Post September 1 2013 Whole30

[sdoucette]

Crossfit is only for ten minutes? Why is it so expensive?

[djoyce]

Hey all

 

Well I was down 10.2 Lbs here.  Feeling pretty good about that.  I continue as I am now only 1/3 of the way through my intended W90. 

 

For me the #1 thing that I cannot measure or explain very well about being on W30 is the mental clarity that you get on the program.  I don't have ADD or other issues (that I know about) but I really, really notice that I can focus and pay attention so much better on when I eat W30.  I have really benefited from this these past 30 days as I work on a team of three.  The Sr. person retired 1.5 months ago and the third member of the team is doing a developmental opportunity with another part of our orgainzation.  Therefore, it is just me.  The workload is intense but I am managing (despite dire predictions of crashing and burning). 

 

The tiger blood comes and goes and I am proud of the weight loss, health benefits... However, the metal changes has got to be the biggest bonus for me and it has served me well!

 

Congrats on all the success everyone.  Keep up the good work. 

 

One point of caution... If you are transitioning to more traditional eating, do so with a well thought out plan.  I have failed when I try to transition and I highly recommend you treat the tranisition the same as you did the w30.  Follow Dallas and Melissa's rules for reintroduction or create your own.  Don't just leave it to "I will figure it out as I go along" because for me, this always resulted in failure.  I love the rules and rigidity that W30 brings.  I don't know why on day 31, I suddenly feel that I don't need rules anymore.  Follow your plan and make you own rules!

 

Cheers

DJ

[helen]

So, I made my greek yogurt smoothie for breakfast and I was really hungry around noon whereas eggs kept me okay until 1 pm and not ever 'really hungry.'  Sigh.  I may make a smoothie as a 'treat' occasionally but not going to be a part of my regular routine for sure.  Good to know.  I'm glad I had this Tuesday schedule to compare (I teach 3 bio labs back to back with less than 5 minutes in between).  I do like goat cheese so may try that tomorrow but it is not something I plan to eat (or ever have eaten) regularly.   I didn't feel foggy just hungry too soon!  Plus it is wasted sugar.  I'd rather have a Larabar, lol.  (The greek yogurt itself had 8g of sugar).

[alexasaurusrex]

@sdoucette so for the first half hour you work on a strength skill. Like deadlifting or ring rows or weighted squatting. Then for the last half hour you do the workout. They give you either a certain amount of time on the clock to do as many rounds as you can or a set of rounds to do and your time is noted. They say each workout lasts about 15 minutes but for OnRamp it builds up from ten to fifteen so you don't die. And I can run for three hours and I could not have done another five minutes of that workout. I was dead. I think of the expense like this: I was spending a lot of money to workout with a trainer for a year and a half and I lost five pounds. I did put on a ton of muscle but he was not as attentive or friendly as the crossfit coaches. Crossfit costs less than the personal training and I get the social-competitive thing I want. It's also way more intense and should yield better results. Mine is $125 for the onramp course that is 4 one hour sessions. Then 100 a month for 8 sessions. 

[Marjan]

I had to look up what Lara bars are: http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/chocolate-covered-recipes/fudge-baby-mania/ found this!

 

What surprised me about the Whole30:

- How accurate the timeline was :-)

- how much I was allowed to eat (down old diet bitch)

- how much I enjoyed the food

- how easy it all was

- how quickly the time went

- how I maintained the energy during the day.

 

Today I cycled to work (15km) and back and took a normal lunch, that was obviously not enough. I was starving. So I know for next time to get some extra for after the cycling.

 

My Kombucha order arrived. I downed one bottle...oooh nice. I managed to source a SCOBY so am waiting for that to arrive.

[helen]

Full disclosure:  I had a handful of Kettle chips today (ingredients are potatoes, canola oil, sea salt).  Not exactly what I had planned   Not intending to keep offroading and definitely NO gluten.  I feel okay about it.  The yogurt is a no go.  It didn't bother me but it didn't satiate and keep my blood sugar stable (my favorite side effect of Whole30).

 

Tomorrow planning to be totally compliant.  This weekend going to ride the Virginia Creeper Trail with the family so will probably offroad a bit but going to stay gluten free at least!

 

Happy Day 31 !!

[sdoucette]

Had real butter on my broccoli at lunch, some white potato in my beef stew, and paleo apple crisp with coconut milk vanilla ice cream after dinner from the mountain of apples we picked this weekend. It was delicious.  Other than that everything else was compliant and everything was planned. I like planning out my meals. I spend less on eating lunch out.

 

Why is almond meal so expensive?

 

@djoyce: Thanks for the planning advice. I was going to be more relaxed about my food choices, but I think making my own set of rules for rigidity is the only way I will keep control.

[helen]

Starting today out right!  3 egg spinach, onion and tomato omelette. 

[misshannah]

Congrats to everyone who made it!!! You're all so inspiring! 

 

Here is the record of what happened after I stopped last week: (also known as: Confession is good for the soul)

 

We kept compliant at home and when we brought lunch from home to work. Breakfast is usually baked chicken with greens and sweet potatoes. Lunch is baked chicken with a big salad. 

Dinner is some kind of meat & at least 2 veg.

 

Other:

I had a small maple sugar candy from Montreal. Healthy? No. Special? Yes. Meets criteria

 

Friday I went with my sister and nephews to the Aquarium, Botanic Gardens, and lunch. 

 

Lunch: cheeseburger and house-made chips and a fresh squeezed lemonade. Healthy? No. Special? Sort of.

Chips = YUM. No brakes.

Cheeseburger = awful. Only ate a bit. The bun was cloying, the meat was disgusting and I couldn't stop thinking about how "unclean" it probably was. (This is a concern for me, as I tend toward the disordered eating called "orthorexia" where I start to obsess about the purity of my food. This will be remedied later in the weekend at the asian buffet. ha ha!)

Lemonade = very tart, but I was hyper-aware of the fact that my blood sugar was going to spike. 

 

Friday night my husband and I went out with my sister (sans kids) to a local brewpub that serves soul food. 

 

Dinner: fried chicken tenders on a salad, fried pickle chips, water, beer. Healthy? No. Special? Again, sort of. Sister lives far away and I haven't seen her in person in more than 5 years. 

Salad = super-underwhelming. I have a better salad every day w/baked chicken and varied/multicolored fresh veg dressed with lemon and olive oil. WAY BETTER

Fried pickle chips = also underwhelming. And the cause of IMMEDIATE bloating.

Beer = had 2 pints spaced out very slowly. Added to the bloating. Did not make me want to drink more beer. 

 

Saturday we took my 10-year-old nephew to the movie/lunch. All of this socializing is very unusual for us.

Movie snack = butterfinger bits. In my pre-whole 30 life I would have had a big popcorn with butter flavor. And i would have been sick and in pain for hours after. I know for a fact I can't deal with corn. So I just didn't. The candy was meh, and again just made me think about all that sugar going into my blood. I've started thinking of candy and soda (which I'm lucky I never got addicted to) as diabetes-delivery devices. 

lunch = the aforementioned asian buffet. I had crab legs, a bunch of green beans, and various bits in sauces and breading. The whole weekend starting Friday lunch was gut pain and bloating and constipation. 

 

Sunday was the end of the socializing and it was a big family lunch at a New Mexican restaurant. There really wasn't much on the menu that looked good. I ordered a ground beef quesadilla, ate a quarter of it, and gave the rest to my mom to take home. I also ordered a dessert (a NM version of tiramisu) and ate one bite of it. My husband wanted to bring it home and then we promptly forgot it was in the fridge. He brought it out last night and I only ate another bite. I sometimes think people are exaggerating when they say how gross a dessert was to them after eating paleo, but now I can totally relate. I really didn't like it. 

 

Thus ended our big weekend. Monday we resumed compliant eating and started the Crossfit Fundamentals class. We went last night too, but tonight we have to have a recovery night. My body is crying. 

 

Lessons learned from my September (incomplete) whole 30: 

Keep on truckin. Do this long enough so the alternative is actually unpleasant. It's very possible. 

Don't waste the new-found energy. Level up in whatever way is meaningful to you. For me, that's trying some intense exercise no matter how unfit or unprepared I feel. My muscles may be crying, but they're also singing. 

 

Compliant food w/out brakes: 

Plantain chips (OR ARE THEY? I just realized we bought some on Sunday and I had a few then, but forgot about them until just now!?)

Toasted coconut flakes with salt. 

Roasted salted nuts

 

Another thing I just remembered: I am a potato chip addict from way back (as you can tell from my food w/no brakes above). However, on Friday after lunch I stopped at Whole Foods for some produce and bought a bag of very "natural" homemade potato chips (potato, sunflower oil, salt). I ate a few and didn't like them. They were hard and greasy and didn't taste good to me. I'm afraid to believe it, but I think Whole 30 might have broken my potato chip addiction. Which is like a deliverance from on high.

 

I'm going to try that banana bread linked above.

 

I have the date for my next W30 (10/24), designed to end 11/22 (before my mom's bday and American Thanksgiving). Until then, I'm going to practice mindfulness in eating, physically challenging myself (and prioritizing recovering), and improve my sleep hygiene.  

 

Thanks, marjan, for making a place for people to continue to share! 

 

 

 

 

[sdoucette]

It is the day of food confessions. I was curious how I would feel after eating a sandwich from my favorite local market. They use real local ingredients, but my concern was how I would feel about the bread. I also indulged and got some rosemary olive oil chips. I don't know if it was the sandwich or the chips, but I feel like I have a film coating the inside of my mouth. Very bizarre. The only other time I've experienced it is when I eat crappy chinese food. I don't feel bloated. Don't think my sugar spiked. But I did feel like I wanted to keep eating even though I am full. I was wishing I had gotten a piece of chocolate or something else while I was at the market. So even though I feel okay, I have a feeling the bread stirs something awake in me to keep eating. Also, I was REALLY looking forward to that sandwich and I was kind of bummed that I wasn't really enjoying it like I thought I would. Don't get me wrong, the flavors were great, I was just disappointed that my previous bread-loving self wasn't in love with it.

 

Husband is cooking tonight and I will be eating some corn and perhaps a little goat feta in a salad with some steak. First night in 32 days I haven't had to make my own meal. Little Lil and I are going to play and laugh on the floor dinner is being made. THAT I am looking forward to!

 

Joined a gym today too. A real man's man of a place. All dudes lifting heavy stuff. I signed up for 6 months and I'll get a key to the place to go when I want, which is nice, but I really have no clue what to do with most of the equipment so I'll be attending with my gal pal Kim who is training me to be ripped. Okay, not ripped. But not so rolly poly either 

 

I still haven't taken my after photo... I really need to do that. But here are the numbers:

 

Down 11 lbs, and down some serious inches. I left the paper at home with my measurements, but I lost a half an inch in my neck! Really? My neck! Arms too, quite a bit I think.

 

Thought: I might plan on a whole7 once a month to kind of press reset. I might need that. We will see.

 

How is post day 2 treating the rest of you?

[alexasaurusrex]

Yesterday I ate two things that were not compliant. I love that this what I consider not compliant now: a steak that used a rub that I know had sugar in it, and the spaghetti sauce with a small amount of wine in it. I had minimal amounts of both of these but I still felt like they were too sweet and I could do without. Last night I made one boy a chicken parm (i.e. I heated the leftover up) and was jonesing for it until he was out of eyesight, but once again it was just because I was super hungry and ready for dinner. I got Just Mangoes from TJs. They are these dried mangoes without sugar and I could eat the entire packet in one sitting. I ate about five pieces as a snack and kept thinking, "I'm not hungry why am I eating this...I want more." I left the house to keep from eating more. I guess I still have struggles, but I'm glad that they seem to be going away and I'm making it through them. My freaking shorts are so uncomfortably big on me. They are staying up because my roll on the bottom is wider than my waist. It's freaking annoying. 

[Angela Poliquin]

The first photo was taken in January, but it is exactly how I looked, but fatter, before starting Whole30.  Notice how my eyes are so puffy I can't open them all the way.  If you click on the thumbnails, the pictures will get bigger.

 

The second photo was taken on day 18.  I'm not wearing makeup in either picture.  I personally think it is obvious from the photos how much better I feel in the second one!

 

Today is my dairy re-introduction.  I had a sugar-free white chocolate 2% latte.  It was delicious and rich.  I'm feeling a bit nauseated, but otherwise, not too bad.  

[alexasaurusrex]

@Angela you look so much happier in the second photo. Not too mention your hair is super shiny and skin is so bright! You are one hot mama haha

[Shalla]

Well, Day 2 post - I had an almond milk latte yesterday that I'm almost positive made me feel nauseated all afternoon. Eating the same food today sans latte so we'll see how I feel later.

 

Other observations: I think even added sugar (like in the pizza sauce I used last night) messes with my full/hungry cues a bit. But since I'm aware that that's what's happening I was able to go "nope, you're not really hungry" which was nice. I'm betting that my previous habit of ending dinner with a dessert is why I was always going for a snack right at bedtime. Sugar seems to make me hungrier, regardless of actually needed to eat anything.

 

Observations on my Whole30:

- I actually like black coffee (weird, so weird)

- I eat sooooo many veggies now. I went from having veggies at one meal a day to at every meal.

- I've finally found a good spicy salad dressing, thanks Whole9 for introducing me to Tessamae's because seriously I've been looking for the perfect spicy salad dressing for forever

- I'm eating more food in general and because I'm not hungry all the time have the mental capacity to make better food choices (if that makes any sense)

 

Going to bake the Pumpkin Cranberry muffins from Practical Paleo tonight and if they turn out well bring them into work tomorrow

[Marjan]

Well day 2 for me too, I am still on track. Yesterday my husband made some sort of lasagne with courgette/spinach instead of pasta. He left on part of the contraption without cheese (for me). He also put bacon on top which I am sure was not quite compliant. The ingredient list looked ok but I did not investigate further.

 

Just a more personal question for the ladies  Have you noticed (if applicable) that your periods are different? I do not seem to have skin outbreaks anymore, nor do I feel them coming (no PMS symptoms).

 

My Kombucha making kit arrived, now I am waiting for the Scoby and then I can go for it. Any recommended place to put it?

[jpketz]

Been spying on everyone and happy to see that in the aggregate there seems to be a lot "less" of you all (not the point...got it...but still, a nice side effect, yeah?)

 

Not to mention the more important benefits of improved mental clarity, taming of the sugar dragon and a few habits that will probably never change back—like coffee preferences. I was a coffee + half-and-half drinker for most of my life until W30 and now coconut cream is my CFF and I gag a little when I think of drinking anything that comes from a cow utter in my coffee. Go figure.

 

I love reading everyone's reintro experiences...we're all so peculiar yet eerily similar in the way we respond to certain reintro foods. I've often thought it would be fun to get on a reintro thread and count the number of times the words "bloated" and "nauseous" appear. Or, I need to spend less time online.

 

So by way of update...made a few changes that have had immediate results: (btw...going for W60 or at least W45)

 

1. Not having coffee right after waking up, but waiting until Meal 1, which I've been eating within an hour of waking, which sets up the rest of the day nicely in terms of meals 2 and 3.

 

2. Eliminated almost all nuts and dried fruit, no bananas, no smoothies. This change has already paid off and I think I'm either finally becoming fat adapted or coming down with the flu cuz I have about 50% stamina, not sleepy just getting gassed about halfway through my normal exercise sessions. This will change soon, I'm sure. 

 

3. No energy lapses during the day, as foretold in the Book of Common Whole 30 Wisdom. Yay. 

 

So less sugar, more exercise, better eating schedule...these are all good. And 10 lbs. down since 9/1. 

 

@Marjan If you're asking where to put the SCOBY, if it's dehydrated when you get it, you'll need to re-hydrate and there should be instructions if you're getting one from an online source. It's pretty much like making a batch from scratch with black or green tea, sugar and some store-bought Kombucha or apple cider vinegar to get it started. If you're getting a live SCOBY, you'll want to just keep it in the refrigerator in a clean, glass container filled with a little unflavored Kombucha and the top covered with cheesecloth and a rubber band. Then when you've made your batch, you'll be returning your original SCOBY + the new baby to your container. If you plan to make Kombucha on a regular basis. your SCOBY nursery will grow a bit like a rabbit farm so a heads up. 

 

Press on fellow 9-Oners! 

[Christina_K]

Helloooo September Whole30ers! Three pages of posts I've missed in 2-3 days already! I feel pretty good and can't believe that I actually stuck with this for 30 whole days. 

 

Observations from my Whole30:

• Black coffee. I LOVE it! 
• Energy. I have good amounts of energy that last me until bed time. Most days I don't "feel" tired as in I feel as if it could take me an extended amount of time to fall asleep. I fall asleep almost instantly (always have, but this enhanced amount of energy is new...and scary!)
• I have lost inches all over, but not sure how much
• 11 lbs lost

I plan to keep eating this way. I have always ate fairly well, lots of meats, fruits, veggies, fat (love avocados) but was eating grains and things that generally make me feel yucky and overly stuffed afterwards.

 

My only problem is one of my friends is constantly complaining about how tired she is and doesn't have any energy. She is a calorie counter and lost 30 lbs with diet pills (think phen-phen) before we met. She claims to eat well but her idea of "well" is 100 calorie progresso soups and 40 calorie bread and she hates fat of all kinds. I try really REALLY hard to not push my agenda or criticize, but she can be exhausting when it comes to food. Oh, and she is in an abusive relationship with the scale and I have tried to get her to break up with it but she won't. I try to change the subject when these topics come up but it is wearing me down!

 

This has journey has been a pretty good one for me even though it was only 30 days and I plan to continue. I hope everyone is well on this Hump Day!

[helen]

Post day 2.  I ate a 3 egg omelette for breakfast (spinach, tomato, onion) and it was delish and very satisfying.  Really, too satisfying honestly because I had to leave for a tutoring gig at 11:40 and was too full to eat.  Got home at 3:20 pretty hungry and scarfed half a bag of pistachio nutmeats (food without brakes, used to be macadamia nuts but yowza these pistachios are amazing) and then ate chicken and some watermelon.  Then went to dance class and got home agitated and wanting to graze~~had a real stick (pork/beef, all compliant ingredients except has molasses powder so not a Whole30 item), another handful of potato chips (UGH) and a bag of sugar snap peas.

Could have been worse but not exactly healthy psychologically.  

 

~~misshannah:  dude (lol) we have the same cravings.  Salt/fat..potato chips.  The Kettle Chips definitely felt greasy to me again today so why did I have to grab a handful and eat them?  I wonder if I would even like them unsalted.  Unsalted potato chips sound ridiculous to me

 

~~marjan:  yes, less PMS definitely which is a godsend.

 

Things I learned from this Whole30:

 

I can eat vegetables at breakfast (I don't need to drink a green smoothie)

I love olive tapenade.

I maybe have to think about caffeine.  I already limit it but...

 

Oh, and went to OB for annual.  Not helpful.  I like her but she thinks Paleo unhealthy and pushing 'whole grains.'  Whatevah. 

 

Going to get off computer now and read.   Good night!

[Angela Poliquin]

@shalla - the biggest difference to me is the puffiness around my eyes is gone.  It is nice to be able to open them all the way!  

 

Today I did the dairy intro.  DH has a virus, so he decided to stay compliant.   ISWF mentions ice cream with dinner, but I nixed that because how am I going to know if it is the sugar or dairy that affects me? 

 

So, I had a latte with breakfast, and with dinner, I had some cheese on my sweet potatoes.  Both tasted great.  I'm hoping I will wake up tomorrow all swollen so I have an easy answer.  It's tougher to guess about little symptoms.  Before Whole30, I had eliminated wheat and was still experiencing swelling and edema so it's not the wheat causing that bit of discomfort.  Or not the wheat alone.  

 

Anyway, I ate clean today except for milk and cheese so my experiment is well-controlled.

 

And the weather is better.  I can handle fall as long as I can see the sun every once in a while!

[TDC]

I've been observing but not contributing!

 

@helen: how do you eat the tapenade? I love your 'whatevah' ... what a response. That's exactly how I feel when I hear people spouting conventional. My boss was saying to another colleague about the reason for being vegetarian (i.e. treatment of animals) and the colleague said, yeah well it's probably much healthier not to eat red meat. I had to almost physically hold my eyes back from rolling. Yes, cruelty to animals is bad. So source well fed animals! In fact I almost feel physically sick when I consider eating meat (stuff stuck in the back of my freezer for instance...) that I know isn't grass fed/pastured (god, I've become THAT person)

 

My reintro started on Tuesday when I had a dairy day (cheese + mushroom omelette, milky tea, sweet potato + tuna mayo (homemade) + grated cheese, meatzza with mozzarella). The only thing I found delicious was the meatzza, but even then less because of the mozz and more because it was a nice combination of ingredients.) I found the mucus-y mouth feel of the milky tea and the omelette pretty horrible. It's now two days since introducing dairy on Tuesday and I don't feel that I have suffered physically but I didn't like the feel of milk in my mouth and the cheese underwhelmed me so I'm happy to leave out dairy for the most part. The funny thing is I had planned to have ice cream with some fruit for dessert and I completely forgot about it and only remembered the next day. So much for giving myself a well done treat -- I clearly didn't need it! The other treat I had saved for myself were some dark chocolate TimTams a cousin had brought over from Australia. Again, completely forgot to eat them and now I'm back on Whole30 compliant food until my next reintro day, they're still just sitting in the cupboard. This is a great result!

 

My next reintro day is tomorrow. I'm finding that I'm planning my reintro days around special occasions rather than timing them exactly -- I'm perfectly happy to just stay compliant. So tomorrow is gluten free grains, for the simple reason that there is a Malaysian food fair in London and I might want to have some rice dishes. On the other hand, I'll delay it if I don't find anything rice-based I fancy and have satay with peanut sauce instead. Basically, I don't feel desperate to eat anything that I haven't had for a month. I'm so impressed with this!

 

So my takeaway from the first half of the post-Whole30 week is: I keep forgetting to eat special treat food on designated days so I am clearly not really missing anything! When I read ISWF I didn't really believe I'd be able to make very informed decisions about off-roading (i.e. I didn't think I'd be able to differentiate between eating cake because it's a special occasion and my grandma has baked my favourite dessert and eating a piece of chocolate 'because I didn't have one yesterday and I want it') but, even though I haven't finished the experiment, I can already tell that I am indifferent to a lot of food. 

 

In other news, I back squatted 50kg (110lb) yesterday at Crossfit for the first time, I am so ecstatic! Who knew I could squat to the ground with the equivalent weight of my coach on my back? What a result!

 

I like the idea of doing a Whole7 reset once a month. I am so far eating Whole30 on the days I'm not experimenting but I think it would be good to be absolutely mindful for 7 days straight as I know I'm already getting a bit more relaxed (e.g. I put some agave syrup in a dressing on my 'dairy' day and some leftover the next day so I used it up -- last month I wouldn't have touched it!).

 

I'm planning to do another Whole30 in January as I'm trying to get my boyfriend to do one. Plus I figured I would need one after Christmas...

[TDC]

Also, has anyone seen this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cwMLRLtAhs

It made me laugh a lot.

[TDC]

@jpketz: interesting about nuts. It's funny, I've just finished this Whole30 and I'm already planning to do another (see above, in January), and I've already been thinking about how to do it differently. So I think eating fewer nuts will be important (have them as part of a meal, sprinkled on salad for e.g., rather than as a post meal treat), less snacking (in reality I think I ate less nuts and there was less snacking towards the final week), and cutting down on sweet potatoes (perhaps only have them on Crossfit days). 

[amberino21]

TDC, the Tim tams aren't worth it!! Cheap chocolate, really processed....although, a million times better than a penguin

[TDC]

amberino21: I thought you'd know what I'm talking about! Yea it was unfortunate, my cousin was staying for the night and she brought three huge packs of TimTams and I thought..uh oh what am I going to do with this?! but agreed, TimTams are A LOT better than Penguins. 

[amberino21]

I don't think I've had a Tim tam since I was in England about 5 years ago! I took them over for friends maybe find some friends to pass them on to?