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Beyond Whole30


ThyPeace

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Hi JenHZ, thanks!  And yes, looking back on it, I'm sure the sweets were related to the stress of the event (mostly good stress, but still stress) and coming down from it.  And also the stress of going back into a work situation that isn't the easiest.

 

Met with my dietitian today.  Goals:  Start another Whole30, track food (yes I know this doesn't jibe with all the Whole30 rules, but she's the boss), eat more protein, and find more time for exercise.  Oh, except the Whole30 should last until Easter, so it'll be more like ... HA!  A Whole72!  (There is a family joke about the number 72 -- DH and DD will love this.)

 

ThyPeace, notes that DH's birthday is the day before Easter, so I actually counted to that.

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Well, I have to decide whether this is really a Whole30 or just eating well.  Because, you know, there was ketchup on my burger today.  Sigh.  I remembered to ask for it without the bun, the cheese, and the mayo -- how did I forget the ketchup??  Bother.

 

DH is struggling with the shift back to this level of careful with food.  He's supportive, and yet it frustrates him when I want to eat at home so I don't have to worry as much.

 

And DD is not going to eat Whole30 of course.  (See previous posts for her issues.)  In the good news, she ate chicken three time and beef three times over the last couple of days.  That's more protein than she's had in the entire month previous to that.  Reducing her stress and anxiety levels helps her eating.

 

ThyPeace, got 9 hours and 47 minutes of sleep last night.  Oh so nice.

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Hi ThyPeace,

 

I went back through your log a little and read about your daughter's struggles.

 

I have a stepson (well, not technically, my boyfriend and I aren't married but we've lived together with shared custody of his children for over eight years) who is the same age and has a lot of the same challenges. Severe anxiety and ADHD, some obsessive-compulsive behavior regarding germs and handwashing. He doesn't have migraines but does have an irritable bowel and is an extremely picky eater. Only this past year has he been consistently able to sleep alone in his own room.

 

Obviously this is a very personal choice, but I feel compelled to share with you that having him evaluated by a pediatric behavioralist and getting him started on medication for ADHD has been life-changing, both for him and for us (and his mom, too). It has been a joy to see him finally grow into the person he wants to be - someone who can sleep over at friends' houses, stay at home alone for a little while if we need to run some errands, make straight A's in school, have peaceful family outings, play on a team. NONE of those things were possible before. Don't get me wrong - his personality has not changed, just his control over his impulses. His physician expects him to stay on the medication for a couple more years, then suspects he will no longer need it.

 

The major downside has been the appetite suppression that is so common with those medications. We need to constantly hound him to eat.

 

Congratulations on the Bat Mitzvah! Reading about it brought back some fond memories of my own.

 

Best,

Saree

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Thank you for sharing your experiences, Saree!  It does sound like there are very similar issues involved.  DD has been medicated with ADHD meds for two years now, and though it helped her concentration, it significantly (and I mean SIGNIFICANTLY) increased her anxiety and OCD symptoms.  After some things went really badly awry, her pediatrician recommended that we institute a meds holiday and referred us to a psychiatrist who could really help more thoroughly to find meds that help her.  We are now testing Zoloft, which is an SSRI (selective seratonin uptake inhibitor), which is so far helping some..... but sending her ADHD symptoms, such as inattention and impulsiveness, through the roof.  I keep hoping we'll find something that addresses both, but I'm not sure whether that exists or not.  

 

Still, we are making slow progress with both the meds and with cognitive behavioral therapy.  Now if we could just figure out a way to help with emotional maturity so that all her friends don't drop her for being so emotionally out of sync with them, I might feel as though we were being successful.

 

In the good news department, she's making good grades and things at school are no longer crazy since we got her switched to a new math class.  And she did a great job with her bat mitzvah.  So... one thing at a time.

 

ThyPeace, spending far too much time with psychiatrists, psychologists, and other medical folks these days.  But then, that's been true since DD was about four.  Sigh.

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We have 20 inches of snow in the back yard.  And the front yard, for that matter.  The whole neighborhood took this morning's break in snow to clear paths to the street, so we got to chat with people and see some of the kids playing in the snow.  This is a really nice neighborhood.  I need to be careful with my back, which I tweaked doing a Jillian Anderson workout earlier in the week. It was cold out, and there weren't really any other good choices for exercise for the day.  Still, I know better -- some of the moves she does are a little too intense for the current state of my musculature.  Luckily, 12 ibuprofen (not all at once) and a long stretch with a heating pad got the inflammation and spasms down enough for my spine to shift back into place.  So most of what I'm dealing with now is "just" the remnant sore muscles.  And general carefulness until it all heals again.

 

Luckily, DD is at her other house for the duration, so it's just me, DH, and the cat.  We got more than 9 hours of sleep last night.  Actually, I think DH got 10 hours, which he really needed.  Not that he'll admit it, of course!  That and good food are definitely helpful.  There's a pot of broth brewing in the stock pot, and a few cups of that will also help with the healing.

 

And now DH has a bad calf cramp from his combined shoveling and workout.  Unusual for him.  Massage time!

 

ThyPeace, apparently not actually doing a Whole30 at the moment, but eating well even so.

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Went to a neighborhood party tonight.  Skipped many of the temptations, but had some wine.  This will be an interesting test of the "wine makes my heart do weird things" theory. 

 

ThyPeace, and yes, I  kind of wish I'd remembered that part before imbibing

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The wine had no perceptible effect on me at all.  Which leaves me wondering what did make me have that odd reaction last time.  Perhaps the combination and sheer volume of "wrong" things.  Today my body is very tired from shoveling, of course.  And as always at this point, I wish that I had two hours of heavy lifting to do every day.  i could use this much work all the time.

 

ThyPeace, hasn't eaten much.  Too busy working.

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So.  I've been at the same weight -- 185 -- for a year now.  Well, that's not true.  I've been down to 178 and bounced back to 185 this year.  I'm 5'9" and I think that 168 is a more healthy weight for me.  I've learned to eat far more healthy foods than I was eating, and I have been better about exercise over the last year than I had been in the previous five.  I've learned a lot, via the Whole30s I've done, about my food sensitivities.  I've been working with a dietitian for two years, and she has been incredibly helpful at getting me to stay with this for longer than I have before.  

 

Having been through a period of significant stress in the last few months, I'm not surprised at the bounce back to 185.  It has happened to me before.  I'm pleased I didn't bounce higher and have reduced my stress levels to the point where I am seeing consistent scale numbers and I'm not eating anything too far out of whack.  

 

All awesome.  And I want to kick the process into high gear.  

 

I've been thinking about how to do that.  Losing 17 pounds does not seem like a difficult journey.  However, 178 is a weight I've only seen twice in the last thirteen years.  Both times I bounced back up.  So getting to 168 requires breaking through that 178 number and then heading lower instead of higher.

 

I think I really have to get serious in order to do that.  I think I need to tighten down a LOT on both my workouts and my food consumption to get there.  And that's going to take discipline that I have not yet applied.  

 

So.... I've been thinking about joining Diet Bet.  Their 6-month Transformer diet, where you bet you can lose 10% of your body weight, would put me right where I want to be.  Their next game starts today.  Still thinking about it.  But...I may do it.  I read a lot of reviews online and understand that for some it is far too high anxiety and stress-producing.  It may do that for me.  At the same time, I think it may help me focus on this immediate goal at a time when I really WANT to focus on this immediate goal. 

 

ThyPeace, still thinking.

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ThyPeace, Diet Bet may help you lose weight.

However, if you want to lose weight and not regain it again, I recommend a more long term and holistic approach and can highly recommend the book Eating Mindfully: How to End Mindless Eating and Enjoy a Balanced Relationship with Food, by Susan Albers. when I resolved to NEVER lose and gain and lose and gain the same weight again, I looked at a lot of resources and this was the most helpful for me.

I talk a little bit about how it helped me here:

http://forum.whole30.com/topic/32640-artfossil-postw30-log-over-60-simple-living-version-10/?p=362787

It discusses a variety of issues around food and eating and helped me resolve my emotional eating. It has approaches which could help anyone have a balanced relationship with food AND meet their health goals.

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Thank you for the book recommendation, ArtFossil.  I have been working at this particular change for two years, or at least working at this phase of it for two years.  I've been working at being healthy for something like 25 or 30 years.  I've made many positive adjustments, and continue to do so.  The Diet Bet is a focus, not a crash. 

 

At this point, emotional eating is far less of a problem for me than it once was.  And I still can improve, so will definitely see if I can get the book from the library.

 

ThyPeace, needs a new book to read.

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So.  Today is day 1 of this Diet Bet thing.  I woke up thinking, "Well, what am I going to do differently?"  I didn't have much of a plan.  So.... I decided to do something I have never really done since I started looking at Whole30 stuff.  I decided that there would be no snacks between meals, even if I was hungry.  And I decided to really work on getting enough protein.

 

Meal 1:  2 eggs, 2 ounces ham, pile o' sauteed veggies (including eggplant, yum), and an apple

Meal 2:  Chicken vegetable (lots of vegetable) soup made with homemade bone broth (mmmm), 4 ounces ham, 2.5 ounce tuna packet, a few pecans, 2 dried pear halves

Meal 3 (plan):  Grilled chicken with non-compliant barbecue sauce, baked potato, butter, baked kale chips, maybe a few grapes.

 

We'll see how this works.  I'm definitely noticing hunger.  According to MyFitnessPal,  the above will be a 36/34/30 split of carbs, protein, and fat.  The dietitian would be happy about that protein.   I think this may be the first day ever that I've actually hit my protein goal.

 

ThyPeace, already eats double the protein she used to.  Hard to increase it even more, but apparently needed.

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So.  Today is day 1 of this Diet Bet thing.  I woke up thinking, "Well, what am I going to do differently?"  I didn't have much of a plan.  So.... I decided to do something I have never really done since I started looking at Whole30 stuff.  I decided that there would be no snacks between meals, even if I was hungry.  And I decided to really work on getting enough protein.

 

Meal 1:  2 eggs, 2 ounces ham, pile o' sauteed veggies (including eggplant, yum), and an apple

Meal 2:  Chicken vegetable (lots of vegetable) soup made with homemade bone broth (mmmm), 4 ounces ham, 2.5 ounce tuna packet, a few pecans, 2 dried pear halves

Meal 3 (plan):  Grilled chicken with non-compliant barbecue sauce, baked potato, butter, baked kale chips, maybe a few grapes.

 

We'll see how this works.  I'm definitely noticing hunger.  According to MyFitnessPal,  the above will be a 36/34/30 split of carbs, protein, and fat.  The dietitian would be happy about that protein.   I think this may be the first day ever that I've actually hit my protein goal.

 

ThyPeace, already eats double the protein she used to.  Hard to increase it even more, but apparently needed.

If the Diet Bet thing helps motivate you, go for it!

In terms of weight loss (slow but steady) the no snacking rule AND adequate protein, both solidified as habits in my Whole30 are serving me well.

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I reserved the book from the library and then, being curious, got samples from Amazon Kindle to see what the book (and others by its author) will be like.  I like the samples.  I suspect I'll like the book, too.  Thanks for the recommendation!

 

The DietBet has gotten me focused on eating just meals, and not snacks.  I found that very hard last night when we didn't have supper until 9pm, but I persevered.  Doing it again today, hoping for supper at more like 8pm, but that requires me to get my behind moving and get home to make it.

 

I will say that my resting heart rate has dropped considerably since the beginning of the week.  All that shoveling?  Cleaning up something in my diet?  Reduced stress and increased sleep?  Not sure.  But it's down from 70 to 66 in the last few days and I can tell that I feel better.  Can't tell you how exactly.  Just... better.

 

ThyPeace, heading for taco salad for supper

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Well, it's been an interesting few days. I have been compliant with everything I have eaten, and have stuck to the no snacks and up the protein idea. I think I am seeing body changes and my weight is drifting down. I'd say the things I have eliminated -- mostly fruit, nuts, and unsweetened chocolate -- were not significantly improving my nutrition. And the things I've added --!packets of tuna and salmon with meals -- probably add nutrition in the places I needed to add it. I am continuing to have fruit with meals, as I find that eliminating it entirely really doesn't help my digestion.

So all was going fairly well until this afternoon, when my body decided to, err, fast-forward much of what I've eaten lately. I'm really not sure what this issue might have been. Usually this reaction indicates that I've had too much fat in the last couple of days. I can't see that I have done that lately, though I have had more guac than usual. Perplexing.

ThyPeace, probably way down in weight just now, but that doesn't count.

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Had breakfast and half my lunch today, a few grapes (argh!  Snack!  I forgot not to snack!), and then had a "super foods bowl" at my local California Tortilla.  The promised kale slaw was a few measly shreds of marinated kale.  Most of the meal was quinoa with black beans.  Sigh.  I ate it because I was hungry.  Even with that, I'm pretty sure I'm pretty low on calories for today.  Next time I'll stick to the salad, though the quinoa tasted pretty good and it was really nice to have something warm to eat for once.

 

And bonus!  DD ate some of their chicken with her quesadilla, and said she was tired of their corn chips.  Huge change of pace for her!

 

ThyPeace, occasionally gets tired of the Southwest Salad, which is the easiest thing to eat cleanly.

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I really must not have had enough calories yesterday.  I was hungry all day today.  I snacked on vegetables while I was doing food prep this afternoon.  I guess it's not so bad -- carrots, cabbage, celery -- and yet it goes against what I've said I would do.  Frustrating. 

 

DD ate reasonably well again today, and I think I'm starting to see the new ADHD medicine affect her appetite.  I think it's okay for the moment; she is not rail-thin and not in the middle of a growth spurt, so my goal is nutrients rather than calories.  Still, weird to see her leave a sandwich on her plate and make no mention of dessert.  The good part is having her come home with no homework, classwork all done and neatly to boot, and an extra several pages of her notebook filled with clothing designs. 

 

ThyPeace, now if every day could be this calm...

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Had a severely hungry day yesterday.  I think it's because of the timing of the meals.  Breakfast was at 7am, lunch was 2pm, and supper was after 8pm.  By 7:45 when I was making supper and waiting for DH to get home, I was Just. Too. Far. Gone.  So I had dried fruit.  Then I ate supper and was still hungry and had nuts.  Sigh.  Not the best choices for weight loss.  That said, my digestion will appreciate the extra fiber that was in the figs and pear.  

 

Today, I'm on track and get to have lunch at my usual time.  I do have a late worknight, though.  I may eat a packet of tuna around 5pm to prevent the starvation fog from setting in.

 

ThyPeace, hunger is hard.

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Let's just say that eating at 9pm didn't work out so well last night, either.  The burger was fantastic.  Probably didn't need the onion rings and sweet potato fries.  I will not apologize.  I will note, however, that I doubled my protein at lunch today -- and today I survived until our 9pm supper.

 

ThyPeace, because apparently 9pm is when we eat, three nights a week, anyway.

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Yesterday I got 10 hours, 21 minutes of sleep... and then napped later.  Last night I got 8 hours, 45 minutes of sleep.  DH would tell you that I am starting to be downright hardcore about getting to bed during the week, and my average for the whole week was 7 hours, 55 minutes.  Not sure exactly why the body says I have to have this much sleep -- could be just the weight loss causing my body to need to rest and repair more.  Enough sleep also changes my digestion, which presumably is because of the changed hormone levels.  Someday when I have lots of free time, maybe I'll take a month off from work and get 9 hours of sleep every day, just to see what happens to the rest of my life.  .... Yeah.  Maybe after DD graduates from high school!  :-)

 

And yes, I have lost weight.  I think skipping snacks, plus sleeping well, is a good way to go.  I've been able to curtail calories pretty well doing that.  Now if I could just stop being cold all the time.  DH and I are both suffering from that at the moment, and we've turned the heat up in the house.

 

ThyPeace, and have had some really yummy meals to boot.

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Well, so much for lots of sleep.  Went to bed late after the Super Bowl, then woke up with a start when DH stumbled while putting his socks on.  (He said later, "It was quite a stumble.  Hopped backward all the way across the bathroom until I hit the door."  Err, yeah.  Heard that.)  So I got up and showered with him, then walked him to the Metro for my exercise.  It's a bit slower pace than my usual alternation of a staggering jog and walking.  However, it's also about a third longer total distance.  So I think it's a good compromise.

 

Meals have continued to go pretty well.  Plenty of protein over the weekend.  Did well on not snacking, though supper was pretty spread out yesterday as we worked on meals for the week and watched the Super Bowl at the same time.  There is now:  cooked roast pork (will become pulled pork tonight), cooked butternut squash (soup tonight), grilled chicken thighs (lunches and curry this week), grilled chicken tenderloins with barbecue sauce (protein for DD to eat), and vegetables for tomorrow's breakfast.  I probably could have gotten further ahead on vegetables if I'd been thinking about it.  Guess I can do that this afternoon, maybe.

 

ThyPeace, 6 1/2 hours of sleep last night.  I can tell I'm sleepy.

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Was in bed for 8 hours last night and slept for maybe 6 1/2 of them.  Darned body was freaking out over having to wake up early to check on the weather so I could send the "it's snowing, you can telework if you want to" email.  And a few other chores.  So I woke up at 2:30 and couldn't get back to sleep until after 3:30.  And then had to actually wake up at 4:45 for the weather check and emailing.

 

The day was pretty shot, too.  DD spent the morning throwing up and was pretty much non-functional by the time evening rolled around.  Ended up in bed crying even though she was hungry because she didn't want to come downstairs for fear of getting her pajamas dirty.  Gawd, OCD sucks.

 

And I did a lot of yelling.  Which also sucks. (I'm skipping a lot of details, obviously.  And no, the yelling did not help anything at all, except possibly convincing her to get out of the bathtub after an hour.)

 

I ate today.  I think I managed to keep to my own boundaries.  And I have lost 5 pounds since I started DietBet.

 

ThyPeace, need more sleep to lose any more, though.  I can literally feel my body screaming for calories when I'm tired.

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Weekend again, which means lots of sleep and not much food.  I feel so much better after two nights of 9 or 10 hours of sleep!  One day I will be financially independent and DD will be grown(so at least six or seven years from now) and then maybe I will sleep 8 hours every night.  We're having leftovers for supper.  Butternut squash soup, sopa de lima, chili.  Oh, and I need to get out the pulled pork and warm that up too.  We cooked a lot last weekend and actually had leftovers all the way to tonight.  Not bad.  And luckily it's a 3 day weekend for us, so we can cook some more tomorrow. 

 

ThyPeace, because during the week, well, not much cooking happens.

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Snowing in my area again.  Went out and shoveled for half an hour, will do it again later.  Love the shoveling, dislike the rest of what it takes to get back to regular routine.  Hope it converts to rain cleanly and that we don't have much ice.

 

ThyPeace, because then work tomorrow will be possible.

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Saw the dietitian yesterday.  She thought the DietBet thing was both funny and typical to how I do things: it takes me a while, but once I decide to do something, I just get determined and DO it.  I've lost 8 pounds since I saw her last.  Some of that was bloat from DD's bat mitzvah celebration (some sugar, far too much bread and salt).  Some is not, however -- it's real weight loss, and brings me back down to the weight I've bounced off of four times in the last 15 years.  So now I just keep going and push through.  The end goal is ten pounds below that.  Sure want to make it to there this time.  The dietitian thinks I can do it.  I am not so sure.  I do know that I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing for the last few weeks, though.

 

ThyPeace, just working.

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