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Reintros and Support


Jomyke

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Is there anyone out there as old as me?  I am 59, in menopause, very active, eat clean and have a dickens of a time losing weight.  I finish my Whole30 on August 30 plus a few days.  I didn't go off track but had to eat out and didn't feel very good after that so a few extra days were recommended. I haven't stepped on the scale yet but was able to buy a size 12 dress last weekend that I needed for a party.  I keep thinking it was mis-sized because every other dress I tried on was 14 or 16.  But my pants fit better too. We will see this weekend.

Hello,

I am 56 yrs old & also had quite a time trying to lose weight. Finished my Whole30 on 8/22 and lost 12 lb that first month. I have much more to go but I was happy with those numbers. My first short term goal is to be <200 lb by my birthday, 11/13. Aggressive goal but I'm still eating clean & working out with a Cross-fit trainer three days a week. No weight check until 9/20. 

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I'm convinced that every year that passes after 30 (or after your first baby whichever is first) your body holds tighter and tighter to the status quo.  Sort of like some men and their fashion sense and women with their makeup routine.. One year they just hold onto a look that works for them (at that age)  and don't every move forward with the times.

 

Your body becomes a grouchy old man set in it's ways and doesn't want your new fangled ideas of being healthier at 50 then you were at 20.  I've been moving these hormones /fat around for decades, missy, and I'll keep doing it the way I do!

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I agree that the scale should not give you your self worth but lets be honest here. When I walk out the door no matter what I weigh if I feel like I look good then I am thrilled and it gives me confidence. That does affect my health because if I am feeling good about myself I am out more doing things that I love. Sometimes I get tired of people always judging. For me if you want to come on here and say you lost 2lbs or 50 I am thrilled for you, if you want to say you lost a few inches that is great or if you don't want to focus on numbers and want to talk about how great you feel I am good with that too. If you want to go from a size 6 to a 4 go for it I will cheer you on. If you want to tell me you are happy to get down to a 16 I am thrilled for you. This forum is obviously not "weight watchers" but some of us (myself included) need the weight to come off in order to be healthy. I have learned from the whole 30 and other places not to use the scale every day. When I get close to a healthy I may get rid of it altogether and I may not. I use the scale as a weekly tool to tell if what I am doing is working and if I may need to make any adjustments. If I don't drop some weight in a few weeks I may need to cut out some nuts or change some meals to more lean protein or change my workout routine. My profile picture is 8 years old because I am so upset about the way I look now I don't have any pictures of myself. I swear my kids are probably going to wonder if I was there the first years of their lives. I did my first whole 30 June 22nd and have been clean eating since. My starting weight was 258. I have never said that number out loud and/or typed it out. I have lost 28lbs so far and I am really proud of that. I know that number because I used a scale (gasp!) and I will continue to do so in tracking that. Sorry about the rant but some of this stuff hits me a little personal. My mom is a size 00 and struggles to keep her weight UP. Yup, keep it up. I have heard so many people say things like "I don't feel sorry for her" because she is so tiny. She has spent a long time being so sick and not able to eat anything. The whole 30 has been a lifesaver for her and for me. For some people it may seem nice to be that thin but it is a daily struggle for her to keep weight on. She has been exercising to help build muscle but is afraid if she steps it up she will lose more weight. I have been encouraging her to get on the forum and ask questions about weight gain but I am a little worried that people will judge her because she is that small. As heavy as I am now my scale does tell me about my health. I feel great the way I am eating but no matter how healthy I feel the weight does need to come off for my health and I will be checking my scale to keep on the right track. So I guess people don't want to hear about the scale here so I am off to do this on my own. I wish you all luck and hope you all get where you want to be:) 

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I agree that the scale should not give you your self worth but lets be honest here. When I walk out the door no matter what I weigh if I feel like I look good then I am thrilled and it gives me confidence. That does affect my health because if I am feeling good about myself I am out more doing things that I love. Sometimes I get tired of people always judging. For me if you want to come on here and say you lost 2lbs or 50 I am thrilled for you, if you want to say you lost a few inches that is great or if you don't want to focus on numbers and want to talk about how great you feel I am good with that too. If you want to go from a size 6 to a 4 go for it I will cheer you on. If you want to tell me you are happy to get down to a 16 I am thrilled for you. This forum is obviously not "weight watchers" but some of us (myself included) need the weight to come off in order to be healthy. I have learned from the whole 30 and other places not to use the scale every day. When I get close to a healthy I may get rid of it altogether and I may not. I use the scale as a weekly tool to tell if what I am doing is working and if I may need to make any adjustments. If I don't drop some weight in a few weeks I may need to cut out some nuts or change some meals to more lean protein or change my workout routine. My profile picture is 8 years old because I am so upset about the way I look now I don't have any pictures of myself. I swear my kids are probably going to wonder if I was there the first years of their lives. I did my first whole 30 June 22nd and have been clean eating since. My starting weight was 258. I have never said that number out loud and/or typed it out. I have lost 28lbs so far and I am really proud of that. I know that number because I used a scale (gasp!) and I will continue to do so in tracking that. Sorry about the rant but some of this stuff hits me a little personal. My mom is a size 00 and struggles to keep her weight UP. Yup, keep it up. I have heard so many people say things like "I don't feel sorry for her" because she is so tiny. She has spent a long time being so sick and not able to eat anything. The whole 30 has been a lifesaver for her and for me. For some people it may seem nice to be that thin but it is a daily struggle for her to keep weight on. She has been exercising to help build muscle but is afraid if she steps it up she will lose more weight. I have been encouraging her to get on the forum and ask questions about weight gain but I am a little worried that people will judge her because she is that small. As heavy as I am now my scale does tell me about my health. I feel great the way I am eating but no matter how healthy I feel the weight does need to come off for my health and I will be checking my scale to keep on the right track. So I guess people don't want to hear about the scale here so I am off to do this on my own. I wish you all luck and hope you all get where you want to be:) 

No! Don't leave -- speaking for myself, the focus is NOT the scale, but how I feel, and other measurements. It's important to make the journey your own, whether that means measurements by body fat %, the measuring tape, or the scale. I LOVE hearing about the "non-scale victories" just as much as the scale ones! It's all so inspirational to see what goes on in other people's lives. 

 

On my journey, the scale doesn't budge much (we'll see tomorrow if it has during this Whole30), but I have been changing my shape, and that is what I'm most proud of. But any of the amazing accomplishments in better health and yes, weight loss are great to hear. When I get frustrated and discouraged, it's any success story that helps me remember to keep on keeping on.

 

Here's to the next chapter!

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Jmh, thank you for that post. I was hoping this could be a place where we feel free to share our small victories and continue to support each other. I'm kind of shocked that some of you feel offended by "weight loss." I know for myself i cant be healthy while im overweight or obese, so to me weight loss is a huge part of gaining health. I have loved this whole month up until yesterday when I read some of the posts here. I guess this will be my last... I wish you all the best and hope that we all continue our journey to health!

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Please don't change your approach to this forum because I don't like numbers.  My opinion is different, and in this case since 'weight loss' is in the title of the thread, I should have kept it to myself.  I meant to suggest other ways to measure without numbers, but that's not useful here.  I apologize for being judge-y about the scale and sounding like I was offended or superior for being scale averse.  I am certainly no less affected by what it says, or the size of my clothes, then anyone els.  It does make me very sad that this is such an emotional button for me, and so many people, regardless of our size or the state of our health and self-confidence.  But as I have daughters, I imagine I will always feel this way about the discussion of weight = goodness (health or otherwise) amongst women.  

 

I'm completely fallible, make all kinds of missteps and mistakes daily, and I will try again to be a better person tomorrow.  

 

This is a big forum, I'll avoid this thread, and I'm unlikely to really post much more after today anyway.  So please don't change your plans because I wrote a couple poorly considered messages that reflected my own bias and unintentionally showed disrespect for anothers.

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I really hope that jomyke and jmh don't leave! so far there is no moderator closing this thread and banning us from sharing our successes in whatever way is meaningful for us. there is just one member sharing suggestions on other things that can be indicators of progress that we can add to our other measures of success.

 

YES, I am sure everyone of us wants to break our ties to the scale. but when your doctor is pressuring you about Weight Loss for health reasons and we have tried so many other things (diet the good the bad and the ugly).... there is no way to completely sever the weight aspect from the healthy eating path that we are on.

 

that's my 2 cents

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Sorry, I may have gone a little overboard on my rant. I have had a lot going on here lately and sometimes I feel like I am fighting an uphill battle alone with all this. School has started for the kids and my husband (who also works full time) goes to school 4 nights a week so I am making lunches, dropping kids off, picking them up, helping with homework, going to parent meetings, my treadmill broke, it has been raining so I can't walk outside, my husband is complaining about how much I am spending on groceries and then I got on here and some of the stuff I read upset me a little. I really like this August group and was happy to see this thread starting. I just think it would be nice for all of us to support each other in our path to get healthy through not eating junk. If it is weight loss, weight gain, scale, no scale, measurements, or just to say "hey, I had a yummy avocado today" or "here is a great recipe" as long as we keep our main focus on eating great whole 9 food and being healthy and happy with ourselves I am all for people talking or not talking about scales or measurements. It has been raining on my hill lately and I needed a little rope to help me get going again. Sorry I said I was going to take my red ball and go home.......

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Hello again :). So I've had some time to think things over and I don't want to go. I need the support more now than ever. I'm already so isolated in my life. No one understands what I'm going through. So I can't just turn my back on a wonderful group of people that have been so supportive and understanding this past month! lets just pretend the title of this post is "August group continued support" and move on.

I'm having really intense cravings for pretzels today. So frustrating! All month I've had hardly any cravings and now that my 30 days are over I start having cravings??? I'm feeling kind of let down. I haven't felt the "magic" or had the increased energy. I don't want to give up though. I think maybe I need to read the book again and do another 30 days soon. Maybe try sept as reintro and then go back to whole 30 for oct if I don't feel any better about how things are going. This coming week is going to be tough with extra things going on, events to go to, family stuff, ect. But I shall do the best I can.

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I hope no one feels the need to go!  I was surprised to see the subject line of the group, but I want to stay in touch with all you folks.  You could have called it "Pooper Scoopers" and I would have still signed up.  It's only a name.

 

I know that I both need to lose weight and need to stop thinking about it.  It's an interesting issue for me.  I'm hoping that this continued support will help me to move back into my life, to "ride my own bike" as they say around here, in a way that will support my health.

 

I can't pretend that I don't want to be slimmer, but I can tell you that being healthier is amazing.  I haven't used my emergency asthma inhaler in about 3 weeks.  I'm beginning to wonder if the Advair is really necessary.  Perhaps in a while I will go to the specialist and get tested...

 

My blood sugar has been totally normal for the entire month of August - in fact I have mostly stopped taking a reading.  I don't think I have pre-diabetes any more at all.

 

My sleep isn't where anyone would approve of it unless you put it into context.  In July the fitbit sleep monitor was reporting about 4 hours of effective sleep per night.  I think I am up to 6 after my whole 30, on average.  I feel tons better.  I dream more. 

 

My taste buds are changing - there are days where my coffee (what I used to think was the breath of life!) tasted gross and I thought about not having it.

 

I need to work on my water intake and some other tummy issues.  I look forward to being healthier (and slimmer!) every day.

 

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I wonder is there a way to re-name this thread to something less "controversial"?

 

If not, I'm glad to see people sticking around.

 

Here are my results in a nutshell. I must say that I am pleased overall with the change in mood, how the clothes fit, etc. but even with my measurements, I know there's a way to go (as they are the same as after my last Whole 30... I didn't do all of the measurements before this one, but I know they were higher).

 

I am pleased to say that I dropped 7.8 # during this Whole 30 (I was that far back up before I started, and didn't record it here). Of that, 4# was all body fat. A little annoyed at a loss in muscle mass, but that could be error in measuring. Either way, I'm pleased with how my clothes feel, how I feel, and the results.

 

My intention now is to keep eating as cleanly paleo/Whole9 as possible, continuing to nix the grains, refined sugar, and keep the cheese and wine to an absolute minumum (I *will* have a glass tonight, though!).

 

As I'm going to see an endocrinologist the end of Sept, I think it's best that I focus on how I'm feeling and keep this momentum going, especially as everything I'm reading tells me that fueling this way will help support all of my body's systems and rebalance anything that may be out of whack.

 

Here's to better health!

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My observation is that the more ideas that get into the mix, the better we get at learning about ourselves and our health.  What if we call this Reintro Support.

 

As for me, I was diligent for my first Whole30. Although I have been eating mostly Paleo for a year, I knew it was time to recalibrate and better understand the big picture of this lifestyle. The Whole30 approach really helped me in that quest. I lost a few pounds, a few inches, but gained immeasurable knowledge about how I like to eat, my hunger pains, what works and what doesn't work for me when it comes to eating, lifestyle and stress.

 

My biggest joy is over that last year, my migraines have gone from 12-15 a month and having to use a $30 pill to kill each headache to only 6 after the first month.  Over the past year they have gradually gone down to 2 a month.  Very manageable.  But in the last few months, it has gone down to 1.  And now I haven't had a migraine headache that required meds since July 12. That is the longest I have gone without a migraine in 3 years.  I have also increased my exercise and I have been seeing a therapist that has helped with the emotional side of life. And I found out I have sleep apnea and have treated that.  All in all, it is all good!  So while I am disappointed that I didn't lose more weight, I have so much more than weight loss to measure success. I have my brain back to normal and I am functioning at a much higher level in all walks of life.  Hallelujah!

 

p.s. This is a public service announcement about sleep apnea.  If you are having trouble sleeping or are told you snore or you get up more than 1 time a night to go to the bathroom or wake up tired even if you think you have slept, please talk to your doctor about it.  The ramifications of not treating sleep apnea are deadly - literally. http://www.sleepapnea.org/learn/sleep-apnea.html.  And there is new evidence of a link between sleep apnea and Alzheimer's.  I do not fit the profile and yet I had it so please take care of yourself.

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I want to start this off by saying that I am ssooo not perfect and still make some food mistakes. I am going to brag soon so that is important for me to get out there. That being said I can't tell you how much this has all changed my life. I lost 40lbs between my 2 youngest kids. I was starving, worn out and tired doing it though. I was so thankful when I was pregnant with my 3rd child because I could eat again!! You can all assume that I gained that 40lbs right back because I totally did. I tried many times (unsuccessfully) to lose weight again after my youngest was born. Then through 2 high school friends I found the whole 30. Getting through the first whole 30 was hard. I had to do it 3 times before I finally made it through. My mom has always been big into eating healthy so I have always had some knowledge but this finally put all the pieces together for both of us. I have energy to do things now and am moving towards being a healthy weight without being hungry. The biggest change for me (and here comes the bragging part) is something I realized today. I had to make a choice today. My husband woke up and said "lets get donuts!". I do have to defend my husband a little because I think the last time our family had donuts was about a year ago. It is not something we normally do. When presented with that statement normally my brain would say "ugh, I hope I have the willpower to resist this" and I panic worried that I will not. Today when he said that my first thought was "if he gets to have donuts I get to go for a walk" and I was actually excited about that. I went for my walk, came home and made myself and egg scramble with mushrooms, onions and green peppers and added some mango and avocado as a side. Looking at the leftover donut and my plate I almost laughed. I took a pic and put it on my blog because it was almost silly that I ever thought that donut looked good.

 

Feeling changed today:)

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I'm on day 29. The big benefit I've seen is in my blood sugar and my body. Rock steady blood sugar, and my belt has come in three notches and my chest is a bit smaller as well. I no longer look and feel constantly bloated, as I had since my 2yo. son was born. It had been like all the organs rearranged by pregnancy stayed where they were, all upper gut bloat.

I'm going to step on the scale tomorrow. I will not be surprised by any number. I was about 175 at the start.

Considering more closely, my eczema hasn't acted up (though this time of year it usually isn't bad), and I've had less oily skin on my face/scalp.

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I reintroduced dairy yesterday. I know for a long time that I am sensitive to lactose, but found a great pill (from the USA), that made me able to eat anything I wanted. Or so I thought... I started to take that pill a few days ago. Still I had a bad diarrhea yesterday. Never happened before with those pills. Oh, and my legs are aching like crazy. My oedema is worse, and my knees hurt. Although that might be caused by my actions from Friday. I cleaned up our flat and went to the cellar about ten or twelve times carrying boxes. We live on the second floor, so for me that was something. Still I wonder if the dairy made it worse...

Well, in future dairy will have to be a "worth it"-treat, one that I know I will need privacy and and a bathroom after....

I think I will do another test day just with cheese and yoghurt. Because after breakfast with Greek yoghurt I was fine...

So, how is everyone else doing with reintros?

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So yesterday for m1 I had blueberry cinnamon omelet (sounds weird but it's pretty tasty) and a smoothie with W30 compliant ingredients. M2 was Taco salad all W30 approved and m3 was salmon, scallops and hodge podge but made with coconut milk and ghee (there are small new white potatoes in hodge podge). So I really didn't introduce anything yesterday and started another round of W30 today. I think I'm just going to continue to eat this way until something comes along that feels worth it.

My first W30 changed how I feel about food and now I get pleasure from the sweetness of a fresh berry or the crispness of a cucumber. I used to LOVE kraft light peanut butter, we still have it in he house, hubby and daughter eat it. Well It was left on the counter the other day with the lid off and I picked it up to put the lid back and gave a big sniff to reminisce and you know what it smelled like, peanuty chemicals. It smelled vile. So I'm loving how my body can tell the difference between real food and simulated food. I am sleeping better, I do have more energy but don't quite think I hit tiger blood mode. My clothes are a lot looser and I'm on the cusp of going down a size(16 is really loose and the 14 I have in my closet are snug but I can zip them up). I didn't lose much in terms of pounds (down 7.6) which bummed me out for a half a second until i decided to change my mindset. The scale is not my friend and its time we broke up! I'm continuing my couch to 5 k program and have 2 weeks left to go. I can't believe I can now run over 20 min straight when a month ago 2 min was a struggle.

I've always struggled with my weight, even when i was a smaller size i was not healthy, just skinnier. I tried low carb, no carb high fat, Weight Watchers, cabbage soup diet, south beach, low cal, etc...nothing seemed sustainable long term. My ultimate goal is to hit my 40th birthday the fittest I've ever been and I truly believe this is the first time I've found something that will help get me there.

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I dreamt last night that I reintroed chocolate and it was delicious. I still have 10 days to go. Funny it wasnt like my other cheat dreams, i felt no guilt or shame from eating it because in my dream I was in the reintro phase. And my body had no negative reactions to The chocolate. :) and it didnt send me into a spiral of pooreating. I hope the real life reintro will go as well.

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I dreamt last night that I reintroed chocolate and it was delicious. I still have 10 days to go. Funny it wasnt like my other cheat dreams, i felt no guilt or shame from eating it because in my dream I was in the reintro phase. And my body had no negative reactions to The chocolate. :) and it didnt send me into a spiral of pooreating. I hope the real life reintro will go as well.

 

I think you may be okay, Sheba-Kitty! I had some red wine and chocolate after dinner last night and it was okay. I think it helps that the chocolate had 3 ingredients: organic cacao beans, organic cane sugar, and organic coffee beans (it's Taza Mexican Ground Chocolate--dark and delicious). 

 

Only 10 more days, lady!

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I am on day 30. DH is throwing a house party. On the menu are two yard long homemade Dagwood sub sandwiches, his pea salad, deviled eggs (with regular mayo and grey poupon in them), potato salad, chips, homemade sangria.

This is day 30. Grumble grumble.....

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I decided 29.66days was close enough. I went cautiously off road. Deviled eggs, kale chips I made for myself, a small amount of berry smoothie (juice and fruit only), 2 shots of high-end tequila and a Strongbow. There is a small amount of sugar in the cider but it's gf. There is also some sulfite, so that's definitely off road. I didn't touch the sandwich or potato chips and dip or the storebought the potato salad. I also left the sangria alone, because it had Sprite in it.

So far, my alcohol tolerance seems to be higher than it used to be.

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I want to start this off by saying that I am ssooo not perfect and still make some food mistakes. I am going to brag soon so that is important for me to get out there. That being said I can't tell you how much this has all changed my life. I lost 40lbs between my 2 youngest kids. I was starving, worn out and tired doing it though. I was so thankful when I was pregnant with my 3rd child because I could eat again!! You can all assume that I gained that 40lbs right back because I totally did. I tried many times (unsuccessfully) to lose weight again after my youngest was born. Then through 2 high school friends I found the whole 30. Getting through the first whole 30 was hard. I had to do it 3 times before I finally made it through. My mom has always been big into eating healthy so I have always had some knowledge but this finally put all the pieces together for both of us. I have energy to do things now and am moving towards being a healthy weight without being hungry. The biggest change for me (and here comes the bragging part) is something I realized today. I had to make a choice today. My husband woke up and said "lets get donuts!". I do have to defend my husband a little because I think the last time our family had donuts was about a year ago. It is not something we normally do. When presented with that statement normally my brain would say "ugh, I hope I have the willpower to resist this" and I panic worried that I will not. Today when he said that my first thought was "if he gets to have donuts I get to go for a walk" and I was actually excited about that. I went for my walk, came home and made myself and egg scramble with mushrooms, onions and green peppers and added some mango and avocado as a side. Looking at the leftover donut and my plate I almost laughed. I took a pic and put it on my blog because it was almost silly that I ever thought that donut looked good.

 

Feeling changed today:)

JHM - Good on you!  I haven't re-introed yet because I have a slight sinus headache - weird weather patterns in Colorado right now - and I don't want that to misread my results.  But I can tell you that I feel very normal still eating Whole30.  I don't feel deprived. I finally made the Pad Thai everyone is raving about and I understand.  It is like SWYPO. Reframing our thinking is key to the success with our health.

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I am on day 30. DH is throwing a house party. On the menu are two yard long homemade Dagwood sub sandwiches, his pea salad, deviled eggs (with regular mayo and grey poupon in them), potato salad, chips, homemade sangria.

This is day 30. Grumble grumble.....

Hang in there!

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FYI- I thought I read a post earlier there were some of you looking for people in the over 50 age group to share some similar challenges with. A lady just posted in the forum under "Older women following the whole 30" so I wanted to let you know if you wanted to post with her also. I will jump on and tell her about this one because I think there is a really nice group here.

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