Day 30 completed Before and After pictures.

Now that I have reached my 30 Day Paleo Challenge.  I have took pictures of my "after" appearances.  Either you agree with me or not.  This is from my point of view.  

Before you go and look at my pictures.  You want to know what's ironic?  I only lost 2 pounds!  Seriously.  Only 2 pounds, you say?  Yes, 2 pounds.  Remember earlier in one of my blogs, if you eat right and lift heavy weights, you will burn fat and gain muscle, thus muscle weigh more than body fat.  What I mean is that you lift weight, you gain muscle so your weight stays the same or slightly different.  But you lose MORE inches than the weight. My clothes, underwear, workout clothes, yoga pants, and bras feel loose on my body now than on Day 1.  The clothes were too snug for me and I hated it.   I had to burn off the fat and gain back the muscle.  Start from square 1.    I admit I was looking forward to weighing 145 pounds again like I did last year until I had surgery on my both feet at different times.   My husband is the same thing here.  He lost body fat, but weighs the same or even gained a pound because he has lifted heavier weights than before.  So we are on the same boat here.  I know our weight will shift later on.  Give or take, 3  months at most, it will happen.  Here's the perfect link on more information about muscle and body weight/fat

http://www.jumpstartmd.com/does-muscle-weigh-less-than-fat/

I know it is weird, but according to the link above, it does work wonders.  Here's my proof.  See below.  

Before (left) and After (right) You may see that my back, waist and ribcage have reduced inches of body fat.   Notice my my breast in the left picture hung out of my red bikini top a little bit?  Now, look at my breast in the right picture stayed inside the red bikini top.  Good start for now. Again, if you will look at my shoulder in both pictures, you can see my deltoids (shoulder) have toned a little bit.  (Look at the shadow on my deltoids). 

Before (left) and After (right) I don't know about you, but I can see that my breasts have reduced a little bit. My upper ribcage and obliques are showing more definition now (right picture).  The inches on my inner thighs also have reduced a little bit.  Not very much, but I'm getting ahead in the game now.  It will take a couple more months for me to drastically lose body fat and inches.  My chest (teres major) connecting to deltoids (shoulder) have slightly expanded.  (It may look like my breasts have grown in wide side but they're only my muscle).

Yesterday.

 I'm not exactly satisfied with my appearance but at least I'm getting there.  My rib cages and upper midsection have reduced the size in appearance.  Patience is too great to deal with but it will pay off.

Argghh!

Today.

Hips and waist and shoulders have slimmed down.  I also noticed that my shoulders' definition have slightly changed some too.  Thanks to Crossfit. A lot upper workouts than the legs in the past month.  But now, the leg workouts are coming in a lot lately.  Oh boy! I can't wait!

  I like that both my oblique muscle and upper midsection are slightly expanding and changing in definitions too, which is what I was hoping for. But I need to work harder on my lower abs (belly) area.   Gotta work my butt off some more.  This has been a little over a month since Ive been back to Crossfit.  So, the physical appearance will change in overtime.

In conclusion, I have completed my 30 Day Paleo Challenge.  However,  I am still continuing my Paleo lifestyle.  I am going to refrain whey protein/isolate from my paleo diet because they still make me feel bloated and sluggish.  I will stick to L-glutamine and BCAA with water or almond milk only.  I also will have to restrict on nuts and fruits intakes this time.  Still no honey or maple syrup in my diet for a long while.  I have to burn off excess of body fat.

I will keep you updated from time to time in my blogs, just not on a daily basis this time since I am moving around more and more now that I'm not wearing my surgical boot anymore!  Yay!

See you in my next blog soon.  I will blog on my interesting and yummy recipes too!

Good night, y'all!

Meli Emmons

Day 25. Steak for dinner and a trip to Central Market

I cannot believe I have gone this far, 25 days.  5 more days until I get on the weight scale to see how much I weigh and take pictures too.  I cannot wait to compare the pictures on Day 1 and Day 30.  But, I wouldn't be surprised if my weight hasn't gone down much but I can assure you that I feel my clothes loose on me.  This is what I was counting on.  Loose clothes, not so snug.   Why would my weight not go down so much?  Remember, I am doing crossfit, so I am gaining back my muscle slowly.   

However, I will continue with another 30 days of strict paleo.  That means no sugar (dates, dried fruits, chocolate, or too many fruits, etc..) and alcohol.  They are usually allowed in regular paleo diet after you meet our goal.  But, I am trying to reduce my body fat percentage, so I have to omit those from my Paleo diet.  And, this time I will refrain using Why Protein isolate after my first 30 Day Paleo Challenge since they have dairy in it.  I am going to stick with L-glutamine and BCAA with unsweetened almond milk.

This morning, I wasn't in the mood to make breakfast.  I wasn't too hungry.  I didn't even finish my latte.  Due to my poor sleep last night.  I didn't get enough sleep, so I decided to make vanilla protein drink (whey protein) with unsweetened vanilla almond milk.  Then I went back to my bed to take a nap before I headed out to Austin to run a few errands.  Today was my rest day from crossfit.  

After my brief nap, I got ready and it was almost noon, still, I wasn't hungry for lunch.  So, I ate half an apple with coconut butter and very little bit of almond butter just to keep my energy level up.  I had to make myself eat.  

I went to get my nails done first.  Then, I had to make a trip to Nordstrom to make an exchange for something else.  Then I went to Central Market to get some dinner.  I finally felt hungry.  So, I went to the salad bar.  See below.  (Always eat something before you shop for food otherwise you grab unnecessarily junks into your cart!  Trust me, it does happen.)

Kale, Arugula, Carrots, little bit of Sweet Potatoes, Roasted Chicken, little bit of Beets, purple Cabbage, and lemon EVOO and little bit of balsamic vinegar.  And I mixed 2 different kinds of tea into my cup.  Sunburst Green Tea and Hibiscus Mint Tea.  Sooo good!

I grabbed what I needed for dinner and headed home.  I couldn't wait to have steak!!  My kids really love eating steak.  They wish they eat steak every week!  Or 2 times a week, at least.  We don't eat red meat often, except for grass fed ground beef, once to twice every other week.  Steak, probably every 2 to 3 weeks or so.  We eat mostly white meat.  

And my husband is out of town so I was thrilled to get Japanese Sweet Potato, my favorite but not my husband's.  I took advantage of having some for dinner tonight!

What are Japanese Sweet Potatoes?  See the link below.

http://slism.com/diet/japanese-sweet-potato-diet.html  

I baked both Japanese sweet potato (red) and Idaho potatoes (for my kids)  I used Le Creuset roasting pan with cover , and filled it with an inch or two of water in the pan.  Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour or so.  

Before 1 hour was up, I took it out and cut each potato into half so they would cook some more in the core of potatoes.  I returned the pan back in the oven to cook while I grilled the steak.

Now... if you want to eat the oh so good steak then I recommend you to buy grass fed steak.  No questions.  They are so tender!

Grass Fed Top Sirloin Steak at Central Market.  You can find Grass Fed steak at your local food stores.  Just ask.

Now, when I was at the bulk area thinking of what seasoning to use for my steak to rub with.  Remember, the fewer ingredients, the better they taste.  I took my time in there to study the spices and seasonings they had.  When I saw the applewood smoked sea salt... I thought, Perfect!!!!!  Flavored sea salt!?  I never thought of that!  So, I grabbed that.  

YOU HAVE TO GET THIS!!!  YOU WONT BE DISAPPOINTED!

When I saw that, Vanilla Pepper, I thought that was interesting.  I gambled, I got some of that.

I couldn't wait to season my steak with these 2 new ingredients.

Just sprinkle enough of both spices, applewood smoked sea salt and vanilla pepper on both sides of the steak.  Rub these in real well.  Let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes so the sea salt and pepper will make the steak ever more tender.  Trust me on this one.  Just do it!

Yes, I used my skillet.  It is so cold outside and my husband is out of town and I didn't want to mess with his grill.   Heat the skillet medium-high, number between 6-7 on gas stove.  Let it get hot first for a little bit before you sear or cook your steak.  My kids and I love our steak rare medium.  So, I seared the steak exactly 6 minutes on each side.

Done!  6 minutes on each side of steak.  Ready to cut.  It smelled so good!  It perfumed the whole kitchen!

Rare medium, perfect!  Just what we wanted.  Both kids couldn't wait to get those babies on their plate!

I made side salad with lemon juice and EVOO.  Half of Japanese sweet potato with little bit of coconut oil, sea salt and pepper.  Let me tell you, those steak were exceptionally heaven!!!!!  They tasted so delicious.  Those spices I used were perfect!    Don't be shy to buy these and try these on your steak or chicken!  Soo good!  

It's gonna be cold the next 6 weeks, apparently so,  the groundhog stayed underground. Yesterday, I bought 2 more new workout outfits for Crossfit.   I cannot wait to wear these tomorrow and Friday.  They are gonna keep me warm.  I will have to wear long socks with these too.  

Who's ready for warm weather??  I AM!!!

From TJMaxx

I'm going to hit the sack now since I didn't sleep well last night.  I hope I will sleep through the night.

Night, y'all

Meli Emmons

Part of day 23 and day 24 Check out my Herb De Provence Chicken Thighs recipe!

Part of Day 23:

After breakfast, I got ready for our Noon Crossfit.  Guess what, I finally got to wear both normal shoes, well, Oly (Olympic, heavyweight lifting shoes) yesterday!  I was happy!  So happy!  Of course, I did it nice and easy with front squats.  I haven't done any heavy weight squats for nearly 4 months!  Air squats, yes, but not with weights!

See my cute Oly shoes below?

Oly shoes on!  No more surgical boot!  I hope so!

Of course, my ankles are still weak.  I have to train my ankles again to get the strength back to normal.  That means I cannot tempt myself to go HAF (Heavy as Fu-k) or HAS (Heavy as Sh-t).  My last 1 RM for Front Squat before surgery was at #165.  This time, I went as heavy as #125.  Not so bad for nearly 4 months of no weight squats.  I did it real nice and slow.  I slowly increased the weight after every 3 tries.  The heavier they got, I went for 1 try (1 rep) every time I added more weight to the max where my ankles could tolerate a little bit.  No more.  So, #125.  Then after that, we had to do 1000 M Row for benchmark.  Yesterday was the benchmark day for both FTSQ and Row.  I finished 1000 M Row in 4:10.  Not bad.  It did kind of hurt my toes and ankles a little bit but tolerable.    When we were all finished.  I went ahead and did 3 sets of 30 reps Toes to Bar for abs.  And then I did 5 butter-fly pull-ups.  

This was our WOD for Day 23.  Find your 1RM (Rep Max) FRSQ (Front Squat). And 1000 M Row.

Really a good workout!  I so needed that.  I like it when my heart pounds from working out.  When I got home, I drank L-glutamine and BCAA with unsweetened vanilla almond milk.  Then, I had a bowl of chili that my husband warmed up for me.  I didn't eat very much of that.  I probably had like 3 or 4 spoonfuls of chili.  I was running late for an appointment in Austin.  So, I rushed to get ready but I bought a bag of pork chips for my snack later in the afternoon.

I felt like a clown wearing this to Crossfit and H-E-B.  Hehe.

Lunch, leftover chili.  Didn't finish it.  Only had 3-4 spoonfuls of that. 

I love that!  Ingredients: Fried pork skin and salt.  That's it!!  That is why I love this bag!  I snack on these when I get hungry or running low on fuel.

I got home a little later than I thought from Austin.  I had ran a several errands.  I got home about 6:30 PM.  I managed to make Breakinner (breakfast for dinner)

Omelet with asparagus and a dollop of guacamole dip.  Then I had Not Really La Madeline Romanof for dessert.  

Day 24:

My husband made some bacon and I made scrambled eggs for our breakfast.  Latte, of course.

Then Crossfit time.

Oh boy!  Great HIIT!  (High Intensity Interval Training)  High cardio and Lifting at the same time.  I loved it!
Bear Complex (Clean; Press; Back Squat; Press)  DT (12 Dead lift; 9 Hang 6 Clean; Press)   Curtis (Hang Clean; Front Squat or Front Lunge; Press) I did these at #65 instead of #95.  Remember, my ankles are not strong enough to tolerate HAS (Heavy as Sh-t) weights yet.  Patience will pay off.  The time cap was 25 minutes.  I took the picture of the board before the coach changed the time cap.  

Ignore the 4:30 PM and 5:30 PM, they were from yesterday's WOD.  6 AM and 12 PM from today.  I wish I could do it with #95.  #65 is still great to use for a fast workout.  Fat Burner workout! 

Blurry picture, but I had to take another picture of my Oly shoes again!  So excited!  'Suse my powder on my pants.  After that, I did 3 strict pull-ups and some ABS workouts too.

When I got home, I had my regular L-glutamine and BCAA drink and then had some carrots and celery dip with guacamole and a very small bowl of chili.

When I was getting ready for my bath... oh wow!  Look at my Hang Clean mark on my front leg!!  Dang!  Bonus points for that!    That says I did it too fast, dropping hard on my leg when doing hang cleans.  Looks like hickey marks.

See below.

Bonus points!  From Hang Cleans.

This was my afternoon snack.  Banana Chia Pudding that I made last night.  I let it sit in the fridge overnight.  It was sooooo gooooooodddd!!  Mash a banana in a bowl.  15 drops of vanilla creme stevia liquid into the bowl too and add a can of coconut milk (not Lite, full fat).  Add 1/2 cup of chia seeds into the bowl and stir well.  Fill that in a mason jar or an air tight container.  Let it chill in the refrigerator overnight or 2 hours.  

Before I took my bath, I prepped for dinner.  Herb De Provence Chicken Thighs.

About 1/4 cup or 1/3 cup of dried Herb De Provence and 2 TBS or 3 TBS of sea salt.  Coat these chicken thighs or drumsticks with the seasoning.  Place them in the dutch oven.  Cook at 325 degrees for 3 hours.  Then Turn up the broiler to high and take the cover (top) off and let it cook for another 5 minutes or longer just until they are brown and crispy!

All Done!  Soooo frigging good!

While chicken thighs were resting in the dutch oven with the top or cover on, I sautéed green collards and napa cabbage in EVOO and lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Yummy!  That was my dinner.  I indeed did eat 2nd 1/2 of chicken thigh.  Then I had Not Really La Madeline's Romanof Dessert.  Recipe of that is in one of my blogs.

I look forward to drinking L-glutamine and Bcaa drink before bedtime.  I predict I will have sore legs and arms.  I can feel them coming.

Good Night, y'all!

From Day 19-23 Find out how we stuck to our challenge during out of town weekend

On Day 19, we had to leave for Howe (1 hour north of Dallas) to visit my parents for the weekend.  It was for my father's retirement party.  I will be telling you how we stuck to our 30 day Paleo Challenge during the whole weekend.  It was hard but I stayed committed to it.  My mom was supportive of our lifestyle eating clean.  Of course, my mom cooked the traditional way for the others who are not Paleo.  I will go on with Day 19 first.  

That day, we had eggs for breakfast and latte.  Then I prepped lunch so they'd be ready when we got back from our noon Crossfit.

Before Crossfit, I decided to make bacon wrapped veggies and avocados as our post workout meal.

Yellow bell peppers, poblano peppers, and avocados.

Wrap bacon over veggies and avocados and place them on your broiler pan.

Set your oven at 375 degrees hot and bake these for 30 minutes then turn these over and bake for another 30 mins or less.  Just until your Bacon are crispy. When they were done.  I turned off the oven and left these in there to keep these warm until we returned from Crossfit.

We definitely had a great workout.  We needed that before the 4-5 hours road trip.    In my case with my surgical boot, I couldn't do Double Under, so I did bicep curls, bench press, and shoulder press instead with dumbbell.   I rowed 500 M instead of Run 400 M.  I back squatted at #95 instead of #115.  My ankles were not quite ready for heavy weights yet.  Also, remember, I haven't squatted for nearly 3 months so I had to start out with light weights first and gradually increase weights weekly.  That WOD, we had 25 minutes cap to finish.  I finished that in 17-18 minutes.

After my husband finished his WOD, he laid back on the mat.  This is his sweat print!  Awesome, isn't it!

This is what they looked like when they were done and left in the oven to keep these warm.  (Of course turn off the heat once they were done)  We ate those immediately after workout.

Right before the road trip, we had to wait for our kids to get home from school.   We planned on leaving around 5 to 5 30 PM.  We had to eat dinner at home first.  We didn't want to stop at a restaurant on our way because we would get to my parents' house too late.  Here's what we ate for dinner.  See blow.

Tuna Salad Lettuce Wrap.  (Add EVOO to your tuna and then add sauerkraut, lemon juice, salt and pepper)

We packed beef jerky and pistachio nuts for our road trip snacks.  We brought a lot of water bottles. Trust me, we had to pull over to pit stops several times.   We arrived our parents house at about 10 PM.  Smooth traffic, thank god!

Day 20!  10 more days until day 30!  Time flew!  I didn't think about when day 30 was gonna come at all.  You forgot all about it because you were busy on eating clean.  I even forgot about blogs to keep up with over the weekend.  We were busy with my families.   

Anyway, my mom made breakfast for us!  Eggs and bacon! Breakfast tacos for others in the family. Coffee.  (We bought unsweetened vanilla almond milk on our way!)  My mom even had coconut oil!  She does add coconut oil in her coffee too!  Then I got ready for my hair appointment with my bestie!  Then we got ready for my father's retirement party!!  At the party, they had yummy veggies and fruits.  No protein!  *gasp*  But we planned on eating out afterwards.

The retirement party was wonderful!  My dad was so happy!  We were so proud of him!  44 years of working nonstop, so loyal.  The staff there said that my dad was the best boss they ever had.  They are going to miss him greatly!  I know my dad will stop by the company to visit.  I don't think he can let them go.  They have been part of his life too.  His people were sad to see him go.   I know they will visit eventually soon.  So happy for my dad!

Afterwards, we were gonna stop by BWW, but they reeked of cigarettes!  Yuck!  So, we stopped by MooYah.  Very Paleo friendly!  I had Turkey Burger Lettuce Wrap!  See below.  And sweet potatoes fries too!

Turkey Burger, Avocados, Bacon, Lettuce Wraps with mustard!  Sweet potato fries too!  We didn't eat all of that.  Too full from veggies and fruits at the retirement party.

Continuing on Day 20, the evening.  Let me tell you something about my family.  We grew up eating junk foods!  Chips, desserts, ice creams, popcorn, etc...  that is us.  Sodas too.  My kids pigged out on those, of course because we don't have much of those at our home.  Ha.  My mom had pantry almost full of junks, especially chips and cookies!!  My parents brought home a huge sheet of retirement party cake.  They all stood out in front of our eyes.  We always visit in the kitchen and dining room.  Those yummy ASD (American Standard Diet) food were trying to lurk us into eating these alive!  But, I ignored these bad food.  I stuck to eating grapes and grapes and grapes.  Grapes have a lot of sugar too but better than ASD junkies.  Grapes really cleaned me out in the toilet. Haha. 

My  mom made yummy dinner!  We had chicken breast and spinach with tomatoes, they were all baked together in a roster pan in the oven.  We also had some salad.  That was it for us.  See, my mom was supportive of us eating Paleo.  My mom told me that sometimes she and Dad eat Paleo.  That is great, right??  I hope they will stick to it almost all the time.  

Day 21

My mom made eggs and sausage.  So good!  And had some coffee too.   Then later, my daughter and I went out to Dallas for a shopping spree and took her to my bestie for her hair appointment.  

Abby, and I stopped at Paradise Bakery Cafe for our late lunch.  I had Fuji apple salad, small bowl.  They were good.  Completely paleo friendly.  I asked the lady to use evoo and vinegar instead.  She was happy to do that for me.    My daughter had half sandwich and a soup.  It was very cold that day too.

When we returned to my parents' house from the shopping spree, my dad made the BEST ribs EVER!  My mom made mashed cauliflowers!  Instead of mashed potatoes for us!  So nice of her to do that!  She made mashed potatoes for other people.   We also had green beans and salad.   Deserts, they had cake, cookies, etc... of course.  I didn't have any desserts afterwards.  Ribs dinner was my last meal.

These are the ribs my dad were making in his smoker.  He still used the fewest ingredients for his ribs, always.  The fewer ingredients the better they taste.  Sorry there are no pictures of after cooked ribs.  I was so busy visiting my family and my bestie and her family came over to visit.  

Day 22, the day of Super Bowl!  It got so cold overnight.  It was going to freeze later.  Eric my husband made us wake up so frigging early like at 7 30 AM.  We had to pack up and leave by 830 AM.  My husband did not want to miss super bowl!  At all!  So, we missed breakfast but we did have coffee with my parents first.  My kids were too tired to eat breakfast so they didn't mind eating later on our way back home.

By 9-20 AM, we stopped by Starbucks and got kids breakfast sandwiches.  And some more coffee.  I had latte, but I did get half and half creamer.  They didn't have almond milk but soy milk!  I refused to use soy milk because it had 17 grams of sugar!!!! IT is bad for you anyway, the soy.  Half and half creamer only had less than 1 gram of sugar.  Either that or black coffee.  I cannot stand black coffee, I would have a heart burn!  Or crap in my pants in the middle of road trip.  I had to have something buffer in my coffee.  After all, whey protein isolate is dairy. 

Lunch time, we stopped by Hooters and ordered  Lemon Pepper wings to go!  Again, my husband did not want to miss Super Bowl at all. He was afraid we would get stuck in traffic or going so slow due to icy bridges.  He wanted to get home safely. 

When we were close to home, we stopped by H-E-B in Taylor to buy chili stuff to make for dinner.  It was so cold outside so it was perfect.  Game and chili go well together!   My children's father and his girlfriend were coming over too.  They made guacamole dip and veggies too.

Aren't those gorgeous!  Guacamole dip made by Kristin.  All fresh ingredients!  Carrots and celery.

Prepped Chili.  4 lbs of ground beef into my Le Creuset Dutch Oven using stove top to cook.  Brown your beef before adding other ingredients.

These are the ingredients I used to make chili.  1 large can of crushed tomato, and 1 large can of tomato puree.  (I didn't use 2 cans of puree, fyi) and a small can of paste.  2 boxes of False Alarm Mild Chili.

Ingredients in the False Alarm.  I love those because they have separated spices bags in a box.   And see Masa flour in there?  I skipped using them!  It's a big N0-N0!

I used all of the ingredients but masa flour.  Proof.  Anyway, I mixed all of  ingredients into browned beef and tomatoes .  I stirred well and test tasted to see if that needed anything more.  Absolutely!  I had to add plenty of sea salt in there and used the emptied large tomato can and filled that with water 2 times and poured that into the pot.  To make that less thick, of course.  I also had Chili powder in a bottle and added more of that in the pot too.  My suggestion is to omit tomato paste.  Then you wouldn't need to add more chili powder or water in there.   You have to test taste your chili and make some adjustment to your liking.

Chili topped with avocados.  That looked like cheese, but they are not!!  Photo effect from Instagram.

What a disappointment.  Denver Broncos lost the Super Bowl game.  Seriously, they were off.  They weren't being themselves.  They played weakly.  I suspected they partied the night before.  So unfocused.  They didn't play like that at all the whole football season.  So strange.  But, happy for Seattle's, though.  They worked hard and they deserved it.  Their first Super Bowl champion!  Well played!

Day 22, finally, I'm caught up with current up to date blogs.  Today.  This morning.  I had some latte, oh how I have missed my Nespresso!!!

I had kale eggs for breakfast.  Fried eggs and kale cooked together in a small skillet with top covered so the eggs would be cooked.  I would say Steamed not Fried.  Anyway, I also added a dollop of guacamole dip.  So yummy!

My breakfast.

Ready for my Monday's Crossfit!  I am going to try to remove my surgical boot and of course that will set me back in working out much slower today.  I will have to be more gentle with my left foot and see how it can do without the boot.  If that hurts more than it should, I will put the boot back on and continue wearing that for another week.

I'll be back later for blogs later.  I'm getting tired of typing already!

Have a great Monday and stay warm!