Nutritional data: 

http://nutritiondata.self.com

This one is amazing. Almost anything you need is in their system, and it breaks down all the nutrition info you need (fat, carbs, protein, vitamins, etc etc). Simply plug-in your food item into the search function and away you go!

Online forums & communities:

http://www.livinlowcarbdiscussion.com/

For low-carb living, I find this online forum to be really helpful with a range of topics. Plus, you get a quick response whenever you post a question and everyone is VERY supportive!

Food/calorie tracking:

http://www.loseit.com  (I personally use this one. It calculates your metabolic rate for you and shows your progress on a graph)

http://www.fitday.com

http://www.sparkpeople.com

Metabolic calculation:

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

Find out how many calories you should be eating in a day to lose or gain weight.

Other things to have handy in the real world:

A food scale (especially to convert those pesky Canadian to US measurements)

A heart rate monitor. Super awesome to guide you through and calculate how many calories you’ve burnt during your workouts

A scale and tape measurer. Just to check in every so often!

So..this is me. At my biggest. Weighing in somewhere between 205 and 2010, depending on the month. Boy oh boy am I ever glad I’m being proactive and pushing for change :) Can’t wait to update with “after” pictures as I get closer to my goal.

BEFORE! 2011

Breakfast: 2 strips of beef bacon, 1/2 c. snap peas – 2.5 g carbs

Snack: handful of nuts (almonds, cashews) – 4 g carbs

Lunch: salad w/ half a can of tuna, 1/4 avocado, 1 tbsp dressing – 2 g carbs

Snack: Janice Beaton local cheese YUM! – o g carbs

Snack: 1/2 c. greek yogurt – 6 g carbs

Dinner: 1 c. spaghetti squash w/ground turkey pasta sauce – 10 g carbs

Treat: 4 small pieces of dark chocolate – 6 g carbs

Total carbs: 30.5

I have to admit, my cheese cravings are a little out of control. I also have to admit that I haven’t been denying myself the pleasure of the occasional slice :)

Really looking forward to weigh-in day!

As promised, here’s my recipe for my Paleo Spaghetti

1/2 spaghetti squash, baked in the oven for 30 min @ 400

In a pan: cut 6 strips of bacon into bite size pieces and fry in large pan. Add one entire diced onion and 2 crushed garlic cloves. Add a package of extra lean ground turkey. Mix together until turkey is almost fully cooked through.

Add to pan,  1 c. diced button mushrooms, 2 cups of diced tomatoes and 2 tbsp of tomato paste. Add salt, pepper, cayenne, basil and oregano to taste! Let simmer for 30 min or until liquid has thickened.

In the meantime, take squash out of the oven and start shredding with a fork to get the spaghetti effect. Dish out one cup of “spaghetti” with a hearty serving of sauce, sprinkle with fresh parmesan and enjoy :)

Serves 2

But, what can ya do. Despite my overwhelming urge to bite into anything gluten-esque, I shall persevere and not succomb to my cravings. I’ll have to find solace in knowing that I managed to stay on track despite the flu. A little added mini victory :)

With that said, I’m concerned I’ve sky-rocketed passed my 30 grams of carb a day allowance with all of the cough drop candy things I’ve been popping into my mouth.

Since today’s mealplan was definitely unstructured, I present you….Jessica’s Nibbles for the day:

- a few strips of turkey

- two slices of sharp cheddar cheese

- spicy beef Pho WITHOUT the rice noodles. I had them substitute the noodles with veggies :)

- a couple of handfuls of mixed nuts (cashews, almonds, brazil nuts and macadamia)

- cups and cups of ginger lemon tea to soothe that throat of mine

….and that’s it! I definitely didn’t come anywhere close to getting enough calories for the day, but I can’t help it. My throat hurts and I seriously have zero to little appetite.  I won’t be surprised if any weight loss achieved at the end of the week is mostly due to being sick!

On a separate note, I was perusing through some old photos today trying to locate some specific ones, and I totally came upon some taken of me in 2008. Even though that was nearly four years ago, I remember that time of my life as if it were yesterday. I was 26 years old and probably about 20-25 lbs lighter than I am today. At the time, I knew I had some shaping up to do, but I felt VIBRANT and HEALTHY and ENERGETIC! I wore outfits with confidence and was outgoing. I didn’t mind being in the spotlight. Today, I absolutely despise having my photo taken. I’m so incredibly uncomfortable in everything I wear. I have a chin that I can’t hide no matter which way I angle my head. But instead of letting these pics get me down, I’ve chosen to feel thankful that I found these photos today because they’re a gentle reminder of how incredibly fantastic I felt….even at 175 lbs :) How suiting is it that I stumbled upon them at the beginning of my 30 Challenge?

I meant to do an intro vlog on Youtube, but the cold I’ve caught as rendered me voiceless! I’ll definitely vlog about my first week on Sunday, I promise :) Although, I’m kind of intimidated about. It seems like it comes naturally to some and I’m afraid I’ll just sound like a bumbling bee!

Because of my cold, I also barely have an appetite, or a sense of taste. So I haven’t been too fussed about what to eat. I’m kind of sticking to basics this week – and will save fun Paleo recipes (like from Stacey’s Paleo Kitchen) for when I get the simple ground rules down.

I’m trying to keep my daily carb content allowance to 30 grams. At least for these first 30 days. The exception for increasing my carb allowance would be on days that I’m working out vigorously AND those carbs are to be eaten right after the workout (for exmple, two rice cakes with almond butter). It’s so important to properly fuel your body post-workout with some carbs so that your body can rebalance and restore all of the muscles that worked so hard.

With that said, yesterday I had 33 grams.

I kick started today with 1 egg, 2 strips of BEEF bacon and a dollop of homemade guacamole. I would have preferred to eat more greens – but my fridge is pretty much empty. Time for a grocery run! The bacon I had was beef as opposed to pork, and is from a local farm. Beef bacon has 1/3 less the fat and 3/4 less the sodium than pork bacon.

I’m going shopping this afternoon, so I’m not entirely sure what I’ll do for a late lunch. When you’re eating Paleo/low-carb, it’s SUPER easy to eat out. Pretty much any place will allow you to substitue a starch for a hearty helpful of veggies. Just be mindful of what sauces & cooking oils accompany those veggies. You want to avoid sugar as much as possible!

This evening I’m having  girlfriend over for dinner and I’m serving up some spaghetti squash w/ homemade chicken spaghetti sauce, w/ a side serving of sauteed broccoli. Recipe and pics to come!

J

Let me first just say that I’ve cleaned up a lot of my blog, so as to start fresh. Gives me peace of mind :)

Alright, the formula behind this challenge is: 30% of body weight by the time I turn 30, and in true Jessica fashion, along with 30 mini-challenges to propel me along the way…

Yowzah! Right?

I have exactly 10 months and 2 weeks to complete this challenge and I’m so PSYCHED! (or psychotic, depending how you look at it).

I’m kick starting the challenge with a 2-day cleanse starting tomorrow (Thursday & Friday) and then jumping right into my first challenge: 90 days of Paleo.

I’ve written out a detailed plan of the 30/30/30 challenge as well as for the 90 day Paleo mini-challenge. Check them out for more specifics and details. It would be totally amazing if you decided to join me, even it meant tweaking it to be more accustomed to your needs and wants.

This is going to be FUN!

Check out their blog posts HERE and good on them.  Hopefully we can hook up with them somewhere along the way when we come down through the BOP.