Getting back on track?

[laurajayw]

Hello everyone this is my first post in the forums, despite having read a lot of stuff on here over the last few months. You're a great community.

 

I did my first Whole30 in May and it was brilliant. Stuck to the plan completely, enjoyed the food, rarely felt hungry between meals, shed some pounds, had loads of energy and new-found confidence and I was more productive and focussed in pretty much every aspect of my life. I also found that eating according to strict guidelines somehow made me feel more free around food - I was no longer governed by cravings or a need to eat out of boredom/for comfort. The whole thing was shockingly easy for me.

 

I felt so good when I finished Whole30 that I was completely blindsided by how difficult it is to turn this from a 30-day challenge into a long-term lifestyle. I planned to continue eating more or less according to the Whole30 rules, with room for occasional indulgences. The difficulty came with the 'more or less' part. It turns out that a) 30 days is not enough to change the habits of a lifetime (what a surprise!) and b ) I am not very good at moderation. At all. As soon as I removed the training wheels and tried to ride this bike alone using just my judgement and willpower, it gradually fell apart and I started 'indulging' far more than I should have. I don't want to make any excuses - it is me and only me that has made every single one of these bad choices since completing my Whole30. I just wasn't as well-equipped as I thought I was to take my lessons from Whole30 into the big wide world.

 

I've decided to do another Whole30, and if it's as easy as the first one was then I plan to make it a Whole60 - I think that two months will really help me to make a long-term habit out of eating this way. The only thing is, I have a lot going on over the next 6 weeks - going on holiday, my birthday, various weekend occasions with family and friends. I know I could do all of that on the Whole30 if I wanted to, but I'd rather not have to worry about finding compliant food while I'm on my holiday and so on. Instead, I'm going to start my next Whole30 in September and hopefully continue in October too.

Sorry for the rambling. MY QUESTION IS...

 

Given that I've got 6 weeks before starting Whole30 again and that I'm seriously struggling with moderating my poor food choices right now, can anyone advise me on a good way to try to re-establish some control and limit the damage between now and September?  

[LadyM]

Here's a thought: if you liked w30, successfully completed one, and found it easy, why not simply start immediately? Negotiate for yourself the handful of times you'll deliberately off-road for your birthday and on holiday, etc., and commit to returning to the template at the very next meal.

That's pretty much what life looks like for me post w30, and it works beautifully. You could think of it as practice for your super strict w60 that begins in September. It might be very satisfying for you.

[Tom Denham]

Moderation is not my thing either, but what that has meant in my life is that I really want to eat meat, fish, eggs, veggies, and fruit as much as I can. I am a little obsessed about nutrition and wanting to get as much as I can when I eat, so I simply follow the plan most of the time. I don't worry about all the ingredients that might be in food I order when out, but I focus on eating meat and veggies. I eat a sweet treat when I have reason to believe it will be special, but that is usually less than once per quarter. 

 

I think the value of doing a Whole30 is to begin seeing meat, fish, eggs, veggies, and fruit as the good stuff and to start thinking of everything else as an unavoidable evil that you have to deal with occasionally. 

[Beets]

I am with you. Especially about feeling free when on the whole. I've had a wobbly ride for the last few months, some days are great and I feel great and some days I eat not great stuff and feel horrible.

One of the keys for me is, like Lady M said, trying to get right back on template eating. When I do that I may still crave sugar or whatever junk I was eating, but the template meals fill you up. Plus it's good to keep teaching your brain "THIS is what makes me feel good. Yes."

(My brain fights the retraining but maybe after enough repetition we will get there.)

I know I tend to beat myself up and the best way to punish myself is to make myself feel worse by eating more of whatever I regret eating. So part of it for me is trying to move beyond the guilt cycle.

[laurajayw]

Thanks for your advice, everyone. I'm going to try and do as you suggested, LadyM, and stick to the template for as many meals as possible, and try not to beat myself up too much when I do go off-plan. When I do go off-plan, I need to work on making a deliberate and careful choice to do so, rather than mindlessly eating something just because it's there and regretting it afterwards when I realize that it was nowhere near worth it.

[tinman57]

I really want to eat meat, fish, eggs, veggies, and fruit as much as I can.

 

Nailed it!  When I start to think about sacrificing those groups so that I can have something else or weighing and counting and measuring, it makes me crazy.  It's just EASIER after a bit to focus on what's Whole30 compliant anyway.  Sure there are times you want to throw your hands up and faceplant into a bowl of rice.   So let it be.  Let it go.  Make the conscious choice to do so and take the time to evaluate what that did or did not do to your body.