@Joyce Yes! I wanted to revive it. I frosted the brownies with a small batch peanut butter buttercream. So good.

They were good! Put some broccoli in the oven to roast at the same time as the brownies...balance!

Made these last night! I've made them several times before and they're great. I make them when I want to bake but don't have much in the house, and don't have a lot of time. https://recipeforperfection.com/decadent-flourless-brownies-recipe-sundaysupper/

WOW. This resonates, so much. This gives me a lot of hope about the kind of eater/person I have the potential to be. It's bizarre because I feel like I could've written all that. Which tells me that my experience is not unique, but a perfectly normal and understandable reaction to chronic restriction. I really appreciate this.

I haven't made these but I want to! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQiii4pg4s8 Cupcake Jemma is wonderful.

Skwigg, this is wonderful. I'm working with an adolescent girl who has many disordered eating habits and is really struggling. I am going to adapt and share that last paragraph with you because I think it will help her a lot, at least make small changes out of restriction.

Coming back to say I agree wholeheartedly! My body does so much better on lower impact exercise. All of the times when I've felt like I should exercise more, do more high intensity stuff, I get puffy and tired. A lot of walking, with lower impact stuff helps me feel so much better.

I second the fitness blender suggestion! I've been doing their workouts for years and really enjoy them. You can tailor the workouts by length, area of focus (upper/lower/core etc), intensity, and equipment. They have a ton of videos and none of them feature loud music or shouting trainers:)

Yay, thanks @skwigg ! I always forget about Handle the Heat, and everything she makes looks amazing. I'll let you know if I make those monster cookies though. I turn to Sally's Baking Addiction really anytime I want to bake, because it always turns out well. I made her strawberry cake for a baby shower recently and the new mom told me it was the best cake she's had in awhile!

Yay, my login works now!! I've made this twice in the past couple weeks, both presents for family: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/spiced-gingerbread-loaf/ It's amazing. I skipped the glaze because both people I made it for don't like glaze. It doubles nicely, too! Baking cookies for my brother soon too who is headed out of town for work for two months, so I want to make him a big batch he can freeze. Was thinking of these, but any other suggestions are welcome! https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/peanut-butter-cup-surprise-monster-cookies/

Thanks all! Appreciate it. And happy, I hope that cure works in Australia! My stomach is still a mess and I've convinced myself it's the gluten/dairy/sugar. Yikes. I'm still eating pretty much whole 30 meals with some added sugar here and there. I'm wondering if it's the damn cauliflower, not the gluten dairy sugar. That's actually more likely. I don't want to cut out things unnecessarily and just create more stomach problems for me down the road by not eating any of it, but my stomach is so painful all the time that I just feel at a loss. I ate a very small piece of bread yesterday and my stomach is a mess this morning so I started to think it was the bread, but then I realized yesterday my stomach was a mess all day, regardless of the bread! I'm just getting really tired of this and I want things to go back to normal. Honestly I wish I didn't do the whole 30. I loved it when I was doing it, for the most part, but now I'm in such a weird spot. Ah well--can't go back, I can only learn from this experience.

Skwigg, I will look into the digestive enzymes. My baseline digestion is problematic anyway, so I think they could help. Does anyone take them/can recommend a brand? I know you are definitely right that it's never a choice between one or the other, but in my head it totally is. I've separated the two, to the point that I do feel a sense of guilt when I'm eating bread or cheese or whatever, OR more often, it's like, ah, well I've "messed up" already. I don't go on a binge or anything, but I do get a mental sense at least that I'm "off track." Why do we have to be on track or off track?? Why can't we just BE? I like the idea of the eggs AND the oatmeal/toast/cereal, the meat and veggies AND the rice. That's where I've struggled in the past--making room for all foods. I think when I was doing whole 30 I felt somewhat proud of having the willpower to give these things up. I felt superior, which feels icky to admit, but it's true. I felt like I finally had the control to not eat sugar or bread or peanut butter. That's not the intent of the whole 30, and I know that's leftover eating disorder gunk. Eating those things doesn't have to be attached to morality or self worth. It's just food, it's not your identity. I did feel really good with the whole 30 because I was finally eating big satisfying meals. But I don't think I had a really accurate "before" comparison, because I wasn't really eating meals. So I don't think it can truly be attributed to cutting out specific foods, I think it was more from actually eating meals. I think I have to give normal balanced meals (including things that I previously cut out) a true shot and see how I feel--my sense is that I'll feel just as good as on the whole 30, if not better.

Skwigg, thank you so much for this amazingly comprehensive/thorough responsive. I didn't sleep well and had a very long day so am not quite thinking straight but I will respond too once I am feeling better!

So I didn't really follow the whole 30 reintroduction very well. Kind of immediately reintroduced sugar, grains, and dairy. One night we made this baked mac and cheese with three kinds of cheese and milk. Yikes. Needless to say, had some pretty significant digestive issues the next day. I vacillate between wanting to eat whole 30ish and then wanting to eat a "regular" diet--with sugar, starchy carbs, cheese, etc. In the past when I've eaten more starchy carbs I get lethargic and sleepy, and I never really felt that way on the whole 30. I feel like when I eat more whole 30 meals I have a sense of resentment. I don't really want to--I want yogurt and peanut butter and chocolate and baked goods. But I do notice a difference when I eat eggs versus oatmeal in the mornings. When I eat oatmeal and head into work, I feel like I could fall asleep at my desk, and it's not that way when I have a higher protein/fat breakfast. So I'm not sure how to proceed from here. The middle ground is always best, moderation, etc.. I just have a really hard time with that. Because when I finally give myself "permission" to eat peanut butter, I go overboard, and end up throwing half the jar away because I don't trust myself with it. I was reading what skwigg was saying about not having any food off limits, but that one seems to be really challenging for me still. I was reading someone wrote about how the majority of people can't eat freely--that to maintain the body they want they will always have to diet or restrict in some way. I'm really not sure that's the case, and I would hate to think that it is. What really gets me about that statement is that the dieting and restricting only caused me to gain more weight when I rebounded--so while they got me thin initially, in the long run it messed everything up, metabolism, weight, digestion, energy, sleep, etc.

Yay!! Thank you both so much. Luckily it's a very small wedding, ~20 people. She's asking two people to make the cakes, so that eases some pressure:)

I've been entrusted/asked to bake a cake for a friend's (small) wedding! She's asking for a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. I want to do a big and slightly outlandish cake, I'm thinking 3-4 layers. Any recipe suggestions? I've found some promising ones on brown eyed baker, pioneer woman, and epicurious but it's so hard to know!! If anyone has a go-to chocolate cake or one they've tried and enjoyed, would appreciate it!!

Thanks, skwigg, I appreciate the warm welcome back! I think you're absolutely right about there being some positive takeaways. I definitely don't fear fat anymore like I used to. I sauté and roast veggies in oil, and don't skimp on that. I also did really enjoy adding in a lot of veggies, and even some new combinations. Although there's a misconception that it involves eating a ton of meat, a lot of my meals were very vegetable-based, with meat added in. The idea of forbidden foods is hard for me too. Even telling myself that I can't have certain foods (without even taking that action) raises some level of anxiety. Yesterday I kind of added in things that I had been missing, like yogurt, peanut butter, chocolate, and grains. I baked a vegan banana bread with oat flour and had it with two of my meals. I didn't feel lethargic or brain foggy or whatever they say happens. I felt great and fine and normal. I have never been one to go overboard on the carbs, so I don't really feel nervous about going overboard on bread and chips. I do worry about sweets a little bit. But I also think about something my mom said when I was talking to her about the whole 30, and breaking emotional ties with food etc. She said to me, "But when I want a cookie, I want it because it tastes good, not because I'm sad. Cookies are just good!" It was a really funny moment, and a moment of big clarity. Going back to the joy of food is always a nice place to return. Skwigg you're right--I thought it would revolutionize my life, I'd lose 15 pounds, be drinking bulletproof coffee forever (yikes), rainbows and unicorns. That wasn't the reality. I enjoyed it when I was doing it, but I'd rather operate somewhere in the middle rather than at either extreme.

I love the new site! A fresh start. I missed you all! (And I just saw you can add emojis, which is excellent 😍) I've been baking. Just baked these cookies, and they turned out beautifully. Halved the recipe because I didn't want 32 cookies! https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/peanut-butter-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies/