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Hello, This isn't so much of a question, more of just an observation. I have been using birth control (intra-vaginal ring, not a pill) for about 6 months, and it's taken a while to get regular periods on this type of BC (not really sure why - maybe because it's more localized than the pill?). Anyway, I started Whole30 on Jan. 3rd and have basically been on my period ever since, and I am not "supposed" to start until next week. I've read lots of posts about hormonal weirdness during Whole30, but I can't seem to get the better of my tiredness, and I think it might be tied to the same hormonal weirdness that's causing my period issues. Does anyone else feel this way? How do you combat the tiredness? As a side note, I know that I'm not anywhere close to anemic, but it's sort of how I'm feeling right now. Any tips or suggestions? Thanks in advance! Rachel H.

Hello. I would like to share my experience with Whole30 and see if anyone is feeling the same as me. I have been compliant, however I have had a smoothie (with added fats) sometimes because I've been too sick to eat. I mostly had them in the first 2 weeks then stopped. Then I had one about 2 days ago as I was ill and could barely eat. I started whole30 as I have very severe fatigue and issues with dizziness and motion sickness. I had no digestive issues other than little episodes of gas like anyone, and I tended towards being a little constipated at times. Since day 4 of whole30, my digestion has been a mess and it gets worse and worse. The last few days have been 24 hour diarrhoea and stabbing abdominal pain like trapped gas. The diarrhea doesn't relieve it. Sometimes I go 5x a day. Also as far as my symptoms I started whole30 for, they are even worse. I am so exhausted I cry every single day and feel like my life will never regain any normality. I can barely go for a walk and work is torture. I was overweigjt but fairly fit before whole30 and could walk and jog. But I did have long term fatigue but I didn't feel like I was dying like this. I have been tested for lots of things and my iron dropped a bit and my thyroid stimulating hormone is a bit low indicating my thyroid is over functioning, but my thyroid hormone levels are fine and negative autoantibodies. I am seeing my GP, a naturopath, acupuncture, psychologist. Before this I had never even paid for a massage, but I feel I am having an extreme health crisis. I'm contemplating quitting my job and not getting out of bed anymore. I have no idea what is happening to me. The digestive issues have been the cherry on top and I fear they won't stop when I stop whole30. I've never had digestive problems like this. As I said, my meals have not been always perfect template (smoothies, sometimes skipping meals) as I'm so ill and doing what I can to survive at this point. I also do rotating roster shift work which makes my whole life hard and is part of my fatigue issues. But I try to follow recommendations otherwise and am eating plenty of veg, appropriate protein and plenty of fat from avocado, olive oil, home made mayo. I have stopped eating ghee, nut butter 2 days ago, as I never ate nuts before, very rarely. I've stopped having eggs apart from the bit of raw egg in my mayo. I was having a lot before, but I ate a lot of eggs in my regular duet too. I still eat 3 serves of fruit instead of the recommended 2, because my tummy wants fruit and plain foods, not fatty rich foods. Example of my common meals lately would be minced chicken breast and zucchini burger patty with roast potato/pumpkin, a salad and home made mayo. Or mackerel fish with pan fried potato hash brown patties (grated white or sweet potato) and a salad with mayo and a bit of hot sauce. Or beef chow mein style - cooked with cabbage, carrot, curry powder, garlic etc on top of sweet potato noodles. Always compliant ingredients and seasonings. I make all my own food. I never had an issue with hot sauces, curry powder or anything lije that before and mainly eat modified versions of what I ate before. Only other thing that's increased on the diet for me is root vegetables like potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, squash and extra use of garlic/onion powder for flavour. Whole30 has been such a bad experience, I feel like I'm having a physical breakdown. Has anyone else felt this and did you find the cause?

Hi! I was eating what I considered a fairly healthy diet before whole 30. Bread + Pasta were defineitly my weakness though and a bit of a sweet tooth. I am 27y / 103lb / active (workout atleast 2x a week) and walk about 15k steps per day. On the whole 30 program i find my self feeling extremely fatigued (though I feel I’m eating more than before) with muscle pain and a total lack of interest in working out, i just want to go home and lay down after work. A typical food day: breakfast: 1/2 sweet potato, two eggs cooked in coconut oil or ghee, spinach sautéed, 1 avocado. Black coffee (my breakfasts all contain a mix of these ingredients served different ways) with the occasional addition of a banana who almond butter or cooked apples) Lunch: soup (2cups) containing (carrot, sweet potato, russet potato, celery, sausage, collard greens + spinach) plus one piece of fruit (peach, banana, cherries with almond butter) seltzer / regular water dinner: collard wraps (2) with spicy ground turkey, peppers, carrots, cucumber, purple+green cabbage. Seltzer / regular water Or zoodles with ground turkey + compliant marinara and a vegetable (cauliflower) But generally some form of veggie+ meat mix. Im just unsure why I’m feeling so sluggish and unmotivated! uploaded a bunch of my meals for size reference

I'm on day 18 and still experiencing extreme fatigue. It is worse than when I began the whole 30. I've reviewed the advice on this forum and found that many people recommended eating more carb dense veggies so I incorporated more sweet potatoes into my diet. The additional sweet potatoes made no difference in my energy level so I've tried just eating them at night as some on this forum have recommended. I still am so fatigued and I especially feel the fatigue in my muscles. Below are a couple sample days of what I've been eating so If anyone has suggestions on what I should do to improve energy levels I would greatly appreciate it. Also I get about 8 hours of sleep a night. Breakfast 3 eggs and handful of spinach 1 cucumber and handful of carrots snack 1 sweet potato Lunch About 2 cups grass fed ground meat 1 Sautéed zucchini and 1 cup of tomatoes Snack 6oz chicken thighs Dinner 6oz chicken thighs 1 cup sautéed carrots, 1 cup Kale, ½ cup tomato, 1 sweet potato Breakfast 3 eggs and 1 sweet potato Snack ½ cup tomato, 1 cup carrots Lunch About two cups ground turkey, 1 cup eggplant, 1 cup tomato Dinner 6oz Sauteed Tilapia 4 cups sautéed broccoli and cauliflower with basil/parsley pesto sauce (no cheese)

R1D13 - Besides a girl scout cookie habit and pizza most Friday nights, I have always been a relatively healthy eater. I have a low BMI and work out 4 - 5 times/week. I decided to try Whole 30 because I've felt sluggish lately and wanted to feel the "tiger blood" feeling I've read about. I did have a physical first, and the only thing that came up was a B12 deficiency, so I've been on a supplement for months. Since about day 3, I am MORE tired that I have ever been. I actually had to lay down on the slopes yesterday in the middle of a ski day...not because I was hungover - obviously (ha!) I'm following the book to a T, other than no snacking. I will have some fruit/nuts mid afternoon with a shot of espresso, just to try to make it through the day. Is there light at the end of this tunnel?

Hi all! This is my first post on the forum. I am 10 days into my W30. I was a little nervous coming in as I am recently pescatarian (after about 10 years as a vegetarian, and several of those spent as vegan). I have done some elimination diets in the past but have always struggled with feeling like my body was lacking or missing something. I have quite a few gut issues as well as auto immune-related conditions (anxiety, asthma, heartburn, ibs, graves disease *in remission* to name a few)...I have often felt like a lot of my health issues were directly related to my gut health as every other aspect is 100% unremarkable on paper. According to labs and tests I am one of the healthiest women alive, but inside I feel like I am dying / falling apart. It was upon my acupuncturist's recommendation that I give the Whole 30 a try. As an aside I have been gluten free for coming up on 4 years now, I went GF in an attempt to help my thyroid and the switch was the reason that my levels normalized and have been normal for about 3 years now! With that said, when I switched to GF I started ironically (or maybe not so ironic) eating a TON more carbs (mostly in the form of brown rice and sugar in processed foods.) My days before Whole 30 included shrimp, hummus, oats, gluten free bread, amys tv dinners, fruit and peanut butter - I also probably had pizza about once a week. I considered myself to eat "fairly healthy" but in retrospect it probably was not a very balanced diet with very little protein. The first week I dealt with a LOT of spaciness, often feeling like I'm in a dream, not really here and VERY anxious. I was able to push through a little bit of this but mildly exerting myself. Starting around day 3 I started experiencing bouts of light headedness, one day, starting to grey out and seriously thinking I was going to faint. I have been feeling like I am eating enough - and not really getting very hungry between meals - the only times I have snacked have been when I am having intense afternoon slumps. I normally exercise 3-4 days a week but have only worked out once since starting this because I just don't have the energy and feel so sick and light-headed when I have tried to exert myself much. By Day 5 or 6, the spaciness and brain fog had lifted slightly but then I started getting horrible crashes in the afternoon between about 2 PM and 7 PM. On a few of these days I have had some increased energy starting around 8 or 9 PM and lasting through until bedtime. I feel pretty relaxed at bedtime but then have woken with horrible anxiety or starts for most of the nights I have been on the W30. My blood pressure and blood sugar have remained normal/stable although today when I was feeling particularly tired and light-headed, I took it and it was 110/61 which is the lowest its been in a while. I mostly just wanted to share my experience as well as the food I have been eating to see if I am on track and need to eat more and/or different types of foods to maintain energy and mood. I am not sure at this point what is W30 and what is anxiety but I have been feeling pretty damn crappy, weak, tired, anxious and light headed for a week now. The most frustrating part is that I actually felt way better before I started doing this but am trying to stick it out until the end as I really want to see what good this could do my body, specifically my gut health. I just don't want to do it at the cost of hurting my health more. As a pescatarian I am pretty maxed out on eggs and fish and ways to get creative. I don't know if anyone else has concerns about mercury but eating seafood every single day and sometimes twice a day does make me a little nervous. Since my only sources of protein are really nuts, fish and eggs, I burn out pretty quickly. Any feedback and/or recommendations are greatly appreciated. Thank you! Monday: Breakfast - 2 scrambled eggs with guacamole and 1 1/2 c coconut chia pudding with sautéed bananas and pureed almond meal Snack - Cherry Pie Lara Bar Lunch - shrimp curry (coconut milk, spices and coconut amigos as sauce) - with red onion, zucchini, red bell pepper, carrots and portabella as veggies Snack - Electrolyte "smoothie" - 1 c kale, 1 banana and 1 c cashew malk Dinner - blistered shishito peppers cooked in olive oil with lime and basil, 2 hard boiled egg whites, spinach and kale salad with small amounts egg yellow and white, celery, raw shisito peppers with oil and vinegar dressing Tuesday: Breakfast - 2 scrambled eggs, 1/2 c hashbowns, 1/2 avocado, 4 or 5 cherry tomatoes and 1/2 banana Lunch - salmon and avocado salad with lemon, green onions, tomatoes, parsley & baked sweet potato "fries" Snack - Electrolyte "smoothie" - 1 c kale, 1 banana and 1 c cashew malk Dinner - egg quiche (piece about 5"l x 4"w) with white onions, mushrooms, spinach, pumpkin & crab dip (crab, w30 approved mayo, red peppers, jalapeños, green onions) with some plantains (fried in coconut oil) Snack - 2 coconut rolled dates with 1 tsp each almond butter Wednesday: Breakfast - leftover egg quiche (piece about 5"l x 4"w), 1/2 avocado, 1/2 banana Lunch - leftover egg quiche (piece about 5"l x 4"w), 1 medium sized tomato, handful macadamia nuts, handful cherries Post-Workout Snack - 3/4 sweet potato with 2 tablespoons almond butter and cinnamon Dinner - We are going to make grilled shrimp with butternut squash noodles, cashew cream sauce and sautéed spinach or zucchini)

Hey all, I’m on day 21 of Whole 30 and struggling with a few issues. Background: I’ve had horrible constipation issues since my 20 month old was 1 month old. My midwives had me taking 4-5 calcium/magnesium supplements per day that were giving me very soft/loose stools all through pregnancy. I stopped them when my daughter was 1 month old because I feared calcium supplementation would throw off other vitamins/minerals in my body. (Lots of info online about it, but I don’t have specific links.) When I stopped taking them, I started experiencing horrible constipation. I just had zero urge to go whatsoever. When I would finally go, the stools were huge and hard. They tore me open and brought me to tears. 3 months later I cut out dairy with no change. About 7 months after that I went paleo with very minimal improvement. In December I completely let loose and was eating anything and everything with no significant reaction to anything. I’ve been Paleo for about 9 months now (aside from the December mayhem) and this is my first whole30. I wasn’t getting any relief about 2 weeks in, so I started taking alcohol free Swedish bitters, adding sauerkraut to my diet (about 1/4c throughout the day) and a probiotic supplement at night. I drink kombucha but I worry about the sugar dragon so only once in a while right now. I also take magnesium malate during the day and magnesium glycinate at night along with triphala powder. I’m still not going regularly but when I do go, the stools are difficult to pass and “sandy,” like lots of small particles floating around that do not look like undigested food. I also have unbearably foul gas in the afternoon but mostly in the evening. It seriously could clear a neighborhood. I wasn’t having this gas before whole30. Im also ridiculously exhausted. I stay home with my child and do childcare and there are times when all I can do is lay on the couch. Walking up the stairs is impossible. Not always though, sometimes I get bursts of energy that I can’t explain or connect to any certain food or meal. I am 5’5 and 117 lbs. I have pretty small hands (1”x3”x4”) and I do my best to follow the meal template but I’m wondering if I need to add or subtract something. I’m also still nursing my 20 month old about 3-4 times per day and all through the night. I do maybe 20 minutes of cardio exercise 4 days a week and although I said above sometimes I can’t get off the couch, I am far from sedentary due to having to look after the children. I’ve lowered my fodmap intake but not completely eliminated. Here is a typical day: breakfast (7am): 3 eggs, 3/4c hash browns, 1c kale all cooked in ghee lunch (11am): 1 can of salmon mixed with mayo and herbs, mixed greens (~4c), fried plantain lunch (2pm): 1 chicken breast, 1c potatoes, 1c kale (potatoes and kale cooked in ghee or coconut oil) Dinner (6pm): 2 slices of meatloaf, 1.5c chard, 1.5c roasted beets (again all cooked in ghee or coconut oil) i go to bed at 10 and wake up at 6:30 or 7 every day (though sleep is interrupted due to nursing) I use at least 2T of cooking oil at every meal but I don’t add any additional fat. My meals often seem pretty heavy and oily. I usually have a healthy appetite before each meal, but I’m not starving between or anything. I’ve read about enzymes and hcl but hesitant to use them because I know your body can stop making them and that concerns me. If anyone has any other insight I would be so appreciative!!