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Half Way Through - not sure what to think...


slpowers

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Today is day 15 - I'm following the plan religiously and making some great meals but I'm not feeling that great!

 

Near the end of week one I noticed an improvement in my sleep quality and on a few occasions had that 'strangely happy' feeling - it was great!  But then I had couple of bad nights sleep; had a couple of days of feeling just sort of unwell... and so went week 2.

 

The sleep thing leads me to sleeping later in the morning which throws mealtimes schedules off and then I stay up later as I'm just not tired.

 

I'm 70 years old and am not very active due to osteo arthritis in my feet & knees mostly but also in my hands... some days the inflammation seems down - other days not so much.  I returned home 2 weeks ago after spending the winter in Florida - I did all the driver so in addition to everything else my back & neck are causing me pain.  I have chronic neck & back pain anyway and see an osteopath regularly when home but my appt is not for another 2 weeks.  In the meantime I've had 2 massages and will be booking a treatment with a chiro to tide me over.  I have to wonder if the chronic pain is adding to my other symptoms - just not sure what to think.

 

Whole30 has not been a difficult transition for me... Ive been cooking/eating fairly healthy for some time - sure I ate the odd dessert but my priority was to concentrate on protein and veg.  While I cut back on carbs, I made my own bread & pasta rather than buying the stuff at the store.  I also cooked a fair bit with cream & cheese.   I, who was admittedly a sugar addict in my youth, have learned to tame that dragon.  My biggest challenge was getting off the saccharine I put in my coffee but once I decided 2 weeks ago I haven't looked back... I will not go back to it!  

 

I like this plan and will likely continue with after the 30 days are over... it is more in keeping with how I want to feed my body although I will see how I do with some dairy at some point.

 

Onward & upward!

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I'm sorry you're not feeling that great.  Glad you're getting treatment for your pain.

 

Can you post 2-3 days worth of what your meals and any snacks look like, along with daily water consumption and nightly hours of sleep, so we can give you feedback on possible tweaks?

 

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Yes, sure... now today I got up late (almost 9:30 am) so breakfast wasn't until 10:30 - portabella mushroom stuffed with hot Italian sausage, spinach & onion (sausage just pork & spices) - that was topped with a fried egg.  Because we ate so late I snacked on a handful of almonds - not ideal, I know but I have blood work tomorrow and can't eat after 8 which is way too late for me.  Dinner is pork chops with roasted root vegetables.  Went to bed at midnight, fell right to sleep but woke at 5 to go to the bathroom... then slept til almost 9:30!  This is catch up I think.

 

Sunday woke around 8:30 which is my usual time... breakfast at 9:30 was 2 poached eggs and home-made breakfast sausage; lunch home-made chicken soup with lots of chicken with green salad with 1/2 an avocado.  in bed the night before around 11 which is usual; up around 4 for bathroom - slept til 8:30.

 

Saturday my hours were pretty much the same as Sunday; breakfast was eggs scrambled with kale, mushrooms, scallion, zucchinni and served over 1/2 an avocado; lunch was a large green salad with lots of chicken and avo on it; dinner was shrimp & scallops served over baby bok choy, snap peas, & broccoli that was cooked in a green curry sauce.

 

I've been spending a lot of time creating good meals for my husband & I..,  I am very conscious of my ingredients - I have made home-made mayo, ranch & balsamic dressing & ketchup.  We have a water cooler at home and that is my drink of choice... I have a drink cup that holds approx 16 oz and that is filled several times a day.  I've recently been starting my day with hot lemon water then I usually have 2 black coffees then the water.  Last night I had a peppermint tea an hour before bed.

 

As an aside, today I felt like I almost needed an antihistamine... my body, eyes, head and even my hands itched... perhaps its just taking more time for some of the garbage in my system to come to the surface.  

 

anyway, as I said, I will likely continue the program regardless as this feels 'right' for me and maybe I just need more time - I think people who have big problems with sugar, fast food and the like would see fairly quick and impressive changes in their systems whereas I'm not that bad (I don't think) so the change is coming in smaller, slower increments??

 

Thanks for the support!

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Overall, things look good. It appears that tonight is the only time carb-dense vegeatbles are on the menu. You might try making sure you have carb-dense vegetables daily.


When eggs are your sole protein, the serving size is the number of whole eggs you can hold in one hand without dropping them. For most folks, that's at least 3-4 eggs.

Are the black coffees caffeinated? Are you having them after noon or before you eat your first meal?

The itchiness I can't explain: are you eating more of something or something you didn't eat pre-Whole30?

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Generally I make 5 eggs for 2 of us... I can ramp that up.  Coffee is caffeinated - first thing I get up I have the hot lemon, then I have 1 coffee and the 2nd one with my breakfast - no more coffee the rest of the day.

 

I'm likely eating more variety of vegetables now... I never really liked sweet potatoes before but I do like them roasted so that's new.  Pretty much everything else I've had at one time or another.

 

In addition to the itchiness (which has subsided today somewhat), my gums seem to be inflamed and sensitive - so something is going on and I'm guessing it has to follow its course.  I just had some blood work done today and I see my doctor next week so I will review the results and compare to my last test of last fall.

 

Appreciate the time you're taking to help me... thanks!

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I have one more suggested tweak based on your last post.  Try dropping the pre-meal 1 coffee, as caffeine can act as an appetite suppressant.

I hope you get to the bottom of your itchiness/inflammation issue - glad you're staying on top of it.

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  • 1 month later...

I finished the Whole30 3 weeks ago.  Total weight lost in the first 30 days was 5.9 lbs which I'm happy with.  As far as everything else is concerned, nothing much has changed.  I say that as I have a lot of things I deal with: chronic pain, IBS, poor sleep quality, headaches, etc.  Having said that, I do feel my IBS is better than in the past and that is a big plus for me.  Some days I am reasonably pain free but that is the exception.  Some days I don't have headaches, but that too seems to be the exception.  Occasionally I have one of those days where I just plain feel great!  Love those days but they aren't regular.

 

Before I finished the Whole 30, I knew I would continue with the program - I guess I figured 70 years of artificial sweetener, pop, sweets, etc would just take longer than the normal 30 days!  So here I am about to finish my 2nd consecutive Whole 30 and plan to do a 3rd.  My Osteopathic doctor actually told me it takes a good 90 days to make lasting changes on a cellular lever so that's where I am at the moment.  I decided I would weigh myself once a month so while I know I have continue to shed pounds, I won't know how much for another week.

 

In the past 7 weeks, I have eaten out twice... once for lunch when I had a salad with grilled chicken and no dressing and last week when I went out for breakfast - I had scrambled eggs (cooked without milk or fat); panfried potatoes and sausage.  No doubt the sausage had sugar in them and even though I still consider myself on the Whole30, I am trying to be 'real' and not be obsessive about my eating!   In 4 days I am going to visit my daughter for a few days... she knows I've been doing this and I have no doubt I will eat 'off' plan foods.  I may even have a glass of wine!  The good thing is I know in my heart that this will not deter my overall plan.  I also feel that given enough time, I will start to feel better.  Onward & upward!

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