Whole30 Round 3...or should I say Whole45?

I started a third round of Whole30 on Friday, July 28.  I'm a week in and feeling a mixture of feelings!

Here's a link to my FIRST Whole30.

This was Day 30 of my first round.  I felt soooooooooo good!

I completed my second round right before my birthday.  Yes, I actually decided to celebrate my birthday early and start a Whole30.  I felt just as great the second time around as I did the first.

First off, for those who aren't sure what Whole30 is, go to this LINK.  In a nutshell, a Whole30 is an eating program where you eliminate many foods that could potentially be a problem for 30 days.  Then you systematically add those foods back into your diet in a controlled way like a science project to see if you have any problems.  It's a complete and total reset for your body.

My reasons for doing Whole30 have always been to get my food addictions and cravings under control.  There are a lot of nice side benefits such as weight loss, glowing skin, energy, clear head, motivation, improved mood, and so much more.

My summer was a little weird.  I had some medical stuff going on for the first few weeks of June.  Then I taught summer school for six weeks.  Then we went on a short vacation.  I knew I wanted to get back to healthy habits after the vacation.  And that's literally what I did.  We got home on Thursday night, and I started Whole30 the next day.

Why am I calling this round a Whole45?  Because I plan to keep up with the plan for 45 days.  Why?  It has to do with getting back into an exercise routine along with healthy eating.

Last November, my friend Laura asked me to join a Boot Camp gym with her.  It was a groupon and the price was good.  I didn't really want to do it, but I agreed, and loved it.  I loved it so much that I signed up for a year!

With the medical stuff going on back in June I wasn't able to work out for several weeks this summer.  I finally started going back to boot camp this past week.  Man, am I sore, but man do I feel good!

One morning while I was working out, I was thinking about how I started boot camp with a six week groupon membership.  I remember feeling stronger after three weeks and noticing the improvements after six weeks.  I told myself to give it six weeks back at boot camp.  It's a mental game I'm playing with myself.  Just six weeks.  Six weeks is 42 days and I add the three days of Whole30 that I did prior to exercise and that takes me to a nice round 45.

I thought pretty hard about my exercise goals.  (Eating goals were taken care of through Whole30, but I'll have to refine that for life after Whole30.)  Anyhow, after a bit of contemplation I came up with boot camp at least three times a week and running at least three times a week.  I want to build back up to a half marathon or maybe even a full marathon!  Bucket list.

Okay, now that you have all that background...how am I doing?  Well, I haven't cheated.  And I won't.

But man, the past few days have been a struggle.  It's back to school time.  There's just a lot going on with putting together classrooms, trying to figure out where we are going to put 32 seventh graders, and ordering enough supplies for everyone.  I feel like I'm having internal meltdowns.

I was working in my classroom this morning and I just had that urge to eat all the things that contained sugar.  I'm not about to mess up my Whole30, but man the stress just hit me and all I wanted to do was drown the anxiety in sugar.  It's my biggest weakness.  I thought to myself, what else can I do besides eat?  Exercise.  I can exercise.  (And write a blog post!)

Even though it was a little inconvenient and out of the way, I drove home, made myself a salad bigger than my head, and changed into my gym clothes.  Then I came back to school to work.  I'll hit the gym before going home.  Let's see how that approach to stress and anxiety work for me!

The salad I made after leaving school and taking a short mental break.

Here are some other photos from this round.

One habit I hung onto from the very first round was drinking black coffee!  So strange even to me since I didn't even drink coffee until about two years ago!

It's easier to snap a quick picture after finishing a run to remember my distance.  Not far, but I'm literally starting from zero.

These types of salads are an absolute staple for me.  Salads bigger than my head.  I pretty much put anything in there but the kitchen sink.

New to me spice from Trader Joe's.  I really like it!

Giant salad #2.

Mango salsa and chicken.  Pretty tasty.

Another gym run.

This stuff let's me feel like I am drinking a soda, even though this is NOT my idea of a tasty soda!  Don't get me wrong, I like how these taste with a meal, but it's not satsifying my craving for sugar.  It does fill the need for carbonation.

Anyhow, I just felt the need to document the stress of the day and write out how I was feeling in regards to needing junk to calm myself down.  I resisted.  I fed myself tons of healthy food.  I took a mental break.  I did some blogging.  I'll be going to the gym in a bit.  I think those are all really strong, positive steps towards change.

Friday Favorites - Back to School Edition

I officially start school today, and my kids go back to school next Thursday.

In some ways, I'm ready for structure and routine.  In other ways I don't want summer to end.  I like structure and routine, but I also like lounging in my house.  And I didn't get much time to lounge this summer because I taught summer school.  I like the start of a new year, but it's also crazy hectic and time consuming to get up and running.  Oh well.  The lament of all teachers.

But since this is Friday FAVORITES, I should focus on the good stuff!  Here goes.

1. Hot lunch.  I like it when the kids choose hot lunch at school.  That being said, I don't have much room to complain, because over the last year, I trained them to pack their own lunches.  They are in 5th and 8th grades, after all!  Still, it's nice not to have to think of anything for a few mornings each month.

I was surprised that Hudson only chose three lunches this month and none of them pizza!  Is he thinking of his health?  Did he just not like the choices listed?  I don't know.  I don't care!

2. A new lesson plan book.  All teachers at my school are required to submit lesson plans through a program called planbookedu.com.  I've been using this electronic lesson plan for years and love the versatility and ease of submitting the plans to my principal.  However, I also like to have a pencil/paper planbook for long term planning and calendar items.  Ah, the wonder of a blank book!

I've gone the expensive route with an Erin Condren planner in the past.  I loved that planner because it was so pretty, but I didn't use it enough to justify the cost.  I chose to go less than $20 for this version at GW School Supply.  If I don't use the planner the way I have it planned in my head, I'm not out that much money.  It's my goal to actively use the paper planner every day at school as reminders for upcoming things on my to do list.

3. New Day Planner

Again, I've had two different pricey day planners in the past and just didn't use them as much as I dreamed I would.  I still wanted a planner for life purposes, appointments, bills, etc.  I just didn't want to spend a lot of money.  This one was from Target...I think.

The start of a new school year is like my New Year's.  I typically get goal oriented and have desires for organization.  It doesn't always happen, but it's where my mindset is this time of year.

Excited to start using this day planner.

4. La Croix - I feel like this is the new "it" drink.  I see people all over my social media feeds drinking this stuff.  I started drinking it last fall when I started my first Whole30.  (I'm currently in the middle of my 3rd Whole30.)  I like this flavor and pomegranate.  I need to branch out from Wal Mart to find more flavors.

I prefer to drink these with meals as a replacement for other beverages I can't have.  I'm not as big of a fan drinking them without food.  Yesterday, I was busy helping at school with registration and it was hot and I was tired.  There was a kid in the room with a fresh bottle of Diet Coke.  I swear, I wanted to trip him and steal his soda!  Cravings suck!

5. My new sparkle shirt.  I haven't bought a new OLPH Shirt in quite a while, so I treated myself to some bling!

The shirt also has a little glittery Cougar paw on the back!  So cute!  I am also glad to get back in gear with school because I do my hair and makeup each day.  If it's a casual summer day, I'm not putting in that type of effort, but I always feel better and more confident about myself if I'm put together.

6. New uniforms.  As much as I hated the task, I made the boys try on all the uniforms in the house.  It was a major process.  Then I was able to snag enough at the used uniform sale that I only needed to buy two new polos for Hudson.  #win

This is only a fraction of uniforms that I store in closets until they fit my boys. #storagebinsfordays

I feel like I "won" at the used uniform sale!  Only had to buy two blue polos at the new prices.  And even then I had a coupon!

Back to school we go.  Here's to early mornings, routines, homework, grading papers, lesson planning, and hanging with my best teacher friend at school!

Why, Hello There! Yes, I'm Alive!

It's an actual, honest to goodness post!  I have no intention of keeping up regularly on this blog, but I have some time today, my laptop was actually on, and I figured I'd do a multi-month update.

The only part of the blog that I actively keep up with is the Books Read tabs.  Go there to see what I read last year and this year.

So, what have we been up to?  A long hot summer.

I taught summer school for six weeks.  We took several day trips to the ocean. We took a mini vacation to Universal Studios. Now I'm getting back to business at school.

We spent last Wednesday at Universal, and we took it easy on Thursday.  We were originally going to go back to Universal on Thursday, but there was a little mix up with ticket blackout dates.  No problem.  It allowed us to sleep and swim!

We were so tired from the trip the day before.  It was nice to sleep in and spend leisure time at the pool.  The weather was perfect for Eric and me to lounge on a chair poolside.

Hudson enjoyed the pool.

I love it when my boys get along.

Love those smiles!

So relaxed.

Messy hair, no makeup, new sunglasses.  It was pretty nice.

We stayed at the Universal Sheraton hotel.  It's probably the fanciest hotel the boys have stayed in.  I love a striped pool towel that makes me feel like I'm at a private resort!

I got spiffy new Beats that match my phone, my watch, and my iPad!

While it would have been cool to be in a room way up there, our room was awesome as well because it had a sliding door that opened directly to the pool!

I'll do a whole separate post on our day at Universal Studios another day.  Here's a few other things happening in 4C world.

One of the very few days this summer that I didn't get up at 4 a.m.  I enjoyed coffee in bed.  I love it when Eric gets up and makes me my cup of coffee and delivers it to my nightstand!  That's love!  I was really enjoying my coffee, blanket, and bed this day.

I started my third round of Whole30, but I'm pretty certain that I'm going to make it a Whole45.  I'll write another post talking about why I'm doing that.  We shop at Trader Joe's each week for groceries.  I've seen this seasoning in various Instagram posts and needed to try it out for myself.  So good!

I made the kids try on every last living piece of uniform clothing that we own.  They loved it!  It's not anyone's favorite day, but it is a must to see what we have and what we need.  I was able to grab a used items at school and only had to buy two polo shirts for Hudson.  #majorwin

Mango salsa with bbq chicken.  Thank goodness I like raw veggies in a salad.

This is what I was able to snag at school from the used uniforms.  I was super happy to get most of what we needed.

It always cracks me up when I see this dog upside in his bed!

I took this picture yesterday and sent it to Eric because it has been a while since I've had hair and makeup done!  I'm also liking my new sparkle shirt!

I'm not looking forward to the stress of working, but I'm looking forward to days filled with purpose and routine...if that makes any sense!  I love what I do.  I just don't like to get stressed.  The beginning of the year is always awesome with new beginnings, but it can definitely be stressful.

As always, I'd love to blog more, but other stuff just seems to get in the way.  One thing that might help is an idea that we have to redo our family room concept.  I'm hoping to give myself a dedicated spot to do work (school work, laptop, blog, etc.).  I don't have a space like this at home, and I need one!

I'm not putting any pressure on myself to write regularly, but I never want to let this little piece of our world go!