Whole Littleg

[littleg]

Time for a reset.  Still looking for patterns and things that do/don't work for me and my never ending battle with food.  I know I'm better on W30 but right now there are just a few things about being very strict I don't want to do.  But I'd like to a do a 99% one.  We have food around I don't want to ignore (the homemade pickles with 1 tbsp of sugar for 2 lbs of cucumbers, for example) and the odd glass of wine.  So for now this is a WholeLittleg

 

Goals:

(1) Start.eating.friggin.meal.1.  EVERY DAY.  This is the hardest thing for me.  I leave the house at 6:30 AM.  No interest in eating at that hour.  

 

(2) No 2 hour post-work-self-soothing-food-graze.  3 lbs of fruit a night is not necessary.  

 

(3) Get pregnant.  Just failed our third cycle of fertility treatments.  My insurance doesn't cover IVF so we can only do what we can do, but I know some women on here have had cycle corrections and conception during W30 after trying for a while, so one can only hope.  I think I don't actually ovulate despite regular periods, maybe this will help.  

 

(4) Get back to a better place with binge eating.  Its gotten worse lately.  Got Brain Over Binge and Rational Recovery out and dusted them off.  Time to put a little more effort in while also making it easier by eating nutritious food, in good quantities during the day.

 

(5) Stop logging food into cronometer.  I like tracking food on here because it helps me see patterns and its a good resource to come back to the next time I want to do a W30.  But no more calorie counting.

 

M1 today was too late (noon).  I just decided to try this again this morning as I was frustrated by how I ate last night after work so, tomorrow, I will eat early

 

Pretty big potato, baked into crispy fries with a little bit of lard, 2 HB eggs, sliced mini peppers, black coffee.  Had a kombucha before this because my stomach didn't feel well.  Low on protein, I know.  Last minute decision - because, hey, who needs to plan for a W30 ?

 

 

5 mile walk with the dog, did some pull ups, push ups and pistols at the park.  4 x 30sec 85 lb overhead barbell hold when I got home.

 

M2 - no photo, piece of cold left over beef from fridge, serving of homemade gummies (I eat these for the gelatin, I use gelatin and fruit juice to make them)

 

M3 - munched on baby carrots and blueberries while cooking, 1/3 lb burger, sautéed zucchini, giant sweet potato with ghee

 

[littleg]

Day 2 didn't go stellar.  

 

Packed the following:

 

5:30 Out of Bed

 

6:45 (so close!) M1: turkey blueberry meatloaf, sliced peppers, oven fries 

 

10:00 - stomach growling, too busy to eat

 

12:00 M2: ~2.5 boiled drumsticks (no skin) cooked in cardamom, zucchini noodles, mango/mint dressing, coconut milk - not satisfied.  Not hungry per se, but didn't really like the food 

 

4:30 M3 - 1/3 lb grassfed burger, left over sautéed zucchini, 2 apples <-- brought coconut milk and raspberries, not at all in the mood for that, got the 2 apples instead 

 

8:00 - STARVING, ate apples and grapes

 

So, overall, adding in that extra meal in the morning didn't help.  I was still hungry after work at 8 PM.  Gotta futz with this a little more.  But I'm off today so maybe I can figure out so new meal ideas.

[Britishgal]

You do seem to be missing fat at meals 1&3 and just coconut mill at m2...how did you consume the milk? Also how much zucchini did you eat at m3? I'm just wondering if you ate the fruit (2 apples) instead of enough veg...

[littleg]

M3 was missing fat because I chose not to eat it (I had brought 1/4c coconut milk to eat with the raspberries).  Just not in the mood for it.  Since I was at work there was no sub. I buy full fat coconut milk (Aroy D) and keep it in the fridge - so its like eating coconut whipped cream  I often find added fat doesn't really fill me up - avocados, coconut milk... its weird but I noticed it last time too.  Zucchini was probably 1 cup sliced before cooking it.  It was left over.  

 

M1 had some fat - the fries were brushed with lard.  I added a little more lard to the ones I ate this morning.  

[littleg]

Today went pretty good.

 

Out of bed ~6

 

Black coffee

7:15 M1 - blueberry turkey "muffin", oven fries, sliced mini peppers followed by 1 mile dog walk

 

 

M2 - never really happened, turned into a pre and post workout - before was leftover chicken with mayo

 

 

after was 1 compliant turkey sausage and a little of the left over potato from this AM

 

Workout was an easy mountain bike for ~75 minutes and some weights after - 7 rep max power clean - did 100 lbs

 

6:30 M3 - yum!  munched on baby carrots while cooking: grilled chicken, zucchini fritters (little ghee on them), kale with nectarine salad (left out the non compliant items - still really good - needs some crunch though, some sort of nut or seed next time)

 

 

8:00 - still hungry - bowl of clementines.  BUT not in a bingey-munchy way.  I didn't have more than a few small pieces of potato for post WO and never really ate M2 so I wanted to have enough carbs to sleep - too low carb and I'm up all night.  Feel better now.  

[littleg]

5:15, out of bed

5:30, black coffee

M1 - 6:15 - yeah!  finally made it within an hour

 

zucchini fritters with ghee, turkey/blueberry muffin, strawberry gazpacho <-- this was a perfect summer "soup", even without the honey and goat cheese

 

 

I ran out of food at home... so the following was split between 2 meals at work: cubed potato, zucchini fritters with ghee, left over kale/nectarine salad, 3 clementines, left over grilled chicken.  Luckily someone at work brought in compliant guac for a work thing and I had some of that over lettuce too.

 

 

M2 was at 12:45 - my stomach was growling.  I was HUNGRY.

 

M3 was at 4:30 or so - pretty hungry, but not as bad as earlier

 

Munched on some raspberries from the garden, baby carrots, 2 small apples and 2 more zucchini fritters with some ghee when I got home.

[SugarcubeOD]

Hi Litteg!

Congrats on getting to M1 within an hour of waking! Soon it won't be a task... your hormones will be so balanced that you'll wake up hungry and it will be a joy to eat!

I'm worried that you seem to mention being hungry a lot which leads to snacking... it does take a little tweaking to get meal portions down to where you can get between 4 and 5 hours without being ravenous, however its made much much easier by following the meal template (linked below). Please also try and eat all the meals including pre and post. I noticed that on one day you didn't eat M2 and on one day you went 7 hours between M1 and 2...

While your breakfast muffins and meatloaf look delicious, one of those is not nearly enough food. I also note that you're missing fat with almost all of your meals. Fat is the thing that is going to help keep you going between meals and eventually remove the need to snack!

Take a read through the linked template and I think you'll find the magic!

http://whole30.com/downloads/whole30-meal-planning.pdf

[littleg]

Thanks Sugarcube  My meal timing has been off this week - work days it is beyond my control - the other days were just those kind of days...

 

Each of those turkey things is 4 oz raw meat (I got 5 "loaves" from a 20 oz package) - is that really not enough?  

[jmcbn]

Thanks Sugarcube  My meal timing has been off this week - work days it is beyond my control - the other days were just those kind of days...

 

Each of those turkey things is 4 oz raw meat (I got 5 "loaves" from a 20 oz package) - is that really not enough?  

I've no idea what the thighs I buy weigh, but they're boneless and I usually eat 3-4 per meal.

I'd suggest you try & keep your coffee until after your meal one as it is an appetite suppressant.

[littleg]

Appetite suppression is not my problem  I'm afraid of gaining weight.  I'm older (37) and little (5'2").  

 

When I first did my W60 potatoes were not in play, since they are now I'm eating them more.  I struggled during my first run through this with insomnia and minimal weight loss - I think part of that was that I was too low carb.  So this time around I'm trying to make sure I keep carbs up.  And that part of my brain that says "you can't eat a lot of fat AND a lot of carbs and not get fat" is pretty active.  

[missmary]

If it helps, I'm older than you and shorter than you, and my protein portions can be as big 12 oz sometimes. I would consider 6 oz of ground meat a "palm" size for me. If you peek in my log you will see lamb sliders that were 4oz each. I had two per meal.

 

Give your body fuel to really run like an engine. Don't get by on barely enough.

[littleg]

Really?  Ok.  I've been looking at your log because of your pictures.  I like portion pictures - helps me figure it out

[littleg]

Up at 5:15

Pre-xfit - 2 fried eggs, little ghee on them

7 AM Hard workout - 7 RM back squat @135.  3 min on/1 min off x 5 - 3 snatches (65lbs), 6 pushups, 9 air squats.  That was tough.

Post - dry, expensive chicken from Whole Paycheck.  1/2 nanner

 

 

Made ghee and other assorted W30-compliant things... for 4 hrs. 

 

10:30 M1 - turkey/blueberry muffin, zucchini fritters with ghee, home fries, sliced peppers, black coffee

 

2:30 M2 - shredded boiled drumsticks, kale/peach salad with bacon this time , fritters with some ghee, strawberry gazpacho (in a jar because I had time to eat at home instead of bringing it to work).

 

Worked 3-8.

 

M3 - 8:30 PM.  Ugh, hate eating this late.  

Not super hungry!  Yeah!

Few pieces of grilled steak over sautéed zucchini, baby carrots and some strawberries.  Ate maybe 2x the carrots shown and 3 small zucchini fritters with ghee too.

 

Now I need to try to fall asleep to wake up at 5 AM

[jmcbn]

These meals look much better than your previous days. One suggestion I'd make is that you switch the fruit for a starchy carb. Fruit is only going to replave liver glycogen stores and keep you from becoming fat adapted. And of course to become fat adapted you need to be eating enough fat... 

[littleg]

Sweet potatoes were purchased after crossfit  I know its a crappy excuse but this was a spur of the moment decision.  I didn't have the food around to always make the best W30 choices.  

 

But I have food prepped now for 2 days or so.  I need more easy/bulk recipes - I've been making things that take too long (fritters) or only get me 2 servings.  

[jmcbn]

I'd be lost without my slow cooker for bulk cooking, and I do a whole chicken a week without even thinking about what I'll do with it. I also like NNP's slow cooker kalua pig, chicken thighs in a jerk or tandoori sauce (they are great fab with salads or hot with other veg and I cook about 20 at a time), and a slightly adapted (ie. hotter!) version of MJ's Chocolate Chilli.

Having prepped protein definitely makes life easier!

[littleg]

I agree - I use my Instant Pot to make bulk meats all the time!  I'm having trouble with bulk side dishes - I eat such big portions they don't last : )

 

Yesterday went pretty well.

 

Day 6

Up at 5:30 - too late to take thyroid meds - couldn't wait until 6 for coffee :/

6:15 - M1 - blueberry/turkey loaf, haricot verts, fritters with ghee, drank strawberry gazpacho on the way into work.  More coffee.

 

 

12:45 - M2 - growling stomach, hungry, but it had been 6.5 hrs... double serving of shredded boiled drumstick meat, kale/peach salad with crumbled bacon, sliced mini peppers, sweet potato with ghee

 

 

4:45 - Snack - 2 HB eggs, ghee, another jar of strawberry gazpacho (no pic)

 

8:15 - Snack - 2 small apples, 6 small clementines 

 

 

 

Thoughts on the day:

 

I don't really feel "full" after meals... BUT about 2-3 hours after I eat I feel this overwhelming sense of fullness that persists for an hour or so.  I don't know why its taking so long to kick in.  Maybe as I continue to eat better/more regularly things will align better.  

 

I know fruit isn't the greatest after work but by 8:30 I just don't feel like "real" food.  When I work Sunday maybe I'll try 1 apple with sliced peppers and carrots or something.  

[littleg]

Day 7

 

Up at 5:45

 

6:15 PreWO - 2 HB eggs, ghee

 

 

7-8:30 WOD - snatch complex (power, OHS, hang) @ 70 lbs, 7 rounds: 25 wall balls, 15 S2O 25 lb plate, 200 m run - time cap 20 minutes - just shy of 6 rounds.  150 wall balls is usually enough to make stairs hard for 2 days - curious to see if W30 helps with that at all.

 

9:00 PostWO - little bit of shredded chicken, small sweet potato

 

 

MD appointment that ran late and some errands - got a little too hungry before M1.  

 

12:00 M1 left over steak, fritters with ghee, baby carrots, kale/nectarine/bacon salad, left over blueberries from making more turkey blueberry muffins

 

 

2:00 - felt like crap.  Got in bed with a book and did that drooling-but-don't-think-I-slept kind of thing (am I the only one who does this - reminds me of when I tried night shift and just couldn't sleep during the day...ugh) for 2 hrs.  Just didn't feel right.  Carbs?  Electrolytes?  Crappy sleep for the last two nights... don't know.

 

4:00 - snack/mini meal - 1 compliant turkey sausage, last of the mini peppers, strawberry gazpacho, 6 small clementines (which, per the package label,  = ~1.2 clementines by weight ).  T-storm is rolling in now so I'm going to sit with my poor drooling, quivering dog who is terrified of thunderstorms

 

 

8:00 - dinner took, oh, an hour longer to make then I thought it would...  Nomnompaleo's Koren beef, sautéed zucchini, fritters with ghee, smashed potatoes (not as good as I hoped - and this is what we waited for - next time I'll just do oven baked fries).

 

 

Overall, I didn't feel well today.  The day started with a random bout of reflux after those 2 BH eggs pre-WO that I actually had to spit out because so much came up (eww).  I was pretty bloated all day and generally felt like crap.  I do think eggs are not the best for me - I seem to be ok when they are in small amounts (e.g. for binding) but when I do an egg meal, not so much.  They are just so damn easy I hate to have to add them to the list of things I can't eat... I actually signed up for that new meal planning app nomnompaleo blogged about and by the time I added all the things I can't eat (nuts, seeds, onions, garlic) to the list of exclusions my meal suggestions were things like whole roasted chicken and steamed broccoli.  Sigh.  I also bought 2 kombuchas over the course of the day to settle my stomach and that is too expensive of a habit to keep up.  Grumble.  

[littleg]

Day 8.  Cool.  

 

Up at 5:30.  Stayed in bed for a bit and read.  Got up around 6:45.

Coffee.

 

7 AM - preWO.  Not compliant (made with maple syrup) but the compliant stuff around here is 90% fat, 10% meat so I buy this kind instead.  

 

 

WO - 1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1 front squat on the minute @115.  80 cal row, 40 S2O @75, 80 deadlifts @75.  Took me ~16 minutes.  

 

9:15 Post - 1/2 sweet potato

 

 

10 AM M1 - turkey/blueberry loaf, green beans with ghee, diced potatoes, sliced red pepper

 

 

3ish - sorta M2 - I was at my in-laws, nothing compliant, ate ~1lb grapes and 10ish strawberries

 

Bought a new truck

 

6:45 M3 - munched on carrots cooking, small piece of steak, sautéed broccoli, fritters with ghee, strawberry gazpacho and then ~1/2 lb strawberries that were either being eaten or tossed because they were on their last day

 

 

Super bloated and gross feeling.  Rumbly, burping, blah.  Grumble.  

[littleg]

Day 9 didn't go so well.  

 

Up at 5:15.  Sitting down to eat M1 at 6:00!

 

Usual - home fries, left over sauteed broccoli, fritters with ghee, turkey/blueberry loaf.  

 

 

1 PM - M2 - oh my gosh, so hungry I can't deal.  1/2 yellow pepper, fritters with ghee, 6 oz shredded shredded drumstick chicken, kale/peach salad (no bacon).  32 oz seltzer.  I felt like I hadn't even eaten.  I was still legitimately hungry.  

 

 

4 PM - snack - bought 2 apples, it was a real mental battle to stay compliant.

 

8:30 PM - apples, clementines, 1 piece of dark chocolate (1/12 of the single serving bar per the lines on it), decent sized piece (maybe 1.5 oz) of good  (8 year, raw, grass fed) cheddar in the fridge from before I decided to try a W30.  So... not the worst binge ever, but not compliant.  

 

I don't know the problem - I decided to enter my food into chronometer yesterday because I have been hungry... I'm eating 800 calories for breakfast!  Which is fine, but I'd rather NOT be starving at noon and then at 5 and then at 9 after doing that.  Working 13 hr days and eating this way just don't seem to be working for me.  I'm still wondering if just eating something within an hour rather than a giant meal might help. Then I can do a snack at 6 or so, M1 at 10ish, M2 at 2ish and M3 at 8ish.  Not to mention that when I work a 13 hr shift I kind of like breaking my day up that way more than at noon and then 6 (because I often can't take a break at 6).  

 

Either way - I do want to try to keep dairy out (besides this one little slip) for the remainder of this cycle to see if it makes any difference on hormones.  Except for dairy (of which I was eating A LOT) I wasn't eating much non W30 food prior to this - just in very non-W30 patterns...

Going to try to get back on the wagon today, see how it goes

[littleg]

Day 10

 

Decided to do something different today, eat more in line with how I'd like eat.  I'm still trying to adhere to some principals, but I'm going to not be as strict.

 

Up at 6ish.

 

Too many trips to the bathroom.  This may have been why I've felt bad the last few days - there was too much stuff just sitting and fermenting in there.  

 

8 AM - turkey/blueberry loaf with ghee

 

 

2.5 mile walk with monster #1.  Monster #2 realized it was too damn hot and humid for a walk

 

12 Crossfit, 3x7 power clean @ 85,90,95.  4 RFT of 300m run, 20 air squats, 5 clean and jerks @85

Left my 1/2 sweet potato and handful of shredded chicken in the fridge (at the gym) after getting distracted by a phone call from work

 

2ish - kale and peach salad, left over NNP Korean beef (9 oz on there!), grapefruit, strawberry gazpacho

 

 

Got our shiny new truck

 

7ish - left over steak, arugula with pint of cherry tomatoes (I love fresh tomato season!), little EVOO and vinegar, grapefruit, fritters with ghee.  2 small apples and 6 small clementines.

 

 

 

For the last 6 months or so I have had zero cravings for starch.  I used to eat pumpkin, kabucha squash ALL the time.  Coconut milk too.  I would design meals *around* having those three items.  Then all of a sudden it was like a pregnancy aversion to them.  The thought of them... shudder.  So, these last 9 days eating lots of potatoes I just didn't feel very well.  I was bloated a lot, having upper GI (reflux, "empty stomach" burps) issues.  So yesterday I decided to go back to what I had been doing - getting most of my carbs from fruit.  I just feel better on it.  I enjoy it, I digest it, it doesn't seem to only feed my gas-producing gut bacteria.  I'm going to add back in more veggies (I was essentially just eating dairy and fruit for the last 4 months) and not eat 3 lbs of grapes after work.  I'm going to keep trying to eat *something* within an hour - though not an 800 calorie breakfast.  

 

Today was day 1 of this new plan and I felt so much better.  I wasn't bloated all day.  I wasn't having reflux.  I just felt all around better.  

[littleg]

Up at 6ish.

 

Black coffee

 

6:45 M1- turkey/blueberry loaf with ghee

 

 

Noon - xfit, felt pretty crappy.  Heat?  Lack of carbs?  I don't know.  3x4 push press @95, DT@85, got through 4 of the 5 rounds in 12 min and then stopped, it wasn't worth it to keep going. My PR is 8:40... Not sure what that was about.  

 

1:15 1/2 sweet potato and handful of chicken (that I left there yesterday)

 

2:30 M2 - ate a grapefruit while I  was prepping, kale/peach salad, NNP korean beef, cucumber with grapefruit and some balsamic (surprisingly good)