First whole 30

[Laurasattem]

I'm going to start my first whole 30 on Sunday June 8th. I need a week to get back from vacation and prep my pantry. I have an unhealthy relationship with food. Sugar in particular. I do not want to pass on these unhealthy habits to my beautiful toddler. My husband says he will do the whole 30 with me, but I don't think he is excited like I am. I'm nervous because my parents will be in town for two days and we also will have my husbands birthday and I'm throwing a baby shower in the next 30 days. But I also am excited by the challenge to eat real food while real life goes on! Wish me ,not luck, but mental toughness and determination to pay attention to everything that I put in my mouth

[cjknick]

Good luck to you, Laurasattem! I'm on day 2 and have done alot of planning but I do know life will get in the way and provide challenges. I just gotta go with it. 

 

Best of luck to you.

 

cjknick

[Laurasattem]

First day down!!!

What I learned today was how and what I eat out of habit. After church we usually go out to lunch with friends and today I found myself wanting a sandwich from one of our favorite places while leaving church. Kind of a learned habit. Excited for tomorrow and to try out some new recipes!

[Laurasattem]

2nd day down! I thought I would feel the efects of "detoxing" but I really don't. I actually feel prety great. My poor hubby though is taking it pretty hard. He is tired and having headaches. Also he is very hungry, I keep encouraging him to go eat ore since its all GOOD FOOD! He is resistant stating "I don't want to eat too much" I couldn't find anywhere on the book or website stating how much to eat, but my thought was if I'm hungry I'm going to eat! Especially since I'm not reaching for sugar

[history_junkie]

2nd day down! I thought I would feel the efects of "detoxing" but I really don't. I actually feel prety great. My poor hubby though is taking it pretty hard. He is tired and having headaches. Also he is very hungry, I keep encouraging him to go eat ore since its all GOOD FOOD! He is resistant stating "I don't want to eat too much" I couldn't find anywhere on the book or website stating how much to eat, but my thought was if I'm hungry I'm going to eat! Especially since I'm not reaching for sugar

 

My hubby too! He is super skinny and has a really active metabolism and he keeps complaining about being hungry. I keep telling him just to eat four meals. He has a phobia of being hungry, which I think is from years of blood sugar swings that leave him shaky and starving. He hasn't felt that way on the Whole 30, but he still gets hungry...

[BecFreeby]

Hey Laura!  

 

From my experience, it is normal in the first week especially to feel a bit hungry in between meals as your body and blood sugar adjust to a new process and energy source.  However, if your hubby is really and truly hungry (meaning, he could eat steamed fish and plain veggies), then it probably means that he needs to increase his fat and protein at meal times.  If you read ISWF, you'll be familiar with the meal template- feel free to play with the fat and protein amount until it keeps you satisfied for 4-5 hours between meals.

 

Also, it is absolutely fine to eat 4, or even 5, meals a day on Whole30, as long as they are all following the template.  Snacks are ok too, when needed, but should follow the template as well (veggies, fat, protein).  Try to avoid fruit and nuts as a snack.  But, you shouldn't have to suffer through real hunger... that's just a bummer and won't make you feel successful!

 

There is no such thing as "eating too much" as long as you are eating in the proper proportions and getting enough vegetables.  If your hubby has low energy, try upping the starchy veg intake (carrots, sweet potatoes, turnips, etc.) as they can help quite a bit with feeling hungry and tired between meals.

 

I hope that helps! :-)

[Physibeth]

In addition to what Bec said (great post!) remind him that all servings on the meal template are in the context of your hand size. I'm assuming his hands are larger than your hands so his servings should be larger as well. I can't remember a single time I advised someone they were eating too much, but I've advised people to eat more plenty of times.

[Laurasattem]

Thank you all for your replys, I had my hubby read them so hopefully it helps some. I need to go re-read the meal template apparently because I have just trying to "follow the rules" but basically eating whatever I want, whenever I want within the rules of course. So far I'm proud of myself that I haven't "cheated" or even really wanted to. I'm pretty excited by this challenge and I'm finding new tastes/foods I love. For example I never would have said I liked tomatoes very much, but lately I discovered I love a cut up tomatoe drizzled with basalmic vinegar! Yummy!!! So day 3 down. I woke up with a mild headache today but felt better after eating breakfast. I am surprised at the differences in my hubby and me. Where he "is starving" I'm surprisingly full. Had a huge test today, when I went over to a friends house for a playdate they were eating McDonalds for lunch. I navigated it pretty well, they ribbed me a little bit about "my diet" but not too bad and I didn't even really want any of it. I KNOW that when I eat food like that I feel horrible. I'm finally putting my knowledge into practice and not letting my emotional side take over. AND IT FEELS GOOD!!!

[Laurasattem]

Day four completed! Today I did a good job of using the meal template. Had palm sized portion of protein at each meal then filled my plate with veggies. I ate breakfast at 0830 then forced myself to eat lunch at 1130 because the book said not to eat less but I wasn't hungry. I realized I only waited 3 hours between that meal. Then I ate dinner at 0530 which was 6 hours after lunch. So I need to bump lunch back to 1230 so its 4 hours between breakfast and lunch and 5 hours between lunch and dinner. I was very hungry while I was doing dinner prep around 4pm so I had a small amount of almonds and raisins. I am attempting to cut out snacking but its a process and I'm getting there! I did a GREAT JOB this evening of battling my sugar dragon, made hubby and I each a cup of tea instead. Got some stuff to work on for tomorrow but I'm getting there!

[Laurasattem]

Hello insomnia!!! Ugh! I never have sleep trouble but after some quick research I think my lack of carbs are to blame. Had sweet potatoe fries with dinner last night and slept fantastic. Tonight and the other nights I've had little to no carbs with dinner and I think that's what is throwing me off. Gunna experiment tomorrow but this is just silly!

[Laurasattem]

Woke up feeling shaky and headachy this am. Felt like low blood sugar. Had a Lara bar and a glass of juice. I know this is not in the spirit of the whole 30 but it was necessary this morning. After I felt better and are my normal breakfast. Still felt kinda pinky until after lunch (I waited until 130 to eat so I was actually hungry). Some ups some downs today.

[BecFreeby]

There have been plenty of times that I had a Larabar to get me through a rough patch or emergency- don't beat yourself up about it, unless your sugar dragon latches on to them, you won't even want them in two weeks.

And I hear you with the insomnia... it passes, I promise! Your body is fighting back against the withdrawals and it sucks. But I promise that it is totally worth it! Keep it up!

[Laurasattem]

Thanks BecFreeby! The rest of yesterday was better for me. Had a side of plantains with dinner and I think that helped me sleep because I slept awesome again! Woke up early today to get a shopping trip in before my hubs went to work. (I usually shop in the afternoons with our daughter, but I'm buying so many new things or reading labels so I'm slower and she gets bored=cranky) Felt good to get it all out of the way this AM. I do feel like eat meal takes alot of work. THat's probably just because its a whole new style of eating for my family so I'm really having to prep and read/re-read recipes. Instead of just throwing together tacos super quickly. (Or whatever) Feeling kinda all over the place today but my eating has been good so I'm going to blame it on the rainy weather a clingy toddler and waking up early. Today is Day 6...GOING STRONG!

[Laurasattem]

Well yesterday was my first day at work since starting. It went pretty well, I was on kind of a hurry in the morning and I don't think I ate quite enough breakfast but I had a snack with me just in case. Work has a lot of temptations coffee with cream and dugsr(old habits ) yummy snacks go workers bring to share. Made a yummy dinner....all in all good day. Today however was fine, great in fact until I came home. Hubby and I both had kinda blue days and were in a little funk. Amazing how old habits of wanting to comfort myself with good kicked in, the cravings for a big cheesy Mexican meal with chips salsa and soda were so intense! Also it was Father's Day so we felt like celebrating and often(okay always) that means going out. Came so close to calling it quits and getting pizza but I really want to do this. I will not stop.

[Laurasattem]

Okay so survived on trial of having family in town and went pretty well. Just got off my 2 ER night shifts and I'm really proud of myself! It was SO busy last night that I scarfed my lunch down and snacked when I could shove some almonds in my face. However there was snack foods out on the back table, my co-worker brought a big bucket of KFC to share. The Doctor was being sweet and passing out chocolates. I was tempted preety bad a few times but I never gave in!!! It is so cool to have control over what I put into my body!! I know it sounds silly but I really did not know I had that control I always felt "I' couldn't help myself" before. Now I know that is a lie. Only I control what goes in my mouth!! It was a bonus too that although I was tired from working hard and being busy I didn't have energy highs and lows. That is probably the biggest thing I am noticing lately. I may feel a little bit tired occasionally or a little whatever, but no huge swings in energy!!

[Laurasattem]

Okay well this week I am trying to adapt some of our standby favorite recipes to be compliant. We are getting a bit tired of the stir fry or one skillet meals I have been making and I'm also tried of closely following a new recipe each night. So tonight was fish tacos!!! Yummy! Going to do BBQ chicken tomorrow and burgers the next night. Hooray for my favorite dishes only tweaked to be tastier!!!

[ceebeavers]

Hi I was reading your previous posts and I was just wondering how it was going?

[Laurasattem]

Thanks for checking on me ceebeavers. It's going well. Last night the hubby and I went out for date night, he was a little frustrated and maybe embarrassed to ask the waiter to not bring bread and to make a veggie substitution on his meal but overall we still had a dinner out so that's good! Hubby stepped on the scale last week(naughty) but I have resisted. I'm really trying to follow the rules as well as the spirit and intention of the whole 30. Today is day 19 already wow!! A big test will be next week is hubby's birthday and his family is in town as well as July 4th. At this point it's pretty easy for me to resist temptations, I've made it this far I don't want to screw up my progress. I am excited to step on the scale when I've completed this wjole30. My clothes do feel looser and I'm noticing parts look a little leaner. I'm a really interested to add back in foods and see how I feel. I don't really miss anything however. The thing I have noticed the most is a constant energy level throughout the day. Even if I don't have tons of energy I still don't have the highs and lows. It feels awesome!

[Laurasattem]

Had a headache last night which I tend to get a few times a month but my first one while on whole 30. I am loving the changes I am seeing in my body. I am starting to read make shi(f)t happen as well as read some parts of ISWF. I am toying with the idea of continuing the whole 30. I'm not sure I want to add anything back in just yet or maybe ever (eeeek!) I am impressed with the way my body is looking in only 20 days and with no dedicated work out routine. I get walks and playtime with my daughter but that's been it for my exercise.

[Laurasattem]

So my whole 30 will be coming to a close in a few short days. I have learned SO MUCH about my relationship with food and just really what I am capable of. It's exciting. I have weight to lose but I'm more motivated by how good I feel! I need to sit down and determine my goals and how I want to move forward from here. I am not interested in adding back in any foods right now. Possibly soy or almond milk but I'm not even wanting dairy or grains. I doubt I will always keep these foods 100 perfect out but we will see. One thing I want to do for sure is keep reading my labels and eat as cleanly as possible. Also the extra sugars, I feel so good not having them. So they are gone unless I decide it is special and I want to eat it. Also this has helped me cut out caffeine. Hubby and I are trying to get pregnant and caffeine can increase the chance if miscarriage. Through total 30 I have cut out coffee and soda. I used to LOVE soda. Now it kinda disgusts me. I no longer use sweetener in my tea. My taste buds are realigning. I'm so thankful to whole 30

[Laurasattem]

So my first whole 30 has been officially over for more than a week now. I haven't really wanted to incorporate any foods back in so I haven't made an effort but have eaten things out or at others homes. Nothing had bothered me so far and I am loving how I am feeling. For example on Saturday I had tons of energy! I ate compliant/clean/paleo whatever I'm doing right now(still figuring it out). Even though it could have been a stressful day (all day at home potty training my naked toddler, it wasn't becasue I felt so great. Well today I made pancakes for breakfast (an old family favorite) and they didn't sit to well, and then after church I brought fast food home! I don't think I even really wanted it, and I now have an upset stomach. I am learning, and apparently re-learning that I CANNOT eat "unhealthy foods" (for lack of a better term at the moment) "trigger foods" whatever even in small amounts because it sets off a chain reaction with me. Its a process I know and I'm not beating myself up. So I will continue on this awesome journey. I will continue to post even though I'm not technically on my whole 30 any longer. But I'm in the aftermath stage Plus I like having a place to get down my thoughts, get them out of my head and deliberate.

[Kaylward]

Laura, sounds like you did awesome and adjusted along the way. It is nice to read someone else's journey as I start mine. I'm curious if you lost weight or inches by the end? My scale broke a few weeks ago (thank God) and I weighed myself at work a few days ago before I started. I'm grateful to be listening to my body instead of watching the scale.

Congrats!!!

[Laurasattem]

Kaylward- first of all thank you!

Next, I didn't ever take my measurements but my clothes are fitting much better, some even pretty loose! I didn't weigh myself through the month although I wanted to sometimes but it was nice to kind of break that "addiction" to an abstract number on the scale which never showed how I was feeling, or what my energy level was. I lost 9lbs during my total 30 and I'm sure have lost a couple more as I figure out my new eating routines. What day are you on?