sbreeze Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 Hello! I'm excited to be starting my Whole30 journey (Day 2 now)! At baseline I'm pretty active (a mix of cardio and strength training, I walk a lot for work, and do more intense activities on my days off--hiking, team sports, etc.). Unfortunately I've been dealing with patellofemoral pain syndrome lately and am on rest. So my only activity now includes the walking I do at work as well as upper and lower body strength training that doesn't affect my knee. Anyway, my baseline diet is somewhat healthy in that I eat a lot of vegetables, but am also a lover of wine, cheese, and bread. Oh, and dessert. So, maybe not so healthy. I'm feeling fine 2 days in (other than gas from too much cauliflower/romanesco, whoops) but I am so hungry! Here's what I've eaten: Day 1 Breakfast: coffee, sweet potato hash with a very small amount of sugar free bacon, scallions, and a fried egg (fried in clarified butter) Lunch: Taco salad--1/4 lb ground beef with spices, romaine, diced roasted sweet potatoes (a handful?), radishes, avocado sauce (avocado blended with lime juice, jalapeno, avocado oil). Dinner: Chicken curry (spice paste homemade--shallots, lemongrass, garlic, chiles--also onions, mushrooms, green beans, coconut milk, chicken stock, Red boat fish sauce, coconut aminos, more spices) with cauliflower whizzed to pieces and roasted (I can't call it "rice." It bears no resemblance to rice, but it is good for soaking up a sauce). Handful of cashews and chamomile tea. Day 2 Breakfast: coffee, crudites (turnips and carrots) with homemade compliant mayo, 2 hard-cooked eggs, 3 fat green olives Lunch: I had a meeting where I could not eat my stinky curry so I had a handful of cashews, some water, and ended up eating my curry about an hour later. Dinner: skirt steak, arugula, roasted romanesco (oy, bad idea). All drizzled with mayo, lemon juice, and a little salt. After, chamomile tea. So. I'm hungry. I'm fearful of gaining weight because I've seriously cut my activity back. I thought my body would need fewer calories given I'm not allowed to really exercise beyond some "gentle" strength training and mobilizations. Is there something I could add to my meals that I'm missing? I was thinking of adding some more carbs but don't want to gain weight and also I pretty much hate sweet potatoes and winter squashes. For my hash I made the sweet potatoes so spicy I couldn't taste them. And I don't want to use white potatoes because I love them too much. Plantain? Banana? I'm at a loss here. Thanks for any help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators ShannonM816 Posted April 25, 2015 Moderators Share Posted April 25, 2015 A serving of eggs, when they're your only source of protein in a meal, is as many whole eggs as you can hold in your hand, which is 3-4 for most people. Some people prefer to have a mix of eggs and some other protein, they find their meal stays with them longer that way, but you can definitely play with it and see what works best for you. When you're hungry, eat. Seriously. Eat. Eat a mix of protein, vegetables, and fat, limit the fruit to just a couple of servings a day, but eat. If you nourish your body with the kinds of foods it needs, it can work optimally and you will lose weight (if you have weight you need to lose, not just those last few pounds that you'd like to lose -- often those few pounds people insist they need to lose are really more about toning up, which is not the same.) Protein and fat are usually what will help keep you satiated between meals, and it's pretty much always okay to have more vegetables at meals too. Cooked vegetables tend to be more filling than raw as well. You might look for different varieties of sweet potatoes -- Japanese sweet potatoes with a purple skin and white flesh taste totally different than the regular garnet yams you probably see most at the store. (This article has a pic that shows the difference.) And how you cook them may make a difference too, especially if it's a texture thing. Beets, turnips, rutabagas and other root vegetables are also good starchy vegetables. It is okay to love your food, by the way -- don't think you should always skip the foods you love, although you definitely want to branch out and try as many different vegetables, prepared in as many different ways as you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbreeze Posted April 25, 2015 Author Share Posted April 25, 2015 Thanks Shannon. Funny, as I was going to sleep last night, I thought: beets! I'm no stranger to a variety of vegetables--the farmers market is my favorite weekly outing, and I've been an avid home cook for years. I do think maybe my problem is that I'm using the same serving portions as I would if I had added cheese/yogurt/sour cream and some sort of grain to my meal. I'll try upping the hearty vegetable amount and see if that works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Tom Denham Posted April 25, 2015 Moderators Share Posted April 25, 2015 You think that your activity level is more important to your weight than it really is. Honestly your activity level is a small factor in body composition. Our meal planning template is designed to add extra meals to your day if you are exercising. If you are not exercising, you still need the three basic meals at the size we recommend. If you eat less than the minimum recommended, you not only suffer hunger, you throw your hormones out of whack and can't lose fat if you have fat to lose. Trust us when we recommend eating a palm-size portion of meat at every meal (or as many eggs as you can hold in one hand). Trust us when we recommend adding fat to your meals generously. And don't be afraid of enjoying starchy veggies. Most people feel better if they eat some starchy veggies every day whether they are exercising or not. I don't feel better when I eat starchy veggies, but I sleep better and that makes me feel better. I have been following the Whole30-approach to eating for 5 years. It took me 15 months to lose the 30 pounds of extra fat that I was carrying when I started. For the past 3.5 years I have stayed within 5 pounds of the 184 pounds and body fat of 7 percent that marked the end of my losing weight. I have done this while eating generously the whole time. My activity levels are relatively high for an office worker, but I eat extra meals on days that I train and I eat twice the minimum recommended meal size at most meals. Before I started the Whole30, I did CrossFit 3 times per week and ran for 2 hours on the weekend. After two years, I was still 30 pounds overweight. I started the Whole30 without making any changes in my activity levels and I finally began to lose weight. The greatest thing about eating Whole30-style is maintaining a healthy weight without suffering hunger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbreeze Posted April 25, 2015 Author Share Posted April 25, 2015 I was under the impression that activity doesn't matter much for someone trying to lose weight, but it does matter for weight maintenance. In other words, I was a previously active, slightly overweight individual who is now on rest and therefore has to be more careful with eating too much. Losing weight is a long term goal for me--I don't expect to achieve it from a month of eating healthy. More importantly for me is to not gain weight. This is partly why I chose to start my Whole30 to coincide with my prescribed rest. You have done a good job of scaring me into eating more, however. Hormones out of whack = not good. Thanks for the insight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyS Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 I'm tiny and I don't exercise much most of the time, and I eat SHOCKING amounts of food. Eat up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Tom Denham Posted April 25, 2015 Moderators Share Posted April 25, 2015 It is the hormone thing that is so powerful. Eating below nutritional needs - which is common - keeps our hormones from operating properly and makes us store and hold fat. Eating generously tells our hormones it is safe to burn off unneeded fat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpinSpin Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 I would bump up your veg for sure--I eat up to 3 cups of more of veg per meal, 3 eggs at breakfast if I am not having any other protein, and fat wise, I would look at adding mayo based dips, up to 2 handfuls of olives, avocado, olive oil, bacon and fatty meats, chicken skin, things like that. I like to roast a couple whole chickens over a variety of root and other hearty veg so they soak up all that lovely chicken juice--so good! I would look at adding ghee as well. You need the nutrition--especially to help fuel your knee's recovery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbreeze Posted April 26, 2015 Author Share Posted April 26, 2015 Hmmm, I feel like I've been using good amounts of fat--clarified butter, mayo (if you look above we had veggies/eggs with mayo for dipping for breakfast), avocado, lard for sauteeing, etc. So I think I'm good there. Funny, after seeking help, today I had no excessive hunger. I did add an extra egg this morning, but otherwise made no changes. Also had my first challenge in the real world--was at a continuing education class today and there were all sorts of goodies for us (it was about swallowing so there were excessive amounts of food there). I proudly announced to my colleagues that I was doing a Whole30 and that took care of that, even got a few "good for yous"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpinSpin Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 I suggested the increase in your various fats to help extend your satiation levels since you were saying that you were hungry. There has been several discussions regarding the fats that food is being cooked in as not counting towards your fat 'allowance' unless you were pouring the fat that was left in the pan over what you had cooked, as most fat stays in the pan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannlib Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 I'm tiny and I don't exercise much most of the time, and I eat SHOCKING amounts of food. Eat up! This is me too :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbreeze Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 Day 5 and I feel like I've swung in the opposite direction--I haven't been feeling all that hungry for the past two days, a tidge in the morning but that's it. I had to force dinner down tonight. Last six meals: sweet potato hash, 2 eggs fried in clarified butter, avocado, salsa, green onions roasted chicken with vegetables--cauliflower, beets, carrots; sliced avocado chicken soup with turnips, carrots, fennel, drizzled with pesto. A banana. sweet potato hash, same as above leftover chicken curry (coconut milk, chicken, mushrooms, green beans, onions), roasted carrots, a banana two roasted portobellos with a hamburger patty, mayo, avocado, roasted cauliflower, salad. So. I'm not really hungry, and my once minor, intermittent GI problems have become more persistent. I have a sinking feeling based on what little I know about FODMAPs, that I may have to cut out almost all the foods I've been eating the last few days for the GI stuff to improve. But I wanted to check first (for reals, how can I give up mushrooms and avocados?) here about symptoms in the first days of Whole30. Should I wait it out a bit longer? Is this normal? I feel like Whole30 is restrictive enough, and I need those 30 days just to work on that challenge. But I also don't think it's healthy to do 30 days of GI discomfort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators ladyshanny Posted April 28, 2015 Administrators Share Posted April 28, 2015 Have you read the timeline (linked below in my signature)? Digestive symptoms and food boredom/lack of interest and appetite is pretty common. Have you been eating a great deal of soemthing that you don't normally eat a lot of? Nuts, coconut, peppers, coconut, onions, garlic and raw veggies can all cause digestive distress and are all common things that people suddenly start eating a lot of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbreeze Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 Ha, I just re-read the timeline. I still feel interested in food, in fact dinner was quite tasty tonight. I just don't have the hunger that I usually do right before meals. I've always had a regular eating schedule and my gut/brain know it and tell me if it's time to eat. Not so the last couple of days. I'm avoiding nuts because I know how hard they are to digest. No more coconut than normal (only milk and only in a curry about once/twice a month). I eat onions with abandon and have for years. I rarely eat garlic and have not increased that over the last few days. Salads with raw veggies are typical for me. I think the only raw veggies I've had have been carrots and salad, and those are both regulars. Thanks for troubleshooting with me. I'll keep on keeping on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators ladyshanny Posted April 28, 2015 Administrators Share Posted April 28, 2015 Ha, I just re-read the timeline. I still feel interested in food, in fact dinner was quite tasty tonight. I just don't have the hunger that I usually do right before meals. I've always had a regular eating schedule and my gut/brain know it and tell me if it's time to eat. Not so the last couple of days. Interesting! It doesn't really look like it, but is it possible that you might be eating slightly more than you need at each meal? I've personally found that I can get a bit carried away with portion sizes because the food is so delicious and it's healthy and whole....that I end up not needing to eat for more like 5-6 hours. Maybe that's not you.....but worth at least a thought? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbreeze Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 It's possible. Because of my schedule I routinely go six hours between meals, and I don't often snack. I haven't snacked at all since starting. Usually I am most hungry before lunch so I make that my biggest meal. I guess now that I think about it, I'm never super hungry in the evenings. I've tried to follow the guidelines and I think protein and fat servings are good.veggies, I don't know. I should be eating more it seems. I'll keep tracking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Physibeth Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 It's possible. Because of my schedule I routinely go six hours between meals, and I don't often snack. I haven't snacked at all since starting. Usually I am most hungry before lunch so I make that my biggest meal. I guess now that I think about it, I'm never super hungry in the evenings. I've tried to follow the guidelines and I think protein and fat servings are good.veggies, I don't know. I should be eating more it seems. I'll keep tracking. If you are most hungry before your 2nd meal then you want to increase your 1st meal of the day not your 2nd meal. This seems counter intuitive perhaps, but the goal is to be feeling ready to eat (not "starving" and not still full) when your next meal comes around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbreeze Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 If you are most hungry before your 2nd meal then you want to increase your 1st meal of the day not your 2nd meal. This seems counter intuitive perhaps, but the goal is to be feeling ready to eat (not "starving" and not still full) when your next meal comes around. That does make sense, I understand the rationale. That would be difficult as I struggle most mornings to choke down my food. I've always eaten breakfast, just not a ton. Egg on toast pre whole30... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Physibeth Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Keep working your way up to a template meal in the morning. Maybe split it into 2 until you can get the entire thing down. I often recommend people in your situation to create a template meal and eat as much of it as they can and then return to it later in the morning. If you keep doing that your body will adjust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbreeze Posted May 3, 2015 Author Share Posted May 3, 2015 Really continuing to struggle with poor digestion/loose stools. I added a probiotic (I think I saw Tom recommended one somewhere and that's what I bought) but I'm not sure I can take 30 days of this. I've tried to cook all vegetables to see if that helps. I'm sure it has partly to do with me not being able to exercise but there has been a marked difference between pre-Whole30 patterns and what's going on now. I've been cleared for gentle walks starting today so I'll see if that helps. I'm just struggling to stay in this.... Also have not been sleeping as well. I'm typically a 7-straight hours kind of sleeper, now I'm waking up all over the place. Sometimes after an hour, sometimes after 4 hours. Haven't had 7 hours straight since I started. Meals last couple of days: B: zucchini egg sausage casserole, carrots, coffee L: roasted chicken with skin, potatoes/mushrooms/onions roasted with balsamic and mustard, kiwi D: steak, beets, salad, avocado B: zucchini egg sausage casserole, banana, coffee L: more leftover roast chicken and veg, as above, handful of blueberries D: carnitas, sauteed cabbage and carrots, guacamole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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