IW360 Day 15 - Thursday October 29th 

Info: Getting on a good roll now that 4am isn't such a shock. I just have this crazy hate for stationary cardio. if I am hiking or running on a trail, that's great, but the treadmill/bike/elliptical kills me. I am going to switch to HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) next week so at least I am focused on not dying instead of clock watching which we all know just makes it worse. What do you all do for cardio? Leave me a comment and help me bust the "DeadTread"

Hahah this is so true!

Food Log:


Breakfast: Eggs, bacon, sausage, and hot sauce.

Lunch: Greek salad with onion, romaine, chicken, Greek olives and baba ganouj. All topped with Habanero salsa ( I know this has been the same for like 4 days in a row, what can I say, its easy to keep it simple once you find something you like and it's Paleo!

Dinner: Quest Pumpkin Pie bar (sugar and gluten free), and asparagus.

*Note on the Quest bars - technically they aren't Whole30 compliant, but since this isn't exactly a Whole30 I don't always adhere to that standard. This is one spot where I will make an exception, because Quest bars are some of the best protein/meal replacement bars out there. Gluten and Sugar free is close enough for my purposes!

Exercise: 

45 mins on the elliptical. Let me tell you this is a lot like watching paint dry. I like it because I listen to some great podcasts, but I think next week I am going to go to interval training. it has been proven to be more effective and I only have to torture myself for half the time!
  
DAY 15 COMPLETE

IW360 Day 14 - Wednesday October 28th

Info: Two weeks in which means only 52 to go! LOL. Got some cool mail today...for any of those following along, you may remembering me mention that I had a recipe selected to be in the Paleo Magazine readers choice cookbook....got home and there was a copy on my front steps! I'll be signing autographs alllllll week. Kidding of course, but it is kind of cool because the cookbook is going to be in Barnes and Noble,  Whole Foods and other stores nationwide! Besides my recipe being in there, there are a TON of awesome recipes from all over I will be trying very soon!

I will be giving away a copy of this cookbook to one of my readers in the near future. Just need to hash out the details with the publisher! Stay Tuned!

Soon to be released at major booksellers nationwide!

You don't have to squint for the recipe...it will be posted soon!

Food Log:


Breakfast: Eggs, bacon, sausage, and a LOT of hot sauce.

Lunch: Greek salad with onion, romaine, chicken, Greek olives and baba ganouj. All topped with Habanero salsa

Dinner: Odd dinner - wasn't feeling the cooking thing too much, so I ate 2 cans of smoked oysters (in olive oil) and 1lb of asparagus sauteed with a little sea salt, onion powder and cayenne pepper.


Exercise: 

Got back on the normal morning workout today.

Warm up - 10 mins on elliptical, mountain climb setting

Squats - 135lbs Warm up: 10 reps x 2 sets             
               185lbs Working weight: 5 reps x 3 sets

Overhead press - 65lbs Warm up: 10 reps x 2 sets
                              95lbs Working weight: 5 reps x 3 sets

Dead lifts - 135lbs Warm up: 10 reps x 2 sets
                    185lbs Working weight: 5 reps x 3 sets

Dumbbell Curls - 20lbs warm up: 10 reps x 2 sets
                              30lbs working weight: 5 reps x 3 sets

  

DAY 14 COMPLETE

IW360 Day 13 - Tuesday October 27th

Info: Skipped the gym in the morning because I was exhausted, keep having weird dreams that wake me up every 30 mins - hour. They are fun dreams but man can't I just stay asleep through them? At least I woke up laughing at one point LOL. Got my workout in after work though so not all was lost.

I can't seem to figure out the sleep part......

Food Log:


Breakfast: Eggs and homemade sausage.

Lunch: Chicken wings (gluten free) , carrot and celery sticks.

Dinner: Turkey breast, and leftover homemade sausage.....was lacking in the veggie department tonight.



Exercise: 


No sleep again, but I got my workout in at night.

•  Sledgehammer swings - 16# Sledgehammer and one big arse tire! 100 reps - 50 with each arm being in the dominant (hand on top) position
• .6 Mile sprint - I was running this loop last year and it was taking me 8mins and 50 sec. I ran it tonight and completed it in 5mins 45sec. Pushing yourself is tough but worth it in the end. Still a 9.5min mile pace, but its progress.

 

DAY 13 COMPLETE

IW360 Day 12 - Monday October 26th

Info: Got notice that the URL finally got transferred, so the new Whole360 site construction is underway! No promises when it will be done, but I will get it out as soon as I can.

Cannot WAIT until the new site is done!

Food Log:


Breakfast: Quest Pumpkin Pie bar (gluten and sugar free)

Lunch: Half of a giant Greek salad with chicken, babaganouj for dressing

Dinner: Other half of the Greek salad but added ground beef. Hot sauce for dressing.



Exercise: 

Could not sleep the night before so decided to skip the gym today, running on 3 hours of sleep is no good. So I took a lazy day.
 

DAY 12 COMPLETE

IW360 Day 11 - Sunday October 25th

Info: 

"I wish it were Sunday'
Cause that's my fun day
My I don't have to run day.... Oh wait it is Sunday! (Bonus points if you can name that song LOL)

Sunday is rest day from the gym, doesn't mean I am going to be lazy, just means no lifting and no purposeful cardio. Aka it's niiiice!

I think she finally found the right one!

Food Log:


Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and homemade sausage

Lunch: Fuzzy's tacos - Large Chicken salad with habanero hot sauce for dressing.

Dinner: Chicken leftovers with Moroccan dipping sauce (Recipe out of Well Fed Cookbook), asparagus and green beans


Exercise: 

Walked all over gods creation trying to find the perfect pumpkin at the pumpkin farm. Ended up traversing about a million pumpkins and 3 1/4 miles!
 

DAY 11 COMPLETE

IW360 Day 10 - Saturday October 24th

Info: Had this post all queued up and for whatever reason Blogger decided not to post it. Thanks Blogger! Can't wait until I can get the new sit up and running and I don't have to mess with Blogger anymore. Anyways here it is in all its glory!

Food Log:


Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and homemade sausage

Lunch: Apple Cinnamon Quest bar, Vanilla almond Quest bar (Sugar and gluten free bars)

Dinner: Grass fed ground beef taco salad with Franks Red Hot for dressing



Exercise: 


Did some air squats (50) and then played hockey. Was on the ice for an hour. man I was gassed.


 

DAY 10 COMPLETE

IW360 Day 9 - Friday October 23rd


Info: So I need to have a little rant, sorry I know that's all we here nowadays but its important.

If your child is sick, other than a little cold or something please don't pretend you don't know or that "It's OK" to take them to school anyways. I understand there aren't too many people with morals in the world anymore, but just for this once have a little bit of consideration for others. Please? My youngest daughter started going to pre school...which we likely all already understand is a petri dish of bacteria....but now she has the bacterial version of pink eye. The lady at the front desk blew the other parents in.....yeah I'm looking at you, you knew and you still brought your kid to school. Trust me your child's (and my child's for that matter) health is way more important than going in to work and pawning your diseases off on others. Be a parent for Christs sake and take care of your children, if not for others at least for your poor child's sake. We didn't force you to have kids!

Sorry about that, I was raised in a family that you respected others and treated them well. It doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Evidence lately is the sick daughter i now have, the paint chip out of the side of my car that the lady rammed her car door in to (and didn't say anything)....I could keep going for pages and pages here but I'll spare you!

The Big Hoss as I like to call it!

Food Log:


Breakfast: Giant omelet - 5 eggs (free range, organic - I buy them from our post man!), 4 large mushrooms and 4oz of grass fed ground beef. All covered in salsa.

Lunch: Leftover chicken breast and Brussels sprouts.

Dinner: Kinda chicken wings - leftover chicken breasts chopped in to nuggets and then tossed in a sauce of grass fed ghee and Franks red hot. I also ate a honeycrisp apple that was almost the size of my head.....if you've met me you know thats a BIIIIG apple!




Exercise: 

Sore again, like I want to die sore....that's what happens when you are lazy I guess though, I only have myself to blame. I still got up and did cardio, but missed a strength workout.

• 45 minutes on the elliptical - Mountain climber setting -  I climbed 2.5 peaks today!
  

 

DAY 9 COMPLETE

IW360 Day 8 - Thursday October 22nd


Info: Got confused on my dates and days somehow.....getting old sucks haha! Went back and fixed it and we are marching along again! Working on new website, playing the waiting game as 1and1 web hosting takes forever to transfer my URL to my new host. Once that comes over I can get crackin! So much planned for the site, hopefully you all are going to love it!


Also as a note - Whole360 is under construction. I am finally fed up with Blogger as a whole and have made the jump. I secured hosting for www.whole360challenge.com through 2018 yesterday and am working on implementing WordPress. Needless to say the Whole360 is getting a MAJOR face lift in the near future. Until I get all that figured out though, the website listed above is not working. In order to get to the blog you can click the link on Twitter, Facebook, or visit at the direct address which is http://whole360.blogspot.com/. As usual thanks for stopping by, and I think you will all be very happy with the new site when it is done!

Food Log:


Breakfast: Eggs, and sausage

Lunch: Grass fed beef burger patty with green beans

Dinner: Lame dinner, had a mishmash of green beans, a few pieces of leftover chicken, part of a Quest gluten/Sugar free protein bar and a handful of grapes



Exercise: 

I was so sore today I literally almost could not get out of bed. I managed to roll out though and get to the gym! Cardio sucked....but hey I have never been a big fan!

• 45 minutes on the elliptical - mountain climber section I climbed 2 peaks! LOL
  

 

DAY 8 COMPLETE

IW360 - Day 7 Wednesday October 21st


Info: Man a week has flown by already, doesn't seem like it has been that long as I can remember just struggling to formulate a plan to get motivated to do this again. Maybe if I try to keep it fresh in my mind I won't lose track and fall in to bad habits again.


Also as a note - Whole360 is under construction. I am finally fed up with Blogger as a whole and have made the jump. I secured hosting for www.whole360challenge.com through 2018 yesterday and am working on implementing WordPress. Needless to say the Whole360 is getting a MAJOR face lift in the near future. Until I get all that figured out though, the website listed above is not working. In order to get to the blog you can click the link on Twitter, Facebook, or visit at the direct address which is http://whole360.blogspot.com/. As usual thanks for stopping by, and I think you will all be very happy with the new site when it is done!

Food Log:


Breakfast: Eggs, bacon and sausage


Lunch: Moroccan spiced chicken and green beans sautéed in coconut aminos and onion powder


Dinner: Giant salad with mixed greens lettuce, mushrooms and chicken breast. Hot sauce and balsamic vinegar for dressing



Exercise: 

  
Elliptical mountain climb for 10 mins as general warm up

Squats -

• 10 x 2 sets of 135lbs for warm ups
• 5 x 3 sets of 155lbs working sets

DeadLift -

• 10 x 2 sets of 135lbs for warm ups
• 5 x 3 sets of 155lbs working sets

Bench Press -

• 10 x 2 sets of 95lbs for warm ups
• 5 x 3 sets of 115lbs working sets

Weights are way too light at the moment, but I didn't want to get too crazy just starting back out and hurting myself. Each workout increases the weight 10lbs so I will be progressing pretty quickly.

DAY 7 COMPLETE

IW360 - Day 6 Tuesday October 20th

Info:  Holy sore. Like not a little sore...like most sore possible. Stairs are going to be so much fun today, oh and tomorrow? Yeah I have to do squats and dead lifts again. This healthy thing hurts! At least its a good hurt though!

Don't judge me! Actually if you judged me by my breakfast, you'd assume I was......odd LOL

Food Log:

Breakfast: Leftover grass fed burger, sauerkraut, onion, black olives and jalapenos. All coated in a nice bath of hot sauce and some mustard.

Lunch: Chicken wings (non breaded of course), carrots and celery.

Dinner: Moroccan spiced chicken with green beans sautéed in coconut aminos and onion powder.

Exercise: 

  It's getting easier to get up at least. I actually woke up right before the alarm went off. All bright eyed and bushy...yeah no, more like red eyed and hating it, but I got it done.

Cardio Day:

• Elliptical trainer mountain climb setting (takes you up and down 2 mountains) for 45 minutes
• Decline crunches - 20 reps x 4 sets

   

      

DAY 6 COMPLETE

IW360 - Day 5 Monday October 19th

Info: I actually got up at 4am and made it to the gym. Personal win there, especially since I got about 4 hours of sleep. Tomorrow will be easier, I can tell I am going to be super tired tonight so falling asleep shouldn't be an issue LOL.


Also wanted to make a note in here about my addiction to pop (soda, Whatever!). I LOVE the stuff, its likely why I failed the last attempt at a Whole360. But I found a fizzy healthy alternative that seems to be doing the trick for me. I posted a link yesterday but wanted to toss this up in case there is anyone else out there like me that thought it was the end of the world to not drink pop (it "almost" is btw - but you can do it!) Check this stuff out, its pretty tasty and has 0 calories, 0 sweeteners of any kind and 0 artificial flavors. Its called LaCroix and as fancy as it sounds its actually made near my old stomping grounds in Michigan! It is a bit pricey, but I found it on sale and stocked up. Any anyways can you put a price tag on your health?

Soda addiction savior? Maybe.

Food Log:

Breakfast: Eggs, bacon and sausage

Lunch: Greek style salad with romaine, onion, chicken and lamb. Baba ganouj as my dressing mixed with a little habanero salsa

Dinner: Moroccan spiced chicken with green beans sautéed in coconut aminos and onion powder



Exercise: 

 Well it took 3 alarms and a sunrise alarm clock but I was able to get up and get to the gym!


"Starter" Workout:

• 10 min elliptical hill climb for warm ups

Squats:

• 135 x 10 x 2 sets for warm up
• 145 x 5 x 3 sets working weight

Over head press:

• 65 x 10 x 2 sets for warm up
• 75 x 5 x 3 sets working weight

        
     

DAY 5 COMPLETE

IW360 - Day 4 Sunday October 18th

Info: Today was a good test of dedication and motivation....There is nothing I like better than watching Hockey, and Football with a Miller Lite, OK a whole case of Miller lite if we are being honest. Everything went great, I bulk cooked food for the week and chugged some La Croix instead of a bakers dozen of brews! Gym torture starts at 4am tomorrow, still mentally struggling with how I am going to get myself out of bed for that....will figure something out!

Pretty maids all in a row....Which one you want?

Food Log:



Breakfast: A little toss of grilled chicken, fresh mushrooms and Baba ganouj

Lunch: Smoked salmon salad with black olives and romaine. Baba ganouj for dressing.

Dinner: Grass fed burger patty over a bed of grilled sour kraut, onion and jalapenos. Coated with an ample dose of hot sauce for good measure.

Dessert: Fried cinnamon apples (apples, coconut oil, cinnamon.) - recipe coming soon, this was so good!

Exercise:

Went on a 5 mile bike ride with my oldest daughter. Also logged ~3 miles of walking about.

   

DAY 4 COMPLETE

IW360 - Day 3 Saturday October 17

Info: Prepped and cooked a bunch of items so I can pre package my foods for next week. Also made a list of recipes I am going to do tomorrow so there is no question on the food aspect of this Whole360. I even bought containers that you might get at a to go restaurant to package my foods. #Noexcuses this time!

A bit odd I know, but this was breakfast LOL

Food Log:



Breakfast: Chicken, brussels sprouts, mushrooms and paleo sriracha

Lunch: Smoked lemon pepper salmon salad on romaine lettuce. baba ganouj as dressing

Dinner: Moroccan chicken, quartered mushrooms tossed in baba ganouj

Dessert: Fried cinnamon apples (apples, coconut oil, cinnamon.) - recipe coming soon, this was so good!

So tasty! Experimenting with adding a crunchy component to it like a cobbler!

Exercise:

Walked a mile and a half, and added an hour of dryfire pistol practice. Doesn't sound that intense buy dryfire can work up a sweat!

   

DAY 3 COMPLETE

IW360 - Day 2: October 16th 2015

Info: Day 2 cranked along as good as day one. I really love spicy foods and came across a recipe for Paleo Sriracha, so I decided to make it (In case you didn't know regular sriracha has a lot of sugar and some other not so pleasant ingredients). It turned out pretty good, but was not spicy enough for my liking. I think I am going to try Jalapeno, Cerrano and Habanero variations and see what kind of flame throwers I can come up with!

It doesn't have a cool rooster bottle, but it's pretty tasty anyways!

Food Log:



Breakfast: Eggs and sausage

Lunch: Greek salad with romaine, cucumber, onion, baba ganouj and 2 lamb kebobs

Dinner: Grilled Moroccan spiced chicken with baba ganouj over a bed of romaine lettuce.


Exercise: 

Walked 2 miles. Gym was supposed to start today, but my debit card company upgraded my card and the card on file at my gym declined the payment. I had to update my payment info to reactive my gym membership. I decided I am just going to start the gym program on Monday so it works well with my schedule. I will do random activity to stay busy until then!

   

DAY 2 COMPLETE

IW360 - Day 1: October 15th 2015


Info:


Day one of the reboot has gone well. Motivation makes a huge difference on staying on the straight and narrow. I've also founds some great podcasts that I have been listening to in my lovely daily 2 hour + commute that is really helping me rethink a lot of stuff I have been doing. If I'm stuck in a car may as well be learning right?



How about you all? Any podcasts you swear by and recommend? I will list my favorites in an upcoming post. There are so many out there and so much you can learn....and they are free!

A great way to learn for free!

Food Log:

Breakfast: Paleo Meals To Go Beef and veggies

Lunch: Greek salad with romaine, olives, onion and a lamb kebob

Dinner: Spicy grilled shrimp salad with romaine, spinach, avocado, cucumber and salsa

Exercise:  Exempt night, gym program starts tomorrow

  

DAY 1 COMPLETE

IW360 - Reset


As much as I hate to fail at things, I also realize that when you fail is when you learn the most. I once had a boss that was adamant that he "Never failed at anything", which at the time I thought was a pretty cool statement. He had the pedigree to back it up too. Then I realized something later on as I dealt with him more and more....he was just lying to himself, an ego stroke if you will. I realized that if that were a true statement, then he really never was learning anything, or at the best he was learning very little. Trying and failing is where you discover the most about something, yourself, anything really.

Why am I saying all of this? I failed my goal of another year of Whole360. Quite miserably in fact. I hate to admit that, but I also am not going to sugar coat it. Food wise, maintaining this blog, posting content, all of it was a pretty big mess up this time around.

The way I see it is that there are two options:

 #1 I can accept that I failed, learn from the mistakes I made and come back with a vengeance (FYI this is the one I am going with)

#2 I can accept that I failed, continue down the easiest path and get further from my goals.

For those of you that know me, and now for those of you that don't - I am highly competitive. The fact I failed pisses me off more than you can understand, its all I have been thinking about and its not acceptable to me.

So here is whats going to happen. Starting today, NOW in fact, I am resetting my challenge to myself and making another run at it. For those of you that may have came in at a later date, here are the deets:

"Here is what the Whole360 commitment is, although this year I am making it tougher and its getting a new name Iron Whole360!

• 360 days out of the next year - 100% Paleo eating (Whole30 compliant even, I'm going super strict - it gets me the best results)
• 5 days out of the next year - I get to eat or drink whatever I want
• 360 days out of the next year - Exercise of some sort. Gym, Jog, Bike whatever, some form of exercise is required
• 5 days out of the next year - I get to sit on my ass and do NOTHING" 

I am also going to commit to keeping up to date on this blog, I have LEARNED from my fail that you all help keep me honest and on track. When I slack on the blog I slack on the Whole360.

Sorry I failed, I just wasn't committed and prepared enough. This time around though I have made sure not to make the same mistakes - I've got a 14 week gym plan laid out, I have containers for pre- portioned foods, and I have failure igniting the competitive fire inside me.

Oh and I also have a bunch of recipes for you all to check out.....annnnd I am still looking in to migrating this to WordPress where it can stretch its wings and become a hub in the Paleo world.

Strap in folks its about to get interesting!

IW360 - Day 78 Sunday Sept 20th

Info: Holy way behind again, no excuses, I just haven't kept up. Good news is I have notes and will get caught up (again)

Well this morning's hunt was even colder! YAY! Good news is I wore 7 layers of clothing and managed not to completely freeze. The bad news is that we saw a total of 0 Elk this morning. Since bow hunting has about a 13% success rate for Elk we knew it was a possibility. Oh well that's how it goes sometimes!

Elk! No wait, never mind! Just having a little fun on our last day.

Food Log:

Breakfast: None

Lunch: Beef jerky

Dinner: Grilled chicken salad with creamy dill dressing (olive oil mayo blended with dill and dehydrated onion - Recipe soon!)


Exercise:  ~2 miles of total hiking around the mountain

  
DAY 78 COMPLETE

IW360 - Day 77 Saturday Sept 19th

Info: After sitting in our blinds this morning and FREEZING (It was 25 when we got up at 4:30am) until the sun finally came up (we did hear a Moose really close to us though which was awesome!) we decided that during our night hunt we were going to do some stalking (aka walk through the woods instead of sitting around). We hiked all around the meadow and there are signs of Elk everywhere, but no Elk to be seen. My hunting buddy stepped in quick mud and sunk to his knee....after laughing at him hysterically, I helped get him pulled out, snapped an obligatory picture and we continued on. After no luck in our meadow we decided to pack up and head back to camp.....On the way back I spotted 2 Elk running down a hillside and we stopped the truck, I grabbed my bow and jumped out. My buddy started the truck back up and my plan worked perfectly, the engine noise scared the Elk back around towards me where I was hidden in a grove of short pine trees. They were about 30 yards away and I drew back. had the lead Elk in my sights but as I tracked them I kept getting tree tops in the way. Just as they were getting to an opening in my cover they all of the sudden changed course and trotted back in the thick trees. Disappointed I didn't get a shot off, but totally amped up, we headed back to camp to prepare for tomorrows hunt.

Food Log:

Breakfast: None

Lunch: None

Dinner: Brats, beef jerky and almonds.


Exercise: Hiked around our meadow and best we could figure was ~6 miles of total hiking with a ton of elevation change.


  
DAY 77 COMPLETE