Jump to content

Join A 2016 Whole9 Challenge!


LucieB

Recommended Posts

I was doing really good with my Healthy Movement goals - CrossFit at least 3 times a week, doing my PT and mobility work before bed, and using my standing desk a lot more. The only think I didn't anticipate was my body was so not ready for this zero to sixty turnaround in activity! I had my first CrossFit competition on the 15th, and continued my normal classes the rest of the week. I feel so sore and banged up, I ended up taking this last week off, save for a few hikes with my dog. I learned that healthy movement isn't just about MORE EXERCISE CRUSH IT ALL THE TIME, but also listening to your body and doing what it needs so you can keep doing what you want. So I booked a couple massages, doing all the Epsom salt baths, and am looking for a good chiropractor. It's time to treat my body with what it needs, rather than pummeling it all the time and not expecting any recourse like I could do in my 20's. Ah, to be young and foolish again (and I'm only 33, so I know I'm whining a bit here).

 

Meanwhile, I'm super excited for June's "Go Outside" theme. I just found the most amazing trail in the East Bay that allows dogs off-leash. I've been there four times already, and my dog loves the adventure! I plan on going there a lot more. I also have my company's picnic scheduled at a nearby park, and I want to go to the beach with the kids as much as my stress levels can take it (beach days with two littles aren't exactly "relaxing" with all the packing and sand everywhere in all the diapers and everything, but they have such a good time in the sun and sand, and I love the beach). I also want to try and go stand-up paddleboarding once or twice. And if nothing else, I usually take a walk around the business park during lunches, and I'll continue to do that. Just enjoy the start of summer in Northern California! It'll be a busy but fun schedule!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 580
  • Created
  • Last Reply

What a great thread! I love reading all of your stories. Seems to be something about Whole 30 and this forum that makes people very transparent.

I'm currently doing my first Whole30, And I feel really good. (I'm on day 18.) I'm noticing some changes in my body and had killer leg cramps last night...proof that something is changing in my body!

I hope to join you at some point. For right now I'll stick with the nutrition part and try to get my bad habits under control.

Best wishes to all.

Lisa

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Melimuse and missmunchie great post. I totally agree that building so many new/better but DIFFERENT habits is challenging. I really really really like the book "Better than Before " by Gretchen Rubin (i do have to get over her rather self satisfied tone, but her insights and strategies are really excellent). The concept of focusing on a "keystone" habit that makes all other habits easier was really helpful. My keystone habit is outdoor exercise. If i do that i eat better, am less stressed, and generally make better decisions/set better boundaries than i would otherwise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello June and "Natural Environment - Getting Outside."

 

This will be a challenge for me.  When hot + humid hits Atlanta my natural environment is air conditioning :P .  I'm a northern girl in body & heart and the summer smacks pretty hard for me.

 

I'll give it a go.  Maybe need to piggy-back off of you all.

 

My usual outdoor time is a run before work.  It's dark (no sunscreen needed) and as cool as it will be all day.  We'll also do some lake days (dog loves swimming) and hiking when we get a "cold" front.  The one thing I enjoy doing in the summer is golf.  Never thought I could stand the heat, but golf seems to be an exception.  But there are lots of hot + humid days when my outdoor activity is to and from my car ONLY.  

 

All of this said, I'm still on a break and recovering from my accident.  Turns out, not dehydration but a C5 problem pinching the vagus nerve (which causes passing out).  The swing motion in golf irritates the problem.  Seeing an acupuncturist and am finally having better recovery.  Work, running, golf - all on hold.  Hoping just another couple of weeks and I'll be back to it all.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For this native Southerner, humidity is nature's moisturizer. ;)

 

I'm feeling glad and confident about this theme! The others I've not felt terribly successful at for various reasons, but this one I'm feeling good and excited about. It's warm enough, and my schedule should be flexible enough, to be outside a lot around my city this month; I'm really lucky to live somewhere where I have three hilly parks with plenty of wooded trails in my city limits. And I have a quick trip to Yosemite scheduled at the end of the month before a conference in the Bay Area, which I'm super excited about (if anyone has any Yosemite tips, I'd love to hear them!).

 

I've realized over the last year how important it is for my mind and soul to be in nature on a regular basis (somewhat of a revelation, considering I did not at all grow up in an outdoorsy family). I'm looking forward to doing that as much as possible this summer. As a kick start, I spent Memorial Day at Rock Island State Park - my first trip. So beautiful!

 

Christina, I'm glad your recovery is going better! That's great and welcome news!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So June & the Natural Environment, and so far so good...

I live by the sea, and although we aren't lucky enough to have the type of summer we'd like every year we've been blessed this past few weeks with some glorious sunshine, and I've making sure to take advantage of this and get outdoors when I can - I'm back up to my 'big block' walk each lunch time every day this week (except Monday) and it feels good.

Then this weekend was the annual sea festival in the town and we have outdoor plans (irregardless of weather) for each weekend in June - with the exception of a few hours next Saturday when we're attending Comic Con - excited much!!)

Today I've been barefoot in my garden for most of the day - tidying the garden, tidying up after my son (who was having a water bomb battle with our neighbour), and even doing the ironing al fresco with an ice cold glass of water which was topped out throughout the day.

Natural Environment is one of my favourites as I love and am in awe of the great outdoors - especially living in a country as beautiful as I do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A little late on this -- usually I get this gone by the end of the month. But I was HAPPILY away from a computer most of the last week. And don't have much time now, but here's a quick update. 

 

May didn't go as planned for me. Oh well. Made a few good changes and I'm happy with that. On to June! Hadn't thought about my garden time as an opportunity for this, won't be barefooting it, but I will be there more often. Also plans to take the pets to the dog park on a more regular basis. Any this is a good impetus to clean up my patio and have dinner out there instead of indoors. These are my goals, to go along with the usual running and biking out doors. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I moved a couple weeks ago, and this weekend I discovered the nearby college has GREAT sets of stairs for running!

Not that concrete stairs are "natural" but I figured exercising outside counts! 7UVdDeN.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi! I'm new to whole thirty, and just learned about Whole9. Is there a way to read back about each months focus, or should I just take it from here?

Also, how can I set up my settings so last post is seen first?

I would love it if each of you in this group could introduce yourself and tell me a little about your Whole 30 experience,

You can read mine on my introduction thread (Something about starting June 8).

I am in this for the long haul, trying to heal my body from arthritis, adrenal fatigue and high blood pressure to name a few).

Working towards a healthy me,

Ruth

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Ruth & welcome to Whole30/9

 

The focus for each month is at the start of this thread, along with a little intro from everyone who jumped on board, with others joining in as we've gone along. Some of us are on our second run but we're still learning, and still improving our health, our attitude, and our lives...

With regards seeing the last post first if you click View New Content at the top right of the page when you come onto the website it will display any post you haven't yet read (you can filter this to since last visit, new posts in the last week etc on the left hand side of the screen), then when you see this thread and look to the right to see who made the last post you can click on the time beneath their name and it will bring up the most recent post... I hope this is what you're after!

So..... I went to print off our tickets for Comic Con this morning and it turns out it's not this weekend after all, but rather the last weekend in June which means we'll have to juggle our outdoor plans a little - which is fine - I just have to deal with the fall out from the boys of getting it wrong... I'm thinking we'll switch to a walk through some woods finishing off with a steep climb to a Tower, take in the views, and then head back down again. I've a Sport's Massage scheduled for 6pm on Saturday evening so that should be the perfect end to the day!

Sunday, I'm working on but it will have to revolve around N Ireland's opening match against Poland in the Euro's..... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome Ruth, 

 

I'm the instigator of this Whole9  :)  My intro and a Kirkor-designed graphic for our 9 month challenge are on Page 1 of this thread.

 

June is Natural Environment month, so the focus is to get outdoors, anything from gardening to sunshine to rain to a steep climb to a Tower (jealous!). Just set some personal goals and work towards them as the month progresses. Not all changes will work, not all will stick, and for me I've found one or two life-hacks each month that I continue with instead of keeping all of them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just set some personal goals and work towards them as the month progresses. Not all changes will work, not all will stick, and for me I've found one or two life-hacks each month that I continue with instead of keeping all of them.

At the end of this month, let's do a "6 month recap" where we share some of the things that have stuck with us as the year's progressed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Checking in again! My June challenge is going awesome so far! The first Saturday I packed my four-year-old up and we went and had a Mommy-Son date to the beach for the morning. Isn't it ridiculous how I can drive to the beach on an early Saturday morning faster than to my office, which is halfway between my house and the beach? Seriously, we were on the sand in less than an hour from our house, where my commute is rarely less than an hour! Bay Area traffic, you're lame. Anyway, we had a blast even though it was a bit windy and chilly. But we got our sun and surf on for sure.

 

My husband and I have also stepped up our gardening game and are trying to clean up all the weeds from the yard over the past year of neglect. We also planted some hops last weekend around the house. We're hoping the hop vines will both help shade the house and provide home-grown hops for our home brews. And I have a nice sunburn as a gardening souvenir  :rolleyes:

 

Finally, we spent last weekend up in Mendocino National Forest. Our friends have an off-grid cabin there, no cell reception, no wifi. For three days we were completely cut off from technology and enjoyed the wilderness! The kids had a blast just playing outside on the tire swing, and our puppy found out she's a water dog! Loved splashing in the nearby pond.

 

When it's not big trips out in nature, my husband and I have both stepped up our dog walking game (which the puppy loves!) and I take a walk during lunch if I'm at the office. So far I've been doing something outside nearly every day this month. Woot!

 

Meanwhile my family started a June Whole30, and my husband was on board this time!!  :D  But when we were at the cabin, temptation grew too strong for us and we ended up imbibing in adult beverages with our friends we were camping with.  :unsure: Totally not worth it, and I totally feel guilty about it, though I'm trying not to beat myself up. I'm trying to just pick it up again, but it's not the same once the "chain" has been broken. Starting June 1 and finishing June 30 seemed so well-rounded and perfectly planned, but now starting mid-month seems like a chore rather than an exciting adventure like it was before. At least I gave up coffee with my Whole30 on June 1 and haven't gone back yet! Maybe it'll just be a Coffee30 for June. So sad because I was starting to feel so good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, let's talk sun exposure.

lhJID8B.png

What are everyone's thoughts on time to be in the sun, Vitamin D, sunscreen, etc etc.?

I am definitely a little sun baby and I love soaking up the rays, but I know if I want to have good skin to a ripe 'ol age I should probably embrace paleness. It's hard to overcome years of liking a good tan though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi everyone! sorry for disappearing, but life went super crazy. I have been doing great, but more often than not my go to food is hard boiled eggs, celery + almond butter, snap peas and berries. I do have bacon or sausage for breakfast with my eggs, and meat for dinner. I have noticed that I am eating very much like a Black Bear, lol! Nuts, veggies, berries and meat!

I have been trying to sit in the sun when kids are playing outdoors and I have done it twice! My big goal for June is getting away by myself to go sit by a creek and just soak in the sound of nature. Due to my back issues, I can not garden or hike or sit on the ground....but I am determined to do this one thing! We are also planning a picnic for Father's day in a park with a creek, so that might be when I can do it.

Best news ever! In just one week on Whole 30 my blood pressure had gone from an avg 145/95 to 120/80!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know if this is the best/correct/etc approach, but: I don't live near a beach, and I don't lay out in the sun generally. Most of my outdoor exposure is either in 20-minute-or-less increments (eg, walking across my university campus for a meeting) or hiking in the woods. I use a facial moisturizer with sunscreen, but otherwise I don't worry too much about it unless I'm on a beach vacation. I work a desk job, so I figure if anything I could use more sun and vitamin D.

 

If I worked outdoors or was at the beach every weekend, I'd think harder about a different approach. I don't hardly tan at all anyway (English blood - if I get anything it's a burn!) so the aesthetics are more or less a non-issue for me!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I tend to be Vitamin D low, so I'm trying to soak up the sun as much as possible. Based on blood work, it doesn't seem to be working yet. But I've read that lard from pastured pigs has Vit D so I'm eating more of that too :D

 

Outdoors month is going great, spend the solstice doing my longest run/hike so far this year. Got a very early start, watched the sun rise, napped a bit then from my patio watched the Strawberry Full Moon rise. Wonderful day, made a point to spend most of it outdoors in the heat and quiet. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh my June is almost done! Summary time, and I think Kirkor suggested a 6 month recap. Like the idea so I'll get it started. I'm enjoying this Whole 9 challenge, learning that I'm not alone in some of my thinking, learning from the books and techniques that have been mentioned, and look forward to more!

 

First June, the Outdoors month. I've been slowly building on this one. I've signed up for some races that have me running all the time. I'm biking to work every day and sometimes I get "lost" on the way, ooops a few extra miles. I'm walking after lunch and dinner now, seems to help digestion and gets me out of the "eat" mentality. Last week I started sitting on the patio for 15 mins before bed to get some 'dark' time, had to learn to put the phone away for that. This last weekend I realized I was staring at my phone too much at M1 so I ditched it and sat out on the patio instead. 

 

January: Nutrition. I can't do a Whole30 proper in terms of food, so I focused more on habits. Sit down to enjoy meals, build around the template as much as possible, and use the pre/post WO meals. Over time I tend to stray from those habits. Sitting down to enjoy does great things for my GI system, and since January I've started meditating for 15 mins before I eat if I feel super hungry or stressed out. Calms my system down, and I focus on food and less on feast. 

 

February: Personal Growth. I'm not only low FODMAP but also SCD so my diet choices are limited. Once I started feeling good and symptom-free, I was hesitant to re-intro foods. I found I was eating the same foods over and over, so my goal was to start testing again. I've logged my foods, found since February that I can eat small amounts of butternut squash, nibbles of chocolate, 2-3 Nori sheets, a handful of blackberries, and a few others. Can't eat any garlic or onion still, nothing over a fist-size white potato, no more than 2-3 fruits a day, and no oats. 

 

March: Sleep. I didn't realize my sleep was less than optimized until I started measuring it. I stopped the sleep apps once I realized I was the better judge of my sleep. Bought 'dark-out' curtains (not quite black), turned off my phone 15 mins before bed, started drinking less water after 6pm -- all improvements I've continued doing. 

 

April: Stress Management. This one wasn't as definable for me, but I started recognizing negative thought patterns and worked on blocking them out. Took some practice, it's so easy to think that way against not only me but other people. I was blaming others for things they might say about something! Now when I see that train leaving the station and I get off before it gets rolling. 

 

May: Healthy movement. This one blended into Outdoors for me. I developed the walk habits in May and kept to them. May was such a pleasant month to do that! Now it's almost too hot. But not that hot. 

 

There's a trend of me staring at my phone too much. It's really starting to get on my nerves, I wish I could revert to a dumb phone but I'm stuck with the smart one. So I gotta be the smarter of the two, and put the dang thing down more. Recently I made great strides on this by turning off notifications and limiting my screen time. Lately though I've started 'binging' my time on the phone, packing in as much surf as I can in a limited time, and not really reading what I'm looking at. So I'm thinking a phone detox. I already started a personal Phone-Phree-Phriday, liked it so much now I'm turning the Do Not Disturb function on all day!

 

Next is July: Fun & Play. Thinking I'll set days to take a dog to the dog park, teach her some tricks, maybe join the neighbor kids at the playground, and go out to the trails without a training goal in mind. Just hike, picnic, and take in the air. 

 

Who else?! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have achieved tiger blood and have nailed the outdoor thing this oat weekend. I went up to my favorite campground/lake and went out on my son's giant floaty and played!!!!! I even went into the lake twice and swam around! And just a month ago I could not do much of anything!

Best part, after the 90 minute drive home, I spent over the hours mowing our yard (riding mower)! And I still had energy after that!!!!

Best part was I did not cause any regression in my back (been dealing with chronic SI joint arthritis passing for 16 months!

Since then I've been like the energizer bunny, go go go!

I went to watch our church softball games last night and the people noticed that I've lost weight, so wonderful to have it noticed!!!

7 more days until I can weigh myself!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's a trend of me staring at my phone too much. It's really starting to get on my nerves, I wish I could revert to a dumb phone but I'm stuck with the smart one. So I gotta be the smarter of the two, and put the dang thing down more. Recently I made great strides on this by turning off notifications and limiting my screen time. Lately though I've started 'binging' my time on the phone, packing in as much surf as I can in a limited time, and not really reading what I'm looking at. So I'm thinking a phone detox. I already started a personal Phone-Phree-Phriday, liked it so much now I'm turning the Do Not Disturb function on all day!

 

I love "Phone-Phree-Phriday!" I have been trying to monitor my phone usage, too. I just downloaded an app called Moment that monitors how much you use your phone, what time, and where. I'm finding it really useful to recognize patterns (makes sense that i'm listening to podcasts on my commute, but I do not need to be scrolling through Instagram for 20 minutes when I first wake up! Such a time waste!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Happy halfway through 2016! I love the idea of a six month recap. This has been a major year of self-growth for me, I feel so grateful to have found this community to help inspire me to set new goals other than the old hat of "eat better/lose weight." Seriously, it's been so fun to think about other aspects of my life to improve for a change!  :wub:

 

January goal was to complete a Whole30 with a proper reintro period. I only made it 24 days before throwing in the towel. Part of it was setting too high expectations, and part of it was lack of planning. It's really hard to not think of it in an on/off, black/white "diet" mindset. Either I'm on Whole30 and restrictive with my food choices, or I'm "off" and Eat All the Things. Something I'm still working on.

 

February goal for Personal Growth was to communicate with love and practice positive thinking daily. It was a bit subjective of a goal, but my measuring sticks were 1) did I have a meltdown or blow-up today and 2) starting a daily gratitude journal. I adopted a mantra of "there is only love" to see through frustrating or difficult situations where I felt my temper start to get the best of me. This was by far my most transformative month, it's amazing how much your thoughts can shift if you just start focusing them in the direction where you want to be!

 

March goal pretty much sums up my everlasting battle - sleep. I love sleep, I really do. And I would totally get more sleep if I could somehow figure out how to cram 30 hours into a 24 hour day. But I'll just have to do with cutting other things out to make room for rest. My goal was minimum 7 hours a night, even though I know my body prefers 9. If I could go for 9 hours, I would, of course! But I also wanted to establish a consistent bedtime and wake-up time, too. I grab what I can get most days, and I should really be consistent, especially on the weekends when I try to "catch-up". It was tough because I was still going to a 6am CrossFit class 2-3 times a week. I ended up hitting my goal 2 out of every 3 nights, so that was pretty good. And I learned while sleep is very important, it just isn't a priority in my busy life right now. Once the kids are a little older I'll be able to go to bed when I want, and get up when I want (are the parents of older kids laughing at me right now?)

 

April goals for Stress Management were the simple things I knew could help: eliminate caffeine, start up my gratitude journaling again, and pick up a meditation practice with the Headspace app. And it was a good month to focus on stress, because I had a ton of work deadlines, travel, and late nights that I needed to work through. I couldn't give up coffee. It wasn't the right time. I ended up trying to reduce it to 1-2 cups a day (I was around 4-5 cups a day) and I was able to stick with that goal, though I don't know how much good it did to my stress, because I really missed my extra coffees! My journaling and meditation were consistent, and I definitely saw some benefits in my mood and coping abilities with those habits. In addition to my goals, I just tried to be mindful of what I needed to decompress. While on work travel, for example, I took a night and instead of going back to my hotel and working some more, I found a bookstore and picked up a good book, found some smelly bath salts at Whole Foods, and had a good book 'n' bath session at the hotel. Totally rejuvenating. Despite being in "survival mode" to get through the busy time, I came through reasonably unscathed thanks to my stress-relief focus.

 

May goals for Healthy Movement were All the CrossFit! To the point I totally burned myself out, yayyy! Wait, no. But I just unleashed and was going 3-4 times a week the first half of the month, more than my body could recover from. I did a CrossFit competition that my gym hosted which was way fun, but totally beat me up. After the competition, my focus was recovery and keeping my body together. And a bit harder look at some of my CrossFit goals, which in hindsight were a bit aggressive for my level. I'm still sort of trying to figure out where I should aim fitness-wise.

 

June goals were crushed for Natural Environment! I spent some time every day outside, even if it was just lunch on the patio. I gardened, I took my kids to the park, I walked my dog a ton (who knew she would be a better-behaved dog with some exercise? SMH!  :lol: ), and we planned a couple of fun family outings to the beach and to a friend's cabin in the middle of the woods. My friend even treated me to some outdoor yoga, which was amazing! I tried to plan a fun "summer solstice" event for my family, which really ended up with me and the kids in the yard on beach towels while they played with their beach toys in the wood chips. I tried to make a flower crown for my daughter, but I have no idea how, so we just took turn putting flowers on each others' heads. Not exactly the Mother Natrue, druid-y festival I had in mind, but it was still pretty fun. I absolutely love being outside and I loved this challenge as an excuse to get me out there. It helps that Northern California has had some pretty awesome weather this month!

 

For July's theme of Fun and Games, I'm still trying to decide what I can do that will be fun, but will fit my lifestyle and will be realistic. One idea is just a mindset shift - find the fun in everything. Even preparing those horrid weekly reports for work, at least it's fun to pick out the colors for the bar graphs, right? I also want to play with my kids more, they are always asking me, and I'm always "too busy!" I should reevaluate what I'm doing, and if it's worth a 15 minute break to sit on the floor and play with legos. They won't be asking me to play with them forever! For grown-up fun, I am planning a date night to a comedy club with the husband, which is an activity we both totally love to do but never make the time to do it. Finally, I like to play the piano, we have a piano, but I never touch it except to dust it once in a while. Maybe I should break out some sheet music and have a go?

 

What a year it's been so far! How is everyone else doing?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...