10-10-12 Graduates

[susanm]

Karabel, I do know what you mean. It felt nice to clean out my pantry also, and I feel like I've really established new and better habits. I did have my first off plan food - some New England clam chowder at a restaurant. It was good, and I didn't have any major reaction but I did have some digestive gas the next day and so I know there is some sensitivity there. I haven't tried any grains yet. I'm sure that will happen but it'll have to be pretty tempting! I'm pretty certain I will have a reaction there. LJG, sorry the joint issues aren't resolving. I know what you mean about taste of things - some fruit seems extremely sweet, even tomatoes in meat sauce has seemed sweet to me. I've got my physical this week and intrigued to see how my blood tests come back. I'm going to ask for some tests beyond the usual ones they do based on my recent reading. Enjoy the rest of the weekend all!

[no paleo police!]

Had a pretty significant amount of cheese last night and even a little more dairy in something else but felt ok, no problems. After writing about the organic veggies slowly going bad in the crisper I decided to step up and eat the darned things and we had an eggplant last night. The night before we had a big tray of roasted veggies. I'm getting the hang of it! My weight is still just 1 pound above where I ended my W30.

I have my first workout tomorrow!

[no paleo police!]

My first workout went great and I felt pumped full of energy afterward. Came home, put a lamb roast in the oven, unpacked my organic basket which arrived today, did some housework, etc. Now it's 3 hours later and I am feeling exhausted! I'll bet that if I lay down I could sleep for a couple of hours. Phew!

[LJG]

Glad you guys are still doing well! I was traveling last week and was able to still stick to clean eating with a few glasses of wine being the exception. Although I did go to a couple burger joints for lunch with co-workers and while I just ordered a burger with lettuce tomato and pickles, I am sure the beef was not grass fed and there could have been some oil somewhere on the grill... At dinner I was able to order premium ahi tuna and steamed veggies. I gave up on trying to eliminate eggs and nightshades and am just going easy with my hips. No runs in weeks... But, I am still losing weight slowly. I am down a total of 12 pounds now, losing 3 after the initial 30 days. I am not trying at all. I am eating when hungry and stopping when satisfied. I would love to still lose 5 pounds more or so, but I guess I will just see what happens since I am not putting in any effort in that area anyway. I am guessing that my weight will just stabilize when I hit my natural or healthy weight and I couldn't be happier. I love it! I am excited to go into 2013 without worrying about needing to diet! At some point (soon I hope) I will pick back up on the exercise but I guess it will have to be something easier on the hips.

Have a great night!

[no paleo police!]

Good to know that someone else is still here, LJG! Sounds like you did really good while traveling.

I had a Corona yesterday and last night my one hive that never quite went away last time I ate wheat a few weeks ago, blew up and scabbed over. I thought it was a wheat allergy but it's definitely gluten and wheat. Corona has barley gluten, I read on their website. I wasn't terribly uncomfortable, not as bad as eating pizza but my skin was itchy, hot and that hive was aggravated. I don't normally drink or like beer so it won't be a burden not to drink it.

I'm loving my workouts but I get SO tired and sleepy afterward. Today I took a nap for an hour post-workout and felt like such a wimp!

[gibster2]

Hi, all! I'm back from vacation, and boy, do I need to get back to W30! I was definitely off-plan most of the time I was in Vegas, so now I have to plan a grocery trip and get this house re-stocked with good stuff.

I'll be back later - must get ready for work - ugh!

[susanm]

Hiya ladies, I'm still here! Fighting off the robo calls -I am so looking forward to election day! I got my blood work back from my physical and my cholesterol is massive! The ratios seem good based on what I've read however the numbers are so much higher than past years, (which were borderline high) that my doctor is concerned. I posted in the on/off track forum for advice. I'm still pretty compliant, the major adds are wine here and there and paleo banana bread as a treat. I haven't tried grains yet - I will when I am tempted enough but I imagine I might be 'gifted" with a reaction like you karabel. LJG congrats on the weight loss! Happy Halloween all!

[LJG]

Oh Susan that is real scary with the cholesterol! I haven't been tested in a while and while I like to believe what the book (ISWF) and this website say, a part of my brain still thinks there may be something bad with all the red meat and eggs... I am interested in getting my blood read as well but probably won't until the spring at my next checkup...

Tonight was BAD!!! Actually, all day was BAD!!!! I gave in to the Halloween candy at work and felt so sick. I couldn't even eat my lunch. Then of course had no appetite for dinner but found way to eat candy in lieu of dinner too. Then some chips. Not good at all. I have to go back to the strict plan tomorrow. I feel rotten and will probably pay for it tonight in the sleep department too!

Hope you all did better with Halloween than I did. And it is not over! I offered to pay each of my boys $10 to turn in their candy after selecting their top 5 pieces and while they originally agreed, they have since changed their minds so now I am going to have all this candy sitting at the house tempting me. I need to go back to W30 and RULE IT OUT! Hopefully I will be as strong tomorrow as I am at this moment...

[no paleo police!]

I hope you get some good advice about the cholesterol issue, Susan. I'm going to head over there and see what people say about it too, sounds interesting.

I'm actually glad that I tried the wheat and then the barley gluten. It's good to know exactly what does what. The only things I have used consistently that weren't on the whole30 are alcohol and chocolate, oh and cheese. Alcohol doesn't bother me if I stick to 2 drinks, any more than that and I have trouble with sleeping and carb cravings. Chocolate gives me a little gas but not enough to stop me from eating it (I'm going to lighten up on it as soon as the present stash is gone). Cheese and dairy don't seem to have any effect but I did have some ear congestion this morning so I'm going to test that alone after my next whole30.

I tried to talk myself out of working out today but thankfully i was unsuccessful.

[LJG]

Although I knew it before, I am 100% convinced now. While I don't seem to have any really bad reactions to any food I have I have reintroduced, I have ZERO will power when it comes to certain foods (sweets for the most part). It is really sad, but I have to either have no chocolate, or the entire bag. This Halloween candy is going to be the end of me. I tried to buy it from my boys but this year (of all years...) they have decided they really want it. My plan was to let them keep 5 pieces or so and then get rid of the rest. Instead, I have been partaking of it almost daily. And for me, that means more pieces than I can count on my two hands. I don't really know how to stop it. As soon as it gets in my head, I can't seem to do anything to stop it. I tell myself I will just have one piece but that never happens. I think I will up the prize today and offer them $20 for the candy. I must get it out of the house! As soon as Jan 1 comes, I will be starting another W30. If I can get the junk out today, then I will start tomorrow with a W? (however many days until Thanksgiving)... Ugh! I can just feel myself puffing back up from all the sugar/carbs. I am afraid to get on the scale because I may just cry. Hopefully you guys have done better at warding off the candy than I have

[no paleo police!]

Good idea, if you can't have the candy around get rid of it. Don't even give them the option! It's been 5 days since Halloween, surely they've already eaten their favorites.

I was eating too much chocolate and ice cream so I started a W10 this morning. Just thought I'd clean it up before Thanksgiving. I've been invited out to a friend's house for Thanksgiving and I've decided to just enjoy the food that has been prepared for me no matter what it is. I'm doing a W10 between Thanksgiving and Christmas too.

My son didn't want to go trick or treating so I bought him a dark chocolate salted almond bar, big one, it's still in the cupboard. I guess he's not much of a candy eater. Now if it were a box of Cheez-its that'd be another story! We all have our triggers!

UPDATE-spoke too soon, found the chocolate bar wrapper in the trash this morning. He ate the entire large bar!

[LJG]

I am out $25 this morning but I have no candy left in the house My youngest son held out for $15 but my oldest gave it up for $10. I let them each keep 5 pieces. I started my W17 this morning too Karabel! I finished off the bottle of wine last night I had opened on Friday and am anxious to get rid of the 2.5 pounds I woke up with this morning... Crazy how excited I am to be eating totally clean again. While I didn't realize it at the time, the clean eating must have affected my hip pain more than I know because they have been hurting a lot more this weekend (no additional activity). So while I am not sure what the trigger was, I am looking forward to the pain decreasing again over the next 10 days.

Hope everyone is off to a great start this week!

[no paleo police!]

It's amazing how one day of clean eating can get me back on track and feeling good! Went to bed last night and thought I would be sick today for sure. Headache, sinuses feeling really bad, congestion in my ears and nasal sinuses, whistling when I took a breath. I was up and down all night as usual when getting rid of all the carb fluids.

Woke up this morning feeling great!

Have a pork in the crockpot (turned itself on at 4am), leftover paleo meatloaf in the fridge and veggie delivery is in a couple of days. I'm all set for a great whole10, 9 days left.

[LJG]

Glad you are feeling better today Karabel! I did mass cooking this weekend (which has been my normal for the past several months now) and was very disappointed at a huge mistake I made. Sunday night one of the dishes I made was still hot so I had it sitting on the counter to cool and forgot to put it in the fridge before bed. I didn't see it in the rush to get the kids fed and out to school yesterday morning so I was pretty upset to find it when I returned home last night. Chicken that had been out for a whole day had to go down the disposal! I didn't even get to try it other than tasting the sauce Sunday night (yummy!) can't remember the name of the recipee but it had pineapple, peppers, chicken, coconut milk (of course) and lots of yummy spices - from one of Tom's recipees (I use his a lot). Looks like I will be making that one again next weekend!

[no paleo police!]

Oh, man, that's a shame LJG. I've left stuff out overnight before and it's been fine but left out for an entire day, I would have thrown it out too.

[gibster2]

Hi, everyone. Sorry I've been AWOL the past week or so. And...I've been off-track, too. I'm sitting here thinking about why I've not been able to get back in the saddle - especially knowing how good I felt while doing W30. I think the main problem is that I haven't been planning my meals like I did before. I haven't been doing my weekend cooking marathons.

So.....to that end, I will be cooking today and tomorrow. It's supposed to be rather warm here today, so I may do some grilling, too.

I subscribe to Food & Wine Magazine, and I get emails with recipes every week. Most of the time they're not W30-friendly, but this one looks wonderful: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/roast-chicken-with-butternut-squash?xid=DAILY111012RoastChickenButternut

If anyone uses Pepperplate, I can share it with you directly. I will definitely be trying this one.

LJG - I know how you feel about the chocolate - it's always all-or-nothing with me, too.

karabel - I will probably not be compliant on Thanksgiving, either. But I plan to do better than I used to do. (Frankly, I'd love a big ole plate of dressing instead of pumpkin pie, but neither one is good for me. Ha!)

Okay, I must get moving here. I just hard-boiled a dozen eggs, and I need to plan out my menu for next week. Have a great weekend, all.

[LJG]

Hi Gibster! Glad you are back. It becomes harder and harder to stay connected and dedicated. I have fallen off track several times. I find myself doing great for a day or two and then go off track and have pizza for dinner with my kids (like tonight, for example). I know that 75-90% of the meals I eat are still a thousand times better than I used to eat, but I am afraid what I do with that one meal every few days is bringing me down. I am not sleeping as well consistently and that alone should be enough to pull me back 100% of the time. Every since I had chocolate at Halloween, the sugar dragon calls to me and I have cravings once again. I have been able to fight it most of the time, but I think I need another solid time period with no sugar to kick the habit again. I am afraid with the holidays and my son's birthday early December that I can't reasonably expect to go back to a full Whole 30 until the first of the year. So I guess I will try my hardest to stay compliant between "special occasions".

I am also really working on improving my kids diets. Both of my boys have ADHD so I would love to see if any of the food they eat is really the culprit. It has been very hard because unless they buy into it, it becomes a complete battle. They do eat a lot of fruit and veggies, but they also eat a lot of dairy (tons of milk) and processed foods.