I did it.

[Kettaru]

Well. It's Day 31. I did it.

I started the Whole30 because of constant fatigue. I'm 24, physically healthy, but just have no energy. I've been to the doctors a bunch of times but they can't find anything wrong with me so I thought I'd give this a go.

The first week was great, I didn't really suffer any of the adverse effects and I felt my energy increasing and increasing. I had a dream where I ate a Haribo ring by mistake and cried.

The second week my energy plummeted and I've been tired ever since. Worse than before I started. I was following the meal plan religiously, adding fat to meals, never cheated, but it was just making me feel awful.

I've just been through the non-scale victories and the only box I could tick is 'less bloating' - but this is because of the diarrhoea I've been experiencing for the past two weeks. I've been having headaches, finding it really hard to get out of bed in the morning (didn't used to be a problem!) and haven't been able to do any exercise. Needless to say, I'm slightly disappointed. I don't quite know how eating healthier has made me feel so incredibly worse, but there we are.

I messed up today quite badly and inhaled rather too much chocolate (apparently I only have enough self control for 30 days) but I'm going to hop back on the Whole30 tomorrow. I don't know if anyone's had any trouble with this, but the only thing I have been consuming that I didn't have before the Whole30 is almond milk. I didn't drink any during the first week, then started adding it to tea in the second week. It's the only thing I can think of that's changed during this time so I'm going to remove it from my diet and see what happens. I think I'm just clinging onto the tiny hope of improvement here, but it's worth a shot, right?

Anyway, I did it. Well done, me.

[ShannonM816]

I'm sorry you haven't had a very good experience with Whole30.

Could you give us a couple of days' of sample meals that you've been eating, including approximate portion sizes as they relate to the meal template, and specific vegetables you've been eating? Maybe something will stand out that you could change to get better results.

Almond milk can cause problems for some people, so that is a possibility. We also see people have issues with tiredness if they don't salt their food enough, don't drink enough water, don't eat enough in general and specifically if they don't get enough fat or starchy vegetables. 

[Kettaru]

Hi Shannon

Thanks for your reply.

I've been eating the chicken hash recipe from the Whole30 book every morning (I don't have much time so make a big batch at the beginning of the week) - handful of pre-roasted chicken, 1 sweet potato, 1/4 of an apple, couple of walnuts, a handful of spinach, splash of apple juice.

For lunch I'd have the same as dinner from the previous day.

My go-to meals have included:

Chicken curry - handful of chicken, coconut milk, tinned tomatoes, compliant curry powder, with about 5 pieces of broccoli or half a courgette and a sweet potato

Roast chicken - handful of chicken, potatoes roasted in coconut oil/boiled potatoes with ghee, carrots, broccoli, apple sauce made from just apples

Pork 'sausages' - 200g or so pork mince, jacket potato with (loads of!) ghee, loads of carrots or broccoli, ketchup made from cider vinegar, bit of apple juice and tomato puree (yum!)

Tuna jacket potato - 1 tin tuna mixed with olive oil and cider vinegar, large jacket potato with ghee, handful of green beans, hard boiled egg

If I don't feel I'm including enough fat in a meal (I've been reading the forum posts and adjusting along the way!) I'll also have a handful of coconut or a couple of brazil nuts. I do salt my food but I suppose 'enough' is difficult to quantify! I don't really get hungry throughout the day so I'm assuming I eat enough.

I drink a pint of water with a splash of lemon juice when I wake up, a pint or two throughout the day at work, and another pint in the evening. I worked that out as at least 54 ounces to my 120 pounds of body weight so I'm nearly there? I also drink around 3 or 4 cups of decaf tea/coffee a day.

I'm not sure if anything stands out to you as being an issue there, but I'd welcome any ideas. I'll try more salt and more fat (maybe I'll see if I can tolerate olives or avocado - yuck) and up my water intake for now.

[Carol-g]

Hope you get to the bottom of it. I'm only 1 week in but your food seems great. A little frustrating not to get all the wins though.