Pomme

This is one of those times where you enter a thread with hands over your eyes because you are DOING THAT THING.
*whew*

This is one of those times where you enter a thread with hands over your eyes because you are DOING THAT THING.
*whew*

I tried coconut cream (the condensed stuff at the top of the can of milk) in my coffee for the first time today because I didn't think my breakfast had enough fat. It was OK, but I'd rather have it black!

blissing and CAK91, I will join you in your tent, the one with no moral judgment on body size. Where we celebrate the pursuit of health rather than the pursuit of weight loss, because the latter has done us way more harm than good over the years.
This thread is definitely very triggering, but I take solace that there were people in here already standing up against fat hate. Thank you.

Can I just say that if you are doing Whole30 in a workplace environment where that is a standard snack -- I SALUTE YOU.

Hi all! I thought I would start a thread specifically for these two issues which go together for many people, including myself. I was diagnosed with FMS at age 12 (I'm 30 now). I've been gluten-free for many years, and when I learned about Paleo this past summer, I tried to incorporate some Paleo principles into my diet, and even on a limited basis, it made a HUGE difference for me. I've been able to work some 40-hour weeks this fall, which I have not been able to do for literally years.
I am very excited to be starting the Whole30 today. I'm especially looking forward to seeing if I can slay the sugar dragon. When you have low energy, it's so easy to give yourself emergency energy boosts with sugar (which is just a vicious cycle, of course!). I have the Hartwigs' book as well as Well Fed by Melissa Joulwan (I've already made her mayo and her "sunshine sauce," soooooo good!).
I think lots of us people with fibro have self-corrected with these eating habits over the years, but I'm finally ready to add some structure and discipline to it to get some serious results now that I've had a taste of what's possible!

Made this last night! It was as delicious as promised. So far, I have not had a "miss" from this cookbook. They are all truly well-crafted recipes, and they are making the W30 a taste adventure!

Made this last night! It was as delicious as promised. So far, I have not had a "miss" from this cookbook. They are all truly well-crafted recipes, and they are making the W30 a taste adventure!

Made this last night! It was as delicious as promised. So far, I have not had a "miss" from this cookbook. They are all truly well-crafted recipes, and they are making the W30 a taste adventure!

This is one of those times where you enter a thread with hands over your eyes because you are DOING THAT THING.
*whew*

You know, I think I'm starting to get where people are thinking they can lose insane amounts of weight in 30 days. I am (finally!) reading It Starts With Food, and there is at least one testimonial there of a person who lost twenty pounds in thirty days. That person was a man who had lots more to lose than twenty pounds (lots!). A man. Not a fertility-age woman. An older, extremely sedentary, riddled-with-health-problems, MAN (about which, may I just note that I am totally shocked every time I read a page where Dallas and Melissa actually, over and over, use the literal word "man" when referring to human beings. I am completely shocked by this. I know it seems like a derail, but it's not. I am not a man, and no one can convince me that it's remotely possible to use the word man and have it refer to me. Similarly, weight loss patterns that apply to older sedentary men cannot be taken as models for how fertility age women attain healthy weights. I really hope Dallas and Melissa fix that in a future edition of the book, because it is SO jarring). People, we ain't the same. I have a male friend right now who has been very open about his recent foray into serious, medically supervised weight loss (he needs to lose about 250 lbs but will settle for losing just over 200). On this plan he has lost twenty pounds in four days. But considering where he started, that's like nothing. And he's on, essentially, a medically supervised fast with meal-ish supplements.
We are not those people. We are women. We have children. We are trying to get healthy for ourselves, for our children (and for some folks, for their future/intended children). Losing twenty pounds in a single month would, for almost all of us, be hormonal disaster.
IVF is so stressful. I think I went a little (or more than a little) out of my mind during all of those hard times with infertility and IVF. Anything, ANYTHING at all, that we can do to be gentle with ourselves, is so important. Infertility has this persistent, insidious, secretly devastating effect on our sense of who we are and what our potential is. Sometimes I think that in many ways I lost a decade of my life to it - not that I didn't function, but everything was so focused on trying to get pregnant that very little else could compete for attention with that one goal.
So - anything at all that helps you go easier on yourself, love yourself, be as kind as possible to yourself - it will help. There are no guarantees in infertility treatment, but be as kind as you can possibly manage to yourself.

I'm with blissing on this. There is a lot of research showing that the assumptions made about fat bodies healthwise are often wrong, and that the BMI scale is both wrong and obsolete.
Being kind to yourself and accepting your body -- rather than punishing yourself for not having the "right" body -- often has positive health outcomes for people. I know it has for me. Otherwise, I'd be waiting to lose weight before I took up dancing, or I'd be waiting to lose more weight before I tried this wacky "don't count and log and weigh every thing you eat" Whole 30 thing.
There are a lot of ways to integrate healthy behaviors and move towards health without obsessing over your weight, and Whole30, as it specifies not to weigh yourself for 30 days, seems to be one of those ways. I don't see these as being diametrically opposed.
Additionally, I don't feel comfortable with the kind of judgmental language about fat bodies I see in this thread; I wish I hadn't seen it, honestly, as I have always been fat, and I generally find the forum to be a supportive, accepting place, and I find the negativity and pathologization of fat bodies in this thread quite triggering. I believe Whole 30 (I'm on my second now) makes me healthier and helps me make better food choices -- I would continue to believe that even if I didn't lose one ounce during a Whole 30. Health is way, way more than just your weight.

I see body acceptance as living my life to the fullest no matter my size. I will not wait to do things "when I'm thinner", I do them now. I think that's what weight watcher's does not teach and what you came to realize at the end.
Your use of the words "sick and fat" are disturbing, because I don't think obesity causes very much illness. I suspect Golda goes to the doctor when she's sick. There are very few things that are caused simply by being a different size than someone else. And whole 30 is all about healthy eating and knowing that your body will adjust to the weight it should be.
I'm doing a whole 30 even though I never diet because I know how much weight loss dieting f*cks with my mental and emotional health. I'm doing it because I have annoying allergies. I still accept my body as it is, as it ever will be, fat or thin, because it's the only one I've got and it's doing its best.
It is OK to be fat, if that's who you are. There is no moral imperative to be healthy or thin.

I don't think this is necessarily a food issue - and I caution folks not to continually tweak your diet (ten carb grams here, one ounce of protein there) looking for a food solution to a lifestyle problem.
Without a consultation, I cannot say in any way why you are experiencing these effects during your Whole30. But I will say that your nutrition portions and food choices don't look at all suspicious to me, and I doubt that removing a 1/2 sweet potato or a tablespoon of coconut oil from your daily diet is going to make or break what's going on metabolically. Of course, you could always try following our basic meal planning template religiously, cutting back on fat a little and adding more leafy greens instead of sweet potato, and see what happens. But I'm betting that's not the deciding factor here.
The conditions you're suffering from are serious drains on the immune system, and represent chronic stress.That has a host of effects, metabolically, that require lifestyle and, potentially, medical interventions to recover from. Healing from these conditions by adopting an AI Whole30 protocol is a great first step - good for you! But other lifestyle factors, like sleep, exercise (including very low intensity movement sessions, like walking), stress reduction (both psychological and physical) all play a huge role in how your body manages energy. Additionally, you may have other gut issues going on under the surface that are hindering your weight loss efforts.
In short, please don't be discouraged by your body weight in the midst of this Whole30 and healthy eating initiative. You are on the right track, and understand that recovery from an autoimmune condition and chronic stress is a LONG TERM process - nothing happens dramatically, in most cases. So stay the course, ensure you are eating enough to support activity levels and energy (feel free to play around with portion sizes a bit, but pay attention to your body's cues to ensure you don't go too far in the other direction), and be patient.
This article may help to explain some of the other factors involved in the Whole30, and healing from some serious conditions as yours: http://whole9life.com/2012/10/six-reasons-why-the-whole30-didnt-work-for-you/
Best,
Melissa

Err, four pounds in 21 days? That's a freakin' festivus miracle!! You weren't, like, expecting to lose twenty pounds or something were you?
You have a fourteen month old. From now until the kid is about 4, you can get as much done as you could when the child was a newborn. Some people are good with that. Others of us hang on until they get old enough not to destroy everything. Whichever category you fit into, you just aren't going to have a clean house, a regular gym attendance, perfectly planned meals, and a completely coherent work schedule. Oh. And you aren't going to lose much more than a pound a week. You lost four pounds in three weeks - that's freakin' AWESOME.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, people with little teeeeeeny children live in a parallel universe. You just don't realize it until they finally get old enough that you're not constantly worried about Imminent Doom and Destruction all the time.
In conclusion: you are doing great. Go easier on yourself. Forrealz.

I'm sorry, because I know you don't want to hear this, but here it is: the whole30 is not a magic weight loss plan. There isn't one of those. If you feel the way you used to eat is ideal, and don't see any reason to change it, why did you? The fact is, you are feeling better. Are you feeling better enough to keep you following the whole30 long enough to find the magic people talk about? You get to decide.
One thing to think about: 21 days is a tiny amount of time. It took me seven months (one whole 30, 6 months of virtually whole 30 and mid-way through my second whole 30) before I felt the "tiger blood" people talk about. I can tell you it was totally totally worth it.

Mix in mayo or avocado to your dressing to make it creamy!

Mix in mayo or avocado to your dressing to make it creamy!

Speaking as someone who was the kid in this situation (with fibromyalgia, not RA) I will echo the Robin's comments.
If she is not on board, she will probably do what I did when put on elimination diets -- stash forbidden food and eat it. Which will completely defeat the point as you noted in the post above.
It's promising that her older siblings are supportive. Depending on their relationships with her, they could be crucial in convincing her that this experiment is worth a try.
Keep in mind that as a sick kid, it really sucks to not only have all the pain and doctors' visits and BS accommpanying AND also have the burden of not getting to eat whatever you want, which is what most kids in the world do. It is not fair at all to be 10 and have chronic pain. She wants to be normal, and eating a special diet isn't "normal." Her older sibs going with it would help make it more normal, though.
I know many around here abhor half measures but have you or have you considered switching to gluten-free pasta? Gluten is the main culprit for me in exacerbating myriad symptoms, so just removing that factor alone helped me when I chose to do it as an adult, and my mom always says, "If only I had known back then..."
Anyway, best wishes to you and your family.

Mix in mayo or avocado to your dressing to make it creamy!

Bonnynancy makes a great point. The all-or-nothing approach really turns a lot of people off of healthful living, specifically when it comes to diet or exercise. Perfectionism is the enemy of progress in these matters.

Speaking as someone who was the kid in this situation (with fibromyalgia, not RA) I will echo the Robin's comments.
If she is not on board, she will probably do what I did when put on elimination diets -- stash forbidden food and eat it. Which will completely defeat the point as you noted in the post above.
It's promising that her older siblings are supportive. Depending on their relationships with her, they could be crucial in convincing her that this experiment is worth a try.
Keep in mind that as a sick kid, it really sucks to not only have all the pain and doctors' visits and BS accommpanying AND also have the burden of not getting to eat whatever you want, which is what most kids in the world do. It is not fair at all to be 10 and have chronic pain. She wants to be normal, and eating a special diet isn't "normal." Her older sibs going with it would help make it more normal, though.
I know many around here abhor half measures but have you or have you considered switching to gluten-free pasta? Gluten is the main culprit for me in exacerbating myriad symptoms, so just removing that factor alone helped me when I chose to do it as an adult, and my mom always says, "If only I had known back then..."
Anyway, best wishes to you and your family.

Making it with an immersion blender is key IMO. So so easy. Put your eggs, salt, vinegar in the bottom of the glass. Put oil on top. Put in immersion blender. PULSE. One quick pulse. Then another. Nothing but one second bursts until done. It works so well and is so easy.

If people are being pushy, I usually say I'm experimenting with an elimination diet to identify some food sensitivities I've been experiencing. It has the benefit of both being true and sounding sufficiently medical that people back off.
I think in general people get pushy about food because food is a way of bonding in a lot of settings, and because rejection of food often reads as a rejection of that interaction or a rejection or judgment of their own choices; when people snap in response, it confirms that anxiety.

My two cents - calories and nutrition are two totally different things. You could put two meals together that can have the same number of calories but have waaaaay different nutritional contents. It's so hard to measure nutrients if you only see the calories. Hoping you've been able to stop counting for another day!