Whole 30 starting Jan 1

[ktothev]

HALFWAY!

 

I considered myself a foodie before, but I am trying so many new things on this Whole30. I am a confirmed pork-hater, but yesterday I made pulled pork with homemade bbq sauce and thought I might die from pleasure...I am already planning to try pulled turkey with a turkey roast and a cherry bbq sauce I found on nom nom paleo.

 

I am fitting into clothes that I couldn't wear two weeks ago. And, while I have struggled with cravings (esp that wine), I can honestly say I have never once been actually felt deprived over the last 2 weeks. I cannot tell you how freeing it is to not be trying to play calorie tetris and see what foods I can fit in for my daily calorie or points allotment.

 

Feeling physically good but waiting patiently for my tiger blood...

[Juleslynn79]

Very excited to be at the halfway point. Still trying to improve on this every day, too. I know that I'm still not eating enough veggies at breakfast. Is it fine if it is always a sweet potato or butternut squash puree or hash?  I like that in the AM....other veggies have been hard for me to swallow.

 

Haven't noticed any change in my body, although I'm pretty small to begin with.  Sleep hasn't improved greatly either...but then again, I have three kids and one always wakes me up in the middle of the night!

 

I am feeling awake during the day with only 2 cups of coffee versus my 3 cups pre-W30. That's a good thing!

[Emily Roberts-Springer]

Day Fifteen already!  Kind of hard to believe.

 

I am proud of myself for sticking with it and resisting temptation - my mom is in town and she eats a lot of dairy, and it's been pretty easy to ignore the delicious cheeses she bought and put into our fridge.  I've also done so well on the no wine thing, I'm honestly surprised at myself.

 

I will take the advice and stop worrying about portions so much.  I guess I also have to remind myself that I am pretty active - my job is sedentary, but I walk a LOT around DC on my commute (2.5 miles just to get to and from the train, my son's preschool, and my office, every day) and I am at the gym or exercising at least 45 minutes six days a week.

 

Of course I am frustrated because despite the strict adherence to the rules and the above-mentioned exercise, I have not experienced looser clothes yet.  I'm also confused because while I have more energy at the gym, I am so wiped at night that I am sleeping through my alarm.  I am trying my best to get at least seven hours of sleep, but this morning I slept through our alarm AND my husband hitting snooze two or three times!  And I mean I am dead to the world.  Also he told me the last few nights he has woken me up by coming to bed later with the dog, and I wake up and am a SUPER WITCH and immediately fall back asleep.  I have no memory of this.  He says that I wake up, mumble SHUT THE F UP! or WHY ARE YOU WAKING ME UP! and then pass out again.  Weird, right?  I'm never so rude to anyone!  I'm like, sleep-bitching!

 

I hope that part gets better, for my husband and my dog's sake. 

 

Ate "Dinner for Breakfast" this morning with kombucha (chicken thighs, green beans).

Lunch is another spinach salad with veg and tuna.

Dinner will be zoodles with tomato sauce and grassfed beef.

 

Happy halfway, all.

[Dem]

Today I am pretty happy. I made the kids clean up all the clutter yesterday, so having a clean house definitely brightens my mood. Things I am noticing:

1) baby boy is getting easier to put to sleep. I used to have to carry him in the ergo until he passed out, then I would lay him down, thenhe would wake up wanting to nurse. Now I can just lay down and nurse both babies.

2) this seems silly, but I was actually happy when dh brought the kids in for lunch. Usually I dread the chaos, but today I was happy to see them.

3) I can be so much more productive now. I used to tell myself I needed a treat before cleaning or doing whatever task I didn't want to do, and then I would use the treat as an excuse to put off doing the task. Needless to say my house has been pretty messy the past few months!

4) I love telling my kids, esp my daughter, that I am choosing not to eat junk because I don't like how it makes me feel. My mom is totally weight-conscious and has a horrible relationship with food. I don't want that for my girls. I feel like I am passing down good food habits by eating this way.

Eta: 5) dh says baby girl is a changed baby. She used to be very fussy and she is calmer now.

[CreatchoClock]

Gosh, day 3 of the flu.  I have zero appetite for anything except fruit and vegetable juices or applesauce.  Does anyone have any tips to overcome this?  I'm nto eating anything non-compliant, but probably a combination of not-enough and not enough protein.

[lexes42]

My mood improvement is slow.... but steady.  I ate a largish lunch today, but it will certainly be the 'main meal'  I will have to improvise around yoga.  I won't want to eat before, but after will start to get too late.... I go to bed by 10.

 

Going 'simple' has helped relieve some of the w30 frustration, I think.  While I 'promised' myself to be patient, think of this as a jumpstart for the LONG HAUL and not try to make any other major health changes other then the w30, I definitely felt 'geez, I just want to be svelte, lithe, and coursing with tiger blood already! during days 12 & 13.  I'm not having 'food' cravings so much as 'eating' cravings... as I mentioned in earlier posts, it's very depressing to realize how much I depend on food to entertain me and / or help me push something I don't want to do or think about aside.

 

While I remember my pants were looser during the 1st w30 (although I can't say I remember when I started noticing that, it may have been in week 3), I do feel that my clothes are fitting differently at the moment.  My fitted coat is not so FITTED, so I think I've lost some ummph in my chest (which is just fine thankyouverymuch).  And pants just hang differently.  And my skin has improved.  So things are happenning, I'm just feeling impatient

[Sarah T]

(Oat loaf would be a great band name.)

Ali: ... there you go again. This is a thing I have done. It occurred in the past. It has already happened.

 

 

*falls over laughing*

Thank you for bringing levity into this accountant's day (I'm a contract revenue accountant... universally voted to be the only thing on the same level of boring as tax accounting). 

[Thia]

The club soda with crushed mint and lime, at lunch yesterday, unfortunately had simple syrup in it.  The bartender though he needed to put flavor in it.  Ugh.

[Sarah T]

Day 15! Wow! 

 

The last 24 hours have been magical. So I left work yesterday in a rage for no good reason. I had just eaten my Pre-WO meal, which I decidedly did not want but having worked up the courage to add more food to my plan despite fearing I'd blow up like Violet Beauregard I was darn well going to eat it.

 

Got to the gym and ran 3 miles - awesome run. Felt strong and good. But still angry. Then was hit with the new weight lifting schedule. Oh no they didn't! They changed everything to the point where I am going to have to cancel my membership if they don't change it. Talked to some others and found out we were all pissed, so they are going to consider fixing it (thank goodness).

 

THEN! Oh my... lifted for an hour, and I swear I was lifting heavier in everything! It was super hard, but not in the way my workouts have been for the past two weeks. By the end I felt amazing! I couldn't even work up a good angry any more.

 

Ate my post-WO snack, hung about for a bit and had dinner (a lovely spaghetti squash meal and DH created for me... have I mentioned he rocks?). Crashed hard at around 9:30.

 

I did forget to set my alarm, which is problematic. Oops! Still, I managed to cook my breakfast (though I didn't eat it all, wasn't overly hungry) and pack my lunch before heading to work, so no slips here!

 

I think the 30 day format keeps me really honest. In my normal "Paleo" world, it's very easy to just go off road a bit here and there because I know that 90% of the time I'm behaving. But this is an all or nothing in my head, and it's good.

 

I'm going out tonight and have informed my friend that restaurants are out (his choices tend to be places I couldn't get anything so why bother?) I tossed a Larabar in my bag just in case I get really hungry before I'm home. But I'm not worried.

 

I hope this feeling lasts!  

[Miminette]

Okay, my piss-poor attitude is improving - phew!  I think the meltdown came because I had a number of 'recipe fails' in a row.  This depressed me on all kinds of fronts.  While I never ate anything off road these last two grumpy days, I didn't eat to the template very well either.  I remember last time going through a tough phase at day 13 when i got mad that it was so hard to eat out, because I was tired of cooking, cleaning, etc.  Yesterday I ate a whole packet of cashews with lunch (and you know they never only put one serving in those bags).  That plus skipping vegetables at breakfast... and dinner because I had to make myself eat anything...seemed to constitute my tantrum.  I feel back on course today.  I even chatted up a cute Secret Service agent in the elevator, so I have recovered some swagger as well

 

But in response to my meltdown I am going to put away all the cookbooks and go back to basics for the rest of this week - roast chicken, ground beef, roasted vegetables, avocados and more water!

I am with you on that cooking, cleaning thing!! Even with having stuff ready I have to get it on the table & clean up after.  Of course, we had gotten used to eating out & picking up fast food........soooooo, guess the trade off is worth it. You know it will be worth it...you've done this before. Hang in there

[Physibeth]

Please post this in the Crazy Things People Say thread if you have not already. It needs to be there. Seriously hilarious.

 

Did you see you got reposted on the facebook page today? Woot!

[Physibeth]

Gosh, day 3 of the flu.  I have zero appetite for anything except fruit and vegetable juices or applesauce.  Does anyone have any tips to overcome this?  I'm nto eating anything non-compliant, but probably a combination of not-enough and not enough protein.

 

When you are sick do the best you can. Try to do lots of hot liquids. Do you have bone broth? That would be a great nourishing thing to sip on while you are sick. Hope you feel better soon.

[EAH]

To those who are discouraged:

Who doesn't want things NOW? Today! Two weeks can feel so long and not having or feeling results is so disheartening.

I remember something though - during my last whole 30 it wasn't until Day 22 that something drastic happened. That was the day I got several second looks and questions about weight loss. It was so strange but the physical effects seemed to be noticeable right before week 4. I feel like weight loss is like looking at a clock. It never moves when you're watching. I lost several pounds after I completed the whole30 because my relationship with food was altered.

On the goal sheet, I write down little notes to myself. Some of them are about what I ate or how I felt or how I've backtracked. These thirty days are only THIRTY days but it's a refresh for me on healthy eating for the foreseeable future.

I applaud everyone who is doing this. Best wishes for a successful second half.

[jodea]

I'm veering between "Wow, halfway!" and "Wow, halfway?". I'm definitely surviving but I suppose you'll never recapture the novelty and excitement of the first W30. That said my clothes are definitely feeling more comfortable, I'm just being a bit of a misery. It's comforting to see others are feeling the same at least.

EAH - you are so right, we just want everything NOW! I need to chill out and go with it. I love the food, so that does help, I suppose I just want that high I got the first time round. Sigh!

annabel - I am obsessed with Cavolo Nero! So good with steak.

[jodea]

Yesterday I was having a bunch of doubt and woe is me feelings and this isnt going to work feelings, who the heck do those Hartwigs think they are anyways? kinds of feelings. Ugh. I was feeling like nothing I do will help me lose the baby weight, it wont budge, and I will just be stuck being miserable. Then I got up this morning and put on smaller pants and said, wait, what?! (Sorry, Hartwigs, you guys really are awesome, haha).

This is so me right now!

[Amy]

Hi everyone. I just discovered this thread a few days ago and am pretty caught up on it! I started January 1st and this is my second Whole30. I did one a little over a year ago but a lot of changes in 2013 caused me to get to my highest weight and so I'm using this to get back on track. So far so good!

Just starting to get a little bored and a little lazy with my food prep. So I hope to snap out of that this weekend and do a good cookathon!

My birthday is the 31st so I'm excited to make it till then! This time around alcohol has been the biggest thing I miss. I have cold beer in the fridge that calls to me. But I won't throw away 15 days at this point.

I'm getting real comfortable turning down lunch/drinks invitations. It also helps this time of year people understand if you're trying to get healthy. I wouldn't even try to stay compliant at a restauraunt yet. I'm impressed with people who do!

Excited to be able to say two weeks left tomorrow!

Good luck everyone!

[Alliath]

Oh wow! I did not know about Facebook! Thanks for telling me! I feel special!

Nothing to report today really, except that I went to Whole Foods, but I forgot my shopping list, and so I forgot to get more coconut. Amazingly it was the only thing I forgot! However, I didn't realize until I was almost home, and I live quite a schlep from the Whole Foods. So of course I went into a regular grocery on the way home just to check, and of COURSE the only kind they had was the kind with sulfites in it, and I was super annoyed, so I started trying to think of why in the world someone one day decided that it was awesome to put a little bit of something lethal in a food just to keep the color pretty. (I have had a lot of non-sulfited coconut and it did not seem to get any less pretty to me, but I also refuse to believe cornflower and periwinkle are real colors, so I might not be the one to ask.)

I could not think of any reason to do this unless you are the Dread Pirate Roberts and you are building up a tolerance to Iocaine powder just in case one day you will have to go in against a Sicilian in a battle of wits when death is on the line. Then I realized this probably isn't going to help if it is in everything. So sorry guys, it's probably best if none of us take up the mantle of the Dread Pirate Roberts.

Also today I felt pretty awesome. Not really energetic, just really ridiculously happy. Then it snowed on me. These things are unrelated. Anyway, so I had the choice to either go ALL THE WAY BACK to the Whole Foods or go home without coconut. Guess which one I chose? Hint: I am lazy.

So I have no coconut.

I am also pleased to learn that there are some tax laws in the UK that are just as crazy as the ones here. It makes me feel at one with the old country.

[Miranda72]

I am absolutely freaking exhausted today. This is not, I suspect, from W30. I have a sneaky suspicion that it is because at 11pm I discovered my toddler had dumped the liquid laundry detergent on the floor...and then proceeded to spread it through the WHOLE HOUSE. I spent an hour just getting the glop up and another few hours cleaning my floors today. I am trying to hang in there until dh gets home so he can take over for me. Then I start my new routine at the gym tomorrow. 5 am workouts. I am very trepidacious about getting up so early, but It is the only way both of us can get to the gym. Wish me luck!

[katiemcp]

Day 15, down! Yay, everyone!

I have to say, I was really really hoping I might be able to break my nap/sleep routine, but it just isnt happening. I've had a couple days where I have powered through without a nap, but then there are days like today when my youngest is up at 430 am for the day, after basically wanting to nurse all night, and a midnight visit from the 2 yr old. So, I might need to put aside my hopes that the whole 30 might help me overcome the tiredness and just accept it as part of this season of my life. (;

Today's meals...

M1 scrambled eggs and sauteed greens, topped with sauteed mushrooms and roasted red peppers. 1 coffee done in the blender with coconut milk and coconut oil.

M2 leftover roast beast, sliced into thin strips and sauteed, over salad, with homemade creamy balsamic vinaigrette

M3 Meat sauce on spaghetti squash, everyone else had pasta.

My dinner was so good I didn't even care I didn't have pasta. It was like swypo good, lol. Pasta is definitely a no-breaks food for me (any carb like pasta or rice, I can just Hoover it down), so I loved being satisfied with my dinner tonight! And it was delicious without feeling like I might explode from all the carbs, lol.

I'm still waiting for the food dreams and cravings. This morning I craved cucumbers. Freaking cucumbers, after all these veggies I have been eating!!? And no food dreams, just weird weird dreams about having problems driving my car because someone moved the steering wheel to the back seat. SMH.

[tdromz73]

Hey everyone...Day 15 and I am finally finding time to jump on here, read a little and wanted to introduce myself.  I started back on Jan 1st.  On day 6, I thought...hmm, I feel pretty good today; day 7,...hmm, feeling good again; and by day 8, I decided this is going to be a new normal for me.  I am greatly enjoying the increases and steady energy levels through my day.  My moods are lighter and happy, happy, happy!  I was finally able to get a copy of ISWF, only had time to briefly flip through and I can't wait for the weekend so that I can sit down and do some serious reading.  My reason for joining Whole30?  I have been struggling with steady weight gain over the past few months.  My best guess is that over that past few years, I have gone off and on "strict" diet plans working toward a goal to take a stage as a physique competitor.  I had an emergency hysterectomy two summers ago and since have given up on that dream but I think that I really did a number on my metabolism.  My hope is that this 30 day cycle will give me a chance to reset my metabolism.  I am not working out, I stay active but not hitting the gym at all.  Once I see the changes after this 30, I am planning to start another but with workouts and see the changes.  I am looking forward to reading all of your posts and sharing this journey together.  Party on 30 People!

[jodea]

I'm still waiting for the food dreams and cravings. This morning I craved cucumbers. Freaking cucumbers, after all these veggies I have been eating!!? And no food dreams, just weird weird dreams about having problems driving my car because someone moved the steering wheel to the back seat. SMH.

I've dreamt that I was trying to drive from the back seat!

[annabel]

To those who are discouraged:

Who doesn't want things NOW? Today! Two weeks can feel so long and not having or feeling results is so disheartening.

I remember something though - during my last whole 30 it wasn't until Day 22 that something drastic happened. That was the day I got several second looks and questions about weight loss. It was so strange but the physical effects seemed to be noticeable right before week 4. I feel like weight loss is like looking at a clock. It never moves when you're watching. I lost several pounds after I completed the whole30 because my relationship with food was altered.

On the goal sheet, I write down little notes to myself. Some of them are about what I ate or how I felt or how I've backtracked. These thirty days are only THIRTY days but it's a refresh for me on healthy eating for the foreseeable future.

I applaud everyone who is doing this. Best wishes for a successful second half.

 

I was the exact same way with weight on my first Whole 30 and think that I lost more weight after I'd stopped than I did during.  I think my body is just lazy and not so inclined to change.

 

I am absolutely freaking exhausted today. This is not, I suspect, from W30. I have a sneaky suspicion that it is because at 11pm I discovered my toddler had dumped the liquid laundry detergent on the floor...and then proceeded to spread it through the WHOLE HOUSE. I spent an hour just getting the glop up and another few hours cleaning my floors today. I am trying to hang in there until dh gets home so he can take over for me. Then I start my new routine at the gym tomorrow. 5 am workouts. I am very trepidacious about getting up so early, but It is the only way both of us can get to the gym. Wish me luck!

 

Good luck with the 5am workouts but it's okay to ease back on your exercise if you're exhausted, sleep is just as (if not more) important.

 

---------

I made the Pina Colada chicken from Well Fed 2 last night and it made a lovely breakfast this morning.  I didn't manage to get the sauce to thicken much, which made it more of an eat out of a bowl meal.  My husband even had some for breakfast this morning and he's very much not a dinner for breakfast person.  I'm actually thinking of keeping it in the meal rotation solely as a breakfast food.

 

I couldn't find a list of Subway ingredients for Japan (or the UK for that matter), though the Japanese website lists about 25 allergens in their nutrition information (including peaches and kiwifruit).  And they have a free phone number you can call with any further questions, which I thought was quite nice (good luck finding any free numbers to ring companies on here)

 

Glad that it's nearly the weekend for me, I've been quite tired this week.  And I either put my contact lenses in the wrong eyes yesterday or my vision has gotten mysteriously worse this week (maybe because I'm a bit tired?)

 

We're more than halfway there  Hope that everyone else is doing fabulously.

[Semolina]

Doing my morning cooking was a labour of love today: I JUST DID NOT FEEL LIKE IT but I did it anyway because if I didn't I would have nothing compliant to eat and the great thing about being on the W30 (as opposed to off roading) is that it isn't an option. So I made mayo and roasted some veggies and am now feeling smug (at least the reward comes quickly). Then I discovered I had made myself a decaff coffee this morning rather than my usual caff. Can one cup make that much difference? I have been such a slug. I am now drinking a caffeinated coffee as I have to be all bright and perky for work, which I can't decide whether or not I want to make a difference (if it does I am a caffeine addict on ONE cup of coffee a day; if it doesn't I shall be a slug all day.)

[katiemcp]

I've dreamt that I was trying to drive from the back seat!

it definitely was not going well, lol!

[helen]

I'm hitting tiger blood phase I do believe.  I think the full moon helps.  Glad for it too!