Whole30 Day 25

The day got off to a crappy start when I drove 15 minutes to my weekly yoga class only to find that not a soul was there. I hadn’t received any notice about it being canceled, so it was really confusing, but I had arrived just before class start time, so I waited a few minutes and then went home. Only then did I find a Facebook Reel saying it was canceled. (I don’t have Facebook on my phone because I really don’t need any more reasons to have my phone in my hand.)

I think the part that’s bumming me out is that I didn’t really feel like going in the first place—I was having to adjust my whole morning around it and wasn’t really in the mood—but I had signed up and truly felt it would be inconsiderate to just not show up. So it felt icky to me that no one even, like, put up a sign at the park or something to explain. I’m sure there was a good, urgent, last-minute reason, but I guess I’m discovering that I really hate it when people don’t follow through on their commitments.

Anyway. While my crummy mood wears off I guess I will get some work done so as to honor my own commitments? I feel like I should be reporting Whole30 Tiger Blood! every day, sorry.

Whole30 Day 24

Swim: 600 meters

I’m reverting to my old blogging format just to get the boring exercise stats out of the way, not because I am training for anything. Don’t hold your breath! But I’m glad I finally got to the pool this morning. My lane-mate was shockingly rude and unfriendly—SO sorry you have to experience the sight of another human every 90 seconds or so!—but it was nice to be swimming outside, and I had fun chatting with Michael’s former swim coach and another swim-team friend who is back in town for a few weeks.

That 90-seconds thing wasn’t a typo, by the way. I know swimming is likely to wipe me out for the day if I don’t eeeeease into it, so I was just doing 50s with a very long break after each one. Even so, I was dizzy when I got out of the pool and am afraid my arms are going to be rubber later.

But I feel pretty chipper, motivated to work, and motivated to cook the things that need to be cooked if I’m planning to eat for the next few days.

Whole30 Day 23

Forgetting to write for one day threw me off—I had to go find my anniversary post and count to even figure out for sure what day this is supposed to be. (The good news is that I’m not struggling at all to keep up the Whole30 food-wise; the bad news is that I abruptly stopped caring about it entirely.)

I was planning to swim this morning but woke up with a headache—probably just from mild dehydration, since hydration is what made it go away on its own. So I made a batch of “fake Gatorade” (strawberry-infused water with lemon juice, salt, and potassium powder) and will try to do better today and get to the pool tomorrow.

Random fact of note: Today is the 12th anniversary of my Ironman. Which means it’s been like 11½ years since this blog was interesting, haha.

Whole30 Days 21 and 22

What I ate:

A remix of the same exact stuff I’ve been eating for 22 days, I dunno.

What I thought:

All is well; I’m just experiencing a severe lack of enthusiasm for this blog series.

Whole30 Day 20

What I ate:

Meal 1: Soup, beef jerky, kiwi, coffee (7:30)

Meal 2: Salad (1:30)

Meal 3: Potato and vegetable hash with two eggs (6:30)

How I felt:

I feel good, and my Achilles feel good (although I haven’t challenged them at all).

What I thought:

Lots of work is piling up, so I am spending quality time at my desk…

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

Still OK with leftovers/current groceries.

Whole30 Day 19

What I ate:

Meal 1: Soup, beef jerky, coffee (7:00)

Meal 2: Salad (12:30)

Meal 3: Potato and vegetable hash with sausage and two eggs, kiwi (5:30)

How I felt:

I stayed off my feet more yesterday and was able to sleep through the night with no pain, so that was nice. Still going strong.

What I thought:

I wrote a few days ago about the clothing exchange thing, and today was one of their big “swaps.” It’s so much fun! I know I paid to be part of this, and gave them a bunch of my own clothes to get the points, but it feels like you’re basically just stealing stuff. AND everyone you meet there is likeminded about wastefulness and recycling; I can’t overstate how genius I think this concept is.

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

We did some shopping to restock all the vegetables and meats.

Whole30 Day 18

What I ate:

Meal 1: Potato and vegetable hash with two eggs (7:00)

Meal 2: Salad, beef jerky, coffee (2:00)

Meal 3: Beef jerky, sausage patty, blueberries (6:00)

How I felt:

I slept poorly last night—mostly because I kept having excruciating pain in my right Achilles—and woke up grumpy. It’s nice that my left Achilles does seem to be healing and never hurts much anymore, but having one functional leg doesn’t actually do me a ton of good. Now that I’ve been to my Wednesday yoga class I feel much better, but the Achilles thing is discouraging. My plan at this moment is to keep Whole30ing until my Achilles are both healed (with breaks for a big family event this summer and anything else that seems to truly require a break).

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

Making some soup, since it is freezing out.

Whole30 Day 17

What I ate:

Meal 1: Potato and vegetable hash with two eggs and sausage, coffee (8:00)

Meal 2: Beef jerky, asparagus, blueberries (11:30)

Meal 3: Chili, hard-boiled egg (6:00)

How I felt:

Amazing.

What I thought:

Little story: There’s a woman in town who started a business focusing on used clothing swaps—which by the way is an absolutely brilliant idea. You bring in your unwanted clothes in exchange for points, which you can then spend on other people’s stuff. No money is exchanged except a small fee to be a member. She’s rented a space and is trying to make a go of it as a business for the long term. I really hope she succeeds, because I LOVE a woman on a mission, I feel very strongly that buying clothes new is wasteful if not unethical, and my “thrifted” wardrobe had been going steadily downhill as I kept going up in size and clothes got harder to find. Plus a lot of this weight gain happened during the pandemic when I was afraid to go into a store of any kind.

ANYWAY, she posted a picture in a recent email of one of the swaps in action, and there was a woman in it who I thought looked a bit like me but much heavier. I couldn’t tell for sure, so I took a screenshot, zoomed it way in, and…it’s me. Which means I literally don’t recognize my own body anymore.

So I hope something more happens in these 30 days to give me evidence that this could be reversed with a better diet. But honestly I don’t say this to be self-deprecating or make anyone worry about me self-esteem. I know people who avoid the mirror because it makes them feel like crap, but honestly I have the reverse of that where I generally look in the mirror and think I look just dandy. It’s photos that sometimes give me pause, but I guess those are easier to avoid.

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

Still going strong.

Whole30 Day 16

What I ate:

Meal 1: Potato and vegetable hash with two eggs, coffee (8:00)

Meal 2: Salad with chicken and egg, beef jerky, kiwi (2:00)

Meal 3: Sausage patty, asparagus (6:30)

How I felt:

I’m pretty dang bright-eyed and busy-tailed. And my Achilles actually feel a bit better, or at least I’ve been walking a bit with seemingly no adverse effects the next day. I watched a bunch of videos on Saturday about healing tendinitis and learned a few useful things—one of which was that maybe I need to be working on hamstring strength as part of fixing this. Honestly there’s no downside to trying that.

What I thought:

It’s our 30th anniversary (!!), and even though M.H. has to work and we have no big plans, we surely would have at least gone out to eat if it weren’t for my Whole30ing. In fact, my original plan was to start the Whole30, take the day off for our anniversary, and then start it over again. But we decided that it’s just food—I might as well continue feeling great, continue trying to heal, and see this through as long as reasonably possible.

Today was the first day the pool was open for lap swim, but I never signed up. I’m still on the fence about whether it’s a good idea. I think the main problem for me is that you’re supposed to pay $20 a week to swim four Monday through Thursday, and (1) I think that’s kind of pricey and (2) I would really rather swim approximately two days a week. So I might check over there tomorrow and see if you can just hand over $5 to get in or what.

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

Made some beef jerky; lots of leftovers.

Whole30 Day 15

What I ate:

Meal 1: Potato and vegetable hash with two eggs, kiwi, coffee (8:30)

Meal 2: Curry, kiwi, asparagus (1:00)

Meal 3: Chili, kiwi (5:00)

How I felt:

Eh, fine. My progress is a crooked line!

What I thought:

Right on schedule (according to the Whole30 timeline), I had a food dream. In the dream, I grabbed someone’s Coke, brought it to my lips, and remembered just in time that I can’t have Coke. Weird that my mind went there, since I haven’t had a soft drink of any kind in maybe 10 years.

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

Fridge is full!

Whole30 Day 14

What I ate:

Meal 1: Sweet potato and vegetable hash with two eggs and sausage, coffee (9:00)

Meal 2: Curry (12:00)

Meal 3: Big salad with chicken (7:30)

How I felt:

I slept so much better and feel nice and chipper—though I did wake up in the night with an agonizing pain in my right Achilles tendon. It never hurts like this during the day, and I was able to fix it by getting out of bed and “walking it off.”

What I thought:

I took the day off and finished an entire book; it was great.

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

We bought groceries, roasted three kinds of vegetables, made chili, and prepped some beef jerky.

Whole30 Day 13

What I ate:

Today was pretty busy for me, so I spent most of it grabbing whatever I could find that was Whole30 compliant and eating it whenever I was too hungry to work. At one point that consisted of a spoonful of almond butter and some blueberries, so that pretty much sums up my day.

How I felt:

We kept a window open in the bedroom last night (BECAUSE IT IS JUNE), but I woke up at midnight with congestion, a sore throat, an earache, and an ICY WIND blowing through. I did not actually catch a cold from the Montana-summer draft, but I also didn’t sleep very well. (Oh, also, I thought it would be a great idea to try out a [new] pillow I bought at a garage sale, and I fought with it all night because it’s EVIL.)

Despite all that I’m actually feeling great; sorry to be dramatic.

What I thought:

Thirty days feels pretty long on a Whole30, and it suddenly occurs to me that doing one in June is an awesome way to make the most pleasant days of the year feel longer, if you wanted to put a positive spin on things.

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

At some point I finished working, pulled it together, and made some sausage patties and salad chicken. If I’m going to continue this beyond 30 days as I was intending, I REALLY need to work on finding some delicious recipes in the next two weeks. My current food is fine but definitely not as tasty as it was before this.

Whole30 Day 12

What I ate:

Meal 1: Sweet potato and vegetable hash with four eggs, coffee (8:00)

Meal 2: Salad (1:00)

Meal 3: Curry (6:30)

How I felt:

I slept great and feel pretty good today.

What I thought:

I got a little busy at work, which interfered with my intention to pick up all my “projects” scattered all over the house. (There are art supplies and knitting/crochet equipment ev-er-y-where.)

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

No idea…

Whole30 Day 11

What I ate:

Meal 1: Potato and vegetable hash with sausage patty (8:00)

Meal 2: Salad (1:00)

Meal 3: Curry, asparagus (6:30)

How I felt:

I’m possibly still seeing slight improvements in terms of feeling less generally crappy, but I really wish some of my clothes fit better. It is laundry day, and apparently all the items that make me feel decent about myself are in the wash. Plus one of my clients wants everyone who works for them to send in a selfie to post on social media for National Selfie Day—EW EW EW. (Yes, I have become a person who tries not to appear in pictures.)

What I thought:

Honestly, if Day 11 is supposed to be hard because you haven’t seen the magic happen yet, that means Day 12 should be…magic, right?! Imma go ahead and set my watch by that.

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

We did some shopping for salad ingredients.

Whole30 Day 10

What I ate:

Meal 1: Potato and vegetable hash, two eggs, kiwi, sausage patty, coffee (7:00)

Meal 2: Curry (12:30)

Meal 3: Salad (7:00)

How I felt:

I managed to reduce my human interaction to the dentist and the other attendees of an “Across the Spiderverse” matinee, so that is helping my mood. Physically I feel about the same as I have been (which, mind you, is still much better than 11 days ago!!).

What I thought:

It’s notable that the Whole30 timeline says days 10 and 11 are “the hardest days”—because the novelty is wearing off and you still haven’t gotten to the “magic” part of the experience. I don’t know that the novelty is wearing off for me exactly. I’ve been in a food rut, but that’s my normal status. And the dietary changes weren’t SO dramatic that this is super-difficult. Possibly blogging again for the first time in years is helping me stay interested.

What I’m worried will actually be the hardest days are the days just after Day 30. I know this thing is supposed to end at that point, but I’ve tentatively planned to keep going as long as possible to really try to heal my Achilles.

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

I made an enormous infinicurry.

Whole30 Day 9

What I ate:

Meal 1: Salad with chicken and egg, coffee (8:00)

Meal 2: Soup, asparagus, raspberries (12:30)

Snack: Sausage patty (3:30)

Meal 3: Potato and vegetable hash, two eggs, kiwi, sausage patty (6:00)

How I felt:

I’m tired today. So much so that I didn’t have the strength to do the work I needed to do AND be hungry after a somewhat rushed and inadequate lunch, so I had to break the Whole30 rules by having an afternoon snack.

What I thought:

In addition to being tired, I. am. peopled. out. Or maybe that’s what I am instead of tired. I have just been doing too many things with too many humans—many of them lovely, of course—and can’t take it anymore. But there are people-related plans for both tomorrow and the next day, so I think I’d better get a good night’s sleep at the very least.

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

I am definitely making a curry tomorrow, as I am out of soup. :)

Whole30 Day 8

What I ate:

Meal 1: Sausage patty, asparagus, raspberries, coffee (8:00)

Meal 2: Sausage patty, soup (12:30)

Meal 3: Potato and vegetable hash, kiwi (6:00)

How I felt:

It’s another day of optimism that this is actually helping. I feel distinctly better than I did at the start, from head to toe. (As in, a little sharper mentally, a little more motivated, a little happier, a little thinner, a little less inflamed, and in a little less ankle pain.)

What I thought:

I’ve decided to commit harder to healing my Achilles. (Note to self: Remember, that’s priority #1!) I went through several months of physical therapy a couple of years ago, and it didn’t help much, but I did learn the stretches and things I should be doing. I also have a set of anti-snoring exercises from the snoring app that I’ve been doing very irregularly. So for the rest of this Whole30 I am committing to do them both, and probably in tandem, since I can stretch my calves and stick my tongue out at the same time.

Incidentally, snoring is near the bottom of my list of conditions I want to improve (it goes something like heal Achilles, lose fat, lower blood pressure, improve circulation, improve motivation and focus, get stronger, improve endurance, stop snoring). But this is somewhat in my control, and I imagine sleeping better would help with many things.

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

Not sure as of this writing, but I think for this to work it is really important to have something in the fridge that can just be reheated. You never know when you’ll hit another wave of low motivation

Whole30 Day 7

What I ate:

Meal 1: Soup, coffee (7:00)

Meal 2: Vegetable and potato hash with two eggs (12:30)

Meal 3: Salad, kiwi, pork and turkey sausage patty (5:00)

How I felt:

Today was more garage sales and some grocery shopping and some stuff around the house, so I was on my feet a lot, but they don’t hurt nearly as much today.

Also, I installed SnoreLab about a month ago, which is an app that records you while you sleep and gives you a report on how much you snore every night. I know M.H. snores sometimes, and he says I do sometimes, so it’s hard to glean anything because I don’t know which one of us it’s catching. But I have noticed that since a few days into the Whole30 (which M.H. is sort of, mostly doing with me), neither of us has snored as much.

First week with the app vs. now

What I thought:

One week down! I’m doing fine and being patient. Honestly the hardest part of Whole30ing today was walking by a cauliflower crust pizza sample at Costco.

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

I made some more grilled chicken for salads and several sausage patties (WHY did I wait so long; I should be living on these delicious, proteiny things).

Whole30 Day 6

 What I ate:

Meal 1: Soup, coffee (7:00)

Meal 2: Huge salad (protein: chicken and hard-boiled egg) (12:30)

Meal 3: Hamburger patty, kiwi, sweet potato (5:30)

How I felt:

I left the house early and spent a couple of hours going to garage sales, which is what passes for my exercise routine on Friday mornings. And honestly that much walking left my ankles tired and legs feeling heavy. I suspect my circulation is not great, in addition to the injury.

I’ve had a hard time settling down to work the past few days, which is especially bad because I have a writing task to do, and writing requires a lot of work and concentration.

What I thought:

I thought that I need to change these headings or write less frequently or something, because this blog is starting to bore me. (Better the blog bore me than the food.)

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

I can still work with what’s in the kitchen if I don’t get myself together, but I’m going to go back to the Whole30 book right now and read about the meal formulas again.

Whole30 Day 5

What I ate:

Meal 1: Potato hash with vegetables and two eggs, coffee (7:30)

Meal 2: Huge salad (protein: one egg, chicken), kiwi (12:00)

Meal 3: Soup, hard-boiled egg, blueberries (5:30)

How I felt:

I realize that it’s June, but based on what the temperature reads (pretty moderate) and how sweaty I feel in response (quite), it seems like I’ve been “running hot” the past few days. I googled it, and other people have reported the same thing! Incidentally, I also found this timeline of how one might feel over the course of the 30 days. I’ll have to keep comparing my own experience, but rest assured that I am not experiencing “kill all the things” today.

What I thought:

Of course the tendency is to WANT! RESULTS! NOW! But the little timeline mentioned above has reminded me to be patient and trust the process, so I will.

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

I think I’m all set with leftovers, but I did want to try making a curry at some point…

Whole30 Day 4

 What I ate:

Meal 1: Potato and vegetable hash (protein: three eggs) (7:00)

Meal 2: Huge salad (protein: one egg, chicken), coffee (12:30)

Meal 3: Soup (protein: ground turkey and pork),  asparagus, blueberries (5:30)

What I thought:

Our library is sponsoring a free summer yoga in the park on Wednesday* mornings, and the first class was today. I like the instructor—she’s going for “leave here feeling good” rather than “show off and get ripped,” which is perfect. And it was pretty glorious to be outside in the perfect weather. I had to rearrange my morning routine a bit to accommodate the class (i.e., get up and actually go right to work), but I think it will be worth it.

I have also been considering signing up for morning outdoor lap swim but haven’t pulled the trigger on it yet—that one would cost money and definitely be a lot more draining. But I remember doing it years ago when Michael was swimming with the team, and it was so nice to be out in the water/sunshine first thing in the morning. The downside is that the last time I tried to swim, probably six months ago, I made it 450 yards total before calling it quits, which is a really sad thing for a former competitive swimmer to admit. I am hoping that was a one-off and that with a little persistence I can regain some of my ability.

How I felt:

Dandy; the morning sunshine didn’t hurt. 

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

I shopped AND cooked!

*You are seeing these on a significant delay.

Whole30 Day 3

What I ate:

Meal 1: Huge salad (protein: one egg, chicken), coffee (9:00)

Meal 2: Chili, asparagus, kiwi (1:30)

Meal 3: Sweet potato hash with vegetables and two eggs (7:00)

How I felt:

Not much to report, except that I really think my Achilles feel better than usual, which surely has to be wishful thinking. 

What I thought:

Still going strong. I’m not bored or otherwise struggling with this, and I still feel optimistic that it’s going to help. I think some people get fairly strange effects from changing their diet drastically (the first time I did this, I remember it made my teeth hurt???). But the foods I’m giving up this time are along the lines of sheep’s cheese, black beans, and quinoa, rather than cookies and Lucky Charms.

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

I prepped pretty well for this Whole30, but soon it’s going to be time to cook and shop again, which is of course where things could start getting tricky. Which is why it’s good that I put in this “how I’ll feed myself” prompt, because it is forcing me to get up from my desk and thaw some stuff. Planning!

Whole30 Day 2

What I ate:

Meal 1: Huge salad (protein: one egg, grilled chicken), coffee (8:00)

Meal 2: Chili, sweet potato, blueberries (1:00)

Meal 3: Potato and vegetable hash (protein: two eggs), kiwi (5:30)

How I felt:

I woke up a bit hungry, which according to the Whole30 book is good—it means I didn’t eat too much for dinner. My ankles still hurt (as per), but I feel less crappy in general. And I spent most of yesterday peeing, so apparently some water weight is already going away.

Lately I have been in a 25-minutes-of-restorative-yoga-every-morning rut groove. Just trying to stay mobile and get gently strong without taxing my Achilles. I am debating whether it’s a good idea to ramp up my exercise in conjunction with all this, but I guess I’ll just do what I feel like. For a few weeks I have been working around the house a lot, which has house benefits if not physical fitness ones.

What I thought:

OK, today I feel a little better about all this—partly because making an effort to eat “clean” just demonstrates how far from clean I actually was eating before. It’s hard to admit, because I have staunchly maintained that all this weight gain was purely an act of perimenopause hormone betrayal, but my diet really had gotten a little sketchy. (Still better than 90% of the U.S. population, I maintain, but apparently not good enough to keep my own personal body in stellar health.)

The tiny bit better I feel from two days of Whole30-ing gives me hope that this is something that will actually help, and that hopeful feeling is nice.

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

I bought a ton of bell peppers at Costco, so maybe today’s cooking will involve sautéing one up with an onion so I have something else convenient to throw on salads.

Whole30 Day 1

What I ate:

Meal 1: Huge salad (protein: two eggs), coffee with unsweetened chocolate and coconut milk (8:30)

Meal 2: Chili and asparagus (2:00)

Meal 3: Potato and vegetable hash (protein: two eggs and a little ground sausage), kiwi (6:30)

How I felt:

Morning: My ankles hurt, my feet and legs feel swollen, and I woke up with a sore throat. So basically like crap.

Evening: Not bad, actually.

What I thought:

I am a little mad that I have to do this. But my body feels out of control: After about a year at a (WAY-too-high) weight plateau that I thought I could live with if I had to, I am again GAINING weight and feeling awful in all my clothes. Honestly I thought my diet was pretty good. I don’t ever have sugar or artificial sweeteners, I eat some vegetables, I take my vitamins, and most days I am gluten-free. But clearly something is not working, because besides the extra weight, I seem to have borderline high blood pressure and two Achilles tendons that have gotten progressively worse for years. And just lately I’ve been feeling particularly achy and inflamed.

My primary goal for this Whole30 is actually to help the tendinitis, because not being able to walk very far is absolutely devastating for everything in my life, including my weight. But of course if I could do something about this belly and at LEAST fit comfortably into my clothes again, that would be a plus. (Really weight loss is also the primary goal. Really everything that is wrong right now needs to get fixed.)

How I plan to feed myself tomorrow:

My goal for today is to make some grilled chicken strips that I can toss on a salad for more protein. Other than that I can eat the same as I did today.

Want to read some blog posts about my Whole30?

Hi, remaining readers of my lapsed blog! I actually hope there aren’t too many of you, because these upcoming posts are going to be fairly embarrassing.

I have gained tons of weight in the past roughly four years. That’s bad, but not as bad as some of the other health issues that have come along with it—like blood pressure that is borderline high, two Achilles tendons that have hurt on and off for the same four years, and lately a general feeling of inflammation and achiness.

I have tried a few things, but I’m 52, so I was sort of resigned to this being a perimenopausal hormone issue that’s largely out of my control. (Weight gain is literally my only symptom, though, so that’s kind of nice—but also not at all nice.) I didn’t want to do anything drastic, like “eat less and exercise more,” which would be bound to not only cause misery but also backfire spectacularly, given that my hormones are already in a tizzy. The only real solution I could think of was to try to walk more, but walking any kind of distance really hurts—and Achilles tendons can actually rupture if you abuse them. I also thought of biking, but I literally haven’t been able to get myself back on my bike since I rode it 112 miles in the Ironman, so…maybe someday.

I was musing about all this recently and M.H. said, “Why don’t you just do another Whole30?” Which is a great idea, because it’s not extreme (except, like, psychologically), and it will let me begin to evaluate to what extent my diet is contributing to all these issues. Also, I reread the book on the Whole30, and one of the first things they mention is that it helped one of the authors heal lingering tendinitis, which is really a thing I need desperately.

Anyway, I am a few days in now and have been writing about my Whole30 journey just for my own amusement. But blogging about challenges and self-improvement and self-experimentation is kind of my thing, so I decided it would be more fun for me to just hit Publish on those drafts, which I plan to do starting tomorrow.