TMI day 20 and bathroom issues

[Haren.13]

Prior to whole30 my BMs were very sporadic. I would usually have to stop halfway through a workout to run to the bathroom, and then it would be almost-but-not-quite diarrhea. When that wasn't happening, I would go several days between BMs and become very uncomfortable, sometimes taking milk of magnesia to get things moving. This was a huge part of my motivation to do whole30!

So, during week 1, I was having less stomach/intestinal pain, and alternating between not going for a couple days and then the same as before. Around day 10 things pretty much stopped moving all together :/ I was intentional about lots of veggies and fiber, but nothing. After 4 days of this I (apparently mistakenly) took one dose of milk of magnesia. That definitely got things started, and now I'm having diarrhea 4ish times a day. I absolutely prefer this to what was happening before, but I don't know what I'm doing wrong or how to stop it. Or is my system just still adjusting? It's been 6 days now of diarrhea :/

Example of my meals:

Breakfast - 1 cup butternut squash soup with sausage and coconut flakes, 1 egg if still hungry

Lunch - large spinach salad with chicken, hard boiled egg, sunflower seeds, tomatoes, cucumber, oil/vinegar or mayo-based dressing; sweet potato

Dinner - palm-sized serving of chicken, pork, or beef, lots of veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, carrots are the staples), sometimes fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe, or strawberries), some sort of sauce for meat/veggies for fat

I usually have nuts and/or raisins if I'm hungry throughout the day, though I've been trying to cut way back on that and increase my fat at meals instead.

Post-WO meal is leftover meat from dinner

[Tom Denham]

For me, once I develop diarrhea, I often need to take some kind of OTC medication to stop it. One dose is often enough to break the cycle.

 

Digestion problems can be complicated. Adding a lot of fiber can provoke constipation... something like creating so much to void that the process slows or tries to stop. It helps if you make changes gradually in terms of your gut accepting the changes gracefully. Long-term lots of veggies is great for digestion. 

 

You might need to add probiotics to your daily diet... things like sauerkraut, kimchi, fermented pickles, or kombucha. Fermented foods add good things to your gut that improves digestion. I prefer fermented foods to probiotic pills. This is not a magic answer. You may need almost a month of regular consumption before things settle into a good routine, but things do tend to get better and stay better if you keep up a Whole30-style diet.

 

Nuts can be very hard on digestion. You would do well to immediately eliminate nuts and see if your digestion/elimination does not improve.

 

Your meals seem to be too small. I think you need to add protein as well as fat. And remember that raw veggies like spinach take up very little room in your stomach. If you ever wilt your spinach, you will see that three big handfuls don't look like much after it is wilted. That means what seems like a big salad to you is actually a small portion of food by the time it reaches your stomach. 

[Snelson924]

I have the same kind of issue going on as well. You're not alone!