May 17 - start of my Whole 30

[wholemango]

I decided to do the Whole30 and complete it that I need some accountability and support. I've tried it on my own before and I didn't complete it.  I am not a big protein/meat eater. I have always had vegetarian tendencies and rely on lots of fruit. And nuts...  I realize properly doing the Whole30 isn't eating half a jar of almond butter in a day. (I think that stuff evaporates?!)

Tomorrow's Sunday May 17. I'll be starting my morning off with eggs. I do love eggs...probably the one food I could eat at every meal, thank goodness. 

So I'll be posting meals and I appreciate support.

My goals: Minimize nuts/nut butter to 1 serving/day and to eat fruit with my meals. No dried fruits (see ya later dates!).

Also goals:

- eat good enough meals to eliminate blood sugar crashes and the constant need for a 3pm snack. 

- cook some new foods

- rely less on sugary/starchy foods

- get rid of the 3pm cravings for all-the-fruit/carbs

- perhaps lose the 6 lbs I gained from not running due to an injury for five months...stubborn lbs.

[wholemango]

Morning - 2 whole eggs (olive oil cooking spray) and watermelon, coffee black

 

Run - 11 mi (1:30:00) easy long run day and I felt great --maybe some residual energy from all the raisins I ate yesterday?

 

I ate half of a banana and 1 TBSP almond butter and a pickle and then mowed the lawn for 1 hr.

 

Mid-day- not that hungry (long runs do that to me), attempted to eat some cabbage sauteed with chicken sausage (just spices and salt, no sugar/non-compliant stuff) and the other half of the banana...2 hrs later I was starving...see below:

 

Afternoon - should have had more of the cabbage lunch, but I had some raw cashew bits/pieces (1/4 cup?) and baby carrots with the raw almond butter (1TBSP), drank some water, stopped snacking and did some gardening.

 

Dinner (will be) - pickle, watermelon, white fish grilled (flounder), greens, balsamic vinegar, buttercup squash slices roasted.

 

Currently I have a fritatta cooking for breakfasts this week and some extra squash ( I find squash very filling).

 

How I feel:  I ate compliant foods, failed at structuring them, but long run days are always weird and I did a great job not eating tons of nuts/fruit (It would have been normal for me to go through 2 bananas, half a watermelon, an apple, etc)

[ladyshanny]

Hi runninglady, you might want to do a quick check on that olive oil spray, often times they have soy in them.

For pre workout we recommend protein and fat and for post workout we recommend lean protein and starchy veggie. Eating fruit post workout preferrentially replenishes liver glycogen rather than muscle glycogen and fat slows the absorption of protein (if you'd had any) to your body. If you're running long distances regularly you, more than sedentary people, need to get yourself dialled in as quickly as possible. You will probably experience lead legs for a couple weeks and the best way past that is to continue on in trying to get fat adapted. That means no fruit alone, 3 meals a day no snacking and proper pre and post workout snacks.

[wholemango]

Oh man Ladyshanny...I read the ingredients list and there is a trace of soy in the spray. I read all labels, but that. I figured it was fine.  I used olive oil on a paper towel to grease my pan this morning.

 

My goal today:  Eat protein before my workout in the afternoon. Eat more protein in general. Don't eat nut butter. I think I use nuts/nut butter to substitute the areas where I am lacking protein. 

I read the book It Starts with Food a few months ago.

 

What do you mean about liver vs muscle glycogen? Is it bad to eat fruit post workout?  I run 30-40 mpw, usually 5-6 miles/day with one/two rest days a week and one long run (1 hr- 2 hrs).

[wholemango]

1. Frittata with eggs, kale, mushroom, onion.

    Roasted buttercup squash slices

    Roasted sunflower seeds 1/3 cup (leftover snack at my desk) 

 

2. Cabbage with leftover mahi mahi and a few slivers of chicken sausage, watermelon chunks, 2 eggs whole 

 

3. pre-workout: 1/4 cup raw cashew bits/pieces (I'm weaning myself off these things! I swear)

   6.5 mi run

 

4. Dinner: Spaghetti squash, tomato sauce (crushed tomatoes and spices home made), chicken sausage (compliant), salad, 2 pickles  (not yet eaten, but planned)

 

I didn't crave fruit. Had a really strong and good run. I had 2 servings of nuts --I can improve on this tomorrow. But I had 1 serving of fruit and more protein than I usually do. 

[wholemango]

Here's a re-start... Natural Flavors in my seltzer...read the label after I drank the seltzer. 

Day 1 tomorrow! 

[wholemango]

Day 1 - successful

 

6am - buttercup squash roasted and kale/mushroom/onion fritatta

 

9 am - 1 hard boiled egg 

12 noon - broccoli, chicken, watermelon chunks (1 cup), cucumber slices, 1/3 avocado

 

2 pm - cup of plain black tea and a hard boiled egg

 

3 pm - run 7 miles and felt great! 

 

5:30 pm - 1/2 cup leftover roasted squash, couple of raisins, parsnips, 3 applegate farms turkey hot dogs (50 cal/each so I thought 3 was a fine serving size) and these are compliant. Also - broccoli, carrots, almond butter (2T), ate a few chunks of watermelon while packing lunch for tomorrow. 

 

High points:

I minimized fruit and nut in take. 

[ShannonM816]

Here's a re-start... Natural Flavors in my seltzer...read the label after I drank the seltzer. 

Day 1 tomorrow! 

 

Natural flavors is okay. Some people choose to avoid them, because you don't necessarily know what they really are, some people email companies and ask about what they are, but you don't have to do either of those -- that's really more what you're comfortable with.

 

Be sure you add fat to each of your meals, it will help you stay full longer between meals. Your goal is to have meals big enough that you can eat three meals a day, with 4-5 hours between meals.

[SpinSpin]

Also, don't count calories! Don't count calories on a whole 30!

[wholemango]

I wasn't really counting calories...just noted that I thought 1 hotdog wasn't enough of a serving for dinner. 

Thanks for the input! 

[wholemango]

Day 2

M1- frittata, parsnips, watermelon, 1 turkey hot dog (applegate)

M2- chicken, eggs, carrots and almond butter, brussel sprouts, handful raisins (this was a random mishmash)

 

Afternoon - black tea pre-run

 

Run 5.5 mi then strength exercises. Run felt good, no dead legs. Bit too windy at times.

 

M3- Eggs, brussel sprouts, bite of avocado, 1 T almond butter on 1/2 apple, tried some coconut oil (like less than 1 tsp) on my eggs and yuck! I do not like coconut flavor and egg together. 

[wholemango]

I can't remember all my meals yesterday and I'm on my iPhone posting now but I had two main meals and snacked on nuts (1 svg) in mid afternoon and dinner was raw veggies, almonds, and olives at an app buffet before everyone ordered pizza...no pizza for me. It was a sudden trip to visit my husbands grandmother who is sick so the circumstances weren't great but I stayed with compliant foods. Day 3 done!

[wholemango]

Day 4. (Visiting my parents and going to do my best to not eat too much fruit or nuts)

M1- eggs and banana and blueberries

[wholemango]

Day 5- Done. Compliant food. Tried to stick to the 3 meals, but had five smaller ones instead. 

 

Day 6- another mishmash day.  Frustrated that I didn't get to "plan" my food this weekend.  I stuck to foods that are technically compliant, but my eating schedule was all over the place.

 

Breakfast at 6:30 am - eggs and coffee

5 mi run

 

At 11:30 we were on the road and at Trader Joe's and I was hungry (very hungry in fact) so I got a salad and ate around stuff that wasn't Whole30 and ate an apple and some almonds. This "lunch" lacked protein, so I told myself that is ok because we were going to a bbq and there would be some food. We brought chicken sausage (I checked ingredients) and carrots and celery.  From 2ish to 3:30 I snacked on celery and carrots. I thought they would be grilling right when I got there but we had grilled food at 3:30 and at that point I could have eaten a whole package of sausage. (I had about 2 sausage and some shrimp (10 tiny ones?)) I didn't want to look like a piggie.

 

Then I got home at 5:30 and made a salad and had grapes and almond butter with carrots. Dammit.  Now I'm no longer ravenous, but I am still agitated!  I'll just go drink some water. 

 

Tomorrow is a new day. 

[wholemango]

day 7 - dealing with some rough mid-cycle break through bleeding and cramps. ugh. I switched pills.

 

6:30 am - 2 eggs and 1 tsp almond butter and bit of coconut butter and a few grapes and coffee. Really expected to have a second breakfast after the run (more eggs, for example).

 

10 mi run

iced tea - no hungry for food (this happens after long runs)

 

12 noon- 1/4 banana, 1 T almond butter, few grapes, chicken on the grill, sweet potato wedges, baked parnips, salad, balsamic vinegar, 

 

Did a yoga podcast for 30 mins, stretches, chores, moving stuff from our 2nd floor to downstairs/garage.

 

3pm - cashew bits, few grapes, few bites of chicken, pickles.  I was "full" enough at lunch. I do not like to stuff myself.  

 

6 pm -ate out, had chicken on a salad, black olives, tomatoes, hard boiled egg. Wasn't hungry, but ate some. Nausea from cramps is still getting me.

 

I struggle with the 3 square meals.  

[wholemango]

Day 8

 

M1 6:30 - parsnips, buttercup squash, some turkey meat, sweet potato wedges and coffee.  I realized at work I forgot to cook up some eggs the night before.

 

M2 12:30 - stood for 4 hrs and didn't die of hunger.  Inhaled salad with chicken on it (forgot to add some balsamic vinegar so this was dry but I was hungry), ate a banana. 

 

Afternoon - almond butter 2T, squash, pickle (I was hungry but didn't want to snack, but man I needed a snack...should have made eggs so if this happens tomorrow I will make an egg)

 

Walked the beach to cool down barefoot (20 mins), did some yoga video for runners 20 mins, washed my car, biked 45 mins once husband got home to go with me.

 

M3 - 6:30  - salad with chicken, 1/4 avocado, 1/2 apple, few raisins, buttercup squash slices.

 

 

Looking back on it I see why I was  hungry at 3pm.  Tomorrow I will eat more protein. I packed a cup of diced grilled chicken to eat tomorrow.

[ShannonM816]

Day 8

 

M1 6:30 - parsnips, buttercup squash, some turkey meat, sweet potato wedges and coffee.  I realized at work I forgot to cook up some eggs the night before.

 

M2 12:30 - stood for 4 hrs and didn't die of hunger.  Inhaled salad with chicken on it (forgot to add some balsamic vinegar so this was dry but I was hungry), ate a banana. 

 

Afternoon - almond butter 2T, squash, pickle (I was hungry but didn't want to snack, but man I needed a snack...should have made eggs so if this happens tomorrow I will make an egg)

 

Walked the beach to cool down barefoot (20 mins), did some yoga video for runners 20 mins, washed my car, biked 45 mins once husband got home to go with me.

 

M3 - 6:30  - salad with chicken, 1/4 avocado, 1/2 apple, few raisins, buttercup squash slices.

 

 

Looking back on it I see why I was  hungry at 3pm.  Tomorrow I will eat more protein. I packed a cup of diced grilled chicken to eat tomorrow.

 

Try adding more fat to your meals -- it really does help keep you full longer.

 

If you'd had 3-4 eggs in your meal 1, that might have been enough -- but if you wanted to also add some more, some mayo to dip the sweet potato wedges in or some coconut milk or oil in your coffee or whatever happened to sound good, that would be fine too. Meal 2 has no fat listed -- again, mayo on top of a salad is good, or avocado, or olives, or even just oil and vinegar for dressing. Meal 3, have at least 1/2 the avocado. Have the whole thing if you want.