September 18 start date

[Mike5858]

Happy Day 29 everybody!   I'm almost through with the "Food Freedom Forever" book, and I believe that's sort of what I'm going to stick too.  I've learned a lot on this journey, that's for sure.  Hard to believe tomorrow is day 30!  My wife and I are going to reintroduce grains on Wednesday, with maybe some toast at breakfast and bakery fresh Italian bread with dinner.  Then Saturday (after hoping the bread doesn't have a bad effect), we will have our first drink in over a month.  That's going to be it for our reintroductions.  The rest will be slow roll, or not at all.  My wife already knows that she doesn't do well with dairy, and other than a little cheese, and the occasional bowl of ice cream, I don't eat much of it.  We do not eat soy (other than soy sauce, that's been easy to give up), and will look for it in my label reading.  Beans, other than occasional Mexican food, aren't a problem, and we will cross that bridge when we get to it.  That leaves the sugar dragon, which has been our biggest obstacle.  This will continue to take focus, but I know my cravings are under control for now, and I know how to deal with them when the occasion rises.  I'm looking forward to continued clean eating and exploring more cooking.  Last night I made "Pan Seared Scallops with Bacon over sauted Swiss Chard".  It was a huge hit, with my wife even posting it on Facebook.  Now our friends fall into two camps.  The wives think it's great and are jealous, and the husbands hate me and are calling for my "man card".  LOL  I'm still laughing as I type this!  

Have a great day everyone.  I'm so proud of each one of you!

Mike

[Mike5858]

On 10/14/2017 at 7:16 PM, kirbz said:

For those of you who have expressed an interest in keto, you may find this link helpful: https://keto.paleoleap.com/?__s=rmhcmk97mv16qziwo5fc. 

My sweet little Inka (my 14-month old GSP) and I did a 9-mile hike today. It was wonderful to be outside again and I felt strong and happy! I had some turkey and almond butter as a snack along the way. 

I can't believe I only have one more day. Tomorrow is Day 30 for me! Though I think I'm going to try adding on a week... Why am I doing that to myself!? LOL. I do think I'm slightly terrified of reintroduction and falling back into bad habits... 

It's so great that you're day 30 was yesterday!  That's SO cool.  What are you reintroducing first?

[dmrob2009]

8 minutes ago, SineadMon said:

Hey everyone! I'm still here - Day 22 for me and I'm so so proud of you all for getting so close to the finish line. It's so inspirational and I'm definitely ready to rock through this week and meet you all on my Day 30!

I had such a crazy weekend that I didn't get a chance to log in here and touch base until this morning. Happy belated birthday @Svmomma! A lot seems to have happened on the thread and I too hope that we can keep the same encouragement up despite some intrusion from moderators. @SugarcubeOD we all understand the great voluntary role of moderators, but some more empathy and a more supportive tone would be helpful, especially as many of us are asking genuine questions off one another to ensure success on this program, not to undermine the rules. As @CorgiLover said, we are all adults here trying to source more information, not trying to bend the rules.

So this weekend, my boyfriend and I ate out three times - on Friday I was quite nervous about the weekend because I didn't really know where we would go or what we would do and so i was worried that I would be put in a situation where I didn't have many options or was unable to make the meal compliant. But I had some nuts and fruit down my bag in case I just couldn't eat anything but was positive about giving it a go. It worked out great, but we both agreed last night that cooking meals at home is so much more fun!

I do feel a little tired of everything right now - the prepping and planning - but from watching all of your success, I know I need to finish this and get through the next week. @Tj V and @dmrob2009, thanks so much for the keto information. I agree it is something that we all need to be cautious about, especially as it seems to be a new diet plan people go into without enough information or preparation, but I think I'm feeling more like @Mike5858 right now - I'm starting to see my own psychological behavior around food and will reintro to see what really doesn't suit my body, and then keep the 'treats' to a minimum. 

Hope you all have a great start to Day 29!!!!

 

Hang in there, @SineadMon.  You've reached the "I'm so over this" phase... means you're almost through!  If it makes you feel any better, the last week is going by very quickly for me.  What do you plan to reintroduce on day 31?  Way to plan for food emergencies and I agree with your boyfriend, eating at home is so much more pleasant while doing this!

[Svmomma]

Well put @SineadMon!! I just was trying to suggest a different tact is more helpful.  Volunteer or not, your words can matter.  And I agree with @CorgiLover that we are all adults and I love that this group does a great job at encouraging as well as tenderly making suggestions.  Sorry thought if the tone changed for a bit because of my comment, but appreciate the camaraderie of the group.

Thanks for the well wishes for my birthday.  My family did a nice job letting me rest and spoiling me a bit.  They made me Thai Chicken over zoodles   

@SineadMon you're definitely in the window when many of us were tired of it all.  You're also in the window of gaining back some energy.  So hopefully watching us reintroduce in a couple days will keep you motivated as well!  

Personally I get a little freaked out about the Keto stuff, but I don't have a big weight loss goal so I don't have a similar point of reference.  I've watched a friend go through so many differing food manipulations that I think her systems just doesn't know which end is up.  She's skinny as a rail, and doing for insomnia mainly.  I have a sneaky suspicion though insomnia could be result of years of fooling with diet, plus life.  What I liked about Whole30 was how close it was to normal eating, fun/new recipes, and a check in on groups of foods and their particular affects.  

Happy day 29 everyone!!

[dmrob2009]

3 minutes ago, Mike5858 said:

Happy Day 29 everybody!   I'm almost through with the "Food Freedom Forever" book, and I believe that's sort of what I'm going to stick too.  I've learned a lot on this journey, that's for sure.  Hard to believe tomorrow is day 30!  My wife and I are going to reintroduce grains on Wednesday, with maybe some toast at breakfast and bakery fresh Italian bread with dinner.  Then Saturday (after hoping the bread doesn't have a bad effect), we will have our first drink in over a month.  That's going to be it for our reintroductions.  The rest will be slow roll, or not at all.  My wife already knows that she doesn't do well with dairy, and other than a little cheese, and the occasional bowl of ice cream, I don't eat much of it.  We do not eat soy (other than soy sauce, that's been easy to give up), and will look for it in my label reading.  Beans, other than occasional Mexican food, aren't a problem, and we will cross that bridge when we get to it.  That leaves the sugar dragon, which has been our biggest obstacle.  This will continue to take focus, but I know my cravings are under control for now, and I know how to deal with them when the occasion rises.  I'm looking forward to continued clean eating and exploring more cooking.  Last night I made "Pan Seared Scallops with Bacon over sauted Swiss Chard".  It was a huge hit, with my wife even posting it on Facebook.  Now our friends fall into two camps.  The wives think it's great and are jealous, and the husbands hate me and are calling for my "man card".  LOL  I'm still laughing as I type this!  

Have a great day everyone.  I'm so proud of each one of you!

Mike

@Mike5858 That is hysterical.  Sounds like you all have a super-solid plan.  I can totally relate to the fear of sugar.  I love to bake and I consider myself to be very good at it.  I have a tendency to sample the goods (broken cookies, extra cupcakes, the dome on the cakes after leveling... sigh.  Things are going to have to change in th area, because I just don't make good food decisions after consuming sugar.  

PS Is that scallops recipe something that you can share?  I'd love it, if so!

[Svmomma]

5 minutes ago, Mike5858 said:

Happy Day 29 everybody!   I'm almost through with the "Food Freedom Forever" book, and I believe that's sort of what I'm going to stick too.  I've learned a lot on this journey, that's for sure.  Hard to believe tomorrow is day 30!  My wife and I are going to reintroduce grains on Wednesday, with maybe some toast at breakfast and bakery fresh Italian bread with dinner.  Then Saturday (after hoping the bread doesn't have a bad effect), we will have our first drink in over a month.  That's going to be it for our reintroductions.  The rest will be slow roll, or not at all.  My wife already knows that she doesn't do well with dairy, and other than a little cheese, and the occasional bowl of ice cream, I don't eat much of it.  We do not eat soy (other than soy sauce, that's been easy to give up), and will look for it in my label reading.  Beans, other than occasional Mexican food, aren't a problem, and we will cross that bridge when we get to it.  That leaves the sugar dragon, which has been our biggest obstacle.  This will continue to take focus, but I know my cravings are under control for now, and I know how to deal with them when the occasion rises.  I'm looking forward to continued clean eating and exploring more cooking.  Last night I made "Pan Seared Scallops with Bacon over sauted Swiss Chard".  It was a huge hit, with my wife even posting it on Facebook.  Now our friends fall into two camps.  The wives think it's great and are jealous, and the husbands hate me and are calling for my "man card".  LOL  I'm still laughing as I type this!  

Have a great day everyone.  I'm so proud of each one of you!

Mike

The 'man card' made me giggle!  I'm pretty sure my DH would've done it with me if I'd asked, but he too would've heard a few 'man card' jokes as his brothers in particular are out and out homophobic.  Next round!

[kirbz]

3 hours ago, Mike5858 said:

It's so great that you're day 30 was yesterday!  That's SO cool.  What are you reintroducing first?

Well, I'm honestly not going to reintroduce anything yet! LOL. I think I'm slightly terrified to stop the program. One, because I haven't yet seen any energy gains at all so I want to stick with it a little longer to see if I can get there. And two, I'm afraid I'll just totally go off the rails again and I like the results I'm seeing so... 

So for now, I'm going to do another week. My fiance just started his Day 1 today so we'll go through this journey for a little bit together. We'll see how I feel then. When I do introduce, I'll follow the guidelines in the book, which I think is legumes, then non-gluten grains, then dairy, then gluten grains. 

Honestly though, I'm most looking forward to trying some Paloe desserts! Which is probably why I need to stick with this a little bit longer... LOL. 

Good luck on your last two days everyone!! 

[SugarcubeOD]

3 hours ago, SineadMon said:

A lot seems to have happened on the thread and I too hope that we can keep the same encouragement up despite some intrusion from moderators. @SugarcubeOD we all understand the great voluntary role of moderators, but some more empathy and a more supportive tone would be helpful, especially as many of us are asking genuine questions off one another to ensure success on this program, not to undermine the rules. As @CorgiLover said, we are all adults here trying to source more information, not trying to bend the rules

I think this issue can be put to bed now but I would like to say that the moderators are not 'intruding' on the threads, we've been tasked with this job by Melissa herself.

[dmrob2009]

4 minutes ago, kirbz said:

Well, I'm honestly not going to reintroduce anything yet! LOL. I think I'm slightly terrified to stop the program. One, because I haven't yet seen any energy gains at all so I want to stick with it a little longer to see if I can get there. And two, I'm afraid I'll just totally go off the rails again and I like the results I'm seeing so... 

So for now, I'm going to do another week. My fiance just started his Day 1 today so we'll go through this journey for a little bit together. We'll see how I feel then. When I do introduce, I'll follow the guidelines in the book, which I think is legumes, then non-gluten grains, then dairy, then gluten grains. 

Honestly though, I'm most looking forward to trying some Paloe desserts! Which is probably why I need to stick with this a little bit longer... LOL. 

Good luck on your last two days everyone!! 

Thank you!

Mmmmm... I love the paleo desserts.  Awesome that you are going for another week AND that your fiance is following suit.  See how inspiring this healthful lifestyle is?   Awesome!

[Svmomma]

8 minutes ago, kirbz said:

Well, I'm honestly not going to reintroduce anything yet! LOL. I think I'm slightly terrified to stop the program. One, because I haven't yet seen any energy gains at all so I want to stick with it a little longer to see if I can get there. And two, I'm afraid I'll just totally go off the rails again and I like the results I'm seeing so... 

So for now, I'm going to do another week. My fiance just started his Day 1 today so we'll go through this journey for a little bit together. We'll see how I feel then. When I do introduce, I'll follow the guidelines in the book, which I think is legumes, then non-gluten grains, then dairy, then gluten grains. 

Honestly though, I'm most looking forward to trying some Paloe desserts! Which is probably why I need to stick with this a little bit longer... LOL. 

Good luck on your last two days everyone!! 

Way to power on @kirbz!

[Mike5858]

4 hours ago, dmrob2009 said:

@Mike5858 That is hysterical.  Sounds like you all have a super-solid plan.  I can totally relate to the fear of sugar.  I love to bake and I consider myself to be very good at it.  I have a tendency to sample the goods (broken cookies, extra cupcakes, the dome on the cakes after leveling... sigh.  Things are going to have to change in th area, because I just don't make good food decisions after consuming sugar.  

PS Is that scallops recipe something that you can share?  I'd love it, if so!

I typed the whole thing out, but realized most of it (not all, I modified it) was from a recipe in the W30 cookbook, so I deleted my post for being in violation of the forum rules.  You can probably Google it.  Sorry about that, the rules say they can kick you off the site for copyright infringement for posting something from the books.  

 

[Mike5858]

1 hour ago, kirbz said:

Well, I'm honestly not going to reintroduce anything yet! LOL. I think I'm slightly terrified to stop the program. One, because I haven't yet seen any energy gains at all so I want to stick with it a little longer to see if I can get there. And two, I'm afraid I'll just totally go off the rails again and I like the results I'm seeing so... 

So for now, I'm going to do another week. My fiance just started his Day 1 today so we'll go through this journey for a little bit together. We'll see how I feel then. When I do introduce, I'll follow the guidelines in the book, which I think is legumes, then non-gluten grains, then dairy, then gluten grains. 

Honestly though, I'm most looking forward to trying some Paloe desserts! Which is probably why I need to stick with this a little bit longer... LOL. 

Good luck on your last two days everyone!! 

That's great you're doing it with your fiancee!  Good luck as you drive forward.  It's easier to do the program with a real life partner and online friends I think.  

[SineadMon]

hi guys, I've just printed out the Whole30 NSV list and am excited about filling it in later. I know I still have over a week to go but I think it'll be good for me to keep on track. Also, I kinda feel the same as you @kirbz, i was hoping to see more weightloss... I haven't been weighing myself so I'm just going off my clothes to figure this out. But I want to show myself that I've had some really great benefits on this too rather than just a few pounds down. I think if I just wanted until my Day30 I'd stand on the scale and be upset that this is the only outcome, whereas using the NSV list I think it'll help show the full range. Has anyone else been using it?

[Mike5858]

1 hour ago, SugarcubeOD said:

I think this issue can be put to bed now but I would like to say that the moderators are not 'intruding' on the threads, we've been tasked with this job by Melissa herself.

Thank you for reminding us of this useful information.  We will try to remember it at all times.  

[Mike5858]

12 minutes ago, SineadMon said:

hi guys, I've just printed out the Whole30 NSV list and am excited about filling it in later. I know I still have over a week to go but I think it'll be good for me to keep on track. Also, I kinda feel the same as you @kirbz, i was hoping to see more weightloss... I haven't been weighing myself so I'm just going off my clothes to figure this out. But I want to show myself that I've had some really great benefits on this too rather than just a few pounds down. I think if I just wanted until my Day30 I'd stand on the scale and be upset that this is the only outcome, whereas using the NSV list I think it'll help show the full range. Has anyone else been using it?

I was going to do the same thing.  the program has not been a complete "miracle" for me, but it has helped a lot in many areas.  For example, I used to sleep good one or two nights a week, now it's like 5 or 6!  So, although ideally, I love it to be seven nights of great sleep, I'll take 5 or 6 nights over where I was anyday!  I'm going to fill out the full list on Wednesday morning.  I didn't weigh myself before we started, so i really don't know where I am weight wise, but I must be down some, because my pants and shirts fit better.  You're doing great, hang in there!

[kirbz]

YES, the NSV list is great! Take a look and keep reminding yourself of all the things you're accomplishing! 

I took a look at the NSV list about halfway through the program during a time I was feeling particularly discouraged that I wasn't seeing the specific results that I wanted to see. It was nice to be able to check off a number of items even though I felt like I hadn't accomplished anything! 

I'll be doing that exercise again, along with weighing and measuring myself this evening as a wrap-up to my 30 days (even though I've decided to go longer). I can say, I lost 14 pounds and my clothes are quite a bit looser though! It wasn't my primary goal at all but it has been a nice consolation prize for not having better energy or mental clarity! :-) 

[CorgiLover]

I got some sleep and am in a better mood today.   I can't believe it has been almost 30 days already, either.  I had two restaurant meals over the weekend, one was easy and one was a challenge.  The first was a lunch with my cousin before I took him to the airport.  Wine wasn't an issue, because it was lunch and we were in a hurry.  We went to a chain (Bonefish Grill) where I was able to get a salad with grilled shrimp on it, with unsweetened tea.  No prob.  The other, though, was a little different.  I was meeting some friends from out of town, we had initially decided to go to House of Blues.  I had already looked up the menu and figured out what to get, so felt good about it.  The plans abruptly changed and we ended up at Pat O'Brien's.  A lot of rich food, with rice, sausages, all kinds of things to get into trouble with.  My fav dish there is shrimp and grits, with a very rich cream sauce, and one of my friends ordered it.  Another ordered the jambalaya.  I was amazed I was able to go through the menu and choose something quickly that was as compliant as I could get (it was a nice dinner with friends, and the place was very busy, so I didn't grill the waitstaff about oils and such.)  Grilled shrimp, roasted vegs, and bare salad.  I also passed on the wine, since I had an hour and a half drive home, but that was tempting.  

I'm looking at what I'll do for reintro.  I want/need to lose about 45-50 pounds, I'm going to Peru in March for a medical mission, and we are going to stay over a few days extra to go to Machu Picchu.  I know it will be a lot of walking/trekking, and I want to enjoy it as much as possible.  I didn't do w30 to lose weight, but I've lost a bit.  Not enough to fall out of my clothes, but just enough to make them looser.  I debated, and have done a fair amount of reading, and am going to go into Paleo after reintro.  I'm reading Loren Cordain's The Paleo Diet, and will likely follow that pretty closely.  For reintro, I'm going to add grains first on Wednesday.  I didn't really think I wanted to add grains back at all, until I saw those shrimp with grits.  I love grits, so will try that Wednesday morning before driving twelve hours to my mother's house.  I will be there a week, should be easy as she is badly sensitive to gluten, and elderly, and I do the cooking when I am there.  It's usually chicken breasts and eggs, and gluten free grits at breakfast.  I may have them again on Thursday, if I feel okay, then just w30 Friday.  If I'm okay by Sat, I'll be at my niece's house with a gang to watch football, so I will make guac and veggies to take and try some wine then.  W30 Sunday, and Monday, and Tuesday driving back.  Then I'll see where I stand.  Not sure I even want to add back dairy right now, nor sweeteners.  I'm so proud of all of us for sticking through this!

[dmrob2009]

2 hours ago, Mike5858 said:

I typed the whole thing out, but realized most of it (not all, I modified it) was from a recipe in the W30 cookbook, so I deleted my post for being in violation of the forum rules.  You can probably Google it.  Sorry about that, the rules say they can kick you off the site for copyright infringement for posting something from the books.  

 

I have the book.  Is it the recipe with blueberries... in the fancy pants section?

[dmrob2009]

19 minutes ago, CorgiLover said:

I got some sleep and am in a better mood today.   I can't believe it has been almost 30 days already, either.  I had two restaurant meals over the weekend, one was easy and one was a challenge.  The first was a lunch with my cousin before I took him to the airport.  Wine wasn't an issue, because it was lunch and we were in a hurry.  We went to a chain (Bonefish Grill) where I was able to get a salad with grilled shrimp on it, with unsweetened tea.  No prob.  The other, though, was a little different.  I was meeting some friends from out of town, we had initially decided to go to House of Blues.  I had already looked up the menu and figured out what to get, so felt good about it.  The plans abruptly changed and we ended up at Pat O'Brien's.  A lot of rich food, with rice, sausages, all kinds of things to get into trouble with.  My fav dish there is shrimp and grits, with a very rich cream sauce, and one of my friends ordered it.  Another ordered the jambalaya.  I was amazed I was able to go through the menu and choose something quickly that was as compliant as I could get (it was a nice dinner with friends, and the place was very busy, so I didn't grill the waitstaff about oils and such.)  Grilled shrimp, roasted vegs, and bare salad.  I also passed on the wine, since I had an hour and a half drive home, but that was tempting.  

I'm looking at what I'll do for reintro.  I want/need to lose about 45-50 pounds, I'm going to Peru in March for a medical mission, and we are going to stay over a few days extra to go to Machu Picchu.  I know it will be a lot of walking/trekking, and I want to enjoy it as much as possible.  I didn't do w30 to lose weight, but I've lost a bit.  Not enough to fall out of my clothes, but just enough to make them looser.  I debated, and have done a fair amount of reading, and am going to go into Paleo after reintro.  I'm reading Loren Cordain's The Paleo Diet, and will likely follow that pretty closely.  For reintro, I'm going to add grains first on Wednesday.  I didn't really think I wanted to add grains back at all, until I saw those shrimp with grits.  I love grits, so will try that Wednesday morning before driving twelve hours to my mother's house.  I will be there a week, should be easy as she is badly sensitive to gluten, and elderly, and I do the cooking when I am there.  It's usually chicken breasts and eggs, and gluten free grits at breakfast.  I may have them again on Thursday, if I feel okay, then just w30 Friday.  If I'm okay by Sat, I'll be at my niece's house with a gang to watch football, so I will make guac and veggies to take and try some wine then.  W30 Sunday, and Monday, and Tuesday driving back.  Then I'll see where I stand.  Not sure I even want to add back dairy right now, nor sweeteners.  I'm so proud of all of us for sticking through this!

Always a good feeling to overcome the Whoe 30 restaurant hurdles!

[Mike5858]

2 hours ago, dmrob2009 said:

I have the book.  Is it the recipe with blueberries... in the fancy pants section?

It's in the Whole 30 cookbook (pg 202), not the recipe section of the "book".  The cookbook is well worth the $$, I think the recipes are better and more interesting than the ones that come with the regular book (not that those aren't good).

[dmrob2009]

Just now, Mike5858 said:

It's in the Whole 30 cookbook (pg 202), not the recipe section of the "book".  The cookbook is well worth the $$, I think the recipes are better and more interesting than the ones that come with the regular book (not that those aren't good).

Ahhh, okay.  I thought about buying that.  Thanks!

[kirbz]

Oh. My. Goodness. Today was the toughest day yet. I've had in my head for a while that I would do this for longer than 30 days but, wow, I wanted to eat any and everything that is bad for me tonight. Walmart was a minefield! LOL. I almost talked myself into buying a candy bar. Or some ice cream! I wondered why I was doing this. I wondered whether it was worth it. Why eat so healthy all the time if you don't get to really enjoy what you're eating?!

So yeah, it was tough. But I stuck with it. I'm going to keep on this for at least another week. Clearly I haven't built enough control yet! 

 

[Tj V]

I'm definitely going to do the 21 day transformation after this. I considered the Keto Reset after that, both by Mark Sisson, but honestly, didn't think I could get through the holidays and be 100% compliant and when you are on Keto, you really have to be 100% compliant or your sabotaging your efforts. So, 21 day transformation and then probably Primal through the holidays. Once the first of the year hits, I'll do 21 day transformation again, then right in to the Keto Reset. 
I've got about 40 pounds I want to lose and I'm really hoping to reset that metabolism and keep it going for the duration of my life! 
It's been great getting to share this journey with all of you! Don't know if I'll pop back on here, but I might, from time to time. I wish you all the very best and thanks again for all the support! 

[dmrob2009]

1 hour ago, Tj V said:

I'm definitely going to do the 21 day transformation after this. I considered the Keto Reset after that, both by Mark Sisson, but honestly, didn't think I could get through the holidays and be 100% compliant and when you are on Keto, you really have to be 100% compliant or your sabotaging your efforts. So, 21 day transformation and then probably Primal through the holidays. Once the first of the year hits, I'll do 21 day transformation again, then right in to the Keto Reset. 
I've got about 40 pounds I want to lose and I'm really hoping to reset that metabolism and keep it going for the duration of my life! 
It's been great getting to share this journey with all of you! Don't know if I'll pop back on here, but I might, from time to time. I wish you all the very best and thanks again for all the support! 

@Tj V That's the only PBP book that I purchased, aside from a cookbook, and it was great because each day is spelled out for you.  You read to a certain point in the book and then you have a set of action items each day to accomplish, with a worksheet to complete.   When we did the 21-Day challenge, we were careful to do all of the stuff to improve circadian rhythms, including f.lux for the computers, yellow bug lighting at night or yellow tinted range glasses, no TV at night, etc.  Felt like a million bucks. I've never done a keto reset before, but I can understand why you'd not want to do that over the holidays.  Marksdailyapple.com has lots of wonderful resources for holiday food, the walnut crusted pumpkin pie being my favorite and we've used that one every year since 2012.  I wish you all the best with your weight loss endeavor, @Tj V.  I'm sure you will be successful.  I hope you stick around for reintro! Thank you for inviting me to this thread, as it's been instrumental in getting me through this round of Whole 30!

[Tj V]

1 minute ago, dmrob2009 said:

@Tj V That's the only PBP book that I purchased, aside from a cookbook, and it was great because each day is spelled out for you.  You read to a certain point in the book and then you have a set of action items each day to accomplish, with a worksheet to complete.   When we did the 21-Day challenge, we were careful to do all of the stuff to improve circadian rhythms, including f.lux for the computers, yellow bug lighting at night or yellow tinted range glasses, no TV at night, etc.  Felt like a million bucks. I've never done a keto reset before, but I can understand why you'd not want to do that over the holidays.  Marksdailyapple.com has lots of wonderful resources for holiday food, the walnut crusted pumpkin pie being my favorite and we've used that one every year since 2012.  I wish you all the best with your weight loss endeavor, @Tj V.  I'm sure you will be successful.  I hope you stick around for reintro! Thank you for inviting me to this thread, as it's been instrumental in getting me through this round of Whole 30!

You are most welcome!! I'm so glad you took me up on the invitation! Ya, I think I will stick around. You are all a great bunch and it's nice to have support. So you purchased the 21 day transformation book? I did not follow the worksheets when I did it before, but now that you've said how helpful it was, I think I'll try to do that. I believe you mentioned before that you had pretty good success with going Primal in the past, is that correct? Not at all sure about no t.v. at night. That's a biggie in this household. We basically do not turn the t.v. on until after dinner and that is the time we enjoy our programs. I really don't know if I could get my 81 year old mom on board with that. I do take Melatonin every night, so if I managed to do as you did and as the book suggests, perhaps I wouldn't have to take that stuff. Of course, I also have to take tylenol and ibuprofen for my back and neck...to many years of wearing a gun belt for work and whiplash injury which never really healed from a car wreck last year. No takey pills, no sleepy. 
That walnut crusted pumpkin pie sounds heavenly! I'll check it out!