20130719

Day 10 - The Good and The Ugly

I can't believe I made it to day 10! Like I told my friends, I thought at day 3 or so, I'd be sitting in the corner munching bread, mumbling, "my precious" like Gollum. But no, I'm still here doing the Whole 30. I don't know if I unknowingly 'slip' once or twice (when I have to eat out, I can't know for sure what kind of oil they're using) but I am doing this the best I could.

Overall, I feel better. I don't feel bloated after meals anymore, I haven't experienced migraines since day 1 and I can see that I'm shedding fat from my belly, because now I can see the shadow of (not Collosus) my stomach muscles. My clothes (especially pants) are noticeably looser too! Though I'm still waiting for the surge of energy people talking about. I still feel a bit lethargic and sleepy, especially in the afternoon. I'm not really sure if it's due to my early morning call for sahur, or just my lack of energy.

From this day on, I think I'm going to cut a bit on the coconut milk. Also I ate some sweet potato yesterday and it didn't feel quite right in my digestive system, so I probably will cut that out too and see what happens. Today I ate a bit of grilled chicken sold by a food vendor who always come by my office. I could see that the chicken is so big, it cannot be 'ayam kampung' or 'ayam pejantan' that I usually have in my house. I didn't finish the whole breast, just the meat on top because it's so big. And now I feel rather bloated and queasy. I wonder if anybody has ever experienced this with what we call broiler chicken?

20130711

Lightheaded

Day 1 & 2
Due to the fasting month, I had my meal 1 very early in the morning (3:30 AM). My first first meal was chicken soup with coconut milk (opor) and sauteed baby bokchoy. Weren't quite sure if it's good for this program, but it was according to the book, so, ok. Meal 2 was seabass cooked in tomato sauce with olives, tomato and zucchini. I experienced lightheadedness afterwards. I know the book said it's better to have no snacks in between meal at all, but I still feel some kind of hollowness (drama, drama) in my stomach, so I ate a banana. I ate another banana and a guava at dusk. Meal 3 was my mum's rendang and broccoli and carrot soup.

Meal 4 was left over of meal 3, with spinach salad. I didn't experience lightheadedness today, or at least not as severe as yesterday. But I was planning to do some workout in the morning but feeling lack of energy. Meal 5 was grilled chicken and nicoise salad with lemon dressing. Didn't eat the tuna, because I wasn't sure if it's allowed. Ate 2 bananas at 5-ish PM. Currently 6PM and feel somehow full. Although I sense some kind of void inside me that used to be filled with biscuits. Nevermind my drama.

PS. Do I have to mention black coffee I imbibed through out the day? About 3-4 cups.

On a Different Note

It's been a while since my last post. And I would like to do series of post on a different note than my previous ones. You see, early this year I realized I'm turning 40 (don't tell anyone) and I wasn't exactly the model of healthy lifestyle. I rarely workout, among my favorite food; fried rice, white bread and biscuits, I still smoke and I hardly have energy by the end of the day. I wasn't exactly overweight, but I dislike the way I look in clothes. In the past I lost and regain about 5 kilograms again and again, by (I'm so ashamed about this, but I'll admit anyway) consuming diet pills.

I am a mother of a 7 year old healthy girl, and I would love to be able to see her grow up and play with her. So I thought I'd do some changes. Last year, I joined Master Boot Camp group with Carlo Tamba. I worked out with them for few months or so, then due to work and other things, I missed a couple of sessions then from there it was getting easier and easier to forgo them altogether. But I thoroughly enjoyed the workout. So one of the first changes I did was committing to rise early every Saturday and join Master Boot Camp again. Little that I know that it was a single most important decision I made this year. This time, I got to know the members better, and they are the most fun fit bunch I've ever encountered. They're competitive, but not in a 'if you can do it I can do it much better' way, but in a way that motivate you to do at least as good with them. They wouldn't be reluctant to give you praises for your achievements, no matter how small. They're the kind of people to surround yourself with if you want to make positive 'adjustments' in your life.

Anyway, after working out again, I thought I'd do something with the way I eat. I heard about food combining, and I know a good friend of mine who is the embodiment of success through food combining. She used to have GERD, chronic ulcer and was overweight, but now she's cured and haven't taken the medicines for aforementioned illness for a year. So I thought I'd give it a try. But I didn't do it wholeheartedly, I just wanted to watch what I eat more. But during first weeks of food combining I noticed good changes; my frequent migraines are almost completely gone. But it's either I'm too lazy to look for background scientific evidence for this method, or anything about food combining is kind of 'dumbed down'. Then I heard from Carlo and Mario (also a member of Master Boot Camp) about Paleo eating. I was intrigued and asked them for reference on this and Carlo recommended me few books, one of them was "It Starts with Food" by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. I finished the book in few days and instantly convinced to do the "Whole 30" program.

My goal in doing this is that I simply want to get healthier and have less body fat. I also want to be fitter and have better performance in sports I am currently doing (just did my first 5K competition 2 weeks a go). There are quite plenty of do's and don'ts for this Whole 30 program. But just to sum it up, I am going through 30 days with 3 meals a day. I won't eat grains, legumes and sugar, only cook with certain kind of oil. And yes, no dairy either. I want to keep a journal of this, hoping that my odds in succeeding will improve (with the presence of witness(es)). Wish me luck.