mpcb88 Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Hello, I am on day 26. I've been doing pretty well, and I love how easy the book makes this process. I never thought I'd be able to stick to making all my meals instead of eating out. That being said, one of the biggest reasons I wanted to do this particular challenge was to get my energy back. In the past few months, I feel like my energy has just been zapped, and I've gained weight. The dr tells me that my thyroid is normal. Now in just this past week, any energy that I did have has just disappeared. I'm getting burned out at work, and I come home and just want to sit there. On top of that, it's been hard to get up from a sitting position because my muscles get all stiff. Once I'm moving, I'm fine. I'm sure this process is just moving slower for me, since I've never really stuck to healthy eating. But it's really discouraging. I'm also craving like everything in sight. My coworker just told me she had nothing to bring for lunch today, so she brought Ramen noodles, and that sounds amazing right now! I'm probably not eating enough, but I get so full, it's hard to add any more food. I can't wait to have oatmeal and rice again, and I really can't wait to have my morning Shakeology back!! I started logging with My Fitness Pal on Monday. I made my food diary public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/profile/mpcb88 Here's a summary of what I've eaten in the last 4 days: Monday Breakfast - 2 eggs, about 2 oz ground turkey, chopped up broccoli and onion cooked in olive oil Lunch - Chicken breast (about 5 oz) and salad with the raspberry walnut vinaigrette from the book Snack - Banana and handful of pecan halves Dinner - Turkey lettuce wraps (about 1/2 lb ground turkey with chopped up carrots, celery and onion) with romaine lettuce Calories Carbs Fat Protein Totals 1,246 48 79 90 Tuesday Breakfast - 2 eggs, 1 whole sweet potato, cooked in olive oil Lunch - Turkey lettuce wraps and an orange Snack - Banana and handful of pecan halves Dinner - Grilled chicken breast and fresh green beans with garlic cooked in olive oil Snack - About 12 small strawberries Calories Carbs Fat Protein Totals 1,099 94 56 65 Wednesday Breakfast - 1 egg plus 2 egg whites, 1/2 sweet potato, about 2 oz ground turkey, cooked in olive oil Lunch - Chicken breast salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette Snack - Banana and handful of pecan halves Dinner - Roasted spaghetti squash half with about 1/3 lb ground turkey and compliant spaghetti sauce Snack - About 6 strawberries Calories Carbs Fat Protein Totals 1,361 87 78 87 Thursday Breakfast - 1 egg plus 2 egg whites, 1/2 sweet potato, about 2 oz ground turkey, cooked in olive oil Lunch - Large salad with mixed greens, strawberries, cucumber, almonds, chicken, and raspberry vinaigrette Snack - Green apple at work, banana when I got home because I was starving Dinner - Chicken stir fry with lots of veggies, topped with some sesame oil and coconut aminos Snack - A handful of cashews because I was hungry Calories Carbs Fat Protein Totals 1,214 106 52 88 I would greatly appreciate any advice anyone has to get more energy. I've also been sleeping about 7-8 hours a night and getting at least 95 ounces of water every day. I haven't had the energy to exercise, and my step count has been about 5,200 daily. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmcbn Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Ok, a couple of things...You should not be counting calories or tracking macros, but rather listening to your body's signals & eating enough to satiate you for 4-5hrs.Without even looking at the content of your meals I can tell you're not eating enough because of your daily need to snack - twice.You need to up the size of each of your meals, and include an extra fat source over and above what your meals are cooked in as most of this stays in the pan.By increasing the size of your meals you will negate the need for a snack (which as you know is discouraged on Whole30) & do yourself a big favour by cutting out the excessive fruits & nuts that you are consuming on a daily basis which, because they are not being eaten as part of your meal, are most likely playing havoc with your blood sugar levels, and in turn your appetite - and ultimately your energy levels.Eat more, three times a day, no snacking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators ShannonM816 Posted July 24, 2015 Moderators Share Posted July 24, 2015 You're definitely not eating enough, which can lead to low energy. If you can't eat enough at meals to go 4-5 hours between meals without a snack (sometimes people truly can't at first), have a mini-meal of protein, fat, and vegetables. I suspect you're craving because you're not eating enough, and when you get that worked out, you'll find the cravings will lessen and be much more manageable. Don't be afraid to eat. Eat the whole eggs -- most of the nutrition is in the yolk. Add fat in addition to what you cook in -- have some olives or avocado or coconut flakes, or make some mayo, or some other sauces. And please stop using MyFitnessPal. You can keep a record of what you're eating without it, and you don't need the calorie counts or macros from it to tell you if you're eating enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpcb88 Posted July 24, 2015 Author Share Posted July 24, 2015 I'm not using MyFitnessPal to figure out how much to eat, I'm just using it to track what I eat, specifically just to record to get feedback like this, and to gauge how much I'm eating. Before I started using it, I thought I was getting enough to eat, until I started tracking, and realized that I'm not getting very many calories. It also helped me to realize that I wasn't getting enough carbs, so I started eating more carbs, like a whole sweet potato instead of half. I also wanted to make sure I was getting enough protein. I read a few other threads on here this morning where they said that nuts were discouraged as snacks, and I didn't know that before. So I will stop having those for snacks. I guess my biggest problem is that eating veggies and meat as a snack doesn't sound appetizing. But then if I don't eat, I'm not eating enough and I get super tired. The recipes in the book have been great, and I've been finding other recipes online, but it's still hard to get enough veggies in. I also figured I was eating too MUCH fat, not realizing like you said, that some of it gets left in the pan, which is why I started having egg whites. This is really discouraging, because it's so difficult to eat enough in just 3 meals without snacking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlaccini Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Actually I was thinking that you should increase your fat and your proteins. Remember when using eggs as you main source of protein for a meal, it should be the number of whole eggs you can hold in one hand. For most people that is 3 to 4 eggs. Okay here's what I suggest for you. Make a large (massive even) template sized meal - eat what you can of it. Then what you can't eat of it pack it away and save it for later. When you get hungry - finish it. I needed to do that for breakfast for a while. I was transitioning from 2 eggs to 3 eggs. And honestly as much as I wanted to stuff that last egg down - it wouldn't go. But I also new that by 10:30 am I was starving for more. So I made my 3 egg breakfast, ate what I could, and took the rest along with me. Eventually I made it up to eating 3 eggs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpcb88 Posted July 24, 2015 Author Share Posted July 24, 2015 Okay here's what I suggest for you. Make a large (massive even) template sized meal - eat what you can of it. Then what you can't eat of it pack it away and save it for later. When you get hungry - finish it. Thank you, that's a really helpful suggestion! I will try that. Tonight I'll try to find more recipes that are appealing to me. Plain ol' meat and veggies can get really boring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Y Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Hi! Have you thought about having four meals spaced out through the day instead of three, following the meal plan (http://whole30.com/downloads/whole30-meal-planning.pdf)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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