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MAYHEM's Whole30 Log (Apr29 - May29 2019)


MAYHEM

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DAY SEVEN

Pre-workout; Post-workout: A little almond butter; coconut water

Breakfast:  Leftover steak and potato hash with eggs, sauteed garlic and red onion; a carrot

Lunch: A Lara bar (Cherry Pie, omg so good), half an Epic chicken meatstick (freaking disgusting, do NOT recommend), a broccoli slaw bag salad from Trader Joe’s (dried cranberries and blueberries, sunflower seeds and slivered almonds)

Dinner: Roasted butternut squash, an Aidell’s chicken apple sausage, a fried egg with extra egg whites on top with half an avocado, a carrot

Snacks: A couple strawberries, kombucha, almond butter, a mango

Exercise: A little over 5 mile run, some walking because lots of hills aieee

Thoughts/Reflections: Don't have a lot of time so putting this together in a rush -- not too much to report today. Was out and about all day which was why the super late lunch. Maybe I need some more portable lunch ideas? I should probably have a better and more dedicated plan to eating on the weekends. I didn’t actually eat my lunch until about 3pm?! That might have been why I was snacking on so much almond butter… straight from the jar… didn’t think I’d do that because it doesn’t have sugar in it, definitely not a good habit. Need to work on that. :(

Love being on Whole30 because my “decision” to not have things that are available to me has already been made, so I don’t have to stress about opportunities to have, idk, ice cream.

E leaves for the week tomorrow. Please give me lots of love and support these next few days, ya’ll. This is gonna be really hard for me to stay on track.

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On 5/3/2019 at 10:36 PM, MAYHEM said:

Today is Friday, which is a big first nerve-wracking milestone, because I typically am pretty good about eating well during the week but absolutely launch into culinary debauchery during the weekends. Well, I had a very successful first Friday on Whole30! I went to Whole Foods after work and got everything I needed to make the infamous Eggroll in a Bowl recipe, and YA’LL. TEAM. It was SO GOOD. It didn’t take much time to make, just be sure you start with an enormous wok because the slaw takes up a lot of space, haha. I mixed coleslaw and broccoli slaw for fun. The only compliant chili garlic sauce I could find was extremely spicy, but I was lucky in that my eyeballing was perfect! I will probably continue making this recipe even once I finish with Whole30 -- it was excellent. You didn’t miss rice or anything like that. Very filling. I will be making this one again -- maybe with chicken thighs next time!  Peep the Masterchef-level plating below.

PS: I read somewhere that someone subbed out their regular wine/beer habit for pouring kombucha into a fancy glass and enjoying it that way. LOVE IT. I can tell it's going to be my Whole30 weekend ritual. 

"Culinary debauchery..." OH GODS. SAAAAAAMMMMMEEEEE. But I survived this weekend! 

I drink fizzy water from my wine glasses so it feels fancy and familiar. I'm becoming a master of herbal fizzy waters. Sweet basil + fizzy water is my new favorite thing. Same with mint. And lavender.... 

I've tried to drink Kombucha about half a dozen times and let me just say that I will never try it again. It is, IMO, the world's least amazing thing. 

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11 hours ago, MAYHEM said:

E leaves for the week tomorrow. Please give me lots of love and support these next few days, ya’ll. This is gonna be really hard for me to stay on track.

I feel this, with my husband travels my food decision-making tends to waver. 

I am making lists of acceptable food options for when the inevitable "I need normal food!" desire hits. I have collected recipes now for compliant taco salad, compliant not-cheesy cheeseburgers, compliant brats with toppings, compliant breakfast hash, compliant not-ice-cream. I have the recipes readily available and ready for me, having given myself full permission to go to the store, procure items, and make whatever I need to remain compliant. I've not needed those recipes yet, but I'm on day eight. So there's plenty of time to need them. 

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6 hours ago, cinco_mouser said:

drink fizzy water from my wine glasses

I need to try that! 

I felt the same about Kombucha - except from New Terrain Brewery. They get it from a place called Trubucha, which I looked at their website is available at a number of breweries, including Green Mountain Brewery which I have yet to check out. It's the only one I'm willing to drink. The rest are out. 

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Thanks for all the love, @cinco_mouser and @Laurie's All In . You guys have me inspired to keep the faith.

DAY EIGHT (yesterday)

Breakfast: Two hardboiled eggs with maduros (fried sweet plantains) and almond butter, leftover roasted butternut squash, some broccoli slaw with balsamic vinegar and a carrot

Lunch: An Aidell’s chicken apple sausage with leftover roasted butternut squash, maduros, almond butter, and a carrot

Dinner: Eggroll in a bowl with my friends :)

Snacks: A mango, an apple with almond butter, half a large plastic container of pineapple.. More almond butter… :(

Exercise: About 3 miles run + some light weight lifting

Thoughts/Reflections: I cooked a half-black sweet plantain this morning a little coconut oil and OMG, you guys -- it was SO GOOD. Homemade maduros are super easy to make and are so delicious. I am definitely going to keep making these (although having a whole plantain’s worth of maduros is probably not great to eat at once, which is why I split this one over two meals).

I didn’t post this log last night when I should have because I had friends over for dinner (made them the eggroll in a bowl recipe!). It was fun, but I definitely encountered some problems yesterday. As soon I got home from work (before they came over) I was snacking on mango and pineapple and almond butter, and when they left I had an apple and more almond butter. It is 10000% the stupid habit I get into when my finance isn’t here, where I feel a little lonesome and bored.  It is extremely a bummer that I am running into a wall with almond butter and that’s a “trigger” food even if it’s really not very good out of the jar because it doesn't have any crushed sugar. Ugh! I have gone through more than a half a jar in these eight days. I put it in my alcohol cabinet this morning so I will have to take one more step to have it. Here’s my commitment to you guys right now -- if I mess around with almond butter in any capacity other than as part of a plated fat in a dedicated meal, I’m chucking it.

Sigh. I’m really sad about it. I want the food freedom. Are my meals currently not big enough or something? (Also I know that it seems like I'm seeking out sugar, so I'm not going to buy any other fruits other than apples for a while, and find some snacks that are more protein-heavy. Any ideas/suggestions?) I felt so bad yesterday I almost threw in the towel re: Whole30 but I'm glad I didn't. 

Feeling sad about my poor coping mechanisms aside, it was nice to hang out with my friends. One of them is also not drinking as much right now and the other is not smoking nearly as much, so we all talked about how nice it is to be able to sleep better at night. It was nice to have that feeling of solidarity. 

I have a PLAN OF ACTION for TODAY (DAY NINE) to be more successful:
-Find a recipe online that would be fun to make for dinner tonight and breakfast leftovers tomorrow,
-Go shopping for the ingredients after rwork and get some kombucha + carrots as well
-Make a bigass meal with the intention of not snacking tonight (but have a plan just in case you are hungry)
-Have tea constantly going after dinner and keep hands occupied (guitar)
-Absolutely no food past 8pm

 

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I like your plan. 

I am keeping snack-protein in the form of pre-cooked chicken breast (I cut it into bite sized pieces and use a toothpick to eat them), egg muffins, bite-sized pieces of ham, pre-cooked bacon, hard-boiled eggs.

I'm not allowed nuts, so it's animal protein or bust. 

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57 minutes ago, cinco_mouser said:

I like your plan. 

I am keeping snack-protein in the form of pre-cooked chicken breast (I cut it into bite sized pieces and use a toothpick to eat them), egg muffins, bite-sized pieces of ham, pre-cooked bacon, hard-boiled eggs.

I'm not allowed nuts, so it's animal protein or bust. 

Having meats available that don't require any kind of cooking seems like a great plan. I'll be sure to pick some up today. Thanks!

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Mayhem, 

You're doing great!! You're facing challenges and you're meeting them. You're not perfect, but no one is.  I'm so glad you didn't give in. You've come to far to start over. I like not having foods are that still triggering your "sugar dragon" in the house and moving the almond butter to maybe out of sight out of mind. If it were me, I'd have a post-it note on it as a reminder as another line of defense. Something like you're wedding date, or some other goal that you're working toward and a "is it worth it". I just had my first Almond Butter from a spoon today, while making the marinade for tonight's dinner and I was unimpressed. That was not very tasty!

I love the idea of keeping your hands busy. I've gone through phases of needing to do that. My most recent was playing Mah Jong (or however you spell it) on my phone and trying to get 3 stars for each level so I had to be quick - no time to eat. 

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DAY NINE

Breakfast: Remainder of pineapple, some almond butter (and then I PUT IT IN THE CUPBOARD AWAY), half a pack of baby carrots, three servings of olives, three hardboiled eggs

Lunch: Whole30 bowl from Chipotle with extra guac (seriously, SO much guac, they goofed my order so they gave me pretty much a pint’s worth of guac… I ate all of it)

Dinner: Coconut curry meatballs over cauliflower rice and a sunny-side up egg

Snacks: A mango, two plastic tubs of raspberries, kombucha, almond butter, an Rx bar... 

Exercise: None… my foot was super painful yesterday so I decided to take a rest day, but now it doesn’t hurt at all?! OK self

Thoughts/Reflections: I’m posting this log to stop myself eating. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. NONE OF THIS FOOD TASTES THAT GOOD. At least the almond butter is in the trash now. And I’m trying to stay accountable to all of you, and list everything I’ve had. At least I think that was everything? Ugh.

The dinner recipe was great, definitely check it out if you’re looking for something curry-ish. But definitely taste it as you do, mine was lacking salt and that extra punch, so I had to add some hot sauce a little later.

Well, I guess I’m still Whole30 compliant, but it was a tough one today. I very nearly fell off the wagon this one. Feeling extremely discouraged and extremely pathetic, to be whining about something like this that shouldn't be a problem. I guess the one victory is that I never seriously considered drinking? :( 

Maybe I should complete take fruit out of my diet for a while?

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You're not whiny or pathetic! This is not easy!! If I weren't doing this for health reasons and weight alone, I'd been out days ago.  You're doing the right thing. You're reaching out, I'm just sorry the response is not immediate enough.  Hopefully you have some support peeps for when it's really dire that you can hit up by phone/text/social media. 

NSV - you're seeing where the cracks are and you're fixing them. Good job tossing out the Almond Butter! Is fruit the issue? It's worth exploring. 

NSV - You've made it through the first 2 days of the week with your fiance gone. 

NSV - You're not drunk ;)

NSV - You're snacking but you're staying compliant. 

YOU'RE DOING GREAT! JUST KEEP GOING!!

:wub:

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DAY TEN

Breakfast: Aidells chicken apple sausage, a hard boiled egg, half a bag of baby carrots, an apple, half an avocado

Lunch: Leftover coconut curry meatballs over cauliflower rice, half an avocado

Dinner: Salad with dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, and a chicken thigh 

Snacks: Kombucha, some mixed nuts, an apple, a pickle, more nuts, a couple pieces of dried fruit

Exercise: None but some good walking today -- to and from work, and for about an hour and 15 during my lunch break (the ball of my foot hurts again, WTF!). I am over my step goal of 12K, so that's a win especially if I didn't go to the gym, haha

Thoughts/Reflections:  After a nightmarish evening last night where I felt super out of control, today I was feeling newly committed and fierce about claiming food freedom through Whole30. I threw out a couple of unhelpful snack foods I’d bought at Whole Foods and am going to recommit to “best practice” principles. I want to recommit to no snacking, but I just bought some dried fruit and nuts (I got excited at the bulk section of my grocery store), so I am going to portion them out and not just "get into them" whenever I'm feeling like it.  So they are in my top cupboard now, and I bagged up some of the dried fruit and two servings of nuts to take to work tomorrow as part of my breakfast/lunch so I can enjoy them as they should be enjoyed -- as part of a meal.

To help combat my out-of-control eating, I engaged in some Big Aries Energy and signed up for a Beginner Guitar group class within an hour of learning of its existence and went to the first class six hours later this same evening. The class was relaxing and fun -- easy first class but most importantly it got me out of the house for this evening. Did I come home and have more snacks in addition to dinner? Yeah, but it could have been worse, I guess. I also got a lot of protein-heavy snacks at the grocery store, so that's good! Onward and upward.

To end on a good note: I spent lunch with some former coworkers walking around campus, and they told me how good my skin looked! I would have thought they were just being nice but I actually had the SAME thought this morning looking into the mirror -- my skin looks really clear and good right now!  To touch briefly on changes I've noticed (ahem, TMI ahead) --

  • my skin is very clear right now,
  • my energy feels consistent throughout the day, 
  • I've been more "regular,"
  • I haven't been feeling bloated (even after my snack attacks these last couple days),
  • I've been feeling satiated for longer,
  • I've been sleeping well,
  • I've been feeling confident,
  • my mood has been generally good/optimistic (I've been lonesome being home, sometimes to a really intense extent, but I've also been comfortable reaching out to my friends, which I am not always up to doing)

Feeling irritated because I'm not sure I'm going to have time to work out tomorrow because I have to go to my therapy appt (I hope it's better than last week) at lunch and then I have a doctor's appt after work... note to self, you can always jump on the stationary bike when you get home! 

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DAY ELEVEN

Breakfast: Sauteed broccoli slaw and mushrooms, with two scrambled eggs and a sausage, and a pear and a couple nuts

Lunch: Sauteed broccoli slaw and mushrooms, with two scrambled eggs and a sausage, and a handful of nuts and some dried fruit

Dinner: Salsa chicken on lettuce with half an avocado

Snacks: A L L. What didn’t I have? Prosciutto, tons of nuts, dried fruit.

Exercise: None...

Thoughts/Reflections: Well I started out really strong with my no-snacking thing when I got home from work, but then I just went berserk in the evening. I understand why people said these would be the hardest days. I threw out the remainder of the nuts/dried fruits this morning (Day Twelve). I read on a facebook forum today that the reason why you should only have nuts sparingly was because they have enough carbs that they can activate your sugar dragon and get you into a “no brakes” situation. Well, I guess I’m nominally comforted in that I am not alone in having this problem. So glad E is coming home today (Day Twelve).

I made a huge batch of salsa chicken thighs in my crock pot, so that is going to have my meals prepped for a little while. 

Extremely disappointed to learn that we are going out to a restaurant for my dad’s birthday on Tuesday next week, where there is no way I will be able to have a 100% compliant meal. I will call the restaurant the day beforehand and see if there are a few adjustments I can make, but it’s a prix-fixe menu. I am kind of devastated... but last year my dad had a massive heart attack (the kind you don’t survive, but he did) and we didn’t get to celebrate his birthday, really. So there’s no f--ing way I’m going to not go to this, or that I wouldn’t eat. I just wish my mom (who made the reservations) was a better ally as I eat healthier (she said “just skip a day” :| ). I know that means that I technically am supposed to start over, but I’m just going to keep going. I am doing this as part of pre-wedding stuff, and the end of Whole30 will pretty much run right into it, so that’s going to be its length. 

But boy I wanted to give up yesterday. LIKE A LOT. But I knew it wouldn't make me any happier.

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@Laurie's All In and @cinco_mouser -- you two have both shown me really consistent kindness when I've been going through a very difficult time. You cannot know how much I appreciate it.  And Laurie, I just want to tell you that I am so sorry for your loss. All my love and good thoughts to you. <3 

DAY TWELVE

Breakfast: Salsa chicken on cauliflower rice, plus roasted cabbage, last handful of nuts

Lunch: Salsa chicken on cauliflower rice, plus roasted cabbage

Dinner: Chicken soup with an egg

Snacks: Lara bar, Epic bar, half an apple, some deli turkey 

Exercise: 3 miles run and some light weight training

Thoughts/Reflections: I went to see a movie today at a theater that lets you order food and drinks, and I’ve been so burnt out I gave myself permission to have two drinks (max), but I ended up not having any of them, because I didn't want any. So I ended up ending Day Twelve compliant! 
 

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15 hours ago, MAYHEM said:

@Laurie's All In and @cinco_mouser -- you two have both shown me really consistent kindness when I've been going through a very difficult time. You cannot know how much I appreciate it.  And Laurie, I just want to tell you that I am so sorry for your loss. All my love and good thoughts to you. <3 

Thank you and I, likewise appreciate that support. It's been great to know that we're all going through this together. 

 

15 hours ago, MAYHEM said:

Thoughts/Reflections: I went to see a movie today at a theater that lets you order food and drinks, and I’ve been so burnt out I gave myself permission to have two drinks (max), but I ended up not having any of them, because I didn't want any. So I ended up ending Day Twelve compliant! 
 

THAT IS HUGE!!!! Way to stay strong! You've come way too far to screw it up now! Save those drinks for your wedding!!!

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I feel you on the snacking thing. I didn’t realize how much I was snacking till I did a whole 30. I still snack sometimes. I try to make every meal big enough but sometimes it just isn’t enough. I heard the hunger thing gets better in the second half of the program.

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