Day 121: Ready Made!

It was so nice to come home from a long day at work and have a nice meal ready and waiting! We had Mushroom Gravy Slow Cooked Rump Roast, and it was very good. I had my roast on a Curry Coconut wrap with lettuce, tomato and purple onion, and some plantain chips. Tomorrow the plan is for Curry chicken, yum, yum! The best part about that is it will be waiting and ready when I get home tomorrow!

I was planning on going to Crossfit this morning, but it was storming very hard, so for my safety I decided to forgo the workout and was planning on working out when I got home from work. Well, like I said that was the plan, but getting off work late then having to meet with someone in Tulsa at 7 got me back to the house late and I don't like working out too late in the evening or it keeps me up at night. Now the plan is to workout tomorrow.

It looks like another stormy night, so I better turn in to get some rest before the storm hits, so until tomorrow, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 120: Power Cooking Paleo Meals for The Week

Today I power cooked several meals for dinners this week, so all I have to do is heat and eat. I made a tequila shrimp dish for our dinner tonight, mushroom rump roast, curry chicken, rosemary garlic chuck roast and a sweet and sour chicken. They are still in the crockpots cooking but will be done about 9:00 tonight and then the rest of the week will be more stress free for me! I just have to come up with a veggie or salad or both, but that's ok!

Today after church, me, George and Georgia went on a picnic and had a great family outing. Afterwards we went shopping all over creation and when we got home I started my power cooking, now it's relaxation time, and part of my relaxation time is going to be spent outside planting a few more herbs in my garden, so until tomorrow, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 119: Non-Paleo Day

Today was a Non-Paleo cheat day and no exercise! I did work in the yard and broke as big a sweat as I do at Crossfit. Breakfast was a Paleo omelette and coffee and lunch was a hamburger on a coconut wrap and some Paleo chocolate chip cookies, but dinner consisted of nachos! Nachos and homemade salsa was a nice little cheat! I've said this before and I'll say it again, sometimes you just have to have a little something not Paleo, but I will not make it gluten products! This is one thing that I am going to try to never have again! Tomorrow is going to be a power cooking day for my family, so I'm going to look at my Paleo cookbooks to try some new recipes, so I'm signing out now! Until tomorrow, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 118: Paleo + Crossfit + Advocare = Happy Me!

A year ago at this time I weighed about 170 pounds and I wasn't happy with myself. My daughter was getting married August 6th and I knew I didn't want to look as fat as I was. I started eating a Paleo diet occasionally (off more than on) and did loose a little weight by the wedding date, but in the pictures I still looked FAT! I still wasn't happy! Enter Crossfit! I started going to Crossfit as often as I could at my son and daughter-in-laws gym. I live in Glenpool and the gym is in Owasso, a 45 minute drive and a little out of the way. Needless to say I didn't get to go a lot, but I did try to do a Crossfit workout at home. Enter Paleo diet (on more than off)! I decided that my New Years Resolution was going to be to eat a Paleo diet more on than off and go totally gluten free. Enter the Advocare Nutrition Challenge! January 2, Primus Crossfit in Owasso did a nutrition challenge using Advocare 24 day weight loss challenge. I decided that this would be good to try and give my Paleo diet a jump start. Here are the results:

Date Jan 2. Feb 8. April 27
Wt. 153.5. 150. 143
Ht. 5'6 1/2"
% body fat. 40.5% 33%. 32%
R arm. 13". 13". 11.75"
Shoulders. 43". 43". 43"
Chest. 42.5. 40". 40"
Waist. 35". 34". 32.5"
Hips. 41". 40". 38"
R thigh. 25". 23". 21.5"
R calf. 15". 14". 13.75"
Pant size. 12. 10. 6 :)

My job now takes me to Owasso 2-3 times a week so I've been going to Crossfit those days, I still use some Advocare products, especially the Spark energy drink and I try to eat mostly a Paleo diet and I do NOT eat any wheat or gluten food items! I plan on keeping this lifestyle from now on. If you would like to learn more about Crossfit go to: http://www.crossfitprimus.com/
and check it out. If you want to learn more about Advocare products , just let me know as my daughter and daughter-in-law both are Advocare consultants, and if you want to know more about a Paleo lifestyle, I encourage you to read "The Paleo Solution" by Robb Wolf or "The Paleo Answer" by Loren Cordain. If you want encouragement in any of these areas, just message me as it is great to have a support group and I will gladly help out in any way I possibly can! I hope that if you aren't already following a healthy lifestyle that you will starting today! Until tomorrow goodnight and God Bless!

Day 117: Pepper Plants

One of the doctors I work with purchased me with some hot pepper plants, Bhut Jolokia (chile/pepper plant) and Habanero Chocolate (chile/pepper plant), and I can't wait for them to bloom and give me lots of peppers! It was so very sweet of him and I am so thankful he blessed me with these. He actually ordered me 12 plants, but there is no way I could ever eat that many peppers, so I'm giving a few of them to my sister who works with me and a friend of mine. Thank you Dr. Pierre!

Food and exercise today: No crossfit but going tomorrow morning! Breakfast, banana and a few Paleo chocolate chip cookies, lunch pecans and dried cherries, dinner grilled steak, baked spicy sweet potato wedges and salad.
Since I'm going to Crossfit early tomorrow, I've got to get in bed early, so until tomorrow, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 116: All Around Tough Day

Crossfit was more than brutal today! We started with 100 double unders or 300 singles jump rope, 15 burpee's, 10 thrusters, then 5 muscle ups or 15 ring pulls and 15 box dips (not really sure what they are called). Each of these are to be done five times then finish up with 100 double unders or 300 singles. There is a 30 minute time limit. Needless to say I took the entire 30 minutes and didn't complete the task. I did push ups not burpee's and I didn't have any weight on the bar for my thrusters and I still couldn't finish. It was tough! Afterwards I went to the car to get my clothes for work. I was so tired and wasn't paying attention to what I was doing and I locked my keys in the car. This is the first time I have EVER locked my keys in the car and I had to be in Owasso, 45 minutes away from my house in normal traffic and it was rush hour so it took my husband a lot longer to come to my rescue with the keys. Getting to work very late, plus I was starving all day long so what did I do? You guessed it, I ate constantly all day long! Maybe it was the stress!

After getting my car unlocked, I ate grapes on the way to the hospital I go to, then more grapes on the way to the second hospital, then a Larabar on the way back to Owasso then still hungry and close to lunch time I was passing by my favorite fast food place, Baja Jacks, so I stopped off and had a grilled fish taco and some tortilla chips with salsa. When I finally got the office someone had brought in candy and it was like a little kid took over my body and couldn't resist the sugar attack! When I got home I was still hungry, so I made an omelette with sweet potatoes, onions, bell pepper, kale, left over chicken, tomatoes and eggs. After eating a huge portion I ate 3 Paleo chocolate chip cookies! Now I'm stuffed and miserable! The only good thing I can say is at least the omelette was
Paleo!

Hopefully tomorrow I will do better!

Since I'm feeling miserable I'm going to go take a shower and get in some loose fitting close to give my tummy room, so until tomorrow, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 115: Chocolate Chip Cookies

I think that Paleo chocolate chip cookies are so much better than regular chocolate chip cookies, at least my recipe is!

Take one stick of very soft butter, add 1/2 cup honey and 1 tsp vanilla cream this all together until well blended. Then add 2 1/2 cups almond flour and 1/2 tsp baking soda mix well then add 1 cup chocolate chips stir then drop by tablespoons onto a baking sheet and cook about 10 minutes. These are scrumptious! The only problem is even though they are Paleo, they are still
fattening and it's hard to eat just one or even two, you want to eat more like four or five. I did just show self control and only ate three! I compromised! :)

Today I walked about two miles for exercise and for food I had paleo flat bread with bananas and pecans and a little maple syrup for breakfast. Lunch was a chicken breast on a coconut wrap and some chips (potato not Paleo) and for dinner we ate hamburgers on leaf lettuce and plantain chips. I also had some grapes throughout the day and of course the 3 chocolate chip cookies! It is back to Crossfit tomorrow so the morning comes sooner then I want. Time to start getting ready for bed, so until tomorrow, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 114: Pinning On Pintrest

If you follow me on Pintrest, I have created a board with only Paleo recipes. I pinned about 50 recipes tonight and can't wait to try some of them. I found recipes for biscuits, gravies, sauces, you name it I found it and I'm not stopping yet! It's amazing what all you can find on Pintrest and also, how many people follow a Paleo diet. It's crazy how many people eat a Paleo diet, and it's crazy that I just heard about Paleo diet this past year! I wish I would have learned about this diet years ago, because no telling how many years I've taken off my life by all the junk I've put into my body all these years and made myself so unhealthy. Who knows maybe I would never have developed Ulcerative Colitis. They don't know what causes it, so maybe my unhealthy eating was partly to blame!

Food today:
Breakfast: sausage patty and paleo flat bread
Lunch: nitrate free salami on a curry Paleo wrap, sweet potato chips and grapes
Snack: apple
Dinner: grilled buffalo chicken and salad
Snack: 1/2 banana with melted almond butter and chocolate chips

No exercise today and probably none tomorrow but I will be back to Crossfit on Wednesday.

Going to go check out more recipes on Pintrest, so until tomorrow, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 113: Easy To Eat Paleo When You're At Home!

Today was a day that we were home for every meal and it is so much easier to eat a Paleo diet when you aren't away from home. For breakfast we had Paleo French Toast Flat Bread, sausage and coffee. For lunch we had grilled chicken in coconut wraps and sweet potato fries. Then for dinner I made Paleo Chicken Marsala substituting almond flour for regular flour. This recipe is a keeper!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/chicken-marsala-recipe/index.html#

I enjoyed this day and wish that it weren't almost over! I have felt so relaxed today not in a rush to do anything and if I didn't accomplish a project I didn't get stressed. I think this is going to be my new outlook, not to get stressed over the little things because it won't matter in a week! Well, it will matter tomorrow if I don't have the call schedule done, so I better get busy, so until tomorrow, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 112: One Tired Girl!

I've had one very busy day! I started it off by making a new recipe for breakfast. Sausage and Paleo French Toast Flat Bread. Boy was it ever tasty. For the recipe go to: http://www.thepaleomom.com/2012/04/recipe-cinnamon-french-toast-flat-bread.html
After breakfast we went to Sand Springs picked up my mom and went to the Herb Festival. I had so much fun! Got tons of herbs! We went to a little dinner and ran into my dads cousin and his wife. I haven't seen them for several years and it was really nice to see them again! Paleo was NOT exercised at the herb festival. We had a hamburger minus the bun and French fries. I also splurged and had a sweet tea, a handful of kettle corn and my husband and I shared a large bag of cinnamon pecans, and of course they had sugar on them. This was a special treat and not one we do very often! After we took mom home we headed to Riddles Plant Farm to finish up the herb shopping then to Sams to get dog food and a few other items. I had to rest for about 30 minutes after I got home then went outside to plant the herbs. I got the garden all planted in spite of all the black widow spiders I saw, and now all I have to do is mulch! Yes, we have black widow spiders and I don't like that one bit! After planting I showered then made dinner. I grilled bacon wrapped chicken breast, mixed veggies and a salad. I am so full and I only ate about a fourth of a chicken breast. They were thick and juicy, yum!
The only exercise I did today was walk all over Sand Springs and then planting and that was exercise enough. I'm pooped!
I've been spending the last hour looking at Paleo friendly recipes and pinning them on my Pintrest, so I better get back to that so I'll have more recipes to try, so until tomorrow, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 111: Prolotherapy Day

Today was a Prolotherapy day for my hands and ankle. I am so impressed with how well this works. My left hand is almost 100% better since I started this treatment and my right hand is about 80% better. No taking medicine that can cause any side effects and I'm getting better. Why wouldn't someone want to try this first? Go check out Dr. Chad Edwards website and learn more about this treatment, and once you see him for the first time, you will be sold on him and Prolotherapy! http://drchadedwards.com/about/

Crossfit today was scaled way down for me since most everything involved something I can't do. For 20 minutes we did as many reps as possible of 5 handstand push ups, 10 pistol squats and 15 pull ups. I can't do handstand push ups so you have your legs on a box and do them, my pistol squats are onto a box and pull ups were using the rings. I did 10 rounds.

Paleo food for the day, breakfast I had scrambled egg on a coconut wrap, snack bacon and lunch was a dried fruit and nut mixture. Dinner was grilled scallops, shrimp, bell pepper, onions and pineapple. Very good dinner! I was able to eat mainly Paleo today. I finally showed self control!

The herb festival is in Sand Springs tomorrow and this is a yearly tradition for me. I love my herb garden, and I can't wait! More tomorrow, so until then, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 110: Quick Note

Baked cod in a butter sauce with lots of fresh garlic and sliced onions, baked sweet potato and a spinach salad makes a quick and tasty meal. Place sliced onions and pieces of garlic in a baking dish, top with slices of butter or ghee then place cod on top of onions placing more onions garlic and butter on top of fish. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

My Paleo food consisted of the baked cod for dinner and barbecue brisket for lunch. Mixed nuts and dried fruit for breakfast and coffee. Yes once again I has items that are not considered Paleo and I'm trying real hard to overcome this weakness! Back to Crossfit tomorrow and go see Dr Edwards for more Prolotherapy! Until then goodnight and God Bless!

Day 109: Beans

Today I made the choice to eat beans for the first time in 109 days. They are not Paleo and I knew I shouldn't indulge but I did and I'm feeling the effects. I feel bloated and very gassy! Not a fun feeling! I grew up eating beans, fried potatoes and cornbread! Yum, yum! But now I remember the gassy effects! I think that I'll stick to no more beans!

Paleo breakfast: ham and egg
Paleo Snack: mixed nuts with craisins
Not so Paleo lunch: barbecue brisket, pulled pork, baked beans and spicy coleslaw
Halfway Paleo dinner: curry chicken salad on a coconut wrap, potato chips pickles and jalapeño peppers.
I also had an iced white chocolate Mocha coffee from Starbucks.

Early morning tomorrow so until then, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 108: The Tick Tack Downfall!

Today was a good Paleo day until the Tick Tack downfall! For breakfast I made a very hearty dish with sausage, onions, bell pepper, and sweet potatoes. After sautéing until tender I cracked eggs over the mixture, put a lid on and steamed the eggs. Very tasty and filling! Held me over until lunch. For lunch George came by and took me to Ghangis Grill where I had lots of meats and veggies, NO rice or noodles and a gluten free sauce. Another tasty meal! I had a few mixed nuts and craisins for a snack and then it happened! The Tick Tack Downfall! I was leaving one hospital to go to another and put one little innocent Tick Tack in my mouth! It was fruit flavored and tasted so good that I ate another and another and another until I realized I had eaten the entire pack, but it didn't stop there. I had another pack in my purse and you guessed it, I ate that entire pack too! WHY? Why couldn't I show self control? This is definitely something I need to spend major time on, learning self control! I did manage to get back on track for dinner. I made a grilled lemon butter dill Salmon, mixed veggies and a spinach salad. Better for me than the Tick Tacks!

Today was a rest day from Crossfit, but back to the gym tomorrow! I will once again try to eat Paleo and no more Tick Tacks! 5am comes awfully early, so until then, goodnight and God Bless!

Lemon Dill Salmon
Salmon Filet
Butter
Dill weed
Salt, pepper and garlic powder
Lemon
Soften butter, and rub all over Salmon filet. Sprinkle salmon with seasonings generously with the dill weed. Squeeze 1/2 lemon over the salmon. Slice the lemon in slices and place on top of the salmon. Wrap in foil and grill until flakes with a fork. About 15-25 minutes depending upon how hot your grill is.

Day 107: Curry Chicken Salad

Curry Chicken Salad is one of my families most favorite quick dinners. I usually start with the chicken breast off a store bought roasted chicken, saving the rest of the chicken and the bones to make a soup. Dice the chicken breast until finely chopped. To the diced chicken I add 1 chopped apple (I like Pink Ladies) 1/2 cup chopped onion, 1 cup craisins, 1 cup chopped nuts, 1 tablespoon curry powder, salt and pepper to taste, and then about 1 cup mayo. Mix everything together. If
Mixture is too dry add more Mayo. I use store bought Mayo made with Olive oil. This chicken salad is great on a Paleo coconut wrap.

So for dinner, you guessed it, we had the Curry Chicken Salad on coconut wraps with sweet potato chips. For lunch I had a salad with grilled chicken, boiled eggs, fresh fruit and Ranch dressing, and for breakfast I had scrambled eggs on a Paleo coconut wrap.

Crossfit Primus' workout was intense! Fran was the workout! Fran is 21, 15, 9 of thrusters and pull ups. You do it for time, I just can't remember mine. I know it was around 7 minutes! I'm sore! We were in the new gym and man was it ever sweet! We had room to spread out. I'm so happy for Sean and Courtney and the work they are doing to make sure we all stay fit. Keep up the good work kids! I love you both!

Tomorrow will be my rest day from
Crossfit, but I'll be raring to go on Wednesday. If you are trying to follow a Paleo lifestyle, keep strong and encourage one another! We all need the support. Until tomorrow, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 106: Shopping Spree

Day 2 of shopping for new clothes. I found lots of cute clothes, so now I feel like I have a whole new wardrobe! It's kind of fun to shop for new things! I still haven't tried on my shorts from last season, so the shopping spree may not be over after all, but that will have to wait until next week.

Today we went to see the new set up for Primus and it's sweet! I can't wait until tomorrow to work out! Afterwards we went to see the new house Sean and Courtney purchased. I absolutely loved it! The Lord has truly blessed them and I'm so very happy for them!

Food today was not Paleo. We ate fish tacos and tortilla chips from Baja Jacks and then for dinner we ate a ham sandwich on a coconut wrap and potato chips. I also had some Ranch dressing with the potato chips than a few pieces of dark chocolate. Like I said not Paleo! Well, it's going to be an early day tomorrow so I've got to start getting ready for the day, so until tomorrow, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 105: Made My Day!

After trying on several pairs of jeans from my closet I realized I didn't have any that fit me, not because I had gained weight, but in fact I've lost enough weight the I don't have ANY pants in my closet that fit me! It's kind of exciting! What's a girl to do? Shopping! You guessed it, I went jeans shopping. I haven't had to get new pants in a long time, and I had forgotten how painfully expensive it can be! Its hard to find the style you like or doesn't look too young on you or shows your crack when you sit down! I finally found the perfect fit and I have actually lost 3 pant sizes since I started eating Paleo and doing Crossfit. Yea for me! Now that I'm seeing major results, I can truly say, it's all been worth it!

Food today, early lunch at Smash Burger consisting of a burger no bun and sweet potato fries and water. Dinner I made some butternut squash soup. It was delicious! I made a homemade chicken broth and added the squash to this broth and added chunks of chicken. Very tasty!

Well, we are expecting bad storms tonight so I'm going to get in bed and get some sleep before the storms hit! I'm praying for safety for everyone if these storms should hit! Until tomorrow, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 104: Heart Burn

I've now been taking 40 mg of Prednisone for 9 days for a Colitis flare up. I've not had very much relief yet of the symptoms, and now I'm experiencing the horrible side effects of the medicine, heart burn being the worst. I can drink water and get heart burn. Other side effects are my heart skips beats, short tempered, sleeplessness, need I go on? I'm ready for this to be over! Having heartburn makes it hard to exercise. For instance today at Crossfit we were to do bear crawls but bending over make the heartburn become reflux so that's a no no for me. My workout consisted of 25 wall balls using an 8 lb ball, 25 walking lunges and then a 200 meter run, 3 times doing it for time. Of course this wasn't the actual workout, it was scaled down for me!

Food today: breakfast, coconut wrap with almond butter and banana with a cup of coffee. Lunch tuna salad, and dinner was Enchaladas make with corn tortillas, and of course chocolate for dessert. I figure if I'm going to have heart burn just drinking water, why not give myself a real reason to have heartburn!

Well, we are expect bad storms tonight and tomorrow so I better try to get some rest while it's still quite. Until tomorrow goodnight and God Bless!

Day 103: Totally Bombing Paleo Diet!

I've not been doing Paleo as I should and I can tell the effects! Not good! I have been busy and not putting eating properly in the right priority, and I'm feeling it now. I still haven't had gluten but the other junk I've been eating can be considered just as bad! I've had Ranch Salad dressings, tortilla and potato chips, and milk chocolate even pure sugar in the form of Peeps! I'm not happy with myself! I'm seriously going to try harder to overcome the temptations! I blame the Prednisone!

Food today: breakfast was a Larabar and a cup of coffee with honey and cream, lunch: salad with grilled chicken, fresh fruit and Ranch dressing, snack a bag of potato garden herb chips and a few pieces of chocolate. Dinner sweet potato fries with honey, cabbage, onion, mushroom and ham stir fried together and for snack, you guessed it more chocolate. Like I said, I'm not happy with myself! Of course there was no exercising today! I will do better tomorrow, plus I'll be at Crossfit in the morning, so until then, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 102: Driving In The Rain

I hate to drive in the rain! I find it very stressful! Today that's exactly what I had to do, drive in the rain most of the day. It's like every time I got in the car, it started to rain. I left my house at 5:15 this morning and the minute I got in my car, it started to pour down rain. It rained on me over half the way to Owasso. When I got to Crossfit it looked rainy but never did UNTIL you guessed it, got in the car to go to the first hospital run I had to make. It rained just long enough for me to get to St Johns Owasso, then stopped while I was in the hospital and started sprinkling on me while I walked to my car. It sprinkled on me to Bailey. After Bailey I actually made it most of the way to Claremore before it started sprinkling. I stayed there for over an hour and you guessed it, when I was going to my car it was pouring down rain and rained most of the way into Tulsa! Luckly I was able to do my business at Southcrest and all the way back to Hillcrest without rain! Still Stressful!

Crossfit for the day was: warm up dead lifts five sets of five lifts. I did 65 pounds. The workout was 5 burpee's, 10 knees to elbows and 20 double unders. Of course everything was scaled down for me. I did knees to elbows laying on the ground and I did 60 single jumps. We were to see how many reps you can do in 15 minutes. I did 7 reps plus 5 burpee's!

Food: spark energy drink, cup of coffee, banana, pork rinds, hamburger patty and sweet potato fries, a few pieces of dark chocolate and for dinner left over Paleo pizza and a few chips and salsa. Junk food again! I'm still lacking the self control. I've got lots of work to do tonight so it's time to say goodby, so until tomorrow, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 101: Prednisone Hunger

The Prednisone hunger has set in and I want to eat everything in sight! I totally over ate for dinner tonight. I made fish taco's, homemade salsa, and ate my weight in the chips with salsa. I totally sinned in the sugar area today too. Someone brought some peeps to work and I ate 4! Ugh! Why? It's like I have no self control when it comes to resisting food right now! I've got to get control!
The rest of the day I ate a Larabar for breakfast and for lunch I had a grilled pork chop, grilled veggies, asparagus, tossed salad and some fresh fruit. I had a few pieces of chocolate today too! Now I feel like a blimp!

I've got to go to Crossfit tomorrow without delay, and watch what I eat! Now is the time I need to stand firm and not give into temptation! Until tomorrow, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 100: 100 Days With No Gluten!

This is truly a milestone! 100 days with no gluten, I'm amazed I've actually gone that many days! Now if I could only go that many without sugar! I've cut way, way back on the sugar, but I do break down occasionally and have something with sugar in it. Also I've only had one sip of pop in these last 100 days too, and it wasn't so tempting that I just had to drink more than a sip. In fact it was too sweet, I didn't like it!

Crossfit today was BRUTAL! The workout was called "Angie". It was 100 pull ups, 100 push ups, 100 sit ups and 100 squats. I hurt! I have a sore on my tailbone from all the sit ups! Ouch!

Food for the day was ham for breakfast, salad with chicken, boiled eggs, veggies and some fresh fruit for lunch, and for dinner I made Paleo pizza and salad. This pizza was very good!

Going to take the day off from exercising tomorrow, but will probably go on a walk. I've been trying to get in bed early, and I've got a lot to do before bed, so until tomorrow, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 99: Happy Easter!

Today was a very relaxing Easter Day at the Garner house! Georgia went to her boyfriends, Barbie and Ken stayed in Stillwater because they are coming in next weekend, Sean had to work, and Courtney was going to be alone all day, so she came and spent the day with me and George. It was very nice! We just had a quiet day! She studied for a test she is taking tomorrow, I did laundry and worked on anesthesia records and George listened to the radio with his headphones on. Then later on after studying and work was done we had a nice visit and a quick dinner before Courtney had to leave. I enjoyed spending the day with my favorite daughter-in-law! So far I must say, God has truly blessed our family with each addition of a family member, and I'm proud to now call them my children too. Now instead of having 3 children I have 5, and one of these days, I'll add another son in the mix when Georgia gets married!

Today was a rest day from Crossfit not only because it was Sunday, but this is the most special Sunday of the year! Easter Sunday! He is risen!

I made Paleo cinnamon rolls for breakfast and were they ever good! After church, we had ham sandwiches on lettuce wraps, with all the trimmings. Bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, avocado, pickles, deviled eggs, and chips. I did cheat with gluten free mixed potato chips. For an afternoon snack I had to eat one more cinnamon roll. For
dinner I made bacon wrapped asparagus and a salad. I love bacon! I'm so full, I think I could pop!

Well, it's back to the Crossfit workout early in the morning before going to work, so I've got to get everything gathered up, so until tomorrow, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 98: A Good Feeling!

One of the best feelings is to put on a pair of pants that last year was so tight that your belly hung over to now have them so loose they fall off! That's exactly what happened to me today. I've had this pair of crop Lacoste pants for over 3 years and never wore them. They fit when I purchased them but it was the wrong season to wear them, and by the time it was the right season, I had gained too much weight to wear them. I put them in the back of my closet thinking that I would eventually be able to fit in them, but each year passed and I only gained more weight, causing the pant to be pushed back even further in the closet. Thanks to Crossfit, eating a Paleo diet and doing an Advocare weight loss challenge, I've lost enough weight that the pants are now too big, and that's a good feeling! My starting weight in January was 168.9, my weight today is 142.3. That's a total weight loss of 26.6 pounds. I'm happy with that! I'm not finished yet, but now that I can actually see the results, I'm very happy! I'm going to continue eating Paleo, doing Crossfit and taking supplements from Advocare. I'm not doing a nutrition challenge at this time, but it doesn't mean I won't in the future. It was a great jump start to loosing weight.

Food for the day: barbecue chicken in a Paleo coconut wrap and some plantain chips. A Larabar for snack and then dinner was baked ham, pineapple, honey and cilantro baked sweet potatoes and a salad. For dessert we had melted chocolate chips with fresh strawberries and bananas. I did have some coffee today with honey and cream and then a Carmel Macchiato coffee from QT.

I had a busy Saturday, working on anesthesia records, then grocery shopping. Tomorrow is going to be a beautiful Easter Day focusing on Praising God, so may your day be as blessed as I know mine is going to be, so until then, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 97: Running Again, Are You Kidding Me!

Crossfit workout this morning was more running! My poor legs! Our warm up was brutal too. Sit ups for 20 seconds then resting 20 seconds then back extensions for 20 seconds. This was repeated at least 7 times. I lost count! After that we did death by pull ups. That's where every minute you add a pull up so in the end the goal is 15 pull ups in 15 minutes. In my dreams maybe! After the warm up it was 10 ring dips then 200 meter run, five times for time. I can't remember my exact time but I think it was 10:49. With all this running, I'm actually getting a little better! I'm taking the next 2 days off
and will be back on Monday, ready to run if that's what they want us to do!

Food for the day was light again. I had a banana and Spark drink on the way to Crossfit, then a jalapeño cheese sausage and green tea from Quiktrip. The sausage wasn't Paleo because of the cheese, but it's the closest thing to Paleo there. I was so busy again at work today that I had no time for lunch. For dinner I made a salad with lots of veggies, grilled chicken and bacon. Very tasty!

Well, it's time to rest up for the busy weekend. May you have a Blessed Easter weekend! Until tomorrow, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 96: I Had To Give In!

I'm following a Paleo diet with very few cheats and trying to exercise regularly, but I still developed a flare up of my colitis. Stress is the major factor of this flare up! I absolutely love my job, and everyone I work with, but the last 4 months of uncertainty about getting the contract, making sure we got everyone credentialed and ready to start work, going to computerized records, and the list goes on and on, caused major havoc on my colon! I tried not to give in to take any medicine, but I finally had too! I'm so upset about this because I've been Prednisone free for a little over a year and that's the longest I've been steroid free since I was diagnosed over 10 years ago. However the last few days, the urgency and other grotesque symptoms were starting to keep me from everyday life activities, so I had to get on Prednisone. I'm not looking forward to the side effects of this medicine but, I'm so ready to have a normal stool, and like I've said before in a post about colitis, until you loose the ability to pass gas you don't realize how much you loved a good fart! I'm not sure about everyone with colitis but I know that when I'm in a flare up there is no way on earth to pass gas without sharting in my pants. I'm very sensitive to this subject. I don't like people making fun of others if the shart in their pants, because I know what it's like and it's very, very embarrassing!

Along with taking prednisone, I'm hungry all the time, I'm very cranky, I don't sleep very well, my heart races and skips beats, I get hot flashes, heartburn, I gain weight, I'm very sensitive to all the virus bugs going around and for some reason MARSA seems to find its way to attack me, but on the bright side the colitis clears up!

I do want to take this time to apologize to everyone at Crossfit, work, home, reading this blog, etc., for any bad behavior I may show in these next few weeks! I plead Prednisone Rage, a real side effect of taking this drug! I'm definitely not looking forward to the weight gain, (i worked really hard to loose these 25 pounds over the last Three months) so I'm really going to have to watch what I eat, at least this time I'm eating a healthier diet with a few cheats instead of an unhealthy diet with a lot of cheats!

On to the food for the day. For breakfast I ate a Larabar and a cup of coffee. After that I was so busy at work I really didn't have time to even think about lunch, so we had an early dinner which consisted of a grass fed hamburger patty covered with chili mustard and onions and some
Plantain chips then for dessert some dark chocolate chips melted on fresh pineapple and banana. Everything was Paleo except for maybe the chocolate, but after the day I had I deserved it!

What's interesting about my experience with Colitis is that foods do not cause my symptoms, and I've also noticed that my symptoms seem to show up not only when under a great deal of stress, but also when I'm having bad allergies! Maybe this is because allergies put stress on your body. That's all I can come up with! Not only am I stressed, but my allergies are acting up like none other! I just know that I would never ever wish colitis on anyone! Well, I'm going to try to get some sleep since 5 am comes sooner than ya want, so until tomorrow, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 95: No More Running, Please!

I went to Crossfit again this morning, giving myself one day of rest between workouts, and what do they have us doing? More running! My legs are still sore from Monday, and they want me to run 1 1/2 miles! I don't think my legs are ever going to be the same! On top of the running we also did dead lifts, so the work out went like this: 15 dead lifts (I did 35pds, not even close to the weight you are suppose to do), then a 800 m run. You do these each 3 times as quickly as you can. My quickly was 22.49 minutes. I hurt all over! I do plan on going to Crossfit this Friday, but I would like to ask them one tiny favor, NO MORE RUNNING! PLEASE!

My Paleo diet was blown after my Crossfit workout. On the way to exercise I ate a Larabar and a Spark drink. After the workout I was STARVING! So I stopped off a Quiktrip and got a jalapeño cheese stuffed sausage, no bun, a bag of salt and
vinegar chips, yes you heard it, a bag of chips, I deserved it after that much running, and a glass of tea. For lunch I had some barbecue pulled pork and coleslaw. Finally for dinner I grilled some of my grass fed beef hamburgers and made some mashed cauliflower and a salad. I was full but now that its time for bed, I'm starting to get hungry, but I'm going to stay strong and not eat anything! I'm going to go get a drink of water then go to bed, so until then, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 94: Saddle Sore!

Ok, so yesterday I said I was back in the saddle with my Crossfit workout, well today I have major saddle soreness! I can barely move, it's hurts to walk, it hurts to sit, it hurts stand, and it hurts to touch any of my muscles in my legs. OUCH! But what do they say about if you fall off a horse? Get back on it! So don't you think if you get saddle soreness you should work it out? Well, that's what I plan on doing tomorrow, I'm going to go to the 6 am class and try to workout!

Food for the day was simple. I had a banana and Spark drink for breakfast. I haven't been hungry in the morning lately and I've always been a person that I can't eat anything when I first get up. I have to be up about an hour before I feel like eating. Now having a cup of coffee is another thing, it's always coffee time! Lunch I had a salad with grilled chicken, a side of guacamole, and fresh fruit. For dinner I made South of the Border Stuffed Acorn Squash, and it was very good! The recipe is in the Paleo Comfort Foods cookbook. I think I'm going to have a little snack of melted chocolate and fruit. I always crave chocolate after eating spicy foods!

Well, since I'm going to get back in the saddle again tomorrow, I've got a lot to do before I can go to bed, so until then, goodnight and God Bless!

Day 93: Back In The Saddle Again

I was at the Crossfit Primus Gym in Owasso this morning bright and early, 6 am, and I could tell I haven't exercised for a month and a half! After the warm up we started with a run, running 200 meters then resting for one minute, than repeating for a total of 6 times making it a total of a mile run. My total was 12.49, keep in mind we rested one minute each time, so I like to think that I ran it in 6.25 minutes! :) after the running we did as many reps as possible in 15 minutes of: 5 thrusters, 10 burpees, and 15 sit ups. I was only able to accomplish 3 reps and thought I was going to die! Tomorrow will be a rest day, because I've got to break back into this slowly!

Food for the day was NOT what it should have been. For breakfast I ate a banana and a Spark drink. When I got to work, it was soooooo busy I barley had time to do anything let alone eat and then I had to run to the dentist. I finally got to eat lunch at 330 this afternoon meeting a lady from the cooperate office at Panera. I still ate Paleo having a Greek salad with grilled chicken. I did splurge and had the feta cheese on the salad, but NO bread! I got home from work at 700 and the hubby was hungry so we ate some left over chicken fajitas with a little avocado and homemade salsa on plantain chips. Tomorrow is going to be another busy and long day, so it's adios for now! Until then goodnight and God Bless!

Day 92: Early To Bed

It's 9:30 and I've got to get in bed for my early morning. It's going to be my first day back to CrossFit in over a month! Pray for me! I heard its a lot of running! More tomorrow, so until then goodnight and God Bless!