Started on June 20 - a little slow introducing myself :)

[montana722]

Mostly, I wasn't sure where to start.  My name is Amy, I live in Missouri, not Montana, and I've been overweight my entire life.  A couple of years ago, I started Weight Watchers again for the .... I've lost count  .... time.  I was losing really well!  My appetite had decreased, and I was losing steadily, a few pounds a week.  (I have a LOT to lose, so it was okay).  Then I started having problems with my stomach and lower abdominal area hurting.  I chalked it up to constipation, finally got the colonoscopy I was supposed to have, and everything was fine.  Except it still hurt.  Every time we drove over a speed bump or a big pot-hole, my belly would hurt.  Meanwhile, my periods were getting worse and worse, and I was having times at school (I was teaching 1st grade) where I would have a cramp so bad that I would have to stop and sit down for a few minutes.

 

I finally went to my doctor and discussed what was going on.  She gave me a pelvic exam (lovely), and sent me for an ultrasound.  I was laying on the table, expressing my fear that it was all in my head, when the technician said, "Oh, it's not all in your head."  She called my doctor for immediate authorization for a CT Scan, and just like that, my life was flipped upside down.  Within two weeks, at the ripe old age of 46, I had been diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer, and was waiting for a consultation with a gyno-oncologist.  I had a hysterectomy in October and started chemotherapy the day after Thanksgiving.  I had lost nearly 100 pounds by Christmas, and then something shifted.  I became afraid that the only reason I had lost the weight was the cancer.  I ate everything I could get my hands on, and I continued to do so until this week!  So, I've gained back nearly everything I'd lost.  My niece has completed the Whole 30 once before and started a second round on June 1, and had been extolling its virtues, so I decided I would try it.  Fortunately for me, my family (husband and two teenaged kids) said they would do it with me.

I'm not going to lie.  I started the Whole 30 with the intent of losing weight.  I know it might not happen, and if it doesn't, fine, but at least it is putting me back in control of the foods that I'm eating - instead of the foods controlling me.  It is very much a psychological game for me, but like they say in the beginning of the book: Fighting cancer is hard.  Drinking your coffee black is.not.hard.    I am tired of my back hurting all the time, my knees hurting when I get up, having to hold onto something when I first get up to walk because my feet hurt so badly, I am ready to go back to eating whole foods, healthy foods.  I figure that this is only 30 days.  If I reintroduce and nothing bothers me, and even if nothing gets better, at least I've lived 30 days preparing my own healthy foods instead of eating out every night, and at least I will have finally kicked my Diet Dr. Pepper habit.    Plain water has never tasted so good.  

I'm sorry this was so long, and I thank you if you took the time to read it.  I'm really looking forward to this journey.  I've made it 6 days now (so has my husband, and he was a Mountain Dew ADDICT - it's a miracle, really), and while I don't really feel any different than I did 6 days ago (I'm not experiencing the symptoms that are laid out in the timeline really, except for the headaches and mind fog the first day or two), I'm hopeful that there will come a time when my energy picks up here pretty soon.  
 

Onward to Day 7!

Amy in MO

[Banjolele]

Hey Montana722, wow what a tale you have to tell! Good luck on your journey I so hope this whole30 thing gives you a new lease of life. I'm on day 18 now and feeling pretty good. I too have a weird relationship with food and diets. It's been great to actually commit to something where there's no restriction on how much you can eat!! All the best.