Day 19 - energy/ mood

[melatx]

Hello everyone,

I'm posting here to see what, if any, advice/ encouragement, I can get from other women who have completed a W30 during pregnancy. I started the W30 on April 24th and found out I was pregnant on April 25th. At this point, I should be right around 8 weeks.

I have read many threads addressing morning sickness and food aversions, which were helpful, but I'm curious to know about how others felt over this time in regards to energy and mood.

Fortunately, I feel I've gotten better at managing my blood sugar levels - eat first thing in the a.m./ before I leave the house, and eat small meals/ snacks throughout the day. Being as I'm now on Day 19, I was hoping I'd have some rush of energy or some hint of awesomeness. Sorry to say, but there is not a drop of tiger blood running through my body these days. Overall, my energy is average from waking until I get home from work. At that point, I just want to get in bed for a nap or lounge on the couch. I have no interest in cooking most nights, and doing so can put me in a bad mood. I just feel too drained to deal with it. As for my mood the past few days, I really feel more flat than anything. I'm not sad, not happy, just bleh. (All that I'm describing here is not my "normal". I generally had decent energy and mood was content-happy.)

I really want to stick this through Day 30 and 10-day reintroduction, but I sometimes feel so defeated I just want to stop and start reintroducing. Or at least eat something besides protein, veggies, and fruit - even though I enjoy those foods (most of the time) and I know they're good for me. I did not have nausea/ food aversions with my first pregnancy, so this is completely new and different for me. I honestly don't know if my symptoms, i.e. mood and energy are W30-related or pregnancy-related, but I'm guessing the latter. I do have a supportive husband who is also doing the W30, and we have a 2.5 year old son. 

I just didn't think it would be this difficult this far in the game  

[jmcbn]

Hey @melatx and welcome to the forums

I've never completed a Whole30 whilst pregnant, but I have had a number of pregnancies, the latter in particular where I ate pretty good, and I was tired - pretty much every day. You are growing another human inside of you, while functioning as a normal adult, and that requires A LOT of effort on your body's part, and wreaks havoc on your hormones, so don't be expecting miracles - you've already got one growing in your tummy!!

You're still in your first  trimester where food aversions & nausea are par for the course, but we can still take a look at your meals if you like and see if we can suggest some tweaks?

You are doing an amazing thing for your bubba - the first 1000 days from conception to 2yrs are the most critical window for foetal/infant nutrition, preventing the onset of chronic diseases in later life.