10-10-12 Graduates

[gibster2]

We did it!

I actually was tempted to sneak a bit of cheese last night, but then I thought of all of you and had a cup of Chai tea instead.

Health benefits? I think I'm sleeping better, and I have a bit more energy. I'm down 11 pounds, so that's good.

I'm sticking with it - for the most part. How about you?

Old thread: http://forum.whole9life.com/topic/2962-starting-september-10/

[Greg Pesot]

Hi Girls!

I was away from a computer for a few days!

Congratulations on everybody finishinga nd it sounds like all with positive results!!

I finished down 13.5 pounds! Lost seven the first week then about two a week after that!

feeling great, full of energy, sleeping well and ready to go another 30!!

I actually ended mine few days early as there was a big neighborhood party on saturday night that's always a great time so saturday and sunday were my splurge days having afew beers and eating a little junk...

Started up again on Monday!

Hope everybody continues to post on here!

Good luck!!

greg

[LJG]

Love the new thread! I did my weigh in this morning for my "official" results and I lost 9 pounds. I am on Day One of my egg-free and Nightshade-free w30. For breakfast I had something I pulled from one of the approved websites the other night. It was ground beef with sweet potato and apples, cinnamon and cloves. It was pretty good and very fitting for the fall, but I am definitely going to need to find some more "meal one" receipees to replace my normal breakfast of eggs.

Hope everyone has a great day!

[Monica P]

I had a glass of wine on Monday night (ok it was a large glass) and I felt almost hung over the next day! Yesterday, my daughter had the temper tantrum to beat all tantrums--who knew it was sooooo awful to come home from daycare!--and I didn't even think of having a glass! Woo-hoo!

LJG--try perhaps just making more for your dinners and eating leftovers for meal one. If I were to cut out eggs, this is what I would have to do.I have done so a couple of times as my tastebuds just didn't want eggs and I didn't have time to cook. I actually survived it! (I say this because I am the queen of Oh that's not something you eat for breakfast!). Main reason I don't do it regularly is I eat leftovers for lunch, so only so many times you want the same meal.

I did have the WORST meal of my life last night. Warning DO NOT DO THIS YOURSELVES!!! Hubby and I were doing our cook off this weekend, cooking as much as we can for the week. We made our ribs in the slow cooker. we both totally forgot about them and they cooked for like 20 hours! What meat was left was just dry and almost yucky....could tell it would have been good if it hadn't been killed....really really killed. I hate wasting food period but when you are paying a premium for it, I hate it even more! Lesson to self....set a timer!

Well, off to doing some work! Have a great day folks!

[no paleo police!]

What a night!

Yesterday:

b- coffee w half and half, half of a raisin bran muffin-met a friend at a bakery

l- bbq rib with bbq sauce (no hfc but still bottled sauce), 1/2 slice pumpkin bread

D-2 slices home made pizza (all organic), 3 glasses red wine, tiny slice of chocolate truffle cake (flourless)

UP ALL NIGHT with lots of burping, ear popping, indigestion and acid reflux, very itchy skin, itchy throat, sleeplessness.

Does this sound like gluten sensitivity to you?

Wow. Awful night. I couldn't fall asleep and finally listened to a loop of my 45 minute meditation tape twice and fell asleep at around 3:30 am. Ugh. I feel like crap today.

You all did great with the weight loss! Can I ask how overweight you were when you began?

Edited to add: I was wondering about how many pounds you were overweight before the whole30 so I could compare it to how overweight I am and the amount of pounds lost. I was 25-30 pounds overweight and lost 7.5 pounds.

Congratulations all!

[Monica P]

When I first began my journey (feb 2, 2011) I was 98 lbs overweight--according to the guidelines for my gender, height and bone size. I'm now down a total of 76 lbs and (to state the obvious) have 22 more to go to get to goal weight. But more and more, I agree with those that say the scale is just a number. I'm more interested in getting rid of the flab through nutrition control and exercise.

When I started the W30, I was 38 lbs overweight.

I'm sorry for your awful night! Can't comment to the gluten sensitivity as I'm not and have not experienced it. Just know that it stinks to get an awful nights sleep!

[susanm]

karabel sorry about your night but obviously you learned something that proves your investment in the last 30 days. I have a feeling I'm gluten sensitive also.

I'm continuing on for 2 more weeks before reintroducing. Reason being I don't think I'm seeing all the potential and I don't think I'm fat adapted yet. I also want to see how my blood tests, which I get in 2 weeks, compare to last year, where I had somewhat high cholesterol.

For me, the good is that I have more energy, I sleep better, and my mood/energy is far more even keeled. Also I have much better digestive "normality". And have far fewer cravings for sugar.

The not so good is that I still have allergies, and an annoying muffin top! I wasn't going for weight loss, but I would love to lose this roll of belly fat without losing elsewhere, if that is possible. I did not lose any weight over the 30 days. I am going to eat less fat over the next 2 weeks as I think I did not restrict intake of high calorie fats.

Overall I'm happy with the changes and happy I found this book and forum. Congrats to all of you who attained benefits!

s

[LJG]

Greg glad to hear from you and it sounds like you have a great group of neighbors! Susan, I am also glad you are seeing benefits even if they aren't necessarily reflected in the scale.

Karabel - I was probably 15 pounds above where I would like to be on day 1 and have about 6 pounds to go until to be my perfect happy. However, for my 30+ days I am going to try to not get on the scale. I have no idea of my measurements and did not take them on day 1 either. I think it is really cool that you are identifying foods that are good/not so good and am really looking forward to that part of the plan. I am also extremely impressed with your weight loss Monica! I gained 75 pounds with my first son and 45 with my second. It was a long road to lose that weight and did it mainly through weight watchers and tons of exercise. However, weight watchers quit working for me over time because it allows you to make bad choices as long as they are within your range for the day. That is where I learned to eat progresso lite soup and low point value lean cuisines so I could then have desserts. But, it served it's purpose in helping me lose many pounds about 8 years ago.

On the side, I am now 1 day in to "egg free", but totally blew my nightshade-free tonight. After I spent the evening making a huge batch of chicken curry because I really had nothing to eat except my breakfast food (which I also ate today for lunch...), I realized I am an idiot because of course the red curry paste has red pepper in it! So, I ate it anyway and am just going to freeze it until I can determine if peppers are a problem. I then had to make some burgers so I have food for lunch tomorrow and laid out some salmon to thaw so I can cook that tomorrow night. Ugh what a waste of time and effort tonight! I love curry and didn't even bother thinking about the paste I have been using (it is W30 approved, but not nightshade-free approved). Lesson learned.

[no paleo police!]

Hi all! I'm so glad to see you still here.

A little research into my symptoms after eating all of that wheat-based food and it seems that I may have a wheat allergy. Not to say that I don't have gluten sensitivity but the itching and skin irritation (I ended up with some blister-like bumps on my skin (legs, shoulders, chest) point to an allergy. Apparently problems with gluten tend to accumulate over time and an allergy is an immediate response. That said, wheat is definitely off my menu, it hasn't been a food I eat often for quite some time but this little experiment clinched it.

Yesterday I ate pretty much paleo with the exception of a small slice of truffle cake (chocolate, sugar, eggs, coffee). I slept great and only woke up once when the sun came up and then up for good about a half hour later. If I had worn my fitbit it would have been another 100% effective sleep for me.

Today my organic produce basket arrives and I'm excited to see what's in it. I hope I don't get another giant cabbage. The last one was tough to finish all by myself! I like cabbage but that was ridiculous.

I told my son that this week I'd make him anything he wanted for dinner. Last night we had spaghetti and meatballs. No spaghetti for me and I made the meatballs paleo-style. They were delicious and he didn't suspect a thing. I used my regular meatball recipe but substituted almond meal for the breadcrumbs, using 1/2 of the amount of almond meal. They had the perfect texture and may have even been softer and better tasting than the old way. Tonight he wants a cheese plate with Brie and crackers so I'm going to see if I can find some seed crackers and also green apples to spread the brie on. We'll have organic fruit along with it and maybe some other goodies I can find at Whole Foods.

Bacon, eggs and coffee for breakfast and I feel great this morning. A miserable night really puts things in perspective! I'm so thankful for finding this way of living!

[gibster2]

Hi, all.

Last night, my dinner over-indulgence was (wait for it) vegetables. I did have a cube of cheese, but it wasn't even close to my favorite, so I'm not even counting that. I went shopping at lunch today, and standing in the checkout, I saw my favorite dark chocolate on sale, but I just couldn't bring myself to buy any. Besides, I'm trying to stick to reintroducing one thing at a time.

karabel - when I used to have nights like that, I always chalked it up to too many carbs - in general. Can't say it was a gluten thing. And I'm only talking about acid reflux and sleeplessness. Never had any skin irritation. As far as pounds to lose, I started out with 80 lbs over goal, so 11 lbs was actually a bit less than I expected - but I'll take it nevertheless!

Monica - Impressive weight loss.

Shouts out to Greg, Susan, and LJG! We rock!

[MtnRunner]

Karabel-

I get blisters in my nose from eating gluten. It took me a while to figure it out until I found a "gluten free" website that explained it and I was worried I was getting skin cancer or something, whew!

Here is the site I found it on: http://www.gluten.net/learn/dermatitis-herpetiformis.aspx

Unfortunately I guess it's something that can go on for a good year after you eliminate gluten but at least it gave me a cause. Best of luck!

[no paleo police!]

Wow, MtnRunner, thanks for posting that site. What an eye opener! It sounds exactly like what appeared on my skin itching like crazy. They are getting smaller now but still a little itchy.

[Kirsteen]

Hi great to read everyone's story. I, too, finished W30 on the 10th but I'd already commited to doing a W45 as I was really yucky the first two weeks (nothing to do with the W30, I'd just caught a stomach bug) anyway I don't think that gave me a fair crack at it so I'm just continuing it. there's loads of things I don't think I'll ever bother trying to reintroduce.

I was about 30lbs more than I want to be when I started and I lost 10 of those. I'm quiite excited about that as, due to the fact that I can't excercise and am bedbound a fair whack of the time, I find it very difficult to lose weight at all.

I'm definitely sleeping better, other than last night when I ate too late - not a mistake I'll make again and I just 'feel' this is doing my body good. Keep up the good work everyone

[no paleo police!]

Today starts w30 #2! I wrote down my thoughts after I ate:

Not worth it:

pizza, muffins, cheese, more than 2 glasses of wine, popcorn

Worth it:

mashed potatoes with butter and cream, 2 glasses of wine, chocolate truffle cake (no grains!)

The only thing that really surprised me is how I thought I loved cheese so much. It's not so great, even though I didn't have much of a reaction to it. One really obvious thing is that there's nothing much to eat it with if grains are off the table. No crackers, french breads to spread it on or melt it over. It's boring on it's own.

I miss the wonderful sleep I was getting. Less than two pounds came back so I didn't do too badly with my weight.

[susanm]

Good luck with it karabel! I'm still compliant aside from some wine I'm sipping at the moment, and some delish almost compliant banana nut bread I made. Only non compliant ingredient is vanilla extract. I am really not craving sweets, and believe me I was the cookie monster! It's pretty awesome. I'm still cooking great food every day, in fact today I was thinking how it feels like I'm kind of "spoiling" myself with all this good food - which is bananas I know, but it will be difficult when I have to travel, which I do for work.

One thing I'm trying to do now is be more mindful when I'm eating and not rush through it. I'm also adding in more variety to my veggies. I'm reading a great book which was recommended in ISWF, called the Ominvore's Dilemma. I highly recommend it if anyone's looking for a good non fiction read.

Take care all.

Anyone know what happened to amy poehler?

[gibster2]

Good Morning, all! Amazingly, I'm looking forward to my W30 compliant meals this week. Last week, I added some cheese to my meals, which was okay -( some Swiss cheese to my omelet), but other than that, I really don't crave it. No bad reactions, either. On the other hand, on Friday, I ate pasta for dinner, and I had some leg cramps in the evening - something I hadn't experienced since going W30. My pre-W30 Fridays usually consisted of Chinese take-out, or other grain-based meals, and I would have horrific leg cramps all night long. I don't know if this was due to grains, or because I ate too much in general. All I know is that during the W30 process, I had not one leg cramp. So........back to paleo!

[LJG]

Happy Monday all! I was not on the site at all this weekend so it was fun to read through everyone's posts and catch up. I still have yet to reintroduce anything since I have committed to at least 2 additional weeks of no eggs or nightshades. I haven't noticed any improvement yet (after 5 days) or any change at all from before. I had a killer cleaning weekend (included cleaning ceiling fans, floorboards, dusting and steam cleaning all rugs and carpets and regular weekly cleaning) so I am extremely sore in my hips today. I also got a massage and she worked my hips a bit. She suggested doing various stretches could help. Wouldn't that be ironic (but also awesome) if I went through a Whole 45 to find out that all I needed to do for my hips was stretch more? Ha! I would still be graetful for all of the knowlege and benefits gained, but it would be great to get rid of the pain and be able to eat my eggs and nightshades again!

Hope everyone's week is off to a great start

[no paleo police!]

Wow, what a difference in my sleep! I would never have thought that food could affect my sleep so much. I went from waking 6 times per night and a 96% sleep efficiency to 1 wake-up and 99%. It's amazing how fast I fall asleep too. I lay down and I'm out, no memories of tossing, turning, thinking, nothing... just sleep.

During my first W30, day 3 was killer for me. I had an awful headache and felt like I had the flu. Day 4 was pretty bad too. I expected to feel something on day 3 this time too, since I ate so many harmful foods but I just feel great!

I made a Costco run yesterday and bought $180 worth of meat. My afternoon was spent cooking, preparing, packaging and freezing meat. Then I made nomnom paleo's brined chicken with leeks and carrots (and made some chard to serve it with). Delicious. At 2am I had a timer turn on my crockpot with nomnom's Kahlua pork. My house smells amazing and I have enough meals and leftovers for several days. I'm going to make a meatloaf later in the week and then not cook again until Monday. Oh, I made some breakfast sausage too. I chopped up the pork, added the spices, let it sit and it just has to be ground.

My scale is in the closet. I'm going in blind this time.

[gibster2]

karabel - I've made the Kahlua pork twice. It is amazing! I eat it saute'ed with cabbage, or throw some on top of a salad.

[no paleo police!]

Linda, the pork is really great, my son thinks that I've performed some sort of miracle by making it. I put the liquid back into it before i stored it in the fridge last night and that was a mistake. We had it for dinner tonight and it was a bit mushy and lost it's texture. I'm going to put it in the freezer and when I take it out next week, I'll fry it crisp in coconut oil, that should fix it.

I've broken my W30 #2 by having a cocktail tonight and I think I'm going to just go paleo for a while before doing another W30. I'm pretty comfortable where I am and don't even want to explore wheat or corn again any time soon. Chocolate and ice cream may be a different story, though.

I do plan on sticking around just because I like you all so much and really enjoy knowing what's happening with you all and writing about what's going on with me.

[gibster2]

I went off plan a bit earlier in the week, but I'm back to W30. Not worth it. I'm sure I'll be off plan with my 4 days in Vegas. There will be some wine and who-knows-what-else. But I feel pretty confident that I won't be over-doing it simply because I know how I'll feel. Besides, we plan to keep pretty busy. I'll be seeing Elton John on Sunday night. Then we're taking the bus tour of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

I'm going with 3 girlfriends that I've known since first grade (and that's a long time!). We reconnected 4 years ago, and this will be our third vacation together - what another old friend of ours calls our "Girls Gone Wild" trips. This will be a different kind of trip for us, since the last 2 were to the Finger Lakes wine region. I'm guessing this one won't be as relaxing as the first two.

[no paleo police!]

Wheat allergy is an immune response that involves the IgE class of antibodies that trigger mast cells (a form of white blood cell) to release histamine, yielding the familiar itchy runny nose, airway spasm (asthma), sinus congestion, and skin rashes, especially hives (urticaria) and atopic dermatitis.

That is from the wheat belly website and that is what I have. I don't like that I have it but it's good to know why I can't eat wheat!

[no paleo police!]

Sounds fun, Linda! The last time I went to vegas and ate at the Wynn, the Sunday Brunch was fantastic! Lots of W30 and paleo selections. I can't say that it's the same now but then it was worth every penny, very expensive it was. I had about 4 glasses of champagne and they made sure my glass was full on the way out the door to the casino too. I sure hope you have a good time!

[LJG]

Happy Saturday! I had my first off-plan item last night. I had a very small glass of wine at dinner and boy did it taste strong! Not strong in the alcohol sense, but in the flavor department. I also had the tiniest nibble of a brownie and felt the same way. Like a flavor explosion in my mouth (and not in a good way). I think I remember food and wine tasting better than it does! I am about 10 days into the nightshade and egg elimination and am pretty tired of it and haven't noticed a thing. So, I am going to eat my most loved veggies again and enjoy some eggs for breakfast tomorrow. Maybe 10 days wasn't enough and I will feel different tomorrow, but I did use some crushed red pepper in the dinner I am cooking as I type. I also tried a Lara bar last night and it was so yummy! I was out and was strong (even though the glass of wine was pushing me otherwise) and did not have dessert so I bought one of the bars at the grocery and tried it. It was the cherry pie and it was delicious! I can't believe it was just cherries and nuts! I then was running around between my kids soccer games today and tried the lemon on in place of lunch. Again, delicious! I am going to have to be careful with these but oh my, they are good! I bought one of every kind that was compliant and will have to space them out and be careful.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

[no paleo police!]

I thought I wrote a few paragraphs here yesterday but I must not have hit "post" because it's not here! Anyway, I love those cherry pie lara bars too! The gingersnap is good too. I keep a bar in my purse for emergencies.

I really feel as if I have turned a corner these last few days. My experimentation in wheat a couple of weeks ago left me with a different point of view about food. Even though I have been mostly paleo for a few years now, or at least thought I was, now I realize how incredibly important it is to my health, happiness and well-being, not just the size of my thighs. When other people talk of how healthy they ate, eating nonfat frozen yogurt and high fiber cereal, I just cringe because I know in the next sentence I'm going to hear that since they eat so healthy why don't they feel good? When I think of eating the leftover Brie in my fridge I grab an organic apple instead, remembering how disappointed I was that the $16 a pound cheese didn't have more flavor or wasn't as creamy as I remember. I opened my freezer to put the leftover Kahlua pork in there and noticed the 2% milk I had stored there for when I finished my whole30 and went back to milk in my tea. I laughed, remembering, and threw it out. Finally. I got the Dr. Krackers out of my cupboard and they went in the trash can with the milk.

For the past 6 weeks or so I get sad when I see the fruit bowl slowly empty out and get panicked when I see a freezer empty of hunks of meat. I spent $178 on meat for the month at Costco last week and as I was paying I was wondering why i wasn't spending that money on grass-fed meat instead. Unfortunately, some veggies from my organic delivery service are still in the crisper, slowly going bad and that's something I have to work on.

I joined a fitness club yesterday. I don't know what's happening to me but I don't feel like any of this is a burden or difficult or like I'm missing anything. It just all feels so natural and "me". KWIM?