Whole 30 - Day 26

Check that out, y'all. I'm almost done with a Whole 30. I admit to having my first cheat today. I had a soda... I know! It's terrible, but I needed it. I have an out-of-town regatta tomorrow and had to drive this afternoon, because I had no desire to make a 2:30 a.m. drive before a day of races. As I was driving, I was having a lot of trouble staying focused and kept wanting to close my eyes, just for a little bit. Sleeping while driving is really not acceptable, so I pulled off at a Bucee's gas station to buy myself some caffeine. Try not to judge so much. I at least made it to my destination in one piece.

Want to know what I ate for a pre-drive breakfast? Of course you do...

Asparagus and Pepper Scramble

3 eggs

1/2 red pepper, cut into large chunks

1/3 bunch of asparagus

1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

1 cup shredded cabbage

1 cup baby kale/spinach/arugula

1 tsp garlic salt

3/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 pinch cayenne

1 Tbls olive oil

1. Rinse your asparagus and cut the bottom 1-2 inches off the stalk.

2. Wrap the asparagus in paper towels, and briefly run the wrapped bunch under the faucet so it's a bit damp.

3. Microwave for 3.5 minutes.

4. While the asparagus is being microwaved, heat the olive oil in a pan over medium-low heat.

5. Toss in the peppers once the asparagus is hot. Cook for a couple minutes, until starting to soften.

6. Chop the asparagus into 1-inch pieces, and add to the pan with the peppers.

7. Add in the tomatoes, cabbage, and mixed greens. Cook for about a minute, then add the whisked eggs.

8. Stir often until the eggs are cooked, then eat.

After checking into the hotel, I immediately drove over to the boathouse to help unload boats from our trailer and then rig them. After dinner, we went to Rodeo Goat (http://www.rodeogoat.com/) for dinner, where I had the Caca Oaxaca, minus the cheese and the bun. It was good, but not mind-blowingly good for a burger joint which was rated the best burger in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Here's my burger below...

Whole 30 - Day 23

Breakfast today was leftover veggies from Sunday night's stir-fry with a few slices of Proscuitto and watermelon.

Lunch consisted of leftover steak and fajita veggies, some "power greens" from Trader Joes. I also had a snack of plantain chips, apple slices, 3 strawberries, some pineapple, and some grapes (we had a meeting at work during lunch and my only viable food options were fruit).

Dinner was a post-workout sweet potato with an egg, and some pomegranate seeds.

I read an article recently from Fitrocracy about weight loss: http://www.fitocracy.com/knowledge/weight-loss-101/. This article provided a link to a Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) calculator in order to determine your ideal caloric intake for weight loss. Your BMR is the amount of calories that your body burns while at rest. Now to accurately determine the BMR of your specific body, lab experiments need to be run, including a gas analysis through direct or indirect calorimetry. I bet most of you don't want to spend the time or money to have these tests, so in the meantime, you can get an estimate of your BMR from one of these websites: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ or http://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html. You can then use the Harris-Benedict Equations (http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/) to determine what your caloric intake should be based on your lifestyle/activity level. Alternatively, if you want to use the Mifflin St Jeor Equation, this calculator can be used: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm. The Harris-Benedict equations were originally developed in 1919, and then updated in 1984. The Mifflin St Jeor equations were developed in 1990 and take into account the change in lifestyle over the last century, a.k.a. we're a bit more sedentary. Keep in mind that these formulas don't take into account lean body mass. If you know what your % body fat is, then you can use your lean body mass [your weight * (100% - %body fat)] with the Katch-McArdle or Cunningham formulas.

As you can probably guess, I've read about this just a bit and would in fact like to lose weight. I wouldn't say that I'm actively counting calories, but it's a side effect of using PaleoTrack.com to keep track of my nutrient intake. I've posted before that it's rather difficult to achieve ideal Paleo nutrition. To add another layer of difficulty, the article I mentioned above said that you should eat your goal weight in grams of protein, i.e. if your goal weight is 100 lb (not that mine is), you should aim for 100 g of protein per day. That's a LOT of protein, and it's much higher than what I tend to consume in a day. And I've found that a lot of protein sources, like beef and chicken, have high omega-6:omega-3 ratios, which messes up my fatty acid ratio. So I guess that means I should eat fish every day? Yikes. Though I've gotten past most of my aversion to raw meat, I haven't quite gotten used to the idea of handling raw fish every day. I still find it gross.