leftover "vegan delight" with tons of hardboiled eggs
Supper: breakfast for supper - no time to cook - eggs, bacon, avocado

Work lunch #1: vegan delight + eggie protein

Back Squats at lunch were okay. Maxed at 175lbs (79.5kg), down sets at 155lbs (70.5kg)
Evening session: snatch up to 110lbs super easy, then went up too fast to 115lbs and failed. Tried 113lbs a few times, then back to 110 lbs with no luck. Down sets at 103lbs.
Front Squats to 145lbs, failed 150lbs, down sets at 135lbs. If this happens again I will do my down sets at 140lbs.

We've also decided that I have low testosterone levels. I have a hard time accessing my central nervous system (what's supposed to be fired up when lifting HEAVY singles).
Gotta work on that?

28 days until March 5.

Obsessive?

I've set up a blog post for every day of the Whole 30. Titles, time stamps, countdown, and ready to go! I scheduled all of these so they automatically publish on the day they should.

This is supposed to motivate me to keep this blog up to date - because it would be embarrassing to have empty posts going up, right?

We'll see how it works...