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Week #2, it’s Sunday, my day 1 of week 2 and I am feeling so inspired. Already I am adding a touch more protein to my lunch, hydrating like it’s my job, and organizing myself for the week ahead. Coming off week 1, I am organizing by doing the below.

Week #2 Prep:

  • Ordered groceries to be delivered by 8 am Sunday via Amazon Prime/Whole Foods (I do this ~2x a month)
  • I ordered Thrive Market pantry good – got more marinara sauce (Thrive brand), beans, collagen, dark chocolate, to name a few. I also love their body wash offerings and more. 
  • Scheduled my workouts on my calendar.
  • Mapped out some dinners to make for the week, falling on my pre-made meals (this week from Metabolic Meals) for 2 evenings.
  • Work is going to very busy this week so setting an intention to prioritize and go w/ the flow. My main focus is to be intentional and this week I am also going to focus on intermittent fasting to find a fasting window that feels really good and fuels results.

Day 8, Sunday:

I slept so darn good last night. It was coming off a date with my husband and that time of joy bleeds into other things like a good sleep. Sleep is my #1 goal with this program and for this year. When it’s optimal, all other things, especially blood sugar control fall into place.

I had my groceries delivered this am and cooked up some Caulipower chicken strips for lunch w/ some fruit and veg. Dinner is in the slow-cooker and although it’s really cold out, the sun is shining and I spent hours outdoors already today.

One thing to note – in last week’s recap I pointed out I needed more protein in the meals I plan to eat for this week 2. I want to emphasize that this doesn’t mean I’m eating a high protein diet, but rather I need a higher protein diet. There is a difference and the positive impact of protein on our health is shown in the research w the latter.

Our protein needs are unique to our metabolic fingerprint and eating intuitively is very important in assessing what that amount should be.

Day 9, Monday:

Insulin resistance from my cycle and with the support of the supplements has been eliminated/minimized, which leads to overnight lows and lows in the morning. It wasn’t anything too alarming. I was stable with my go-to foods for lows but this is a certain sign to drop my basal insulin, even more, the following day. All in all, this will be a 20-30% insulin basal drop from last week.

I am feeling good, I am appreciating the color on my plate and feeling lean and strong.

Breakfast was my go-to oat/seed/collagen meal (I’ll switch it soon), lunch was a metabolic meal (use this link to get $40 off your first order) and dinner was the last of my chicken and rice soup (cauliflower rice).

I really wanted a chocolate chip cookie Monday after dinner but enjoyed my Detox tea instead. Don’t be fooled by the name, as this tea is quite delightful.

Day 10, Tuesday:

Today called for a slow-cooker dinner. We enjoyed some Unstuffed Peppers Casserole over brown rice.

Day 11, Wednesday:

The workload was heavy today and my evening had a big to-do list of errands, returns and grocery shopping. With this on my mind at dinner, I literally forgot about the program and made myself some toast with my daughter’s request to pair w/ her meal. I had the toast and took off the evening, returning home rather hungry. I had an evening snack, which was fine, but then chased a low blood sugar until I fell asleep. This can happen from time to time, and that’s 1 motive to not snack at night. Making note of it for motivation moving forward.

Day 12, Thursday:

Day 13, Friday:

I most often eat before my mid-morning workouts, but today I bumped back breakfast until later to see how it felt to eat in a smaller eating window. There are a few benefits to this, but my #1 is that my blood sugars stay steady through the AM when I don’t eat first thing.

One interesting thing about today was usually on a Friday night I like to unwind into the weekend with wine. By doing this program, I am intentionally minimizing alcohol and therefore have to/had to re-write this script of how to unwind. Looking back, it feels really good to let the stress of the week pass and the weekend roll in being very present and aware of these emotions without trying to control them with wine.

Will I plan to be sober for the year? Probably not, but I do like the idea of having no more than 1 bottle of wine a month. Enough to try new wines from different regions and pair a glass with a nice dinner, but little enough it does not impair any insulin resistance, sleep, or over-indulgence.

Day 14, Saturday:

An early and adventurous morning ahead for Snow Trails. I woke and walked our pup fasted. I had a coffee and an hour later I had my chia, hemp, oat, flax, collagen (Designs for Health vanilla PurePaleo protein) breakfast.

I had just changed my Dexcom G6 CGM and it activated right before we hit the slopes. Whenever I insert a new CGM the first 24-hours my sensor reads me about 20-40 mg/dL points higher. So when I read my blood sugar at 160 mg/dL I took it with a grain of salt and I didn’t want to be too aggressive correcting with so much activity ahead.

From 9 am until 1 pm we had an absolute blast snowboarding/skiiing. To memory, I don’t think my body has ever been this tired, and this includes a number of half marathons.

We had a brief snack break around noon and I was rather hungry and decided to just drink my vital proteins beverage and 2 Hungry Buddha bars (they are so yummy and so gentle on my blood sugars). If I had more, I probably would have lost all desire to get back on the mountain with the kids.

Analysis/Takeaways From My Week 2:

  • I feel very lean. While I do not plan to weigh-in until the end, I am feeling very healthy, lean, and strong. My blood sugars trended low and my total basal insulin is down 25-35% (this is a large difference).
  • My workouts feel great and the pre-made meals were a great supplement to diversify the meals for the week. I am researching upcoming menus to order more.
  • I gave up cold brew and yup, that isn’t going to happen. It’s too good, it delights me when I get out of bed, so I went and bought more.
  • Overall, the sparkle of this program isn’t as bright? If that is the best way to put it? I have done so many 2 week programs and for this to be 30-days, it’s obviously quite different. Last week I was rather wrapped up in a very busy day of work and needed to do a number of things in the evening and before I knew it I enjoyed some gluten-free toast and butter alongside my daughter. I totally forgot it wasn’t on the plan, and I surely didn’t beat myself up over it.
  • What do I want to focus on this week? I want to continue to tinker with the portions of my lunch and potential afternoon snack so I don’t show up to dinner with an overwhelming appetite. I also want to bring in smoothies at lunch or snack this week!
  • I have mapped out some meal ideas for week 3 and put them up on my board. I often do this on a Sunday to get myself organized and ensure I have the ingredients I need on hand.

Until next week take care of yourself and let me know if you have any questions on the above,

Kel