Whole 30 Week Two: Maneuvering through Cravings, Stress and Lack of Sleep.

Beginning of Week 2: Before thoughts.  So, I am a bit more optimistic about this week, especially considering last round my second week was hell by this point. My second round of Whole30 seems to be going a lot smoother. I did adapt a lot of new habits after the first round, but I noticed when my sugar cravings were getting a bit too insane, it was time to get back on track. So, here I am starting week 2. I really struggled last week with fitting in exercise into this new routine. It is something I always seem to struggle with. In order to form new habits, you have to make them a habit. You have to do them daily. And, if you start something, you have to keep going with it. I did not meet my goal on doing daily yoga, so I am confident I can improve and accomplish that goal this week. Also, I need to work on getting more rest. If you want to read up on Week 1, go here.

Day 8: Monday. I do not hate Monday's as much as I hate having to get up for work. It is my dream to have a shorter work week. Alas, that is not the current case. I was not dragging this morning but I was tired. I woke up in the middle of a dream, which always seems to make me feel extra sleepy. Anyway, It was a decent start to the day.  Breakfast was leftover zucchini and sweet potato latkes from yesterday with a fried egg. It was a filling breakfast and carried me to lunchtime. Lunch was sauteed zucchini, asparagus spears and chicken sausage. I think I may make a "zoodle" pasta for dinner this week with this sausage. That would be delicious. Dinner was really good. I made my chard wraps. They do take quite a bit of prep work, but the end result is so worth it. And, they are filling. I made enough for leftovers.

FitBit: Coming out the gate strong with 8 hours and 49 mins of sleep. I will say dog sitting has boosted my steps quite a bit. I did not meet my 10K step goal, but I did do 5,400 steps. It is a work in progress but my goal is to hit 10K steps this week. The good news is I made 11 flights of stairs, so that is an extra flight over my 10 floors goal. I am starting the week strong and I am confident I can increase my FitBit stats and that will be my goal this week.

Day 9: Tuesday. It has been a long day. I was really tired this morning but I did get more than enough rest. I woke up by did not immediately make breakfast - something I quite regret considering I was at my desk working and started getting a hunger headache. Breakfast was filling. I made a sweet potato breakfast sandwich- using sweet potato as my "bread", smashed avocado, a fried egg and Whole30 bacon. Lunch I was not really hungry, so I opted for a sunrise sunset smoothie (homemade, no sugar- like tropical smoothie) with mangoes, peaches, strawberries, pineapple, and fresh squeezed orange juice (made on the spot). I had a side of 3 mini date balls during my 3pm slump to keep more than just liquids in my system - and a boost of energy. Dinner was surprising delicious- as I was hesitant to see if it would really be successful. I used my chicken sausage a cooked that up well- once it was 3/4 of the way cooked, i removed it from the pan and cut into slices and placed back in the pan. I added onion, shallot, and zoodles (zucchini noodles) I had just spiraled into the pan with a little coconut oil, minced garlic, fine herbs, 1 tsp capers, and 1/2 cup of tomato sauce from the prior night. And, it was surprisingly really good. I really loved it and it cooked well. The zoodles really are quick to cook so it was a good idea to put them in the pan last with the flavoring of the sausage, they soaked up any seasoning I put in the pan. I will need to keep this recipe handy for a quick meal. Worst part was watching the world series and wanting to snack but resisting the urge to do so. That was tough. Otherwise, a good day.

FitBit: I had a good night's rest. I slept for 8 hrs and 11 mins. Not too shabby. I will need to work on my sleep this week, however, to ensure I am getting adequate rest. I did make over my flight of stairs goal again. I made 14 floors, and I am happy about that. Unfortunately, I still did not make my 10K step goal - I only managed to make 5,100 steps total. I really need to work on reaching that goal. Overall, I feel pretty good. I have not been able to go to the gym but I am hopeful to get back into the swing of that soon. I will say walking the dog does help increase my steps, so dog sitting has a ton of additional perks, health-wise.

Day 10: Wednesday. What an overwhelming day. I was super busy with work but between dog watching and visiting a friend in the hospital, it was a long day. Breakfast was a friend egg, whole30 bacon and sweet potato hash. I woke up early but still was not in the mood to really knock out a large impressive breakfast. This kept me quite full until lunchtime. Lunch was my detox soup again, this time with bone broth. I added rainbow chard stalks leftover from two nights ago, mushrooms, purple onion, spinach, carrots and sweet potato. I needed a smidge more of salt but the fine herbs and garlic were a good addition to the soup, especially on such a cold day. Dinner was on the go since I was visiting my friend in the hospital. For Dinner, I went to Five Guys and had a bacon burger with grilled mushrooms, grilled onion, green pepper and had it lettuce-wrapped. It was really filling. I had also ordered a regular french fry but only had a few since I was so full. They wrap the burgers with a lot of lettuce, and that fills me quickly.

FitBit: I did not sleep as well as I had hoped last night - mostly because I woke up this morning with a very unhappy stomach. I only had 7 hrs and 3 mins of sleep. To make up for it, I decided that I would go to bed early to make up for it. I hit over my 10 flights of stairs goal - I hit 18 flights of stairs! VICTORY! I almost hit my 10K step goal - I made it to 7,700 steps for the day. The sweet dog I dog watched for the week went back home, but I can attest that having a pet does increase your activity so I recommend getting a dog for the many health benefits if you can manage to give one a good home.

Day 11: Thursday. I always feel Thursday is like a second Monday. It seems to almost be the weekend but you wake up and realize the week just seems to drag a bit more than normal. Breakfast was baked apples. By the time lunch came around, I almost missed it. Lunch was my zucchini latkes and bacon. By dinner time, I was getting hungry for eggs. Dinner was eggs, bacon and sweet potato hash.

FitBit: Well, I did not make my sleep goal; I was close with 7 hours and 26 mins of sleep. I seem to struggle with going to sleep. I will say the last time I did Whole30, it gave me a ton of energy. I need to find an outlet to release this energy so I am exhausted by evening. Hot yoga might be on the menu. I was in an overall ho-hum mood, so I did not get to do my yoga or my gym time. I did get 3,600 steps but nothing close to where I want to be. However, the good news is I did crush my stairs goal: I did 12 floors. At least I am keeping myself on my toes as far as running up and down the stairs.

Day 12: Friday. It was a long and busy day at work but through it all, I managed to make time to make some pretty decent meals. Breakfast was sausage, sweet potato has and two strips of bacon. Lunch was asparagus, sauteed spinach and bacon. Since I was running low on groceries, it was time to head back to the grocery store. Luckily, they had organic roasters available. For Dinner, I had two of the chicken legs and saved the rest for the upcoming week meals.

FitBit: So another night of low sleep; this time I managed 7 hours and 36 minutes but I really need to work on going to sleep earlier. I am hoping to improve on this. I did not meet my stairs goal: I only made 7 flights of stairs. With this particular day, work kept me at my desk with very little time to get up and actually move. I need to balance heavy report days with a minute break to climb the stairs or just get up and move around. I think I will have that as a goal for next week. I will say I have missed dog walking, since that also helped my step goal. I only made 3,700 steps so I am really trying to increase that number. I need to work on achieving that goal.

Day 13: Saturday. This was especially a tough day. I had gone to a college football game. I made sure beforehand I grabbed a big meal. However, it was rough during the game to not cave in and grab a hotdog or burgers. There was a lot of temptation but I survived. Breakfast was a big bowl of fruit and a granola bar. I grabbed a second granola bar since I knew I could not eat anything at the game. Lunch became my second granola bar and a bottle of water at the game. Finally, Dinner at home was sausage and sweet potato.

FitBit: Considering I got up somewhat early (I normally prefer to sleep in at least an hour on the weekend), I still managed to surpass my sleep goal. I got 8 hours and 35 mins of rest. I still think I need to catch more sleep during the week, but I am happy to have met my goal. Since I was busy between the football game, and all my errands, I surpassed my flights of stairs goal by leaps and bounds. I hit 32 flight of stairs and it felt great. Goal Accomplished. On top of that, I surpassed my steps from the last two days, but not my overall goal of 10,000 steps. I walked a total of 9,400 steps. I was close but just a bit shy.

Day 14: Sunday. I woke up and slept past breakfast. I needed the rest, considering the last few days I did not get enough rest. It was well worth it. Breakfast/Lunch was a banana and mixed nuts. I knew I would be busy running errands, so I needed just enough to fuel my morning. I did grab an iced coffee (our local coffee shop had unsweetened almond milk) so I took advantage since it was so warm outside. After all my errands, it was Dinner time - I made balsamic glazed chicken and had my roasted butternut squash on the side. I decided to make ice cream (not pictured) using nut butter, frozen banana and cacao powder and it went rather well. I was impressed. Just a few minutes in the food processor and BOOM, dessert!

FitBit: 8 hours and 48 glorious minutes of sleep. And, it felt great. I always love my sundays. I feel I get a lot of sleep and overall, I am in a better mood. Sunday is always "my day" so I lavish in my alone time. I felt really great to be on a somewhat streak with my flights of stairs goal as I again surpassed my 10 flight goal with 39 flights of stairs. Walking the neighborhood seems to help that meet that goal. This was a good day for crushing goals, as I walked 19,684 steps. That is far surpassed my 10,000 step goal so I feel really good about beating my goal.

End of Week 2: After thoughts. I feel good about my overall goals this week. I did a total of 54,563 steps, which is an improvement over the previous week. I need to work on that goal next week and see if I can help increase that overall number. My sleep is an average of 8 hours in total. I had three nights where I fell short but made up for it on other nights. Mid-week was the struggle. I need to figure out what correlates to my issues with sleep. On top of that, I walked a total of 133 flights of stairs, which is really impressive - especially considering there was only one day I did not meet my goal. I

I really did not have a lot of triggers or moments of weakness for the 'no' foods, which is very wonderful. I did struggle mostly in my outings, like the football game saturday. Those moments when you are out and cannot really control what is on the menu, and temptation is greatest, it can be a struggle. What helps me is drinking a lot more water and bringing snacks I can have. Otherwise, I will eat a large meal beforehand to help curb those moments where I know I will be weak. Also, I think meal planning and prep on Sunday nights has been the most beneficial to my success during the week. It give me options to choose from and therefore I do not feel like I am struggling to figure out what to eat.