Yeahhh, that didn't work.

[Jessica M.]

Hi Everyone. Pulling my posts back here after a failed attempt at a second Whole 30. I think it was just too soon after my Jan/Feb Whole 45. I am still just getting used to these ideas, I need to adjust to paleo/primal eating as a whole before doing it full on again.

Attempt 2 was much less stellar than attempt 1. Am I getting bored? Too busy? (Excuses.) Past that January spurt of resolution-fueled willpower? I dunno. I just know I was not preparing properly, not following the meal template very well at breakfast or lunch and by mid day 12 I pooped out. I made macaroni and cheese for my hubby and daughter (real ingredients, not out of a blue box, but still). I tasted a blob of it and then another and another. Then since everything was shot to hell, I had chocolate chips with my banana later for dessert. Sigh. On the weekend I was teetering back and forth. Had some sugar but no more pasta. Saturday afternoon I decided to not be Whole any more, this time, and be "mostly good"and give myself a little more flexibility. Bought some full fat greek yogurt and had that with fruit Saturday/Sunday. I am still trying to decide if dairy makes me constipated (sorry). But I wanted it. Actually I wanted Dairy Queen (which I don't even love, but I wanted ice cream). Strawberries and 1/2 c yogurt was satisfying enough.

Some challenging times are coming up though so I need to keep coming on the boards. Easter weekend this week, next weekend my son and I will be out of town, mid April I will be out of town working a convention my job runs twice a year (catered and restaurant food B, L, and D). Sigh. So, I don't know. I've reached that couple-months-in point where I give up on my new "diet/lifestyle" and go back to a mostly S.A.D. diet. Jan/Feb the W30 restrictions felt comforting and cut out the guess work. Now it just seems like work. Sigh. Maybe I can try again after the conference. I'll be back home by the 20th, and my 40th birthday is May 20th. Maybe I can squeeze in another 30 days then.

Either way, I think I am eating too much and too many starchy veggies to be losing weight, which is my main goal and what brought me here. Sweet potatoes and butternut squash kept me from being cranky on W30, but I need to lay off.

I found 2 yoga classes I could potentially get to on Wednesdays that are not too out of the way on my drive home from work. It'd mean getting home at my kids' bedtime. It's just one night, right? Was going to start tomorrow but kids and hubby are on spring break this week. Maybe next week would be a better start. After being home with them alllllllll day, DH may not appreciate me being even later than usual. Sigh. Trying to recapture my resolve. Rereading parts of ISWF.

[Carlaccini]

Hey Jessica,

I can relate. My second was much harder to start than my first one. My first one I was too busy proving to people that I could do "this crazy diet" thing.....

Re look at the reasons why you are doing it. Do you want to sleep better, do you want to mend your reationship with food? Only you can re focus your goals.

I am presently on my 3rd and struggling a bit on day 25. It took me three trys to get here, so I am glad I am so far along. But I am hoping to make it to day 45 (we'll see how Easter goes)

[Krista Billows Rodriguez]

Riding the bike is seriously harder than it seems like it will be when we're caught up in the W30 glow. As far as the yoga class, yes it's only one night and a happy momma is a beautiful thing. take that time for yourself and you will be all the better for it.

[JJB]

Either way, I think I am eating too much and too many starchy veggies to be losing weight, which is my main goal and what brought me here. Sweet potatoes and butternut squash kept me from being cranky on W30, but I need to lay off.

How much squash/sweet potatoes do you consider too much? I would think unless you're adding a whole sweet potato to every meal, that's probably not it. I tried to blame starchy vegetables too for my stalled weight loss, but finally figured out what I was doing wrong. It was your other idea...I was eating too much in general.

I make a lot of stews and casseroles, and other dishes where the meat and veg are mixed together. It made it very difficult to judge my palm-sized portion. I realized I was getting way too much meat at every meal. 2 weeks ago I started eating meat and vegetables separately. I don't put any limits on the vegetables, but I do try to actually stick to the palm-sized portion for meat. It looked really small. I just kept telling myself that if I was still hungry, all I had to do was get up and get more food. I have not done that once. I find now that I'm always satisfied with the amounts recommended in the template. I also cut out nuts because I was having them way too frequently. And now I am finally (slowly) losing weight! I'm not sticking with meat/veg separately any more, just trying to eyeball how many chunks of meat are in there (it's harder with ground meat). My portion size for a stew/casserole is now about half of what it used to be, and I'm still satisfied just as long as I was before.

As far as starchy veg, I have sweet potato every day, and several of my favorite recipes use spaghetti or butternut squash. If you think cutting these things will negatively affect your mood, it would really be to a bummer to cut it out of your diet! It would make the whole process harder for you, and might not even induce weight loss.

[30Canandaigua]

http://forum.whole9life.com/topic/8349-every-other-month-whole30-for-longterm-weight-loss/page__p__82738#entry82738

I think this thread might give a few other viewpoints of others in the same situation, myself included

I am in a really awkward post W30 funk trying to figure out the best way to continue a healthy lifestyle and loose weight without going insane and feeling shackled to my stove... and I suspect many January W30-ers are at this point. I keep telling myself: It took time to put it on, it will take time to come off.

Good Luck chugging on!

[Jessica M.]

Thank you all for the support and advice. I definitely think I am eating too much. And, perhaps more importantly, still not exercising or making sleep/stress management a priority. I think when I go to that yoga class next week I should buy a bundle of classes so I feel obligated to get my butt there!

Yeah, on good days I tell myself,"you've been overweight for most of your life and obese for at least 15 years, so you're not going to be miraculously cured in two months." I WAS expecting a little more magic eliminating so many things from my diet. Considering looking at FODMAPs or nightshades? I just don't know. Seems like a huge drag just to randomly cut MORE foods from my diet. I can't stomach tomatoes at all lately, so maybe the nightshades are someplace to start. Ugh. Peppers! I love peppers!

I have a physical with my GP next month, if she doesn't seem supportive of the changes I've made, I may have to seek out another doc (though she's pretty cool and should just be happy that I've started losing weight). Allergies still killing me, tummy issues, aches and pains. Was hoping removing all these foods and a bit of weight dropped would make my energy so much better I would be dying to exercise, etc. AGAIN... not going to change everything in 60-70 days. Sigh. Just once I would like to be one of those people who are like,"I found the key! The weight just fell off of me!"

Bought the Kindle version of The Paleo Solution last night. I have to keep absorbing info to solidify these concepts in my mind.

Have a great day, everyone. :-)

[Krista Billows Rodriguez]

Oh those people are a bunch of liars! There's no key, just a lot of hard work, dedication and determination to rewrite habits and rewire brains.

Honestly, the deck is stacked against health in our society, it makes it all the harder to achieve your goals of a healthy, happy Jessica. But you can achieve that goal! Hopefully you'll get support from your doctor, if not...find a new doctor. They work for you after all!

[Jessica M.]

So... I have been in a lot of pain this week, especially Thursday/Friday when I had off from work and wanted to be having fun with the kids and hubby who are on spring break. And my sinuses are out of control. It's been a low stress (even boring) week b/c I am past deadline. Sometime yesterday it occurred to me what was different about this week... I'd had yogurt a few days, then Thursday while my car was being serviced we took the kids for breakfast and I had a scramble that had cheese in it and put half and half in my coffee. Hello? Is dairy poisoning me?! I thought it might be causing constipation but couldn't resist testing yogurt again. But could it be all my muscle/joint pain and headaches and sinus problems are all dairy related or at least made worse by dairy? I never would have thought to cut dairy if I hadn't tried the Whole 30 in Jan/Feb. Time to remove it again.

Also have had sugar sneaking back into my diet, and had some white rice last night at dinner. Have been rebelling I think. Time to be good again.

I am not going to say I am "whole" anything, it's too much pressure. But I have to nix the dairy and sugar again. I have some 80% dark chocolate in the fridge and was going to make some coconut flour brownies so I have someplace to turn when the kids have their Easter baskets tomorrow. I considered not buying junk for their baskets. But they still believe in the whole Easter Bunny thing so I broke down and got some stuff. Not a ton. I usually stick some small toys and art supplies in there to supplement. I think if suddenly the Easter Bunny brought organic cookies instead of M&Ms they would know it was Mommy and her newfangled ideas. ;-)

Having my 3rd cup of coconut milk coffee. Cooked a sweet potato and an onion and scrambled in 3 eggs. Am fueled up for "Family Game Day" which my 8 year old daughter put on the calendar like 5 weeks ago. She has all kinds of stuff planned for us. Of course my 10 year old son is saying he won't participate (brothers!). I have like 10 more minutes of computer and coffee time while Spongebob is on.

Need to grab some groceries later. My father in law wants to go out to eat for Easter (probably so mom in law is not in the kitchen all day) but he decided this like two days ago so I don't think we'll get in anyplace. We shall see. Maybe I just need to start cooking.

[30Canandaigua]

I had a similar situation with dairy... I had frozen yogurt, coffee creamer, and cheese all in one day. The next day I left work early and thought I was going to drown in my own snot. Itchy eyes, body aches, sneezing. I dosed up on Nyquil thinking it was a cold, and the next day I was right as rain, minus the dairy..... Of course I have to play devils advocate and had coffee creamer this morning, so far so good. I had 1/2t of shredded asiago on my dinner last night, doing ok. I think this is one of those personal tolerance deals where your body has it's own threshold for how much it can handle before revolting.