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Round 3.2 - Learning As I Go


C.B.

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Hi everyone!

Today I am restarting my third round of Whole30. I had gotten to day 27 of my third round on Friday, but too many liberties with my reset and decisions about what I could "handle" this round led to a few episodes of binge eating on Friday night and Saturday, so here I am back at day 1. 

The road from my first Whole30 in January of 2016 to now has been filled with peaks and valleys that have allowed me to identify the patterns I have around food and eating, and this summer I got to the point where I knew I needed to take serious steps to address my disordered relationship with food. The gist of it is that I have gone through periods of binge eating and feeling out of control around food, to living with strong restrictions in the foods I eat for 1-4 months before slipping into old habits. 

In my past rounds of the Whole30, I have communicated with friends and family about what I was doing but have never utilized this community - until now. I am learning how important social support is for tackling something as socially-ingrained as the foods we eat, and so in the theme of making small improvements with each Whole30 I complete, I am adding the forum to my arsenal of support! 

I have already found comfort in reading some posts from folks going through similar obstacles as I am, and am looking forward to taking my journalling and accountability to the next level with this digital log. 

I completed my first two Whole30's completely by the book, and this recent round I tweaked to fit a vegetarian diet. I think the mental shift from following the rules as laid out to shifting them to fit my diet was the foundation of my problems. As I'm sure many Whole30ers can attest, the black and white rules make it east to follow - there are clear yes and no answers to each food. But to tweak it to fit vegetarian restrictions meant I could take liberties - I would include hummus knowing I had the tendency to overeat it - and chose to eat corn - which led me to include corn chips from time to time. Tweaking my own diet meant I was making decisions as I went, rather than having a set list of rules before starting out. 

All of this has led me to the decision to bring some meat back into my diet, if only for the next few months, so that I can follow the Whole30 as laid out because I know from experience that this is the best path to success for me at this vulnerable time. 

Anyone else starting fresh after a side-step during their Whole30? I'm interested to hear about learnings from these experiences!

Candace

 

 

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17 hours ago, C.B. said:

Hi everyone!

Today I am restarting my third round of Whole30. I had gotten to day 27 of my third round on Friday, but too many liberties with my reset and decisions about what I could "handle" this round led to a few episodes of binge eating on Friday night and Saturday, so here I am back at day 1. 

The road from my first Whole30 in January of 2016 to now has been filled with peaks and valleys that have allowed me to identify the patterns I have around food and eating, and this summer I got to the point where I knew I needed to take serious steps to address my disordered relationship with food. The gist of it is that I have gone through periods of binge eating and feeling out of control around food, to living with strong restrictions in the foods I eat for 1-4 months before slipping into old habits. 

In my past rounds of the Whole30, I have communicated with friends and family about what I was doing but have never utilized this community - until now. I am learning how important social support is for tackling something as socially-ingrained as the foods we eat, and so in the theme of making small improvements with each Whole30 I complete, I am adding the forum to my arsenal of support! 

I have already found comfort in reading some posts from folks going through similar obstacles as I am, and am looking forward to taking my journalling and accountability to the next level with this digital log. 

I completed my first two Whole30's completely by the book, and this recent round I tweaked to fit a vegetarian diet. I think the mental shift from following the rules as laid out to shifting them to fit my diet was the foundation of my problems. As I'm sure many Whole30ers can attest, the black and white rules make it east to follow - there are clear yes and no answers to each food. But to tweak it to fit vegetarian restrictions meant I could take liberties - I would include hummus knowing I had the tendency to overeat it - and chose to eat corn - which led me to include corn chips from time to time. Tweaking my own diet meant I was making decisions as I went, rather than having a set list of rules before starting out. 

All of this has led me to the decision to bring some meat back into my diet, if only for the next few months, so that I can follow the Whole30 as laid out because I know from experience that this is the best path to success for me at this vulnerable time. 

Anyone else starting fresh after a side-step during their Whole30? I'm interested to hear about learnings from these experiences!

Candace

 

 

Hi Candace!

We are so glad to have you here! One of my favorite things about the Whole30 is that it brings together like-minded people who are wanting to change their relationships with food. Kudos to you for coming back here and starting fresh again.

I think it's great that you have realized what works for you and where you tend to fall short. The black and white rules of Whole30 do make it easy to follow, so I' glad to see you bring it back to the basics and follow the program exactly as written.

I am planning on doing my next round in September, but there are a lot of people here who are doing a July Whole30 or who have just started within the last week. I hope you find some meaningful connections here. 

We are with you every step of the way, so please utilize this forum for accountability and support. You got this!

-Ashley

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Day 2

I felt bloated all day and my guts have been in knots, still feeling the effects of bingeing on Friday and Saturday. I learned just how out of whack my body can become from eating certain foods, especially dairy. I felt like I was facing down different foods all day long and the afternoon was a struggle BUT i am ending the day on a very positive note, having had one of the most mindful, powerful yoga classes I've experienced. 

I am ending the day feeling balanced and grateful for the decisions I am making to change my relationship with food. 

I am eating more seafood now, and aiming to have a higher fat and protein breakfasts with more carb-dense veggies later in the day. I have been eating tofu today and yesterday but as I mentioned in Day 1 I am going to phase out legumes starting tomorrow and transition to more seafood and some red meats, for now at least. 

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Day 3

I was supppper tired today, which is an energy slump that I had when first starting my 3rd round so not a huge surprise. My stomach felt much better today though.

Also ate chicken for the first time in 6ish months and that seemed to go over well. I made a yummy Whole30 tabouleh with my mom's parsley and am stocked to add it to a couple of meals this week. Also experimenting with rhubarb as my mom has a bunch of it. Most rhubarb recipes call for sugar, so I'm on the hunt for more savoury uses. 

I felt better about my cravings today and was more engaged in work this morning, before my energy slump hit after lunch. 

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11 hours ago, Emma said:

I'm part of the restart club! :) I was almost half way through and now I'm on Day 4 (again).  

So we're on the same track! Thanks for posting - I'm happy to have a buddy :)

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Day 4 

My energy levels were better today but I still felt a slump mid-afternoon, though it wasn't the total energy suck I felt yesterday. I slept for a full 9.5 hours last night :o I have had a suspicion for a couple of years now that my iron levels are too low, and on top of which I haven't been eating red meat for a little while AND my recent binge on high sugar foods...I mean that I am not surprised with how my energy levels are right now.

I ate tuna for brekkie and lunch today, and also ate a bit more mid-afternoon b/c I was still pretty hungry and that seemed to pump me up a bit, so not eating enought could also be part of it. I don't want to make any huge changes just yet, as I know my body is in the levelling-out phase and these kinds of swings are to be expected. 

I alsoooo bought and ate ground beef today after almost 1 year of not eating it regularly. I'm cutting down on my egg consumption for this round and since I am also cutting out legumes that I had included before...well it didn't leave me many options. And now that I'm home again and have the farmer's market to source sustainably-raised meat, I feel good about the meat I am buying and eating. A couple of hours post-beef dinner and I am feeling full and content. 

I am intrigued to monitor my energy levels over the next few days as I move further into this round and as I continue eating beef and maybe some different seafoods. 

On a side note, I have been watching a lot of youtube videos from Working Against Gravity. While I am not counting my macros, I find that the general videos they have about mentality around food, setting goals and keeping up new habits are full of helpful tid bits that are applicable to any way of eating. 

That's me for today. I've read through a few more logs from other members and am feeling reassured that we are all in this together and going through many similar obstacles. 

Until tomorrow!

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34 minutes ago, C.B. said:

On a side note, I have been watching a lot of youtube videos from Working Against Gravity. While I am not counting my macros, I find that the general videos they have about mentality around food, setting goals and keeping up new habits are full of helpful tid bits that are applicable to any way of eating. 

Any tidbits that stand out? I could probably google the videos. I probably will. It's always interesting to me what things ring true and at what times they ring true. 

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14 minutes ago, Emma said:

Any tidbits that stand out? I could probably google the videos. I probably will. It's always interesting to me what things ring true and at what times they ring true. 

I think so too! Something can totally click at a certain moment, depending where we're at in life and in our mindset.

They have three videos about mindset, setting goals and the importance of routines and habits (I can't get the link to work - but you'll find them in the Working Against Gravity channel in the Q&A section).

One thing that stuck out was the importance of setting one keystone habit that will have a domino effect on other habits/goals you want to instil. Before starting my third round of Whole30, I had several big goals I wanted to accomplish but I chose to strip a few things away and focus on the one thing I knew would clear the path for other things down the road, and that keystone habit for me was dialling in my nutrition. 

I also liked their review of the 90 day Keto experiment they did together (they being Adee & Mike). Similar to a Whole30 (or a W90 in this case), they were working from an experimental approach, making adjustments as they went and tracking their mindset and how they felt in their bodies, not only changes on the scale. I also listen to their podcast and I don't remember exactly where they were talking about this but Adee shares a lot about the struggles she has gone through - even recently - with her relationship with food. Hearing someone who works as a nutrition coach talk about that was extremely comforting. It goes back to what Melissa says all the time too - this is a life long process that will require a lot of attention now as we work to make big changes and we will continually be coming back to reset as we go through life. 

Let me know if you watch any!

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11 hours ago, C.B. said:

One thing that stuck out was the importance of setting one keystone habit that will have a domino effect on other habits/goals you want to instil. Before starting my third round of Whole30, I had several big goals I wanted to accomplish but I chose to strip a few things away and focus on the one thing I knew would clear the path for other things down the road, and that keystone habit for me was dialling in my nutrition. 

Choosing that one thing is SO hard. I think having a healthy body would make the biggest difference in so many areas of my life, but then I hear about people who use the sauna daily, or meditate, or get in sync with the universal vibrations, and they swear that the catalyst for a healthy body was that spiritual/grounding/daily thing they did. And then there's the daily exercise and the daily things that we are passionate about, or future projects....yeah, it's hard, but I'm pretty certain attaining a healthier body will be mine. I like how you phrased yours as dialing in your nutrition which really implies that relationship with food. It's a nicer perspective than trying to get a better body. Gawd, I hope I can stay balanced once this Whole30 ends and avoid the foods that don't serve me well. It sure is hard. Makes me wonder what my subconscious beliefs are around this eating thing.  (I went to the website and quickly watched a few videos, but nothing grabbed me)

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For the past 3 years I have been struggling finding motivation to get healthy.  I just didn't have the right mindset.  I tried and failed at healthy eating MANY times during those years.  Maybe what happened for me was actually that I met one of my career goals right before I started the Whole30.  I passed my Professional Engineering exam so I can now get my license.  I think that was looming over me like a stormy raincloud the last 3 years.  Now that it is over I can finally have some breathing room.  In the future, if I struggle to find motivation to eat healthy, I might reflect back to my life and say, what unreached goal in my life is gnawing at me and making me guilty for not pursing it to completion?  I got so much anxiety and stress from knowing I had to do so MUCH: study, workout, eat well, take care of the kids, etc.  I cleared out some room and then all of a sudden motivation appeared.  Just like C.B. said!

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9 hours ago, Amy_Michigan said:

In the future, if I struggle to find motivation to eat healthy, I might reflect back to my life and say, what unreached goal in my life is gnawing at me and making me guilty for not pursing it to completion?  I got so much anxiety and stress from knowing I had to do so MUCH: study, workout, eat well, take care of the kids, etc.

This is such a good articulation - there is always something more to the picture than simply struggling with the specific goal, whatever it may be. Everything in our lives works together. 

Congrats on passing that exam! 

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Day 5

Snack galore was the theme today. I just could not stay focused at work and was snacking on every piece of fruit in the house, unable to sit still but also still feeling my energy slump. I've felt foggier and more down today than I have in a while, but I'm trying to pin it on PMS and not read into today too much. 

I've had the same breakfast of tuna w/ tahini over shredded carrot for the past few days and it's not quite enough food, so that could be one of the reasons for my daily energy slumps. I will try something higher protein + fat tomorrow and see how it goes. 

I ordered a veggie box from a local grower for the first time and went to pick it up today. So many delish veggies! I'm sharing the box with my roommates and it was fun to go through everything and talk about different ways to eat a few of the more exotic veggies. I'm also happy to be able to support a local farm without the usual high price of buying individual items from the farmer's market.

 

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Day 6

Today was a good day! I ate a larger breakfast, with a bigger helping of tuna and more fat, from tahini and EVOO. I felt satisfied until lunch and again through to dinner. 

I also had much more energy today - I have defo been eating more protein over the past few days so that could have something to do with it. I was in the "kill all the things" mode today though:unsure: In the past, I have never gone through this phase so I'm not too sure what was different this time - especially since I only had two days between my first and second attempts of this third round - but I was feeling it this time. Actually only piecing the two together as I write this...I couldn't figure out why I was so irritable all day. Better late than never!

Signing off until tomorrow!

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I've found that I get "kill all the things" or "eat all the things" mutually exclusively... they'll never overlap and they rarely even happen within the same week, unless it happens to be a period week. That said, you're definitely right around the time when KATT is normal, so it's good that you're realizing that's what it was (mine lasted 3 days first round, so it was good to acknowledge that on day 1 and explain to my fam what was happening, and that I didn't actually hate them but it might be good to purposefully NOT irritate me for a few days, lol).

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Great job staying satisfied and getting enough protein!  I find weekends I have a lack of organization, but I'm finding as long as I keep my fridge stocked with compliant foods (lots of fruit, avocado, potatoes, meat, eggs, tuna fish, frozen veggies, and veggies to roast) I am not tempted at all to quit! I know we can do this!

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On 7/27/2019 at 6:49 AM, Jihanna said:

I've found that I get "kill all the things" or "eat all the things" mutually exclusively... they'll never overlap and they rarely even happen within the same week, unless it happens to be a period week

Interesting insight about them never overlapping. Thank you for sharing!

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Days 7 & 8

Thank you all for your messages and comments on here - I really appreciate reading your thoughts when I come to write my log and knowing that you're out there somewhere going through these same things (or have gone through them at a different time) is incredibly reassuring, and it makes this experience feel much more communal!

This weekend was a combo of great food and some more stress/boredom binge eating. I stayed compliant, which I am happy about, but I ate a LOT of nuts last night with berries and I felt bloated and tired today because of it. 

I am seeing a pattern that when I have some fruit after a meal, I tend to feel more snacky for the next few hours and am mindlessly eating. So, my goal for this week is to eat three square meals + pre w/o meal, resisting the urge to use fruit as a dessert replacement. I picked a bunch of saskatoon berries this weekend and will put them right into my meals so that I am still getting some sweetness from the fruit but without the dessert mentality. On the yummy food side, I ate out on Saturday for the first time (I think?) on this Whole30 and had a delish warm kale & cauliflower salad with roaster sweet potato, mushrooms and a mustard dressing - it was BOMB! Going to defs recreate it at some point.

Now I'm bracing myself for the GI discomfort that is likely to come in the next few days...:wacko:

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9 hours ago, C.B. said:

I am seeing a pattern that when I have some fruit after a meal, I tend to feel more snacky for the next few hours and am mindlessly eating.

That's a starving sugar dragon saying "GIVE ME MORE!!!! ANY SNACK'LL DO!!!" :D 

Really, though. About that fruit. Because fruit is so packed with natural sugars, it makes a perfect pick-me-up for a dragon. When I start a new round, I have to skip the fruit entirely for the first week, maybe 2, and then test to see if I'm able to move forward without feeling that pull toward sweeter foods and snacks. I also found that if I did feel a need for a snack, doing a "mini meal" (some roasted chicken, sweet potato, and avocado rolled up in lettuce leaves... or whatever, as long as all 3 macros were hit) did more good than grabbing anything my brain would classify as a "snack". Doing so might mean my dinner would get eaten slightly later, but that was definitely preferable to me sitting there snacking on fruit salad anytime I felt the need for sugar!  (Fruit cooked into my food, or even berries in my salad, did not seem to provoke my sugar dragon, however.)

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Day 9 (yesterday)

Right on schedule, my guts were in a bit of a bind yesterday but it only lasted for a few hours in the morning and then settled down later on, which is a (welcomed) changed from past W30s. I was fairly high energy yesterday and did not have fruit dessert after lunch, which made a noticeable difference on my mental game in the afternoon. I was hungry a couple hours later and ate an egg scrambled with sunflower seeds and saskatoon berries, which satisfied me and kept me full until a late dinner. 

I've been eating a lot of canned salmon and tuna this past week and am starting to tire of it, so I mixed some tuna up with 1 egg and some seasonings and it tasted awesome after a few minutes in the frying pan and it transformed the tuna into something new. Will definitely be keeping this in my go-to - they're similar I guess to the Salmon Cakes in ISWF recipe section.

Starting to feel some of the boredom of my Whole30 as well, so trying out new ways of eating is going to help me right now! I realized I haven't been eating really any soups or curries, so that is on the menu next week.

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Day 10

Soooo today I fell into old habits, and my energy today (both mental and physical) suffered for it. I dove into fruit and almond butter and I felt committed to then continuing to eat the whole jar of almond butter that I KNOW is a no brakes food for me. After having the first spoonful, I felt shame for eating a food that I know has negative attachments for me and that slump in my mood and energy carried on through the rest of the day. My productivity suffered big time and I didn't feel like doing much of anything for the rest of the day. 

I know, from several versions of this same story, what path I chose to walk down today with the choices I was making and I knew in the moment that I was self-sabotaging but I ignored it. I was contemplating giving up on this Whole30 all together, thinking that I don't need to structure and the black and white and why was I putting these restraints on myself voluntarily? 

Well, looking back on today is reminding me of exactly why I am here and why the Whole30 is going to help me grow through these very experiences. This is hard! And it's also not. It takes acknowledging my faults, my weaknesses and taking deliberate in-the-moment actions to change them - something that is completely within my control. I have been focused on visions and goal setting lately, listening to a lot of interviews and journaling, getting specific about what I want in life. Food Freedom is on the top of the list. If completing this Whole30 and the subsequent reintroduction is going to help get me to food freedom, then I want to be on board. 

There's my personal pep talk for the night, and to everyone in the trenches, let's remember WHY we're here and get after it. Here's to making it through to the double digits!

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42 minutes ago, C.B. said:

I know, from several versions of this same story, what path I chose to walk down today with the choices I was making and I knew in the moment that I was self-sabotaging but I ignored it.

I do this again and again and again. It happens when I get sick because then I react to almost all food with violent asthma attacks. And yet, I still "test the boundaries" and Every Single Time my body clearly tells me that this it is not cool with those choices. Every Single Time. And I'm a half century old! Granted, I didn't quite make all the connections, but I've had a lot of cause and effect experiences.  And the overeating happens to me too with certain foods and at certain times. No brakes at all. But I do like that with Whole30 and the Food Freedom process, it becomes a process and not a complete one or another. Sounds like you did a great time keeping your head above water during that process today which should really count as something to celebrate!!!

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