Day 8 and I have felt dizzy and nauseated for days...

[nicoler]

I seriously don't think I've NOT felt like poo since... Monday? Day 3? I'm dizzy, nauseated, exhausted, light headed... Is it within normal limits to feel this bad for this long? Yesteray I took an hour and a half nap and then slept 11 and 1/2 hours last night. I know this isn't a forum for medical advice, but seriously, I'm barely functioning. I'm ready to give up. The only thing that's keeping me from giving up is knowing that if I feel this badly eating WELL, eating badly will NOT help. 

I have a copy of the new book, and I really want to read it, as I'm sure the answers are there, but I think if I look at a printed page, I might throw up. 

[jmcbn]

Can you post a few days of your food/liquid/activity log - it's usually helpful in these circumstances to see if a) you're eating enough, you're eating the right kinds of foods to help you get through the early days, c) you're dehydrated, or d) all/none of the above - it's sometimes the case that your body is working hard to adjust to the new food, or fighting off an illness that's working on you.

It also helps to know how different the whole30 is to your previous way of eating...

 

Hopefully you're feeling better soon.

[ShannonM816]

This is definitely not normal.  It would help if you let us know what you've been eating for the last few days, including approximate portion sizes.

 

Just guessing blindly here, the most likely culprits that we see in the forums include not eating enough in general, not eating enough starchy vegetables in particular, or not getting enough salt. If you think it might be any of those things, they're pretty easy to fix. 

[nicoler]

I haven't been keeping a log since I tend to get obsessive when I track things... 

It's entirely possible that it's all of the above. 

I also suspect that it might be symptoms of yeast die-off. I am fairly certain I had an out of control candida problem prior to starting the plan. 

Yesterday, I had a homemade, compliant 3 oz sausage patty, an egg, and 1/2 c sweet potatoes for breakfast, 
morning snack was a handful of almonds and pistachios
lunch- 3 oz grass fed meatloaf with 1/2 c sweet potato puree and green beans
afternoon snack was raspberries, cashews, and coconut chips with coconut milk 

dinner - 3 oz pork chop, salad, asparagus, kim chee

breakfast today was an omelet (1 egg) with onions, peppers, mushrooms. 
It's only 11 here, so no lunch yet. 

I probably haven't been drinking enough water. 

It's also worth noting that I had gastric bypass 9 years ago, and I still have a lot of restriction when I eat well, so I eat every 3 hours. 

[MeadowLily]

Do you still have your gall bladder?

[nicoler]

yes

[MeadowLily]

Oh goodie!  Yay!  That helps.

 

I'd lay off all of the nuts and coconut chips.  None.  That will help your nausea factor.  You have to eat smaller template amounts and more often.  Understood.   I would think you could handle avocado better than any nut, especially cashews. Nuts should not be used as the primary fat source.    Other than that, you look pretty darned good there.

[nicoler]

OK! I can do that Thanks for the help!  
Should I exclude coconut milk/oil as well? or just the chips? 

[MeadowLily]

Just the chips but if you still feel nauseous in a day or two...it may require tweaking.  I use Macadamia Nut oil because too much coconut oil makes me a tad nauseous.  I do fine with avocado.  Cashews have made me nauseous...always.  They are the carbiest nut.

[AmyS]

I haven't been keeping a log since I tend to get obsessive when I track things... 

It's entirely possible that it's all of the above. 

I also suspect that it might be symptoms of yeast die-off. I am fairly certain I had an out of control candida problem prior to starting the plan. 

Yesterday, I had a homemade, compliant 3 oz sausage patty, an egg, and 1/2 c sweet potatoes for breakfast, 

morning snack was a handful of almonds and pistachios

lunch- 3 oz grass fed meatloaf with 1/2 c sweet potato puree and green beans

afternoon snack was raspberries, cashews, and coconut chips with coconut milk 

dinner - 3 oz pork chop, salad, asparagus, kim chee

breakfast today was an omelet (1 egg) with onions, peppers, mushrooms. 

It's only 11 here, so no lunch yet. 

I probably haven't been drinking enough water. 

It's also worth noting that I had gastric bypass 9 years ago, and I still have a lot of restriction when I eat well, so I eat every 3 hours. 

We want you to eat. Here's how:

 

1. 1-2 palm-size portions of protein (the length, width, and thickness of your palm). When eggs are your protein, a serving is how many you can hold in your hand - for most women that's 3-4.

2. 1-2 or more thumb-size portions of fat. Note that nuts are a fat source on Whole30, and we discourage their use except for small amounts because they cause such gastric distress to so many folks.

3. 1-3 cups of veggies. Note that when you're dealing with leafy greens, you either have to wilt them prior to measuring, or in the case of salad greens, basically eat a bucket of them, to make your veggie requirement.

 

Do that three times a day, the first time within one hour of waking. Each meal should satisfy you for 4-5 hours.

 

If, between meals, you find that you do need to eat, then eat a mini-meal featuring protein, fat, and veggies. Then the next day, eat a much bigger Meal One (the meal Formerly Known As Breakfast).

 

So, as you are reporting your meals, you are measuring protein portions with some measure other than the size of your palm. I'm totally guessing since I'm not looking at your hands right now, but 3 ounces seems extreeeeeeeeemely tiny to me. Put away the external-to-your-body measuring tools (we'll wait), and start measuring using your palm size.

 

At breakfast, you need more protein, more fat, and more vegetables. If I ate as little as you report eating, I would be insanely hungry in about 30 minutes. Obviously, I'm not you, but I'm tiny and not especially committed to working out a lot. You just need to eat way more at your Meal One.

 

If you are hungry between Meal One and Meal Two, or between Meal Two and Meal Three, eat a mini-meal of protein, fat, and veggies. We very strongly discourage snacking, and we very strongly recommend actual EATING. If you are hungry, we really do want you to eat. For your morning snack you ate nuts, which cause gastric distress, keep your sugar dragon alive, and are generally bad news all by themselves. For your afternoon snack, you got a hit of sugar that would make anyone lightheaded and a bit nauseated. That also looked like a dessert. Don't eat stuff that looks like some folks' definitions of "healthy dessert." If you're hungry, just eat. Really eat.

 

Meal Two has no fat reported, you need to add fat. Cooking fat doesn't count, and unless your grassfed beef was higher fat, it doesn't have enough. You need to eat more meat. You need to eat more veggies.

 

Meal Three also has no fat reported, add fat. You need to eat more meat. You need to eat more veggies.

 

You feel terrible because you are not eating enough to sustain a pixy. You need to go to your kitchen right now and make yourself a meal and sit down and eat it all. Then drink water. Really. You just absolutely have to eat. This is Whole30. We want you to eat. Really.

 

EDITING TO ADD: I completely missed the information about gastric bypass surgery in the OP. I'm so sorry! Please, folks who are reading along here, read on to see what's REALLY needed for folks with this surgery.

[nicoler]

I hear you, Amy. I do. I can add fat. 

I had gastric bypass. My stomach is reduced in size. I can't eat as much as you're telling me to at a sitting. I also can't make it 4-5 hours between meals. I eat every 3 hours. I admit, I've been overwhelmed by the idea of eating a real meal every 3 hours. I have to wrap my head around that and fix it. 

 

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not here asking for help and then telling you why I can't follow the program. I AM telling you I have real physiological restrictions. And I CAN make meals every 3 hours.  

[AmyS]

I hear you, Amy. I do. I can add fat. 

I had gastric bypass. My stomach is reduced in size. I can't eat as much as you're telling me to at a sitting. I also can't make it 4-5 hours between meals. I eat every 3 hours. I admit, I've been overwhelmed by the idea of eating a real meal every 3 hours. I have to wrap my head around that and fix it. 

 

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not here asking for help and then telling you why I can't follow the program. I AM telling you I have real physiological restrictions. And I CAN make meals every 3 hours.

Oh! Yeah, that changes everything! No, we certainly don't expect you to eat a full meal as Whole30 describes it. That way lies madness.

 

OK, in your case, you will have to find the correct proportions and meal timing for your situation. I would still suggest thinking about your meal-building using the template. Would it be possible to, say, create a template meal, eat part of it, and then finish it later, maybe in one or two shifts? Or do you have additional restrictions regarding types of foods/types of foods that you need to limit?

 

I still say you're not eating enough over the course of a day, but I completely understand that you can't eat a full meal at one sitting. So I'm just wondering if it would be possible to spread, say, the contents of three Whole30 meals out into however many meals you need to eat in a day. What do you think?

[AmyS]

I also owe you a HUGE HUGE HUGE apology! I'm so sorry, I went back and looked at all of your posts just now, and I saw that you discussed your surgery right in the OP of this thread! I'm so sorry!!! I can't believe I missed that crucial bit of information. I'm going to edit my original response to you for future readers who may be in your situation and need to know that I was wrong about portions/number of meals for folks with gastric bypass surgeries. Yipes! So sorry!

[nicoler]

It's okay!  

That may be a good plan- make full size meals and split them into me-sized meals. If I do that regularly, I can rotate and not get bored eating the exact same meal multiple times in a row.  

I can see that I'm not eating enough. Since I've been feeling icky I haven't even wanted to think about pre-planning... which got me into a downward spiral. 

OK so like for lunch - my "full meal" was 3 slices of roast beef wrapped around 3 asparagus spears and 1/4 of an avocado. and I'm FULL. I think many people who make it this far out from gastric bypass have effectively stretched out their pouches so far that they no longer have any restriction to speak of. And granted, when I eat crap, it washes easily through the pouch and I can eat more of it. But whole30 meals don't do that. There's no crap.  

[AmyS]

It's okay!  

That may be a good plan- make full size meals and split them into me-sized meals. If I do that regularly, I can rotate and not get bored eating the exact same meal multiple times in a row.  

I can see that I'm not eating enough. Since I've been feeling icky I haven't even wanted to think about pre-planning... which got me into a downward spiral. 

OK so like for lunch - my "full meal" was 3 slices of roast beef wrapped around 3 asparagus spears and 1/4 of an avocado. and I'm FULL. I think many people who make it this far out from gastric bypass have effectively stretched out their pouches so far that they no longer have any restriction to speak of. And granted, when I eat crap, it washes easily through the pouch and I can eat more of it. But whole30 meals don't do that. There's no crap.

Thanks for your generous response - I still can't believe I missed that!

 

If you're eating until you feel full, that's great - and then, more in a few hours. It seems like your eating rhythm will be your own, based on your personal situation - but that you'll be able to eat until you feel full (and feel OK ) each time you eat. I think that would be another goal, right? To actually feel good after you eat, not overstuffed or heartburn-y or something.

 

Your lunch sounds delicious! I would imagine a constant repeat of the same thing every three hours could get boring, but that particular one might be nice to come back to again later.

[nicoler]

Yes- definitely one of the goals is to taste and enjoy my food and stop when I'm full As opposed to, you know, "This steak is so good but I filled up on bread but I'm going to keep eating it even if it makes me miserable." hahahahaha

[AmyS]

Sounds great!

[nicoler]

So my mid-afternoon meal (4? LOL) was 3 thin slices of canteloupe wrapped with prosciutto and another 1/4 avocado. 
Dinner was Taj Majal Chicken from Well Fed 2 over zucchini noodles with more avocado.

I'm figuring out I can eat about a cup of food at a time. 

[AmyS]

That sounds great! A little bit gourmet too!

 

You might experiment with your proportions of veggies to fruits. I'm not sure what your system handles well, so I'm not sure advising you on this would be wise.

 

I really hope you begin to feel re-energized soon. I can imagine that it feels very worrisome to feel so low energy and not-well. Your meals and strategies look very well tailored to your needs. Here's hoping you see improvement very soon.

[lillivewire87]

I seriously don't think I've NOT felt like poo since... Monday? Day 3? I'm dizzy, nauseated, exhausted, light headed... Is it within normal limits to feel this bad for this long? Yesteray I took an hour and a half nap and then slept 11 and 1/2 hours last night. I know this isn't a forum for medical advice, but seriously, I'm barely functioning. I'm ready to give up. The only thing that's keeping me from giving up is knowing that if I feel this badly eating WELL, eating badly will NOT help. 

I have a copy of the new book, and I really want to read it, as I'm sure the answers are there, but I think if I look at a printed page, I might throw up. 

 

I am on day 8 and I am just now starting to feel normal as far as my stomach is concerned.  I upped my food intake which seemed to help a little, and also have been sipping on things in-between meals that have helped soothe the symptoms and help me get a real meal down.  I have a hard time contemplating "real" food either in the morning or if my stomach is feeling icky.

 

Sparkling water with fresh lemon, mint, and a little fresh grated ginger

Peppermint tea with fresh mint added

If I am feeling super light headed I sip on about 1/2 of bone broth (or if you can't find that or make it organic/low sodium beef or chicken broth)

Only if I feel like it is absolutely necessary to be productive, I have taken 1 tablet of activated charcoal.

 

I do have to note that even though I have been nauseated...I have been sleeping very well, and I have not been having the 3 pm "slump" hit the last few days.

 

 

Hope you are feeling better!

[ginephre]

do you have a way to check your blood pressure? the dizziness/lightheadedness could be low blood pressure from not enough water OR not enough sodium. is it constant, or more when standing after sitting or laying down?

[nicoler]

It was more of a vertigo/motion sickness dizziness. My blood pressure does tend to run on the low side, but that wasn't what this was. 

Day 15 and I'm feeling great!