Snacks and Low Blood Sugar

[nikkivssll]

So I'm on day 19 (whoop whoop) and am LOVING the whole 30. I feel amazing. I'm eating a lot more (I was on a super restrictive meal plan and lost a little over 40 pounds and couldn't figure out a way to get more food into my days). With that meal plan I was told to eat 5-6 meals a day. Old habits die hard. Even when I am eating totally on the whole 30 plan, large meals with a perfectly balanced plate of protein, veggies, starchy veggies and fats, I find myself super hungry (I get the low blood sugar feeling, panicky hangries) about 2-3 hours later. I journaled my day yesterday to get your opinions and see what I could be doing better. Or if I should just go ahead and work in snacks (mini meals).

 

So here was my day:

Woke up at 4:30, preworkout: hard boiled egg

Bootcamp and personal training 5:00 - 7:00

no time for post workout meal so I went straight for breakfast

7:30 3 whole eggs cooked in ghee, Sweet potato hash with onions and spinach cooked in coconut oil, 2 slices of bacon and coffee

At work, trying to make it to noon for lunch and at about 11 started feeling SO hungry, shaky, lightheaded that I had a pouch of tuna.

12:30 lunch - chicken breasts topped with homemade mayo and hot sauce, cauliflower mash and a half a sweet potato with coconut butter.

3:00 - trying desperately to ignore how incredibly hungry I am.

3:30 - Stuck in a meeting, ate an RX bar

6:00 - no chance of leaving work anytime soon to get home for dinner - ate a kiwi and 2 hardboiled eggs in the car around 7 (peeling them while driving isn't easy, must plan better for being stuck at work)

8:00 - finally home, dinner: Leftover walnut crusted pork tenderloin, big pile of roasted asparagus, romaine salad with balsamic vinagrette

 

Thanks for taking a look at this and I'm happy to hear suggestions.

 

 

[ladyshanny]

It is entirely possible that coming from a severely restricted background, that your body is crying out for nutrients.  If that's the case, this phase of super hungry, eat the world should pass once your body understands that regular, nutrient dense whole foods are coming regularly.  Your meals look pretty good!  You might try adding a cooked meat in with your breakfast eggs, bacon is a fat on Whole30.  Sometimes eggs are not as satiating alone s they are when you add other protein to them.  

 

I would say, keep eating.  Keep feeding yourself healthy, whole foods in template quantities and see if this down regulates in the next few days.  

 

(also note that if you are in leadup week or week of your period, you probably need more food in general anyway.  Women require extra nutrients at this time of their cycle and this need should not be ignored)

[nikkivssll]

thanks for your reply ladyshanny! I will for sure try adding in some other types of meat at breakfast. It is a big adjustment for my system going from such a low calorie, low fat diet to FEEDING myself. I have more than doubled my caloric intake (I can only assume because I'm following the rules and not tracking. haha). I am so thankful for the Whole 30 and that I am doing this!! And yes, my cycle was this week so I noticed that I was even more hungry. I'm curious to know the thinking behind three big meals a day rather than 5 smaller meals. I'm going to have to do some more research.

[ladyshanny]

thanks for your reply ladyshanny! I will for sure try adding in some other types of meat at breakfast. It is a big adjustment for my system going from such a low calorie, low fat diet to FEEDING myself. I have more than doubled my caloric intake (I can only assume because I'm following the rules and not tracking. haha). I am so thankful for the Whole 30 and that I am doing this!! And yes, my cycle was this week so I noticed that I was even more hungry. I'm curious to know the thinking behind three big meals a day rather than 5 smaller meals. I'm going to have to do some more research.

The human digestive system is cyclic, it needs to run through a cycle, digest and distribute nutrients and then "turn off" and rest while the body uses what it was given.  Running "on" all the time isn't how we were designed.

[nikkivssll]

very interesting! Thanks for the info, ladyshanny.

[jmcbn]

 

Woke up at 4:30, preworkout: hard boiled egg

Bootcamp and personal training 5:00 - 7:00

no time for post workout meal so I went straight for breakfast

 

Jus t to add to what ladyshanny said I'd comment that that is a LONG training session to not follow it with a post WO meal and I know if it were me my  meal one wouldn't carry me through for 4-5 hrs after a session of that length. Could you not bring a tin of tuna to eat just before you jump into the shower? I think it would go a long way to solve your hunger problems. The two days a week I train early are the two days I eat the most. On evening training sessions I rarely feel the need for pre or postWO.

[nikkivssll]

Jus t to add to what ladyshanny said I'd comment that that is a LONG training session to not follow it with a post WO meal and I know if it were me my  meal one wouldn't carry me through for 4-5 hrs after a session of that length. Could you not bring a tin of tuna to eat just before you jump into the shower? I think it would go a long way to solve your hunger problems. The two days a week I train early are the two days I eat the most. On evening training sessions I rarely feel the need for pre or postWO.

 

That's a thought. I don't usually train for more than an hour, it's a learning process to figure out how to get in a post wo meal and breakfast in the morning on the days I'm working in the office. And yes, on early morning legs day especially I noticed that I need way more food to function!

[Tom Denham]

We call pre- and post-workout meals bonus meals. You need them when you workout. You don't need them on days you don't workout. When you don't get your bonus meal after working out, you are at a deficit. Of course you got hungry. Your breakfast was of normal size. It was enough to satisfy on a day you do not workout, not a day with heavy lifting.