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Whole30 from Paris — 21 July 2014


cordovez

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First day of the Whole30. I have started week 10 of P90X3 and I am not very satisfied with my weightloss. My partner says he can see the difference, but I can't. Perhaps my body shape is changing and my weight remaining around the same. I have no idea what my body fat is, but I know it has been over 20% for a few years now. So I want to see  results in the mirror.

 

For the record, today I weighted in at 72.4 Kilos (down from 74.2K on 15 May). I will not weight myself again until the end of the 30 days.

 

This may be challenging this weekend, as I am travelling with friends to Normandy, and good food and good wine will be plentiful. I hope I can pass on the wine. But there will be 3 others with me, so they'll be happy if one less person is drinking the bottle :-)

 

Meal planning is going to be tough, as I tend to over-think it, but at the same time, I am often caught hungry in between meals, So I have to make sure I'm well stocked. Going shopping soon.

 

I have been a vegetarian for a almost a year now, so it makes me a little depressed to have to eat meat again, but I am doing it as an experiment and because I do need all the protein after the intese workouts of the p90x3.

 

So having said that, I think I will allow the otherwise, discouraged Whey Protein Powder. The kind I buy is unflavoured, thus unsweetened. But it does have some stuff that I can't pronounce or understand.

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This is one of my favorite post about why weight on the scale may not be the best goal. http://everydaypaleo.com/attention-scale-addicts-part-2/.

I noticed you said you are a vegetarian but are eating meat for your whole30. If you are doing the regular whole30 you should use egg white protein powder instead of whey. There is a vegetarian version of the whole30 that might work better for you and you can have yogurt, tofu, beans, lentils and your whey protein if you need it as long as it doesn't have any non compliant ingredients.

Good luck!

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******************

Day 1

******************

pre-wo : handful of raw almonds, coffee

 

//////  workout   //////

 

Meal 1 : 2 boiled eggs, spinach

 

snack : 1/4 Melon

 

Meal 2 : Chinese cabbage & 1 small courgette sautéed with olive oil, 1 tin of Tuna.

 

Meal 3 : Duck with cherry sauce, sweet potato mash, big salad.

******************

approximate protein consumed :  62 g

******************

 

_______________________________________________________________________

Notes : Breakfast was not enough protein, thus the Melon to combat hunger. My target protein intake is 75 g, so a third egg for meal 1 would have helped. Perhaps the veg and nuts had enough protein to make up deficit.

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This is one of my favorite post about why weight on the scale may not be the best goal. http://everydaypaleo.com/attention-scale-addicts-part-2/.

I noticed you said you are a vegetarian but are eating meat for your whole30. If you are doing the regular whole30 you should use egg white protein powder instead of whey. There is a vegetarian version of the whole30 that might work better for you and you can have yogurt, tofu, beans, lentils and your whey protein if you need it as long as it doesn't have any non compliant ingredients.

Good luck!

Thanks Tina,

I am putting my vegetarianism on hold as an experiment and because it would be too difficult to eat enough protein given the amount of exercise. Also, I live in France where it is more common to find organically raised meats. cross my fingers!

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Consuming whey protein during a conventional Whole30 means you are not fully eliminating dairy, which means it is not really a standard Whole30. I wish you would make the effort to get your protein from whole food sources like eggs, fish, poultry, and meat.

 

Your food report suggests you are eating too light! I know you want to see visible weight loss, but eating light while exercising heavy as you are doing P90X is likely to slow your metabolism and make fat loss more difficult. It is counter-intuitive, but eating enough for your activity level supports a faster burning metabolism and that makes fat loss more likely to happen. 

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I enjoy the smell when passing by a bakery or confiserie... No craving... I sent you some local addresses for your bio meat in a message.

Enjoy the Normandy... No crême fraiche, Neufchâtel cheese ok?

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When I first started w30, I wanted to weigh and measure and count all my food - protein, carbs, calories, etc.  I see that you are trying to keep your protein up, lose weight, are changing your eating lifestyle (adding meat protein) and are very active.  One of the best bits of advice given to me was to stop counting.  This is what I was told, and what helps me:

 

Grab a copy of the meal template and keep it posted near where you prepare your foods.  

 

Follow the template!

 

Your only measurements are what you can see:

Protein - one to two palmfuls.  When eggs are your protein, it is how many you can hold in your hand - for me that it 3-4 (depending on whether they are chicken or duck) and I am an average sized woman.  you might need 4-5.  I think you will find that if you eat enough whole protein, you will not need your protein powder.

Fats - one to two thumb-fuls of fat - avocado/oil, olives/oil, coconut/ oil/ flakes/ etc.  Nuts and seeds count as fats, but go easy (1 nut serving is what is held in a closed fist).  

Vegetables - 1-3 Cups!  That's a lot of veg!  When you are more active, you may find yourself needing more starchy veg than someone who is less active.  

 

Preworkout - protein and fat (NO VEG).  This is to give your body the fuel it needs to workout.  Serving size should be 1/2 meal size

 

Post workout - protein and starchy veg.  Also, half serving size.  The protein is for your muscles and the starchy veg for energy to repair said muscles.  I like to take some proscuitto and sweet potato baby food packs - small, portable and easy to eat immediately after.

 

Protein and fat is going to keep you satiated between meals.  You may have needed that snack, not just because your protein was low, but your fat also.  

 

Eating enough is going to help you lose weight!  I lost the most when I increased my fat.  (I do have to watch my starchy veg as they are my favorites, but I am not as active as you!)

 

Good luck to you on your journey!

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Thank you  Kmlynne 

Your thourough response and tips are very appreciated. I can see you've been doing this for a while.

 

I am the kind of person that sometimes (ahem, always) gets bogged down on the details, so you are right in pointing out the uselessness of so much counting. I won't keep counting through the thirty days. But I am counting for a week or so, because I want to know what 75g of protein looks like in a day. Once I have a mental image in my head, I can move on. This is caused by a lifetime of eating without knowing what you are eating. So for the moment I'm only doing this exercise to make sure I know whether I need to eat one palm full or two palmfuls and what that feels like on my stomach :-)

 

Right now the challenge is pre-wo and  Meal 1(post-wo), making sure there is enough on the plate and finding protein for pre-wo that is not going to weigh me down. 

 

Thank you for this and any future tips.

 

 

 

When I first started w30, I wanted to weigh and measure and count all my food - protein, carbs, calories, etc.  I see that you are trying to keep your protein up, lose weight, are changing your eating lifestyle (adding meat protein) and are very active.  One of the best bits of advice given to me was to stop counting.  This is what I was told, and what helps me:

 

Grab a copy of the meal template and keep it posted near where you prepare your foods.  

 

Follow the template!

 

Your only measurements are what you can see:

Protein - one to two palmfuls.  When eggs are your protein, it is how many you can hold in your hand - for me that it 3-4 (depending on whether they are chicken or duck) and I am an average sized woman.  you might need 4-5.  I think you will find that if you eat enough whole protein, you will not need your protein powder.

Fats - one to two thumb-fuls of fat - avocado/oil, olives/oil, coconut/ oil/ flakes/ etc.  Nuts and seeds count as fats, but go easy (1 nut serving is what is held in a closed fist).  

Vegetables - 1-3 Cups!  That's a lot of veg!  When you are more active, you may find yourself needing more starchy veg than someone who is less active.  

 

Preworkout - protein and fat (NO VEG).  This is to give your body the fuel it needs to workout.  Serving size should be 1/2 meal size

 

Post workout - protein and starchy veg.  Also, half serving size.  The protein is for your muscles and the starchy veg for energy to repair said muscles.  I like to take some proscuitto and sweet potato baby food packs - small, portable and easy to eat immediately after.

 

Protein and fat is going to keep you satiated between meals.  You may have needed that snack, not just because your protein was low, but your fat also.  

 

Eating enough is going to help you lose weight!  I lost the most when I increased my fat.  (I do have to watch my starchy veg as they are my favorites, but I am not as active as you!)

 

Good luck to you on your journey!

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******************


Day 2


******************


pre-wo : handful of hazelnuts (I think), 


 


//////  workout   //////


 


Meal 1 : 100 g Mackerelbrussels sprouts


 


Meal 2 : ± 100g Chicken Breast, brocoli/cauliflower mix in a tarragon Dijon mustard sauce with butter (clarified)


 


snack : Granny smith apple


 


Meal 3 : ± 100g Cod, steamed with chinese cabbage, green beans and coconunt oil. Drizzle of hazelnuts. 1/4 Melon.


 


******************


approximate protein consumed : 67 g


******************


 


_______________________________________________________________________


Notes : Almost made it to dinner without feeling hungry, but dinner certainly felt insubstantial. The cabbage cooked down too much. Must be aware that I should be looking for DRY SALTED ATLANTIC COD which was a whoping 63g of protein!


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Yesterday I had an interesting workout experience. I did my P90X3 routine in the morning. It was MMA, which was tough. On many of the exercises, I couldn't complete the set and my form suffered because I just didn't have the stamina. However, after eating breakfast and waiting a little longer, I realised that I still had energy left.

 

It was interesting to note that, because any good exercise routine requires that you exert yourself to the max, to failure if possible. But it highlights the important difference between strength, stamina and endurance. While I had run out of stamina, I still have endurance left in me.

 

So I went for an easy 5K jog with the dogs.  :D

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Day 3 is off to an awkward start due to me forgetting I had to walk the dogs and not having enough time to prepare a proper breakfast. So I had a breast of chicken first and the vegetables after the walk. But it is now already lunch time!

 

******************

Day 3

******************

pre-wo : hard boiled egg

 

//////  workout   //////

 

Meal 1 : chicken breast, 

 

snack : broc/cauli, avocado oil & lemon, 1 banana

 

Meal 2 : 3 egg omelet with 100g mackerel, shredded beetroot, courgette 

 

Meal 3 : Dinner out : Big bowl of salad with tinned tuna, including 1 boiled egg

******************

approximate protein consumed : 68 g

******************

 

_______________________________________________________________________

Notes : Went out for dinner and was able to sit and watch my dinner companions drink beer, eat peanuts, and I skipped on the bread.

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Today, i am beginning to see a difference in my body. Caution : I have been exercising for over 2 months now, so you shouldn't think that it is due from the eating plan. However, I had started cutting sugar / grains / flours, etc. 2 weeks ago because I had started doing research about paleo. Then I arrived at this site and read the book. So I wasn't technically on a strict whole 30 program until 21 July.

 

Nevertheless, I wonder if my metabolism is already starting to accelerate. Again today, after I finished a challenging session of P90X3, appropriately called "The Challenge", I still had some juice left in me. So I went for a gentle 5k jog / walk with the dogs again. Bizzarre. I thought we were just going out for the morning walk, but I felt a little trot coming on so I just went for it.

 

My stamina is still poop, but my strength has definitely increased. I surprised myself at the number of pull-ups / push-ups I was able to do. When I began P90X3 I wasn't recording my numbers ... because they were so lo and insignificant. 

 

So a little light came on today. yay.

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Must point out ahead of today's menu, that I would have found it challenging to eat solid food for my Meal 1 after this morning's workout. So a shake it was. But a surprisingly tasty one, and I did not feel hungry until Meal 2.

 

******************

Day 4

******************

pre-wo : 1 microwaved, scrambled egg with butter*, some hazelnuts

 

//////  workout   //////

 

Meal 1 : Crazy makey-up shake, but delicious { 3 raw eggs, 1 banana, a few frozen melon balls, Almond milk, 1 tablespoon coconut oil }

 

snack : 

 

Meal 2 : Huge bowl of salad {courgette, carrot, red pepper, cucumber} olive/avocado oil dressing, 200g salmon

 

Meal 3 : Delicious seafood ratatouille: Courgette, carrots, onions, red peppers, green peppers, olives, tinned diced tomatoes, mussels. With approx 120g cod and boiled potatoes in butter*. Also had more fruit: 2 kiwi & cherries.

******************

approximate protein consumed : 100+ g

******************

 

_______________________________________________________________________

Notes : * every time I mention butter, it should go without saying that I mean clarified butter.

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Yesterday I exceeded my target protein intake for the first time. This is an estimate, as I don't know how much of the mussels were in the ratatouille that I served myself. Never the less, this exercise helps me look at portion sizes, and I have also learned that I have to anticipate future meals. I didn't know what I was going to make for dinner at lunch time, and thus I probably could have eaten less of the salmon at lunch.

 

However, today I felt good and energetic again. I did my first session ever of Pilates (through the P90X3 programme) and I was tough. I showed me how much more work I need to do on my core muscles. But I did another 5k of run/walk in the hot sun and thus don't feel guilty about the extra carbs in the beet/apple juice I had after the run.

Breakfast left me feeling full, and felt uncomfortable eating Serrano ham. Definitely going back to being vegetarian after this program if I can do it.

 

******************

Day 5

******************

pre-wo : 50g serrano ham

 

//////  workout   //////

 

Meal 1 : 50g serrano, 2 eggs, 2 cups broc/cauli, 1 small avo, coffee

 

snack : beet juice sweetened with apple juice (both pure and organic)

 

Meal 2 : More of last night's ratatouille with 180g of salmon this time, some hazelnuts, Banana

 

Meal 3 :

******************

approximate protein consumed : 87 g

******************

 

_______________________________________________________________________

Notes :

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I was away this weekend, and staying on track was difficult. When you are a guest in someone else's home, it's difficult to express your food choices to your friend. Fortunately, they are good friends and meals were very casual and ad-hoc.

 

But I did slip once, but I am not going to loose any sleep over it. I ate french fries at a restaurant. They caught me by surprise (because I thought "potatoes are not allowed", but I forgot about the oil.

 

In any case, my objective is to loose weight and get a healthier glucose / insulin / sugar level in my body. Whatever the possible toxic effects from eating process oils in the fries is not my main concern. I'll still strive to keep eating cleanly, but a i'll let this oil slip up, slide. :-)

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Hi hutlifr,

Now that you ask, I remembered that what I bought was Pata Negra ham, and I bought it at La Grande Epicerie here on Paris. They have a wide range of hams and even a new eating counter just for ham :-)

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  • 2 weeks later...

******************

Day 21

******************

 

Of all the ways one can trip up on whole30.

 

For the most part, I try to be as conscientious about what I eat and stay within the guidelines of Whole 30. But I have realised that to aim for 100% compliance is either chimeric, crazy, or obsessive compulsive. I applaud anyone who aims for this, but I don't. I can't. The problem is that sometimes there are no alternatives for products contain ingredients in the no-no list, sometimes they sneak up on you, and sometimes you forget (I'm eating a vegetable mix at the moment, which includes petits-pois, a legume). Recently I found out that the cranberries that I love to snack on (mixed in with my nuts) contains rapeseed oil (Canola for Americans). My organic vegetable broth cubes contain both non-hydroganated palm oil and sunflower oils. And has anyone found sliced ham that doesn't contain dextrose ( a form of glucose)?

 

Recently, I went out for dinner and I ordered what I thought was a vegetarian main dish, except that I must have overlooked the fish rillete that served as the stuffing for the piquillos. Fish is OK, of course, but the parmesan that was surely in it (and perhaps cream?) was not. I ate it anyway.

 

Am I worried? No, not really. I think it is important to keep a sense of perspective and to allow for certain shortcomings. Otherwise we may end up beating ourselves up for "failling" and consequently end up giving up. What is better, having to start over from zero because you absentmindedly or accidentally ate an infenitesimal amount of a inflamatory product, or to get up, dust yourself off, and continue your journey. I think that if we take the Whole30 regime as a lifestyle change, it is important also that we take it as a form of discovery and learning process. What can I realistically afford? What products can I realistically find in my shops? How much time can I devote to research, food sourcing, and cooking. What effects, if any, do these trace amounts have on our bodies?

 

After my restaurant meal where the fish rilletes contained dairy products, I felt bloated as soon as I was done with dinner. This was eye opening. And although I can't exactly say that one was the cause of the other, it taught me how ingredients affect my digestion.

 

My objective in following the Whole30 is to loose body fat, while consuming enough "clean" foods that will fuel my exercise regime. Others, of course, will be doing it for less vain reasons of health, and will certainly be aiming to be 100% compliant. But be aware that you do not have 100% control all the time. You have to balance all the benefits to your body from having removed  almost all sugar, grains, industrial oils, etc from your diet (no small feat and something that still most other dieters are unable to achieve) against the accidental ingestion (in very small quantities) of these or other potentially inflammatory products.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have already written about this in my journal, so I will copy and paste it here again. 

 

So I actually finished the program! And it took my by surprise. As you can see from the gap in my updates, I lost track of time. I have been on vacation for the past two weeks, so I allowed myself some indulgences. However, I have decided to re-start the program to kick renewed sugar and simple carbs cravings and to complement my exercise regime. The biggest change I have seen has been in the progress of the way my body looks. I will post before and after pictures here. But please NOTE: I have been doing an intensive exercise program also, so you should not look at my pictures for any indication of what may happen to your body. However, my exercising could be more intense, if I had the stamina, and the results even better. In short these things I have noticed:

 

  •  Not a huge weight loss probably because, I eat a lot more, including much more (clarified) butter, but still managed to loose body fat (which is my objective)
  • 18 days into the Whole30 program I started FREELETICS and I felt I had lots of energy. Lately, while on holiday (after finishing the Whole30), I have felt more lethargic. I am not ready to say that one is the result of the other, since there were other factors. But I will see if I notice a change when I go back on the program.
  • buying enough vegetables and preparing them is a burdensome some times. I will try to pre-prepare more vegetables for my next round.
  • I have a lower tolerance for alcohol now, and although I tasted some good wines in the south of France these past two weeks, alcohol has bee the easiest to let go of.
  • While off the program I have felt at time that I have over eaten (not eating consciously or slowly enough) and have felt bloated, which gave me a sense of guilt. So letting go of the program also meant letting go some (self) control, which translates into lack of self esteem.
  • I have certainly been moody recently (again, not ready to attribute diet as a cause, but will keep my focus on my mood next time around).

Here are the pictures. The place to pay attention to is the love handles, especially from the rear view:

01-s-before-front.jpg02-s-after-front.jpg

03-s-before-back.jpg04-s-after-back.jpg

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