Advice for my psychological roadblocks!

[jenni268]

Hello everyone! I started my journey on October 15, which means that I'm on my tenth day of my first Whole30! I am really loving it so far. I feel like (most days) I already have an incredible amount of energy and I don't have the mental fogginess that used to cloud up my head.

What I am still struggling with IS in my head, though. Over the last three years I have worked.... and worked.... and worked to get healthy and shed my extra weight. Over that three year period, with many fluctuations, I have lost about 60 lbs. YAY! What I am struggling with now, though, is directly associated with that. For those three years I used an online calorie tracker that assisted me in determining a caloric intake to lose "x" amount of weight per week and then I could track my food consumption and exercise output. As we all know, this is NOT something I am doing now that I am on Whole30 and attempting to break free.

But I am still struggling with this mental block of not counting calories, not obsessively logging on to the website and, really, not ridiculously restricting myself because I only have "x" amount of calories remaining for the day. Whole30 doesn't feel restrictive to me, so I worry I'm not doing enough or I'm doing it incorrectly. I find myself obsessing over what I am eating, even though it's healthy. For example, I have been eating sweet potato hash for breakfast in the mornings (every morning, cooked in coconut oil, about half a medium potato). I've been rereading ISWF and finally picked up on the section that says if you're overweight and insulin resistant you shouldn't load up a plate of mashed sweet potatoes around your protein. My crazy brain has now latched onto that and I feel like I have undermined everything and that this first ten days is now a failure.

So, long story summarized ( ) how do I combat these thoughts? Is this just an unhealthy cycle of thinking that's been ingrained in me by past experiences? Is this something that Whole30 or 45 or 60, if needed, will help me work through? I want to have a healthy brain to go with my healthy body, and it's frustrating to feel trapped into these obsessive thoughts.

Any advice would be welcomed! Thanks for reading!

[Tom Denham]

I've been eating this way for almost 2.5 years and am still learning and adjusting what and how I eat. But I still count my first Whole30 in May 2010 as important. And I did not do that one correctly. I ate white potatoes at least 4 times during that Whole30 because I had not paid attention to the guidelines closely enough. My experience was still amazing.

After 3 years of calorie counting/obsessions, it will probably take you more than 30 days to reprogram your thinking and relax. You've made a good start and you are likely to keep getting better. Just hang in there.

[Kirsteen]

I absolutely applaud you for what you've already done and what you're doing, you haven't undermined anything and your first ten days are in no way a failure. what Melissa said was "you don't want to fill your whole plate with mashed sweet potato". Now unless your sweet potatoes are absolutely gigantic or you're using a doll's plate, I can't see half a sweet potato doing that

She also said you don't have to feel afraid of them because they contain carbs. No one ever became diabetic by overeating veg

In saying that i know where you're coming from. I used to follow the Carbohydrate Addict's Diet, where I wouldn't even eat carrots or tomatoes except at dinner time because of the carbs they contained. The first time I had a sweet potato with my breakfast, I kept wondering "Can this really be right?" Fortunately I've stopped that now but it did take a few times.

You say you've got more energy and are less foggy so it's obviously working for you. I'm presuming you are having protein with the sweet potato. We can change what we do but it does take time to psychologically change a habit. The good thing is that's exactly what W30 is designed to do. There's no magic number as to when, some people do it in 30 days, some take longer, I know for me it will take longer 'cos I've got quite a lot of complex issues but I'm definitely getting there. As Tom said 3 years of habit is going to take a liitle time to break but it will happen.

You'e had a brilliant start, just hang in there and keep going.

[jenni268]

Thank you so much for your kind and quick response! Sometimes I just really feel trapped by my thinking... I KNOW that it's unhealthy, but it's almost like I HAVE to have something to worry about. :-/ I am eating an egg or two with my sweet potatoes, along with half a tomato. I have noticed that sometimes directly after breakfast I get tired for about an hour, so I'm thinking that maybe my blood sugar is spiking a little too much. Once my potatoes are gone, I'm going to give them up... at least for breakfast. I want to give this 3o (or beyond) days the best chance of success.

That being said, I've got so much energy today I feel like I'm about to explode! I almost feel hyper! I've not felt like this even when I was a kid. It's awesome and a little bizarre!!!

[ereiam]

I have also been working on my food/weight issues for a while (1.5 years). I have lost 90 pounds - half through a yucky packaged food program and half through paleo.I want to lose 20 more. For a while there I was using an online calorie calculator to track calories, exercise, etc. Then when I started paleo I used it to count carbs. What I have found is that when I track calories or carbs, I obsess about food. What I am trying to learn right now is to listen to my body and feed it what it is hungry for and not be limited by what the calorie counter says. I don't track calories or carbs now and haven't for about 4 months. I am slowly getting better at listening to my body. Last night I made this amazing meatloaf with bacon, and butternut squash for a side. Once I was eating, I wasn't actually hungry for the squash and only had a few bites. That bacon meatloaf filled me up and I am still full over 12 hours later. (Yep, I skipped breakfast.)

The greatest thing that I am learning through the W30 is that (as others have said) I did not make these unhealthy habits overnight or in 30 days and it will take me more time to get healthy about food. Am I still screwed up about food? Yes, but definitely not as screwed up as I was a year ago or even as I was yesterday.

Good luck to you in letting go of the calorie counter. It really is a trap.

[jenni268]

Just to give a quick little update to all of you who so kindly talked me through my roadblocks... I seem to doing a little better! I'm not quite so obsessive and I've scaled back just slightly on the quantity of food I'm eating. This hasn't affected my hunger or energy, so I'm going to keep it scaled down. I do plan on starting to exercise again this week, and I will readjust as needed.

On a side note, I've taken out the sweet potato at breakfast and I am really pleased to say that my energy slump in the morning has vanished!! What a small victory to be able to listen to my body, adjust, and see positive results!

[Fenderbender]

We are at the same time the most weight obsessed society, and the most obese ...... Yes, ultimately we are responsible for ourselves, but corporate America relies on the fact that we are obsessive/ compulsive/ addictive......

Tracking calories/ weight/ etc is addictive and we have been programmed since childhood to be that way..... Take a deep breath, relax, and trust yourself. It will slowly get better.....