No sleep- Day 5

[bbwalker]

I am a first-timer, and today is Day 5. I think I have been doing pretty well, but I am having a terrible time sleeping. It takes me a decent amount of time to fall asleep, and then I can only stay asleep for a couple hours at a time. 

Last night I was in bed at 10pm, fell asleep around 11, woke up at 2am, 4am, 5am, and 6am.

I'm a 29-yo female, married, no kids. No work changes/extra stress.

Here are my meals so far, in case that tells anything:

 

Day 1:

Breakfast- 3 egg and broccoli omelette, black coffee

Lunch- fajita chicken salad with veggies 

Dinner- pork roast and baked sweet potato

Snack- grapes and almonds

 

Day 2:

B- 2 hb eggs, sweet potato, grapes, almonds

L- cashew chicken stir fry with mushrooms, carrots, onion

D- 2 chicken thighs and broccoli in coconut oil

Snack- part of a larabar

 

Day 3:

B- chicken sausage with peppers, leftover omelette (egg and broccoli)

L- pork roast, spaghetti squash, broccoli

D- ground beef stuffed peppers and spaghetti squash w tomato sauce

 

Day 4:

B- 2 hb eggs, cashews/almonds

L- salad with chicken thigh, broccoli, hb egg, and carrots. an orange, cashews

D- grilled steak and shrimp with veggies (broccoli, carrots, mushroom, zucchini)

 

Day 5: (on the go breakfast)

B- hb egg and larabar

L- spaghetti squash with tomato sauce, ground beef, and red pepper. side salad (lettuce carrots and cucumbers), small apple

 

I'm not completely exhausted during the day (yet), so maybe it's not such a bad thing, but it is very frustrating in the middle of the night.

 

Thinking of trying natural calm or some mg as some other posts have mentioned...

Any suggestions?

[Tom Denham]

Your breakfasts look too small most days, so that is clue to me you may not be eating enough at other meals too. Are you feeling hungry? I have to be full to sleep and stay asleep. Not eating enough could be hard on your sleep. You might need to review the meal planning template and scale up a bit: http://whole30.com/downloads/whole30-meal-planning.pdf

 

It looks like you drank coffee only at breakfast on day 1. That's good, although a cup of coffee in the morning should have worn off by night time. 

[Carlaccini]

Hi There,

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles.

 

I have 2 recommendations for you:

 

1) Eliminate the nuts and the larabars.  I have problem sleeping if I consume either.  So it is possible that they might be disrupting your sleep as well

2) Try taking a magnesium citrate powder - Natural Calm (unflavoured) is the one recommeded around these parts.

 

Another note

2hb eggs is not enough protein for in the morning.  If you are using eggs as your protein, the guideline is the number of eggs you can hold in one hand.  Also try to add more veggies in your morning meals.

[bbwalker]

Thanks, Tom and Carlaccini. I am actually so full that I can't image eating any more! I feel like this is the most I've ever eaten and am already forcing myself to finish meals. Definitely not craving food during the day!

I did make breakfast today with 4 eggs and veggies, and there's no way I can eat it all. 

 

I know I'm supposed to be eating 3 meals a day, but is there a way to spread things out so I'm not stuffing myself but can get more in as you suggest?

 

p.s. still no sleep last night. I will try the Natural Calm and see if that helps.

[Carlaccini]

I had problems with my morning breakfasts as well.  I noticed that some morning I could eat more whereas others I couldn't.  But the other days when I couldn't (I was stuffed) I was hungry early on in the afternoon.  So what I started doing was packing the balance of my breakfast to take along to work with me if I was hungry in the afternoon.  It became my mini meal.

[Tom Denham]

You might try eating 4 meals per day. 

 

We emphasize no snacking, in part because it messes with hormonal rhythms a bit by introducing food more often than is ideal, but also because snack food is often second-rate choices for the kind of nourishment our bodies need. Eating an extra meal keeps you eating the kind of food we recommend - protein, fat, veggies, and is not too big a deal for hormonal rhythms. Honestly, I ate 4-5 meals per day for a long time before I got comfortable eating just 3 meals per day.