Whole30 Take Two

[barefoot_yogi]

I had the best 7 days doing Whole30 before a big wrench was thrown into the works. Last Friday we drove to Tennesee for vacation. We rented a house so I wasn't worried about food or cheating. When I'm focused I'm pretty hard to sway. So the trip down was uneventful. The drive was only 8 hours and I drank water ate a few handfuls of berries, some carrot sticks, and some grass-fed jerky. Cool.

So we find our house, about 10 miles out of town in the mountains, and driving up the gravel road the car starts acting weird, sounding like it's not going to make it. I finally coaxed the thing up to the house, my oldest gets out of the car and says, "Mom, the car is leaking something." Oh yeah. It's leaking something alright. It looks like oil. Fantastic, considering I'd just had the car checked over and oil changed the previous day in preparation for the trip. I get inside and call my dad (normally my husband would take care of this kind of thing, but he died 6 weeks ago and this is my first foray into vacationville solo) who finds and calls the local Ford dealership. They're closed until Monday. So I call Enterprise rent-a-car thinking I can at least get into town and get some groceries. "Sorry, big car show in town this weekend," NO RENTAL CARS AVAILABLE. Not one. But they'll let me know if they have a cancellation. At this point I realize I'm screwed until Monday morning at least and the only food we have left is some grapefruit, a few strawberries, a bag of pretzels, a bag of pita chips, and a tub of hummus. Long story short, I ate pretzels and hummus.

My aunt and uncle took pity on us and drove two hours from Asheville on Sunday so he could fix my car. So I've been to the store and stocked up on food and I'm ready to tackle this all over again. I might wait until we get back home this Friday to start counting the days for real, but I'm eating regulation food for the rest of our trip either way.

I spent the months from November 2011 to July 2012 caring for my husband as he died from a rare form of cancer (he was 43). I got little to no sleep and my diet was crap. I have no idea how much weight I need to get rid of, I would guess around 20 pounds, but I don't have a scale and never weigh myself. When my skinny jeans fit again, I'll know I'm good.

[barefoot_yogi]

Oh, and my name is Beth. I am a yoga devotee and I also love Pilates and body weight exercises. I'm not a heavy lifter or a CrossFitter and probably will never be. Those things are great, they're just not *my* thing. Okay, I think that's really it for now.

[Tom Denham]

Namaste!

[barefoot_yogi]

Namaste right back atcha!

So we're home and I'm logging. The rest of vacation went fine, but today is my official starting over day.

Breakfast was a cup of coffee with coconut milk. I'm so glad I don't have to give up my morning cup of coffee. I don't use sweetener anyway so the switch from cream to coconut milk was painless. I had never even thought of using the canned coconut milk in coffee. I was surprised at how good it was.

Lunch was a big bowl of Romaine and baby spinach with chopped broccoli, shredded carrot, some of the last of my homegrown tomatoes, and some GF sirloin steak I cut into strips and stir-fried in coconut oil with some pico de gallo. I topped it off with a 100 cal packet of Wholy Guacamole spicy. I usually use the regular but the store only had the spicy in stock. Wowza. It was good, though.

No idea about dinner yet. I do have a question about breakfast, though. I never eat it. I haven't eaten breakfast since I was probably 10 years old. The idea of food in the morning is repulsive to me. I can usually manage something around 10 AM, but is that early enough to qualify as breakfast? Does time even matter? I usually practice yoga in the mornings and that has to be done on an empty stomach so I've never worried about it, but over vacation I calculated one of my W30 days just out of curiosity and my calorie count for the day was 780-something. Obviously not enough, yet I wasn't hungry at all.

Thoughts on breakfast and calories anyone? I love the ninja smiley.

[Derval]

Guidelines say eat within an hour of waking, so if you do yoga as soon as you wake and thene at after that would work.

Obv 780 is crazy low, have a look at the meal planning template pdf (in resources) , if you have 3 square meals based ont hat you'll be fine.

[HikeMoreTrails]

Hi Beth and welcome!

First of all, my condolences to you and your family with regards to your husband. It's never an easy thing to saying goodbye to those we love. (((hugs)))

No rental cars available?! ?!? ugh... sounds to me though like you did the best you could under really tough circumstances. it happens. it's a journey, right?

Regarding breakfast... I'm one of those people too. For years I would likely coffee my way through the morning (yes indeed, I just used "coffee" as a verb!) as I just wasn't all that hungry in the AM... I think in ISWF it says something about not being hungry in the morning is a symptom of hormonal disturbance. The last few months as I've been learning about all this and trying to have at least protein & fat in the morning I feel so much better throughout the day... plus (and for me, probably one of the most important features of having breakfast within the hour of waking) it keeps my cravings for less than good for me food, at bay... still tough for me to do it within the first hour though.

I'm on day 3 of my current (and really 1st truly compliant) W30. Keep up the good work! We can do this!!

Maggie

[barefoot_yogi]

Thanks ladies, I am working on the breakfast thing. This morning I did a smoothie with some fruit and coconut milk and avocado and spinach. Tasty and nothing I had to chew. My goal is to work my way up to some protein in the morning. Today is my official DAY 3 and so far I'm coasting along, except for the breakfast thing. I think once I get breakfast going with some protein and fat my calories will be better too. I am still hovering around 800-900 calories a day. Maybe I should stop counting and just eat.