runningmad Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 I've spent some time preparing for this. I was recommended the program by a friend, but I was in the middle of taking a drink mixing class, which I spent a bunch of money on, so I didn't want to quit doing that. So I spent some time reading both books, poking around on the website, and getting together a meal prep plan (I'm usinghttp://theclothesmakethegirl.com/2013/12/29/whole30-2014-week-1-meal-plan/ to start with). Today, I brought to work: Breakfast: Chocolate Chili and an avocado (I only ate half the avocado, I was stuffed) Lunch: Roasted Chicken Thighs, sweet potato, steamed green beans, with the olive oil mayo, and a bit of Frank's Red Hot. Dinner: Pork Shoulder Roast and whatever veggies look good to me. I think I screwed up the olive oil mayo (I used EVOO, even though everyone says to use light. Drrr.), I think I might have to ditch it and try again tonight. We'll see if I can eat what I have for lunch. Wish me luck!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Tom Denham Posted October 12, 2015 Moderators Share Posted October 12, 2015 Yeah, using EVOO makes it unpleasant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningmad Posted October 13, 2015 Author Share Posted October 13, 2015 Thanks! I figure if that's the worst mistake I make, it's gonna be pretty smooth sailing. Yesterday's meals were delicious, but I brought too much to work. I especially liked the Pork Shoulder roast. I fried (fried? Sauteed? I stuck it in a pan on the stove, so whatever that is) it up to reheat it, and used a bit of the congealed juices with a touch of ghee to make a sauce that I sauteed the broccoli in. It tasted wonderful. I really wanted to eat something sweet after that, I'm used to making a cocktail after dinner, but I ignored it until it went away. Today: - Breakfast: Chocolate Chili. Already eaten, and it was great again - Lunch: Pork Shoulder with carrots - Dinner: Not sure yet. I might try to make the Pad Thai. I made the sunshine sauce yesterday after dinner (using almond butter. Isn't sunflower butter a Whole30 no no?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators ShannonM816 Posted October 14, 2015 Moderators Share Posted October 14, 2015 Sunflower butter is okay on W30, but for me it's harder to find without added sugar, so I almost always use almond butter for everything. Don't forget your vegetables, even with meal 1. You could have your chili over a baked potato or sweet potato, or over zoodles, or just have some other vegetables on the side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningmad Posted October 14, 2015 Author Share Posted October 14, 2015 Ok thanks! It tasted great with almond butter, so I'll probably continue doing that if it's easier to find compliant versions. Thanks for the reminder RE veggies. I brought an avocado, but I was just too full. I'll make sure I don't skimp in the future. Today: Breakfast: three eggs and carrots, with a bit of Frank's and ghee Lunch: pork shoulder and sweet potato and a bit of Homemade mayo Dinner: Silky Zucchini Soup and ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmcbn Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 Thanks for the reminder RE veggies. I brought an avocado, but I was just too full. I'll make sure I don't skimp in the future. Hi there - just to clarify - avocado counts as a fat for Whole30 purposes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningmad Posted October 14, 2015 Author Share Posted October 14, 2015 Ha! Yeah that makes sense. I'll get this eventually. But today I had carrots, which I'm absolutely certain or veggies! If you tell me they're not, I'm gonna be soooo confused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningmad Posted October 16, 2015 Author Share Posted October 16, 2015 Day 5 - Feeling zero energy today. I really haven't felt large highs and lows before today, but right now all I want to do is curl up with a good book, a gallon of tea, and block out the rest of the world. I am having thoughts about carbs, but not in any uncontrollable way. I think it might be due to the fact that I haven't had much fats today. I brought my (remade with light) mayo, and really think I just don't like the taste. Honestly, I don't know why I thought I would when I don't even like the taste of regular mayo. I'm going to look through this weekend and see what other kinds of sauces I can make with good fats in it. I made a mixture of Frank's and Ghee for stuffed peppers that I had leftovers of, and I love that. I'm thinking I'll add chimichurri sauce, BBQ sauce, and maybe I'll try my hand at a Whole30 ketchup. I had a pastry dream last night. I ate it and spit it out. I started wondering (in the dream) if I would have to start over the Whole30 even though I hadn't swallowed any. I woke up pissed that I hadn't even enjoyed my dream pastry. Stupid brain... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningmad Posted October 17, 2015 Author Share Posted October 17, 2015 Ok, just did my second shopping trip of the W30. I am finding the Well Fed 4 Week plan to be a total lifesaver. I don't have worry about creating a shopping list from scratch, when I don't even know what I'm going to need, which made it MUCH easier to transition to a meal prep way of doing things. This second week she provides ant other shopping list, then after that she starts letting you do it on your own, but now I know how much stuff I really need for a full week, so I'll be way more confident now. I really like a bunch of the recipes, and I like the idea of breaking it down into components so I can grab a meat, veggie, and sauce and throw it together and most of the time it tastes wonderful. I don't like to plan, and yet I like working ahead, so I don't have to do too much after work, and this is the perfect way to do both of those things! And her stand alone recipes are wonderful, too. My husband told me I can make the Pad Thai whenever I want, with the clear hint that I should make it a lot. I was worried he would just tolerate the food, butt seems like there are some things he really likes. I was trying to figure out strategies to get carbs into the meal for him (Ike buying tortillas for him and lettuce for me), and he listened for a while, then said don't bother. He said it won't kill him to not have carbs for dinner, he can get them at lunch if he wants. That was super sweet of him! He likes the smaller portion sizes, too, he feels it keeps him from overeating, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningmad Posted October 17, 2015 Author Share Posted October 17, 2015 Oh! Also I was freaking out that I would be able to weekend well, but I had eggs and sweet potato home fries and onions for breakfast, and tuna with mashed avocado, grapes, and a huge raw red pepper for lunch (to make up for the relative lack of non-starch veggies at breakfast). The tuna was a sort of cupboard is bare situation, but it was really tasty. My three cats ended up in a semicircle around me, with very threatening looks on their faces. I guess I didn't realize how much they love tuna, bucause I don't have it much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningmad Posted October 19, 2015 Author Share Posted October 19, 2015 I tried to have just the zucchini soup for breakfast today. It was an experiment to see how much the protein helps in keeping me full. Turns out, it's important. I have a slight headache, and I'm already hungry, only two hours afterwards. It's not bad though, so I'll tough it through and have a slightly early lunch today. Chicken and brussel sprouts! I love brussel sprouts. Tonight I'm reheating the Cinnamon Stew I made yesterday. It smelled so good I almost had to defend it from the husband. He kept hovering and stirring, and making it pretty clear he wanted to eat it right then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmcbn Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 I tried to have just the zucchini soup for breakfast today. It was an experiment to see how much the protein helps in keeping me full. Turns out, it's important. I have a slight headache, and I'm already hungry, only two hours afterwards. It's not bad though, so I'll tough it through and have a slightly early lunch today. Chicken and brussel sprouts! I love brussel sprouts. Tonight I'm reheating the Cinnamon Stew I made yesterday. It smelled so good I almost had to defend it from the husband. He kept hovering and stirring, and making it pretty clear he wanted to eat it right then. Yup. The protein gives you the staying power to last the 4-5hrs, the fat gives you your energy & the veggies give you that nice full feeling. Knowing this you can tweak your meals by adding protein to last a bit longer when necessary, or to increase your fat to for-go a preWO for instance. I have an old greek cinnamon stew recipe I've tweaked a little and is a favourite in my house - especially when the temperature drops! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningmad Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 @jmcbn, yeah, I like that because I've cut out sugars, I can concentrate on figuring out how the other macros affect me. I keep forgetting to put my sauces on my lunches, so I MAY be getting too little fats. That's the next thing to work on. Although my chicken thighs have the skin on, so I'm betting that helps some, and is probably the reason I haven't felt my energy drop. I struggled to even have my breakfast today. I ate it, but I really didn't want to. My usual habits are to not have breakfast, or have a sugary Starbucks as my breakfast. I'm so not used to feeling full so early in the morning. This is really the first day that I felt like this though, so I'm wondering if it has more to do that I'm tired because I was woken up at 1 (stupid cats ). I got back to sleep, but I'm groggy this morning. Maybe my resistance has more to do with that. Also, I might just be overanalyzing. I know that I'm going to feel better the rest of the morning because I had breakfast, so it's worth toughing it out. It feels weird complaining about having to eat too much. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, folks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningmad Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 Day 10 yesterday - I decided to go out. I realized I was getting scared of it, so better to do it sooner rather than later. Went to a nice place, and went through the list of things I couldn't have, and she came up with fish stew. It was delicious, and she wasn't annoyed like I was afraid she might be. No questions on why, she just wanted to know if it was just a gluten thing, or more then that. It was awesome not cooking for one night! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningmad Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 And today, I noticed for the first time that my wedding ring is looser on my finger. I was really starting to have trouble with taking it off, and now it comes off like it did three months ago! I'm really excited for that, I think it means some of the bloating/inflammation might be going down. I want to take my measurements again, but I'm going to hold off until day 31, like I'm supposed to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningmad Posted October 23, 2015 Author Share Posted October 23, 2015 Slept like a rock, although I feel a bit groggy today. I think it's because I didn't get my breakfast within the first hour of waking up. Even feeling groggy, I don't feel groggy the way I used to, were I was just unable to function. Now, it's more like I just feel... slower. I'm guessing eating my lunch will help a bit. I'm stressed out, because I need to take all day Sunday travelling, and that's when I've been doing my usual meal prep. I also have a party Saturday evening that I volunteered to make chicken for 16 people. I'm going to do the Buffalo Ranch Chicken Stuffed Peppers, but not stuff it in peppers to save time. I'll spoon it onto lettuce cups. But that means I need to shop for everything tonight, then do both that cooking and my meal prep on Saturday. It's going to be a lot, but I'm sure I'll make it work. I already have a few things frozen that I'm going to use next week. I was planning on creating more of a stock of frozen meals that were already fixed for emergencies, but I guess this is an emergency Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningmad Posted October 26, 2015 Author Share Posted October 26, 2015 DH and I drove up to Seattle yesterday to visit family. It's the first time travelling on Whole30, and it was easy and hard at the same time. I ate a huge breakfast before leaving, we stopped to get *$ on the way (medium drip, black for me). We got there around lunchtime, and I apologized saying I needed to eat my lunch in front of them, which they were totally fine with. OK, here's the hard part. We went to the pumpkin patch, and then decided to go to thai food afterwards. I was planning on getting some tea, and then eating the dinner I brought with me when we were driving back home, but I caved and had Tom Kha soup, after reading the usual ingredients on Google. I felt weird afterwards, like maybe there was some sugar in it. I felt bad, because I should have stuck to the plan. BUT I'm not going to start over, because it it was sugar, it probably was only sugar (not gluten or dairy, etc.) and I read that it's less important to start over if it's just sugar. But I do feel there is a lesson to be learned. I need to stay away from spur of the moment restaurants, at least until the full 30 is done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningmad Posted October 27, 2015 Author Share Posted October 27, 2015 Ok, it's been a couple of days since the travel, and I definitely think not starting over is the right choice. I feel great, my pants are looser (yay!) and I don't feel I had any long term effects from the adventure. This is Day 16!!! I feel great, my energy continues to amaze me how even it is. I'm noticing I'm eating a bit more portions, and probably skimping a bit on veggies. I just want to keep an eye on that, so I'm writing it down. I don't want to get too fussy on stuff like that, but the meal template is there for a reason. When did you guys start trusting your gut (literally) when you started varying from the meal template? Or have you ever gotten to the point of trusting your hunger signals? Also, I'm excited, I got my first dozen eggs from a friend of a friend that has chickens. The yolks taste so wonderful! I fried up three for my breakfast, a huge carrot, a dash of Frank's, and I'm good to go for the morning. Ground beef with a bit of extra Ghee, and a sweet potato for lunch (see what I mean, not quite enough veg, I think. I didn't buy enough for the week, I think, so I think my brain is rationing a bit, which is silly. The store is just down the street...) I'm not feeling Tiger Blood, but I really don't expect that. some of the general aches and pains of being overweight are going away, which is great. I also went in the get blood work done this morning. I wish I had thought to do a baseline beforehand, and scheduled this one for after, but no biggie, I've never had bad numbers, so improving them wasn't ever one of my goals for this. I have enough to concentrate on with the energy and the clothing fit. I also went back and reviewed my original prep that I wrote down before I started: What makes me scared or seems hard?- That this is just a fad-That I won't be able to complete 30 days-That I will not lose weight, even though I know that shouldn't be the most important thing-That I'll be hungry all the time-That is won't actually help me develop a good understanding of how food affects me What am I trying to achieve?-I'm trying to break my compulsions about food, and approach fueling my body more healthily-I'm trying to break my sugar habit-I'm trying to isolate what foods make me feel bad-I'm trying to break my addiction to restaurants, and stop being lazy about food-I want my clicking joints to improve-I want to improve my energy levels (This one is so important!)-I want to maintain a healthy weight without having to impose artificial restrictions on my life. This is interesting to me, because I really think that W30 is helping me achieve a lot of my goals, with relatively little pain in my life, and I think that many of the things that made me scared are turning out to be not true, not important, or not as hard as I thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningmad Posted October 28, 2015 Author Share Posted October 28, 2015 Fried eggs with Béarnaise sauce: Sublime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningmad Posted October 28, 2015 Author Share Posted October 28, 2015 Chocolate chili tonight, with fresh toppings: Cilantro, onions, avocado, Nice Man with the Hat (Tapatío). And a side of carrots and celery! I'm excited, it sounds sooooo good to have some warm chili with the weather turning. I'm basically feeling like I'm getting closer to autopilot. I seem to be more able to tell when I'm eating too much or not enough, and I really don't have very many cravings anymore, and they seem... far away. I did a blood test a couple of days ago (it was 2012 when I had my last one), and I have high cholesterol. It seems not surprising, considering my weight, but it was still a bit of a gut-punch. The doctor asked me to schedule an appointment to discuss it, so I scheduled it for a couple of weeks after I finish the Whole30. I'm hoping I can get her to do another test to see if it has gone down at that point. I REALLY don't want to take meds, and I'm really hoping that what I'm already doing is actually helping enough. But without a pre-Whole30 baseline, I can't make that claim. Honestly, it really stressed me out a bit, even though I know this is manageable. I guess it's one more thing to add to my "What am I trying to achieve?" list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningmad Posted November 2, 2015 Author Share Posted November 2, 2015 I had an EXCELLENT halloween! Not a single bit of candy or off plan food of any kind. I probably overate on carrots and guac, but I'm cool with that. I also ate out, and did well. Hamburger patty with salad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningmad Posted November 10, 2015 Author Share Posted November 10, 2015 This is Day 30! And I've never felt more at peace with food. I know that my clothes feel better, and I have way more energy, and the energy I have is very even over the course of the day. Here were my goals and fears starting the program: What makes me scared or seems hard? That this is just a fad: This is NOT just a fad. I feel good, I love eating real food. My DH is completely on board as well. He doesn't eat W30, but he eats the same dinners I do. That I won't be able to complete 30 days: Assuming I finish today (And I will!), this one is completely unfounded. In fact I'm thinking that I will go forward with this longer. I might do another 30, but taking Thanksgiving off. Another 30 would take me through December 12th. That I will not lose weight, even though I know that shouldn't be the most important thing: I'm looking forward to weighing and measuring myself, but this is less important to me, because I just FEEL better. I can tell that my body composition is better. That I'll be hungry all the time: This was absolutely debunked. I think the main reason is even though I'm eating smaller dinners, I added breakfast to my habits. I used to drink a sugary coffee for my breakfast, and I see now how much that was killing me. Which leads me to... That is won't actually help me develop a good understanding of how food affects me: I am still worried about sustaining the habit, but I see now that I really do understand how much the -kind- of food affects me. What am I trying to achieve? I'm trying to break my compulsions about food, and approach fueling my body more healthily: I am working on my mental behaviors. I want to replace the "I can't eat this, it's not on plan" that I say in my head to "I don't eat this, it doesn't fit with how I live" or "I don't eat this, it doesn't make me feel good, like real food does.". I started doing this about halfway through the program, and it really is starting to help me feel more like I make the decisions, the decisions don't make me. I'm trying to break my sugar habit: Yep. I gotta be careful, things like Kombucha and apples still make me feel the Sugar Dragon a bit. It's so much better now that I'm concentrating on what my brain is saying when I eat them. I'm trying to isolate what foods make me feel bad: I feel this is still up in the air until I do some reintroductions. But I plan to do reintros in a very controlled, slow way. I'm trying to break my addiction to restaurants, and stop being lazy about food: This falls into line simply because it sucks so much to go to restaurants when on plan. I'm going to need to be careful not to slide into this again when really start riding my own bike. I want my clicking joints to improve: Maybe they have a bit? I know losing more weight will help with this, too. I want to improve my energy levels (This one is so important!): This went amazingly! I'm so excited by how I feel. I'm amazed at how different I feel than I did when I was calorie counting. I'm not a super energetic person, even now, but I just feel GOOD. I want to maintain a healthy weight without having to impose artificial restrictions on my life: I think this is totally doable for me on a Whole30 type maintenance diet going forward. I'm very confident. I have an additional goal now. I got blood tests done two weeks into the program, and my lipid tests weren't good. I have an appointment with my doctor in a couple of weeks, and I'm going to ask to do the blood test again, and see if they have improved because of whole30. My goal is to stay of medications for my cholesterol. I want to be able to fix this with a healthy diet and exercise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningmad Posted November 11, 2015 Author Share Posted November 11, 2015 I weighed myself this morning. 9 1/2 pounds down! I'm going to a german restaurant tonight, so I called them. The brats don't have any sugar or gluten in them, and they make the carrots with orange juice and brown sugar, so she told me to just swap with spinach! I'm so excited, we're going to be celebrating the payoff of DH's student loan, too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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