Karen's Whole 30 Sept 8 to Oct 7

[cortner1195]

My name is Karen, and I am preparing to start my Whole 30 journey. I have been reading about it for a while, but really studying the info for the last 5 days. I will get home tomorrow, shop on Saturday night, and start on Sunday.

A little history of me. My highest weight ever recorded was 288. In January's of 2008 my husband and I started Weight Watchers as a lifestyle choice. I lost weight very successfully down to 161. Not quite goal weight, but very fit. I have run a number of half marathons, etc. I have arthritis resulting in a knee replacement in Sept 2007. Then in the fall of 2009 I tore a tendon in my foot while running. I severed the tendon in January 2010. Surgery the following June was a complete failure. I recovered, and went on with my life. My weight stayed down. We discovered that my arthritis had invaded my spine at multiple locations. Still I carried on..

June of 2012 I hired a coach to train for an Ironman race. I knew it would be a challenge, but I believed the coach when he told me I could do it. In October last year I knew I wasn't where I should be, but I knew I needed to trust the coach I hired. In December I became aware that he did not remember my medical history/injuries. Didn't really know me at all. I was heart broken, but stubborn. Keep training, but find another coach. Easier said than done. It took until February to find another coach. Too late, even with her help I couldn't get caught up. Three weeks before my race, after I had to pull out of the race, I severed all four rotator cuff tendons, and my bicep tendon. Surgery was in June. I am just starting to run again. I am not allowed to do any strength training yet.

Through this last year my stress level has continued to climb. I am desperately unhappy. Old eating habits have resurfaced. I keep trying my old weight loss regimen and I lose weight for a few days. Then regain. Repeat. I am now being treated for auto immune causes for my tendon damage, and arthritis. My weight is up 30 pounds. My "no" button seems completely broken. I am eating, and craving foods that I haven't eaten for years. I worked hard to develop a healthy lifestyle, and maintained it for years. I want it back!

I believe I can do this for 30 days. I have two issues during this period. I am flying to Vegas on Sept 27th to 29th to run a10k with friends from my weight loss site. My birthday is on the 30th. I am hoping to get lots of good ideas to get through these days during week 3.

Now that the start day is getting closer, I am more concerned about staying on track in Vegas.

So, here we go. I will visit Whole Foods in Seattle tomorrow before heading home. The rest of my shopping will happen after my husband's triathlon on Saturday. I am a good cook, and not worried about that aspect. I am worried about meal planning. I know that this is a key concept for me. No planning=failure for me.

Thanks for listening!

[amberino21]

You can do it!! You sound determined and like you want it to work I really hope you get some benefits, start adopting a healthier lifestyle by getting rid of the emotional eating and not so healthy food choices, as well as getting some relief from your pain. You mentioned being treated for AI conditions - are you planning a normal whole 30 or following the AI protocol?

It may be worth checking out the athlete section for tips on how to best get through your training and race. You should expect a period of low energy initially, but hopefully this is replaced by greater energy after the first couple of weeks

[cortner1195]

I will look more at the AI protocol.

Usually getting extra food is enough motivation to get me to a workout!

Thanks for the tip on the athlete section.

I am drawing a blank on the planning part. For me the planning may be figuring out breakfast the night before, and lunch and dinner in the morning.

[MadscienceM]

Welcome Cortner1195... I know you can do it... sounds like you have a good plan! There is a group of us starting on Sept 9th 9one day later than you) in the whole 30 section, if you want to pop in and share with us...

[cortner1195]

Welcome Cortner1195... I know you can do it... sounds like you have a good plan! There is a group of us starting on Sept 9th 9one day later than you) in the whole 30 section, if you want to pop in and share with us...

I will check for the thread starting Sept 9th.

I looked at the AI protocol. I am a little overwhelmed with the further restrictions. I am thinking to start with the regular Whole 30, then add the AI protocol at about the two weeks. My husband is starting two weeks from now. No big changes in his diet right now as he has a half ironman on the 22nd.

Two questions. Can we have tea? Macadamia nut oil?

[amberino21]

You can have tea, just make sure it has no non-compliant ingredients! Soy lecithin seems to be popular in tea on the forums, although I've not seen it in any in Australia!

Macadamia oil is fine

[cortner1195]

Prep day is done. I cannot remove everything as my husband hasn't started yet. Also we buy bread by the truckload for our hogs. That is not a red light for for me, though. Mike looked pretty happy with the food we have around the house. While shopping today I had lots of trouble finding bacon, or sausage that is compliant. I bought ground pork instead. On Monday I will go to a local spice shop and have a mix made that I can use to make my own.

Tomorrow's plan.:

Egg muffins with spinach, chicken sausage, broccoli, peppers, and tomatoes. And avocado, fruit

Ground beef pattie with baked sweet potato, Briussel sprouts, nuts

Crock pot stew with carrots, celery, onions, parsnips, turnip, rutabaga cauli hummus with raw veggies

If I run I will need to come up with appropriate pre wo, and post wo food.

[cortner1195]

Day one food log. ANY FEEDBACK APRECIATED! I know that I am making errors, but I am not off plan.

8 am Breakfast. Breakfast muffins with 3 eggs, chicken sausage, bell pepper, tomato, green onion, and spinach. 1/2 avocado. I am not a huge fan of eggs, but I did it. Looking back on it, maybe a little salad would have been good. I chased the eggs with 6 cashews.

1100 am Pre workout. Banana, the rest of the handful of cashews

One hour jog

12:45 pm Post workout. Small sweet potato with coconut mana. I thought this would be the same as butter. Not. It is very hard, and dry. I scraped some flakes off with a knife. Kind of like really cold butter would be. It tasted good. Also not a huge fan of sweet potatoes.

6 pm Lunch. 2 ground beef sliders, salad

I didn't start my lunch until 6. I was painting the hen house and totally lost track of time. My shoulder was really hurting, so I didn't even notice any hunger. Then I was too hungry. I made a quick salad, but screwed up on the dressing. I added one kind of vinegar, then read the label. I had to start over. I figured salad dressing would be easy as I have quite a few vinegars. There are two that I can use. Maybe. I have some research ro do there.

If it is a wine vinegar but doesn't show an alcohol by volume, can I have it?

If it says it has sulfites from grapes??

In the end I used raspberry vinegar, and mustard with olive oil, s and p.

Dinner is in the crockpot. Beef with onion, celery, carrot, parsnip, rutabaga, and turnip. I am planning to defat the broth, and thicken it with arrow root powder.

[amberino21]

Your breakfast sounds great!! I like to include salad or extra vegies with egg muffins/frittata as I like the contrast, and don't think I get enough vegies in the muffins.

 

pre and postWO needs some readjusting - preWO should be fat and protein. HB eggs are perfect (if you can stomach them), or you could have a tin of fish in oil, protein with some nuts, or mayo or avo. PostWO should be lean protein and starchy carbs with little to no fat. I usually stick to chicken breast with sweet potato - if you don't like sweet potato, substitute it for pumpkin, carrots, beetroot, turnip, parsnip etc.

 

Vinegars are ok, except for malt vinegar. "Naturally occurring sulphites" are also ok - I think this should be stated on the bottle. you sound like you're clued up on the label reading, but check your vinegar for wine/sugar/any other non-compliant ingredients

[cortner1195]

so red wine vinegar is ok?

 

Thanks for looking over my food. I was away from home prior to my run, so the only thing I could come up with was the banana/nuts.  I felt good.  I don't know if I could have eaten eggs again, or fish in oil.  I am, so not used to all this meat and fat.  I need to work a lot on things to eat.  

 

Dinner was weird.  The roast really turned out well.  Lots of veggies.  My first attempt at arrow root.  I should have used more.  However, I found the meat, veggies, and gravy all tasted sweet.  Not sure what that was about.  I made mayo, and wanted to make it spicey.  Wasabi powder says it has tapioca powder.  Not sure about that one.  

[Susan W]

Red wine vinegar is fine as long as sulphites aren't added. Sounds like they are naturally occurring which is fine. Tapioca powder is also fine. Wasabi mayo sounds great.

[amberino21]

I think root vegetables can taste sweet - perhaps the flavour went in to the meat and broth/gravy?

Tapioca is fine - and mixed in with the mayo sounds great! I like adding garlic, paprika, perhaps a bit of chilli

[cortner1195]

woo hoo!  Leftovers tonight, so hopefully homemade mayo with wasabi will cut some of the sweet taste tonight.

 

Super sore today.  I stopped taking my anti inflammatory meds yesterday as well.  I might as well detox off everything at once.  I have taken it easy today.  I will run again tomorrow.  My food is going better.  I will post today's food after dinner.

[cortner1195]

Today I feel like I have been hit by a truck. Tylenol is barely keeping me walking around the house. Add to that seriously disliking my food, and I am not a happy girl. I need to run today, but will now have to wait for sundown.

Breakfast: one egg muffin with chicken sausage, and mixed veggies, salad with homemade dressing

Lunch (planned/packed) salad with curried chicken salad with homemade mayo, celery, and grapes, crudités with cauliflower hummus, cashews

[cortner1195]

Question, would it be better to skip the carb dense vegetable, or add a very small amt of fat to it, post workout?

[cortner1195]

Food for day 3

B as above I couldn't eat more than one of the egg muffins.

L as above, I ran out of time to eat so didn't finish the turkey salad, didn't get to the crudités at all. I ate the nuts I had with me on the way into my second appt.

S little melt down after PT, I had to stop at the store and was feeling seriously stressed over it. So, I got through the store, and ate the Lara bar I had in the car.

When I got home I really needed to take a nap, but couldn't rest. I had a run scheduled, but was nauseated thinking about what I was supposed to eat. I wanted to cancel the run because I didn't want to eat a plain sweet potato! Heck I dont want to eat one with stuff on it.

Pre work out snack turkey meat with 1/2 avocado

D turkey curry salad with grapes, celery, tomato, cashews, coconut, large serving of lettuce and kale (grape, cashews, and coconut were 1/2 servings or less.)

I am hurting alot, and my heart rate is too high. I will restart my anti inflammatory when I get home tonight. I can try again later.

[sheba-kitty]

Welcome fellow former weight watcher, current triathlete and washitonian! (Born in Pullman, now live in Everett)

Great to hear about your previous WL success, but So sad to hear about all your injuries and your bad coach experience. I am planning in looking for a coach and moving from sprint to olympic next season. But ironman is not in my current forcast, kudos to you for attempting it!

My brother is an ironman and is currently in s second Whole30+ it is a great protocol for endurance athletes. I will follow you and hope it goes well for you! My shoulder tendonitis is showing some improvements as is my plantar fasciitis. Hope it helps you too!

My favorite breakfast now, and believe me I was an oatmeal/cereal/muffin/carb-o-holic, is a TON of sautéed greens (spinach, chard or kale, zuchinni, etc) with some kind of sausage and maybe a fried egg or 3! Never thought I could eat something like that but now I LOVE it!

I just finished my whole30+ and starting reintros but plan to continue whole9 eating with occassional off roading if you don't know those terms yet, you will!

Welcome to the forums!

[amberino21]

Question, would it be better to skip the carb dense vegetable, or add a very small amt of fat to it, post workout?

PostWO should be lean protein and starchy vegies, no fat. You don't have to eat sweet potato if you don't like it...I mentioned lots of other options to substitute in the earlier post

In the first few days I wouldn't worry too much about getting through your workouts...if you're tired, rest! Rest is just as important as training, listen to your body.

[cortner1195]

Today is a better day. I really hit a wall last night. I was in the car while Mike was pumping gas, and I thought I was either going to pass our, or throw up. Not sure how I was going to get home. When Mike got back in the car, I opened up my dinner (my throat totally closed at the thought of eating it). I got about a 1/3 of it in, and stopped. In the driveway I was wondering how I was going to get from the car to my bed. After a long slow meander to my room, I noticed that I couldn't go to bed until I changed the bedding. And I strangely felt ok about it. I also took my bp med, and arthritis med, plus a pain pill. My being willing to take a pain pill is a sign of how horrible I felt. My attitude changed completely and I slept a bit better.

I woke up this morning feeling pretty crappy again, but I remembered last night. I drug myself to the kitchen and got 1/2 of a banana down. Started the coffee, and wandered the house for a few minutes. Again the crappy feeling passed, and I was able to think of something to eat for breakfast. Now I have eaten, and I actually feel like it is possible to get a few things done today. What a difference. I have lots to do!

1) run for 30 minutes
2) water chickens and cows
3) mow everywhere
4) paint chicken coop
5) laundry
6) can tomatoes, and pickle jalapeno rings. Probably one canner worth of tomatoes and three jars of jalapenos. 
7) pack the trailer for camping on Friday
8 write out a meal plan for camping and one for tomorrow at the lake. The dogs and I will have about three hours at the lake while Mike is riding his half iron race course. It is supposed to be 100 degrees there. He may want to stay for a while and swim before we start the drive home. It is at least 2 1/2 hours each way. I will need to pack two meals for tomorrow. 

[cortner1195]

Welcome fellow former weight watcher, current triathlete and washitonian! (Born in Pullman, now live in Everett)

Great to hear about your previous WL success, but So sad to hear about all your injuries and your bad coach experience. I am planning in looking for a coach and moving from sprint to olympic next season. But ironman is not in my current forcast, kudos to you for attempting it!

My brother is an ironman and is currently in s second Whole30+ it is a great protocol for endurance athletes. I will follow you and hope it goes well for you! My shoulder tendonitis is showing some improvements as is my plantar fasciitis. Hope it helps you too!

My favorite breakfast now, and believe me I was an oatmeal/cereal/muffin/carb-o-holic, is a TON of sautéed greens (spinach, chard or kale, zuchinni, etc) with some kind of sausage and maybe a fried egg or 3! Never thought I could eat something like that but now I LOVE it!

I just finished my whole30+ and starting reintros but plan to continue whole9 eating with occassional off roading if you don't know those terms yet, you will!

Welcome to the forums!

Lovely to meet you as well.  I am struggling a bit on week one, but holding strong.  Looking at your profile pic, I also have a black lab named Maggie.  My BFF running partner.  

 

PostWO should be lean protein and starchy vegies, no fat. You don't have to eat sweet potato if you don't like it...I mentioned lots of other options to substitute in the earlier post

In the first few days I wouldn't worry too much about getting through your workouts...if you're tired, rest! Rest is just as important as training, listen to your body.

I did read the earlier post, and will see if I can roast some butternut squash.  As much as I dislike sweet potato, I dislike the rest of that list even more.  Maybe if I roast a bunch up I can eat them after.  I did well with my pre workout snack yesterday.  Sliced turkey and avocado.  However I need to get used to it.  It sat in my stomach like a rock throughout the run.  And the high fat feeling in the back, and roof of my mouth was unsettling.  I will have to carry mouthwash or something.

[cortner1195]

It is 4pm.  Still feeling a ton better than yesterday.  One of the few things I have really been missing are beverages.  I have no real desire to eat still.  I miss the one diet soda I was having per day, and wine.  WINE!  

 

 Today I had a glass of soda water with lime wedges squeezed and dropped in.  Covered that urge.

 

I have had some coconut cream in my coffee.  Probably a tablespoon total today with a touch of ground cinnamon.  I feel like this is a bit close to my coffee with creamer.  That was out of control before, so I probably need to cut the additives rather than replace my old creamer with a compliant sub.

[amberino21]

Lovely to meet you as well. I am struggling a bit on week one, but holding strong. Looking at your profile pic, I also have a black lab named Maggie. My BFF running partner.

I did read the earlier post, and will see if I can roast some butternut squash. As much as I dislike sweet potato, I dislike the rest of that list even more. Maybe if I roast a bunch up I can eat them after. I did well with my pre workout snack yesterday. Sliced turkey and avocado. However I need to get used to it. It sat in my stomach like a rock throughout the run. And the high fat feeling in the back, and roof of my mouth was unsettling. I will have to carry mouthwash or something.

Mouthwash is ok, avoid mints or gum though!

You could try Eating your preWO a bit earlier to give it longer to digest. Try other options - A tin of fish in oil, or a few nuts/nut butter or mayo instead of avo.

If you don't like the taste of the starchy vegies, could you grate them, mix with lean ground meat (i use turkey or chicken) and egg whites, lots of herbs and spices, then bake the mixture in muffin trays? That might make it more palatable for you?

[cortner1195]

Day 6 for me is half done. I feel good. I slept well last night. I still need a rest in the afternoon. I can push through it, but I feel better with 20 minutes off my feet.

B better today, yesterday I had less protein, and it didn't hpld me until lunch. one egg, one chicken sausage, mixed veggies, and 1/2 of a small sweet potato, 1/2 avocado

L leftover cauli rice, and asian meatballs, macadamia nuts, grapes

D large taco salad with homemade meat, guacamole, and salsa, kale chips

No run today, but got lots done around the house before packing to leave camping. Lots to do when we get there.

[sheba-kitty]

My first week was rough. Especially with my workouts. Hang in there.

I missed the WINE badly. And soda, at first. The seltzer water with lemon or lime or even orange always helps. That and iced brewed tea. Pretty much all I drink now, from tons of coffee, vitiman waters, milk and soda a day it has been one of the bigger changes that I intend to keep

[cortner1195]

My first week was rough. Especially with my workouts. Hang in there.

I missed the WINE badly. And soda, at first. The seltzer water with lemon or lime or even orange always helps. That and iced brewed tea. Pretty much all I drink now, from tons of coffee, vitiman waters, milk and soda a day it has been one of the bigger changes that I intend to keep

I just noticed that we are both Washington state!  Awesome.  I just drove through there last week.  My son lives in Bellingham.  The beverages are the biggest change for me.  I am used to water, but I ALWAYS had one diet soda per day, and ton of coffee, and wine in the evenings.  I flavored my water with crystal light.  I am trying to break that habit.  I am allowing myself one soda water with lime or orange in the afternoons.  I have been putting one spoon of coconut cream in my coffee, with cinnamon.  The cream isn't enough to change the color of the coffee, or much flavor, but it's open so I want to finish it up. I don't plan on opening another can.  But, I am worried that I am just substituting for my usual creamer.  I am used to eating 2-3 servings of fruit per day.  That is tough to break.  I have it down to one serving.  Usually two half servings, but only at the end of a meal.  That way the sugar is not alone.  As we use up the fruit that we have, I will reduce what we buy.  

 

We just came back from a run.  I was scheduled for five miles.  Miserable.  As runs go, just miserable.  I walked more than I ran.  I never felt like I could run, the entire time.  My quads felt extreme fatigue with every forward stride of running, but not with the walking, weird.  It was a little better the last half mile or so coming back.  Mike is going to drop me off tomorrow at the top of the hill, and then park five miles out.  Then he will run toward me, and we will finish together.  I need a positive feeling run.  Next week is six miles, then the following Friday I fly to Vegas to meet friends for a 10k.  They are walking it, but I much prefer to run.  That will mark the half way point in training for a half marathon on Dec 1st in Seattle.  

 

B one chicken sausage, one egg, 1/2 sweet potato, small salad with dressing, and 1 tbsp guacamole

post workout turkey breast, roasted sweet potato cubes

plan:

L salad with quacamole (1/4 avocado), fire roasted hot dog with mustard, nuts

D fire grilled steak and shrimp, roasted carrots, ??? I will see what else I have with me to go with this