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Ann’s Struggles+Successes


Ann

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Three days pre-W30.  Cleaned out fridge and pantry as best I could (my adult kids live with me so can’t really get rid of their non compliant stuff).   And went shopping to stock up on everything.   Made homemade ghee, mayonnaise, and Romesco sauce.   Any boring meal can be made better with one of these. 
 

I feel like I’m ready NOW to go all in, except I have plans on NYE to play board games and drink bourbon with my neighbors, so it just makes sense to wait till Wednesday.  At least I know I’m prepared for day one, when I will probably be ....not in the mood to shop, and looking for something I can just grab and eat. 
 

I mentioned this in my intro, but my 27 yr old daughter (who lives with me) is doing her own 30-day mission alongside mine: she is a vegetarian who will for 30 days eat 100% vegan, do daily yoga, and eliminate alcohol.  So although our meals will be different, we will be supporting each other.  I sure love her.  
 

Tonight I am enjoying a glass of wine (well, two).   Maybe it tastes better knowing I will be giving it up soon.  But I’m also looking forward to committing to no alcohol for a month. I’m sure it is the biggest part of what makes me feel better when I do a W30.  I’m also hoping to be transparent on here with that part of my struggle, without feeling judged. 
 

Okay.  Here’s to a successful W30!  
Ann

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Hi Kristi!  Romesco is a Spanish condiment, which can have different things in it.  I think it is usually tomato based, but the one I make isn’t.  You can find lots of recipes by Google search, but this is the one I love (I also like the pork medallions in this recipe, but often just make the Romesco and use it on any- and everything):   https://www.williams-sonoma.com/m/recipe/pork-medallions-with-romesco-sauce.html

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Hi Ann! I love people who are transparent on their journals, and I love your picture of your sauces! Good for you for making them yourself, I just went to Whole Foods and bought the packaged compliant ones. I started my second round today mostly because I don't have any NYE plans. Excited to support each other! 

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On 12/29/2019 at 7:18 PM, Ann said:

Tonight I am enjoying a glass of wine (well, two).   Maybe it tastes better knowing I will be giving it up soon.  But I’m also looking forward to committing to no alcohol for a month. I’m sure it is the biggest part of what makes me feel better when I do a W30.  I’m also hoping to be transparent on here with that part of my struggle, without feeling judged. 

I'm with you Ann...I am married to a master bartender who is always playing with some new flavor or another. And I am a happy taste tester...but I know giving those a  miss for fizzy water (with the just the right amount of lime) makes a huge difference. Doesn't make it easy, and doesn't make me feel great for recognizing it's something I will miss. I feel you!

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I'm so excited for tomorrow, you guys!   I'm 100% in and READY FOR THIS!!  Day zero, I guess you call today, and I did measurements and a last weigh in this morning.  Stashing the scale somewhere deep in my garage where it's hard to get to.  Aside from the wine dragon, I have a very hard time staying off the scale.  I'm going to work on staying focused on NSVs - primarily better sleep and decreased shoulder pain, but also general mood and energy levels.    

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Day 1

Sleep:  I slept late this morning, but since I was up so late and had quite a bit of wine last night, my sleep quality was poor and just 6.5 hrs.  So I was tired today.  Glad that I had the day off to laze around the house.  
 

Shoulder:   I’ve had calcific tendinitis for several years. Got my third cortisone shot a couple weeks ago, and this time it didn’t help.  I will be doing some simple PT exercises this month   Some days are better than others (can’t figure out why).  It hurts quite a bit today. I may have fallen asleep hard and slept on it.  
 

Meal 1 - spinach, red pepper, onion, mushrooms sautéed in ghee, grape tomatoes, 2 fried eggs, slice of bacon, 1/3 avocado, black coffee, V8.  
 

Meal 2 - spinach salad with tomatoes, onion, roasted red pepper, tossed with simple vinaigrette, handful of olives, and what I thought was clean roast beef but turned out to be pastrami. I had just one bite of it and threw the rest out - no idea what all is in pastrami but I’m sure it can’t be compliant.  Argh.  I had a conversation with the Whole Foods deli guy who read off their in-house roast beef ingredients (compliant) and I said I’ll take a pound.  He apparently sliced the pastrami for me instead of the roast beef.  Good thing I had a big breakfast.  The salad filled me up just fine. Also had a Hint water.  Note to self: track water intake tomorrow. 
 

Meal 3 - Nom-Nom Paleo Potsticker Stir-Fry, and a Polar Seltzer.  If I make the stir-fry again, I will double up on the cabbage and mushrooms. It’s got veggies but is very meat heavy and seems like it needs .. a wonton roll.  *sigh*. But the flavors are great!  
 

No wine cravings tonight. Apparently I had enough last night.  
 

All in all, aside from the pastrami mishap, a good day.  Planning to crawl in bed early with a book and lights out by 10.  

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My first (very minor) mental struggle happened this morning.  I had every intention of hiding the scale from myself yesterday, but somehow didn't get around to it. I've been weighing daily since last May (it's part of the Noom program), and I REALLY wanted to step on the scale this morning.  Honestly, I had to talk myself out of it.  Seems a little odd that, of all things, this is a challenge for me.  I've lost 20 pounds in the last seven months (or so), and would be pretty sad if I undid any of that with my Whole30.  I had to remind myself that I have lost weight each time I've done W30, so I just have to trust that this time will be the same.   And in my rush to get out the door to work, I STILL didn't manage to put the scale in the garage.  I'm putting a reminder on my phone to do that first thing when I get home from work.  

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Ann I feel ya with the scale.  I had put it away, but I guess my hubby took it out last night because there it was in the middle of the floor calling my name this morning .... I stepped around it, I stepped over it, and I eventually picked it up and put it away so I wouldn’t step on it.  Lol. That number obsession is real y’all!

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Day 2 in the books!   Not much to report today, smooth sailing.  
 

Sleep:  Really good night of sleep last night.  Almost 8 hours and an 81 sleep score. Unheard of for me on a weeknight. I don’t think I can chalk it up to W30 yet, more likely just super tired from the night before and going to bed extra early. But I’ll take it!

Shoulder:  Pretty uncomfortable and sometimes painful throughout the day.  
 

Meal 1:  2-egg omelet with spinach and mushrooms, some avocado and sliced cucumber, and a blob of Romesco. And a V8 and black coffee. 
Meal 2:  Leftover potsticker stir-fry on bed of spinach, a couple tangerines and sliced cucumber, Hint water.  
Meal 3:  Curry chicken salad with slivered almonds, red pepper, red onion, on a bed of spinach (OMG sooooo good!).  LaCroix.  

Snacks: Nope. But I got a box of “emergency food” from Barefoot Provisions and am a little worried that just having those snacks around will make me want to snack.  But I’m glad I have some healthy snack options on hand now.  
 

Still no wine cravings.  The weekend is upon us though ... I expect that dragon will be appearing before long.  

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Had a small sugar craving for the first time after lunch today.  I had been in the habit for quite a while of having a piece of Dove Dark Chocolate right after lunch.  My office keeps them stocked in our kitchen (doggone them!).  It was more like a passing thought that "a piece of cholocate would sure be nice right now" ... I simply walked away.  

Something I haven't mentioned, which is I'm sure helping me a lot, is that I have Invisalign braces.  When the trays are in, I can only have water, and they can only be out for 3 hours a day total.  I've had them for six months, and I will be done on Monday, 1/13, just a week and a half (OMG I can't wait!).  Hopefully I'll be past the most challenging part of W30 by then, but I've definitely got concerns that staying on track, especially as far as snacking, won't be as easy without the Invisalign keeping me in check. 

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Day 3.  All in all, things are still going well.  I did start having some cravings or pseudo-hunger issues today.  I ate well at breakfast and at lunch, but was feeling like eating again about an hour or two after lunch.  I was glad to have compliant snacks in my desk, but again, I wonder if maybe I had the munchies just because I knew those things were there.  Or the sugar demon rearing its head finally after nearly three days without wine or other added sugars/processed food.  
 
Sleep:  6 hrs 13 minutes, 77 sleep score (fair) . Very little deep sleep (25 mins).  I turned over at one point in the middle of the night and twisted my bad shoulder and the pain made me gasp.  Didn't get back to sleep for a while because it was throbbing and I couldn't find a comfortable position.  I sure hope I see some improvement soon.
 
Shoulder:  See above.  Also, it's been achy and sore today, but not horrible.  Keeping a steady flow of Advil going.
 
Meal 1:  Buffalo chicken egg muffins (https://therealfoodrds.com/buffalo-chicken-egg-muffins/), yellow peppers and grape tomatoes, 1/4 avocado, a blob of mayo, V8 and black coffee.  

Meal 2:  Leftover potsticker stir-fry on a bed of spinach, and a Polar Seltzer.  Was hungry so had a second scoop of stir-fry.  And a tangerine. 
 
Snacks:  I was hungry not long after lunch, so I had an Rx Bar and a Chomps beef stick (and an afternoon cup of black coffee, which I don't usually do).  Probably didn't need both snacks, but they both sounded good and I felt hungry.  It was probably munchies and carb cravings more than hunger.  
 
Meal 3:  Despite the snacks, I felt very hungry when I got home from work at 6:00.  Rotisserie chicken breast (Whole Foods, compliant!), mashed potatoes w ghee, steamed broccoli w ghee, olives.   (I added the potatoes bc I feel like the starchy carbs will curb my cravings, and maybe help with sleep tonight.  And they were delicious).  
 
Wine cravings:  Friday night, 7pm. My thought pattern goes something like this:   Tonight will feel long and boring without wine.  Why does the couch and TV have so much more appeal with a glass of wine?  But heading to bed early, even on a Friday night, is good for me and one of my biggest goals is better sleep.  I will feel so good when I wake up feeling refreshed in the morning instead of my typical Saturday Morning feeling sluggish and unmotivated.  I’d like a glass of wine but I’m not having intense cravings.  Helps that (a) there’s no wine in the house, and (2) my daughter is along doe the Dryuary ride with me.  

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Day 3 was the first day I needed a snack.  I tried water, lots of water, distraction, even a nap, nope so I had a mini meal at 4:30 and was soooo hungry again at dinner.  Who knows maybe it’s a Day 3 thing, or maybe just a Friday thing. 

It does help knowing others are right there with you!  

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Day 4.  Hungry today, even though I’m eating big meals. Otherwise feeling good.  My intention today was to get on the treadmill, but I wasn’t able to motivate myself to do it.  But I was fairly active, putting away Christmas (up and down ladder into garage loft to store boxes, hauling tree outside, etc).  Treadmill will happen tomorrow.  
 

Sleep:  8.5 hours (broken into two parts - I was awake for an hour and a half 6-7:30 then fell back to sleep for another couple hours).  77 sleep score.  Pretty darned good!

Shoulder:  Not too bad today.  Also didn’t manage to get around to PT exercises, which was one of my goals today.  Why do I have SUCH a hard time with exercising in general?  I feel like I have good willpower in most other areas.  Maybe I’m using up all my willpower on W30 and no wine?  
 

Meal 1:  buffalo chicken egg bites with mayo mixed with Frank’s red hot, avocado, fresh strawberries, bulletproof coffee.

Meal 2:  rotisserie chicken with pineapple habanero pico de Gallo, avocado, steamed broccoli and yellow pepper, sweet potatoes with ghee. Tangerine. 

Snack:  Pumpkin seed crunchy snack. 

Meal 3:  filet mignon (sadly overdone, but still good), mashed potatoes w ghee, Well-Fed coconut-almond green beans (sooo good!). 
 

Wine cravings:  Not really, but I did see a beer on TV and thought it looked particularly appealing.  My daughter is out to a fancy dinner tonight and she texted me her mocktail (a melon ginger drink of some sort).   Her personal 30-day challenge (vegan, yoga, Dryuary) is going well so far! 
 

I’m feeling good about this so far!  Hoping the hunger (cravings really) part sorts itself out soon.  

 

 

 

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REALLY strong urge to get on the scale this morning.  Haven’t done it yet but haven’t quite talked myself out of it.  Please talk me out of it.  It seems like such a minor infraction.  

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Hi @Ann, just reading through your journal and...so great! I love your pictures and walk through of your days. But since you asked to be talked out of something, I'll give you my two pennies worth:

Remember stepping on the scale...it is going to give you a number and then what? How will that help define how you feel right now? Remember there comes a point in W30 (and we are not too far off that point) where everything will feel tighter--you may feel bloated, etc. That's the shift we experience as our body adjusts to the way we are eating (the way we are treating ourselves!), but I imagine stepping on a scale then, too, could be damaging. Remember, it's only 30 days. You can do anything for 30 days. Put the scale out of sight and remember it doesn't define us, how we feel, or what success looks like. Change IS coming...! 

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My conversation with myself yesterday (my usual weigh day). 

What does it profit me to step on the scale?  Am I allowing that number to determine my mindset, how I feel about me, how I look and dress?  Why am I so curious and drawn to see the number?  What if I step on it just to see, what then.  If the number is lower than I expect will that loosen my resolve make me think and feel that I have some wiggle room because I’m “ahead”?   What if the number is higher than I expected?  Will I become upset and toss in the towel?  Self you really do not want to step on the scale, this experiment is not about weight loss!  So that number will not help, it can only do damage.

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Thanks, guys.  I didn’t do it.  Whew.  And it is FINALLY stored away in the garage loft — need to drag out the ladder to reach it.  And put the ladder behind some suitcases to make it a slight hassle to get to.  
 

I read something someone else posted that is exactly how I feel about this.  I worked hard to lose 20# over the last 7 months or so, and would be heartbroken if I undid that.  But my prior experience is losing about 8# with a W30, so I’m going to try hard to not worry too much and focus on the NSVs.  

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Day 5.   Today went well.  Aside from really wanting to step on the scale this morning (I didn’t), it was an easy day.  My energy was good. Did some meal planning and went to Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and New Seasons and picked up some great stuff, including condiments - Thrive Special Sauce, Primal Kitchen ketchup and mayo, and New Primal Mustard BBQ and Medium Buffalo sauces. I haven’t yet tried any of them and don’t know what I will do with them, but I’m excited to have them on hand for next time I’m meal planning. 

Sleep:  8 hrs, 79 sleep score. Weekend sleep is the best.  Looking forward to see how I do during the week.  Still waking a lot by shoulder pain.  

Shoulder:  Has ached on and off all day, and is fairly uncomfortable tonight. The muscles surrounding the painful joint have been sore, I’m sure from tensing up protecting the rotator cuff. 

Meal 1:  buffalo chicken egg muffins, avocado, bacon, black coffee. 

Meal 2:  spinach salad with tomatoes, red pepper and red onion, topped with roast beef and simple vinaigrette, and avocado. The rest of my leftover mashed potatoes. 

Meal 3:  Bacon wrapped pork tenderloin (omg SOOO good!), zoodles with marinara and olives, pear. The pork is from Paleo Running Momma, and is amazing:  https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/paleo-whole30-bacon-wrapped-pork-tenderloin/

Sipping Waterloo sparkling water in a champagne flute watching Golden Globes with my daughter.  Feeling content, and I feel well prepared and ready for the work week. 

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Day 6.   I got a new phone a few days ago and somehow my alarm clock was silenced. So despite my best intentions to have a leisurely morning, I was chasing around like a madwoman getting ready for work. I did manage to make a very quick breakfast, and pack my lunch. Unfortunately, I didn’t much care for the “paleo hash” I got at New Seasons, but made an egg to go with it and ate enough to get me thru to lunch.  And I also forgot to pack my olive oil/balsamic vinaigrette for my salad.  I stressed for a moment, wondering if I should dash to the store on my lunch break and buy some evoo and vinegar (prob not a bad idea to keep some at the office), but remembered seeing that Chipotle has W30 salad bowls, and there’s one a few blocks from my office.  Yay!!  

Also, tried Nutpods in my coffee for the first time today.  The flavor was fine, but it separated (curdled) in my cup and that was unappetizing to look at.  We use high quality beans and grind just prior to brewing a pot (or doing a pour over) - is that the issue?  I may just keep drinking black coffee, or switch to tea.  

Okay, here we go:

Sleep:  7 hrs 15 mins, 79 sleep score. And almost an hour of it was deep sleep.  Pretty good!

Shoulder:  I think it was a little better today, but it still sent me a zinger or two when I moved it the wrong way.  

Meal 1:  paleo hash (with compliant sausage, apples, sweet potatoes, onions, peppers), egg, 1/2 avocado, then later had coffee with nutpod.   

Meal 2:  Chipotle W30 bowl with power greens, carnitas, fajita veggies, guacamole.   I had them double up on the carnitas, and could only eat half the bowl.  The rest will be lunch tomorrow!  Next time I will double up on veggies instead of meat.  But it was delicious!! 

Meal 3:  leftover bacon wrapped pork tenderloin, cosmic crisp apple (have you had one? so good!), steamed broccoli with dump ranch.  First time making dump ranch - it’s good!  

Wine cravings:  It crossed my mind on the way home. But I wouldn’t consider it a craving or a strong impulse. But the evenings do seem longer and a bit dull without wine.  It’s probably (clearly) me who’s dull, and wine just made dull seem shinier. I need to do some self work here.  

Still would like to step on the scale but it is safely stashed away out of reach.  Okay, that’s it for Day 6!  One-fifth of the way there!! 

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