W30 As My Post-Whole30 Safety Net

[JenX]

I had a rough weekend - totally off the rails. It actually started on Thursday with news from my podiatrist that after looking at the latest ex-ray I'm still barred from running. I was hoping for the opposite news as it's been 3 months since I broke my 5th metatarsal. Instead he said to not do anything stressful on it for 2 more months. Well, I got to feeling sorry for myself and stopped at the store on the way home for a large format beer and a single-serve Haagen Daaz. I had that along with my healthy dinner, and then I cracked a bottle of wine as well. And then snacked on prosciutto and salami. The gluten in the beer + dairy made for an unhappy GI tract the next morning, but I didn't stop there...

 

Friday was chicken from the commissary here at work that was obviously dusted with flour (!), more wine and gluten free pizza from Sprouts.  Saturday was another rough morning with GI issues, sadness, tiredness...all food related. But it doesn't stop there either. Saturday's meals were mostly compliant but also included gluten-free beer, more wine, off schedule meals, even a bit of rice and saki at a friend's sushi party. Yet another rough morning... Do you see a pattern here? I sure do!  Sunday I ate a healthy but late breakfast, skipped lunch then went to the store late afternoon for cheese and salami to go with the rest of the open wine in the house. finished the beer too. 

 

The good news is, as self-destructive as last weekend was, I didn't let it turn into a complete tailspin. I woke up Monday morning and shook off all the depression and disappointment of the previous week and decided to take back my control.  I ate a pre-workout HB egg and went to exercise class and I ate 3 compliant W30 meals that day. No more booze, no more snacks. Yesterday was a lunchtime workout, and 3 compliant W30 meals. This morning, another class is in the bag and I plan to stay compliant today as well.  In fact I decided I'm doing a Whole 7, getting through the Labor Day weekend.  My energy is returning to normal, my GI tract is lessening it's complaints, and my mood is lifting.

 

What I've come to realize is this works on so many levels for me, I feel I'll always return. Eating W30-compliant meals is my safety net now.  I may always have these episodes of emotional eating/bingeing, after all, I'm human. Now, however, I have a way out of it. A way I know that will make me feel happier and better in a matter of a day or 2. What could be better? Oh, and although I'm still upset I can't run until November (I have a paid-for race in January - grrr!) I'm being proactive and dusting off my bike for a good long ride this weekend, and am getting back into Spin classes.

[MeadowLily]

That was so honest and authentic.  Kudos to you for spin classes.  

[littleg]

Have you considered crossfit?  I trained through an ankle stress fracture doing crossfit - lots of modifications to WODs but I got a lot better at some stuff (pull ups, over head stuff, dead lifts, squats, kettle bell swings, toes to bar, rowing, etc) while things like running, double unders, box jumps, etc were ignored.  Honestly, I think I went the day after my x-ray and diagnosis  

[JenX]

That was so honest and authentic.  Kudos to you for spin classes.  

 

Thanks, MeadowLily.

 

Have you considered crossfit?  I trained through an ankle stress fracture doing crossfit - lots of modifications to WODs but I got a lot better at some stuff (pull ups, over head stuff, dead lifts, squats, kettle bell swings, toes to bar, rowing, etc) while things like running, double unders, box jumps, etc were ignored.  Honestly, I think I went the day after my x-ray and diagnosis

 

I haven't done crossfit in particular. We have a gym at work with free classes so I hate to have to pay to go to a different crossfit gym. I am going to a conditioning class 2x a week though. Up to about 2 weeks ago I couldn't do lunges or be on my toes during plank movements on top of being banned from running, jumping, hopping, etc. It's feeling a little more like a workout now that I can do more with less modification. 

 

Got through 30 minutes on the bike on Tuesday, and spin class is after work tonight - I'm excited! and so far still doing well on my W7.

[ThyPeace]

Oh the suckiness of an injury!!  It really does cause all kinds of emotional "stuff" to show up.  I herniated a disc in my back a few years ago, and the three months of agony followed by three months of pain followed by three months of very careful movements, and all the physical therapy and stretching exercises that went with it?  Ugh.  I was so exhausted and in so much pain that most of the time I didn't have the energy to binge eat.  I still gained 15 pounds.  (One of the many times I've gained that particular 15 pounds.)  

 

So glad that you noticed that you can pick yourself back up after a weekend and get back to feeling healthy.  I bet the hangover and GI stuff was a decent motivator, too.  Still, like I posted on that other thread, there is a lot to be said for sitting with your disappointment and really, REALLY feeling it for a few minutes.  Without action, without reaction, without the adrenaline of "MUST DO SOMETHING RIGHT NOW BECAUSE MY BRAIN HAS MISTAKEN THIS FOR A THREAT TO MY EXISTENCE" stuff that often accompanies a disappointment like that.  

 

Because it really IS a disappointment.  So taking the time to really experience it, and sitting with it to comfort that disappointment?  I mean, the disappointment may not want to be drowned in beer and coated in ice cream, you know?  It might just want a really good long hug.  

 

ThyPeace, I tend to overeat when emotional too, so don't think I'm perfect on this.  I just know that when I can remember to stop and really experience my emotions, they don't hijack me in other ways quite as much.