Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Running Paleo Thanksgiving blog...

I am attempting to be Paleo for Thanksgiving, with the expectation of not being 100% successful. To document this effort, I am going to keep a running blog.

Tuesday morning, Novemeber 23:
4:00 AM: Wake up and call cab to make 6:20 AM flight
* Ate some leftover chicken and green beans

5:45 AM: After making it through security (no pat down, and I even used baby powder down there), I got a cappuccino.

6:50 AM: Had a diet coke and almonds on the plain (slight fail, artificial sweetener)

10:00 AM: Got some broccoli slaw from Cafe Intermezzo/ATL airport to go, at it on the flight, perfect. Got water to go with it.

1:00 PM: Lunch with Jennifer at the All-American Pub in Narberth. I got the Oyster Caesar salad and part of my girlfriends chicken and cranberry compote sandwich/no bread. Two pints of beers.

2:00-4:30 PM: Play with my nephews. Threw them around for a little bit, then tossed the football with them. Physical activity win. My nephew is nine, and has a spiral and body part accuracy from 30 yards. Impressive.

5:25 PM: Had some almonds and water

7:45 PM: Mom brought some Indian food from Edison, NJ (Little India). Had some curried goat, chicken tikka, and some different style of Indian bread (more veggies in it, but still some bread).

9:45 PM: Had some almonds, in fact a lot of them.

10:15 PM: Bed

Grade: B+ - Not feeling hungry at all.
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Wednesday, November 24:

8:45 AM: Wake up. Wow, slept great. Considering I had 45 minutes of sleep then night before, not surprised. Not even hungry, that is surprising. Started the day with a cup of coffee.

10:15 AM: 4 egg omelette with chicken tikka, jalapenos, and onions. Awesome. The one thing about Paleo is that since you will be cooking more, keep the recipes simple. Eggs with leftovers - does not get much better than that.

10:30-11:15 AM: Played outside with the nephews.

11:30 AM: My sister got two GoFit kettlebells about 11 months ago. She said this weekend she wanted me to teach her some exercises. It was in her office and found the bell. It was still in the box . I watched the DVD that came with it and did some of the exercise in the DVD.

1:30 PM: Fruit chew bar and an apple. Fruit chews are not fruits, don't even go there.

2:30-3:30 PM: Helped my nephew, 4, with his speech therapy. The therapist was tough. Different learning environment in the Philly suburbs.

3:30-4:30 PM: Played football and wresting with my nephew.

7:15 PM: Dinner with the entire family. Shrimp curry, chicken tikka, butter chicken, and a small poratta, and peas.

10:15 PM: About 1 bag of microwave popcorn and more almonds.

Grade: B-

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Thanksgiving Day, November 25: Thanksgiving must have mean "Cheat like you wouldn't believe on your diet" in Native American

8:15 AM: Woke up, not hungry at all. Slept great.

9:15 AM: Did last minute Thanksgiving shopping, including the bird. Picked up the following cheat items:
* Cranberry scone
* Peppermint Mocha
* Pumpkin Cream Cheese muffin
* Sesame bagel with scallion cream cheese.

10:30 AM: Started eating, but still not hungry. Only ate about 1/4 of the scone and 1/2 of the bagel. Amazing how little you eat when your hormones are somewhat adjusted. Remember my words on cheating: Cheat on quality or quantity, but not both. I am cheating on quality during the day, quantity during the main meal.

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM: Playing wresting with my nephew. I even took some "bumps" for him. He really liked that. He felt like he was giving me an armdrag.

1:15 PM: Taught my dad how to deadlift with a 25lb bell. He is a natural.

2:00 PM - 2:30 PM: Has two glasses of red wine, some cheese with a little bread, and some veggies and Buffalo hummus. Awesome. Tuesday I went to a cheese shop and asked "What is the stinkiest cheese you got?" and got 1/4 lb of it. I gave some to my four y/o nephew, and after he just said "eeeeeeeeeeew" and spit it out.

4:15 PM: Thanksgiving dinner: Turkey (white and dark meat) and Gravy, Green Beans, Acorn Squash, Carrots, Peas, Red Cabbage. Heaping plateful. Strangely, not hungry at all afterwards. No mashed potatoes or stuffing, or corn. Very Paleo. Quantity or Quality, you pick.

7:00 PM: Small slice of apple pie and 1T of vanilla ice cream

8:00 PM: Some Wasabi almonds. Gave one to my 4 year old nephew. He immediate ran to the sink, doused mouth with water and said "Too hot, almond!"

10:15 PM: Was a little hungry. Jumped off the paleo bandwagon with some more hummus, some fancy cheese, and 1/2 a scone.

Grade: B-

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Friday, November 26:

8:15 AM: Woke up, felt great. Not hungry at all. For the most part, felt lean even though I think I am holding a little water. This may be TMI, but I took a world-class dump this morning.

8:45 AM: Coffee and some green peppers.

11:00 AM: Some porotta (Indian bread), hummus and some grapes.

1:00 PM: Some homemade turkey soup (thanks Mom), awesome as usual.

3:00 - 4:45 PM: We went to the Boyd's department store to do some clothes shopping for my dad. Too rich for my wallet. Next door to there is DiBruno market, which has all types of high-end food. We picked up some cheese and got bread. At this place I again asked for the stinkiest cheese. This one smelled like ammonia, but tasted damn good.

After that we went to Tony Jr's for a cheesesteak. My nephew Pierce really wanted to go. I got the Steak and Greens (broccoli rabe), and my nephew got the Pizza Steak. Mine was awesome, and way better than Pat's or Geno's. Only at 1/4 of it. Not hungry.

5:15-5:45 PM: I decided to get a workout in, and my sister only has a 25lb and 10lb kettlebell. Here is the workout that I did:
Kettlebell 100s
* 100 swings: 25lb x 20L/20R/15L/15R/15L/15R
* 100 squats: 25lb x 20/15/15/15/18/17
* 100 snatches: 25lb x 20L/20R/15L/15R/15L/15R
* 100 MPs: 35lb x 20L/20R/15L/15R/15L/15R
* 100 Renegade Lunges: 25lb x 5 x 10L/10R
* 100 Cleans: 25lb x 20L/20R/10L/10R/10L/10R/10L/10R
* 100 Pushups: 10 x 10
* 100 Single Leg Rows: 35lb x 20L/20R//10L/10R/10L/10R/10L/10R
* 100 Single Leg Deadlifts: 25lb x 20L/20R/10L/10R/10L/10R/10L/10R

==> Great workout? No. To be honest, this is a little girl's workout. But it was a workout. I did improvise. Tried to work as fast as possible. I am going to enjoy dinner.

7:15 PM: Eating some Thai food, I am getting seafood, gotta increase those Omega 3s. Really killed it. Thai food is really expensive here, so I made sure that nothing went to waste. No rice though.

8:30 PM: I did have 1/2 a cupcake, since it was my niece's 2nd birthday.

Grade: A-, really stayed with it and made good choices while still "fitting in." The amazing thing is how hungry you DON'T FEEL. Managing hormones is a good thing.

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Saturday, November 27:

8:00 AM: Woke up after a solid eight hours.

8:30 AM: Coffee only....

9:45 AM: Great breakfast at Little Bills diner. Scrapple and eggs, and had a little of my girlfriend's omelet.

10:30 AM - 11:45 AM: Walked the streets of Philadelphia. Went to Reading Terminal Market. Crazily, not even the littlest bit hungry. Did pick up some Amish pretzels. I did not eat any, but we did take some home.

1:00 - 3:00 PM: Had some of my mom's Turkey soup. It is more awesome the second day. Also put some laundry in while we were waiting to go to the airport. I don't know why some people make a big deal about laundry. 15 minutes of effort, TOPS. This is what laundry places do: Everything in cold, whatever happens happens. It is not hard guys. And glad the laundry is done.

2:30 PM: Did some more flips with my nephew. I also let him flip me. I have some FB pics of this. Really a lot of fun.

5:30 PM: Picked up some Chick-Fil-A at the airport food court. I got the nuggets/12pack.

7:30 PM: Finally hungry enough to eat the nuggets. Also had a diet coke. Not Paleo, but still a good choice.

9:00 PM: Got luggage and getting a cab home. What are the odds of this. We had the same cab driver at 4:30 AM on Tuesday morning as we did at 9:00 PM Saturday night. What are the odds of that.

10:00 PM - 12:30 AM: We went out for some drinks. Had about 4 beers, and resisted the urge to eat anything. On a traditional diet, it is not the alcohol that kills you, it is the stuff you eat when you are drunk and starving that kills you. Things that I have eating while drunk:
* 13 Dunkin Donuts
* 8 Pieces of fried chicken
* 14 slices of pizza
* 50 chicken wings (OK, so I have done that sober too, I love chicken wings)
* 3 slices of pizza, 2 tamales, and a brisket sandwich
* Tuna Suprise at Hot Truck

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Sunday, November 28:

9:15 AM: Woke up. Weigh in 178. Ohhhh, I gained a whole lb. Will lose it by tomorrow.

11:10 AM: I think I am going to do an ETK style program, with a special focus on coniditioning and thoracic mobility for variety days.

11:30 AM: Brunch at Gaspar's. Strict Paleo starts today! Stayed Paleo, except there is way too much food here at the buffet. Next time going ala carte.

Spent the rest of the day studying for my CompTIA/A+ certification. Aced it!

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