Whole30 Challenge 2nd Week

Days 8-13

I'm just about at the halfway mark!  Here's a bullet-point of what's up.

• Although I'm feeling hungry more than in the first week, I'm still only feeling it 2-3 times per day.
• I'm sleeping better.
• Pre-packing meals is a must.  I've been able to wing it with leftovers and tuna, but need to be more purposeful in meal planning for to-go meals.
• Did my first eating out yesterday.  For lunch, I had an "Unwich" from Jimmy Johns.  The family went out for dinner, for the first time in a long time, at Chipotles.  I ordered a salad with chicken, fajita veggies, salsa and yummy guacamole. 
• I need to increase my activity levels.  The first week, I was in pain with my pinched nerve.  That pain has resolved (could be diet, chiropractor, time, pain reliever or any mixture of those things.) I have no excuse to not get out and exercise.  I actually love it, but the getting out is the toughest part.  I do have a couple of workout buddies now, so that will help.
•  I'm drinking much less coffee.  Just one or two cups in the morning, then I don't feel like I need it any more throughout the day.

Heading into the second half, my major goals are:

• plan all meals for the week and prep to-go foods
• get out and walk/jog 20 minutes every day
• practice yoga twice per week

Onward!  For my friends who are also on this journey, how's it going?

Whole30 Challenge - Ending Week 1

Day 6
I wasn't hungry most of the day.  I started my early day with some pumpkin "pancakes."  They are made with pumpkin, eggs, and coconut oil, so basically, they are pumpkin eggs.  But that doesn't sound so great, does it?  They're called pancakes because they are cooked like pancakes.  They were very good.
I spent the morning volunteering for an event, ate a few nuts, then went home, still not hungry, at 1:00. I had some leftover sage chicken and mushrooms.
In the afternoon, our whole family attended a Halloween event.  There were food trucks and candy galore, but I didn't crave any of it.  I still wasn't hungry.
When we got home around 7pm, I wasn't hungry, but made myself eat some salad and tuna.

 What I've decided: If I'm not physically hungry, I'm not going to eat.  My cravings are gone, so I'm going to start listening to my body and eat when I feel physically hungry.  As stated in the program:

The Whole30 takes you out of sugar-burner mode, and transitions you into being fat adapted—efficiently able to utilize fat as energy. This process starts in just five days, but can take weeks to really kick in to the point that you notice the effects. When it does, however, your body will begin to utilize fat as fuel more readily, helping you avoid between-meal cravings, energy slumps, and brain fog. In addition, once you’re fat-adapted, you’ll be able to start whittling away at your fat stores—something you are unable to do when you’re running on nothing but sugar.

• Sugar Burner = Energy roller coaster; “needing” to eat every two hours; cranky when you’re hungry; regular cravings for sweets or caffeine; dysfunctional hormonal response to food.

• Fat Adapted = Even energy all throughout the day; no need to eat between meals; stuck without food — no crankiness or raging hunger; reduced cravings for sweets or caffeine; improved body composition and hormonal response to food.

I'm not hungry because my body has 50 extra pounds of fat stores from which to draw!  Ha!  So, instead of thinking I must eat, I'll just listen to my body and eat when I'm hungry.

Day 7
Woke up at 6:00 am.  Not hungry at all, so decided not to eat.  I worked an early-morning shift.  Finally felt my stomach growling at around 9:00 am, so ate when I got home.  I spent an hour or so chopping, pre-cooking, and prepping food for the next day or two.

As day 7 comes to an end, I have to say I'm still not adoring the meat-eating on this plan, but, hey....isn't that kind of the point?  I don't crave eating.  I'm eating for fuel and it tastes just fine.  I love the veggies, fruits and nuts, but eat meat because I know that's what satiates me.  That'll work!  Anxious to see how the next three weeks go.

Whole30 Challenge Days 3-5

Day 3
Yuck. I felt pretty bad on day 3.  I was sick of meat.  Sick of eggs.  I wasn't craving grains or even sugar, but I was just tired of eating what I was eating.
Day 4
The results of my upset stomach wreaked havoc on me in the morning.  I had major stomach cramps and had the pleasure of running to the bathroom numerous time in the morning.   However, I wasn't craving food at all. When I felt physically hungry, I ate some of the more bland choices of foods. By mid-day, I felt much better.  I had my first chiropractor appointment in the evening, then did my grocery shopping at Trader Joe's.

I borrowed these two books from the library.  Practical Paleo was recommended by my doctor and I know it will give me good ideas for the "I'm sick of ____!" problem.  I just picked up It Starts With Food, the foundation book of The Whole 30, today.   After 5 days following the plan from what I read online and what a friend shared with me, it's nice to be reading the book.  Their approach is very balanced, even though the 30-day challenge is restrictive.  I have to admit, the recipes in It Starts With Food do not look very appetizing to me at this point.  I've not ever been a heavy meat-eater, so it's taking some adjusting.

Advice given by my chiropractor:
- Drink more water.  It's a natural pain reliever.  So, today, I had two glasses of water before my coffee. She also suggested I drink water during each of my 15-second breaks between calls.  That was tougher to do than I thought.  That 15 seconds goes by in a blink.
- Exercise consistently, as opposed to with intensity, for now.  I've been wanting to just jump right back to where I was 3 1/2 years ago, running 3 miles with ease, looking forward to long runs, killing it at boot camp 3 times a week.  But I've put on 45+/- pounds over the past 3 1/2 years.  Yes, you read that correctly.  So the truth is, I will not be jumping right back into the same intensity I had when I had 1/4 less weight and was working out consistently.  So for now, my new goal is to get out and walk 20 minutes every day.  Beyond that, I may walk/run, stay out 45 minutes, do yoga and some weight training, but at least...I will be out walking 20 minutes.   Knowing myself and how I like being athletic, I'll add intensity soon after the habit of getting out is formed.

Day 5
Today was better.  No cramping.  No strong aversions to food.  But I didn't really want to eat much of anything, either.  When I was hungry, I ate eggs and fruit; salad and tuna; chicken and mushrooms and a few bites of a Lara Bar.

Even though I'm not loving it just yet, I already am losing sugar and grain cravings, so I'm going to stick with it.  Here's to day 6!

Whole30 Day 1 & 2

Days 1 and 2 have been completed!  The program outlines that these days will feel fabulous and easy. I can attest to that.

I've mostly been eating arugula, spinach, fish and beef (all organic or wild or grass fed).  For breakfast, I've been eating eggs and veggies, so will soon need to experiment with some recipes for "Paleo" breakfast items that aren't all eggy.   For snacks, I've had raw nuts or fruit.

I'm looking forward to Thursday, which is grocery day.  I have been reading a book recommended to me by Dr. Dicky called the Practical Paleo.  There is a lot of good information in that book and I hope the recipes will give me some variety so that I don't get sick of eating the same few dishes over and over again.  Tonight, Ken bought dates so that I can make a Paleo coffee creamer that has no sugar, no artificial sweeteners, nor dairy.  I am thinking I will either video or photograph the process and share it here on my blog, especially if it's a success.

Now that my back/neck is healing (I'm at about 80%. In fact, right now, I am entering this blog by using speech dictation on my MacBook. It hurts too much to sit down for a long period of time and it's getting late, so I'm lying down and speaking this out rather than typing.), I'll be able to get back out and exercise in the mornings.

Here goes day 3...

30 Day Challenge

Over the weekend, one of my co-workers challenged our team to take on a 30-day challenge, The Whole 30.

When I read the outline of the plan, it's exactly what Dr. Dickey told me to do when I saw him back in May.  So why have I waited so long to make these changes?

Fear.  Fear of:
- giving up grains and sugar
- going it alone
- grieving the loss of the foods I like so much: chips and queso, laceys, tortillas
- failure

Why I'm doing it despite my fears:
- I have support. Thanks, Scott for inviting us to join you and Matt.  Hannah is also wanting to join the challenge.
- The plan is reasonable.  The 30 days are fairly restrictive, but then you can add back in foods you like.  The way I will add in the foods, I'll be able to test to see what foods, if any, are causing problems for me.  This means I won't have to say goodbye to laceys or queso forever.  Like Dr. Dickey had advised, I would just reduce the number of times per week I have certain foods.
- My weight.  I just keep gaining weight.  The extra weight is uncomfortable and will start giving me all kinds of health problems. It hinders my activity level and energy level and simply makes me feel bad about myself.
- The foods I eat affect inflammation.  With my pinched nerve hurting so severely, I figure this is a great time to eliminate foods that could be aggravating it.
- I can do anything for 30 days.

Today is my "Day 0."  The 30 days will end on November 12.  30 days is an attainable, manageable goal for me, but I have a BIG goal:  To be in good physical condition by my 40th birthday. I would like to start my 40th year in good physical shape, so I have exactly one year and two months to work really hard to get to a place, health-wise, where I really want to be.