Chocoholic382 Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Day 2: I eased into my Whole30 with a week of 80% compliancy so that might throw off my timeline. Another complicating factor is that I have an autoimmune disorder so sometimes it'll probably be hard to separate my symptoms' usual changes with negative effects from the program. So everything will be relative! Today I'm having more trouble than usual with reading comprehension, and the usual focus issues. I was much more tired yesterday, but it's too early to tell how the afternoon will go. No headaches, body aches, or hangover feelings so far. Breakfast both days has been a coconut/squash concoction that comes out a lot like oatmeal, and today I had an egg and a few hazelnuts as well. For today's lunch, salad with onion, a few walnuts, chicken breast and olive oil, plus sides of cinnamon-roasted carrots (in coconut oil) and steamed broccoli/cauliflower (with a little olive oil). At least I've been on the Paleo train long enough to know how to switch up my food. Just before I went to bed I realized that some soup in my freezer that I'd planned to eat wouldn't be compliant because I'd added salsa which likely had sugar. I had a dream that there was hidden sugar in everything I ate and I had to start over again, which would mean I'd still be on my Whole30 for Valentine's day and birthday. Right now I'm craving sooooo much chocolate. I've never abstained. Even when I went Paleo I found a good quality 85% bar and never looked back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Semolina Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Good luck. I'd never abstained from chocolate before my first W30 and I found it surprisingly easy. That was in June last year. Since then I've off roaded horribly but have never returned to chomping chocolate like I used to (though I did have some but that compulsion to have some every day had gone). Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARamstead Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Can I make a weird suggestion? Because you're struggling with chocolate cravings, would you consider changing your screen name? I know for me that every time I logged in, seeing "chocoholic" would reinforce that craving and feeling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocoholic382 Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 The chocolate cravings actually haven't been so bad the past couple days! I roasted a few sweet potatoes and it's helped, but I'm trying not to rely on that or fruit too much for that sweet kick. I'm finding I'm in a pretty perfect life situation for Whole30 because I have my own apartment (so nobody brings off-plan food in), plus I'm unmarried/childfree (so I have plenty of time to cook for myself) and boyfriend has promised to be supportive and not offer me bad food. Today is Day 4. I was exhausted on days 2 and 3, and I think today was a blend of Kill All The Things and PMS (plus more gastrointestinal distress than I've had in about 6 months). One minute I was snappy and irritable, and the next minute I burst into tears for no discernible reason. Not my favorite of the symptoms! Fortunately it's a weekend so I've gotten a lot more sleep than usual. Tonight I cooked for the next several days. I made: a batch of Stir-Fried Curried Beef & Cabbage 5 almond-crusted flounder filets a big pot of bone broth a 9X9 egg casserole w/ onions, spinach & chicken breast Small benefit to being on a Whole30: my Starbucks order is a whole lot cheaper when all I can have is black coffee! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocoholic382 Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 Day 5: That egg casserole was darn good. I also had -some steamed broccoli w/ olive oil -a small cup of bone broth -herbal tea with almond milk (I checked the ingredients--this brand is OK), which I mix my ribose powder in with. I know ribose is technically a sugar but I have CFS and it's non-negotiable. And since it's hardly sweet, I can't even taste it mixed into a cup of tea--Sugar Dragon can't even tell. This morning wasn't too bad. I got another 9 hours of sleep though. We'll see how it goes when I re-enter the work week tomorrow morning! And at some point this week I need to give a shot at working out. I haven't done that in at least a full week. My friends have been really accommodating with this Whole30 so far! I normally meet friends over lunch/dinner, and nobody has minded making it coffee or tea. I just bring a little container of my own coconut or almond milk. Today I'm going to a tea room with a girlfriend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Physibeth Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 I know ribose is technically a sugar but I have CFS and it's non-negotiable. And since it's hardly sweet, I can't even taste it mixed into a cup of tea--Sugar Dragon can't even tell. Is this something that is prescribed by your doctor? I'm assuming CFS is chronic fatigue syndrome? I'm not sure I understand how adding a simple sugar helps with CFS. If it is prescribed by your doctor than that trumps W30. If not than I would rethink it for the 30 days. Cutting sugar isn't just about the dragon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocoholic382 Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 Yes, it is prescribed by my doctor. Ribose is the sugar your mitochondria use to create energy, and it's believed that people with CFS are deficient in that (among other things). WITH the Ribose, I'm quite tired. Without it, I can't even function. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Physibeth Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Yes, it is prescribed by my doctor. Ribose is the sugar your mitochondria use to create energy, and it's believed that people with CFS are deficient in that (among other things). WITH the Ribose, I'm quite tired. Without it, I can't even function. Ok, just checking in. Good to know for my future reference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocoholic382 Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 Just about done with Day 6! This morning was thrown off schedule by cramps of an astonishing magnitude, so I had half of my breakfast at 9, then the rest at 10:15, and my meeting schedule didn't allow me to push back lunch. I also had 2 pieces of fruit--I usually average no more than 1 piece every day and a half. The rest was a hunk of egg casserole. Lunch was whole30-approved chili that my sweet boyfriend made me, plus a little roasted sweet potato (+ olive oil), a few cinnamon-roasted nuts (+ coconut oil). For dinner, a large flounder filet (+ olive oil) and a medium spinach salad (+ olive oil). This ended up not being enough, and since I still have trouble falling asleep if it's been several hours since eating, I went for a 4th mini-meal. Next time I'll bulk it up. Meal 4 was about an ounce of chicken breast, an ounce of diced tomatoes, and 1/2 cup steamed broccoli (+ olive oil). Overall my energy and mood today were about average for the beginning of a period; hard to tell much else. I'm really excited that I've almost gotten past a week. This is unbelievable but the cravings haven't been very bad at all! I expected such a hard time with the self-restraint after this morning, but it was easy as pie. I won't assume I'm in the clear quite yet but I'm happy with right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Physibeth Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 A medium salad is not a lot of vegetable which is why you were probably hungry again. I tend to eat my salads in a salad serving bowl or a large mixing bowl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocoholic382 Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 Yep, I agree. I also usually add a few more veggies (and often, protein) into the salad but I was too hungry/tired to do the necessary chopping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Physibeth Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Yep, I agree. I also usually add a few more veggies (and often, protein) into the salad but I was too hungry/tired to do the necessary chopping. I understand that. My salad is almost always just lettuce because I detest chopping things up when I don't need to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocoholic382 Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 I made it through my first week! Today is officially Day 8. Here is how I'm feeling, 25% of the way through my Whole30: Mental: Still having my usual trouble focusing. "Brain fog" is what it's called in the CFS world. Motivation is also much lower than I'd like. Energy: I'm still getting a slight afternoon slump. Also not waking up anywhere near energized, as is usual. Behavioral/Habits: I've nearly eliminated snacking during the first 2/3 of the day. I'm still working to figure out a meal schedule that keeps me from being hungry right before bed, but it may work out to be M1 in the morning, M2 at noon, and then M3 and M4 at around 4 and 8. Does that work? On the flip side, I don't feel hungry/cravey all the time anymore. I eat a meal and don't immediately think "okay, how many hours until it's reasonable to eat again" and end up eating before that time anyway. I still want to better "hear" my body's signals on whether I've eaten ENOUGH. I was also thrilled yesterday to realize I never again need to sweeten my tea. Even post-30. I don't miss it! How exciting. Tummy: discomfort is about 75% gone Complexion: Acne is a liiiiittle bit better. Definitely a lot more room for improvement. Overall: I know it's very early but I can't shake the sense of foreboding that if the lows weren't very low, the highs won't be all that high either. For a thousand reasons I've come to the very consistent mantra which is this: Don't Tell My Body What To Do. It rarely responds to things the way other bodies do. Due to my AI I think this will likely require more time, and I haven't decided if I'll build it onto the end of this one or wait until March/April when I'd planned another W30 anyway. Bottom line: despite my doubts and concerns, I promised myself I was going to do this and there isn't a thought in my mind about not completing the full 30. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Physibeth Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 If your energy is still really low you might want to try increasing your starchy vegetable intake.You are dealing with CFS though so it might take longer anyway. On your proposed meal schedule question, what is your sleep schedule like? It is best to eat your first meal within an hour of waking, leave about 5 hours between your meals (up to 6) and stop eating at least 2 hours before bedtime. It may seem counter intuitive but I find my hunger for the entire day is usually driven primarily by how large my first meal is. I think when meal 1 is larger my body relaxes more and trusts I'm going to continue to feed it well all day. You mileage may vary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocoholic382 Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 Thanks for the helpful tips. I think the energy is purely CFS. Every day I'm having some sweet potato, plus a generous amount of either squash or carrots (or both). Today I had a bigger breakfast than usual so we'll see if maybe I feel less hungry during the period after dinner. I usually wake up at 7:15 and have breakfast by 8:15 or 8:30. Lunch is 3.5 hours later (noon) and it's the rest of the day that throws me. I'm definitely hungry when I get home at 5:15 but there's no way I'm not going to be hungry again by 10:30-11 when I go to sleep. If I do the 4 meal template from above (eating at 4 and 8) I'll have 4-hour gaps between most meals, and 2.5-3 hours between my last meal and bedtime. What are your thoughts on that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Physibeth Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Do you have to eat lunch at noon per your work schedule or could you push that back an hour or so? If you have the flexibility you could try M1 at 8:30, M2 at 1:30, and M3 at 6:30 and have a mini meal (like a hard boiled egg and some carrot sticks) at 8:30 (2 hours before bed) if you feel like you are going to need it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocoholic382 Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 Based on work, I can push back lunch about 50% of the time. Today I waited until 1:15 for lunch. I had bone broth soup with chicken & onion, 2 cups of broccoli, 1/2 cup sweet potato, a snack pack of baby carrots, and a thumb worth of cinnamon-roasted nuts. Didn't feel as full as I expected but let's see if it can get me to 6:30 or 7! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocoholic382 Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 I was hungry by 6 p.m. yesterday but I held off on M3 until 7:00 . Unfortunately, in my attempts to eat enough to get me through til bedtime I overcompensated and ate way too much. Still figuring this out, but hey--I made it through a day without eating more than 3 times! Baby steps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocoholic382 Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share Posted January 24, 2014 I should probably log an actual day's worth of food at some point :-) 8:15 large hunk of egg casserole (contained lots of spinach, chicken & onions) small bowl of faux-tmeal (75% acorn squash, 20% coconut flakes, 5% coconut milk) herbal tea w/ coconut milk 12:00 large salad: grilled steak w/ mixed greens, 1/2 a small avocado and some onion 1 cup roasted sweet potato chunks 12 grapes I wasn't quite ready for such a filling lunch after eating only a few hours earlier, but I knew I'd have to wait until at least 7 for dinner so I sucked it up and ate rather than setting myself up for snacking. 7:15 2 cups chicken, cauliflower & onion soup w/ other half of small avocado 1/2 cup roasted carrots 1/2 cup green beans w/ clarified butter Weirdly not hungry when 7 rolled around. I was fairly hungry at 5, and I had a few tiny tastes of the food as I prepped, but then I didn't really feel like eating. I'd read about that symptom but I'm still surprised. I'm not new to Paleo eating. But I ate anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocoholic382 Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share Posted January 24, 2014 Today, normal amount of food and maybe even a little extra fat, but raging hunger. Like all day. That's new. And dinner isn't for 2 more hours! The timeline was right about day 10 being a bit harder to want to follow through. My cravings were for junk food in general, and my brain kept asking "Why bother? Are you really having fun anymore?" My low point was right around when an appreciative co-worker plopped a 1-lb bag of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups in my lap. I walked them straight to the trunk of my car, which has become my Out-Of-Sight place for all forbidden chocolate. (It's really a funny sight to see.) As far as how I feel mentally/physically/etc, nothing's changed much since Wednesday morning's lengthy description. Except that I'm pretty sure my sense of smell is getting better. It's always been weak and suddenly I'm detecting a lot more smells and--surprise!--a lot of those things smell really GOOD! I've also promised myself I would stop anticipating poor results to my W30 and just wait for what will come. I can't imagine anxiety's gonna help me gain energy faster. My top goals are as follows: 1. get more energy/less chronic fatigue 2. lose a little weight 3. see reduction in adult acne 4. be able to exercise without feeling like I'm going to die during and after (thanks for that one, AI!) 5. gain more control over my own eating behaviors I'm 1/3 of the way through and REALLYREALLYREALLY hope I get to be one of the lucky ones who experiences Tiger Blood!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocoholic382 Posted January 25, 2014 Author Share Posted January 25, 2014 I've gotten significantly more tired the past 2 days. I was exhausted by 8 p.m. last night and slept for 11 hours. Hard not to be depressed about that... I've also been more bloated the past 3 or 4 days. Yesterday was downright painful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocoholic382 Posted January 27, 2014 Author Share Posted January 27, 2014 Day 12: Things are still going pretty rough. More fatigue, more breakouts, more mood swings, and losing my appetite. I've averaged 10 hours of sleep for the past 4 nights. I definitely feel worse than before I started :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocoholic382 Posted January 27, 2014 Author Share Posted January 27, 2014 Happy Day 13 to me. The dreams have started. Both have been frosting/cake related, oddly enough. I've never considered those things favorites. Both times I felt extremely guilty and kind of shocked with myself. Like "Why did I just DO that? How did that happen?? Now I have to start over!" Meal 1 (8:30) -3 boiled eggs -2 cups broccoli w/ olive oil -herbal tea w/ coconut oil Meal 2 (12:45) -about 10 cinnamon-roasted mixed nuts -5-cup salad (wow, I didn't realize the container was so big!) with spinach, iceberg, chicken breast & olive oil -1 cup cauliflower -1/2 cup sweet potato -herbal tea w/ 1/2 T (ish) coconut oil Pre-Work Out Snack (5:30) -1 hard boiled egg -1 T.5 almond butter Meal 3 (8:00) -big slice of meat crust quiche: ground turkey, sweet potato, egg, onion, spinach -1-2 cups sauteed mushrooms, asparagus & onions I'm really excited about the meat crust quiche. It was something I'd made a couple months ago, loved, and then completely forgotten about. I was perusing my paleo Pinterest board and got so excited when I remembered how great and simple it was. Now the challenge will be keeping Boyfriend out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curly30 Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Day 13 is a great place to be! Reading your meal log just made me hungry! Good luck and keep on going! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocoholic382 Posted January 28, 2014 Author Share Posted January 28, 2014 Day 14 I realized this morning that I completely forgot to add a fat at Meal 3 yesterday aside from the olive oil in the sauteed veggies and the fat in the ground turkey. Whoops. Fat is the macro I have the hardest time including. I'm trying to avoid eating too many nuts/nut butters and my avocados aren't ready yet. I'm having coconut milk pretty frequently. Aside from those and clarified butter, are there options I'm missing? I don't like olives. I finally worked out yesterday! About an hour after saying I needed to get in a work out "one of these days" I got the text: "Wanna go to the gym tonight?" How could I say no? I was exhausted to start with so I made it shorter and lighter intensity than my usual (already fairly short/light) workouts. I'm back to my normal level of energy fatigue today (B- or C+). My face still looks like a train wreck but I don't think any new blemishes are popping up. The cravings have leveled out at a 3/10 intensity. Still waiting to see some improvement, as most symptoms are no better than when I started (if not worse). Oh, and I had another food dream! In this one, I ate a soft pretzel. Another one I've never craved, but as carby as it gets! Meal 1 (8:30) -big slice of meat crust quiche (I was unable to keep Boyfriend out of it, so I'm already down to 2/3 of the original quiche!) -1.5 c steamed broccoli -1.5 T coconut oil in herbal tea Meal 2 (2:00) -3-cup salad w/ spinach, chicken & olive oil -3/4 cups sweet potato -2 cups cauliflower -medium orange Meal 3 (7:30) -2 cups sauteed mushrooms, asparagus & onions in olive oil -1 "palm" of chicken breast topped w/ salsa -1 T almond butter -2 T acorn squash (I was cooking & nibbled a couple times) I got tired really around 4:30 and never bounced back. Hardly had the energy for cooking and a shower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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