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Day 19 and struggling with leg cramps, poor sleep, and more


MissEB

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I started the Whole30 because I felt tired and run-down all the time. I had a physical with extensive testing, and there's nothing medically wrong with me. I am a healthy weight and was eating a mostly gluten-free, mostly dairy-free, mostly sugar-free diet. I thought the Whole30 would help. I'm on Day 19 without knowingly deviating from the plan, and I don't feel well at all. I'm moody and having trouble concentrating. My skin broke out (it was blemish-free before) and looks sallow. I'm sleeping terribly with random waking and leg cramps. I've been eating wonderful meals but I feel worse than I did before. I also read the trouble shooting section of the book and tried the protein snack an hour before bed with no change. What am I doing wrong?

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It's difficult to give your specific feedback without knowing what you've been eating and drinking, plus some other details.

Can you post a few days worth of your meals, including portion sizes, water consumption and any exercise?   With that information, we can give you  more useful feedback.

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Can you let us know what you're eating typically? Include portions and timing.  Fluids, sleep, stress, exercise.  Tell us what your intake was like before Whole30 (you say mostly sugar and dairy free but "mostly" is relative).  Are you eating a lot of anything you normally did not before? Are you getting half an ounce of water per pound of bodyweight?

 

Moody and difficulty concentrating and crappy sleep are all symptomatic of having gone too low carb.  Are you eating any starchy veggies? We recommend at least one fist sized serving per day. More if you need it in order to feel your best.  Leg cramping can be a sign of reduced potassium/sodium.  Are you salting your food?

 

Give us some specific information and we can give you some specific feedback.  :)

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My memory is shot, so I don't remember what I ate past yesterday, but I'll share that with you:

 

Breakfast: 1 piece of perfect sausage from the cookbook, 2 eggs, salsa from the cookbook, half an avocado, banana, cup of flavored herbal (no caffiene) tea

Lunch: taco salad with spinach and arugula, pork carnitas from the cookbook, salsa, half an avocado

Snack (because I felt light headed): baked red potato with pork carnitas

Dinner: shepherd's pie from cookbook (2 servings)

Cup of caffiene free tea before bed and probably 3 glasses of water throughout the day.

 

Exercise: half an hour of yoga. I also have a very active 2 year-old, so while I don't necessarily exercise every day, I also don't sit much. (I'm a full-time mom.)

 

I usually have a breakfast similar to the one I posted, lunch of leftovers from the night before's dinner, and then a dinner from the cookbook.

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To answer the timing question, I usually have breakfast around 8, lunch around 11:30, and dinner is always at 6.

 

I was gluten free when eating at home, but would have gluten at restaurants (maybe once every two months) or at my 2 monthly potlucks. Sugar was occasional maple syrup in a recipe, maybe one mini-candy bar (the Halloween size) per week, sometime honey in my tea. And of course the hidden sugar that I didn't know about until starting this diet.

 

I'm eating everything I did before, just more of it, especially more meat. We were heavy on the veggies and beans before I started this diet--I tried to do at least one vegetarian meal a week--so all this meat has been a big change. And I have been heavily salting the food. In fact, following the recipes in the book, everything tastes a little too salty to me and I used to love to snack on salted nuts and salty corn chips. I've been eating at least one potato per day, lots of butternut squash, and lots of sweet potatoes.

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The fact that you felt lightheaded tells me your first two meals of the day weren't big enough, or you're not drinking enough water.

3 glasses of water throughout the day is not enough. Our recommendation is 1/2 an ounce of water per pound of body weight, daily.

 

On veggies the recommendation is 1-3 cups per meal. You'd have to eat A LOT of salsa and a HUGE mixing bowl of greens to satiate you.

I would try upping the veggies and water, and adding at least a fist-sized serving of starchy vegetables daily.



 

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To answer the timing question, I usually have breakfast around 8, lunch around 11:30, and dinner is always at 6./quote]

What time do you wake up? The reason I ask is because aside from all the other good advice you've gotten, I do wonder about your meal timing. You eat breakfast, then 3.5 hours later lunch and then 6.5!! hours later is dinner... we want your meals to get you between 4-5 hours in between... this may be splitting hairs but I would recommend that you look at a way to reshift your eating schedule so that you're following more closely the timing template and making your meals last you between 4 and 5 hours. It's also recommended to eat within an hour of waking. For you, that would mean getting up at 7, which you may be doing but if you're getting up much earlier than that, then you'll want to look at that as well.

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