Starting May 11th

[jeanie793]

Just a quick check in then I need to get busy reading the last 2 days of posts!

The 90th birthday party was so sweet, my MIL is one of the sweetest people I know, and as a surprise we had family/friends sent us cards to present to her yesterday. Over 120 people sent them, and more came in the mail today. Needless to say, she cried tears of joy! What a sweetie.

My reintroduction to a glass of Merlot never happened. I just didn't want it! I stuck to my w30 meal and didn't feel deprived at all.

And I remembered to take my measurements , I think it was a total of 8-9 inches. But what I do remember is 3 total inches off of my bum! Yes!

Tomorrow, I'm going to try to have Greek yogurt with my w30 breakfast. That's the only thing I really want to add for now...will let u know how it goes.

[Nickiechan]

Day 30 for me!! I am feeling much better this morning. I ended up eating a starchy veggie last night because I kept feeling sluggish. I think it is the weather as well and not being able to go for my lunch walk without sweating out my work clothing (I started bringing in other cloths to walk in now). Tomorrow we have plans to go to a amusement park and packing lunch, but we may do dinner there. I'm still debating on packing just another meal for me. We will see what happens. 

 

I don't think I'm going to weigh myself. My MIL is begging me too. She says I look like I lost weight and she is super curious about it. i told her that I still feel that number defines success for me and I already have had so many NSV that I dgaf about that number. I feel good about myself, I'm down 2 pant sizes (Isn't that a good indication?), my headaches are gone. I absolutely feel wonderful! I just have to keep going... I can't stop now. My body is finally working efficiently and I need to keep going. I think tomorrow will be day 1 for me. I need to challenge to keep me accountable. I still am not comfortable letting myself make the decision. Deep routed food issues are not completely cured in my mind. This crazy brain of my.... where I don't trust myself to make good choices yet.... 

[Jmn1962]

Day 19 and I slept through the night! This would be a first for me in probably over 30 years. Wow what a feeling to sleep eight uninterrupted hours! I'm amazed as to how this way of eating has become engrained in me in just this short amount of time. When we go to our outdoor concerts I pack us a great big salad and off we go....no temptation to have anything non-compliant.

Tomorrow my husband and I along with the dog are heading out to do some serious hiking. Was wondering if any of you have any suggestions for portable protein that doesn't need refrigeration. Would like to have a little something with us while hiking just incase I get hungry from all of the extra exercise tomorrow. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Have a great day everyone!

[mcki0133]

Tomorrow my husband and I along with the dog are heading out to do some serious hiking. Was wondering if any of you have any suggestions for portable protein that doesn't need refrigeration. Would like to have a little something with us while hiking just incase I get hungry from all of the extra exercise tomorrow. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hmm...this is a tough one because they mention compliant jerky in so many areas but I can never find them! (unless you have to order online) I would say bring nuts, even though it's considered a fat...it's easy to pack and does also give you some protein. Worst case scenario, you'd have to have a Lara Bar...when I traveled to AZ, I took RxBars with me...they had higher protein because there were egg whites in the ingredients and not just nuts/fruits. I read the article about the bars no longer being promoted by Whole9/Whole30 but they said you can still use it as an emergency, just not a staple item in your diet.

 

Awesome job sleeping through the night ZZZZZzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZ!!

[Jmn1962]

Hmm...this is a tough one because they mention compliant jerky in so many areas but I can never find them! (unless you have to order online) I would say bring nuts, even though it's considered a fat...it's easy to pack and does also give you some protein. Worst case scenario, you'd have to have a Lara Bar...when I traveled to AZ, I took RxBars with me...they had higher protein because there were egg whites in the ingredients and not just nuts/fruits. I read the article about the bars no longer being promoted by Whole9/Whole30 but they said you can still use it as an emergency, just not a staple item in your diet.

 

Awesome job sleeping through the night ZZZZZzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZ!!

I found compliant beef jerky at whole foods and picked up some Lara bars but will only use in an emergency. Thanks for your ideas.

[Debzella]

Day three, and its been particularly rough all of a sudden. I am craving all kinds of non-compliant food and wine, and resented the heck out of shoppers at the grocery store, who were clustered around the free samples of cheeses, breads, pastries, ice cream and who knows what else. I've never seen so many free samples. Is that really necessary???

Breakfast - eggs, tomatoes and lemon.

Lunch - BAS with compliant deli roast beef and Turkey

Snack- Banana and olives

Dinner - chicken breast, butternut squash, cauliflower

Hope tomorrow is a better day.

Jean, a full night sleep? Sounds like heaven.

[mcki0133]

Breakfast - eggs, tomatoes and lemon.

Lunch - BAS with compliant deli roast beef and Turkey

Snack- Banana and olives

Dinner - chicken breast, butternut squash, cauliflower

 

 

Debz, are you eating a healthy fat with each meal? I'm not sure what you're cooking your food in, but I try to have avocado, coconut oil or olives every time I eat.

[jeanie793]

Mcki !!! Wow! You can see the way your face has been resculptured. Amazing how eat inflammatory foods can change the way we look. You look A-Mazing :-)

[jeanie793]

DebZ-I think our minds are playing tricks on us. We know we made it through the w30, and we know it's "ok" to reintroduce, but we don't want to because we still aren't where we want to be. But that little devil in the back of our mind is trying to break us and temp us and put us back on the dark side. I haven't had cravings since day 4 and now I want potato chips!! It's ALL IN OUR MINDS!! Keep posting here and we'll help each other through it!! JUST SAY F NO! ;-)

[Debzella]

Debz, are you eating a healthy fat with each meal? I'm not sure what you're cooking your food in, but I try to have avocado, coconut oil or olives every time I eat.

I've been using coconut oil for my eggs, walnut oil for my salads. And tonight I roasted the butternut squash with olive oil, I also had a handful of olives with my banana the afternoon. Weird, I know, but the combination works for me. Lol. I feel better now. I think Jeanie is right. We know we did the 30 and now we think we need the reward... but I'm with you, Jeanie, I want to go to 60. I'm not ready to reintroduce. We can keep each other strong.

[JaneBerkin]

Tomorrow my husband and I along with the dog are heading out to do some serious hiking. Was wondering if any of you have any suggestions for portable protein that doesn't need refrigeration. Would like to have a little something with us while hiking just incase I get hungry from all of the extra exercise tomorrow. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

I have come to bringing a hard boiled egg with me when I think I'll be away from complaint food for a while. IMHO they don't need to be refrigerated for a day. 

[JaneBerkin]

Debz - maybe you need to eat more at breakfast? how many eggs are you having? I think you mentioned something about smaller meals - apologies if I'm misremembering - but reading around the forums, it seems like the moderators pretty consistently counsel against that.

 

Played hooky today and went to the beach. Oh My Goodness -- body surfed my first wave of the summer! What a beautiful day. Packed a cooler w/ compliant lunch, and dinner just in case. My friends got hungry and I gave them the dinner (chocolate chilli and spaghetti squash). They loved it! It's nice to feed people whole30 food and they see how delicious it is!

 

DAY 31

M1 9 sweet potato hash + fried eggs (i should make an acronym for this, it's what i eat every day and still licking the plate clean each time

M2 2 chocolate chilli + spaghetti squash w/ tomato sauce

M3 7 grilled chicken + sauteed broccoli and mushrooms. 

 

fighting the snack craving tonight, maybe dinner wasn't big enough? I'm going to have tea and call it a night. one thing I'm kinda weirded out by is how much I can sleep if i let myself. I went to bed last night at 10, and yes, woke up several times in the night to pee, but easily slept till 8 AM. 10 hours? I'm hoping to start waking up feeling refreshed but it hasn't happened yet. Alas. 

 

Nervous about a dinner party i'm going to tomorrow night -- it'll be an hours-long lovingly prepared meal and the whole evening will take place around the table - very euro. I have no idea what's being served, and I have no idea how to deal with it........??? I'm not ready to stop Whole30 yet and the only thing I can think of is to eat the meat (I'm sure there will be some) and one other thing and use that as a "reintroduction" item? I wasn't planning on off roading yet, as I'm still in self-experiment phase, but not sure how to deal with this one. 

[jeanie793]

Rain, rain, go away!!! Our picnic concert got rained out, so some friends came over to watch the Blackhawks instead. I was surrounded by Pizza and wine, but I stayed true and had my W30 kale and chicken salad with strawberries. I also had one glass of Pinot Noir. First alcohol in over a month! It tasted good, but I just might like Kumbucha better :-)

St Sophia, thinking of you at your dinner party. Hope all is ok.

I'm leaving for a 10-day vacation on Thursday and have decided to weigh and measure that morning before we leave. Hoping that gives extra incentive to stay on track.

Well, it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow again, so I guess I'll plan my Monday-Wednesday meals.

Have a great Sunday!

[DuckMama]

Hi team!  I wanted to give some updates.  Here are my personal, super useful findings from the W30 itself: 1) Natural sugar on it's own gives me crazy headaches.  If I want to eat a piece of fruit even, I need to do so shortly after a meal.  Sad but so helpful to know.  2) After taking the other potential inflammatory foods out, it was really clear that I have a strong reaction in my joints to nightshades.  Again, frustrating, but SO helpful to know. I need to remember to breakout eggs at some point and see if there's any correlation there.  Other successes: 1) I didn't lose any weight!!! I tried desperately to put on weight, but maintain weight on the W30 was a serious accomplishment. I will take it. 2) I cook SO much more than I used to.  In fact, I didn't realize how my cooking has decreased in frequency until now.  3) All the amazing new recipes! 4) Reintroduction so far seem to show no negative response to non-gluten grains and also legumes. 

WOOT!

[DuckMama]

Also best foods discovered, or rediscovered, on my W30 that will have a place in my cupboard or fridge for the foreseeable future: 1) the Korean noodles made out of sweet potatoes (OMG!) 2) chia seeds 3) fish- turning pescetarian after a decade of vegetarianism is a big deal 4) dates- how did I ever forget about dates in the first place? 5) Badia coconut water 6) almond butter

Can other people share their discoveries or rediscovered too?  It seems like a great way for us to review cool stuff we should go out and eat.

[JaneBerkin]

Jeanie, stinks your picnic concert got rained out. Summer needs to rescue Chicago! As for Kombucha v Wine - I'm with ya on Kombucha, love that stuff.

 

today was rockin'. Was determined to make it through dance class. Had a cup of coffee beforehand, which i suppose is cheating, but man did that class feel good, i could have gone for a double. YES! my first positive workout experience in a month!! i've really missed physical exertion and sweating, and I'm grateful to finally have the energy to do it. [or do i, if i had to have coffee beforehand?]

 

Then comes dinner party. I lucked out in that the food was compliant! roasted chicken, potato frittata, pulled pork! there may have been ingredients in the recipes that would not be ok but this is off-roading now, right? It was all prepared beautifully with high quality ingredients by a great cook. I did have two glasses of white wine, my first in 32 days, was it worth it? i dunno. i felt conflicted drinking it, and honestly could have easily had glasses of fizzy water instead. 

 

and then.... the deserts came out. three home made cakes, and some homemade whipped cream. i lusted after the cakes. i caved and had a slice of olive oil cake and devil's food cake w cream. was it the wine? was my will power depleted? i dunno. the olive oil cake was perfection: subtle, not too sweet. The devil's food cake was like crack. if i was alone with it i would have eaten half of it. DANGEROUS. I didn't feel good about eating them. nor bad. just confused. i love eating whole30, and want to continue to do so. so what was i doing? 

 

after coming home and reading a little bit on the whole30 website about off roading, i've come to the conclusion that it was a special occasion, and a treat to eat my friend's homemade food. yes, there was sugar in there, but there was also love in there too. at the party i was so stressed and confused about what to do and why i was indulging while i was eating that i wasn't able to appreciate, savor or really enjoy the deserts. but i think being able to enjoy the "less good" food is important. i'll return to whole30 eating, do my reintroductions, and continue whole30 for the most part. this is regular life. imperfect, beautiful, and constantly learning.

 

sorry for writing so much. it was a hard night (#highclassproblems) and i feel better now about the decision i made. looking forward to whole30 breakfast tomorrow. 

[bricky]

Hi everyone

I have been off the air for a few days - I completed my Reiki 2 course.

I read with interest some of the posts the other day but did not get a chance to reply. I just wanted to say how interesting it was to read Debz and Jeanni's posts about wanting to dive in and have off plan things - congrats on staying strong. I wonder if this is on the timeline - I too have had the urge - sadly I gave in and had a couple of glasses of red wine and some chocolate. aside from that I have been on plan. I am just not sure what I am doing at present - I am thinking of doing 90% on plan and having the odd off plan thing on the weekends. I know that there is a communal Whole30 coming up - advertised in the Whole9 newsletter and I think I will do that. 

Anyway I am off now - will get on read posts and join in the discussions tomorrow - congrats to all who are reintroducing - I can't remember who it was who had the huge dairy upset - Mcki? or Init? sorry I read it yesterday - not pleasant but great information to move forward with.

Talk soon

[init2winit]

Hi everyone!!
 
Good to read everyone's posts about life after Whole30. As I posted the other day, I added back in legumes and didn't have too big of a reaction. I do think the peanut butter I ate gave me a headache but I love it and may still eat it every once and a while. It's one of those "worth it" foods for me. I ate the natural kind - only peanuts and salt - but my friend made a point that it may have been because it wasn't organic. She told me non-organic peanut butters are high in pesticides and fungus and contain aflatoxin, a potential carcinogen, so I may have been having a small reaction to that. Adding in gluten free grains today. Made some cornbread without any added sugar, just so I could make sure I was only testing the corn and not the sugar. It was the only thing that sounded good, so cornbread it is! We'll see how I feel at the end of the day. I did make paleo coconut pancakes yesterday from Nom Nom Paleo and they were a nice change. I put a little real maple syrup on to see how the sugar would go and I, surprisingly, did not feel any different. I didn't add much, though. I also had a couple of bites of So Delicious Cashew ice cream last night but stopped because it was...wait for it...TOO sweet!! I was proud of myself for stopping because I wasn't enjoying it.

 

I'm going to post a couple excerpts from ISWF that I found helpful in regards to off-roading since I can tell a lot of us are struggling with when to go off-plan or indulge:

 

"Cheat Days: This is why we are not fans of scheduled "cheat meals" -- even worse, "cheat days." When you purposefully plan to make poor food choices, you are literally setting yourself up to fail! Plus, you are more likely to eat something you don't really want, just because you've told yourself you can. In addition, devoting an entire day to poor food choices (allowing yourself to binge on all the super-normally stimulating, processed, nutrient-poor foods you want) wreaks havoc for days to come. Your sugar cravings, GI tract, energy levels, and mental health will take far less of a "hit" if you eat healthy, slip in your less-healthy choice, then go right back to eating healthy foods (versus an entire day of Carb-A-Palooza)." pg 225

 

"The 80/20 rule: Resist the urge to classify your overall diet in numerical terms --"I eat 90 percent healthy" or "I follow the 80/20 rule." First, it's a bit like scheduling a cheat day -- you're practically setting yourself  up to eat less-healthy foods a set percentage of the time. But, more important, what does that number even mean? If you're "80/20," does that mean that one out of every five foods on your plate is less healthy? Or that every firth meal is a highly processed sugar-fat-and-salt bomb? In addition, the food that makes up that 20 percent is of critical importance. If those "off plan" foods are peas, hummus, and corn tortillas, that's totally different than off-plan cookies, pizza, and dirty martinis. Long story short: Keep this process intuitive and fluid. Don't paint yourself into a corner with meaningless numbers and percentages!"

 

I hope these help you all like they helped me! Makes total sense. 

 

St. Sophia -- I think you're right. That was definitely a special "off-plan" occasion! I wish you had been able to enjoy it more but now you'll know for next time.

 

Happy off-roading everyone!!

[jeanie793]

It's Sunday evening in Chi-town, and tonight we celebrated my DH birthday. It's actually tomorrow but the Blackhawks play in what might be the winning Stanley Cup game (we hope), so we thought it best to let him have his special time tonight. I made his favorite dinner; homemade chicken parmigiana, homemade sauce, pasta, and garlic bread. I made for me, separately, chicken parmigiana but with almond flour and baked instead of fried with a little mozzarella cheese and sauce and sautéed green beans in EVOO, and garlic for myself. No bread, pasta, and certainly no birthday cupcakes! Some felt funny eating the cupcakes in front of me but I tried to reassure them I wasn't missing anything! My MIL says I have incredible will-power. But I tried to explain that when I eat grains or sugar I just don't feel good and I'm happier without it. I think they think I come from Mars!

See ya tomorrow. Have a wonderful healthy day!

[JaneBerkin]

Can other people share their discoveries or rediscovered too?  It seems like a great way for us to review cool stuff we should go out and eat.

Kombucha. Coconut oil. japanese sweet potatoes. fried eggs. pork burgers. cauliflower. franks hot sauce. those are my simple faves.

 

INIT: cornbread was at the top of my reintroduction list too! i was really craving it. so smart of you to make it minus the sugar! how'd it go?

 

And JEANIE - not eating the cupcakes.... i never thought i'd be the person who didn't eat the cupcakes (frankly, still can't conceive of being that person), but when i think on the dinner party last night, and my reaction to the chocolate cake, well, i can finally articulate a no limit food: sugar. specifically sugar + carby (or starchy?) combinations, like carrot and zucchini cakes; chocolate covered pretzels in ice cream, etc. I can't stop, and I'll eat way past the breaking point. during whole30 i had no sugar cravings at all, but once that cake passed my lips, game over. 

 

So i ask you: had you already stopped eating sugar prior to this whole30, or is this a new beginning for you? Has anyone else found this to be the case for them as well, and what was the process like of cutting out trigger foods that you found yourself fiendishly uncontrollable around?

[MeGA"gardener"]

Nickiechan

Congrats on finishing Day 30!

You have found your way

I'm time you will trust your good decisions and know yourself a bit better Don't allow others to put pressure on you When you are ready you'll know the next step I also will do a slo roll reintro in 15 days So far so good

You are doing fine

[CCGraves]

Well sadly my tiger blood has slipped away

BUT I'll get it back this week! I'm doing whole30 all week. I have a family get together this weekend, so I'll see what piques my interest this weekend. I miss my tiger!

[Nickiechan]

Hello Everyone! I made it to day 32 and decided to go off-roading for family ice cream after family photos. They didn't have anything at the ice cream shop that I could have and I felt like this was important to me to join. I noticed right away that I got so bloated. I then got super nauseous ! My mom said that when I was a baby the doctors told them that I was lactose intolerant so I had a feeling that diary doesn't settle for me. I suffered the consequences. So dairy is out for me...

 

I weighted in on Day 31. I just want to say that my doctors office scale is a lier, or my is all off... I am happy with my weight, loss but let us talk about NSV first... Down 2 pant sizes, my body composition has changed, my skin is beautifully clear, my double chin is pretty much gone, my cellulite is almost non-existent, I feeling so energized and not sluggish in afternoon, my head is oddly clear. I don't worry or have much anxiety anymore, my relationship with food has changed for the better. I no longer feel guilty after eating, I feel so empowered by my willpower, my after work binging is gone. No more sugar crash shakes, never feeling deprived or having to count calories or restrictions of food, food freedom! and 7.6lbs in 30 days which is a healthy weight loss. Last but not least I only had one headache/migraine in the last 30 days which i am now taking a Magnesium supplement for! 

I am so happy with my results and want to keep going, however I do have some 'special events' coming up that I would like to go 'off roading for'. My father's birthday and Father's day is this coming week and we are going to a Chinese Food buffet (Yea I know.. ugh!) that has sushi (pretty good sushi tbh), which is one of those foods that I miss. So I'll go off-roading for rice. I will fill up on salad, get my sushi and finish with fruit with the family and savor it! Then after that, I am planning to do another 30 days. I do feel that I will be 95% Paleo with Whole30 in mind and 5% off roading, but focus on everyday being Whole 30. I still have around 25lbs that I want to lose, but this is getting me there in a way I never thought possible (eating food!) 

 

I want to thank everyone of you for your continue support during this challenge! 
 

[MeGA"gardener"]

Great news Nikichan!

Best of luck to you

[Jmn1962]

Day 22! Made it through another weekend and all is going well. Saturday we went hiking (all total about 9-10 miles and elevation changes that equalled about 55 flights of stairs). It was super hot and really humid must admit we took all of Sunday to recover. It's another raining day here in Chicago so I guess I'll stay in and cook for the week.

8 more days....woohoo.

Have a great day!