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GRAINS, NO GAINS: A GROUP A OF PRIMAL/PALEO/GRAIN FREE WOMEN WHO BLOG
ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES/LIFE/BENEFITS WITHOUT GRAINS. A GREAT WAY FOR
OTHERS (WHO MAY BE WANTING TO LOSE WEIGHT, REVERSE AN ACUTE/CHRONIC
HEALTH TREND, AND/OR TRANSITION FROM COMMERCIAL WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAMS) TO
READ ABOUT REAL LIFE WOMEN WHO ARE LIVING THE LIFE AND SUCCEEDING! - See more at: http://www.skynsurf.com/#sthash.v3ruO8cH.dpuf
A group a of Primal/Paleo/Grain free women who blog about their
experiences/life/benefits without grains. It’s a great way for others
(who may be wanting to lose weight, reverse an acute/chronic health
trend, and/or transition from commercial weight loss programs) to read
about real life women who are living the life and succeeding!
O
GRAINS, NO GAINS: A GROUP A OF PRIMAL/PALEO/GRAIN FREE WOMEN WHO BLOG
ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES/LIFE/BENEFITS WITHOUT GRAINS. A GREAT WAY FOR
OTHERS (WHO MAY BE WANTING TO LOSE WEIGHT, REVERSE AN ACUTE/CHRONIC
HEALTH TREND, AND/OR TRANSITION FROM COMMERCIAL WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAMS) TO
READ ABOUT REAL LIFE WOMEN WHO ARE LIVING THE LIFE AND SUCCEEDING! - See more at: http://www.skynsurf.com/#sthash.v3ruO8cH.dpuf
O
GRAINS, NO GAINS: A GROUP A OF PRIMAL/PALEO/GRAIN FREE WOMEN WHO BLOG
ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES/LIFE/BENEFITS WITHOUT GRAINS. A GREAT WAY FOR
OTHERS (WHO MAY BE WANTING TO LOSE WEIGHT, REVERSE AN ACUTE/CHRONIC
HEALTH TREND, AND/OR TRANSITION FROM COMMERCIAL WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAMS) TO
READ ABOUT REAL LIFE WOMEN WHO ARE LIVING THE LIFE AND SUCCEEDING! - See more at: http://www.skynsurf.com/#sthash.v3ruO8cH.dpuf
A day in the life of Karen P.... AKA- Garden Girl KP. This month's blog topic is "A Day in the Life". A few photos and some every day details of long term weight maintenance, habits, and routines. Scroll to the end of this blog post for the stories of Gwen, Lynda, Jeanette, and Leigh! We are blogging once a month on the same topic. Read their stories, we are stronger together!
4:30 am- iPhone rings. Snooze button is pressed once. OR I wake up on my own, just before my alarm. I'm an incurable morning person, so I take advantage of that.
4:45 am- I select an Instagram photo of the day to post. Usually from my walks at the beach over the weekend, the low tides and tide pools, or some cool birds I've spotted during my lunch walks. Photography is my hobby, and on some days posting my photos is the BEST part of the whole day, besides the great food I eat and time with my family.
4:50 am The cats slowly rip the flesh on my legs wait patiently for me to feed them.
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| "Your bladder is full, my cat stomach is empty, you know the drill..." |
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| I am sooooo cute... feed me now! I can do anything I want I'm soooo cute! |
4:55 I weigh in quickly and record my weight on My Fitness Pal. Data, record it, move on...
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| A year of daily weighing Feb 2012 to Feb 2013 |
5:00 Cats are fed, I brew my first cup of coffee in my Keurig and take my thryroid meds.
5:00- 6:00 Get ready and breakfast prep
1 egg, 3 egg whites ( I do better post auto-immune thyroid with fewer egg yolks and more egg whites, I'm not fat phobic, trust me!) Asparagus sauteed in avocado oil with garlic sea salt, baby kale, avocado slices.
This is a weekend breakfast, week day breakfasts are about the same content, just not as pretty looking on a plate. I grab a frozen, pre-cooked at home meal for lunch, side of veggies, and maybe some more avocado for work.
Next up... Commute, Work, another cup of Keurig coffee and several bottles of water.
Mid- Day: Lunch- often left overs or something re-heated from weekend batch cooking. I eat standing up in the break room. I know it's not supposed to be good for me.... but I find it most AWESOME! Really, I sit all day some days... that's not so great, so I stand up, chat, answer questions about my lunch. "Yes, I made this myself, NO I won't gain my weight back eating avocado slices, Yes, I use my own spice blends, NO, I don't miss noodles/rice/garlic bread... look this sauteed cabbage is a noodle substitute, YES! I can bring in my Paleo Cookbooks. NO, I don't eat RAW MEAT.... I don't know anyone who does.... Yes, the ground bison is pretty good at Costco, No, my cholesterol is not too high, Yes! there is a lot of omega 3 in grass fed beef. NO: grass-fed beef is not too much more money when you consider I don't buy junk food or eat out much any more. Great trade off.... " Love it. Really. I've influenced more people by just answering questions and the great smell of home made food. Big steaming bowls of protein, veggies, and fat that is low inflammatory. I'm always full after lunch.
Boom: out the door to walk for 30+ minutes. De-stress, vitamin D most days, camera in hand and I'm transformed into... Bird, plant, and Southern California photographer (weekends are usually at the beach and tide pools) This is the Primal part of my life...
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| Green teal duck, 2/6/2014 Lunch time find! |
More work... I typically do hit the wall around 3 pm. During this time I have to watch myself for signs of stress build-up, tiredness, etc. There can be a huge accumulation of food brought into the break room in the afternoon. The day I stopped eating at my work place was the day I started to stop eating emotionally.
Commute....
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| Nuclear reactor or giant boob? San Onofre |
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| Super glad the tank is in the slow lane, Camp Pendleton, 2/6/2014 |
and HOME: for my second job- Mom! I'll reheat a batch cooked meal or cook some thinly sliced meat or ground meat quickly. I take any supplements- multivitamin, vitamin D, calcium, occasionally some magnesium. I chat up Jr. Family member.
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| Ground bison, marinara, broccoli slaw, avocado slices, blueberries with cinnamon, 85% chocolate |
All the rest:
Back out for 10-15 minutes of walking if I'm not close to 9-10,00 steps.
There is no magic fairy in my house, although Jr. Family member does help. I bring home the Paleo bacon and fry it up in a pan.... ;)
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| The magic fairy that cooks, cleans, and shops! |
There's always dishes, pick up, clean up, laundry, gym 2 nights a week (20 minutes), shopping 1 night, batch cooking 1 night during the week. I'll spend 2-3 hours batch cooking on weekends. I manage time with Jr. Family member, too. That's always nice!
I'm a total podcast addict and I listen while I do chores and errands. I watch a little TV, but not much. Blogging, reading blogs, if I'm not too tired.
9:00- 10:00 pm... time to sleep. The earlier the better. If I don't blog much, it means I've prioritized sleep, and that's a good thing. My life, stress levels, and weight are all lower because of the sleep situation.
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| Sneaking in a few extra steps at the beach! |
What works:
1. Cooking at home
2. Batch cooking a lot
2.5 Eating 3 meals a day
3. Walking at lunch
4. Prioritizing time with the family
5. Prioritizing sleep over computer/TV time
What didn't work in the past:
1. Eating out a lot... pasta, bread sticks, tortilla chips, etc
2. Buying lots of Lean Cuisine and WW frozen meals
2.5 Snacking 6 times or more a day!
3. Sitting MORE at lunch
4. Numbing out and not doing much OR making eating the family event
5. Staying up late hooked to the TV
Okay, over to the other No Grain, No Gains- Keeping Weight Off in a Grain Obsessed World blogs. I know that we are all at different points in our lives. It's so fun to see what works for others:
Gwen S blog has closed
Jeannette C http://wolfforlife.blogspot.com/
Leigh C http://poonapalooza.blogspot.com/
Lynda S http://achangeoflife.blogspot.com/
Jeannette C http://wolfforlife.blogspot.com/
Leigh C http://poonapalooza.blogspot.com/
Lynda S http://achangeoflife.blogspot.com/
Phew! You are a busy gal for sure! My hat off to single parents! We're both morning people:) I can get more done sometimes before 7am, then I do the rest of the day!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Leigh! I love my morning quiet time. Sometimes reading, sometimes blogging, sometimes cleaning, sometimes planning... LOVE it.
DeleteYou have a busy life Karen :) I used to listen to more podcasts and must get back into them more. You really show how you can eat well while being a working mother. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you Lynda! I really prioritized my time for eating well, within my Paleo template. My daughter cooked herself some eggs last night, scrambled with coconut oil and sea salt. I am so proud. We talked about how she'll be able to cook for herself in college much better than the processed foods that her friends will be eating. We'll both have lower medical bills. This will pay us back soooo much since my daughter can be on our medical plans until age 24-26! Glad to put the time in now.
DeleteI love you photos!!!! And am jealous that you live in the sunshine! You certainly have a full day!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Vanessa! we are so lucky.. a little too much sun this winter. We'll have more fires this summer and higher water rates. But I am taking advantage of the sun.... I remember the sub zero weather from Indiana!
DeleteGreat post, Karen! I found it especially helpful to see what a typical eating day looks like for you. Your kittehs sound like my Molly. She bosses me around while I'm still going about my 'business' in the morning. lol) And bird photos will always win my heart!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Karen!!! I started logging my food again at MFP for a few days. You can get the whole deets on what I eat. Since I eat more fat and protein, somedays I'm full and wondering if I eat enough!! Big change from starving between each meal and not ever really feeling full. Glad you are eating real food. I know you'll get great results!
Deleteoh and ... giant boob! lol
ReplyDeleteI'll have to go take a picture of the buildings around here that hold street salt for you.
First- oh myyyy, such cute cats!!! And I love how you will answer questions about your lunch at work.. It amazes me how friends, years later, still can't understand that I'm fine with giving up grains!
ReplyDeleteI know Jeanette... the raw meat questions make me laugh so much... usually away from the asker. I think that big bowls of cereal and pancakes have been so "normalized". There's so much mis-information out there. Hard to get un-brain washed. Sometimes it seems like a zombie apocolypse of the grain eaters... sigh.
Delete"No Grains, No Gains"
ReplyDeleteI've said it before but I'm going to say it again you are inspirational - what a good second instalment - just love the way you set everything out ..... thank you for taking the time to do this. Some excellent information for us all to read.
It's only by sharing our experiences can we spread the word about healthy living.
Power to you and the other 'gals'
Just GREAT ...........
I so enjoy looking at your photo's - that teal looks cute - if a duck can be cute! And as for the magic fairy .... a fairies work is never done and it continues into Grandma Fairy-hood, if there is such a word, which brings great fun, love and laughter.
Have a brilliant weekend
All the best Jan
Thank you, Jan! It's good to share our stories. I know that I needed to see other people who were eating animal fat who were normal weight just to un-brain wash myself from all the things I had learned ( in error) before I could bring myself to do it.
DeleteI get so much enjoyment from the photos. So fun. 90% of them are right around my house or my work. What an honor to have such cool stuff in the area. :) LOL on the fairies work is never done... I believe it!
great post and life, Karen! Thanks for being the shining example! And I'd love to see some of those 'batch cooking' recipes! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gwen! Yes.. I will post a few batch cooking recipes soon. I rotate around a few.. I need to expand a bit for variety.
DeleteI batch cook and have for a long time. It is not complicated recipe batch cooking. It is cooking whole foods so they are ready to eat in different combinations. It started with meat. When I learned to cook it the minute I walked in the door from the store, everything started to get a lot easier. Now I simply think of stocking the house so everything is ready to eat. If it is there and ready, very easy for all of us.
ReplyDelete