scoakley13

I'm having a very up and down time, emotionally, at the moment. I didn't eat my lunch as a meal, just munched the 2 tuna patties separately, and then in a strop decided 'stuff it, I'm having a cookie, this is pointless, you can't even do 30 days'. Went to the work break room, opened the cookie jar, looked at them.... and walked away. I even decided that if I was going to cave on a snack, I could go to the minimart across the road and get a compliant but SWYPO lara-like bar, or a pot of almonds, then didn't do THAT either. 
My issue is at the moment, I feel crappy and so I have the 'why bother' attitude but feeling crappy is exactly WHY I need to bother. So I'm just going to plug on, one meal at a time. 

Well, normally when I vanish suddenly from my own log, it's because I gave up on my round and reverted to poor eating habits. That's not the case this time! I've simply decided that I'm not going do add all the fanfare to this round because I'm trying to make this my new normal and I wouldn't be tracking and logging every single thing I eat as part of my everyday normal. 
So, I don't know what day I'm on. I haven't been eating perfect meal template meals. On many days I haven't drank enough water or eaten three full meals. But, I'm here. I'm feeling strong and I'm eating well-balanced, healthy meals. I feel more confident than ever that I can make this a lasting practice! 
I'll check in occasionally, but that's where I'm at for this one! 

@Bueller My guess is a hemorrhoid or anal fissue became irritated and the extra cleaning has irritated it more. My go to product for anything below the belt is A&D Ointment/Diaper Rash Cream. (Generic is fine for most things but I recommend brand name for this.) Great stuff and gentle enough for baby bottoms!

I just had a friend ask to get happy hour and dinner before going on a local artwork. I told her I was doing a month of no alcohol and she was very supportive. I suggest a taco place that will do lettuce instead of tortillas and I called and asked about how they prepare their proteins. I will be able to eat pretty much all of the proteins they have. I’m very excited now and feel good about today. 

@Jim Baunach I would also suggest you start your own thread with these questions. Right now you're taking over @heb2014's journal and this probably isn't the tone she wants to start her journey on. (I don't mean to speak for you, heb.) Like with any lifestyle change, it's best not to be so literal about it. There is no fast and easy way to get rid of cravings forever. If you're looking for a magic pill, this isn't the program for you. But if you want to be diligent and change your habits with the help of this program with an open mind, by all means dive in. 

R1D2
Today was my first day back from work since the holidays. I packed my breakfast and lunch to take with me. I noticed when i got to work I had a little bit of irritability, I was quite cross that the lights in the building were off...spoiler alert...they are always off. For some reason today it made me upset. Had my coffee black but added a little knob of ghee to it. Had my same spicy chicken for lunch. By the end of the day I was getting super tired and my joints hurt. I have a history of Lyme's so the joint thing, not surprising. One of my goals for this was to decrease my inflammation and see if anything I eat is making me feel worse.
Came home and by the time I got here I was irritable.  I made my 16 year old leave and hang out with her friends because she was asking for Whataburger. Gave her some cash and threatened to start talking about her ex-boyfriend if she didn't go get her burger...AND EAT IT THERE. I made a great chicken piccata recipe that was W30 approved. I'm loving mashed potatoes with ghee and almond milk. Also had some roasted asparagus with it. Irritability...gone!
On to Day 3!!

1. You need to check your attitude because the moderators on this forum are volunteers and deserve a little respect. Shannon definitely goes above and beyond with her explanations of how things work and has been a tremendous help to a lot of us who Whole30.
2. The Whole30 is free. All you need is the list of what's not allowed and the meal template. You may spend money on books or special products but neither is necessary in order to complete a Whole30. Changing and updating everything is expensive. I'm sure they could reprint the books every time a change is made if they decided to charge us to participate in the program. I didn't eat white potatoes during my first Whole30 because my copy of ISWF was published before they changed that rule. I accidentally (and happily) discovered the update by using the forum (for free) and didn't have to buy a new, updated copy of ISWF. 
3. I run, hike or weight train five or six times per week. I've done multiple Whole30's, random Whole21's and even a Whole75 and have never eaten a pre or post workout meal. They're not necessary for me and they might not be for you either. Or you may need to do it the original way but you may be better with the new way. Only you can determine what works for you in that regard. So yes, you will need to do a little research and figure out what works best for you. 
 

I started a Whole30 the Monday before Thanksgiving last year and went all the way through Valentine's Day (my boyfriend's birthday) and it was awesome! I encourage you to go for it!

I was hoping to find some others that were starting during the holiday. I’ve reached out to a coach and she urged me to really think about if I wanted to start this time of year. My gut is telling me YES do it! But my logical brain is saying maybe you should just wait. But you know I think I’m just going to go for it! CoffeeLover and LittleG did you already start?

It's probably worth considering that for almost everyone, the best workout is the one you will DO.
So, if you enjoy a muscle-group split or always-full-body routine more, pick that one.

The days I'm reintroducing, I'm only eating some of the food, and saving the rest for later. This is a BIG deal for me. I have been a notorious binge eater.
This was the most apparent when I could have corn again. My biggest problem pre-W30 has been tortilla chips. I would eat at LEAST half a bad a night. Well, on Saturday I opened a whole bag with some salsa, sat down ready to just enjoy as much as I wanted "because I deserve it", and amazingly only ate 5-6 chips. They just weren't that great. I've NEVER eaten that few before and just put them away.
The same happened when I got a large order of fries when I was with my family. I slowly ate and enjoyed a handful, and everyone else shared the rest. TOTALLY not something I'd do before!

Thanks!! I think I really will. I also don't want to be weighing my food (or myself, if I can stay off the scale) so that's another reason I want to edge back to W30, I lost a lot of weight and felt so FREE not weighing and logging every bloody thing I ate (which I'd been doing for years). I figure so long as I cut back the starchy veg, which I'm fine with, and otherwise stay W30 (I don't eat fruit), I'll be good. 

I started Whole30-keto hybrid about four months ago and have never felt better. I still do dairy here and there but stick closely to Whole 30 principles and limit my carbs to under 20 per day. I have so much energy now I feel like I’m on drugs (in a good way). Good luck and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Your understanding is right.  When your body does not tolerate dairy, your body builds up a mucosal lining to protect your gut from the damage.  when you do a whole30, that lining is unnecessary and sluffs off.  If you go back to eating dairy and you find you're having problems, then it's likely you ALWAYS had problems with it but that your body built up that mechanism to help protect itself.  You have two choices in that case... you can honor that your body is telling you it doesn't want dairy, or you can eat dairy consistently until that lining builds back up.

Thanks so much. Perhaps you're right, though I have been eating rather a lot of fruit  I'll have a look through those links. I'm hoping once I'm done I can go paleo--I certainly will if this is the effect. Anything to get my driver's license back and my health back on track.

Your dizziness may be from not having enough salt. If you were eating a lot of processed foods before you started your Whole30, your sodium intake has been greatly reduced and that can make you dizzy. When it happens to me I lick my finger, dip it in table salt and then lick it again. I usually do it a few times and it always helps me.
Whole30 will get your hormones aligned if you stick with it but it takes a little bit. Right now your hormones are all wonky and that may be why your period is early even though you’re on the pill. That’s probably also the reason you’re not hungry in the morning. If you stick with it you’ll start waking up really hungry (happened around day ten for me) and that’s one way you know your hormones are starting to align. 
Lastly, there is no failing a Whole30. You decide to start it and you decide whether you finish. It doesn’t make you a failure if you don’t finish. It makes you human. I started my first Whole30 in July 2017 and ate ice cream on day five. I started again the next day and again lasted five days. Third time was the charm for me and I was able to go all 30 days. I wasn’t a failure the first two times - just a human who really liked ice cream.

Your dizziness may be from not having enough salt. If you were eating a lot of processed foods before you started your Whole30, your sodium intake has been greatly reduced and that can make you dizzy. When it happens to me I lick my finger, dip it in table salt and then lick it again. I usually do it a few times and it always helps me.
Whole30 will get your hormones aligned if you stick with it but it takes a little bit. Right now your hormones are all wonky and that may be why your period is early even though you’re on the pill. That’s probably also the reason you’re not hungry in the morning. If you stick with it you’ll start waking up really hungry (happened around day ten for me) and that’s one way you know your hormones are starting to align. 
Lastly, there is no failing a Whole30. You decide to start it and you decide whether you finish. It doesn’t make you a failure if you don’t finish. It makes you human. I started my first Whole30 in July 2017 and ate ice cream on day five. I started again the next day and again lasted five days. Third time was the charm for me and I was able to go all 30 days. I wasn’t a failure the first two times - just a human who really liked ice cream.

I dealt with digestive issues for a couple of years and ended up reading a book on Traditional Chinese Medicine hoping to remedy the issues. The book said to think of your stomach as a pot of stew. Anything you add to it has to be warmed up in order to "cook". So if we eat things that are cold or uncooked, it takes our stomach longer to heat them up and start to digest them. It really made sense to me because I can eat a steak and be fine. However, if I eat a salad I end up looking like I'm nine months pregnant within 30 minutes or so. Now I limit my salads (and only drink room temperature water as that cools your stew down also) and it has helped me tremendously.  

ROUND 3, Day 8: Monday, September 9
Meal 1: three scrambled eggs with a splash of coconut milk; bowl of cauliflower bone broth soup; two slices of bacon
Pre-Workout Snack: hard-boiled egg; banana
Exercise (6 hours, 20 minutes): 5.88-mile, 10-pitch rock climb with 2,395 of elevation gain and topping out at 10,306 feet (137 average HR; 174 max HR)  
Intra-Workout Snack: pouch of peach, apricot, and banana baby food; pouch of blueberry, pear, and purple carrot baby food; half mango RXBar
Intra-Workout Meal 2: collard green sandwich wrap with four slices deli turkey, one and a half slices of bacon, half avocado, onion, sprouts and mayo; banana
Post-Workout Snack: hard-boiled egg; pouch of sweet potato and beet baby food; can of coconut water
Meal 3: one and a half chicken enchilada stuffed bell peppers; can of sliced potatoes pan fried in ghee
Water Intake: ~100 oz
Symptoms/NSVs:
Improved physical performance Jeans and climbing harness fitting more loosely Regular bowel movements (this is a big deal because I’m pretty regularly constipated on Whole30) Thoughts/Reflections: I did it! My first double-digit multi-pitch climb!
I don’t know if my hard work is finally paying off, if I’m turning the corner toward Tiger Blood, or if I just fueled right, but I felt great today! Honestly, it was probably a combination of all of those things and I’m so, so happy to finally see changes happening in the mountains.  
It was hard. Most definitely, it was hard. And my legs were oh-so tired. But I never doubted that I could do it! And that is a huge improvement over my last multi-pitch climb!
I do like the fueling strategy I used, which was basically lots of fruity carbs (thank you new Whole30 workout guidelines!). Though I think I could have used one more carb break before the summit. The final push to the summit felt like bonking more than general fatigue, and that’s likely due to the fact that I hadn’t had a carb hit in quite some time before those last few pitches. For a while, it just didn’t feel that far away so I kept holding out. And then I had an RXBar rather than fruit, which I think was a mistake. So, here’s to lots of fruity carbs for fuel!
[Photo 1: the lake where we started, with Tenaya Peak in the background]
[Photo 2: from the top of Tenaya Peak] 

1. You need to check your attitude because the moderators on this forum are volunteers and deserve a little respect. Shannon definitely goes above and beyond with her explanations of how things work and has been a tremendous help to a lot of us who Whole30.
2. The Whole30 is free. All you need is the list of what's not allowed and the meal template. You may spend money on books or special products but neither is necessary in order to complete a Whole30. Changing and updating everything is expensive. I'm sure they could reprint the books every time a change is made if they decided to charge us to participate in the program. I didn't eat white potatoes during my first Whole30 because my copy of ISWF was published before they changed that rule. I accidentally (and happily) discovered the update by using the forum (for free) and didn't have to buy a new, updated copy of ISWF. 
3. I run, hike or weight train five or six times per week. I've done multiple Whole30's, random Whole21's and even a Whole75 and have never eaten a pre or post workout meal. They're not necessary for me and they might not be for you either. Or you may need to do it the original way but you may be better with the new way. Only you can determine what works for you in that regard. So yes, you will need to do a little research and figure out what works best for you. 
 

So here's the thing. Whole30 isn't intended to be a forever-diet... but it does make an amazing place to start, and it gives you a wonderful template to work from in determining food intolerance or processing issues, plus it's an excellent reset button. Part of learning to ride my own bike is falling off the blasted thing and then learning from the falling-off experience to build parameters that work best for me.
Reintroduction is important because that's where you learn what causes problems, which is necessary to start making decisions about what to include in your "life beyond" (where you get to write your own set of rules). Those rules can be as close or as far from W30 as you want, really. The point is that it's your decision, you make the rules and decide how much (if any) you can stray from them. All of that can (and should) be affected by your tolerance levels as well as your psychological relationship with foods and food-related habits.
And if you decide you need to push the reset button? Don't sweat it! Don't beat yourself up!
Starting another round (or a mini-reset) DOES NOT MEAN YOU FAILED!
All it means is that you've decided that you need a reset, for the sake of your health... and THAT is awesome, because you were able to see the need AND do something about it! Come out the other side stronger, with a renewed vision of what your life beyond rules look like, and acknowledge that they might need to be revised over time as you learn more about your health and needs.
I made the conscious choice to NOT stay "compliant" after Whole30, instead doing mini-resets often.
At home, I am almost entirely in line with Paleo. I do occasionally eat non-gluten grains (maybe once every week or two) and legumes (once every month or so). Most of what I cook is actually pulled from my Whole30 recipe stockpile. I still drink my coffee black, I still skip sugars in my cooking, and I very rarely make things that would be even remotely SWYPO for me. When away from home, I relax the limitations but I keep the "is this worth it?" question at the forefront. If I think I might regret it, I don't eat/drink it. No ifs, ands, buts, or maybes. Dairy, gluten, and soy all cause varying degrees of issues for me, so these are things that I might consider while out (maybe) but not at home. As a recovering alcoholic, I won't drink it or use it in my cooking (though I will use extracts). I reset for a few days every 2-3 weeks.
Keeping the mindset of being able to enjoy without regret helps me make more informed food choices, and resetting often allows me to find firm footing if things were beginning to get unstable. Note that I will reset after 3 weeks even if I don't feel that I've fallen off the bike, but I'll also reset much sooner if I feel that it's needed. I believe this keeps me more aware of the thought process behind choices, more accountable for the choices themselves, and more capable of maintaining a healthier relationship with food than I had before I started.
I decided not to follow Whole30 long-term for 3 reasons. First, it's an elimination diet, and the whole point of an elimination diet is to see what foods can be reintroduced without ill effects. Second, I want to be able to explore my Food Freedom and I can't do that if I just keep going in circles with training wheels on. Third, I wanted to have a clear set of rules that apply during a "reset", and those rules absolutely have to look different than the ones I expect myself to follow on a daily basis.
I honestly apologize for the book here. I've rewritten it several times, condensing thoughts and trying not to ramble as much, but I feel like I need to just go ahead and post it and be done so... here we are.

1. You need to check your attitude because the moderators on this forum are volunteers and deserve a little respect. Shannon definitely goes above and beyond with her explanations of how things work and has been a tremendous help to a lot of us who Whole30.
2. The Whole30 is free. All you need is the list of what's not allowed and the meal template. You may spend money on books or special products but neither is necessary in order to complete a Whole30. Changing and updating everything is expensive. I'm sure they could reprint the books every time a change is made if they decided to charge us to participate in the program. I didn't eat white potatoes during my first Whole30 because my copy of ISWF was published before they changed that rule. I accidentally (and happily) discovered the update by using the forum (for free) and didn't have to buy a new, updated copy of ISWF. 
3. I run, hike or weight train five or six times per week. I've done multiple Whole30's, random Whole21's and even a Whole75 and have never eaten a pre or post workout meal. They're not necessary for me and they might not be for you either. Or you may need to do it the original way but you may be better with the new way. Only you can determine what works for you in that regard. So yes, you will need to do a little research and figure out what works best for you. 
 

1. You need to check your attitude because the moderators on this forum are volunteers and deserve a little respect. Shannon definitely goes above and beyond with her explanations of how things work and has been a tremendous help to a lot of us who Whole30.
2. The Whole30 is free. All you need is the list of what's not allowed and the meal template. You may spend money on books or special products but neither is necessary in order to complete a Whole30. Changing and updating everything is expensive. I'm sure they could reprint the books every time a change is made if they decided to charge us to participate in the program. I didn't eat white potatoes during my first Whole30 because my copy of ISWF was published before they changed that rule. I accidentally (and happily) discovered the update by using the forum (for free) and didn't have to buy a new, updated copy of ISWF. 
3. I run, hike or weight train five or six times per week. I've done multiple Whole30's, random Whole21's and even a Whole75 and have never eaten a pre or post workout meal. They're not necessary for me and they might not be for you either. Or you may need to do it the original way but you may be better with the new way. Only you can determine what works for you in that regard. So yes, you will need to do a little research and figure out what works best for you. 
 

OMG! I was totally skeptical, but I made it tonight and it was delicious!!! Thank you so much for the recipe!

In all of my years of Whole30'ing and Paleo, I've never found a sugar free Italian sausage. I buy a pound of ground pork and use my own spice blend. And when I say 'my' I mean Mel Joulwan's. 
http://meljoulwan.com/2013/04/07/spice-world/
I keep a little bottle of the mix on hand at all times. Good stuff!