Whole30 in SoCal

[beachchica]

I have been eating primally since January, but am starting the Whole30 challenge today. The biggest change for me will be no dairy, since I've been enjoying Greek Yogurt and occasional cheese in my primal lifestyle. I had no trouble ditching grains (never looking back on that one) but sugar has been much harder for me to kick. Until now.

 

It's time. Right now. I have a 9 month old son (my first) and a fit body is lingering underneath the 15 to 20 lbs I need to lose. I want my son to have a happy, healthy mom. This is it. No excuses. I've run half-marathons, climbed mountains ... for Heaven's sake I've given birth! The easiest and best thing I will ever do is change my relationship with food. So here it goes. There is no starting tomorrow. It starts today. Right now.

[beachchica]

On day 5 of my first Whole30, and it's going well (other than some bloat at the end of each day). I had ditched grains and legumes back in January, so at least I already had that under my belt. No sugar and no dairy is a new one though, but so far I'm having no trouble abstaining. And I already didn't drink alcohol. The biggest changes for me are trying to incorporate protein into every meal, and not snacking all day long. Just finished reading "It Starts with Food" and I plan on reading it again during this Whole30 process, as a reminder of why I'm doing this and why I shouldn't go back to how I was eating before. 

[beachchica]

Day 9 of my first Whole30: So far, no slips in what I've been eating, and I've been following the meal template pretty religiously. I did have to have a snack on most days. The stretch between lunch and dinner is a tad too long, but I was careful to make sure the snack was protein and fat, with little fruit if any. This is a huge improvement over my all-day-long grazing on nuts and dark chocolate-covered espresso beans.

 

I've also done very well with no eating after dinner, having herbal tea instead. Though last night I had a couple of pieces of coconut. I did two separate jogs, plus swimming and some lunges/squats and don't think I ate enough to fuel those workouts. My tummy was rumbling after dinner, even though it hasn't been all week.

 

Most importantly, I'm listening to my body to see if it's actually hungry before putting anything in my mouth. I often have rumbles, but I'm learning to recognize some of them as just digestion, and not actual hunger. Looking forward to another week of healthy eating, and changing my relationship with food.

[beachchica]

Day 11- doing really well (except I can't seem to stay away from the scale!) No food cheats, not even tempted. I barely snack at all anymore, and it's only when I'm actually hungry. And no more eating after dinner- just herbal tea. This is revolutionary. I hope to continue this behavior indefinitely.

 

The only thing I expect to change after the Whole30 is that I might not eat animal protein at every meal. I'll have to figure that one out. Maybe I'll keep eating 2-3 eggs at breakfast, have fish or some other seafood with lunch, and then just veggies and healthy fat at dinner.

 

Plus I'll allow myself an occasional paleo-treat (made grain-free and with coconut sugar or something like that). I might consider cheese here and there, but honestly I really overate that, so it's best for me to consider it a treat. Very very happy with the breakthrough I've had, but I know I have a long way to go before it really sticks. So here's to another 19 days of clean eating

[beachchica]

Day 14- I am doing really well, but now feel like I should extend to a Whole45 or Whole60. I inadvertantly broke a couple of rules, but think starting over at this point might kill my motivation (I baked a coconut "muffin", have eaten banana mashed into eggs for breakfast and chewed a piece of gum). I honestly didn't know these were against the rules until I just read a "Can I have this?" article on the site. In the interest of keeping my motivation going, I'm going to carry on and just tack these days onto the end of my Whole30 ....

 

ALSO, I don't think 30 days is enough time for me to really feel comfortable enjoying occasional treats or trying dairy. I could still see myself going back to overeating those things, and I really don't want to do that.

 

My current plan is to finish the Whole30, and then just keep going every day, and if there is an event or something that I really really want to try that would be rare to get to try again, I'll have my treat and start over the next day with day 1, starting another Whole30. My goal is to see how long I can go (Whole100 or more maybe?) before feeling like I really want a treat. This will motivate me because:

1. I'm really stubborn

2. I am really competitive with myself.

3. No treat is as powerful as #1 and #2 in my list.

So hopefully I can model my average day around the Whole30 mind frame and make this more of a Whole360 with a few days of the year where I indulge in a special treat (with no guilt!!)

[beachchica]

Day 16- Something very strange happened today. Just when I thought I had the hang of this, I suddenly wanted to eat everything. I didn't eat anything not Whole30 approved, but I definitely snacked more than usual, and ate a couple handfuls of cashews, even though I had proclaimed them off-limits for the rest of my Whole30. I also had a mango/strawberry blend after dinner, and I had been very good up til then about not eating after dinner. I need to just pick myself up, dust myself off, and get back to it- no guilt. And no more stepping on the scale. It's totally messing with my head. I had planned on doing a Whole45, but I think I'd better just get through this Whole30, and then look at a calendar to see when there will be the fewest distractions to do another Whole30. As it is, I'm throwing a party Saturday and though I'm making a bunch of stuff I will be able to eat, I can't have a birthday cupcake and I really want one. Waaa I mean honestly, I'm so tired of rules. I just want to enjoy my food and enjoy how it makes me look and feel! When will this be my reality?!

[beachchica]

Day 17- Thank goodness that whatever the heck was going on yesterday is not an issue today. I wonder if that was the extinction burst they often talk about, but it supposedly happens around day 10.

 

I'm eating great and exercising and totally not thinking about the scale. I need to have my husband hide it though because I'm often too tempted and do step on it. The next Whole30 I do (maybe in October?) I will definitely not weigh myself and will also photograph each meal as a sort of photo-food-journal. Just 13 more days to go. I'm having a surprise party for my hubby on Saturday- I'll have to freeze a treat and eat it after my Whole30 (if I even want it by then). Stay strong!

[beachchica]

Update on day 17- unfortunately I will have to start over with day 1 of my Whole30. I ate palm sugar. Blah. I did enjoy what I made, and didn't go overboard, but am still disappointed. For now I'll keep eating paleo and clean (cuz I like it!) and will do another Whole30 in a few weeks.

[beachchica]

Day 1(again) - I am starting my Whole30 again today. I did great up through day 17 the first time, but with the 4th of July and my husband's surprise birthday party approaching, I caved and ate some of the sweets I was baking for him. Not too much, but enough that it was worth starting over. I feel like I got my indulgences out of the way, and am proud I didn't go overboard. Even on the days I was "off" the Whole30, I continued to follow Whole30 principles as much as possible, and most often ate veggies with breakfast (which was new for me). I still didn't eat grains or dairy but the sweets did lure me back in. So now I know this time around that my sugar dragon is the beast I must conquer- the other stuff I really have a handle on. Which is great! Wish me luck this second time around. Day 30 will be my 9-year anniversary of meeting my husband (married almost 3 years) so I'm hoping my anniversary gift to both of us will be a happier and healthier me!

[sunnymama]

Happy Day 1, good for you for not giving up!   

[beachchica]

Hmmm. I seem to have fallen off the wagon. I can only make it a day or two without indulging in something sweet. I guess it's better that the sweets are things I'm making, and I'm using coconut sugar, but still ... what the heck? I did so incredibly well the first 17 days of my first Whole30. I can't believe I failed at day 3 this time around. It's very clear to me how big of an issue my sugar addiction is. I've been able to kick cereal (which I dearly loved before), bread, pasta, rice, oatmeal, and all grains, dairy, so why not sugar? Well sugar, here is your notice. I'm getting rid of you. I can focus on you, just you, because all the other enemies are already gone. So, here goes another try. I was thinking of waiting for the official Whole30 in August, but I have visitors staying with us and a wedding to attend, and thought that might not be the best time. But more importantly, I don't want to wait a couple of weeks. It starts now! 

[beachchica]

Ok- so this Day 1 went wayyyy better. I signed up for the Whole30 dailies- so I'm hoping those will be the kick in the pants I need to finish this Whole30. Now I know to look out for that sneaky sugar dragon. Everything else has been conquered, so I'm pretty proud of myself for that. And I am definitely breaking up with my scale. Not sure if it's for good, but it's for now, and that's good enough

[beachchica]

Day 2 and I'm doing great. I really hope this Whole30 goes better than my first attempt. It was so strange to power through day 17 and then totally backslide at the end of day 17. This time I'll be on the lookout for any saboteurs

[beachchica]

Day 5- doing great. I really think I'm not going to have a problem sticking with this long-term. I don't miss sugar this time. Maybe going off the wagon a little near the middle of my first Whole30 reminded me how bad sugar makes me feel, and that it totally wasn't worth sabotaging my Whole30 for sweets.

 

One thing I'm struggling with is eating meat. I've eaten seafood all along, but I only recently reintroduced chicken, turkey, and very occasionally red meat into my diet (stopped eating all non-seafood meat at the age of 14). I'm having a very hard time with the emotional aspect of eating meat and find myself having to ignore where the food came from just to stomach it. But isn't the point of a Whole30 to consider the source of your food, and how it nourishes your body, and embrace that with no guilt? I just am not ok with my eating the flesh of another animal, even though I don't mind anyone else doing that. Not sure how to get over this. I think I'll post on a forum and see what suggestions others have.

[beachchica]

Day 13 and I'm doing really well. I have only been tempted to eat something off-plan a couple of times. Each time I asked myself if eating that food would make me feel better, and the answer was a resounding "No!" so I abstained. I can't believe all the negative food habits that I've broken in such a short amount of time. Body composition wise, I still have a ways to go, but people are already commenting on how fit I look. I'll take it

[beachchica]

What the heck is it about Day 14/15? I thought it'd be smooth sailing by now. Unfortunately I set myself up for failure yesterday. We are very busy looking for a home and getting ours ready to sell, and were out late looking with our realtor. We had to get the little guy home, and there was literally nothing in the fridge I could eat for a satisfying dinner. I can't honestly say I had nothing compliant in the fridge, because there were lots of veggies. But no protein and not really any fats. So, I ended up eating some TJ frozen turkey meatballs, which afterwards I noticed had BREADcrumbs in them. Oh goodness. Stomach ache and bloating soon followed. I am so bummed that I ate a non-compliant food, and that bumminess lead to eating one more non-compliant food (a bite of dark chocolate). I didn't go crazy or anything, but now I feel like I have to start over. So bummed that I set myself up for failure. Maybe I need to get out of this 30 day mentality. I really truly would rather eat compliant food most of the time- but if it's no food or non-compliant, I have to choose non-compliant. The lesson here is to make sure I stock up on lots of healthy real food so that I'm never forced to make that choice. I did NOT feel very good after

[beachchica]

I will view this slip as a blessing in disguise. The next official Whole30 starts this week, 8/1. I will do the program then and use the additional community following the plan to help me do it right this time! Third time's a charm, right?

[GFChris]

Great attitude!  Yup, chalk it up to a lesson learned and get back on the wagon! Maybe, since it sounds like day 14/15 is tricky for you, have a strategy in place (including compliant food at home) for handling any further potential issues on those days next time around?

[beachchica]

Thanks Chris! Yeah- I slipped up on day 17 the first time, and day 15 this second time, both due to poor planning. The weird thing is, until the slip, I do GREAT. I mean so great that I can't imagine ever not eating Whole30. Then all of a sudden the resolve is gone. Now that I know to look out for this mindset, I can get some plans in place to talk me through it (like ALWAYS having healthy protein on hand- my downfall the last time). Luckily I'm very competitive with myself, so striving to just make it past day 17 will help take me all the way there. Thanks for your encouragement!

[beachchica]

I also want to add that every time I start a Whole30, another really good habit sticks (like veggies with breakfast and following the meal template). So even though I haven't finished a Whole30, I am getting healthier with each attempt. I will do it this time!

[beachchica]

Looking forward to the start of my first successful Whole30. By "successful," I mean that I WILL do all 30 days of it, no ifs, ands, or buts about it! I think having the support of a larger community, even larger than the wonderful community I've already found on here, will help so much. A couple of friends are going to do it too, so I know that will help keep me accountable. I want to be their cheerleader, and I can't do that if I'm not rocking my own Whole30. See you all on Thursday!!

[beachchica]

For this official August Whole30, I want to do it right. So in addition to eliminating foods like dairy and sugar, I also want to eliminate my other foods-without-breaks, which include: nuts and nut butters, coffee, and coconut flakes. Even though those are all great foods, I have a hard time limiting them. So they are out for the next 30-60 days. It's time to get healthy, for good!

[beachchica]

I figured it might be a good idea to tackle this third attempt at a Whole30 in a different way, considering the first two attempts resulted in falling slightly off the wagon (can you slightly fall?) just past mid-way. This time, I'm going to have a very detailed plan of action with specific, measurable goals.

 

To succeed at my Whole30, and jumpstart my healthier life, I will do these things:

1. follow the Whole30 meal template to a T, which means this is what a typical meal will look like:

• breakfast: eggs w/ kale & coconut oil, w/ fruit or sweet potato
• lunch: salad w/ shrimp or chicken & avocado
• dinner: steamed veggies with fish or chicken & olive oil
• 3 meals, no snacks or dessert

2. avoid food-without-breaks:

• no coffee
• no shredded coconut
• no nuts/seeds & associated butters
• fruit only with breakfast

 

3. exercise consistently:

• walk every day for at least 30 minutes (already do this at least)
• run at least 20 minutes 3-5 times per week
• resistance training Wed and Sat: 50 of each: squats, lunges, pushups, crunches, and triceps dips

[beachchica]

Day 9- Everything is going well. This time I WILL finish the entire Whole30! Making the right food choices is second nature by this point. I'm still working on portion sizes and minimizing snacking, but all in all, I'm pleased with my progress. The elusive day 18 (which I've never before reached) is right around the corner. I'm keeping an eye out for mind tricks, making sure I don't fall for any lies my brain tells me about sugar.

[Casswoman]

I'm right there with ya. Day 9 for me, and I'm in SoCal, too. TJs, Sprouts, Whole Foods are your friends right now, and I'm there almost every day these last 9 days.

Stock up on your proteins- throw a can of tuna or salmon in the cabinet for when there is no protein in the fridge. Buy an extra dozen eggs. Something to get you through.