Ashley Bailey Posted April 30, 2017 Share Posted April 30, 2017 Sunday, 4/30/2017 - My weekend has been spent shopping and cooking for the week ahead. I have made sausage, sundried tomato and egg "muffins" for breakfast, creamy tomato and chicken soup for lunch, avocado tuna salad for dinner, and various Whole 30 approved snacks for dinner. My husband was kind enough to take my before pictures and help me fix the bathroom scale so I could get my body fat% and BMI. I currently carry 148.5 lbs with a BMI of 23.8 and body fat percentage of 27.7. Hopefully these numbers will go down as well as my total body inches of 172.2. I'm also hoping to improve my sleeping habits, have more energy throughout the day, better mental focus and improved muscle tone and flexibility with my workout regimen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Bailey Posted May 2, 2017 Author Share Posted May 2, 2017 Not bad for my first day. I'm happy to say that I stayed compliant and feel full and satisfied. But of course I have learned a few things...I was very disappointed to learn that the cashews I bought over the weekend contains milk, soy, wheat and peanuts! I learned that my sausage, sundried tomato and egg "muffins" will be much better with salt, pepper and Frank's red hot. My creamy tomato and chicken soup was a hit with the office and I found a few new people who are doing the Whole 30 with me I learned that it's just better to make a weeks worth of all meals on the weekend because the last thing you want to do after work on Monday is more prepping. However I managed to suck it up and make a tuna avocado salad, which reminds me - I am not a fan of red wine vinegar. I didn't expect everything to be the best food ever. In addition, celery tastes much better with peanut butter than with almond butter. But the pink lady apple was perfect with almond butter - just the right amount of sweetness. I read the "what to expect" portion of the book about a week ago. I'm hoping the next few days aren't as bad as they say, but I'm aware there will be challenges. The first of which happened tonight when I got home from work. I knew my husband wasn't doing this with me, and that was okay. But tonight I came home to three varieties of cookie wafers and snack packs. It's hard to decide what the biggest challenge will be. My sweet tooth or my love of gooey cheesy stuff. Time will tell, but I think I'm off to a good start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Bailey Posted May 3, 2017 Author Share Posted May 3, 2017 No hangover feeling that the book talked about, but when my alarm went off this morning I was not having it. Somehow I managed the will to drag my ass out of bed and start my day with a workout (more about that later). Still no slips, but a variety of temptations. I was a little worried about today. I usually work late on Tuesday and that requires an extra snack to get through the day. Before the Whole 30 it was peanut butter crackers. Tonight it was baby carrots and almond butter - much better than the celery I had yesterday. But celery did make an appearance today. I went home for lunch and had my soup. I usually like something crunch (namely chips, specifically Cheetos or doritos) but as those aren't Whole 30 friendly and I still wanted something crunch I went for a celery stick. Very much unsatisfied. All I could think about for the next half hour was how much I wanted those chips. Tonight's tuna salad was much better with balsamic vinegar. I poured myself a wine glass of water with a touch of red wine vinegar that I am drinking as we speak. I'm happy to say it's not nearly as repulsive as I thought it would be. It's actually pretty nice. Until tomorrow... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Bailey Posted May 4, 2017 Author Share Posted May 4, 2017 Pretty consistent so far this week as far as meals and snacks go. But today was a little different at work. I had an early meeting which means once again when my alarm went off I was not having it. The only thing that got me up was knowing if I closed my eyes for 3 seconds I would end up missing my meeting and getting in trouble. So I dealt with it and ended up having breakfast and coffee during the meeting. This meant I had to wait a little longer for lunch, but I ended up doing okay. I had the larabar I skipped out on last night as a snack. I'm running a little low on tuna. Maybe enough for one more salad tomorrow night so I'll probably give chipotle a try for dinner on Friday I ran into my friend who inspired me to do this and she gave me great tips on where to find Whole 30 cashews and when I can start to feel better. Looks like another 11 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmcbn Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Hey there - I've merged all your posts in to one log - this will make it easier for you to look back on, and easier for the mods to find your posts if you need any trouble-shooting at any stage down the line.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Bailey Posted May 5, 2017 Author Share Posted May 5, 2017 Still going, and getting crankier by the minute. Once again an awful wake up call this morning. I'm really looking forward to that stopping. I have some mixed feelings about the weekend. It's easy to prep your meals for the work week when you know exactly when you're going to eat. I'm sure you all know weekends aren't like that. Your routine is completely off and if you're anything like me you only made 5 days worth of breakfast, lunch and dinner. I did my planning for next week today and if it works out I'll have enough of everything to prep and maybe have a little left over. A girl I worked with did this about a year ago and said days 7-10 were the hardest and after that everything started to click and become worth it. I know I have full control of what food I put in my mouth, but it's really hard being surrounded by all of my favorite things. One of my favorite late night snacks was toast with a lot of butter. I have ghee now, and it does taste good, But I have nothing to put it on. I ended up having a bowl of soup after finishing off the last of my avocado tuna. I'm hoping it doesn't matter that I had two dinners. At least I held off on the bread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmcbn Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 Hey @Ashley Bailey - again I've merged your 'Day 4' post with all of your others under the title 'And so it begins' - please keep posting in/adding to this thread each day rather than creating a new post - it keeps things much tidier and easier to manage should you require some help down the line. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Bailey Posted May 9, 2017 Author Share Posted May 9, 2017 Days 5-8: The weekend went better than I expected. I had a delicious whole 30 meal from chipotle on Friday (one I plan to repeat every Friday), my husband and I had some friends over for corn hole, liars dice and drinks (I had water and decaf), and I had pistachios instead of popcorn at the movies. I haven't had a craving for bread in a while and my sugar cravings are cured by fruit. I made all of my meals for the week - a sausage, mushroom, spinach, tomato and egg breakfast casserole; chicken, tomato and spinach spaghetti squash for lunch, and meatloaf with sweet potatoes and asparagus for dinner. At my weekly lunch with my mom I made a beef spaghetti squash casserole. She had no idea how I was going to make pasta out of squash. She had never seen a squash that big - the only one she was familiar with were the ones about the size of a cucumber or zucchini. Her eyes got so big when I started pulling it apart and she seemed to enjoy it too. I'm not sure I'm getting enough water and I'm pretty confident I'm not getting enough sleep. I think things will really start coming together if I start to develop better habits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirkor Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 2 hours ago, Ashley Bailey said: and my sugar cravings are cured by fruit In the long run that will just prop up sugar cravings rather than eliminate them. Is an apple better than a snickers bar? Well, ya, of course. But your craving still says "give me sweet" and fruit fits that bill just fine. So the dopamine pathway is reinforced. Better to power through a sugar craving, or at least feed it protein or fat rather than sugar or starch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Bailey Posted May 10, 2017 Author Share Posted May 10, 2017 Day 9: Another long Tuesday and it was rough. Well, that's not exactly true. But I was working late tonight like I do every Tuesday and clinic was absolutely crazy. I was spoiled last week getting home by 720. I didn't even leave until about 820 tonight, and I certainly didn't bring enough snacks to tie me over to dinner. The leftover wedding cake in the break room didn't make it any easier. It smelled like heaven and it probably tasted even better, but I resisted. It was probably really dry anyway I finished off my pistachios and had the Larabar when I started feeling the hunger pains. I had my meatloaf, asparagus and sweet potato when I got home with a small cup of grapes. Italian seasoned tomato sauce does not taste as good as ketchup and meatloaf tastes better with crumbled Ritz crackers than flaxseed meal. My food isn't tasting great this week, but it's all at least edible. Since I started cooking for my mom I have learned it is so much more than just following the recipe. It's a lot about timing and it is so easy to over cook and undercook things. I'm already thinking about what I want next week, and it absolutely has to taste good. I want to be excited about eating it instead of "this is my breakfast/lunch/dinner today." Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Bailey Posted May 10, 2017 Author Share Posted May 10, 2017 Day 10: Holy crap. THIS was an interesting day. It started out like any other. I did my workout and had my breakfast. I put a sweet potato in the microwave so it would be ready for dinner and took a shower. Halfway through my shower the smoke detectors started screaming. I scramble out to see the my sweet potato has actually caught fire! Thankfully, my apartment is still standing and the microwave still works, although it still smells a little like smoke. It's kind of funny now, not so funny then. But I like to think every great chef out there has set fire to something at some point. Today is Nurse's Day so the partners took us out to lunch. I had a delightful cobb salad (sans blue cheese) with overcooked chicken breast (not so delightful) and oil and vinegar. Then the sugar beast hit me hard. One of our PAs brought us all 100 Grand candy bars because she "couldn't give us real money." Drug reps were in and out all day bringing us all sorts of sweet delicious treats. I didn't even go in the break room to see what it was because I was so sure I would cave. In the past I would tell myself if there was anything left at the end of the day I could have one, but that doesn't work on the Whole 30. All of this was made worse by the fact that I started my period. I haven't had one in YEARS. I did not miss it, and now that my hormones are going crazy those wafer cookies on top of my fridge are looking very temping. A sweet potato is going to have to do (they are boiling in water on the stove, not the microwave). And it's very possible they will be loaded up with ghee once they are done. Despite all this I am happy to say that I am officially 1/3 of the way done. I haven't had the 4:00 feeling in a couple days and my rosacea is starting to clear up. Looking forward to seeing what else happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Bailey Posted May 12, 2017 Author Share Posted May 12, 2017 Day 11: And still going strong. I had the usual breakfast, lunch and dinner today. I added a pink lady apple to my lunch and an afternoon snack of pistachios. I took my weekly trip to the store for breakfast items simply because I'm not going to make my poor husband pay ridiculous amounts of money for food he isn't even going to eat. I just hope my bananas get nice and black in time for prep on Sunday. Looking forward to next weeks meals. Pumpkin custard with almonds for breakfast, coconut chicken thai curry with mashed potatoes for lunch and slow cooker gumbo for dinner. My mouth is watering already. Let's just hope it tastes as good as I think it will and not taste like the "diet" version that is probably is. It looks like this week's meals will last through Sunday. Have a great weekend everyone. I'll write again on day 15 after a work dinner at Ruth's Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Bailey Posted May 16, 2017 Author Share Posted May 16, 2017 Days 12-15: Oh my. It was a challenging weekend and an even harder Monday. Saturday started early with a workout, and blood donation - EXCEPT my hemoglobin was too low. Not that I should be surprised. I've always been anemic and my period just makes it worse. I came home to a sick husband who decided that Chinese food was the answer. Fortunately they had a steamed shrimp with veggies meal, so I had that with egg drop soup and seasoned everything. All of my meal prep smelled absolutely amazing and I got a good taste of the coconut chicken curry and shrimp and sausage gumbo. The base was mashed potatoes with coconut milk. So creamy and delicious. I highly recommend it if you haven't tried it yet. The pumpkin custard smelled like thanksgiving - didn't taste as good as I hoped though, but still edible. Also, yesterday was mother's day and as I expected my mom wanted to go to Chuy's - it's Tex-Mex for those of you who don't know. My sister forgot I was doing this and promptly asked if I wanted a margarita and pushed the cheese dip to my side of the table. Another victory for me! I had a mexicobb salad with guacamole instead of dressing. I was looking forward to tonight's dinner at Ruth's Chris. I felt so deprived. The drug reps have always been really good about wining and dining us and tonight was no exception. They brought out my favorite appetizer, crab stuffed mushrooms, there was of course bread, steak, creamed spinach and mashed potatoes and absolutely everything was drenched in butter. Everything that is, except my steak. Which was still pretty good, but damn if I didn't want a glass of wine and 6 mushrooms. Unsatisfied, but my belly is full and I'm officially halfway done. The next time there's a work dinner like this I will make sure that I enjoy myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Bailey Posted May 17, 2017 Author Share Posted May 17, 2017 Day 16: Today I learned that my lunch and dinner portions for the week are way to big. I should have known better when I cooked the entire bag of potatoes. Thankfully, I didn't finish the whole thing and have enough left over in my first dinner container to have it again tomorrow. My lunches contain about the same amount so I'll just have to be careful. Another late work night meant another larabar. I was hoping the sweet potato with dinner would be enough, but the sugar beast came out and I had a small cup of pineapple - totally worth it, and still not technically cheating. I was hoping it would be easier at this point, but when your only time to eat dinner is after 8 p.m. on certain days certain things are going to be harder. Any suggestions on how to be better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Bailey Posted May 17, 2017 Author Share Posted May 17, 2017 Day 17: I woke up early thinking I had a meeting at work. I didn't. I was hoping to go home for another hour, but that didn't happen. I had a lot more coffee than I usually do and ate my breakfast while doing ED follow ups and hospital admits and discharges. Getting there early actually worked out. By the time lunch came around I was ready, but without the hunger pains. Today I had the coconut chicken curry. Didn't go so well with mashed potatoes and it was super sweet. When I tasted the sauce on Sunday it was delicious. Today it was over powering. I'm going to have to add some hot sauce or something to balance it out. My gumbo is still amazing though. Good combination with the potatoes and even better with hot sauce. I'll be making that again, but maybe just as a soup or with cauliflower rice. I made my menu for next week. Coconut strawberry breakfast bake for breakfast; jalapeno turkey burgers with sweet potato fries for lunch and chili for dinner. My husband and I get our (his) girls for the weekend so there will be some extra challenges. I had to think of something that they would eat when we go to my mom's for lunch. Chicken tenders are usually a safe bet, as long as there is honey mustard. So I will be taking a try at coconut chicken tenders and there are still some steak fries in the freezer from a few weeks ago. Another challenge - the pool at my apartment FINALLY opened. For what I pay to live here I should be able to swim in February if I want to...but that's a story for another day. Before this I would be chilling with my husband and neighbors with the music blasting and the beer flowing. That will surely happen again, but not until after I'm done. I'll still have the people and music, but this time I'll be having some water with pineapple chunks. Looking forward to the home stretch and summer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsZimm13 Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 20 hours ago, Ashley Bailey said: I made my menu for next week. Coconut strawberry breakfast bake for breakfast Hey Ashley- how did the coconut strawberry breakfast bake turn out? I found a recipe and it sounds amazing! Is it as tasty as it looks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Bailey Posted May 19, 2017 Author Share Posted May 19, 2017 I sure hope so. By "made my menu" I meant planned. I'll be making it this weekend. I'll let you know how it turns out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Bailey Posted May 19, 2017 Author Share Posted May 19, 2017 Day 18: Apparently hot sauce is the secret ingredient. After a few shakes of frank's red hot my coconut chicken curry didn't only taste better, I was able to eat it for lunch and dinner without getting bored. If you've been following you know I have been going to Chipotle for dinner on Friday nights, but I think tomorrow I'll go back to the gumbo. I'll be doing my shopping for the week while my husband is on the way home with the girls. Really looking forward to the weekend with them. Hopefully they'll see my growing happiness and ask for some of my cooking. Someday they will appreciate it, but for now they like bland stuff. Looking forward to crossing the 2/3 line on Saturday. This last 10 days went by faster than I thought. Here's hoping the last 10 days are just as good. Until Monday... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Bailey Posted May 22, 2017 Author Share Posted May 22, 2017 Days 19-22: By some miracle I made it successfully through the weekend without falling off the wagon, but I am struggling tonight. The sugar beast is screaming - I was hoping the strawberries with dinner would help, but here I am snacking on some coconut chips. And yes, I do feel better. Anyway, back to the weekend... The first real test was Saturday dinner. My husband and kids has burgers and fried stuff (onion rings, moz sticks, etc). I had spicy sausage and zucchini noodles. Filling, but surely not as delicious as the fried goodness that was talking to me all night. Any Twilight fans out there? It's like the like when Edward says it's like eating only tofu - you are nourished, but never really satisfied. It wasn't as bad as when my husband had pizza rolls last night. I had the gumbo - this time without potatoes and it was good. My breakfast wasn't what I was expecting/hoping it would be. It was the coconut strawberry breakfast bake. I thought it would be more cakey but it was more like a casserole. Still tasted pretty good - strawberries were a little sour though. Sometimes they are hit or miss. I'd like to try it with pineapple instead of strawberries next time. I have plenty of leftovers to get me through Wednesday so that'll save me some planning to get through the weekend. The biggest issue will be wanting to drink at the pool. The pineapple water was fine on Saturday. And staying sober through Memorial Day weekend will at least keep from eating junk like I always used to do after a day of drinking. I've made it this far, in the home stretch. If anyone has any delicious recipes for a recovering sugar addict please send them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators ShannonM816 Posted May 23, 2017 Moderators Share Posted May 23, 2017 I don't think you're going to like this advice, but I'll give it to you anyway, because I do think it'll help: quit with the fruit in the morning and the fruit to help the sugar cravings. It's not doing you any favors. This isn't just eating compliant foods for 30 days to say you did it. It's about completely changing how you look at food. There aren't "breakfast foods," there's just foods. Eat the ones that make you more healthy and don't leave you craving sweets. Focus on having lots of veggies at every meal, along with 1-2 palm-sized portions of protein (or as many whole eggs as you can hold in one hand), and one or two servings of fat as described in the meal template in addition to the fat you cook in. Occasionally have some fruit with your meal if you want, but don't make it the focus, make it an extra. When you're craving sweets and you have something sweet, even if it's something healthy like fruit, you're just reinforcing that craving, and making it that much harder to withstand the craving next time. If you're hungry, definitely eat something, but try to have a combo of protein, fat, and vegetable, or at least two of the three. If you're not hungry, if it's just a craving, try to figure out why you're craving something, and address the underlying reason instead of eating. If you crave sweets when you're stressed, for instance, you might try journaling about the stress, or exercising, or meditating, or talking to a friend about it. (Meal template can be downloaded here: https://whole30.com/pdf-downloads/) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Bailey Posted May 24, 2017 Author Share Posted May 24, 2017 Day 23: And getting frustrated. I joined the forum to document my journey, celebrate each day as a win and look for support when I'm struggling. And frankly, the most support I have been getting is from the people I work with. One of them completed her first Whole 30 about a month ago. She had been a great resource and support as I have gotten started and continued. However, the other girls I started with didn't last a week. I know I've been on my own for a while, but I haven't really felt it until recently. The big trigger in every comment and note seems to be fruit - as if I'm not allowed to have it at all. If that was mentioned at the beginning along with every other thing I would have been able to go without. Fruit is not something I'm going to stop eating, and I don't need to be told that I'm doing something wrong and how to fix it. I have a perfectly healthy relationship with food and myself. It's amazing how motivated you can be one day and how defeated you can feel the next. I only have a week left, so please, if you feel the need to make a comment make sure it's positive and uplifting. Otherwise the next piece of fruit I have may come with a glass of wine, some cheese and crackers, and a piece of chocolate. I'll be sure to return the favor if you ever find yourself struggling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Bailey Posted May 24, 2017 Author Share Posted May 24, 2017 Day 24: I feel much better about my rant yesterday. I make no apologies. ANYWAY. Today went pretty much as expected. Same breakfast, lunch and dinner as I've been planning, working a typical Wednesday and now relaxing before bed. I planned my menu for next week - hopefully in smaller portions than this week. I'll be having apple cinnamon hot cereal for breakfast, turkey burgers for lunch and chili for dinner. I'll be having taco salad with plantain chips with my mom on Sunday. I came home to a fridge full of my favorite beers that I will be smelling occasionally at the pool since I can't drink it. It's one weekend. I can go without. And finishing will feel so much better if I stick to this commitment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Bailey Posted May 26, 2017 Author Share Posted May 26, 2017 Day 25: I'm still getting that 4:00 feeling. I'm just chalking it up to not getting enough sleep. I'm staying up too late, screwing around on my phone before actually going to sleep, and waking up too early - well, trying to at least. I've hit snooze all week and for the last two days it was for an hour, and an hour and a half respectively. Thank god I can have coffee. My afternoon cup was just the pick me up I needed before going out with my sister to celebrate her birthday. Nothing crazy, just dinner. We went to this burger joint she wanted to go to. I had a hard time figuring out what I could have - that is of course until I realized they had grass fed burgers. I just couldn't have a salad when I wanted red meat that badly. I had a grass fed burger on a lettuce wrap with avocado, sautéed mushrooms (no butter, I asked), and a fried egg. Bacon would have been nice, but I have learned that most bacon does contain sugar. I finished off the last of my chicken coconut curry for lunch and ordered a to go salad - also with a grass fed burger so I would have something tomorrow. But I think I'll have the last of my gumbo and save the salad for dinner. In the mean time I'm trying to prepare myself mentally for a three day weekend of sun, pool and no beer. 5 more days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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