Starting with food

[Ytu]

Day 28 (Tuesday)

So close to 30, can't believe how quickly it's gone!

 

Sleep: Could have been better. In bed at 10.30 but couldn't get to sleep for about an hour, then woke up around 4 and had trouble getting to sleep again. Got up at 7.15.

Meditation: 10 minutes

 

Breakfast: 3 eggs, green pepper and onion sauteed with chipotle paste, a couple of little potatoes. A black coffee.

Lunch: Chicken, cooked carrots in vinegar dressing, potatoes.

Dinner: Last portion of lamb/pepper curry with cashew/coconut curry and some sliced salted cucumber.

 

Was again a bit bloated after lunch even though it was a completely different lunch than yesterday's and no raw veges either. Didn't make it outside for a walk today, should track that and see if there's a pattern where no post-lunch stroll = indigestion.

 

Quite tired today too, not quite enough sleep and a lot of work. I wish I felt like going for a run but already got rained on today and don't fancy that happening again. Will maybe do a little dance drill indoors. Went back to bellydancing class yesterday and had forgotten how much fun it is!

[Ytu]

Day 29 (Wednesday)

 

Sleep: OK, in bed at 10.15, woke up at 5.45.

Exercise: easy 45-minute run

Meditation: only about 5 minutes today, couldn't get into it.

 

Breakfast: 3 fried eggs, sauteed peppers and onions and potatoes with chipotle paste, a nectarine, black coffee.

Lunch: Tin of mackerel, cooked carrots in vinegar dressing with parsley, a few small potatoes.

Dinner: Sri Lankan beef curry, cabbage curry, cashew nut and coconut curry. Paying attention to digestive response to the cabbage dish. Cashew dish alone was fine yesterday.

 

No indigestion after lunch today, no walk at lunchtime either but did sit outside in the sun for a quarter of an hour, nice! Must enjoy the moments of nice weather while they're here.

 

Nearly there! I've had a little think about post-whole30 plans.

1. Definitely keep to the three-meal schedule with no snacking, and also to the meal template with protein and plenty of veg at every meal. Nothing should push these off the plate.
2. May incorporate IF again one or two days a week and see how that goes.
3. If the reintros go well, I hope to have dairy (at least yogurt, cheese, butter and cream), non-gluten grains and well-cooked legumes as an occasional part of my diet, and even gluten at least in the form of homemade sourdough (rye or wheat) every now and then. Of course if these do cause issues then I'll reconsider.
4. Sugar will be reserved for very rare occasions and alcohol to no more than one or two days a week.
5. Will be more relaxed about the above when eating out or with other people but when I'm preparing a meal, I should feed myself as well as I know how - which means action point 1!
6. Am considering weighing myself on day 31 and then not again for at least another month - maybe longer. I think going without a scale helps avoid emotional eating too, either as a 'reward' for a low weight (or feeling that I can "afford" to eat something extra) or as consolation for a high weight (feeling that it "doesn't matter").

 

Going to a wedding this coming weekend so I'm not sure how to structure my reintros around that. May just have a glass or two of alcohol there and try to keep food more or less to w30 though we are going out to eat so it will be a challenge. And then do proper reintros after that.

[Ytu]

Day 30 (well almost) (Thursday)

 

The day started so well:

Sleep: Good, in bed at 10.30, woke up at 6.
Meditation: 25 mins

Breakfast: 3 boiled eggs, cucumber, a couple of little potatoes, a nectarine, a black coffee.
Lunch: tinned sardines, cucumber, two cherry tomatoes, potatoes, olives.

 

Then went to donate blood and forgot to think about bringing a compliant snack. Was feeling a bit faint afterwards and ate a small bag of crisps (potato chips) as encouraged by the nurse. The ingredients were acceptable (potatoes, sunflower oil, salt) but I know chips specifically are classed as a non-compliant food.

 

Snack: Crisps.
Dinner: Bolognese sauce with cooked cabbage.

 

So I suppose that means I've completed a whole 29 1/2 instead of a whole 30. Which feels like a bit of an anticlimax but: 1) lesson learned for next time I give blood - must bring my own snack! 2) at least I didn't eat the biscuits; 3) crisps aren't a problem food for me and it wasn't like I succumbed to a temptation, I don't even particularly like them; 4) I've still done 30 days dairy-free, grain-free, sugar-free, alcohol-free and sulphate/carrageenan/MSG etc -free.

 

Anyway, going to stop dwelling on that right now and move on to life post-whole-29.5 tomorrow!

[Physibeth]

Bummer about the chips but you did such a fantastic job! You did the very best you could in the situation you were put in and learned a lesson from it and that is fantastic! Well done!

[Derval]

I always think of food consumed in blood bank as outside reality I used to enjoy going in my Ww days and having guilt free chocolate & crisps! Well done for donating

[Ytu]

So here's the list of things where there's been an improvement!

 

Couldn't quite think of a twelfth. I would have loved to be able to say "better sleep" but that's still working itself out. If buying the flat works out I can finally have a bedroom with a blackout curtain and that should help a bit; also the bedroom will be at the back of the house so no street light behind the window like there is now.

 

-No cravings
-No binging
-No need to snack
-Not using food as "treats"
-Better mood
-Flatter stomach (although some veges still cause bloating, may need further investigation to narrow this down)
-Arms look more toned
-Less oily skin
-Food tastes amazing
-Coffee has a much more distinct flavour without milk/cream in it so I’ll continue to drink it black and experiment with different types to see which ones I like best
-No alcohol = no hangovers
 

Got on the scale this morning ... 59.4kg so 1.5kg down. Not bad, especially considering I didn't exercise very much. About the same as I would have expected to lose by 5:2 fasting except I haven't been fasting at all but eating tons of delicious food!

 

Weirdly the scales also gave a body fat reading of 35% which doesn't seem right; normally they say between 21-25%. I know scales aren't an accurate way of measuring bf but it's such a jump I wonder if I was dehydrated this morning or something. Might get on the scales tomorrow morning for a comparison figure and then not again for a month.

 

I think I'll stop logging daily meals from today but will log reintro foods + consequences (if any). This is the rough plan but may switch things round:

 

16th (Saturday) Alcohol (wine / clear spirits; no gluten or sugary cocktails)

20th (Wednesday) Dairy (cheese, butter, yogurt)

23rd (Saturday) Non-gluten grains (rice, buckwheat, corn)

26th (Tuesday) Legumes (lentils, broad beans, maybe tofu)

29th (Monday) Gluten grains (rye, wheat sourdough)