July 1 Support Thread

[hbo1213]

AJ10...I'm right there with you! That's exactly how I feel and excited to hear that you've completed a Whole 30 and know the strength and energy that comes from it! You can do this...we all can!!!

[corgicoconut]

Day 2!

 

Day 1 went well for me, but I was super tired at work in the evening.  I def didn't get enough carbs in at dinner....I simply don't have enough time to eat during my break (30 minutes), by the time I run to the bathroom, get to the break room, and pop my meal in the microwave.

 

Can anyone recommend me something that's quick to eat?  Whenever I've had this happen I'm usually eating something as simple as meat and veggies (yesterday it was two burgers with green beans and ghee over the whole thing).

 

Hope you guys have a great Day 2!    

[Suprsndy]

I go cold at the thought of meal planning. I love cooking and food and I don't know what I want to eat tonight never mind thursday or next week so I don't do it.

I do cook large pots of things like chili and freeze some or put portions in the fridge or I'll mash two cauliflowers ready to heat up when I want but that is as far as meal planning happens in our house!

Plus our food budget is small and we live in a pricey country so I don't think it HAS to be done x

I went to culinary school and still find it challenging to come up with a more organized plan for cooking everyday. There are really great meal planning/ grocery shopping that I use and they are Really helpful!

[Limitless]

Hello everyone!

I'm here from the June group, too. I'm on day 32. I'm going to keep going because I just need more time to let my new habits really take hold.

For those of you mourning your creamy, sugary coffee, I hear you! I thought that I would give up coffee completely before I would ever drink black coffee. Well, I'm sitting here right now with my black coffee. still don't LOVE it, but it's ok.

[sacnorad]

Good Morning Everyone, Robert here, and count me in!  I'm traveling out of the Country through Friday, so am starting off this journey on Saturday, July 5th, as Day 1 of my first ever Whole 30.  I've struggled with weight my entire life, and at 37 (almost 38) I've been all over the map.  Six years ago I was as high as 420 lbs, went down to 260, and am currently 285.  I was happy with that heavy but healthier range, until I had my two kids.  I have a lifetime of bad eating habits built up that I control but haven't abolished - and getting those cravings under control is my goal.  My wife is largely paleo and a healthy eater and great support, and fortunately she's imparted her habits on our kids, (3 & 1). I want to be an example for them, and to have the energy to be an active part of their lives, even after my regular 12-14 hour workdays.  Looking forward to keeping up with all of you, and sharing in the experience - the good and the bad!

[Britishgal]

I went to culinary school and still find it challenging to come up with a more organized plan for cooking everyday. There are really great meal planning/ grocery shopping that I use and they are Really helpful!

I know it works for a lot of people and there are wonderful resources but for me it is enough to put me off all together! I shop and cook the way my Nanna and Mother did during my childhood...I get what looks good and is well priced then when cooking time comes round I open my fridge and get excited deciding what I want to cook at that moment with what I have in. I don't shop weekly, I shop every couple of days. If asparagus looks good, or aubergine a or green beans, I buy those. I also never shop with a definite list...I know that's rule 101 but that doesn't allow for what my grocer has just got in or whether the butcher has something sneaky and oh so good in just for today!

Every time I read anything about whole30 it's all about planning and to be honest that put me off multiple times but I did last month (up to day 22 when myself and my 6 year old son caught a bug and starting vomiting and my mother and her doctor took over) with no planning at all and no increase to our usual food budget

Just another way of doing it. Not everyone is the same x

[DaniH286]

I love how I'm not the only one that didn't start exactly on the 1st (Monday starter). Plus the internationalism, different seasons, different timezones! It's awesome!

How are you guys doing? I'm doing well not eating off plan foods, but still had to snack. I had an apple and some raw almonds day 1 and 2 as snacks. Today (day 3), I'm focusing on eating enough lunch to keep me satisfied until dinnertime.

I had a headache that started middle of day 2 and lasted through the morning of 3. I broke down and took some Ibuprofen, hopefully it won't come back. 

Are you keeping a food log? I'm using MaxJournal on my iPad to jot down what I eat, how much I sleep, and how I feel. I tried MyFitnessPal, but seeing the calories and macros was stressing me out unecessaraly.

I feel great at the moment, but I have a feeling this may be the calm before the "kill ALL the things" storm hits.

[wyoinap]

Love reading the various life stories that have brought many of us here.

[bpxdomino]

I hope this doesn't appear twice! But it appears I lost my original post.

 

Started my 2nd W30 today. I wasn't planning on it (who has used the excuse "I need to eat 'XYZ' from the pantry first" before? I've been using it for a while now).  BUT I have severe issues with sugar - and they seem to be worse since ending my first W30 back in January.

 

I didn't want to end my W30 at the time, as I was feeling great - better moods, more focus and motivation - BUT my husband was doing the program with me, at my insistence. He was anxious to get back to pizza. So I figured I'd do reintros with him to see how it felt.

 

Big mistake - when you are fighting a lifetime of binge eating problems, 30 days isn't enough to solve it. Especially when - within those 30 days - there were binges on technically compliant foods. I had trouble jumping right back into the w30 after reintros with various social events getting in the way (excuses). I tried again in March and made it 9 days, but then just couldn't get it going again. I stopped trying at the end of April.

 

I think the difference from January to March was support. In March, I had no husband on board. I had deleted my account from the forums. I tried to do it on my own, but it didn't work for me. So I'm hoping to join your group (a day late! Sorry!) to get through these next 30 days (I'd really like it to be 50 - to officially 'end' on my birthday!)

 

When I say 'end,' I don't really mean it. I want it to be the beginning of a lifetime of new, healthy, controlled eating habits.

[Slangley556]

Hi all!
I started my first whole30 yesterday and only saw this thread today. I did all of my meal prep on the 30 and was really proud of myself. In previous attempts to 'Eat healthy' I never did any prep work, failed every time and felt like a failure. Yesterday I had terrible headaches and nausea but today and feeling much better any prepared. Yes I have had cravings but unlike previous times I had healthy within the rules snacks on hand to save the day! I have to keep asking myself that question ' is this going to make me more or less healthy'. A different way of thinking changes everything! I am determined this time to stick to this wonderful lifestyle change. Meal prep number two is on Sunday woooooo!

[nnekamolly]

Hi There I'm on my second Whole 30. My first was amazing but Iquickly back to SAD after the 3 days were up. I'm commiting tothis Whole3o and hopefully can mke it a whole 90 but I am traveling for 3 weeks at th end of August. I am 25, asthmatic, overweight, with terrible cramps, and cystic acne- needless to say I am in need of a change. I need to take some metrics/photos of my weight and measurements so I can compare progress later. Cheers

[bwr]

Day 3 here in Australia

 

Is anyone having food dreams already?? I actually started on my first night dreaming about bread! My husband and I are travelling to the states for 2 months at the end of the year and we'd been talking about the bread baskets you get at restaurants....that was all I could think about and woke up feeling as though I'd cheated already!

 

No slips though This morning for breakfast I've got leftover meatballs with roasted sweet potato, a beef casserole in the fridge ready for lunch and chicken defrosting at home to make chicken and veggies for dinner

 

Hope everyone is staying strong!

[JMS]

My family started on Monday. 11 year old daughter is doing well & willing to do it with us. Already noticing that she has less oil on her skin - would love to see her acne clear up before starting school in the fall. I also think her moods are doing really well. Anyone who lives with a hormonal 11 year old will tell you that is simply an amazing statement to be able to make! She also says she is sleeping better. I know it is way too early to expect to pinpoint results - but I'm happy to already be seeing some positive things for her.

 

Husband already eats tons of vegetables so he's loving the meals I'm making. 

 

My personal goal is to get healthier, stronger and lose a little weight. I would also love to see if some of my allergies improved - if the animal has fur I'm allergic to it - if it blows around outside (pollen, etc) I'm allergic to it. I once told a doctor it would be easier to tell me a list of things I'm not allergic to. Luckily I don't have any severe food allergies - so now it is time to see if I have a food sensitivity.

 

I'm not missing any of the foods on the restricted list - except my iced coffee with milk. Used to drink one per day - decaf. And, yes, I put a packet of sugar in it. Can't decide if I should allow myself that one splurge considering all the other things I have cut. My goal is to get healthier, stronger and lose a little weight.

 

I like the foods we are able to eat. I've always been perfectly happy having a steak and salad for dinner .. or grilled salmon and salad. I love eating eggs for breakfast (currently eating three each morning). The only real problem I'm having right now is being hungry mid-afternoon. Really hungry! I am in a job where I workout two to three hours per day. I think I'm going to have to add another meal (not snack - meal) to my day. 

[Grace714]

Hello All!

 

I'm a 30 year old wife (no kiddos) and I've been eating paleo on and off for 2 years.  My husband is GF and loves it.  I thought about the last 2 years (being on and off paleo) and know that everytime I commit to paleo, I feel amazing and the ailments heal.  Everytime I do not...well, it's bad and it seems my ailments get worse with age.

 

I've never done a true Whole30 and am I ready to reset some lifelong habits.  A former vegan, calorie counter, under weight female, my metabolism surely needs this reset.  I'm about 10-15 pounds overweight.  My goal is to eat 3 meals a day.  On day 2 right now and my goodness, I am full!  I am following the meal template and after each meal I think I will never be hungry again and then in about 5 hours, I only start to feel hunger.  Is that normal?

 

I used to strive to stay between 1200-1400 calories a day.  I dropped alot of weight doing this but starting binge eating, terribly.  For whatever reason, habit or delusion, I have tried eating paleo within this calorie range as well and can go about 2-3 weeks and then binge, badly, on everything I restricted, reactivating all of my ailments (I'm sure you all know them: bloating, moody, acne, all of it).  Perhaps this is from calorie restriction?  Anyone out there experienced this?

 

I have eaten what feels like much more than I normally eat in a given day but I am hoping it limits urges to binge and evens out my moods and hormones.  Of course I want to drop the weight I have gained over the past few years but know that may take up to a year or so and that's OK.  I mostly want to replace bad habits with healthy ones and following a strict code that tells me to eat enough to make me healthy sounds like a good plan.

 

I'm glad we can share and support each other!  I appreciate anyone's feedback who has had a similar experience as mine.

 

Best wishes to all, we've totally got this!

 

PS - I'm not too worried about the 4th of July holiday...aren't they BBQ's anyway?  Just grab the meat!  It's the dull moments that I must watch out for!

[steph92]

For the first half of the day I had a headache, but after I went grocery shopping and ate a nice dinner (steak with mushrooms and spinach!) it cooled down a bit. Decent day two, overall. Now that my fridge is stocked I'm optimistic for the upcoming week. Hope everyone did well today c:

[panpipe]

Good morning from the UK!  Slightly late to the party but I also started my Whole30 on 1 July.

 

A bit of background...I'm a 28 year old married mum of two aged 23 months and 9 weeks.  I'm veggie but have always been partial to the odd (ok a crapload of) sugary carby snack.  I gained a stone during pregnancy and no sign yet of any of it shifting...I think I very easily used breastfeeding as an excuse to eat a load of sugar.  And on the subject of bf that's what brought me to w30 - I struggle with low supply and other issues and have heard from many other mums that w30 has helped boost their supply so I'm willing to try anything!  So that's my main motivation really but I also need a kick up the backside to eat better generally.

 

So today is day 3.  I'm following the amazing budget veggie shopping list/meal plan posted a few days ago on the veggie boards - just need to remind myself that it takes a lot longer to cook 3 or 4 meals' worth of food than one!  I'll do a quick catchup on what I've eaten so far:

 

Day 1 (a bit of a strange day as I pretty much decided overnight that I was going to start on the 1st - I'd had a really crap eating day on 30 June!  So this was what I had in the house already)

Breakfast - scrambled egg in coconut oil with tomatoes, watercress, cashews, apple

Lunch - Greek yogurt, carrots, watercress, cashew butter

Dinner - red lentils, avocado, more carrots, cauliflower, broccoli

 

Day 2 (I'd been shopping!)

Breakfast - apple and cinnamon Greek yogurt with roasted sweet potatoes, roasted green beans and hazelnuts

Lunch - slightly awkward as I was at my battle-axe MIL's house - omelette with tomato

Dinner - stir fry of tofu, broccoli, carrots, onions, pineapple and ginger

 

And so to today...

Breakfast - apple cinnamon yogurt as per day 2

Lunch will be spinach frittata (that reminds me I need to defrost the spinach)

Dinner - probably stir fry again

 

I'm going to try and get to the health food shop this afternoon - anything good to look out for (that I can get in the UK)?

[Etchnsketch]

I started June 30, so I am on day 4. So far, I have yet to feel anything too bad, no headaches and no urges to kill everyone, just a little grumpy if I don't eat when my body wants me to. I am breastfeeding a 10 month old, who by default is on a w30 also since she also eats from my plate. Due to the breastfeeding, I have needed a snack in the early evening and I do become a terrible person if I don't get my snack lol. My energy plummets and my wick becomes much shorter. I have been indulging in small amounts of nuts, chicken and veggies when the evening hunger monster shows. We eat dinner late (7-8pm) since that's when the hubs gets home so that might be playing a part in my need for a snack at 5pm. All in all, I feel good (most the time) and really believe that I can stick with it. I will be reading this support thread to help keep me motivated when times get tough though

[kazzd]

It's been great reading all your introductions :-) so many of everyone's comments resonate with me.

I'm at the end of day 3 tonight, and wanted to share two small successes. I had a really crappy day at work today (I work in a cafe, and yes! it's tough being around all that delicious off-plan food!). I felt a bit unfocused and made mistakes that I don't normally make. At the end of my shift I would normally have a caramel mocha coffee, and after such a bad day, I really felt I had earned it. (I'm still working on my food = reward mentality!). But I resisted and got in my car and came straight home. First victory.

Second, I had a craving for something sweet after dinner, so I made myself a green tea instead and it passed. Yay! The family are not doing whole30 so there are temptations in the house - I feel great that I used an alternative. :-)

[cortner1195]

It's been great reading all your introductions :-) so many of everyone's comments resonate with me.

I'm at the end of day 3 tonight, and wanted to share two small successes. I had a really crappy day at work today (I work in a cafe, and yes! it's tough being around all that delicious off-plan food!). I felt a bit unfocused and made mistakes that I don't normally make. At the end of my shift I would normally have a caramel mocha coffee, and after such a bad day, I really felt I had earned it. (I'm still working on my food = reward mentality!). But I resisted and got in my car and came straight home. First victory.

Second, I had a craving for something sweet after dinner, so I made myself a green tea instead and it passed. Yay! The family are not doing whole30 so there are temptations in the house - I feel great that I used an alternative. :-)

I also like to use tea in the evening to get past the desire to jump off plan.  Or have a glass of wine.  The tea seems to be helping.

 

Day two went well for me.  Work is super busy so I am eating leftovers every day, as I just haven't had time to cook anything fresh.  I have a restaurant dinner tonight.  I will bring my own salad dressing, and order a plain salad and tea.  The a piece of grilled meat when I get home. 

 

Have a good day!

[KIM C]

Hi Guys,

 

My name is Kimberly and I am from The Bahamas. Today is my 1st day.... and I sure will need the encouragement and support given in this forum.  I trust you would share your meal plans so we all can stay on track!!! 
 

Good Luck to all and remember it is only 30days to a new improve you....  We can do this!!!

[RCWINKY]

Greetings!  Newbie here, I'm on Day 3, I started July 1.  All is going really well so far, I was really tired yesterday afternoon/last night and had a slight headache, which from what I understand is sometimes referred to as the "carb flu."  Feeling better today.

 

I found clean eating about 2.5 years ago and loved it.  I lost about 30 pounds and kept it off for 2 years.  I've always been pretty active, enjoy running half marathons, but this past winter just killed my motivation, my eating went to crap and I gained about 13 pounds.  I have about 23 pounds total I'd like to lose and I figured this would be a good way to kick start things again as I haven't been able to make much progress the past few months half way trying on my own.  So feeling good about this, I hope to reintroduce corn, legumes, yogurt and honey, maybe some grains like quinoa, we will see.  Clean eating worked really well for me, but I just needed a good kick in the butt to get back in gear and I think this will do it for me!

 

I'm almost finished with the book!

 

Oh and I'm a working mom to a 4 year old and a husband that travels a lot (which makes eating what I want easy, lol)

[djoyce]

Hey all... i am on day 2 of my 6th W30.  I am doing pretty well.  Old hat for me.  Most of my challenges have come from other changes in my life (new job, new city, away from family during week) and I am finding / setting a new routine.  I will do this thing!

 

I love the W30 process and enjoy the resuls (control, sleep, craving control, less hurts, weight loss, etc.).

 

Cheers

DJ

[Britishgal]

I measured myself this morning. Bust, hips and waist.

Last month, though I know I trimmed down by my clothes getting looser, I didn't have the nerve to measure myself before or after (years of eating disorders mean I don't want to go anywhere near scales!)

It was worse than I thought...my waist is now bigger than my hips were only a few short years ago *sigh*

I'm really proud of myself for doing it though

[bwr]

I used to be a chronic weigher, several times a day but I haven't done so in a few months now. Probably partly out of denial because I didn't want to see the numbers rising but it also made me feel terrible about myself. Now I base what I think about myself based on how I feel. This last month or so falling off the Whole30 wagon has made me feel pretty crappy hence why I've jumped back on!

 

Thinking I should maybe at least measure myself though to see results but haven't gotten around to it yet. It's freezing here so not too keen to get my clothes off if I don't have to!

 

Yesterday was a good day, I kept busy which helped me to not focus on food quite so much. I also forgot how much food you eat with this Whole30! I roasted a batch of carrots and sweet potatoes thinking I'd have leftovers for breakfast but my husband and I got through pretty much the whole lot! So now on day 4 I'm sitting here eating a frozen banana with a little bit of leftover roast chicken and veggies that I managed to save from last night's dinner.

 

Going to be looking forward to my beef casserole at lunch!

[LisaD]

Started July 1st.  I've been trying to kick sugar since February.  I come from a long line of Diabetes and I'm on the otherside of 45.  Hoping to break the chain. This is the first time I've felt committed to the effort.  Keeping my fingers crossed that I'll feel as up for the challenge on my ten vacation, July 20-30.