I could not have been happier that Wednesday was a rest day because yesterdays workout was hard. It was shoulder press, calf raises, knee raises for core and then my cardio of choice.
I again ate 1 cup of honeydew melon on the drive to the gym, the sun was just rising by the time I got there. And snow flurries when I left – the high yesterday was only 39 degrees in Chicago!
I didn’t get my ass out of bed until 6:10, so when I finished my upper body, lower body and core exercises, I realized I really only had 25 minutes left for cardio. So I decided to switch it up – normally you do a 3:1 ratio – 3 minutes normal speed than 1 minute sprint. I changed it up on the stair machine and ended up doing 3 minutes of sprinting with 1 minute recovery in between.
Holy shizz. I was dripping with sweat by the end! In 25 minutes I climbed 175 flights of stairs. I did a brief 5 minute cool down around the track – it actually felt as if I worked out twice as long. 
So the other day I made zucchini pancakes – they are still a work in progress, but basically the base of my breakfast was 3 leftover zucchini pancakes, made with shredded zucchini, 2 tablespoons almond flour, salt, pepper and paprika. The taste is there I am still working on the texture.
So I figured I would top them with some sort of egg white mixture. Using my 4 ounce ramekin, I put some baby spinach, 1/3 of 1/2 cup egg whites, 1/3 of 2 oz. of turkey kialbasa, and nuked that for 1 minute. Since I had three zucchini pancakes I did that three times.
When I got to work it was assembly time! I put the zucchini pancakes on the bottom, then the egg white circle, then nuked that for 1 minute. Then I topped each one off with diced roasted red pepper and 2 tablespoons of avocado between the three towers.
That’s a lot of food! Best part? The stats: 303 calores, 12 fat, 17 carbs, 6.5 fiber and 32 protein, or 7 WW points.
I will definitely make this again – I ate this at 9:00 and didn’t eat lunch until nearly 2:00!
I have Debbi (happy 2 year blogaversary – I couldn’t comment 
) to thank for pointing out that I missed one of Veronica’s post for making beef. All you do is take a beef roast and a can of banana peppers (with brine) and cook it in your crock pot all day. The base of this lunch is 6 ounces of the beef, only cooked about 3 hours so its still a bit pink in the middle.
Tony saved the rest of the beef by adding more broth and turning it off late in the afternoon, so the rest is fall apart tender – I plan on chopping it together with the banana peppers – so easy and good!
So my lunch: 3 boston lettuce leaves, 6 ounces of beef, 1/3 cup of cole slaw mix mixed with salsa underneath, then guacamole and roasted red pepper on top. These took a long time to eat and were good at room temperature. Lunch comes in at 337 calories, 14 fat, 13 carbs, 4.5 fiber and 39 protein, or 8 WW points.
Work went by fast. I avoided the chocolate cake at the office today – didn’t deem it insulin worthy – go me!
I ended up making burgers for dinner. I seriously didn’t have anything written down for last nights dinner – must have spaced that on my menu planning. My burger was 6 ounces of beef, with 1 slice of bacon and I put leaves of spinach on mine while I put cheese on Tony’s burger – put the lid on to melt his cheese and my spinach sort of “hugged” my burger.
On the side I made yucca root chips. Dinner ends up coming in at 524 calories, 37 fat, 13 carbs, 4 fiber and 30 protein, or 13 WW points.
Knowing I wasn’t going to walk at lunch, my blood sugar was steady – no highs or lows again – woot!
Stats for Thursday:
- 1330 calories, 65 fat, 86 carbs, 21 fiber and 103 protein (this includes honeydew melon pre-workout snack and a pear as an afternoon snack)
- 34 WW points
- average blood sugar 112
- 45 minute strength and cardio
Cannot believe its Friday – do you have Veteran’s Day Off? Make it a great day! I overslept this morning so I am going to have to do my workout routine at home – tricep dips and hip abduction – gonna have to figure out how to do that one at home!
Sounds like a great blood sugar day! Are you finding that your cravings for sweets, wine, and grains have gone down?
I will probably miss my wine this weekend, but I haven’t really had any craving for grains, but I did envy Tony’s cheese when I put it on his burger last night!
These meals keep me truly satisfied, so I am not looking for anything in between, hopefully that shows up on the scale this week! 
Tricep dips can be done off of a sturdy chair – but hip abductions need a machine, I think!
I did find a way to do hip adductions at home – just balance on one leg and take your other leg and cross it in front of the other as far as you can go – it actually had some core strength in it because I had to balance on the one foot while doing it. And for some reason I can’t do tricep dips off a chair, so I ended up doing tricep kick backs with a 4 pound ball.
I can’t wait to make veronica’s beef! Glad you liked it. I love your creative creations. I feel like such a boring eater in comparison!
Veterans Day = 15th wedding anniversary. With it being 11/11/11, it would be cooler if it were our 11th anniversary.
Happy Anniversary Debbi!
So funny, I did a bit of menu planning for next week last nght and had put “taco-ish lettuce wrap” with a question mark as a possible meal. I’m thinking I might try that beef crockpot recipe. Sound DELISH!
Did you like the Yucca root? I love the Terra root vegetable chips which include Yucca, but of course that mix has potato in it too so not Paleo friendly.
Here’s to a great weekend… Did you see on that list I linked yesterday that two 4 oz glasses of wine are considered OK? Not that I’m trying to get you to drink wine because I definitely believe alcohol inhibits weight loss. I just found that interesting as I’m sure cavemen didn’t have wine lol!
Love yucca root – seriously tastes just like a potato chip to me. Although next time I’ll reduce the heat a bit, they almost burned on me! I am proud to have abstained from alcohol all week – and they say that caveman would come upon fermented fruit and eat it, so that is the equivalent of wine!
I also meant to say, add an egg or some egg beaters to your zucchini pancake mixture. I bet that would help the texture
Sounds yummy!!
I love using lettuce as a wrap – forget about doing that, though. Thanks for the reminder – the beef dish looks really good.
Those awesome looking zucchini pancakes are making me hungry…..
Google hip abduction + exercise band for ideas on how to do this exercise without a machine. Hopefully you have an exercise band at home; if not, now is the time to buy one. That, and an exercise ball are really handy to have when you can’t make it to the gym.
You are doing a fantastic job Biz! Your BS sound like they are staying pretty stable. I can’t wait to hear what your doc says when you have your appoint this month. I love doing tabata, 4 minutes of hard work but then it is done. I may do tabata pushups, lunges, and abs, so 12 minutes and I feel great. So some sort of upper body, lower body and abs. I had my PE girls do a tabata olympics and they loved it! We do this at the gym alot. Kettlebells are great to work with and burned off my fat back!! Hopefully you are not getting any headaches from the paleo- sometimes that happens in the first few days. Have a great weekend!
I had a slight headache on Tuesday, but other than that, feeling good!
Your food looks out of this world, so gourmet. I just had yams with a fried egg on top for dinner last night. Good job avoiding the cake, I know it’s hard. I am using my crock pot today for a bison roast I got at Costco. I have high hopes for it.
What a yummy day of eats! I’m dying over your breakfast! That looks incredible! You’re doing great on this challenge, Biz!
Have a fun weekend!
I will take one of each of those meals. Looks great! Hope you have a great weekend!!
If you have an exercise band, the at home hip abduction will be easy. There are a couple other exercise you can do with bodyweight only too. I’m sure you’ll make it work!
Happy 11-11-11!
Love those zucchini pancake stacks!!! Super creative and so cute!
I am loving those zucchini stacks, lots of food for not a lot of points is a win win in my book
P.S. Are you still doing WW?
Yep! I plan on seeing my weight tomorrow, just to see how it compares with the scale I got – then I will weigh in but not ask to see it. Did you know that when you are a monthly member of WW your weigh in automatically gets sent to your weight tracker? I will just avoid that button.
oh those zucchini stacks look incredible!
I need to check out Veronica’s beef recipe…sounds amazing! good job passing up that cake! Gooooo YOU!!!! Have you weighed in yet? How is this diet working on your weight loss? Looks like you are managing your BS great!
It officially start on Monday the 7th, so my official WI isn’t until next Monday – but I plan on going to WW – so far I’ve had no wine, no grain or dairy all week, we’ll see if my dedication shows up on the scale tomorrow!
Thanks Renee!
These pancakes look amazing! I love the way you assembled them!!!
Sounds like you got in a great workout! That’s awesome!
Hi Vat. I’m loving reading about all the creative creations that you are making on Paleo. Have a WONDERFUL weekend.
Your Paleo eats look so yummy and filling! I bet you are going to see some big changes with this diet! I love what you did with the banana pepper roast and am glad you like it! Yes, I have today off and it’s just so nice to have a day with hubby!
The wraps look so good. Your pictures make me so hungry all the time. I am bookmarking this recipe for next week because I think the whole family would like it.
You have found some great food on The Paleo plan.I wish I had today off but we have had so many snow days this year already they are beginning to take Holidays from us.
That simple beef recipe sounds Soooo good!!
I didn’t have today off, and I work tomorrow…but at least I’m at Happy Hour right now
Happy weekend, Biz!!!
lucky! no cocktails for me!
but I am enjoying some candy cane hot tea in my snowman mug! 
oh my gosh, that looks so gormet and just beautiful!
You are doing so great Bizzy. Very proud of you.
And I want to make those beef wraps for dinner tomorrow night – with a few tweaks [we don't eat guacamole - the horror!] but they look so pretty.
Have a great weekend. Enjoy the lovely weather.
Hubs had the day off so we got started on prepping the front bedroom for painting and redecorating. I’m already over it. LOL
Your zucchini pancakes are very colorful and pretty. I would definitely eat those at a restaurant. They look so appetizing, especially considering how low cal.
I gotta say, you make doing Paleo look so easy and delicious! Has it been a hard transition for you?
Yes and no. Meal planning is definitely harder, as I always would prepare meat/veggie/starch. Now that starch is out of the equation, it makes things a bit interesting! I will say this, I am never hungry, except when I wake up in the morning. I don’t necessarily crave carbs at all, I just love pretzels!
Your assembled zucchini pancakes look great! All your food looks and sounds great! Looking at it, I don’t miss the carbs. Inspires me to do some lower carb meals. Great job on the exercise!
Have a good weekend!
Your zucchini pancakes are a work of art! I want to eat them. Maybe coconut flour and almond flour would help the texture?