A Whole New Me (doing the Whole30 alone, surrounded by an already fit husband and 4 kids that I cook for. Aaaah!)

[Present4Life]

Just wanted to send you a huge HUG.  Unfortunately, life throws us curve balls, and I'm sorry you've gotten so many at once.  I know that if I had tried to do the W30 while I had my Mom living with me post-cancer surgery - I would not have been able to complete it.  There was just Too Much to deal with emotionally, mentally, and physically for me to bother making homemade mayo and checking condiment bottles for added sugar.  I feel for you.

 

However, kudos to you for sticking with it even though it is hard!  I really commend you for that!  What gets me through stressful days now is just remembering how I used to feel vs. how I feel now.  I know I don't want to deal with stressful days along with all the symptoms I was experiencing before.  

 

HUGS!!

[madness]

I think you are handling this all very very well! Huge props for sticking to it, at least physically! I realize your mental state is "over" the Whole30. I'm continuing on with mine, on day 41, since I didn't accomplish everything I wanted to. I have found now that the rules are second nature, I can sometimes slip into bad habits concerning the recommendations. It helped me to keep close track of everything I was eating, with the plan to post in the troubleshooting forum. I saw right away that I had no starches and not enough food in general. I'm still working on getting back to the best version of the Whole30 for me. While I realize that likely the biggest part of your issue right now is stress, you should make sure you are eating your best Whole30 too! You might be able to overcome the absent-mindedness and maybe even the rash.

 

And you might want to think about committing to a Whole45 right now. Perhaps in that length of time, stress will have settled enough for you to do a proper reintroduction. Having creamy coffee, cake and wine on day 31 isn't going to go well. But I know you already know that!

 

Hang in there girl! Hugs to you and to your daughter, the rest of your family and your "refugees"!

[WholeNewMelissa]

It's been awhile since I've checked in, but this is what I have to say:

 

MY FIRST WHOLE 30 IS COMPLETE!

 

My results astounded me, it was great. The rash on my arm has been diagnosed as psoriasis - but it's only on one of my arms and with the prescription cream I got it's almost gone. My stomach aches were non-existent on the Whole 30 and I lost 15lbs. After an initial reintroduction of wine, then dairy, then gluten, then sugar I learned the following things:

 

1) Wine is still awesome, and it's going to stay

 

2) Dairy does not sit well with me! Granted, perhaps my first introduction to dairy shouldn't have been cream cheese stuffed jalapeno peppers... but too much of it has my stomach in knots and I get a weird over-full feeling. I've decided to keep limiting my dairy with allowing for one coffee with milk in it per day, then the rest black. I even find milk has a strange taste now...

 

3) GLUTEN SUCKS. It's out the door. The day I reintroduced gluten I had a stomach ache for the next three days even though I only ate it for one day (and no, apparently I have tested negative repeatedly for celiac disease). Not worth it!! I still miss a good sandwich, but I have no desire at this point to introduce gluten free bread or rice or even pasta.

 

4) I don't really miss sugar. How strange, I was craving cakes and sweet commercial sauces as I baked them/made them for my family and friends, but when I was allowed to reintroduce it I didn't actually want it. I tried a bit, couldn't eat nearly as much as I would have before, and it left a bad after taste and made me lethargic. However, it did make me indulge in dried dates as if they were a bag of chips... I'm weaning off the dates now.

 

I went from a sometimes-too-tight size 12 to a comfortable size 10 - the dress I bought as a "goal" dress is now a bit too big! I have maintained my new weightloss since reintroduction as the amount of food I'm able to eat in one sitting is still quite small. I am going to make this a lifestyle change. I will include small of amounts of dairy and copious amounts of wine as needed (haha) but I'm hoping that continuing to take out sugar and gluten and eating lots of protein will help keep the weight coming off, though I know it won't be at as fast of a pace. I plan to commit to a full 30 days again in the near future, likely at the end of summer.

 

SO HAPPY I FOUND THE WHOLE 30! Thank you soooooo much for your support.

[madness]

YEAH! What awesome successes!!!

 

 

1) Wine is still awesome, and it's going to stay

 

Ha! It's really the only thing that I miss and occasionally crave. Well, that and cheese. By which I mean, both together.