Starting October 28

[finntx]

Hi,

After a few failed attempts, I'm committing to start on October 28th. I have a friend joining me and feel that will be very helpful. I definitely need a reset on my system and feel fed up enough of my current diet and the issues I'm having. Nice to meet you all!

 

[finntx]

Day 1 went very well. I held strong on avoiding Halloween candy, even when my husband forgot and offered me a piece. I've done a lot of prep work to make grab and go food very easy. 

I realized today that our office Thanksgiving Lunch will be right in the middle of this Whole30. I'm brainstorming ideas on how to stay on plan.

[ShannonM816]

4 hours ago, finntx said:

I realized today that our office Thanksgiving Lunch will be right in the middle of this Whole30. I'm brainstorming ideas on how to stay on plan.

Is it potluck, or catered? If it's potluck, bring a dish that you can have to share, and pack yourself a meal so that if there's nothing else being offered that you can eat, you can still sit and eat with your coworkers. If it's catered, talk to the person in charge of ordering and see what they're planning to order, see if there's going to be anything you can have -- and then if there are some things you can have, bring what you need to to make a complete meal for yourself, or if there's nothing you can have, again, pack your own lunch and just join your coworkers for the meal. 

If it's at a restaurant, find out which restaurant, do some research, figure out if there's anything on the menu that will work for you or anything you can special order easily -- if there is, great, order that. If there's not, eat before you go, have some coffee or tea and maybe a salad or fruit just to have some food in front of you, and enjoy visiting with your coworkers. 

The point in group meals is more about being together as a group, not what you eat. It may feel weird to be eating something other than what everyone else is eating, but if you don't make a big deal of it, they won't either. If someone asks, have an answer prepared -- "I'm doing this elimination diet to see if food affects (insert whatever here, sleep or skin problems or digestive issues or joint paint or whatever), so I have to be careful what I eat right now" for instance, and then change the subject -- ask them about their kids or their plans for the holidays or whatever is appropriate for that person. 

 

[finntx]

All great ideas, Thank you! It is half catered / half pot luck. They cater the main (turkey, stuffing, etc.). Everyone pot lucks the rest. I always love cooking for people so I am excited to find a compliant recipe to bring. It will be a huge test on willpower to avoid desserts but I think I can do it.

 

[Mizeliss]

AWESOME !!

How is day 2 going.  I had a hard time yesterday as I am going through sugar withdrawals. There were cookies at a meeting this morning and I passed on them. I made some soups and meal prepped for some tasty salads for lunch. I also made homemade pesto !

 

[finntx]

Day 2 went pretty well. I realized I need to focus on adding fats to my meals. I was hungry a lot yesterday but think it was due to that. I added half an avocado to my breakfast this morning and felt much more satisfied after eating than I did yesterday. 

My major win yesterday was that my routine was thrown by having to pick my son up from daycare early due to a fever. This can be a disaster as I am driving home past all the fast food restaurants, slightly hungry. Then my husband had to work late which meant I had to go back to daycare to pick up our daughter a little later, then cooking dinner with both kids home and fussy. I persevered and survived. 

I managed to avoid the candy we have at home but I'm going to ask my husband to hide it tonight. I think my willpower will start to decrease so I should just eliminate the need for the willpower and act as if there isn't candy in the house.

I'm also going through sugar withdrawal in the form of a dull headache. Looking forward to that passing.

Last night I had my first internal mutiny, of what I'm sure will be many. While avoiding the candy, I told myself "Hey, you are an adult, you can have candy if you want to!" This is a thought I have a lot of times when I try to adjust eating habits. I talked myself down though by telling myself "Hey, you are an adult that can have candy, but you can also choose to not have candy. And that is the choice you made and committed to for this period of time." That seemed to work.

[finntx]

Day 3 is in the books. Major tests of willpower today. We had an office happy hour with, I swear, all of my favorite happy hour type snacks plus a table full of candy. I hung out long enough to be socially acceptable and then got out of dodge before the temptation became too strong. Then went home and cooked dinner but didn't actually have time to eat (due to a really fussy baby) before I had to leave for a PTA meeting at my kids school.

The PTA meeting was held at a restaurant and I wasn't planning to eat so I didn't have time to examine the menu. I gave myself grace and ordered a plain hamburger patty and steamed veggies, not worrying too much about what oil was used as I'm sure it wasn't compliant. (I'll be honest, I almost justified french fries as compliant but talked myself down b/c obviously ranch dressing is not compliant and what's the point of fries if you can't dip them in ranch!) I completely avoided the temptation of chips and queso sitting right in front of me the whole meeting and the many offers for wine and dessert. 

Interestingly, I had some unsweet tea with dinner which usually is not a big deal for me on the caffeine, meaning it doesn't usually effect my sleep. But last night I was wired until almost 11 (I normally go to bed at 9-930). Then I was woken up at midnight by our dogs and felt wide awake. Is this a normal thing that happens, with all the junk out of your diet you absorb things more?

[finntx]

I haven't had time to update in a while, but I'm hanging in there. Some notable things from the first week;

1. Willpower is, in fact, a muscle that must be worked to strengthen. A supportive husband is crucial. We had a date night scheduled for Friday with a compliant restaurant chosen and plans that didn't include drinking or desserts. All was set to go until our babysitter cancelled an hour before. I honestly froze. Here we were, no plans to cook dinner and we didn't want to take kids to the compliant restaurant. Groceries were mostly gone since we go shopping on Saturday. I told my husband that I was at a loss of what to do, this felt like a giant mountain that needed climbing and I was just done after a week of holding strong. He came through with a win, he suggested a quick run to the store to buy some salmon and zucchini and was on point with a recipe to make a quick dinner. He also hid the Halloween candy from me when I admitted my willpower was dwindling by the end of the week.

2. In previous attempts at Whole30, I felt ALL THE THINGS that first week. Headaches, bloating, kill everyone that brings food in my presence. That first week always did me in because I would rationalize that a person just cannot function in life when feeling that way. This time, however, I felt a few things like a mild headache, somewhat mutinous at times, but all in all, I just felt great. I can't explain what the difference is this time. I know my diet was crap before starting so it's not like I was already eating cleanly and just had a few things to address, leading to an easy detox week. My diet has done a complete 180 coming on to Whole30. I felt like this was going to cause hell that first week. It did not. My willpower was strong throughout most of the week. The only reason I can attribute these positive things to is that I was just 100% done with feeling crappy and 1000% ready to make a change. 

Some of the great things I've been feeling:

1. Bloating is all gone. It's just not a thing anymore, where before, it was a thing that I spent a lot of energy being annoyed about.

2. The energy roller coaster is now very boring. No more ups and downs with energy. It's pretty level all day and starts waning at about 730-8pm. I go to bed at 9pm. 

3. Clear headed. I've been pregnant or nursing for the past 4 years of my life (i.e., my hormones have been all out of whack). This causes quite the brain fog and it is so frustrating to not be able to think at your normal level. This past week I have been more clear headed than I have been in years. It's not back 100%, but much further along than it had been.