snailytrail Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Hi everyone! I'm on Day 2 of my first Whole 30. I'm so excited about this whole process. I've been sticking to a low fat, high carb diet for years and whilst I've lost weight I've always felt so restricted, it's been horrible. And the weight loss hasn't been massively impressive. I'm very sedentary (I have M.E/Cfs) which hasn't helped. Anyway, so far I've been loving this. LOVING the food, I can't believe what I get to eat. I've hardly eaten any meat in the last year (I had to exist on beans and rice much of the time to lose any weight) so I'm really tickled that I can now eat it and it's GOOD for me. Yesterday was easy, although two hours after supper I suddenly got hungry and didn't sleep well. Today, well, I feel hungry but not anywhere as much as I thought I'd be. I am a bit woozy, like my brain knows there's something up, but given my M.E I thought it would be far more catastrophic than it has been. I've never gone two days without pasta/porridge/white potatoes. I've always had to eat those every few hours or have a huge energy crash. So I'm very pleased and relieved that I've not crashed yet. Fingers crossed that will last, although I'm bracing myself for the next few days being hard. I guess my concerns for now are that given how sedentary I am this won't work for me in the way it does for everyone else. But I think that's more to do with having been brainwashed for 30 years that fat=body fat. It's just going to take some time to adjust to the fact that that isn't true! So pleased I discovered this programme and good luck to everyone else on their journey. I've been so inspired reading other peoples' stories! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derval Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Welcome & best of luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridget Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Best of luck !! You will eat some GREAT food !!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailytrail Posted July 6, 2013 Author Share Posted July 6, 2013 Thank you! I am just getting the carcass from my roast chicken in the slow cooker so I can have bone broth tomorrow. Not feeling all that great tonight; just pretty damn tired and a bit weepy, so hoping for a better night's sleep tonight. Day 3 tomorrow, eek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailytrail Posted July 7, 2013 Author Share Posted July 7, 2013 Day 3 - I can only say 'URGH' so far. Grim!! As a result of my M.E my body hates being put under any stress. Well coming off carbs clearly counts as a big stress. I woke up hungry, went down to make my brekkie and ended up lying on the floor eating berries and a small portion of sweet potato, I was so shaky, sweaty and my heart was pounding. It was a bit scary really, but actually having had that food I was ok again and I ate my eggs with lindseeds and veggies. I had a cup of bone broth too. I feel fine in other ways - no headache, no cravings, no wishing I could have something I shouldn't. I enjoyed my breakfast, I'm craving some steak for lunch so that's what I'm going to have. I'm just really wary that my body is going to struggle to cope. I'm doing nothing today but lying still in bed. I have a bowl of sweet potato by my bed in case the same thing happens again. I just want to get through the days and hope my body is burning fat asap so I feel ok again. The last thing I want to do is go back onto carbs, so hopefully sweet potato and parsnip and veggies and a tiny bit of fruit will be enough to get my body through this. I'd love to hear from anyone else who has fibromyalgia or CFS/M.E just to see how you coped with this early stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailytrail Posted July 7, 2013 Author Share Posted July 7, 2013 Can I just have a 'woo hoo?' I feel so much better this afternoon, wow. I had beef meatballs with thyme for lunch and just the tiniest bit of sweet potato in a big salad. No fruit. And I'm ok. Not hungry, not shaky, not lacking in energy, no headache. I'd love to tentatively think it's going to be smooth sailing and I can just get on with settling into this tomorrow - fingers crossed at least! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningnumb Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Woo Hoo for you! Keep it up day 6 and 7 are right around the corner. Remember lots of water to help flush out the system, Hydration helps with lots of things including stress. At least for me. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Born Sandy Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Woo hoo snailytrail! Sounds like you are having to manage a whole lot more with your ME which makes things difficult. Also wanted to ask if you are having enough food as in three meals a day of protein, veggie and fat? I've found it has been useful to actually document what I'm eating in order to go back over it and see how I could make it better. Maybe this might be useful for you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailytrail Posted July 8, 2013 Author Share Posted July 8, 2013 Thanks! I think the first two days I didn't have enough fat. I ate more yesterday and felt better for it. I will start writing down what I eat so I can go back and look at that if any problems. Day 4 is going well! Last night I felt so much better. I made it to a BBQ and didn't touch anything although when I saw some marshmallows ready for roasting I wanted to have a bit of a sob Hoping I'm over the worst of it. I had the most delicious roasted herring with ghee and lemon last night for supper. Fat just makes things taste so much better doesn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailytrail Posted July 9, 2013 Author Share Posted July 9, 2013 Day 5.... groan!!! I've been SO tired today. I've just lain in bed. It's very hot here and that's not helping and I've not slept properly now for days so I think that's not helping. Food wise I'm doing fine. Really enjoying the meals still. I'm not managing to eat enough some meals - like lunch today I meant to have an avocado but forgot and yesterday I only had 2 boiled eggs for breakfast and was pretty hungry by tea, but I'm really used to having 3 meals a day and a snack for tea so I'm ok with continuing that for the moment. Hopefully in a few days I'll be feeling better, I'll be getting better at eating enough at meals (it's a lot to get your head around this eating fat thing!) and I can drop that. Breakfast- 2 rashers of bacon, 2 eggs scrambled, salad, strawberries Lunch - homemade beef meatballs with a salad Tea - 2 boiled eggs with ghee and some veg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amberino21 Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 do you think your tiredness could be related to not eating enough? it's hard to eat more when you don't feel like it - but perhaps making yourself eat may make you feel better? the fat is important, as is including some starchy vegies...don't miss them out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailytrail Posted July 10, 2013 Author Share Posted July 10, 2013 I think possibly. I'm still very, very tired today. I managed to get for a very short while but I was cognitively very fuzzy indeed and am happy just to be lying still again now. Supper last night was turkey mince, half an avocado, a bit of parsnip and squash and some other veggies. And a green tea. Meals today - eggs and bacon, salad, berries Lunch - turkey mince from last night, olives, avocado, apple I think on average I'm only eating half a sweet potato out of the whole day and possible either a very small chunk of parsnip or squash. Do you think that's not enough starchy veg? I'm thinking over the course of the day I should have a whole sweet potato (or even one and a half) to combat this fatigue, but I don't want to not lose weight because I'm eating too many. I'm finding it hard to judge how much sweet potato other people eat in a day. I think possibly I'm not getting enough fat still, I've eaten turkey mince, eggs and chicken mostly, plus avocado and olive and fish, but only two portions of beef in 6 days, and I don't think chicken/turkey have too much fat in them. I'm going to try to get to a shop soon and buy coconut oil, and for now add more ghee to my food. Hopefully this exhaustion is just my body adjusting - I'm slightly anxious it's not going to go away because I can't risk making myself worse (M.E wise). But I'm just going to take it a day at a time and see what happens and luckily I have food in the freezer and can take it easy for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailytrail Posted July 11, 2013 Author Share Posted July 11, 2013 Day 7 nearly over and done with. It's been a MUCH better day. The last 2 days were frightening, I was scared my M.E was just not coping with the changes, but I feel just about back to normal today. I was tired in the afternoon but nothing like yesterday. Phew! Meals - Bacon and eggs, salad Baked salmon in ghee with veg Snack - tin of tuna, small bit of sweet potato and an apple (was suddenly quite hungry, I think because I was so tired. I should have eaten the apple and sweet potato at lunch) Supper will be beef mince with an avocado and more veg. I think my stomach feels smaller today; flatter. I keep checking it, because I'm so keen to start seeing some weight loss. I am so inpatient to get to the end of this and weigh myself, but at least it's not really long to go. Hope everyone else is doing well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amberino21 Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 glad to read you're feeling a bit better you are right - turkey and chicken (breast) are very lean meats, especially if you have skinless pieces! if you're using these cuts of meat, make sure you're adding enough extra fat to your food people keep mentioning "x sweet potatoes"...what size is that? we get sweet potatoes that would fit in my hand, or ones that are about the length of my arm and twice as thick! I have a few pieces - probably a handful - at most meals, that seems to work for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailytrail Posted July 12, 2013 Author Share Posted July 12, 2013 Thank you, it's good to have a comparison. Day 8 is going great! My clothes are really loose today, my pyjamas are hanging off me a bit and some people I saw noticed a difference. I'm not constipated anymore. I mean, I didn't even know I was! And it was only mild but I'll just say I've seen an improvement in this area The last 3 days I've been woken up by my housemate and I usually groan and roll over and it takes an hour to wake up properly, but these three days I've just woken up, bam, wide awake. It's been nice! Hopefully that's connected to the food too. I feel so positive right now, I'm SO glad I started this, so glad my body has coped with getting through the first week, I'm loving the food and I really can't wait to see what other changes there will be. I have a tentative plan to turn this into a Whole 60 or 100 because I think I'd benefit a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailytrail Posted July 13, 2013 Author Share Posted July 13, 2013 Day 9 has been fine. I had 3 boiled eggs with ghee and salad Then crab claws with ghee picked up from the farmer's market Then turkey mince with avocado I went out with some friends and it was pretty hard as bad fatigue hit and I only had an apple on me (we made a really last minute decision to go so I didn't have time to grab some protein). An ice cream van turned up and everyone else had some, and it was sweltering too. It was hard not to give in and have some. But I didn't, so that's good. I'm still very tired now so hoping to just take it easy tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailytrail Posted July 14, 2013 Author Share Posted July 14, 2013 Day 10 is going well, I'm having a bad day M.E wise with a lot of fatigue so it's easy to think it's the diet that's doing that but in all honesty while it might be contributing it's not the cause. Had 3 eggs for breakfast with some squash, spring greens and other veg. Also a piece of melon. Lunch was a delicious steak with fried tomatoes and a bit salad Have more crab claws for my supper - yum! The bit I think I'm finding hard right now is that because of my M.E my energy really slumps each afternoon - as in I can't really talk, stay upright, do anything. I always have to go and lie down and either sleep or rest for hours till I pick up again. Traditionally if I'm feeling really bad I end up going to get food because it gives me more energy. Normally fruit, sometimes hot chocolate, sometimes rice cakes with peanut butter. But of course now I can't snack and I'm not actually really hungry (wouldn't like plain white fish and veg!!). But my brain is still saying FEED ME NOW. I'm hoping if I don't indulge these thoughts they'll go away, but I know from years of experience right now that eating does pick me up a bit, so it's going to be a hard association to break. I'm far more exhausted than usual because it's hot and I haven't slept much recently - next week I'll have a chance to sleep in properly as I'm going away for a bit so hoping that will help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailytrail Posted July 15, 2013 Author Share Posted July 15, 2013 Day 11 going much better!! Energy back to normal levels (would still like an improvement but I'm just glad to not be feeling worse right now), I'm NOT HUNGRY either! I can't believe it. I'm always hungry on a low fat diet. It's hard to get between meals. Now suddenly, I've noticed I'm going far longer between meals and only getting mildly hungry before hand. It's really strange but very nice. I had steak and crab claws yesterday, delicious. Today I've had spiced lamb mince, and 3 fried eggs for breakfast. I have smoked mackerel for supper. I've definitely struggled with cravings the last few days but really they're not too bad. It helps so much to be able to go and eat a delicious meal; distracts me entirely. Hope everyone else's month is going well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eronn_actually Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 I'm on day 6, and I've noticed that I'm also going longer in between meals and not feeling starving before the next one (unless I don't follow the meal template). It is really nice to eat my meal and not have to worry about snacking later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailytrail Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 It's a lovely feeling isn't it? I had a great day 12. Energy was good, I wasn't hungry and I enjoyed my meals (eggs for breakfast, trout for lunch and roe deer for supper; thank you farmer's market!) I even went out to a barbecue and wasn't as tormented this time by wanting the junk food there. Still cannot believe how I''m not hungry (I may be saying this every day till day 30 ) and I also can't believe how little I'm eating. I remember seeing the food logs on here before I started and thinking I'd be starving. I must be having far fewer calories overall than I was when I was on a low fat/high carb diet (not that I'm counting, honest) and on that I was just so hungry and depressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailytrail Posted July 17, 2013 Author Share Posted July 17, 2013 Day 13 going well! I had good energy this morning, have crashed this afternoon (thanks M.E) but it's nice just to have better energy in the mornings and evenings. I'm still counting down to Day 30 just because I want to see what changes I have by then, but otherwise I'm settled into this as a lifestyle and not too bothered what day I'm on. I'm still umming and ahhing over whether to do a strict Whole 100, or just to eat Paleo and pretty much have the exact same rules but allow myself dark chocolate at the weekend and maybe the odd sweet potato/coconut flour pancake. At present I don't feel like if I allowed myself those thing I'd slip into eating more and more rubbish or binging, but it's hard to know unless you're in that situation. Anyway, I have a couple more weeks to mull it over. I'm getting cravings in the afternoons because my energy is low so that might be a danger zone for me if I do allow myself to relax a bit more. For the moment I would say I've been put off the idea of Paleo baking as a rule as I read that one cup, one CUP, of almond flour has 90 almonds in it. I can't believe I could sit down in one session and eat 90 whole almonds let alone grind them by hand, so why on earth do I want to put that many calories in my body in one go via almond bread or cake or anything! I've definitely had a shock, learning that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Annie B Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 snailytrail, keep it up! way to ride out the ups and downs... staying focused and committed through the discomfort is truly commendable! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailytrail Posted July 18, 2013 Author Share Posted July 18, 2013 Thank you! The lovely thing is that although there are downs (cravings when I'm exhausted) it feels so great to wake up each morning and think 'I didn't give in, I gritted my teeth and got through it.' And that feels better than any chocolate bar could. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailytrail Posted July 18, 2013 Author Share Posted July 18, 2013 Day 14 in the bag! Today I didn't eat an afternoon snack/tea. That is quite literally the first time I haven't in about 15 years. I wasn't hungry, and some water sorted out any doubt about that. I'm so pleased! Normally (on a low fat diet) I would have serious energy issues if I didn't. Had delicious herring with parsley and ghee for my supper, and I roasted some butternut squash seeds too in olive oil and salt which made a really lovely side dish. Lunch was leftover roast chicken (can't wait to buy another chicken, roasts are my favourite), and breakfast was eggs. My clothes are looser again today, I hadn't noticed anything all week and then suddenly, yup, definitely look different! It's such a great feeling. I love eating fat. It makes everything taste so great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snailytrail Posted July 21, 2013 Author Share Posted July 21, 2013 Not much to report here! On Day 17, and going well. I think my clothes just got looser again, I'm being very vain and looking in the mirror lots as I'm loving seeing the changes. It's amazing, I've never had this kind of result in terms of how noticeable it is losing the same amount of weight on other diets. Had lovely supper of pork today, kippers for lunch and my favourite eggs with ghee and salt for breakfast today. Roll on Day 30. Hope everyone else is doing well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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