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Monica's First Whole30 - Started Today, July 5


Emgee

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Well, I'm just coming off an indulgent vacation, holiday barbecues, etc. and it's time to get back on track! I know what to do, but I rarely do it, so I'm looking for a little accountability here. All feedback/support is appreciated. This first pic of the day is my breakfast - two eggs with sautéed kale and herbs with tomato and black coffee.

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Grrr...pic did not load in my first post! Well, if I can't post pics on my iPad, I guess I'll just post my lunch details too.

Lunch, Day 1 - salad with peppers, beets, avocado and chicken, dressed with olive oil and lemon. One cup of cherries.

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Ok, summer school started today, which means NO TIME! I woke up at 5:00 am, had some coffee with coconut milk and then packed my breakfast and lunch. On the road at 6:00 am and started work at 7. Kids started to arrive way too early with their fair share of crises, and parents who have no idea if they filled out the paperwork for camp, if they are taking the bus, etc. Ugh!  By the time I get to have two hard boiled eggs, half an avocado, three mini peppers and two campari tomatoes it is 11:00 am (oh, and it took me about an hour to get through that food due to constant interruptions).  

Lunch is chicken with leftover kale and cauliflower rice from last night, but I don't want to eat it until around 3:00. My days are stupid.

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Day 3 - Headache! Not sure if it's hormones, Whole 30 or both

Coffee with coconut milk on commute

Meal 1 - Leftover spaghetti squash, sausage, tomato sauce

Meal 2 - 4 oz. salmon over salad, green beans and caramelized onions in a restaurant 

Meal 3 - 8 oz. ground grass-fed beef, sauteed onions and mushrooms, cauliflower rice, big ass salad

 

I had to snack today :-(  but stayed compliant (getting my period so am so hungry. Also, lunch was NOT big enough)

 Snacks (throughout day) - 1 hard boiled egg, 6 chestnuts, 1 Tanka Bite

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Day 4

Meal 1 - 2 hard boiled eggs, half a banana with almond butter

Meal 2 - salad with chicken, tomatoes, olives, olive oil, half a banana with almond butter

Meal 3 - salmon with broccoli, tomatoes, turnips and half an avocado

Snacks - 1 Tanka bite, chestnuts

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Hi, Monica!

Just a couple of things that you might want to work on. First, when eggs are your only protein, have as many whole eggs as you can hold in your hand. That's probably 3 or 4. If you don't want more eggs, you could add some other protein instead, maybe just a little of whatever you have left over from the night before. And be sure you always have some vegetables.

It's really best to eat something within an hour of waking up. Ideally have your whole breakfast then, but if you're not used to eating first thing, you may not be able to finish it all then, so if that's the case, eat what you can and take the rest with you to finish as soon as you can. And it's best not to have coffee until after you've eaten breakfast because it's an appetite suppressant.

For the tanka bites, all the ones I saw on their website have sugar, so they wouldn't be allowed on whole30. You'd really be better off eating a mini-meal of protein, fat, and vegetables rather than a bar or bite like that anyway, and if you're eating enough at meals, you'll find you don't usually need a snack.

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Hi Shannon!

 

Thanks for the feedback. I find that I kind of "hit the wall" with hard boiled eggs, but they are easy to eat at work. I get up around 5:15 which gives me just, enough time to shower and get out of the house (I really don't want to wake up before 5 a.m. to eat). I then have a full hour in the car before I'm at work. That's where that first hour really goes. Yikes on the Tanka Bites (someone gave them to me to try and it didn't occur to me that the cranberries would most likely be sugar sweetened. Grrr). As for the snacking, I really think that my "snacky" days had a lot to do with the fact that they happened on the two days before the start of my cycle. But, I just got my period so the cravings should subside.

 

Today's breakfast - 2 eggs, half an avocado, half a banana and almond butter

Lunch - Spaghetti squash with tomato sauce, olives, and sausage, half a banana and almond butter

 

Note: I do not usually eat bananas because they are too sweet (but not a trigger for me), but it's helping curb the carb cravings at the start of my cycle.

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Note: I do not usually eat bananas because they are too sweet (but not a trigger for me), but it's helping curb the carb cravings at the start of my cycle.

 

A banana a day is not a big deal, it totally falls within the meal template -- but you'd be better off having starchy vegetables (potato, sweet potato, root vegetables (like turnip, beet, parsnip, carrot), winter squash (butternut, acorn, kabocha, and spaghetti squash), jicama, pumpkin, or plantain) to help with your carb cravings. If you know that you're in that week leading up to your period, up the amount of starchy vegetables you eat (and probably food in general -- many women find they eat a lot more during that time). You also need to make sure you get vegetables at every meal, at least one cup, and preferably more like 2-3.

 

For easy to take and eat foods for breakfast, you could do meatballs (try The Clothes Make The Girl and Nom Nom Paleo for recipes). Or there's frittatas or egg muffins or crustless quiches -- they all should be good warm or cold, and mostly ought to be something you could pick up and eat with your hands if you really needed to. On weeks when I know I have to be at work earlier than usual, I make something like one of these on Sunday, and have it every morning for breakfast. Base your serving size on how many eggs you use in the whole thing -- you want to have probably 3-4 eggs' worth in a meal, so if something uses a dozen eggs, you'd get 3-4 servings from it. If there's a substantial amount of other protein, like a pound of sausage, you could probably do it based on 2-3 eggs instead. You can always just take leftovers too. For vegetables, you could roast a bunch of vegetables to keep in the fridge and take a bunch with you -- mostly they're better hot out of the oven, but they're not bad cold. Sometimes I'll just chop up a bunch of raw or blanched vegetables with maybe some fruit -- chop a zucchini, yellow squash, jicama, snap peas, carrots, radishes, cucumber, and maybe an apple or some blueberries. Add juice from a lemon or lime. Have a couple of cups as a serving with breakfast -- for fat, you could add some diced avocado, or drizzle with a little olive oil (I found a lemon infused olive oil at my grocery store that would be great for this), or add some toasted coconut flakes. Or if that doesn't sound good, try some hearty salads, like some of the ones here or here.

 

The reason Whole30 stresses eating within an hour of waking is to do with cortisol and other hormone levels. If you have a copy of It Starts With Food, it explains about it, or there's an explanation in this blog post.

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Day six

Meal 1 - leftover steak, mini peppers, big chunk of sweet potato

Meal 2 -gazpacho, tuna Niçoise salad

Meal 3 - chicken salad with homemade While 30 mayo over lettuce with olives, cucumber and grapes

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Grrr...pic did not load in my first post! Well, if I can't post pics on my iPad, I guess I'll just post my lunch details too.

Lunch, Day 1 - salad with peppers, beets, avocado and chicken, dressed with olive oil and lemon. One cup of cherries.

My iPad won't let me post pics either. :-(
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Day 7

One egg pre-workout with 1/4 sweet potato

Meal 1 - Two eggs over salad with peppers avocado and truffle oil, grapes

Meal 2 - salad and three lobsters (!) with melted ghee

I know. Bad Whole 30 participant - I only had two meals but that lobster was rich!

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Day 8

Meal 1 - two-egg omelet with pork sausage, half a cucumber, 1/4 of a sweet potato with ghee
Meal 2 - a bunch of cherries (I went cherry picking and couldn't resist), scallop ceviche with avocado , arugula, tomatoes, grass-fed beef stick (needed extra protein)
Meal 3 - deviled eggs and lobster salad (homemade mayo) with lettuce salad and half a chicken burger

 

Observation - I think this was too much fruit, but I can't resist picking them off the tree!

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Day 9 -

Meal 1 - two egg "quiche cups" that I made with sausage and spinach (i have a third in case hunger strikes!), half a sweet potato with ghee, mini peppers, coffee with coconut milk.

Meal 2 - Lettuce salad with cucumbers and chicken breast (and 1 tsp of olive oil and lemon), half a sweet potato with ghee, blueberries

Meal 3 - Pork blade steak (amazing cut!), cauliflower rice with ghee and pumpkin seeds, string beans

 

I really ate dinner too late today. I left from work to go to the gym. By the time I got home it was 6:30. Dinner was ready by 7:30, and I was done eating before 8 but I went to bed at 9:00. 

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Day 10 (!)

Meal 1  - Two egg quiches (see day 9), one cucumber, Coffee with coconut milk (all eaten in the car, which I hate doing). Now I'm hungry because of the mindless car eating. Planning on lunch at noon which is 5 hours between meals.

 

Meal 2 - Leftover pork, cauliflower rice with pumpkin seeds, sweet potato with ghee, cherries

 

Meal 3 - Chicken thighs, roasted brussel sprouts with toasted coconut, 1/2 avocado and cucumber

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Day 11

 

Meal 1 - 2 egg quiche cups with spinach and sausage, one cucumber, coffee with coconut milk

 

Meal 2 - Leftover chicken thighs and brussel sprouts, salad with cucumber, olives, cherries and truffle oil, sweet potato with 1 tsp ghee

 

Meal 3 - scallops and langostinos, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and white potatoes - grilled; cherries

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Day 12

 

Meal 1 - 2 egg quiche cups with spinach and sausage, 6 mini peppers, small mix of toasted coconut and pumpkin seeds, coffee with coconut milk

Meal 2 - one leftover chicken thigh, one leftover quiche cup, mix of grilled broccoli, brussel sprouts, white and sweet potatoes (not too many), 1 tsp almond butter (but no banana. I resisted)

 

Meal 3 - Chicken leg/thigh portion with grilled broccoli, beets, and zucchini. One serving of pumpkin seeds and a handful of cherries with meal

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Day 13

 

I dreamed about chocolate chip cookies last night, but instead I ate:

 

Meal 1 - 2 quiche cups with spinach and sausage (finally finished them!), 7 mini peppers, coffee with coconut milk

 

Meal 2 - Chicken salad with homemade mayo over salad greens and cucumbers with a little truffle oil, a serving of pumpkin seeds, pineapple pieces (about five small) and 1/4 cup blueberries

 

Meal 3 - Going to the Brazilian Steakhouse for dinner. Yum! Lots of delicious grilled meats and veggies.

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Ugh. I have not been writing here - probably because I am getting bored (bad), but also because eating this way is getting more automatic (good).

 

Yesterday was bad. I stayed compliant, but my daily schedule was way off and I snacked, which I hadn't done since day 3. I had my first Larabar, which was a huge mistake (too sweet!) and I doubt I'll have one again.

 

So far today on Day 18:

 

Meal 1 - 2 hard boiled eggs with lettuce, olives, sauerkraut, and flax crackers

 

Meal 2 - Leftover short ribs (recipe from Well Fed2. Yum!), cauliflower rice, half an avocado

 

Meal 3 - Compliant chicken sausage, broccoli, sauteed kale, and half an avocado 

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Day 19

 

Meal 1 - 3-egg salad with homemade mayo and spicy mustard (delish and compliant!), handful of baby romaine lettuce, strawberries

 

Meal 2 - Leftover short rib, 8 mini peppers, half an avocado

 

Meal 3 - ???

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