Reintro Fail

[trezkholl0806]

Hey guys, so I've totally been MIA on the forum for a few weeks... it has not been going so well.

 

I was going to plan out my reintros and be smart about it, though hubby talked me into waiting another week since I had a 3-day workshop to attend and was stressed about it... The workshop was cancelled and I was having a bad day that Saturday, so we ended up ordering pizza. Not sure what happened there. I was being smart with it, so I thought... I'll only have 2 slices and a big salad to go along with it. It ended up being that plus a cheesy breadstick and 2 beers, then icecream. I felt pretty crappy afterwards and the food wasn't even that good. I also sunk back into a bad habit and visited the leftover pizza box again, after I was full. That was just the beginning. On Sunday I ate good, until we went to dinner with friends and then I had lots of badness... and an Oreo Mousse cake thing - which is amazing. I felt bloated. And gross.

 

It's almost like in my mind, I'm thinking, well, W30 is done - let me see what I can have now! HA! Each time I've eaten "off plan" I feel super crappy and bloated and disgusting. I still have not done a proper reintro.

 

BTW, it is SO hard to reintro by eating out.... it's not like you can properly eat just one kind of food group, along with the regular food from the meal template. So I have failed. 

 

I thought about doing a W5-7 this week and then next week starting proper reintros. However, this morning somehow I forgot about that and added Half & Half to my coffee cup. Oh, and I already am thinking I have somewhat of a lactose intolerance. Each time I've eaten dairy I feel SO bad afterwards. But I wasn't ready to confirm it since I was eating other food groups as well; however, this morning with the half & half I think I've confirmed it. I was CRAMPING so bad, hunched over in my chair, and then had to literally run to the bathroom. Oh it was bad.

 

Anyway, any words of advice, motivation, encouragement, a swift kick to the rear are all encouraged.

[Physibeth]

Back away from the off plan foods and take some deep breathes. Think about what you accomplished on your W30. Think about how good you felt when you were done. Now sit down and make a meal plan for the next week that is 100% compliant and stick to it. Then make a meal plan to take you all the way through reintroductions carefully. It is really hard to do reintros while eating out for sure. On the dairy you may be correct. If dairy is something you really want to test well and be sure of I recommend trying very high quality raw full fat dairy on your reintro day. I have problems with low quality or low fat dairy that I don't have with high quality raw.

 

You can do this! You have not failed until you fail to try!

[trezkholl0806]

Back away from the off plan foods and take some deep breathes. Think about what you accomplished on your W30. Think about how good you felt when you were done. Now sit down and make a meal plan for the next week that is 100% compliant and stick to it. Then make a meal plan to take you all the way through reintroductions carefully. It is really hard to do reintros while eating out for sure. On the dairy you may be correct. If dairy is something you really want to test well and be sure of I recommend trying very high quality raw full fat dairy on your reintro day. I have problems with low quality or low fat dairy that I don't have with high quality raw.

 

You can do this! You have not failed until you fail to try!

Thank you!!! I like that last sentence ^^^... that is very true. Do you have any reintro suggestions? What foods did you reintro with? I am all ready this week - cooked TONS of veggies yesterday and I have lots of meat to prepare.

[Physibeth]

I planned mine out pretty methodically. If you follow the link to my post W30 log the first few pages talk about my reintro process and plans. My biggest suggestions are to introduce the things you think you might eat again and do it carefully. 

[GFChris]

Treasure!  I was just thinking about you and wondering how you are doing.

 

I agree with everything Bethany said.

 

As far as reintros go, reintro only what you're either curious about or know you'd like to eat again at some point in the future.  Have the food group in question at all 3 meals for one day, then go back to Whole30 eating for 2 days, then move onto the next food group.  Don't eat the reintroed group again until all your reintros are done.

 

I reintroed dairy, non-gluten grains and legumes.  I was off gluten almost 7 years before my Whole30, so no need to reintro that. I also didn't reintro soy. I simply didn't want soy in my body anymore (I believe it messed with my hormones). In between my Whole30 ending and official reintro starting, I went away for a girls weekend and had alcohol (some wine and mixed drinks), so I suppose you could say I did an alcohol reintro too.

[trezkholl0806]

Treasure!  I was just thinking about you and wondering how you are doing.

 

I agree with everything Bethany said.

 

As far as reintros go, reintro only what you're either curious about or know you'd like to eat again at some point in the future.  Have the food group in question at all 3 meals for one day, then go back to Whole30 eating for 2 days, then move onto the next food group.  Don't eat the reintroed group again until all your reintros are done.

 

I reintroed dairy, non-gluten grains and legumes.  I was off gluten almost 7 years before my Whole30, so no need to reintro that. I also didn't reintro soy. I simply didn't want soy in my body anymore (I believe it messed with my hormones). In between my Whole30 ending and official reintro starting, I went away for a girls weekend and had alcohol (some wine and mixed drinks), so I suppose you could say I did an alcohol reintro too.

Aw haha, well thanks for the thought I know I really need to sit down and plan it out - this is not something to fly by the seat of your pants with. I thought about not reintro-ing soy back at all, but there are SO many things that have soy lecithin in them, it's not even funny. I definitely drank as well, I'm thinking I might have an issue with gluten... because after drinking beer I felt SO bloated. I guess we will see. I seem to be fine with wine though Anyway, good to hear from you!

[praxisproject]

If you think you might have trouble with gluten and dairy - allow yourself enough recovery time in between reintros, listen to your body:

 

- try and reintro dairy in parts (eg. butter vs cream vs yoghurt vs milk vs hard cheese), rather than mixing them up, you may have stronger reactions to some kinds of dairy and you won't know if you mix them together during the reintro.

 

- you may want to reintro gluten last. I reintroed gluten first (I was so sure I'd have no reaction) and it takes me well over a week to recover from one dose of gluten, sometimes several weeks and it makes my insides much weaker than usual (making further reintros hard to determine reactions).

 

Be aware lots of soy sauce contains gluten, this was a big surprise to me.

 

PS. I totally agree on the reintro without eating out, it's almost harder than Whole30 eating out, as most reintro items contain several others too

[trezkholl0806]

Hate to admit it, but this whole last week I went all out cray-cray and ate pretty much whatever I wanted... including like 5 slices of cake, among other things. Ugh. Today I'm getting back on plan... Idk for how long, but I have felt pretty crummy, bloated, miserably full, guilty, etc etc all week. I can't continue eating like this. I'm also mad because I feel like all the hard work I did in 45+ days, I ruined. I don't know how long it would take to completely redo all your progress, so I don't know if I'm exaggerating or not. I definitely notice a difference though - sitting here this morning, I feel puffy, swollen... 

[Physibeth]

Hate to admit it, but this whole last week I went all out cray-cray and ate pretty much whatever I wanted... including like 5 slices of cake, among other things. Ugh. Today I'm getting back on plan... Idk for how long, but I have felt pretty crummy, bloated, miserably full, guilty, etc etc all week. I can't continue eating like this. I'm also mad because I feel like all the hard work I did in 45+ days, I ruined. I don't know how long it would take to completely redo all your progress, so I don't know if I'm exaggerating or not. I definitely notice a difference though - sitting here this morning, I feel puffy, swollen... 

 

I don't think it is ever completely ruined. You are seeing the results of your hard work in how bad you feel. I know that it takes a lot less off plan food now for me to realize how bad I feel than it did before I changed my eating habits. All choices provide us with something to learn and while 5 slices of cake will not make you healthier it is driving home the realization of what will. Get back on the train one choice at a time.

[trezkholl0806]

It has been approximately 2 weeks since I posted this topic... and I literally feel like all the CRAP I ate in the past 2 weeks is STUCK to my BODY... everywhere. I know it does absolutely NO good to dwell on my mistakes and failed eating, but I am so frustrated with myself. This past week was wayyyyyyy worse than the last. I don't think I had not ONE W30 meal AT ALL. I ate things that I told myself I would just not ever like to reintro (candy and fast food). I found myself in line at Taco Bell at 11:00 p.m. last night (4th meal, seriously???). I had chinese take-out, boxes of candy at the movies, lots of alcohol, cake, chips, etc etc etc.... to make matters worse, I only worked out twice this week.

 

Ok, enough of the pity-party. I NEED WHOLE30 INTERVENTION! I will be starting a new food log. I think I need it.

 

P.S. - I totally believe that I self-sabotage... things seemed to kind of go downhill from the moment that I weighed myself after being officially done with W30, and I saw that I was my lowest weight I've ever remembered being at.

[cayenne]

I ate a weeks worth of crap as well but back on as of yesterday. I certainly don't feel all is lost after you off road. It seems my body will breathe a sigh of relief when I eat what is good for me. I don't seem to have all the initial cravings I did when I first stated months ago. Granted it has only been 2 days of good but I seem to have "picked up where I left off". Glad for that.

I think your body will thank you......

[trezkholl0806]

I ate a weeks worth of crap as well but back on as of yesterday. I certainly don't feel all is lost after you off road. It seems my body will breathe a sigh of relief when I eat what is good for me. I don't seem to have all the initial cravings I did when I first stated months ago. Granted it has only been 2 days of good but I seem to have "picked up where I left off". Glad for that.

I think your body will thank you......

I know my body will thank me - it has to. I can't believe how swollen I am. It's insane. And it pisses me off that the FDA or whoever regulates food, actually allows people to eat this crap. Anyway, enough of that, but I'm glad we are both back in the game. I hope that I will snap back as well and it'll be like I never left.

[Physibeth]

It might be worth your time to look back over these weeks and examine not just what you ate but why you made those choices. What are the triggers? Knowing what triggers the bad choices can help you make a plan of attack next time around. For example I've noticed that the majority of my offroad eating these past 2 weeks has been fueled by laziness and a state of chaos in my kitchen. I have plenty of good food to cook but I've just felt tired and lazy about cooking and cleaning. Knowing this means I need to be more mindful about storing up good quick options for when I don't feel it and keep a running list of what they are. I also need to be more mindful of cleaning as I go so my kitchen doesn't get out of hand.

 

What is it for you? You mentioned self sabotage...but that is a symptom of a root issue...dig into what the root is.

[trezkholl0806]

It might be worth your time to look back over these weeks and examine not just what you ate but why you made those choices. What are the triggers? Knowing what triggers the bad choices can help you make a plan of attack next time around. For example I've noticed that the majority of my offroad eating these past 2 weeks has been fueled by laziness and a state of chaos in my kitchen. I have plenty of good food to cook but I've just felt tired and lazy about cooking and cleaning. Knowing this means I need to be more mindful about storing up good quick options for when I don't feel it and keep a running list of what they are. I also need to be more mindful of cleaning as I go so my kitchen doesn't get out of hand.

 

What is it for you? You mentioned self sabotage...but that is a symptom of a root issue...dig into what the root is.

I have felt the same way before - had food to cook, but felt too lazy to cook it (actually experienced this yesterday). I was just feeling "care-free" and almost like oh, well I need to have everything because I'm going to have to go without it for a while. 

 

I have read on here about people figuring out what exactly triggered cravings for them, but I ate such a wide variety of stuff, that I have no clue what it was. Maybe I'm being naive, but I don't feel like I was having cravings quite as intense as before W30. It's almost like I was just falling prey to old habits, and I actually still had the good little voice in my head that was saying, no you don't want/need this... and sometimes I actually did listen to it, sometimes I didn't because I just didn't want to - I knew I was already in pretty deep with eating badly, so why not finish out the day/week and then get back on track (I HATE THIS!!!!). Yesterday, I knew that Monday, today, was the start of my next W30 because I just NEED it so badly, so I wanted to "go out with a bang" and eat whatever I wanted... I ate 2 pieces of leftover pizza, chinese takeout, 1/2 a pack of oreos with 2 glasses of milk, mini dark chocolate chips & coconut peanut butter, and topped off the night with a TB visit with a small Root Beer. SERIOUSLY.

 

It is crazy how swollen I feel AND look though; I was feeling so lean at the end of the previous W30, and felt good, and now I feel as chubby/swollen/bloated/flabby as I did, geez, 6 months ago??? IT'S BAD. I dare not weigh myself though. NOT HAPPENING. I would rather just not know before I go into an all-out binge depression thing.

 

 

I believe I've been experiencing self-sabotaging during my entire weightloss journey, as well as the whole rewarding yourself with food issue. I don't really understand why though. I have no clue.

[cayenne]

Old habits do die hard, then they come back. Years of using food as reward and punishment will not go away overnight. It is necessary to become mindful during the time of binging so we can learn. You may not be able to find a trigger food, you said, due to the volume. I can honestly say, for me, I don't have a trigger food but a huge trigger MINDSET. The moment the not good for me food enters the mouth, the mindset changes and all bets are off. But I sure can feel a physical switch with sugar and grains-not so much dairy. So I know that if sugar/grains are ingested-shit will hit the fan with bloating and joint pain etc.

You may be in the all or nothing club for a while-maybe a longer W30/whatever to actually stem the tide. Remember-YOU are in control of what goes in your mouth. It doesn't help the processed food out there is just as addicting as crack but at the end of the day, no one is putting a gun to your head to eat it. We have to prioritize what we want-I want to run and be active MUCH more than I want that chocolate/muffin etc. I know that the two will not live together so I choose to run. Period.

[trezkholl0806]

Old habits do die hard, then they come back. Years of using food as reward and punishment will not go away overnight. It is necessary to become mindful during the time of binging so we can learn. You may not be able to find a trigger food, you said, due to the volume. I can honestly say, for me, I don't have a trigger food but a huge trigger MINDSET. The moment the not good for me food enters the mouth, the mindset changes and all bets are off. But I sure can feel a physical switch with sugar and grains-not so much dairy. So I know that if sugar/grains are ingested-shit will hit the fan with bloating and joint pain etc.

You may be in the all or nothing club for a while-maybe a longer W30/whatever to actually stem the tide. Remember-YOU are in control of what goes in your mouth. It doesn't help the processed food out there is just as addicting as crack but at the end of the day, no one is putting a gun to your head to eat it. We have to prioritize what we want-I want to run and be active MUCH more than I want that chocolate/muffin etc. I know that the two will not live together so I choose to run. Period.

Thanks for this.... I really appreciate it. I really do need to take the time to be more mindful. There were also a few things that happened during the last W30 that I want to work on this time (going to bed earlier, eating at the dinner table instead of couch with TV, not snacking, etc etc). I actually borrowed ISWF from the library and have started reading it so I hope this will help.

[Physibeth]

Totally agree with Cayenne...most of my triggers are not food related but emotional/mental things. While I certainly have foods with no brakes what starts it usually has nothing to do with a craving for a food.