Round 2....

[madness]

In April of 2016, I did my first Whole30 which turned into a Whole80ish (I honestly stopped counting the days). I had stopped logging on here by day 67, but at that time, I wrote a success post. I'm glad I did so I can look back at it:

Quote

 

So, here's my 67 day wrap-up:

- psoriatic arthritis definitely on the mend! Not perfect, so it's a good reminder that reintroductions need to wait.

- sleep is amazing!

- energy levels are pretty good, I constantly forget starches and I think this is a major factor

- mood is much improved

- stronger nails

- no mindless snacking (I really didn't realize how often I did this - never in large binge-type quantities, but a little here and there ALL THE TIME!)

- I reached 10,000 steps easily a day - I now walk to work again, something that was daunting a few months ago. 

- I started lifting weights! It's been since pre-kids that I did that. I'm still sooo weak!  

 

AND...I've lost 25 lbs!

 

By the end of the journey, I had lost 30 lbs and my arthritis pain was basically gone. I was still ridiculously weak! I never did reintroductions properly. I basically went straight to an 80/20 lifestyle.  No "symptoms" returned - all my NSV held fast and I didn't gain weight. But I still had weight to lose, so I tried to go back to a strict Whole30 several times. Maybe 4 or 5 times. It was embarrassing that I couldn't do it!  After going completely off the rails by this spring, I finally got my act together to get back to 80/20 ish. I had a lot of travel planned for the summer and knew that Whole30 just wasn't going to be viable while visiting relatives. So I did the best I could. I actually lost 8 lbs on my 3 week road trip! That was even more encouraging to start once I got back. But the stress of summer and kids took it's toll and I ended up gaining back 5 of those lbs by the end. So I had my heart set on the first day of school being the first day of my ACTUAL second Whole30. No more "trying".

And here I am, 7 days in! Granted, I made it this far before, usually failing around day 10 or so. But not this time. I've already struggled a lot, but I *know* I can do this. I did it before.

Goals

My goals this round are similar to before. I want to crush the arthritis pain (it's been slowly creeping back up over the last few months - not bad, but why wait until it is to do something about it?!). I want to improve my sleep, mood and energy (I didn't realize what a problem those were until the first Whole30 "cured" me of those issues so thoroughly!) and I want to loose weight.

Lessons from last round

I had a very difficult time eating enough in the beginning and I'm trying to be cognizant of that.

I constantly forgot carbs (potatoes) and my mood suffered. I'll be paying close attention to that.

I had terrible food boredom at several points. I have a much bigger arsenal of compliant recipes now.

I struggled with the amount of meat I was consuming, so will rely more on eggs. I've also discovered a few fish/seafood dishes I like (not usually something I ate in the past) as well as other exotic meats like dove, venison, and duck.

Whole30 Take 2

Things have been going well this round for the most part. I was hoping to incorporate exercise from day 1, but it just hasn't happened. I'm not beating myself up over that. I was in good shape at the beginning of the summer, so it won't take long for me to get back there. I was way too sedentary for the month of August though. Just walking my kids to and from school (2 miles a day) had me sore on day 3! So I'm getting some exercise, just not enough. I'll add that in either Monday, or when I feel like I can. Not stressing over it.

I had a fruit binge today already! I only did that maybe 2 or 3 times during the whole course last time. We are getting constant rain from Hurricane Harvey and have been basically stuck in the house for days. I have friends and family along the coast that refused to evacuate (they are all still ok, but waters will continue to rise). My family farm is flooded and in danger of serious damage. All of that combined led to boredom/stress eating. At least it was fruit though!

I'm back on track tomorrow. That's part of the reason for joining the forum again. Support is always nice!

[madness]

A follow up. I did a lot of thinking in the past few weeks about what was so different from my first successful Whole30 and my many failures. I came up with a list of lot of things and figured I should write them down. Whether they are an inspiration for me when I want to start round 3, or for someone else anywhere along their journey, I figured it would be worth while. Here are the most important and universal ones.

- I might be crazy, but I made an entire month's meal plan for my first successful round. I purchased all the meat (frozen from friends with farms/ranches) up front and knew what our own farm would be producing vegetable-wise. I had all the pantry items (coconut milk, olive oil, etc) on hand. I had NO excuse to not use the food I had.

- My family was nearly Whole30 compliant when at home. I have a 5 and 7 year old. They ate Whole30 breakfast and dinner, but usually had PBJ, tuna or ham sandwiches in their packed lunch. It kept a lot of off-plan foods out of the house. I just had a loaf of bread for them.

- I was determined to follow the rules EXACTLY.

Contrast this to my failed attempts. After the first 30 days, I went back to weekly meal plans. I tried that for my reboots. I typically got a week into it and then failed. Additionally, I put no limits on the food my family was allowed to eat. So there was cereal, crackers, cheese, etc, etc. in the house. Lastly, I gave myself leeway to break the rules from the beginning. I don't think dairy is my issue (I didn't do reintroductions carefully enough to know), so I thought I'd do Whole30+dairy. But giving myself permission to break that rule was a slippery slope.

So this time around, I'm doing it exactly. Family dinners will be completely Whole30 (with school just starting, I'm reluctant to stop the cereal habit with the kids but will work on that one). And I have 5 weeks of meals planned out with everything but the fresh produce already purchased. I do make tweaks along the way but just having that all done makes me breathe easier.

[kathleen237]

Hi Madness,

I'm doing round two too. I'm on Day six. My goals are to improve sleep, energy levels, and my restless leg syndrome. Also to lose maybe 15 lbs. Plus get rid of nagging aches and pains.

I may do longer than 30 days if all goes well. The first round I did, I messed up on the reintroduction--reintroduced too many things too soon. Also, I stopped the Whole 30 just as I was starting to feel really well.

I am trying to be more vigilant about including starchy vegetables every day, as I am prone to low energy and depression. Am just starting to add in exercise today, when I return to the treadmill.

Best of luck to you!

[madness]

The starches were huge for me. Since I was so happy with my weight loss, I was reluctant to go too heavy on them. So in my extended Whole30, I played around a lot. I really only needed them 2 or 3 times a week. But because potatoes weren't a big part of my diet pre-whole30, I just kept forgetting! I'm having a hard time this time around with energy/mood, but it being early days yet, that's likely more the transition than anything else. Still, I'm eating starches every day to start out with.

And I realize this morning that I'm not eating anywhere near enough. I knew I wasn't. I had appetite issues the first time too. But I've been lightheaded and really weak feeling. I think I'm relying on eggs too much and I just simply can't eat 4 eggs at a sitting like I'm supposed to. I'll be making some tweaks again to my meal plan.

[madness]

Day 8:

I'm still in the nap phase!  I'm glad I logged my days here last time so that I can see that I went through this..and survived! I KNOW I'm not eating enough but I've gotten to the point of gagging on food and feeling nauseated for hours afterward. Happened last time and didn't last long. I've got this!

A major difference this time around is that I'm avoiding caffeine entirely. It doesn't seem to be helping me get up in the morning though. Still completely dragging. But this too shall pass!

School was delayed due to flooding from Harvey this morning so we should have had a leisurely morning. Instead, I slept in and still had to rush. I had something to do right after drop off, so breakfast wasn't until 3 or 4 hours after waking. :/  Then I took a 3 hour nap!  Dinner was at the usual time (for the kids' sake) and I had to force myself to eat again. So two meals today. Ugh.

M1: 2 huge duck eggs, sauteed squash, 1/2 tbsp spicy mayo sauce

M2: 2 huge duck eggs in Indian curry (mostly tomato and onion) on kelp noodles with 1/2 tbsp mayo (it was supposed to be cauliflower rice but I took a nap instead of going to the grocery store. My kids love the kelp noodles and I hoped it would encourage me to eat more...but it didn't).

I'm crazy tired, have a headache, and just want the day to be done...at 7 PM. Sigh.

 

 

[madness]

Day 9

Hurray hurray! I did NOT feel like a zombie this morning. Yes, I snoozed the alarm. But my eyes didn't have that terrible gritty feeling, like I had half the sleep I needed. The house smelled AWFUL this morning. We thought it was the dog who has had bad gas lately! But it wasn't going away. Got the kiddos to school and promptly got a call from my dad that my brother was flying unexpectedly into town and needed to borrow the car I was currently borrowing from my dad. Two problems. I had NOT cleaned it out since taking it to the beach. :| And I had promised to get new tires (they were really bad) before giving it back but hadn't done that either. So guess what I did all morning? Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum. And then wait, wait, wait. Why is every single tire place always slammed? Seems like a missed opportunity and I should open a new tire shop in the area...

Anyway, had a breakfast fairly similar to the previous days in size. Got home from the car ordeal (where I drank coffee...hopefully I don't regret that tonight!) and was RAVENOUS. Yeah appetite. I piled my plate full and laughed at myself, thinking there was no way I was finishing it all. But I did! I spent nearly an hour trying to track down The Smell, which was now very reminiscent of something dead, but to no avail. I left all the windows open and fans running to air the house out. I got a teensy bit of work done before school ended. I picked up my kids, plus FIVE others, and we played in the neighborhood creek until dinner time.  That's my kid getting doused by her friends!

While cooking, I noticed The Smell was worse after opening the fridge...which pulls air from behind it. After everything was cleaned up from dinner, I pulled out the fridge. ERP. Dead rat. Nearly lost my delicious dinner!

OH! And no nap today! Yippee! I got ten times more done today than I have the previous 2 days.

M1: 2 eggs and ground beef breakfast taco in a jicama wrap with avocado and spicy mayo. ~1/2 cup sauteed squash and ~1/2 cup potatoes

M2: 2 eggs and ground beef on 2 artichoke hearts and 1 cup sauteed squash with spicy mayo, cucumber slices and tomatoes

M3: Swedish meatballs, roasted okra, skillet potatoes, cucumbers and tomatoes (fat is in the gravy - ghee, olive oil and coconut milk)

 

 

 

[madness]

Coffee is evil. Was up until 2 so only got 4 hours of sleep. BUT, I still woke up easier today than I did on my "nap phase" days. I'll get through!

[madness]

The last two days have been crazy! I also couldn't sleep last night despite avoiding caffeine. I might have gotten 6 hours but I needed to catch up! Ah well. i still felt better than previous days.

Day 11

This morning was a whirlwind. I literally ate my scrambled eggs out of the skillet while standing over the stove and directing kids on how to get ready for school. I had a meeting directly after drop off and then numerous small tasks to accomplish for the rest of the morning. I forgot lunch, so swung by the house and again scarfed my food! The afternoon was a bit more relaxed and I got quite a bit done before picking up the girls from school. We did crafts until it was time for the neighbor kid to go home. That's usually when I start cooking dinner but everyone was STARVING. I hadn't picked up a pork shoulder at the farmers market last night like I was supposed to, so dinner plans were a bust anyway. I let the kids have bowls of cereal (something I won't even let them eat every morning!) and fruit, and I had leftovers. So dinner is done early...but I have a feeling we are all going to be hungry before bed. :/

I really need to start thinking about getting some dedicated exercise in. I'm starting to have the energy for it for sure. I just have to carve out the time! I'm already walking over 5 miles a day because of school drop off/pick up and walking to work (when I can...haven't had the time lately). But I need some serious cardio and some resistance training!

Oh, and I still don't think I'm eating enough. I think I'm *just* eating at the lower limit of the suggested amounts on the template. I have a good appetite at the beginning of a meal, but just can't quite finish off what I think I should be eating. So far energy feels good so I'm not going to stress about it. I'll just make sure I eat until full and allow myself a snack if needed until things really level out.

M1: 3 scrambled eggs (kinda smallish), broccoli and mayo. Not enough veggies but I focused on protein first - didn't have time to finish everything!

M2: palm sized serving of ham, 1 cup sauerkraut, homemade thousand island dressing and an artichoke heart

M3: palm sized serving of Swedish meatballs, roasted broccoli, potatoes

 

[madness]

Oh boy...something I ate today is really messing up my guts!  Or perhaps it's just part of the transition. I've got crazy gas and super rumbly, sometimes painful, tummy. The only thing that I've had different today and not on any of the other whole30 days was ham and sauerkraut. But I've eaten both of those just before starting. And lots of times before that with no symptoms. Sooo....we'll see!

[shillis]

I am struggling with exercise as well. Earlier in the summer I was easily getting my 10,000 steps a day, usually more like 12-15k + was doing 30 minutes of exercise. However, I have really lacked motivation lately. I hope that gets better. I have committed to getting at least 10K steps every day this week. 

Sounds like you had great success in your first round. I know you can stick with it! Your posts have really been helpful for me. 

And where did you get/how you you make jimica wrap? Just peel the jimica in a sheet??? Looks yummy

[madness]

I've tried posting several times over the last week but it keeps "eating" my posts! I've had bad internet connection so I'm blaming it on that.

@shillis, the jicama wraps are just thin slices of it. I buy them from my local grocery, HEB. They are great for everything from breakfast tacos to Asian food to standard ground beef tacos. I love them!

https://www.heb.com/product-detail/fresh-jicama-tortillas/1997448

Things are going well. Let's see...I'm on....

Day 18

I *finally* did real exercise today. I've been walking 5-6 miles a day and doing some pretty intense hiking, but hadn't gone so far as to add running, cycling or lifting...until today! I only ran 2.25 miles and was slllloooooow. About 13 min miles!  Oh well, you gotta start somewhere.

I've been eating on plan and MOSTLY by the template. I had one day that was absolute hell on my schedule and I thought for sure I was going to slip up because of all the craziness and stress. But I managed to scavenge some compliant food, just nowhere near what the template would recommend. It was heavy on the meat, light on veggies and nearly no added fats. But I still felt fine and got back on the template the very next morning.

Oh! Big bonus! We had a huge family gathering for Labor Day. My brother and I are usually the ones to cook for things like that. Turns out he is doing Whole30 too right now!  He's a week behind me and hadn't read through all the tips and tricks here, so I filled him in. Hopefully he'll smooth out some of the wrinkles he's been dealing with. So as it turned out, the ENTIRE Labor Deal spread was Whole30!

Here are two other breakfasts I made over the past week:

 

[shillis]

Ahh, HEB is awesome! I grew up in Texas and it's one of the things I miss most! Meals look yummy 

[madness]

Day 22

Things are going along just great! I'm trying to record my meals but we've been busy busy busy and it just isn't happening. I haven't had any issues that I directly attribute to Whole30 lately, but I still want to log things! Arg! I *do* have one weird thing happening. I've developed a rash near my mouth. Dr. Internet points to fluoridated toothpaste. I'm on prescription super-fluoridated stuff. I'm going to use non-fluoridated for a week and see how that goes. If no change, I'll be off to a dermatologist. And I want a food log in case anything might be a trigger! 

Exercise is going well. As well as an out-of-shape person can expect!  I'm doing Stronglifts 5x5 weight training, which I've done in the past, as well as a Couch to 5k program. It feels like a painfully slow build-up as I can already run 5k without "stopping" (but going REALLY slow!), but the idea is to improve and supposedly the program will do that better than just running a whole lot with no real "program" (I haven't ever trained to run before, just run for sports and more recently to burn calories). I find the app super annoying though. I may switch to another one...

I'm also hiking a lot more. The weather is cooling off so I want to be outside as much as possible! Every Friday I take my kids and usually several others from the neighborhood on a 2 mile hike (usually with a playground or other "destination" about a mile in for a long snack break). It's pretty leisurely, but we are getting out there! On Sundays I've added a more strenuous hike with just my kids (who are used to longer/harder hikes). Yesterday we did a 4.5 mile hike including a 100 foot vertical scramble out of a creek bed. It was intense! My GPS tracking program glitched partway through but I think we averaged a 2 mph pace, which isn't bad given the rough terrain and the ages (5 and 7) of my kids. I was certainly thoroughly tired by the end! And the girls are really excited to keep up the new routine and are already talking about what adventure we will go on next week.

And I think my pants are looser, too.

 

 

[madness]

Ok, here's the recap off Day 22, complete with food log.

AM: Week 1, Day 2 of Couch to 5K. I managed to screw up both the alerts for run/walk as well as the Mapmyrun app to see how far I went. 

M1: 3 scrambled eggs, sauteed peppers and onions with cilantro ranch. (pictured above) Could have used some more veggies.

Walked the kiddos to school and back (~1 mile)

M2: Duck egg salad, sprinkled with spicy pecans, with cucumber chips. I think it was 2 eggs worth...couldn't finish it. Felt kinda queasy.

Walked to school and back (~1 mile). Walked neighbor kid home (~0.5 mile)

M3: Mutta molee (coconut egg curry) with broccoli. I had 1.5 duck eggs. These are large eggs, but I should probably still be eating 3 of them. Felt REALLY queasy afterwards.

I'm trying to have a vegetarian day each week. I think I might be getting "egged out" though.  I feel fine this morning. I'm having leftovers today...so we'll see...

STEPS: 14,776

Slept 9 hours!

[madness]

Yesterday was Day 23!

Did Stronglifts 5x5…had to drop my barbell row weight. But I think it was more for form sake than strength. So hopefully I go back to my previous weight soon.

We were in a massive rush this morning. I read a lot of comments here about people who don’t have time for breakfast. Well, I didn’t have time. So I scrambled eggs, which I ate out of the skillet, and carrots from the bag dipped in ranch. While standing over the stove, dressing children, finding library books, and packing lunches. You *do* have time for breakfast!

Walked the kiddos to school and then walked myself to work. I’ll be walking to work (just another ½ mile farther than school) as often as possible. I frequently use the excuse that I don’t have time…but it takes just as long to walk back home, goof around and finally get out the door! But I do need to get my act together a little faster so we aren’t in a big rush in the mornings again.

Lunch was leftover egg salad. I thought I would be hungry so brought some jerky as well, but couldn't eat it. I felt fine, just full. So I think I was "off" yesterday and not truly having an issue with eggs since 2 of my meals were eggs today.

Walked home, grabbed the car and drove to the school so we could play in the creek and have a quick return home with wet, tired kids. So I barely got in enough steps today.  Glad I walked to work!

I was planning on hamburgers for dinner. When my 5 yr old, Noodles, saw the ground beef, she was so excited we were having meatballs! She hates hamburgers but loves swedish meatballs...but I wasn't in the mood for them. I asked if she wanted to have meatballs without the sauce. She agreed. While she was making them (her favorite part!), I asked if we could squish them flat...she agreed! So we had super tiny hamburgers with nutmeg and allspice seasoning! I went ahead and put them on 1/4 slice of bread buns for the kids with mayo and ketchup. They LOVED them, even the hamburger-hating one!

Got the kids to bed and still had energy for some housework. I'm certainly hitting a higher energy phase!

I need to get to the farmers market to expand my veggie selection!

M1: 3 scrambled eggs, carrots, ranch

M2: 2 duck egg salad (loads of mayo), veggie crudites

M3: Palm worth of ground beef with saukraut, grilled onion and homemade thousand island, skillet potatoes and veggie crudites with mayo dip.

Steps: 10,119

[madness]

Day 29!

We went camping this weekend and I tried out some backpacking recipes for an upcoming trip next weekend. I'm going to be Whole30 for that trip. The homemade powdered eggs with bacon and sun-dried tomatoes was absolutely amazing!!! The chicken and vegetable soup was also delicious but the three of us could barely finish the 7 oz foil pack of chicken and it will just be me next weekend, so that's out. I HATE all the jerky brands we tried that were compliant. If I don't have time to make my own, I might just get my favorite brand that does have sugar (I'll be past the 30 days!).

I'm starting to think about Life After Whole30. I really do want to continue on in more of a 90/10 fashion. What do I miss? I miss peanut oil for my homemade mayo. I miss not having anxiety over being invited to and ordering from a restaurant. I don't miss the foods on the menu I *know* I can't eat, I just miss not worrying about canola oil, butter, sugar in the dressings, etc. I also miss eating everything my family farm produces and that means legumes. We have cow peas right now. I miss the occasional glass of wine. But I'm afraid that's where the slippery slope starts for me. (It's not so "occasional" when I'm not pushing to be healthy)

Last time I had no reactions to foods in the short term after the Whole30. It took months for my issues to creep back. So I'm not worried about digestive upsets, bloating, achy, etc, etc.

My plan is to go to "relaxed" Whole30 for the time being. I've been invited to dinner on Day 31. I will order the most compliant sounding thing on the menu and not give the waiter the third degree.  Day 33-35 is my backpacking trip which will possibly contain sugar if I can't get the jerky thing figured out. Day 36 and 37 will be at a conference with included food, so again I will go for the obvious options but not sweat the oil, butter, etc. And then after that I may spend another few weeks on the relaxed Whole30 and adding in single food groups if the mood strikes. I'll avoid alcohol for a bit longer. And honestly, besides the legumes and the ease of eating out, I'm really not missing much this time. CHEESE was all I could think about last time. 

I'm still exercising plenty. I do weights and cardio on alternating days. Or lengthy hikes if camping! I did injure my shoulder (rotator cuff?  ) while swimming a lot this weekend. I couldn't bench last night without it hurting badly. Took that as a sign to skip that exercise. I need to come up with a plan to get that healed up! Not sure if I should 100% rest or just do lighter exercises...

Anyway, all is going well. Much like last time, the whole routine has become old hat and I'm just trucking along. So nice to not have to concentrate on what I'm eating so constantly!

[madness]

I finished out the Whole30. Much like last time, I don't think 30 days is really enough for me. But I did notice some differences. Scanning the checklist, this is what I've come up with:

Physical (outside):

- glowing skin/fewer blemishes: HA! I have a recurring rash on my face and some acne. Grrr.

- strong nails: check!

- fresher breath: YEAH RIGHT! My breath stinks all the time, just like last time.

- flatter stomach: yep!

 

Physical (inside):

- less stiff/painful joints: maybe...

 

Mood, Emotion, Psychology:

- happier, optimistic, less stressed, etc. YAY!

 

Food and Behaviors:

- I don't feel a big change in my relationship to food. I did the first time, so maybe it's just that I already knew where I would get to?

 

Others:

- better sleep!

- more energy!

- need less caffeine?!?! I'm re-addicted to coffee. Odd.

- started exercise!

 

So certainly not a waste of 30 days. Oh, and I lost 8 lbs. Last time I lost 12 in the first month! But I was also 30 lbs heavier.

And what did I do on Day 31? Have cookies and milk. Sigh. It wasn't even planned. Convoluted story, but it was supposed to be dinner with a friend and ended up being a picnic with cookies.

I went back to strict for the next handful of days (even on my backpacking trip!) but then went to the conference. I drank wine and had pie for dessert..and threw up!  I did drink quite a bit but I can't remember the last time I drank enough to throw up...college? So I'm sure it was a combo of factors. The next day, our lunch spot had nothing even close to compliant, so I said "oh well" and ordered Pad Thai. Not only was it disgusting but I felt like I was going to throw up the rest of the afternoon.

So now I'm debating on what to do. Do another Whole30, or just a week or so of strict before trying reintroductions? I really really want to do reintro properly and figure out what my "bad foods" are. I guess I can take it one day at a time and see how I feel in a week. I actually feel pretty much better now so a week might do it.

Oh, and my other brother and his wife are starting on Friday!! I might have convinced my mom to try the vegetarian version as well.