Let's Support Each Other — doing a January Whole30

[Rebecca001]

Hi everyone, I’m a bit late to the party. I started 1st Jan do this is the end of day 4 for me. It’s been fine so far, I ate a lot on Saturday and Sunday (compliant, of course but just LOADS) to get through and now feel fine. I think this is my 5th w30 since 2020 and other than a brief “off the rails” time during November and December last year, I’m been pretty much clean paleo + wine since July 2020 with occasional strict W30’s thrown in. 

sugar is always my nemesis though, and although I skip easily back in to w30 mode, I do struggle with eating too much fruit, and compliant foods (nkd bars, dried fruit, nuts and nut butter etc) so this time around I’m going to limit my fruit intake to whole fresh fruit only and no nuts. They are too addictive/no brakes for me. 
 

tonight I had salmon with green veg, and tahini lemon aioli and it was delicious. 

[itskatiegirl11]

I started before new years, and I've gotta say, my skin is SO CLEAR. I'm the type that still gets skin impurities and I HATE them, so I'm constantly on alert. This last week, my face is smooth and clear! 

So far so good, sugar dragon hasn't actually been so bad, and the cravings, while there, are minimal. PMS last night felt awful, a whole 30 dinner was unappetizing, yet all food was unappetizing, so that was survivable. 

We're keeping things pretty simple over here, so there's been a couple rounds of breakfast for dinner, chicken stirfry, pork lettuce wraps, and a bbq chicken with veg. I'm still working out quite intensely, so there's lots of potatoes around as well. 

I'll go shopping here in a couple days though, and I'm planning to try the w30 clam chowder, loaded potato soup, and tuscan chicken skillet! Yum!

[Aliem999]

On 12/31/2021 at 10:58 AM, dloStL_1stTimer said:

First timer here... starting January 2nd. super nervous honestly because of the no alcohol rule. But I am also very excited to experience all the positive effects when I reach day 30 & beyond. I'm hoping that is what will keep me motivated to not "slip".

 I'm totally down with being part of this accountability group! 

You can do it! If you are going to a bar, order a soda water with lime/lemon/etc. Still feels fancy. Usually no one questions it because it looks identical to a vodka soda, etc.

[Aliem999]

I started yesterday (Jan 3rd!) This is number 5 or 6 or something along those lines. Excited for more energy and just to get back to healthy eating....seriously lacking veggies in my diet the last two months. Started a log in the Whole30 log section to track my progress. I found doing that helped me stay on track! Did accidentally eat half a grain of rice by accident today (stuck on my son's plate and then my hand and absentmindedly ate it without thinking though I was able to spit half of it out). I was already debating about going a few weeks longer than 30 days, so I will likely add a couple days onto the end (though don't hate if I don't either). I have done reintroductions a few times and my only "sensitivity"  per se was to sugar. It definitely disrupts my sleep. Also, if I am eating completely off the rails like I have the last few months I feel gross and that affects my sleep and such.

Hoping this will be my reset and can go back to eating Whole30 80%+ of the time. Also want to kick the baby weight, but that should just happen once I start eating reasonably again since I had lost a lot and kept most of it off until a few months ago when my diet took a nose dive. So hopefully an added benefit. I really just want to be back to my old (and cleaner) diet again.

[Mamatutu]

7 hours ago, Aliem999 said:

You can do it! If you are going to a bar, order a soda water with lime/lemon/etc. Still feels fancy. Usually no one questions it because it looks identical to a vodka soda, etc.

haha thats exactly what I do!  I'm usually the driver and rarely have a drink when we go out any way.

[Mamatutu]

Hi all,  I thought I should check in here as this seems to be where all the action is at on the forum lately.  I started on Jan 4th so this is day 2 for me.  This is my second W30, the last being 7 years ago so I'm long over due to reset my poor old body.  I'm also a servant to the sugar dragon so I really need this to slay him and put him back in the box.  I'm UK based and that makes following the plan a little trickier as we have no W30 approved items available here, so lots of label reading for me.  That said I love cooking and rarely used ready made ingredients so actually reading ingredient labels is not much of a chore. I once read that if you can't pronounce half the things in an ingredient list then you are probably better off avoiding it any way!  Day 2 is going really well so far, i had bacon and eggs with grilled tomato and mushrooms for breakfast and it felt like it was a treat!  

Hope everyone is getting on OK?

[Rebecca001]

@Mamatutu I agree- we have no approved W30 things here. I manage ok but i get very envious when I hear about compliant Italian sausage and things like that! 
 

day 5 for me today. I feel pretty good, work was busy and I was starving by lunchtime but I had taken my food with me so was fully prepared. Tonight I have made a spicy pineapple chicken dish which I will have with mashed swede. Looks really tasty in the oven at the moment. 
 

no workout for me as such today, Wednesday is always my rest day. I will do a yoga video later though, I am following Adrienes 30 day yoga this month although I’m not managing it every day, so doing day 3 today. 
 

after my meal I will prep my lunch for tomorrow. It might be leftovers from today if there’s enough left, or salad and fish if not. 

[itskatiegirl11]

Grateful to have you all here with me!!! The group is awesome. 

Day 8 for me today - and I find I'm far less hungry today than usual. Its 1015am here, and I haven't even craved a snack yet - usually I would have already eaten an RX bar and be wanting something more still. WIN. 

What are your wins so far? 

[Aliem999]

1 hour ago, Rebecca001 said:

@Mamatutu I agree- we have no approved W30 things here. I manage ok but i get very envious when I hear about compliant Italian sausage and things like that! 
 

If it makes you guys feel any better we do have Whole30 stamped items. Mostly in specialty grocery stores. I happen to go to those for some of my shopping but I really don't use those items for 95% of my cooking. There really aren't a ton of them, except for sauces and boy are they expensive! I did see a handful of freezer meals this time around I am excited to try for emergency meals, but for my first two rounds of Whole30 pretty much none of these products existed. Honestly I have found better none Whole30 marked items that are compliant for most of the items. You just have to read labels.

Super disappointed this time around. The store brand I used to get sausage before for Whole30s now has sugar in them! Still need to visit the store, there might be one kind I can still have, but we will see. Need to find sausage I can have. I think there are some pork brats I can have, which I love, but I like having the option of several kinds of raw sausage. There are some precooked ones that are fine, but usually those have much more added salt, which is fine I guess but I would prefer to not feed that to my kids as often as their bodies are smaller and they aren't doing this with me.

[Mamatutu]

2 hours ago, itskatiegirl11 said:

What are your wins so far? 

Well this is a bit gross but I'm not burping so much, I'm much less bloated and it's only day 2.  

[tiffysquid]

On 1/3/2022 at 10:36 AM, izzy said:

I do hope you are feeling better now.

Thank you! Been bad & good, up & down, on & off with the illness. Today I feel pretty solid so far, though I had a bad night's sleep.

Last night I got really cravey. Ended up eating a banana, dipping it in raw/unsweetened cacao/cocoa. Hard to say whether that is appropriate W30 behavior, but whatever, I didn't actually hunt down a candy bar, so that's good...

[tiffysquid]

On 1/4/2022 at 8:39 PM, Aliem999 said:

You can do it! If you are going to a bar, order a soda water with lime/lemon/etc. Still feels fancy. Usually no one questions it because it looks identical to a vodka soda, etc.

There are some great non-alcoholic options out there these days. Some do have sugar (like the lovely Aurora brand) but some do not. Look for hop waters, CBD/hemp drinks, etc. Also herbal non-alcoholic mixers.

[tiffysquid]

On 1/5/2022 at 11:18 AM, Aliem999 said:

The store brand I used to get sausage before for Whole30s now has sugar in them!

argh!! why must they do that!? (add sugar, and/or switch out ingredients on us...)

 

 

[itskatiegirl11]

59 minutes ago, tiffysquid said:

Last night I got really cravey. Ended up eating a banana, dipping it in raw/unsweetened cacao/cocoa. Hard to say whether that is appropriate W30 behavior, but whatever, I didn't actually hunt down a candy bar, so that's good...

I think that is an absolute win! 

[Rebecca001]

For any uk people, there certainly are w30 compliant things available, we just have to look harder for them! NKD bars are compliant (equivalent to the much promoted ‘larabars’) and Lidl’s own version is too although I find them sweeter and more ‘no brakes’ than the more expensive ones. For seasoning etc, a lot of store own spice blends are compliant whereas Schwartz brand tend to be sweetened and contain gluten. There’s also some Jamie Oliver curry pastes which are compliant, makes a really easy curry with coconut milk and chicken and veg. Tinned fish in oil and also some of the brands in tomato sauce are compliant. You just have to be ‘that annoying woman’ in the supermarket who reads every single label. I generally shop in Lidl but every now and then I do a huge shop in Tesco and hunt down these elusive compliant goodies. It can add a bit of variety and convenience 

 

I am day 6 today, and I feel really tired. Work is very busy and I am have started a new job with longer hours so that’s hard going. Went for a run this evening. Dinner was duck breast and roasted rainbow carrots. I had some frozen mango and cherries afterwards too. I still feel hungry now but to be honest I think I’m just exhausted. I had a decent length sleep last night but I was weirdly sweating buckets and woke up with the bed and my pjs drenched in sweat, it was horrible. Hopefully that’s a sign my body is detoxing all the December crap! 

[christine19]

Hello everyone and welcome to all the newbies!  I’ve done several W30s since 2013, my last one was in January of 2021. Five years ago I stopped eating gluten and dairy, so I’ve never reintroduced those. Was doing pretty well until late spring and then went way off the deep end with too much junk food, sugar and booze. Gained weight but was still active until I started a new job in September and then my workouts stopped too. Feeling crappy, busting out of my clothes and a few hip pains returned that went away during my last W30. So I’m back to get re-set and rejuvenated….started on Jan 3 and I have had a splitting headache every day since  but that’s on me for too many GF cookies, potato chips  and wine over the holidays!

Doing my batch cooking on weekends so I have lunch when I go to the office (3 days) and dinner when I get home late. Made Eggplant Strata from Well-Fed Cookbook to have for dinner this week which is hearty for cold weather and freezes well. Tonight was spaghetti squash and meat sauce and mostly grilled chicken breast, legs or thighs with veggies or salad for lunch. Need to plan to exercise this weekend. I also ordered the Humm kombucha on-line that’s W30 approved so excited to try that for the first time. 

Hi @Rebecca001 good to see you here and I know those new to W30 will benefit from your experience, meal planning and  food combinations! Congrats on the new job!  
 

Thanks for starting this topic @tiffysquid we got this!!!!

[Aliem999]

8 hours ago, tiffysquid said:

argh!! why must they do that!? (add sugar, and/or switch out ingredients on us...)

 

 

Found a different one! Hopefully it is just as good but it's Whole Foods 365 brand which tends to be pretty good! I bought it and will try it this weekend!

[Rebecca001]

@christine19 happy new year! Good to see you here too! 
 

I slept much better last night, no weird night sweats, no weird dreams…. I’m glad it’s Friday but also slightly apprehensive about the first dry weekend. A lot of my family are doing dry January so that’s quite motivating. I also have those flickers of motivating energy, it’s amazing how quickly they reappear and I find quicker with subsequent W30s. I have this tremendous urge to clear out my wardrobes and storage in Marie Kondo style, just throw everything to charity and have lovely open clear cupboards! Usually an indicator that my w30 is starting to work! 
 

have a great day everyone. 

[Mamatutu]

12 hours ago, Rebecca001 said:

For any uk people, there certainly are w30 compliant things available, we just have to look harder for them! NKD bars are compliant (equivalent to the much promoted ‘larabars’)

apart from the salted caramel ones which have peanuts in them. I'd opened the pack and thought "you know what?  I'll just double check" and yup 13% peanuts.  Be fine later on so they can sit in the cupboard or the husband can eat them but oh I was looking forward to that!  I also have Almond Macaroon flavour and they are fantastic.

[Rebecca001]

I like the cacao orange one from Lidl but they are too yummy so I’ve banned myself from them for this round. 
 

Friday night, no alcohol, no junk food! I am so incredibly hungry, meeting overran at work and I missed my lunch, then worked at home and now just cooking dinner. A simple rib eye and sweet potato fries and salad! I hope to get a good nights sleep tonight, and feel the benefits of no alcohol tomorrow! 

[audmeighan]

Hi everyone!
I started on the 2nd, but am just now looking for support. It's really helpful to read your intros and feel like I'm not the only one who misses feeling better, carrying less extra weight, and alcohol. 
This is my second Whole 30 only because I haven't committed to not drinking the last few times I tried. 
I've been sleeping better than I have in years, but have basically had a dull headache since Monday.
Also, did you know you can drink too much La Croix? I think that's what I did yesterday without realizing because it caused some stomach pain. At least, that's what I'm blaming  based on googling...

Anyway, thanks for sharing here! It helps so much to know we're all in this together!

[MizRik]

Hey all!! It was fun catching up on your messages this morning. 

I have officially made it to day 6. The sugar dragon surprisingly has not been a problem at all. I even purchased my favorite cookies last night, fresh from the bakery for my kids and wasn't even tempted to eat one. 

One of my biggest struggles when doing whole30 is eating enough. Once I start eating better my appetite literally disappears. Unlike most people who suddenly find themselves craving all the things.... I don't want anything LOL. 

Feeling a bit exhausted today. Can't wait for the tigers blood! 

Rikki 

[MaddMac]

Happy New Year and Happy Saturday - I started on Monday like many of you. This is my 3rd W30 - first one was in 2018.

So today is Day 6 and I was planning to go to Barre class and completely flaked out. Woke up and just could not bother to pick up my head from the pillow. So I must be in the true "I just want to take a nap" phase of the timeline.  I feel like a drank a bunch of wine last night, and I should know because I am used to drinking at least a couple of big glasses of wine on a Friday night.  So at least I can take comfort in the fact it seems like I am syncing up to the W30 timeline.  @Rikki - In response to your comment regarding concerns about not eating enough, I hear you. I especially have a problem in the morning. Breakfast is not a meal I really get excited about anyways, and the thought of more eggs today is a big "meh". 

I will say that it helps to enjoy cooking and be experimental.  I have a subscription to the online NY Times Cooking app, and it's great how many W30 compliant recipes there are on there, plus so many ways to make ones compliant if there's an ingredient here or there that needs to be swapped out.

My husband is doing this with me, so that makes it really helpful. We moved all the spirits down to the basement, we make the Cucumber-Pineapple Sparkler mocktails in the W30 Cookbook from time to time, and the meals I have been making are tasty.  

Last night's dinner was:  Petrale sole "piccata" (dredged in almond/cassava flour, sauteed with ghee, capers, lemons, garlic, with steamed broccoli and mashed celery root/potatoes.  I poured a little of the cashew cheese sauce I made over the broccoli. It was quite a feast.  

Looking forward to hearing what people are making, tracking our timeline together.  Last time I lost 8 lbs (I know that is not the focus of the diet) and I really remember my skin glowing.  One thing I do notice now - not eating bread/grains (ala sandwich) at lunchtime eliminates the 3 pm sleepy/grogginess!

[MaddMac]

14 hours ago, audmeighan said:

Hi everyone!
I started on the 2nd, but am just now looking for support. It's really helpful to read your intros and feel like I'm not the only one who misses feeling better, carrying less extra weight, and alcohol. 
This is my second Whole 30 only because I haven't committed to not drinking the last few times I tried. 
I've been sleeping better than I have in years, but have basically had a dull headache since Monday.
Also, did you know you can drink too much La Croix? I think that's what I did yesterday without realizing because it caused some stomach pain. At least, that's what I'm blaming  based on googling...

Anyway, thanks for sharing here! It helps so much to know we're all in this together!

That must be a LOT of La Croix. I usually have half a can at night with my husband and embellish it with a splash of unsweetened cherry juice or pineapple juice.  Maybe add something to it to slow you down? 

[Mamatutu]

3 hours ago, MaddMac said:

Last night's dinner was:  Petrale sole "piccata" (dredged in almond/cassava flour, sauteed with ghee, capers, lemons, garlic, with steamed broccoli and mashed celery root/potatoes.  I poured a little of the cashew cheese sauce I made over the broccoli. It was quite a feast.  

Looking forward to hearing what people are making, tracking our timeline together.  Last time I lost 8 lbs (I know that is not the focus of the diet) and I really remember my skin glowing.  One thing I do notice now - not eating bread/grains (ala sandwich) at lunchtime eliminates the 3 pm sleepy/grogginess!

The biggest thing I took from my last and only other W30 was the glowing skin and bright eyes. I just LOOKED well at the end of it but I didn't lose any weight.

I'm blogging my eats on my W30 log on another part of this forum (with pictures) but I must say your dinner tonight sounds fabulous. I had garlic and thyme roasted cod with coconut sauce and some potato wedges... posh fish and chips.