Whole 30 2.0

[Jackolantern]

My then-boyfriend, now-fiance and I completed our first Whole 30 in January with much success.

 

We haven't drifted too far since then, but far enough where we ate a Poptarts sundae (ice cream, crushed poptart and chocolate) without thinking twice. So we're back! For at least the next 30 days, maybe 60 until the wedding.

 

What we liked about Whole 30 -- more sustained energy, better sleep, fewer aches and pains, better performance at the gym -- we could use now as we're in the home stretch of a pretty stressful planning process. We don't feel terrible eating 80% paleo, but certainly not as good as Whole 30.

 

GOALS:

- cut back on eating out to save $$ for the honeymoon (our total food bill was less on Whole 30 because of this)

- take time on weekends to prepare good meals means one less thing to worry about during the week

- don't rely on nuts for snacks

- try 5 new fruits/vegetables (or ones we haven't eaten since our CSA days)

- sleep 7-8 hours/night

- turn off the tv and walk after dinner 4x week

[PamH]

*congratulations*

 

Buy a 1/2 share CSA and explore!

[Derval]

best of luck on your w30 and all the planning.

[Jackolantern]

Thanks, ladies! Everything has gone smoothly considering it's only a 5-month engagement!

 

We decided to forgo the CSA this summer because we'll be gone for several long weekends at a time, but we do have a couple weekly delivery services in the area that allow you to order stuff without commitment. I might check that out for the weeks when I know we'll be able to eat everything.

 

Day 1

meal 1: sweet potato, eggs in coconut oil
meal 2: chicken salad made with homemade mayo, peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers
meal 3: frozen blueberries in coconut milk with a few almonds
meal 4: sausage, roasted broccoli, yucca fries

[Jackolantern]

Day 2

pre-wo: macadamia nuts

meal 1: eggs in coconut oil, half avocado, yucca fries, cherries
meal 2: turkey breast, almonds, apple
meal 3: beef fajitas salad with cilantro-avocado dressing, hunk of sweet potato with almond butter

 

Looks like a lot of nuts with meals, but each time was less than a small handful -- much smaller amounts than the last Whole 30. Looking forward to planning meals this weekend. So far I've been buying veggies and stopping at the store on the way home to pick up protein for dinner. Now that it's getting warmer, I'd like to use the crockpot at least once a week.

[Jackolantern]

Day 3

meal 1: eggs in coconut oil, half avocado, yellow peppers
meal 2: leftover beef fajitas salad with avocado dressing

8 oz kombucha

meal 3: salmon, asparagus, sweet potato
 

Avocado-cilantro dressing was 10x better the next day. Fiance put it on roast beef slices and rolled them around peppers for his lunch. yum!
 

Starting to add kombucha back in my diet in small amounts. I forgot how much I like it!

 

no bumps in the road so far and no mood swings yet -- maybe we'll skip those this time around

[Laura B]

I hope you get to skip the mood swings. This is my 4th W30 and I am personally waiting for the magic to come back.  Any day now. Annyyyy day.

[Jackolantern]

Day 4

meal 1: eggs in coconut oil, half avocado, yellow peppers, few yucca fries
meal 2: burger patty with avocado, asparagus

meal 3: leftover salmon, broccoli, sweet potato with schmear of almond butter and cinnamon

 

We stocked up at the grocery store. The bill was a little high, but we bought several things that will last us a while and proteins on sale we can freeze for later. And it cost as much as one dinner and drinks out, so it was easy to justify. 

 

Feeling a little bloated this time around, probably just the switch to more veggies. Funny how people think this or paleo in general is all about the meat -- I eat a ton more veggies on Whole 30 than normal!

[Jackolantern]

Day 5

meal 1: eggs, banana, almond butter, little turkey sausage

meal 2: salad with carnitas, guac, 3 small black nectarines

meal 3: chicken sausage, broccoli

 

Day 6

meal 1: coconut milk, blueberries, handful nuts/seeds (roast beef a few hours later)

meal 2: kale salad with salmon

meal 3: tapas night! prosciutto, roast beef, cauliflower hummus, veggies, apple, almond butter

 

So last Friday I had a work lunch and it was at an Italian restaurant. Boo. Only safe things on the menu were a burger and mussels, so I went with the burger and subbed avocado and roasted red peppers for the cheese, veggies on the side. I also resisted the bread (which I only eat if it's good bread and this bread is some of the best in town ). It took them a while to bring out our food, so they gave us dessert on the house. Ugh. Two huge pieces of house-made tiramisu and a piece of greek yogurt cheesecake with blackberries. I didn't touch it and one of my coworkers commented on my excellent self-restraint. When I said I was going the next 30 days without wheat, soy or dairy, she said "Why would you do that to yourself??" And I said, we feel best eating this way and we want to feel good for the wedding.

 

First bump in the road avoided.

 

Yesterday, I just wasn't feeling eggs or meat. So I added some frozen blueberries to coconut milk and topped it with chia seeds, come walnuts, flax seed meal and almonds. I was hangry 3 hours later -- my body definitely needed more protein at breakfast! So that's the last time I'm doing that.

 

Fridge is stocked, sweet potatoes and other veggies are prepped -- ready for week 2!

[Jackolantern]

Day 7

meal 1: eggs, turkey sausage, sweet potato, 1/4 avocado all mashed together, little watermelon

meal 2: kale/brussels sprouts salad, chicken sausage, watermelon, few walnuts

meal 3: meatballs, guac, yucca fries, california blend veggies, watermelon, raspberries

 

Kind of OD'ed on fruit yesterday. The portions weren't huge, but definitely more than I'm used to. I just crave fruit so much this time of year! Especially watermelon, berries and cherries.

 

Week one is over and we met our walking goal of 4x. We also went to the gym 4x. I didn't feel like I'm seeing as big a difference this time around as last, but my pants fit really well this morning.

 

Grilling out tonight so we'll have lots of compliant goodies to pack in lunches all week.

[Jackolantern]

Day 8

meal 1: eggs scrambled with spinach and garlic, little sweet potato, little avocado, piece watermelon
meal 2: kale/brussels sprouts salad, sardines, little watermelon, walnuts
meal 3: grilled chicken, cucumber dill salad, yucca, watermelon

 

I'm to the point where I don't miss my afternoon snack. woot!

 

I'm still feeling very bloated by the end of the day. Maybe it's the fruit?

[Jackolantern]

Day 9
meal 1: eggs, sweet potato with almond butter

meal 2: leftover barbacoa meatballs, chimichurri, cauliflower rice
snack: pistachios
meal 3: prosciutto, figs, roasted tomatoes, cashews

 

The same day I rejoice in not needing snacks, I ate a snack. I was only a little hungry, but I felt like I didn't eat enough at lunch. And we had plans for a late dinner.

 

I'm going to cut back on the fruit for a few days and drink more water to see if the bloating goes down.

[Jackolantern]

Day 10

meal 1: eggs scrambled with spinach, salsa, tostones, cashews

meal 2: hamburger patty, yucca fries, cucumber salad, handful of blueberries and walnuts
meal 3: green curry chicken with cauliflower rice, tiny sweet potato with almond butter
 

1/3 of the way done!
 

My fiance suggested last night that we keep this going until the wedding, taking small breaks for meals at special, planned events, like a bridal shower and my bachelorette weekend in July. That's meals, not days. And for me, that means still not eating gluten, but maybe indulging in a glass of wine or eating something prepared with cheese.

 

This plan includes off-roading next weekend, on what would be days 19 and 20, then again on days 46, 47 and 48, then Whole 30 for another 12 days. Off-roading for me means a glass of wine, a little cheese and maybe some sweet potato fries or fried calamari.
 

Still mulling it over, but it would make next weekend a lot easier planning wise and it will be the only wedding shower I have. And I think relaxing it on those pre-approved days might make it easier to stick to Whole 30 eating until the wedding. But I'm wondering whether we'd still get the benefits by having a few hiccups.

[Jackolantern]

Day 11

meal 1: eggs, spinach, tomatoes, tostones, few blueberries and walnuts

meal 2: leftover green curry, cauliflower hummus with carrots

snack: almonds, carrots, half an apple, prosciutto

meal 3: yak burger with an egg, sweet potato

 

Made my snack a mini-meal Friday and I'm glad I did because we didn't eat dinner until almost 10 p.m.
 

Day 12

meal 1: turkey breast, plantain chips, half apple with almond butter

meal 2: banana, almonds, coconut flakes

meal 3: grilled salmon with dill, zucchini cakes, homemade mayo

 

Yesterday was full of road-snack meals. Not ideal, and I could tell around 4 p.m. when I was starving.

 

Back on the template today through the end of the week. We'll eat off plan for two meals on Saturday and one on Sunday for family/wedding activities. 

[Jackolantern]

Day 13

meal 1: coffee with coconut milk and coconut oil

meal 2: eggs, banana with almond butter, blueberries

meal 3: chicken, green beans, sweet potato, walnuts

 

I signed up for a half marathon with a coworker, so now I will start incorporating short and medium-distance runs into my weekly workout schedule. Last year, I "trained" by doing crossfit 3x and doing one tempo run and one long run a week. The longest run I did was 8 miles because some nasty weather kept me from doing my last scheduled run. I felt good on race day. The only problem I had was my hips got tired around mile 9, so I'll be doing more long runs this time around.

 

This week: M: crossfit; T: run 3 miles, W: crossfit, Th: crossfit, F: long walk, Sa/Sun: 4 mile run

[Jackolantern]

Day 14

Pre-WO: macadamia nuts

meal 1: eggs scrambled with coconut oil and spinach, 2 turkey sausage patties, salsa, tostones, 1/4 avocado

meal 2: grilled chicken on kale salad, macadamia nuts, few veggie chips

meal 3: chicken quarter, mixed veggies, squash cake with mayo, yucca fries

 

I got a headache yesterday afternoon and couldn't figure out why. I didn't get much sleep the night before so I had a small cup of coffee at lunch. I'm thinking that's it, but that's crazy that something so small would have such an impact on how I felt later.

 

Trying to eat more carbs now that I've added running in the mix.

[Jackolantern]

Day 15

3 mile run

meal 1: half banana with almond butter, 3 eggs, blueberries

meal 2: prosciutto wrapped around date pieces, sardines, squash cake with mayo, leftover green beans, half banana with almond butter

meal 3: slow cooker ribs, zucchini/onion/red pepper sautee
 

Lunch was the most random W30 meal I've ever eaten, made from whatever was in our fridge. I planned to make the ribs a day earlier but didn't have a few key ingredients, so we did not have the planned leftovers.
 

But rando-lunch kept me satisfied until 7 p.m. I ended up working late, but my fiance finished our crockpot rib dinner and dropped some off for me at work. So sweet. And so possible to stay W30 (with a little foresight) even when life gets in the way.

[Jackolantern]

Totally fell off the wagon this weekend.

 

I planned to go home for a wedding shower and ended up spending the majority of the weekend in the hospital, visiting my grandfather. I barely ate and when I did, it was something from the hospital vending machine. I was surprised how quickly my hunger went away when my body had so much stress coming at it from multiple directions.

 

I'm starting over today because I need to heal myself after such a stressful weekend. I started by skipping the gym and sleeping in this morning. I could have slept all day if I didn't have to go to work. Hoping good food choices will help my body get back on track.