Brewer5

@Amy_Michigan ~ Happy New Year! Life happens. A big part of Whole 30 is identifying "triggers" - whether that be a certain food item, going too long without eating, stress, emotions - whatever. This is all part of the process. If you're determined to proceed ~ lady ~ hold your head high, and march on. I wish you all the best, either way.

@Amy_Michigan ~ I hope you and your family have a wonderful celebration of 2021 ~ no matter what time it occurs. There is much to celebrate.

Mama gets her chicken first ... that's what I always say. (No I don't - but perhaps that should be a rule.) Tuna salad sounds good. I like to put frozen blueberries and chopped nuts in mine, too. Might sound weird ~ but it's tasty.

@Amy_Michigan ~ I actually just managed that one day in November ... Lol. But I am glad you appreciate my posts. I also know that (for me) it can be really motivating to know that even one other person in this world actually cares how you are doing with this, and is out there "listening". It's interesting that your first, perfect, by-the-book Whole 30 was in 2014. Maybe we've talked about that before. Mine was also. Clearly there's something about this way of eating ... since we both keep coming back to it, even if we don't manage a full 30 days. I might be around more and tryi

Hello @Amy_Michigan ~ good to see you! I wish you all the best on your 30 day journey. Please feel free to reach out anytime if you need/want the support. And ... hey ... let's toast some virtual sparkling water to welcoming 2021!

Day 1: 11/23/20 Done! And fine. Just had a bad reminder of how badly my body reacts to grass-fed beef when I made meatballs tonight. My heart rate climbed to 131 while standing completely still, before it finally decided to start going back down. I don’t know what it would be like to do a whole 30 and be able to eat all of the things allowed. That’s OK. I will keep figuring it out as usual.

@Jennifer Jensen Thanks for stopping in! I hope your first Whole 30 went well. Love the quote. Hey y'all ~ clearly my "Day 1" back on September 25 was not an actual starting point for a Whole 30. Lol. Nope, I didn't die or drop off the face of the planet. I'm still here. I've been on a wild ride that did not involve Whole 30. Have thought of returning many times, only to then think ... "I'm not sure if that's the right direction for me right now ... because, what happens at the end of 30 days?" Well. I do know what happens at the end of 30 days. I've also said many times

Day 1: 9/25/20 --

I decided to change my avatar tonight, in honor of Toby. He's the toad who has spent so much time with me this summer. One morning, I came outside to find Toby sitting backwards in the cab of the dump truck. "Do you ever just feel all turned around?" was my immediate thought. I shared it with my friend, and we had a good laugh. But Toby had a plan. He was working toward a goal. You see ~ I had come outside on a previous morning to find him sitting on top of the cab of the dump truck. And I came out on a later morning (after this avatar pic) to find him fully immerse

Thanks @ShadowInTheKitchen ! I just popped in tonight to say it’s definitely just “making a conscious decision” regarding the alcohol. That feeling hits me around supper time ... I need to work on what I can do to avoid that happening, as well as what to do when it hits. My husband & kids are all out of town right now, so I made it through tonight knowing that if anything were to happen with MIL, I needed to be sober. That’s just one day. I need to do more.

Day 1: 9/5/20 -- Starting weight: 116.0 -- I've lost ~15 pounds since mid-April. That's the first time I see that I recorded my weight here. I was doing W30 with weight loss as one of my goals at that point. It hasn't been a goal recently, but it's happening anyway. MIL says the other day: "Have you lost weight since I've been here?" I shrug and say: "Probably." I keep talking to her about her fall ~ we were getting her cleaned up & ready to go to the doctor. A little bit later she says: "You've definitely lost weight since I've been here."

Hmm, had to hit the pause button here for a couple of days. I might get back to a compliant day tomorrow. "This is so awesome, I'm going to eat W30 forever!" ~ yes. Been there, done that, also. MIL fell down in the bathroom this afternoon, getting out of the shower. Came down on the trash can on her left side - and now we are monitoring to make sure it's not a ruptured spleen. Fun times. It's hard for me to really take care of myself when I'm so busy taking care of everyone else. But it always circles back to --> I need to be taking the best care of myself in order to

Day 2 yesterday: 8/28/20 -- The day was fine & compliant. It was our anniversary - married 21 years - and he was out of town for work. Not the first time & won't be the last ... so, no big deal. @MadyVanilla ~ I'm sorry, I haven't been venturing out to explore other people's logs or any other discussions here. Have you not completed a Whole 30 yet? I think getting that full 30 days in at some point, when the time is right can really be a life-changing experience. It was for me, anyway. But I also think that this way of eating is just the best human diet that

Day 1: 8/27/20 -- Starting weight: 116.8 -- Had some wine last night, dumped the rest of the bottle down the drain. When I asked my husband to get me a bottle for the night of camping with my friend last week - he bought two. Super sweet & all, but ... if it's in the house & I'm in just the right/wrong mood ~ chances are, I'll get into it. I'm going ahead and posting this day, early in the day, because I know it will be compliant. I've already decided.

Thanks @MadyVanilla ~ yeah, there really haven't been any times lately when I've felt "out of control". It's just life. I guess I'm really just riding my own bike, and this is what that looks like for me. Lol. I've said here before ~ if I end up with a bunch of "Day 1" posts ... you know, over a year's time or whatever ... that's still THAT many days that I know I wasn't putting junk in the tank. It counts. In my mind, it counts ~ and that's really all that matters. Things are going well with our son so far. There have been a lot of changes that were necessary. This whole "run

Lol ... Except that if I had a child for every time I decided to "let loose" and eat inflammatory food ~ I'd have a whole gaggle of children here, and would have completely lost my mind a long time ago! Yesterday, I decided it was the day to go retrieve our middle son and bring him home. My parents were there visiting, so it ended up being a big family gathering. My sister made a huge pan of pulled pork, mashed potatoes, butternut squash with some kind of butter/syrup concoction all mixed up in it, etc. There was no way I was going to keep that day W30 - so I didn't even worry about i

Day 1: 8/22/20 -- Weight: 117.2 -- So I said "no regrets" a little too early - I paid dearly for the pizza in the digestive department ALL of the next day. 100% not worth it ... geez. That's the thing about W30 - I get to feeling so much better, it's like I forget how bad it can be. Had my evening at the campground last night with my friend from high school & a group of her work friends. Drank *almost* an entire bottle of Pinot Grigio, and slept maybe 5 hours before waking up and heading home at sunrise. I don't feel too bad today, but I sure don't want to fe

Thanks @ShadowInTheKitchen for your kind words & continued support. Our middle son is in good hands, surrounded my family who loves him ... getting to have lots of good talks and spend a lot of time out in nature and with animals. They’ve acquired a pot-bellied pig & rescued an abandoned puppy just in the last couple of days. So the farm is really growing! Lol. I’m taking a couple of days off from W30. Last night, I drove up to have a “treasure hunt” with my dad at my grandmother’s house - she’s owned the home for 70+ years, and today it is being closed on to go to a ne

Day 5: 8/19/20 – Woke up too early today, and probably undereating overall. Just time to go to bed & start fresh. The day was fine - took my youngest to the office with me so that he could get some school work done and finally meet my Irish Setter workmates. It’s peaceful there. He liked it.

Day 4: 8/18/20 – Finally had the emotional breakdown about our middle son - who is still at my sister’s (doing fine) and has had zero desire to talk to us. I was on my way to the office and suddenly just decided to have an ugly cry. My *normally uplifting* music made me finally lose my composure. I made a U-turn and drove an hour north instead, and spent some time with my parents. Because I have the most understanding employer in the world, she puts up with my life and just told me to take care of myself. Came home and got a surprise phone call from a friend ... and I a

Day 3: 8/17/20 -- So, of course ~ MIL's dr appt went just fine. My husband and I both reassured her that her living situation was not going to change, no matter what was talked about at this appointment. I know what she's been through was genuinely scary for her ~ then compounded by the fact that no one else "believes" her. Deep down she's afraid she's going to get locked up somewhere if she talks about it. I'm not patting myself on the back, but I am going to say out loud what a blessing it is for her that she has us. Because I've seen first-hand: so many people do not have so

Day 2: 8/16/20 – Had a pretty good day. MIL is having anxiety flare up, because we have her first appt with a new doctor tomorrow. She hasn’t seen any drs since she’s been here with us - this is the soonest we could get her in. So we spent quite a bit of time tonight discussing her past issues, how she’s doing currently, and reassuring her that tomorrow will be just fine. My stress is greatly reduced since I decided to stop picking up any nursing shifts for now. We will be feeling it financially soon ... but I do believe it will all work out. No doubt that this i

Day 1: 8/15/20 -- Weight: 119.0 So, the scale still reflecting a loss over the 18 days I managed to stick with this. -- I didn't have any cravings for alcohol today/tonight ... dinner last night did not trigger any big "brain rebellion" in the food department, either. I mostly like having the guidelines, and I don't spend a lot of time thinking about food. There are way too many other things on my mind right now.

Yesterday, my IBS decided to flare up. It has been pretty calm all this time. After 4 explosions spread inconveniently throughout my day, I finally decided to take two Imodium ~ and by then, I was so frustrated that all I wanted was chicken and rice topped with white cheese sauce from somewhere. A glass of wine crossed my mind, but it was not a demand. It was just a suggestion. It was optional. Got home from work ~ and hey, it's Friday night! My husband was home, which is rare ... and he, my MIL, and my youngest all decided they wanted to go out for Mexican. I told my husband a

Day 18: 8/13/20 -- Thanks, ladies. Just got the update from my sister & sounds like they've kept him busy all day. My MIL was pretty upset by the whole thing ... paranoia is part of the mix she has going on, so I have spent quite a bit of time last night & this morning trying to allay her fears. He's a teenage boy with a strong will. We just want to see him use it to do good. Finally, I think she has calmed. We had a nice walk around the neighborhood with the dogs tonight.