JimS Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 So I attempted a Whole30 last month and lasted 22 full days, but ultimately tripped into a BIG mug of Bulletproof Coffee. Rather than drown, I drank it! I wasn't craving it like I might crave a frozen banana and pile of almond butter or dark chocolate dipped strawberries... but I was on auto-pilot and wasn't paying attention. It was all good, until it wasn't. The lesson for me is to constantly stay mindful of each and every action that can affect Whole30 success (or failure). I don't view my first attempt as a total failure... but I did not fully succeed. I made progress on my main goals going into the challenge, which were: curb mindless snacking on 'paleo' treats (nuts, nut butters, dark chocolate, higher GI fruits, etc) improve my ability to determine the difference between real hunger and cravings, then act appropriately see how my body reacted to going completely dairy free, which I have never truly done In the end, I stumbled over the main problem that led me to the Whole30... being asleep at the wheel when making food choices. For those who might benefit, here's my first Whole30 log: http://forum.whole9l...mping-right-in/. This time around, I am going to hammer home the 'mindful' bit. I'm not going to take success for granted just because I've been paleo / primal for 7-8 months and have seen great results. I will complete my Whole30... and I will finish on May 31st, my anniversary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS Posted May 3, 2012 Author Share Posted May 3, 2012 Day 1 My food choices were a little whacked in the morning. I had abandoned my intermittent fasting routine while camping with my son last weekend to simplify meal planning. I'm back on my IF track now, but I was feeling a little hungrier than usual this morning due to my temporary feeding window change. Rather than eating a real breakfast with a good protein source or just drinking some water and waiting until my usual first meal time, I just grabbed some fruit on the way out the door to work. Bad move... I was hungry soon after. Morning - coffee, banana, four strawberries 12:00 PM - I was ready to eat, so I got down to it. My first meal is usually my largest. Today I had some tuna, salmon, a leftover chicken thigh, romaine salad, an avocado, baby carrots, water 3:30 PM - chicken breast, sardines in olive oil, baby carrots, a pear, water 9:30 PM - I was a little later than usual for my last meal because I was trying out a Krav Maga class with a friend. I wasn't in the mood to cook anything fancy, so I had some ground beef and eggs, a few baby carrots and some leftover roasted broccoli. Tomorrow, I will be back on track, making sound, calculated decisions each time I put some food or drink in my mouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derval Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Jim, the amount of times I *almost* inadevertantly ate non-paleo leftovers off the kids plates, sheesh! Well done of round 2, you are very conscientous to do a re-set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS Posted May 3, 2012 Author Share Posted May 3, 2012 Dervalc, I know what you mean about almost inadvertently eating non-paleo foods. There were a few close calls last time, but it's all part of the challenge I suppose... especially when I'm the only one in a house of six doing the Whole30. I figure that one of the most profound benefits to completing a strict Whole30 is mental: being truly honest about and conscious of every food choice, resulting in a heightened mind / body awareness. I'm only cheating myself if I let a slip-up go without a reset as if nothing ever happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS Posted May 3, 2012 Author Share Posted May 3, 2012 Day 2 9:30 AM - coffee 12:30 PM - salad w/ turkey, hardboiled egg, avocado and balsamic viniagrette, baby carrots, water 4:00 PM - salad w/ beef, leftover chicken pomodoro, water 7:00 PM - 1 lb seasoned ground beef, water I think I still need to dial in the workday meal planning a little more. I tend to grab what's easy and leftover from the fridge and fill in the blanks with some canned stuff. I'd like a more consistent protein source to build around. Some days I probably don't get enough, then others I'm getting more than my share. We've got a family of six, so we don't necessarily have a lot of leftovers. I think I'm going to make a second evening meal (a beef or pork roast, roasted chicken, etc) a couple times per week to provide some more consistency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS Posted May 4, 2012 Author Share Posted May 4, 2012 So, today I was really wanting some eggs and the choices in the fridge were pretty sparse for packing two meals for work. I abandoned my intermittent fasting for today and had breakfast. It was delicious, but I seemed to be hungrier mid-morning than I usually am when fasting until 12-1 PM. Maybe I'm just used to the fasting routine and change upsets the apple cart. In any case, it's not a huge deal... it's always interesting to see how the body responds to various inputs. 8:00 AM - coffee, four scrambled eggs, ground beef and spinach cooked in coconut oil 12:30 PM - big a$$ kale and spinach salad, water, but no protein. Argh... 1:00 PM - A nice, symmetrical lunch diversion for some protein... a quick set of 15 pullups, 1/2 mile run to New Seasons, 1/2 lb roast beef and water, 1/2 mile run back to work, 15 more pullups. It's nice having a usable pullup bar 30' from my desk, lol! Dinner and some more ad-hoc workout stuff coming this evening... 6:30 PM - I committed to doing the April '20 by 12' workout, but didn't get it done in time. Late is better than never... For those interested, unique calisthenics workouts celebrating the London 2012 Olympics are posted monthly at http://www.facebook.com/20by12. They're fun, challenging, scalable, and require minimal to no equipment. 4 rounds for time (26 minutes and change... too much rest!!)12 l-sit chinups 12 elevated leg push-ups 12 v-ups 12 straight bar dips 12 burpees 7:30 PM - pot roast and cooked carrots, water (more carrots Jeanye!! ) It was a good day food-wise, but I'm still slightly on the fence regarding my intermittent fasting. I notice better appetite control and general satiety when doing IF, but it can be harder to plan for meals when I need to bring food for two meals to work. I'm not counting macros or calories with my IF as typically done with the LeanGains protocol, but I'm not expecting to lean out much with my current approach. There certainly is an argument for keeping it simple and doing the W30 recommended three meals per day. We will see what happens... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanye Mercer Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Nice job on the reset. I can hear Melissa in my head saying, "Eat more veggies. More." Your salad and carrot routine could definitely benefit from some additional veggie sources. Try this link for some great ideas: http://whole9life.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/whole9-seasonal-produce-2012.pdf Keep up the great work and keep us posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS Posted May 5, 2012 Author Share Posted May 5, 2012 Jeanye, thanks for checking in and for the link. It's a great reference that we intend to use. I do try to eat a variety of veggies, but I can get into a rut sometimes when slapping food together for work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS Posted May 6, 2012 Author Share Posted May 6, 2012 Today my focus was scattered all over the map. Chores in and out of the house getting ready for a family event, pushing rope (keeping kids focused on their tasks), fixing our laptop, staying the course in the face of yummy non-W30 paleo foods, and getting in a workout bit by bit throughout the day. My wife made her delicious quiche recipe in the morning, but it's loaded with heavy cream so I had to avoid it. There was a ton of typical junk food around (teenagers... ), but most of that stuff just don't appeal to me. I have issues with the SWYPO paleo foods because they still taste great and are easier to justify. Instead of quiche in the morning, I blended some coffee, ghee and a bit of coconut oil. I went a little heavy on the ghee and it wasn't nearly as tasty as my usual non-W30 Bulletproof Coffee recipe. I think I prefer a good cup of black coffee to today's creation. I need to get some more coconut milk to see how I like coffee and coconut milk. My first (and second) meal was a big skillet of onion, garlic, cherry tomatoes, red pepper, spinach, leftover ground beef and seven eggs all cooked in coconut oil. The skillet was full, so it was more than I needed at one sitting. I saved about 1/3 for my second meal later in the afternoon. Food 12:30 PM - 2/3 of the skillet scramble, water 4:00 PM - 1/3 of the skillet scramble, a banana, a few chunks of fresh pineapple, water 7:30 PM - leftover pot roast and carrots, 1.5 frozen bananas and about 5 tbsp of almond butter, water Activity Besides the chores around the house, my workout was like a nine course meal spread out throughout the day. No real focus, but the cumulative effect was decent. I did some body rows, tuck front lever rows and front support static holds on my rings... a couple sets of toes-to-bar leg raises, a few sets of light barbell deadlifts and some heavy t-handle swings while outside... a little work on my l-sit, some wrist prehab and a couple sets of pushups and a couple heavy sets of weighted pullups. I've been a bit burned out on running and cycling the past several months and I've been generally shirking my metcon workouts in favor of strength and mobility work. I've enjoyed the shift in focus, and I've made good gains in both areas. But now, I'm finding burpees, sprints and other similar activities suck more than they should. Time to shuffle the deck a bit, I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS Posted May 7, 2012 Author Share Posted May 7, 2012 Yesterday was a good day for food and activities. Lots of stuff going on with our family... had friends and family over for a Sunday brunch, and I avoided all the no-nos. I played around on my rings some and worked on a retaining wall in the yard, but the day was more of a play / active recovery day than anything. Good times... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS Posted May 7, 2012 Author Share Posted May 7, 2012 Random Monday observation... my sleep is noticeably improved over what it was prior to starting my Whole30. Pre-W30, it was common for me to wake up and toss and turn a few times per night... not so much currently. Also, even though the amount of time I sleep is about the same, I hardly ever need my alarm to wake up... even the few times I've stayed up too late. It's pretty cool to see what tweaking the nutritional knobs and dials can do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 Today was a weird food day for me. I didn't plan well and grazed at times, but in the end it seemed to work okay today. Not that I want to make a habit of that... mindless eating is one of my big focuses. Coffee and water to start the day, then a pile of oddball leftovers at work, eaten as one primary meal, then munched on throughout the afternoon until I left to pick my daughter up from school. 9 AM - coffee 12 PM - ground beef, salad, avocado, carrots, orange, water Afternoon - ground beef, can of salmon, carrots, pineapple chunks, water 6 PM - chicken stir fry, water, pineapple chunks Lots of fruit the past couple days. I tend to be the family food scavenger, keeping an eye out for food that needs to be eaten soon... right now that's a pile of fruit. I didn't really work out much today, but I played around with russian dips, parallel bar swings and some static holds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 Day 7 ... so far so good. A pretty ho-hum day for food and activity. I'm feeling great today... glad I reset my W30. I think I've got better focus overall so far in this second attempt. 8 AM - coffee 11:30 AM - kale, romaine, red pepper, and avocado salad with balsamic dressing, leftover taco meat, orange, water 2:30 PM - salad, same as above, leftover chicken stir-fry, water 3 PM - more coffee... a trip to Starbucks with co-workers. I didn't need the coffee, but it doesn't seem to affect my sleep much when I have a little in the afternoon. 7 PM - two hamburger patties, one chicken leg, about 1.5 medium sweet potato sliced and baked with EVOO and salt/pepper, salad, 1/2 of a sliced pear (my kid left it for me, lol), water Activity - 2 mile walk - some dips and leg raises - 1 hour general fitness class - yard work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS Posted May 9, 2012 Author Share Posted May 9, 2012 Day 8 - I didn't sleep as well last night... I woke up at 4 AM, back asleep again a few minutes later only to wake up at 6. Famous last words on afternoon coffee. See my previous post... sigh. From here on in my Whole 30, I plan to avoid coffee after noon to see how I react. My guess is it will only help. 7 AM - coffee 12 PM - big ass salad with balsamic, two chicken legs, can of salmon, 1/2 banana, a pear, water 2-4 PM - grazed on three chicken legs, can of salmon, a pear, lots of water 7 PM - roast beef, roasted broccoli, salad, water 10:15 PM - a handful of baked sweet potato rounds, a banana with some almond butter, water Activity Mostly ad hoc mini workouts at work and home... a few sets of pushups, a quick four round circuit of mountain climbers, bodyweight rows, tuck jumps, pushups and knee raises... a few sets of windshield wipers and back lever progressions on the rings and some l-sit practice. Also about an hour of shoveling dirt in the back yard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS Posted May 10, 2012 Author Share Posted May 10, 2012 Day 9 - I had better quality sleep last night, though I wish I would have gotten another hour or two. I need to remember not to burn the wick at both ends! At least I didn't have any afternoon coffee yesterday. What sleep I did get seemed to be better than the night before. 9 AM - coffee 12 PM - leftover roast beef, roasted broccoli, green beans, water 3:15 PM - leftover roast beef, salad with balsamic viniagrette, water 6:30 PM - taco salad (no chips) with guac and organic salsa, water 10 PM - handful of almonds and a few grapes, water Activity Lots of yard work in the morning before work and more to be done after work. I'm almost done with the prep work for rebuilding my kids' play structure. It hasn't been up since we moved over a year ago... far too long. I've got a new appreciation for mechanized excavation. Digging out and levelling a 30' x 39' chunk of land with a roto-tiller, shovel, wheelbarrow and rake isn't a WOD, or even a WOW... but a couple of WOMs!! (Workout of the month, lol). The toughest part has been fitting in all that work with all the other family activities. I've been fidgety all day at work, so I've been going out on the balcony to do a quick set of 8 pullups every half hour or so. I'll probably figure out something for my legs tonight... they haven't had much work the past few days. I did a couple set of pistol squats but was limited on time, so no other direct leg work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS Posted May 11, 2012 Author Share Posted May 11, 2012 Today is one of those days that makes you want to hit the reset button, wake up and start over. Food has been fine, but its one of those 'shit rolls downhill' days where you get dumped on, dig yourself out, then get dumped on again. It's kind of funny because I read somewhere early this morning in a blog or Facebook post saying that there are times where how hard you work is the only thing you can control. Yep, so true. Maybe it was foreshadowing my day today... gotta keep on plugging away. 7:30 AM - unloaded and spread two yards of fill dirt. I guess that qualifies as picking up heavy things. One more load to go, then it's final leveling, weed barrier, cedar chips and build the play structure. 9 AM - coffee 12 PM - leftover roast beef, big ass salad, water My at-work food the past few days has been pretty boring... good thing I'm not picky! 3 PM - leftover roast beef, more salad, an avocado, water 7 PM - kitchen sink veggies and scrambled eggs cooked in a large chunk of ghee, salmon, 1.5 frozen bananas and 4T almond butter + 1T warmed coconut butter, water I ate WAY too much food for my last meal. Oh well... hopefully I'll work it off tomorrow between a couple hours at work (ugh!!), yard work, honey-do list, smoking some pork ribs and pork butt for Mother's Day, and whatever workout I can squeeze in. Activity Really not much... the yard work this morning, a few random sets of pushups to break the monotony of working in DilbertVille, some pike presses and ugly tuck planche swings to L-sits. I wanted to do more, but I'm feeling a little run down. Time for sleep!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS Posted May 13, 2012 Author Share Posted May 13, 2012 It's been a busy day... work, landscaping, kids' soccer games, shopping for some big slabs of meat, more landscaping... I didn't break my fast until 2:30 today. I was pretty hungry by then after all the running around, but I wasn't gnawing at my arm or anything. 2:30 PM - a feast... leftover eggs and veggies (garlic, onion, kale, red pepper, pumpkin puree, grape tomatoes), salmon, leftover taco meat, a handful of grapes, a pear, and an orange. 6:30 PM - pork roast, carrots, strawberries, grapes Off to do more yard work... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS Posted May 14, 2012 Author Share Posted May 14, 2012 It was a busy Mothers Day today... The weather was awesome, 90ish and low humidity. We a race to see what happened first... a family of six cleaning up the house for an extended family Mothers Day dinner or a family of six trashing a house in preparation for a large family dinner. Fortunately, we were ready for the feast and the house got cleaned! In addition to cooking and cleaning, my older two boys and I finished up the ground prep for the play structure and sandbox. I'm also sneaking a pullup bar and some parallel bars into the build. With a workout park in the back yard, all excuses become null and void! I had some awesome blended coffee and Artisana coconut butter to get me wired up in the morning... yum!!! Great way to start the day. 12 PM - carrots, onion, kale, red pepper, baby portobello mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and leftover taco meat sauteed in coconut oil and some leftover stir fry seasoning; water to drink I smoked three racks of baby back ribs and three racks of spare ribs with some big chunks of cherry wood using one of my favorite rubs, Sugarless Texas Sprinkle. It was an amazing way to dust off the smoker for the year. 6:30 PM - baby back ribs, spare ribs, roasted veggies (sweet potato, onions, squash, zucchini), salad, water; blueberries and blackberries with coconut cream for dessert along with a cup of coffee Six big slabs of swine, ready for rub!! Some of the spare ribs, cut up and ready to be devoured... The big back yard project... another week or two and it should be all done. All in all, it was a productive and satisfying Mothers Day... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derval Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 What a lucky family you have Jim, you are so hands on and giving of your time & energy to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 Very cool! We are quite similar—our family of five rushed to clean the house just to get it dirty again for Mother's Day last night too! And we are currently building a greenhouse in the backyard! I'm envious of your pull-up bar and parallel bars... gave me something to think about! Enjoy and keep on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS Posted May 14, 2012 Author Share Posted May 14, 2012 What a lucky family you have Jim, you are so hands on and giving of your time & energy to them. Thanks for the nice words Devalc... I think I'm the lucky one, but family life definitely has its side effects. Each kid has given me more and more greys... my hair's starting to look salt and pepper-ish! Too bad the paleo diet can't give hair more pigment, lol. Very cool! We are quite similar—our family of five rushed to clean the house just to get it dirty again for Mother's Day last night too! And we are currently building a greenhouse in the backyard! I'm envious of your pull-up bar and parallel bars... gave me something to think about! Enjoy and keep on! Emily, isn't it crazy how messes multiply exponentially with each new addition to the family? Years ago, it was super easy to keep things clean. One and even two rug rats were easy to pick up after. Three just blew everything up and by the fourth we just shrugged our shoulders and said whatever!! 8 AM - coffee 12 PM - leftover pork ribs, roasted veggies, water 3 PM - leftover pulled pork, salad, water 8 PM - a few leftover pork ribs, banana with almond butter Activity Some plyo pushups and plyo pullups, a quick bodyweight circuit and some natural leg curls I just ordered three UNITS of cedar chips to fill that gaping hole in my back yard. Scared of that... it's enough material to fill a modestly sized 10x10 bedroom six feet deep!! Good thing I have cheap labor around the house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Summer Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Nice job on all that yard work, Jim! Also, great meals and thoughts you have had to share! I know what that giant mound of chips is like. I had that same amount one year in my first house, and it was just me and my wheel barrow. I tried so hard to widdle that pile down until one evening my neighbor just couldn't take it anymore. He came over and asked me to please stop and he would be by with his loader. NOT bobcat, LOADER. It was kind of embarrassing because I probably looked so pathetic out there into the wee hours of the night. I think you have worked yourself enough to eat an entire rack of ribs yourself! I am also jealous of that pullup bar and parallel bars you are getting in! Nice! Good luck with everything! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 Day 14 8 AM - coffee blended with coconut butter 12 PM - garlic, broccoli, pulled pork, and eggs sauteed and scrambled in coconut oil and ghee, salad with 1/2 avocado, water 3 PM - leftover eggs from lunch, baby carrots, water 4:45 PM - snack; small handful of raw almonds, cashews, four brazil nuts, a pear, baby carrots 5:45 PM - leftover pork ribs, some pineapple spears, water I'm working from home today because I had the cedar chips delivered for the playground. I have a feeling that my workout of the day has already been decided. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimS Posted May 16, 2012 Author Share Posted May 16, 2012 Activity - Spread three units of cedar chips with help from my older boys and my cousin. It took us two solid hours but we finished with daylight to spare... The before pic is in my previous post... a full dump truck load. Here's the after shot with me and my kids... - Some plyo pullups and resistance band pushups - A mile run and walk taking my daughter to school and picking her up. We have little races on the way there and home... she seems to win every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 Wow! You're doing fantastic! Enjoying catching up on your progress... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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