I’ve been here before

[Billo101]

This is not my first W30. Its probably the 5/6th time I've done with many resets in between. 2017-2019 were some of the most difficult years in my life. Before the end of 2016 i had lost about 100lbs but it took a tole on me mentally and a huge tole on my marriage (non existent anymore) as i have come to learn. At the beginning of 2017 I had a good handle on things for about 6 months then things got really bad my divorce was driving me to make poor decisions not so much in the terms of food but I had turned to drinking significantly. I never considered my self an alcoholic nor do i to this day. I was still getting in the gym about 5 days a week. I would go on really long hikes to clear my mind spend time on my families farm but at the end of the day i was lonely while still being surrounded by many friends. As the year progressed I really buckled down on the drinking with help from a new person in my life. However this is when things with food started getting me in trouble. As with many new relationships you eat its sometimes the base of your foundation in relationships. We did a while30 together last year in January, my least favorite time to do one because everyone and their mother is doing it and the whole30 approved condiments are always sold out. It was most unenthusiastic W30 to date, I'm a gluten for punishment and actually enjoy the challenge. I swypo’ed real hard, i knew things that we could eat that were fine on ingredients lists but definitely frowned appon. At the end of that W30 we immediately went to a beer fest, terrible idea. Then for pizza after that.. no reintroduction period. This was day 31.
fast forward a month things were great, i was active actually gaining muscle so my weight was coming off real slow but i was building muscle so i was happy about that. Then i slipped a disc in my back. That sidelined me and sent me in my first bout of depression for the year. I ate and drank my feelings threw the summer. Towards the end of summer my back was feeling normal and i was back in the gym but had gained weight again. No problem i thought “I’ve been here before”. Not a few weeks later i was playing in an adult kickball league and while it seems like doing nothing my back seized up and shot one painful tinge down the back of my leg. I went to a new chiropractor closer to my house who ended being the worst human being on the planet. Instead of adjusting me he wanted me to pay $300 to go in shiny new MRI machine. He put me on a traction machine that made the pain 10x worse. I was on the phone with my friend who was my previous chiro (he had a new practice the specialized in prego ladies and special needs kids) telling him what was going he knew the guy told me to leave immediately and go back to his old practice and see the other chiro there. This was a month and half long ordeal. Finally as fall started to oresent itself i was back at it... for 2 whole days.  I worked in an inside sales job with 20-30 something hooligans high paced and loud. I loved it, it spoke to my personality. We had those hoover boards in our office and me being thought what a great way to get around an socialize with other people. Then it happened the inevitable. I didn’t fall off for the record, but as i was stepping off the thing took of twisted my knee around... yes around... and i was in the hospital. I was lucky in some case I didn’t tear anything significant but i did dislodge all the cartilage from behind my knee cap... knee surgery was inevitable. It took about a month after the injury to schedule the surgery but i had been immobile for a month and seriously chowing down on those feelings. Then i had surgery and was in a leg brace for 8 weeks 2 of which were spent on my couch i should of done a W30 then . But i ate and ate and ate all through oct, nov, December, January.... i started PT and it was so clear to me how bad i had gotten. I gained about 60/70lbs back lost all my muscle definition that i had worked so hard to get, my job had become increasingly more stressful because of my leg. I was very unhappy. It was a deep depression that I’ve not felt for a long time. Then added stress of finances started to haunt me. I ate my way through all these feelings. By February i had enough with the job stress i got a new job. Which has also eased the financial stress a little. I was cleared by physical therapist to go back to the gym. Great news, bad news is that my back was still seizing up and i was able to get adjusted because the chiro wouldn’t be able to wrench on due to my knee (this was my own opinion). 
at the beginning of March i was doing a lot better. Then the pandemic hit. Yay! So in March i spent a great deal of nights drinking and zoom calls with friends being dumb my GF was doing weight watchers. Which i hate. But shes a baller cook so food is always good. Learning a new job from home is difficult and that started to weigh me down a bit and also being brand new scared me, i had so many friends lose their jobs due to covid19. Luckily I’ve been very fortunate in that i was not laid off the new boss likes me so kudos to him. But I now had new stress. Mid April things were getting boring i was drinking way too much and cut back quick. It was time to do a whole30. Start date was 4/27, we’re (yes i dragged her into this) the day before i weighed myself .. didnt like that number at all!. 
everything pretty normal up to day 13/14. We broke the social distancing rules went to a  friends house to watch them drink. They’re used to me doing this by now so after a few rounds they don't ask me a million questions and offer me delicious whiskey. I just sit there have a good time and sip my sparkling waters like a good whole30er. They had bought wagyu beef. A little olive oil and some salt Was all put in them. AMAZING! But heres where something went wrong terribly wrong. We live in a downtown area we walk everywhere including our friends house. As we were walking hime my right big toe started to hurt. This wasn’t abnormal my feet always hurt especially on the right to compensate for the surgery on my left knee. As the night progressed it started to really hurt all the next day I couldn’t put weight on it. I thought i broke my toe then i thought i tore a ligament. By the 3rd day i was feeling pain I’ve never experienced a day in my life. I was having a gout flare, i had never had this before. I hadn’t slept in 2 nights i was fine with sticking to W30 still but i had to take ibprophen it was too painful not the toughest hombre in the world could handle this pain. The DR prescribed meds and now they are starting to work. So i went 2 days full pain and 3 with ibprophen  all the while sticking to W30. So this is up to the moment I’ve got tigers blood with nowhere to focus that energy. I started reading to help, but i am really distracted especially with getting work done. I didn’t eat much the last few days cause i do t want this thing to flare up. i can tell you halfway through this round i can tell I've dropped a ton of bloat cloths fit better. 
i just tell myself “I’ve Been here before”

as a side note i reintroduced my body back to 2 healthy things i had stopped doing for a long time. The fist is collagen peptides the second is MCT oil. This was introduced to me in my first W30 by a buddy who was strictly paleo. The benefits are amazing with these 2 toss in some coffee your good to go. I attribute the mct to weight loss. Lots of good reading on the interwebs about it. 
 

thanks if you’ve read this whole thing thats an accomplishment in itself. Felt like i needed to get it off my chest. 
 

and if anyone has info on gout and whole30 let me know. I find a ton of stuff about gout but not much about gout and W30

[Genevieve882]

Wow Billo! You have had a really tough hand of cards to play good on you for doing another round, awesome your Girlfriend is doing it with you my partner made it 7 days and then just said he wants to eat all the delicious food LOL. He doesn't have any energy or weight issues so I can kind of understand he's not thinking there's a lot to be achieved. I'm at day 23 now still waiting for tiger blood. 

I can't comment on the gout although I thought I had it at week two woke up in the night thinking my toes were broken, turns out after a good google session I had chillblains, and needed to not walk barefoot on the beach. and wear socks. 

I actually came on here to look at the collagen comments as I'm thinking about buying some, but I would like to recommend a book to you after reading your story, "healing Back Pain" by John Sarno. Honestly, AMAZING!!! After back injuries because of the severe nature of the pain and associated anxiety there is a lot of underlying  trauma and games the body/ mind will play. This book is extraodinary and I'm sure will help reduce your flareups in the future. 

Best wishes to you on your journey  

[Billo101]

15 hours ago, Genevieve882 said:

Wow Billo! You have had a really tough hand of cards to play good on you for doing another round, awesome your Girlfriend is doing it with you my partner made it 7 days and then just said he wants to eat all the delicious food LOL. He doesn't have any energy or weight issues so I can kind of understand he's not thinking there's a lot to be achieved. I'm at day 23 now still waiting for tiger blood. 

I can't comment on the gout although I thought I had it at week two woke up in the night thinking my toes were broken, turns out after a good google session I had chillblains, and needed to not walk barefoot on the beach. and wear socks. 

I actually came on here to look at the collagen comments as I'm thinking about buying some, but I would like to recommend a book to you after reading your story, "healing Back Pain" by John Sarno. Honestly, AMAZING!!! After back injuries because of the severe nature of the pain and associated anxiety there is a lot of underlying  trauma and games the body/ mind will play. This book is extraodinary and I'm sure will help reduce your flareups in the future. 

Best wishes to you on your journey  

Thanks for the recommendation. I will definitely check it out. i do like to learn about how the mind can play tricks on the body.

The collagen is something you should explore. Great lakes collagen is what i had used in the past, the green can. It takes time for the benefits to take hold and are mostly unnoticeable. 
 

thanks again for the book recommendation

[BabyBear]

@Billo101 oh I’m so sorry to hear about the gout.  My husband gets flare ups in his toe and now his elbow.  It is completely debilitating.  Although he’s never done a whole 30 he does clean up his diet quite a bit to combat the gout when it flares up.  We’ve talked to lots of different people who have gout and it seems it is different for everyone.  His flare ups come on when there have been a few contributing factors.  The first and biggest contributing factor is Dehydration, he’s not a big water drinker but he’s trying to do better.  The second factor seems to be not enough variety in foods.  Stress seems to be another factor.  Things we have found that helps him is drinking a lot of water, drinking tart cherry juice no added sweetners.  Eliminating high glycemic inflammatory foods.  Apple cider vinegar wraps.  And hot and cold foot flush.  We also use essential oils to help manage the pain and support the circulatory system, reduce inflammation, and support the endocrine system.   I hope you find relief and find a way that works for you to manage flare ups.