New Year's W30 - Round 3

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Happy New Year!  And a very happy January Whole 30 season!

This is my third January W30 - my previous successes were 2015 and 2016, so it's been a hot minute. In 2016 I got pregnant and my relationship with food spiraled off the deep end, as I was suddenly not restricting myself any more and was given leeway to eat whatever I wanted and however much I wanted. To someone who had been dieting for, well, ever, this was clearly a dangerous and wrong approach.  Pregnancy led to breastfeeding and more excuses to keep eating whatever (gotta keep those calories up when you're nursing!) and then one day I realized that I have a fully weaned nearly two year old and yet I'm still eating for two. Or more.  And boy does the scale show it.

Whole30 is - to me - a kick in the pants.  A month long reminder that I am stronger than my cravings.  Proof that I can stop eating sugar and drinking alcohol and mindlessly consuming chips. I can do it and I can thrive.

My particular challenges this month:

• Feeding a toddler. I'm not restricting my son to W30, so there will still be cheerios and toast and milk and cheese around. I need to conscious of not popping a chip in my mouth when I give him some, or letting him feed me cheerios!
• Family. My dad is doing the W30 with me, which can be a great support system!  But it's his first W30 and I see a lot of my own disordered eating habits in my dad - it's fully possible he won't make it through the month. I need to hold him up but not let him drag me off course if he does decide to drop off.
• Work. It's a busy month at work and I'll probably be working overtime.  That means less time to meal plan, shop, and prepare food.  It's doable, I just need to have good time management.
• Solo Parenting.  My husband is traveling for work all month, so I'm on my own in the parenting department. I've got my mom and dad close by to help, but I'll definitely miss having my husband around to share the load!

I think the best way to succeed is to make a plan. So here's what I'm doing this month:

• Meal Planning is a no-brainer.  But I've been super lax about meal planning for the last few months, so I need to pick it back up again. Figuring out meals that reuse ingredients so I can buy in bulk and save time. I'll make Sunday or Monday my meal plan day so I can go to the store early in the week.
• I'm trying out intermittent fasting. I've always struggled a bit with W30 breakfasts (the popular advice to eat leftovers doesn't work because I eat those for lunch) and while I love eggs there is only so many times you can have them. So I'm giving 16/8 IF a try - basically eating between 12-8pm only.  That removes the problem of breakfasts and the late-night snacking. I plan to brush my teeth right after I put my toddler to bed at 8 so that I'm not tempted to eat more.
• Having snacks on hand.  Yeah, I know, I know, no snacking on the Whole 30.  But snacking really isn't a problem area for me, I'm not much of a grazer. And it's better for me to have some hard boiled eggs or apples on hand and ready to fill a quick hunger need than to give in and go after my toddler's goldfish crackers.
• Not going crazy with new recipes. I know a lot of people like to mix it up during W30 and try new things - that's awesome, and I've done it before. But for me, this month is going to be about staple recipes that I know and love, rather than trying out something new. I just don't have the time or headspace for a million ingredients and recipes.
• For community support, I've got a great group of friends on Facebook with whom I'm doing an accountability challenge. That should keep me motivated to stay up with them. I'm also going to use this blog because I enjoy journalling about my feelings, even if literally no one but me reads it.  I can't guarantee I'll write every day, but I'm long winded and like to hear myself talk, so I'll probably update often. 

So here's to beginning the Whole 30 journey again! I consider this my hardest Whole30 yet, just because my discipline is at an all time low and it's my first time W30ing as a parent. But I've done it before and I feel confident I can do it again - I wouldn't be starting if I didn't think I could succeed. 

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Day 1

Well, I could have had a stronger start, but I made it through day one successfully. I was planning to work from home today, knowing I didn't have much in the way of lunch at home but could scramble up some eggs and throw together a salad and get through it. But the best laid plans go awry, and I ended up going into the office. I grabbed a banana and hard boiled egg on my way out the door, which was literally the only portable W30 food I could find in the house. I had a thought that I could to go to Chipotle for lunch, but it was busy at work and my manager decided to order in pizza. Too shy to admit I was dieting, I agreed that was fine and then avoided the break room like the plague when it arrived. I ate my banana and hard boiled egg in my office and told everyone I wasn't hungry. Great start, huh?

I did get some meal planning done, and left work a little early to hit Costco and the grocery store before picking my son up from daycare. Despite being hungry, the willpower was strong and I avoided the temptations of free samples and easy packaged dinners. The nice thing about being in my third round of whole30 is that it's a lot easier to intuitively know what is and isn't allowed. I rarely had to check labels, and when I did it was just a quick glance - yep, this has sugar, or yep, this has soy. Costco actually had a fairly good selection of whole30 appropriate foods. I mostly stayed in the fresh produce and meat areas, but they had some jarred olives, apple crisps, single serving guacamole, and bags of nuts that were all compliant.

For dinner, I cooked up some Aidell's chicken and apple sausage, with sauteed peppers, onions, and a salad blend of brussel sprouts and cabbage that was surprisingly good cooked. I topped it all with sauerkraut and mustard and the whole family approved. Even the toddler.

I spent some time tonight packing up all the non-compliant food from the pantry to get it out of sight, out of mind. Most of it should keep till the end of January my husband wants it when he gets home from travel.  Or we may just decide we're better off without all the chips and Christmas candy in a month. I still need to go through my fridge and freezer, so maybe I'll do that tomorrow night.

I have a couple leftovers from dinner tonight, so at least I have lunch tomorrow. Lying in bed writing this, I'm still a little hungry, but I'm trying to stick to my IF schedule and not snack so late (it's nearly 11). I don't want to set myself up for failure though, so if I wake up starving I'll probably break my fast with breakfast.

All in all, I wish I had been more prepared to start today, but I feel like I'm on the right track now. I asked my dad how his first day went, and he cheerfully replied about how great he was doing and how he could do this forever. I just laughed at him. Someone didn't read the whole 30 timeline. Day one is easy.

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Day 2

As it turns out, having a meal plan and compliant food in the house makes the Whole30 a lot easier!  Who'd have thought?

Day 2 went off without a hitch. I fasted until noon, and had leftovers of that yummy sausage and slaw for lunch.  Here's the recipe, btw - I used the kale/brussels sprouts salad from Costco.  I also packed a hard boiled egg and an orange as a snack, because I suspected I might get a little hungry toward the end of the day. I think I'll adjust to eating fewer calories and will probably be able to drop the snack toward the end of the month, but we'll see.

For dinner I made the super popular Egg Roll in a Bowl.  There are a dozen variations, but that link is closest to what I made (except I used cole slaw instead of broccoli slaw). And WOW.  Just wow. How have I not made this on any of my previous W30s??  It is absolutely delicious and I can see why it's called crack slaw. Toddler gobbled it up, mom and dad approved, I bet even hubby would have loved it. The only bad thing was there were no leftovers.   I'll have to make a double batch next time, because this would be great reheated. Plus it was quick and easy to make... though it probably would have been easier without my toddler crying to be picked up every 30 seconds.  Eventually I got him to help me stir the sauce mix (he liked tasting the coco aminos and then making a 'yucky' face) and dinner got on the table.

Other victories from yesterday? I brushed my teeth right after toddler bedtime, which meant no snacking at night. I washed all the dishes and reseasoned the cast iron, which had been sitting in a gross state for over a week since DH cooked mushroom gravy in it.

I didn't get around to packing up the fridge (I need to put tortillas and some lunch meat in the freezer or it will go bad by Feb) but I need to do that tonight - Dad was poking through the fridge pulling out ham for a snack (nope, has sugar), then a kombucha (nope, has sugar), then in frustration asked what he could have. I pointed to the gallon of orange juice leftover from New Year's mimosas and he got annoyed that fruit juice was allowed but his favorite kombucha wasn't. Sorry dad, I don't make the rules.

...this morning he had a kombucha anyway and said that he decided this was going to be his exception to the W30 rules. I just shrugged and said - fine, you're not doing a W30 anymore, but do what you need to do.  In truth, he does need the probiotics - he's been on antibiotics for months while recovering from a broken leg and surgery. I know there are W30 approved probiotics but I guess it's hard to turn to those when you have half a Costco case of kombucha right there in the fridge. I mean... probably not what I would have chosen, but I get it. His choice. We'll see if he decides to keep up with the rest of the W30 this month or if this was the first domino before his old diet comes crashing down.