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Day 21 Frustrated-Was feeling great. Now, not so much.


rdg

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Hi, I'm hopping someone can help me figure out what went wrong. From the start of my whole 30 I was spot on the timeline, awful carb flu, random cravings, then I felt great! Maybe not tiger blood great, but I was sleeping better, had the energy to start running again, the energy to get through my nightshift job without mainlining caffeine, and my clothes were fitting better.

Then, the past week I've felt like an overstuffed sausage. Bloated, my clothes tighter than before, less energy(although not as low as pre-whole 30). At least I'm still sleeping well.

I have already decided to continue my whole 30 for two more weeks because I want to try eliminating eggs and nuts from my diet. This is to see if either of those foods are responsible for some persistent acne and allergy issues that I always blamed on my love affair with dairy pre-whole 30.

Any ideas about the sudden backsliding? Advice to help me along the next few weeks? Anyone else have this issue?

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I'm not as familiar with the timeline as some folks, but I see this quite a bit at this stage of the Whole30 here on the forums. If you're the sort of person who menstruates, this could be related to that. If you're the sort of person who gets hungry and eats nuts, this could be related to that.

 

If you'd like some specific tips on how your food could be having an impact on your overall sense of wellbeing right now, post a few days' worth of meals here and we'll see if we can point out any suggestions for you.

 

In the meantime, here's to feeling better soon.

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Last post isn't showing up, so I'll try again...

It's about two weeks too early for PMS to be the culprit. I am usually very regular that way. Also, I do over eat when I am tired and by the end of th I the week I definitely was over doing it and snacking on nuts and fruits. This is the first week that has been a problem, though. Nosnacking til I already felt like I was back sliding. So, I'm sure it didn't help, but I don't think it was the original problem.

Here are some meal examples:

#1- 2 or 3 eggs, a small tomato, and half an avocado with two cups of coffee

#2- hash (homemade turkey 'sausage'), sweet potato, beets, onion, kale), topped with one or two eggs, depending on how hungry I am.

#3- Pork loin with whole 30 approved BBQ sauce, some sort of veg (usually kale, leeks, mushrooms, and onion sauteed with garlic and maybe half a sweet potato if I'm super hungry)

I pretty consistently eat the same thing as it is easier to cook big batches on the weekend and eat it all week. The only variations are chicken instead of pork, spinach instead of kale, etc. Also, I did eat kale soup for meal #3 a few times this week (kale, sausage, tomatoes, my own chicken stock, not small portions) The past few days I have snacked on nuts and bananas between meals. I am not eating nuts or eggs this week, so I will have something like meal #2 or #3 for breakfast instead of eggs.

Thanks for your help.

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One thing that occurred to me, beyond your food, is to wonder how you're handling your shift work schedule. I've never worked night shifts on a regular basis, but Michele Tam of NomNomPaleo did it for ten years. She has a great article about how to survive the night shift, and it includes everything from food to amber colored glasses. You might take a look at this article and see if it gives you any ideas: http://nomnompaleo.com/post/55156756199/surviving-the-night-shift

 

You talk about back sliding before you started eating more fruits and nuts, and if I'm understanding you correctly you meant that you started feeling worse (after feeling significantly better). This, then, brought on the eating of more fruits and nuts than you'd been eating before. It makes me wonder if sleep deprivation was catching up with you somehow - this is a total guess, of course, but it is true that when we're really tired we do reach for quick calories to keep us going. I remember that being a particular feature of the few night shifts I've worked.

 

When it comes to your meals, here are a few tweaks you could make based on what you posted:

 

Meal 1: Eat 3-4 eggs, the tomato, the half avocado, and add a cup or two of veggies - greens, sweet or white potatoes, mushrooms, spinach, etc. It's amazing what adding 2-4 cups of veggies to your Meal 1 will do for your energy throughout your day/night. Cook the greens thoroughly so you don't have to eat a mixing bowl's worth, hehe

 

Meal 2: Make sure to include a fat source in this, since cooking fat does not count. Drizzle olive or coconut oil or ghee on the hash, add more avocado, etc. And make sure to eat plenty - that hash sounds good!

 

Meal 3: Make sure to eat plenty, plan on both the less-starchy veggies AND the sweet potato. Again, add a fat source.

 

This is relatively simple, just add more veggies to Meal 1 and more fat to Meals 2 and 3 - plus eating plenty. If you get hungry between those meals, we really do want you to eat. Make it a mini-meal of fat, protein, veggies instead of fruits and nuts. So, f'rinstance, a smaller serving of hash with a little avocado. Heck, if you're really hungry eat another full meal.

 

Eating more fat will provide more satiety; and eating mini-meals instead of fruits and nuts will keep your digestion a bit more balanced - fruits and nuts cause bloating for many.

 

Good luck and let us know how it goes, or if you have further questions.

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