My first Whole30

[isa-baerchen]

Hello to all of you, I started my first Whole30 on May 16th and feeling very good so far. I've been eating low carb since 2009, so I'm used to not eating sugar, grains or legumes. I've been kind of struggling with my weight for the last 8 years or so. I think it all started when I was 18 and wanted to lose some weight and over-did it. I'm about 1,63m and was 46kg back then. Since then I had my ups and downs and now I'm weighing more than I'd like to - started my Whole30 with 62kg. Even though I'm hoping to lose some kilos I most of all want to change my relationship with food. I really, really enjoy eating and I tend to eat too much. I kind of lack the feeling of being full, so if something tastes good, and there are a lot of things that do, I can eat quite a lot.

 

In order to lose weight I was doing the Dukan Diet, what basically is a no fat, low carb diet and limits your food intake to lean meat and non-fat dairy products. No fruits and veggies only every second day. I managed to lose some weight with that approach once, but this time there was just no effect.

 

I've read "It starts with food" a few months ago and wanted to do a Whole30 ever since, but I was living in China in a dorm where I was very limited in my food choices and cooking opportunities. When I returned from China I most of all wanted to lose the gained weight and thought that the Whole30 might not help me with that. I'm still not sure it will do in my case and I'm kind of worried about that. But since the other diets I tried didn't help either I can at least eat healthy Still, I'm worried about gaining while doing the Whole30... but I'll worry about that once I've finished.

 

So far I really enjoy all the veggies, some fruit, eggs and meat. I'm not even missing the dairy - almond milk for me is a proper replacement of normal milk in my coffee.

 

So here are my first days:

 

WEEK 1:

 

Day 1:

Breakfast: Omelette (3 eggs) with spinach and tomatoes

Lunch: Zucchini noodles with 2 eggs and tomatoes

Dinner: Roastbeef and asparagus

Drinks: Several coffees with almond milk, tea, water

 

Day 2:

Breakfast: Omelette (3 eggs) with spinach and tomatoes

Lunch: Zucchini noodles with Bolognese sauce (minced meat, tomatoes, bell peppers)

Dinner: Ovenbaked veggies (zucchini, bell peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes) with chicken breast marinated in 1 egg, mustard, almond milk, groaund almonds and red curry paste

Drinks: Several coffees with almond milk, tea, water

 

Day 3:

Breakfast: Omelette (4 eggs) with spinach and tomatoes

Lunch:  Zucchini noodles with 2 eggs and tomatoes

Dinner: Roastbeef and Broccoli-Cashew-Soup

Drinks: Several coffees with almond milk, tea, water

 

Day 4: (that was a hungry day)

Breakfast: Omelette (4 eggs) with spinach and tomatoes, 2 kiwi, 1 nectarine

Lunch: Zucchini noodles with 1 egg, mushrooms and tomatoes, 1 pear, 1 apple

Dinner: Lasagne made with eggplants, tomatoes, onion, bell peppers, minced meat and a white sauce of 1 egg, almond milk, ground almonds and shredded mushrooms

Drinks: Several coffees with almond milk, tea, water

 

Day 5:

Breakfast: Omelette (3 eggs) with spinach and tomatoes

Lunch: Broccoli-Cashew-Soup with Salmon

Dinner: Zucchini noodles with 2 eggs and tomatoes, 1 tsp ground almonds, ~ 100 ml cashew milk, 1/2 tsp ghee

Drinks: Several coffees with cashew milk, tea, water

 

Day 6:

Breakfast: Omelette (3 eggs) with zucchini and tomatoes, 1/2 tsp ghee, ~ 100 ml cashew milk

Lunch: Baked chicken breast (~ 350 g) marinated in 1 egg, mustard, almond milk, ground almonds and red curry paste on cauliflower-coconut-mash (1/2 head cauliflower, ~ 50 ml coconut milk)

Dinner: Baked salmon (300 g) with spinach in 1egg-almond sauce, 1 pomegranate

Drinks: Several coffees with almond milk, tea, water

Snack: 2 carrots 

 

Day 7:

Breakfast: Omelette (3 eggs) with zucchini and tomatoes, 1/2 tsp ghee, ~ 100 ml almond milk, 1 pear

Lunch: Smoked Salmon with butternut squash, kohlrabi green and coconut milk

Dinner: Egg plant burger with guacamole, tomatoes, salad and onions, 1 pomegranate

Drinks: Several coffees with almond milk, tea, water

Snack: 3 carrots, radish, cucumber

[ShannonM816]

Hi, there! Try not to worry about the weight thing -- ironically, worrying about it is stressful, and stress makes it harder to lose weight, so do try to relax about it.

 

I notice that some of your meals, particularly your lunches, are probably low on protein. If eggs are your only source of protein, the serving size is as many whole eggs as you can hold in your hand, which for most people is 3-4. If you don't want that many eggs at once, you can have an egg or two, plus some other protein. You're also not listing any fats with most of your meals. Most cooking fat ends up staying in the pan after you cook things, so it doesn't necessarily count.

 

We also recommend that you limit fruit to 1-2 servings per day, where a serving is a closed fist size portion -- so probably an apple or a pear instead of both, or the two kiwi or the nectarine, rather than both. If you haven't seen the meal template, it explains the recommended portion sizes. One thing it doesn't talk about, but that is helpful to many people, is to include at least one serving of a starchy vegetable, like potato, sweet potato, root vegetable (turnips, rutabagas, beets, etc.), or winter squashes (butternut, acorn, kabocha, or spaghetti squash, or others like them)

 

I'd also say that, while coffee with almond milk is okay, we really want you to eat plenty of healthy, nutritious food to help nourish your body so it can work at its very best, and the caffeine in coffee tends to be an appetite suppressant, which could lead to you eating less than you need to. (I know eating so much food sounds wrong, but just trust the process for 30 days, really.) I'd also caution you that eating too many nuts or stuff made from nuts can cause some people digestive issues, so if you find yourself feeling bloated or are having any other issues in that department, you might want to cut back on that some.

[isa-baerchen]

Dear Shannon,

 

first, thank you very much for your detailed reply on my log. I very much appreciate your advice.

 

About the weight worrying: Very true, it's stressful and drastically reduces your life quality. But it’s also hard to stop doing it (but I'm trying and the Whole30 is part of that approach). So far no weighing myself is very relieving in some ways and I'd say my mood is much better than when I used to step on the scale every morning.

 

Does the Whole30 recommend any maximum number of eggs per day? I felt that if I already had 3-4 eggs for breakfast I probably should eat 3-4 for lunch again.

 

I know the meal template, I'll try to stick to it more. I bought a glass of organic ghee yesterday and will start using it for cooking my veggies or omelettes. I'm still having some doubts about the starchy veggies since I literally didn't eat any of them since 2009. Is it recommended to have them with every meal or only one per day? Again I'm worried about how my body will react to this even though I probably shouldn't be... I'd love to eat spaghetti squash but it seems this kind of squash is not available in Germany.

 

In terms of coffee: Having no appetite is by far my least problem - I could eat the whole day Digestion wise I'm feeling a lot better than before the Whole30 (maybe because I stopped eating dairy products), so I think the almond milk doesn't do me any harm. Do you still think I should cut back on it?

 

One more question: I tried to include some pictures in my post via a link, but for some reason that doesn’t work. Do you know why?

[ShannonM816]

Not weighing definitely improves my mood overall -- it's amazing how much difference seeing the number move just a little bit one way or the other would affect how I felt the rest of the day.

 

Whole30 doesn't set any limit to the number of eggs you eat per day. If you're worried about them in terms of cholesterol, you might read through some of the links mentioned in this previous discussion.

 

Not everyone necessarily needs starchy vegetables, but most people, especially women, report feeling better if they have just a small serving every day. Not necessarily with every meal, usually one serving a day is enough. If you're used to not having them, it may not make much difference to you. But if you find yourself tired all the time despite getting enough sleep, or if you find that you're moody or depressed or anxious or irritable, or if you're craving sweets despite eating enough food with your meals, you might try adding a serving each day and see if that helps. Or if you do find a spaghetti squash at the store one day and think, I'd really like to have that -- have some. Carbohydrates that come from vegetables are really not something to be feared.

 

I mentioned the coffee mostly because your meals looked kind of small, and I thought maybe you were having coffee all day and it might be interfering with your appetite, causing you to eat less than you really need. Unlike most diets, Whole30 is really about eating plenty of nutrient dense food, to give your body everything it needs to function at its very best. If you're hungry, eat. If it's between meal times, have a mini-meal that still includes some protein, fat, and vegetables. Some people have issues with nuts/nut milks causing digestive problems. If you start having any problems like that, you might try cutting back on the almond milk.

 

There are two ways to do pictures in posts, one for it the pictures are somewhere online already, like on flickr or google photos or photobucket or another site like those, and another if they're just on your computer, not online anywhere.

 

If they're online, you'll need to go to that site and somewhere there will be a way to get the url address for that picture. I usually use Chrome as my web browser, and in it, you can right click the picture and it has a "Copy picture url" command that you choose. In Internet Explorer, you have to right click on the picture and choose Properties and then copy the url where it's listed on the screen.  Once you've got that address, come back here to the forum, start your post, and when you look at the box you're typing your post in, there's a symbol that's a little box that looks like a picture of a tree -- click that, a window will pop up where you paste the url that you've copied for your picture, click OK, and the pic should show up in your post.  (Pictures done this way show up full size in the post.)

 

If the pictures are only on your computer, not online, instead of the method above, you'll actually attach the file to your post. Start typing your post, and down at the bottom, you'll see a little button that says "More Reply Options" -- click that (it's to the right of the Post button). You'll get a preview of your post at the top, with the editing box under that, and right under the editing box, there's a place that says Attach Files, with a Choose Files button -- click the Choose Files button, pick the file from your computer you want to attach, and click open.  (Pictures done this way end up as little thumbnails in the post that people can click on to see larger.)

 

Hope that helps!

 

 

[isa-baerchen]

Dear Shannon,

 

Thanks again for your detailed response! You're right about the correlation between the number on the scale and the day's mood

 

When I try posting pictures via adding the URL I am told: "You are not allowed to use that image extension on this community."

 

Anyway, if there is no maximum number of eggs, I’ll add at least 3 to every meal, when I’m not eating any other protein. And I’ll look out for some squash in the supermarket today and try how I feel when I’m having it once a day. Actually most of the things you listed apply for me, especially being tired even though I sleep quite a lot (at least 8 hours). Could you maybe tell me how much is one serving round about? I have my difficulties telling what would be a proper amount...

[isa-baerchen]

I've finished my first week of the Whole30 and I really enjoy all the delicous food I can eat - not missing a thing. I've been feeling very tried and lacking energy the last 2 days and also today. Hope that will get better... 

 

WEEK 2:

 

Day 8:

Breakfast: Omelette (3 eggs) with zucchini and tomatoes, 1/2 tsp ghee, ~ 100 ml almond milk

Lunch: Roasted chicken on 1/2 onion and 1 necatrine with kohlrabi fries

Dinner: Zucchini & carrot noodles with 3 eggs, 2 tsp ground almonds, ~ 100 ml almond milk, 1/2 tsp ghee

Snack: 1 carrot

Drinks: Several coffees with almond milk, tea, water

 

Day 9:

Breakfast: Omelette (3 eggs) with zucchini and butternut squash, 1/2 tsp coconut oil, ~ 100 ml almond milk

Lunch: Broccoli-Cashew soup with stremel salmon

Dinner: Roastbeef with fried mushrooms and onion and a salad made with lettuce, grated carrots, nectarine and dressing with mustard, cashewbutter, macadamia oil, apple vinegar, salt and chili

Snack: 1 carrot, radish

Drinks: Several coffees with almond milk, tea, water

 

Day 10:

Breakfast: Omelette (3 eggs) with zucchini and butternut squash, 1/2 tsp coconut oil, ~ 100 ml cashew milk

Lunch: Zucchini noodles with 2 eggs, 1 tsp ground almonds, ~ 100 ml cashew milk, 1/2 tsp ghee with stremel salmon

Dinner: Baked chicken breast (~ 400 g) marinated in 1/2 egg, mustard, coconut milk and red curry paste on cauliflower-coconut-mash (1/2 head cauliflower, ~ 50 ml coconut milk, 1 tbsp grated coconut)

Drinks: Several coffees with almond milk, tea, water

[ShannonM816]

That's very strange about the pictures not working, I'm not sure why you'd get that error message.

For starchy vegetables, a serving is usually approximately fist sized.

[chezjulie]

Isa, I got that message, too, when I tried to copy a photo link from Flickr. I had to upload my photo to an old blog account and pull the URL from there.

 

I had issues with being tired my first few weeks on Whole30, particularly around day 10 and 11, and what helped was to sleep more (LOL) and to eat more protein especially. I had cut back on my protein by having smaller chicken breasts because I didn't trust the amount of food I was supposed to eat, and it made me tired. Now I am better about using the template and really eating a serving or two of protein the size of my hand, and I don't measure anything unless it's part of a recipe. I seem to be losing weight and inches.

 

Good luck... while Whole30 is an elimination diet for most people, it sounds like you'll get to eat more fruits and veggies. I guess you have to eliminate dairy for 30 days though. The Dukan Diet sounds really restrictive... I remember hearing about it as the diet that Kate Middleton used to get into her wedding dress! LOL.

[isa-baerchen]

@ Shannon:

Thanks for the advice again I've bought a butternut squash (the only kind of squash I could find this time of the year, pumpkin season in Germany is normally in autumn). I really like it in my omelette together with zucchini.

One more question, if you don't mind. I find myself needing a lot of food / volume to actually feel satisfied. Is the recommendation for vegetables a minimum amount and can I have more, or should I try to get used to smaller portion sizes? For some reason I kind of almost always feel hungry. That’s nothing new, so it has nothing to do with the Whole30, but it makes it hard for me not to snack in between the meals. I normally had some veggies like carrots or cucumber in between before.   

 

 

@ Julie:

Hmm I copied the URL from my google plus gallery...

 

I'll try to eat more protein, even though I think I'm already eating quite a lot... Steak night tonight - yeah!

 

Yes, that's true, I get to eat a lot more veggies and fruits which I both love. I really enjoy that and don't feel like really missing anything. If I had to name something it's probably cheese, but I didn't have that during Dukan as well since there too much fat in cheese for that concept. And yes, the Dukan Diet came up in the media because of Kate or Pippa Middleton.

[chezjulie]

Guten tag, Isa!

 

I'm sure Shannon will be along soon to give you a professional answer, but I've seen the mods say that a good template meal includes 1-3 cups of vegetables. And the protein is either 1 or 2 servings the size of the palm of your hand, enough to keep you full.

 

Enjoy the squash. I never would have thought of putting it an omelette.

[ShannonM816]

As long as you're having protein and fat as well, I don't think you can overeat the vegetables, so have as many as you like.

 

Keep in mind that while the volume of vegetables will fill you up initially, the protein and especially the fat are what tend to stay with you and keep you full until your next meal, so don't skimp on them.

 

Also, while we don't want you to snack in the sense of eating mindlessly just because the food is there, or eating to ease uncomfortable emotions rather than actual hunger, if you are hungry, eat. If you need something between meals, try to make it a mini meal with some protein, fat, and vegetables. 

[isa-baerchen]

Ok, thank you both for your reply. 

 

May I ask - what does a mini meal look ike for you? Just to gat an idea of how much it is and what it contains. Would one boiled egg with a carrot be a proper mini meal for example?