Jump to content

Day 18 and feeling nada


ach324

Recommended Posts

Hiya, first time posting. I'm doing my first whole30 and am disappointed in the lack of results so far. Trying to be patient but wish I were noticing just something, anything different. I definitely wasn't paleo before though I have/do cook almost every single one of my meals, generally eat lots of protein and veggies, and almost no grains and dairy during the daytime (sandwich for lunch = hungry an hour later), and max 1 or 2 drinks per week. I have honestly not found it the least bit difficult. I didn't feel any hangover/flu symptoms during the first bit as most do, I haven't gotten bored of food (even eggs) at all-- which is good but, but I haven't felt any positive signs either. My energy levels had been and are still fairy low, I'm still hungry enough to need snacks between meals despite following the meal template perfectly, and I wake up still feeling wiped even though I sleep 8 hours. The only noticeable pluses are that it's inspired me to try some fun new recipes and I eat even more veggies than usual throughout the day before of the template.

 

Don't get me wrong-- I'm still glad I did it, it has been a fun experience and it's confirmed that my eating habits before were probably already pretty good and thus I won't need to drastically overhaul my diet when the month is over. Just wish I felt some sort of tangible benefit! But there are still 12 days late so maybe I'll feel it closer to the end.

 

I could understand the status quo/lack of challenges or positive benefits if you were already paleo but like I said, I definitely wasn't. Has anyone experienced this stagnancy who wasn't paleo before?

 

Thx!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi ach324

I'm sorry you're not feeling any changes thus far, but I would remind you that this is a 30 day program & often people don't feel the magic until the latter stages, so don't feel defeated - it's most definitely worth sticking at it...

That said the fact that your energy levels are low and that you are still hungry enough to snack between meals tells me you are not eating enough, and are not yet fat adapted.

Apart from not eating enough it is entirely possible (& very common!) for people to follow the template, eat compliant meals, but not really compose them in an effective way (I'm looking at you Monkey Salad!!) - for instance, snacking on fruit will perpetuate the need to snack because the fructose will impact your blood sugar, causing spikes & troughs, along with fatigue, lack of focus & faux hunger. Not eating enough fat at each meal will also leave you low in energy - remember that when cooking much of the fat remains in the pan so it's fine to add more. And so on...

If you'd like to post what you have eaten in the past 3-4 days, indicating portion sizes, along with liquid intake, and sleep/stress/activity levels we can take a look and possibly suggest some tweaks for your last 12 days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's interesting-- I think you're right I'm not getting enough fat. I definitely feel satisfied after my meals but sometimes (particularly between lunch and dinner even though i do eat 4-8 oz of protein at every meal!) I get hungry a couple hours later. what does it mean to not be fat adjusted specifically? 

 

Here are my meals for the past couple of days. I don't usually eat brisket three days in a row but I made a TON for hannukah on Monday so I had oodles of leftovers to finish. I generally have about 2-3 large glasses of water with each meal, plus more between meals. I keep a huge pitcher at my desk so that I don't run out. 

 

 

TUESDAY: 

Slept about 8.5/9 hours

Breakfast: I had preworkout snack was a Nakd bar because I was at the gym at 6 and I didn't have time/didn't want to eat too much before an intense 45 min HIIT class. Had breakfast right after I got home of an omelette wiht 2 eggs stuffed to the brim with mushrooms and zucchini that had been sauteed in evoo. 

Lunch: 1/2 of a small roasted butternut squash and a cup of roasted brussels sprouts with a chicken thigh and some pecans.

Dinner: 2 potato latkes (lightly fried in olive oil), 6 oz of brisket, several large carrots and a cup of roasted mushrooms. 

 

YESTERDAY: Slept about 8 hours.

Breakfast: 2 sunnyside up eggs, ~1.5 cups roasted brussels sprouts with 2 piece of crispy bacon.

Lunch: a salad with 1/2 an avocado, a cup of cooked mini prawns, and apple, and a handful of almonds. 

Dinner: 6oz of brisket (leftover from Tuesday) with 2 cups of roasted carrots 

Yesterday I didn't work out but we had an office party (which I did NOT drink at thank you very much) and I danced for hours. 

 

TODAY: Slept 6 hours. Def not enough.

Breakfast: 3 sunnyside up eggs, ~1.5 cups roasted brussels sprouts and a clementine.

Snack: Went for a 30 min run around noon so had a banana about 30 min before just so I wouldn't be STARVING after.

Lunch: 6oz of brisket (again, leftover from the other night-- but finally done with it) with 2 cups of cooked kale and an apple.

Dinner: .5 pound of chicken breast cooked in a tikka masala-style coconut-milk based sauce with sauteed veggies: 1/2 a large zucchini, 1/2 a bell pepper, and like maybe .5 cup of mushrooms.

 

What do you think? Too much fruit? I usually try to keep it to 2 servings but today I had 3, so maybe that's why I was so hungry all morning. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's interesting-- I think you're right I'm not getting enough fat. I definitely feel satisfied after my meals but sometimes (particularly between lunch and dinner even though i do eat 4-8 oz of protein at every meal!) I get hungry a couple hours later. what does it mean to not be fat adjusted specifically? 

When you're fat adapted your body can easily switch from burning carbs to burning fat meaning that you can easily go 4-5hrs or more without feeling hungry, or really ever getting HANGRY

 

Here are my meals for the past couple of days. I don't usually eat brisket three days in a row but I made a TON for hannukah on Monday so I had oodles of leftovers to finish. I generally have about 2-3 large glasses of water with each meal, plus more between meals. I keep a huge pitcher at my desk so that I don't run out. 

 

 

TUESDAY: 

Slept about 8.5/9 hours

Breakfast: I had preworkout snack was a Nakd bar because I was at the gym at 6 and I didn't have time/didn't want to eat too much before an intense 45 min HIIT class. Your preWO should be a lean protein & fat - not fruit as this will replenish glycogen stores before you've even depleted them. Note also that all bars are for emergency use only - like stuck between two rocks in a ravine type of emergency with no rescue in sight & your arm is starting to look tasty! Boil some eggs!!  ;) Had breakfast right after I got home of an omelette wiht 2 eggs stuffed to the brim with mushrooms and zucchini that had been sauteed in evoo. You've completely skipped your postWO which you should eat immediately upon finishing training, before breakfast. Aim for lean protein & starchy carb. Fat in this meal will slow down absorption of nutrients to the muscles when they need it most.

Lunch: 1/2 of a small roasted butternut squash and a cup of roasted brussels sprouts with a chicken thigh Thighs are tiny - make it at least two - I usually eat three!! and some pecans. After having eaten nuts in the nakd bar already I'd avoid any further nuts in the same day. Nuts/seeds should be limited to a closed handful at most every other day. Try a better fat source.

Dinner: 2 potato latkes (lightly fried in olive oil), 6 oz of brisket, several large carrots and a cup of roasted mushrooms. 

 

YESTERDAY: Slept about 8 hours.

Breakfast: 2 sunnyside up eggs, ~1.5 cups roasted brussels sprouts with 2 piece of crispy bacon. Bacon is a fat source on W30 so when eggs are your only source of protein in a meal you should be having as many as you can hold in one hand, which is 3-4 for most females.

Lunch: a salad with 1/2 an avocado, a cup of cooked mini prawns, and apple, and a handful of almonds. Again, switch the fat source, and this salad needs to be HUGE as greens wilt down so much when chewed/cooked

Dinner: 6oz of brisket (leftover from Tuesday) with 2 cups of roasted carrots 

Yesterday I didn't work out but we had an office party (which I did NOT drink at thank you very much) and I danced for hours.  :D

 

TODAY: Slept 6 hours. Def not enough.  :(

Breakfast: 3 sunnyside up eggs, ~1.5 cups roasted brussels sprouts and a clementine.

Snack: Went for a 30 min run around noon so had a banana about 30 min before just so I wouldn't be STARVING after. Again, fruit before training replenishes liver glycogen - switch to protein and/or fat.

Lunch: 6oz of brisket (again, leftover from the other night-- but finally done with it) with 2 cups of cooked kale (Two cups would be fine if we're talking 2 cups when cooked) and an apple.

Dinner: .5 pound of chicken breast cooked in a tikka masala-style coconut-milk based sauce with sauteed veggies: 1/2 a large zucchini, 1/2 a bell pepper, and like maybe .5 cup of mushrooms.

 

What do you think? Too much fruit? I usually try to keep it to 2 servings but today I had 3, so maybe that's why I was so hungry all morning. 

I've added a few pointers to your post above. Re the fruit, if you MUST eat fruit (many choose not to) maybe try keeping it back to meal two or preferably three when it won't impact your blood sugar (and in turn your appetite/energy etc) just so much.

Hope this helps!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok this is very helpful thanks. Starting today no fruit in the morning! Should have been a no brainer-- fruit has a ton of sugar, of course having a piece or two in the morning is of course making me crash midday!! Will also start adding an extra egg or some homemade turkey sausage to breakfast for more protein. Two follow up questions, and then I'll stop bugging you, I promise :)

 

1) What are other good fat sources besides nuts? I know avocado is good but what else? And how much oil should I be using to cook veggies, eggs etc. If I'm roasting a bunch of veggies (which I do for most meals these days) I'll usually just use a tsp or two. This morning I roasted 5 medium sized carrots in one tsp of olive oil and cooked three eggs in another tsp of olive oil. 

2) What if I'm not eating as much as you're suggesting but I'm full?  I don't want to stuff myself but I also don't want to be hungry 2 hours later. Like with the chicken thigh example-- I was for sure satisfied after that meal and another thigh would have left me stuffed! 

 

I'm 5'2 and 125 pounds if that helps. Thanks again for the advice. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, other good fat sources would be olives, compliant bacon, home made mayo (& mayo based sauces), coconut milk/oil/cream/butter/flesh/flakes, fatty cuts of meat (like shin or brisket for instance), tallow, lard, ghee, nut oils, olive oil, schmaltz, duck fat...... 

When cooking a large tray of roasted veg for instance I use maybe two LARGE tablespoons of ghee for instance, or I sometimes use a generous drizzle of a combination of oils - to be honest I don't really measure, I eyeball, but I've been eating this way a long time and I know it can be hard for folks to get their heads around the fact that fat is our friend. I will quite often have a dollop of mayo on my roasted veg - even though they've been roasted in a generous amount of fat. I discount the fat in egg yolks and always add another source - honestly, don't fear the fat!

If you're eating until you are full and then you are hungry a few hours later then you either your meals aren't composed as they should (not enough protein is usually the culprit here as it takes the longest for the body to process/digest out of all the macros and so gives you the staying power), you could be eating something that's causing you to feel full because you are sensitive to it (think FODMAPs in this instance), or you are used to grazing and it will take a while for your appetite to be where it should. If you believe the latter to be the case then you should plate a template sized meal, eat as much of it as you can ensuring you get a good amount of each food group (rather than eating just veggies...), then wrap up the remainder to eat as soon as  you feel able. Your appetite will soon increase and you may even move up to the higher end of the template.

I'm also 5'2". I also weigh in and around 125lbs - I'm guesstimating here because I haven't weighed myself since early April - and one chicken thigh would not keep me full for 4-5hrs - unless it was from some BIG ASS chicken!!  :P That said I am fairly active and tend to eat to the high end of the template - at least 3 cups of veg, at least 2 palm sized pieces of protein, and as much fat as I can fit on the plate after all that...!!

That is what works for ME though - this is about listening to your body and finding what works for YOU - make the suggested tweaks, see how you feel after a few days, and then reassess - it's a HUGE learning curve for most folk, and we're here to help  :) 



 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ACH324, I really relate to your post.  I did my first whole(25) in Nov.  Since I already eat really "clean" I didn't feel like I noticed much change. However, I was wine/ sugar/legume/grain-free which was a change from my usual diet.  One thing that surprised me on about day 22 was that I got off my horse after a 3 hour ride in chilly weather and my right knee (which is always a bit stiff and sore after a long ride) was PAIN-FREE !  Just one "little" thing but enough to keep me very much looking forward to my Whole30 starting Jan 1st (-:

I will be doing the vegetarian option this time so that I can supplement all those eggs with some tofu and tempeh once in awhile…I don't eat meat which I'm told does disqualify one from experiencing the true magic of a Whole30, but i think there has to be plenty of benefit for vegetarians since there seem to be a lot of doing this!

Very best of luck with the rest of your Whole30 and be sure to post your results at the end!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the support @windsrider! And @jmcbn, I tried eating a bigger meal in the morning and dropping fruit from breakfast and that seemed to help a lot. Usually when I commute home after work or the gym, I am practically dragging myself back and wanting to collapse in bed before dinner... but then when I actually get to bed I get that exhausted but alert feeling and it takes me forever to fall asleep. But I was on the train from barre last night and I just realized: holy crap, I'm not wiped!! And then when I got into bed I fell asleep within minutes and stayed sound. I am not feeling that Tiger Blood boundless level of energy, but I'm attributing that at least partly to the fact that I live in London where it is light out for approximately 7.5 hours a day (of course the hours I'm at work, so I end up completely missing it) and even when it is daytime it's kinda gray and often rains. Thanks for the advice-- I think it helped a lot! One more question:

 

Because it took me almost three weeks to realize what I was doing wrong, I'd like to do another whole30 with better habits this time. I think I would see even more results. However, we have so many travel plans and family events next year that I don't know when I'd be able to set aside 40 days to do another month plus a reintro. Would a whole7/10/14 help much? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi ach324 - good to hear you're feeling a bit better with the tweaks.

With regard to the tiger blood generally my advice here would be to continue on for another 10-15 days or so before doing reintros so that you see the full benefits of the program (many folk opt to do this as they don't start feeling the magic until much later than hoped/expected), but given that it's only 9 MORE SLEEPS!!!! (can you tell I have a 9yr old who's counting? :wacko:  :P ) until Christmas I assume you were planning on finishing on day30, and not planning on doing reintros (which, it should be said, is probably the most important part) at this stage...

If this is the case I'd advise getting Christmas over with, then going back to Whole30 for as long as it takes you to feel your new 'normal again' (which is often at least 2wks) and then carry out your reintros, saving your next Whole30 for a time when you've got less going on.

Every day of healthy eating is a good day, so don't think you'll have wasted any time, plus each time you come back to template you'll learn a little bt more about how food effects your body.

I'm in the UK too so I can empathize with the dreary grey days right now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@jmcbn you're a doll-- I was really stressing about Christmas dinner (I only go home to the US for the holidays once or twice a year so it's really one of the only chances I have to eat my favorite family recipes.) My plan is too try to stay as on-plan as possible during the week that I'm home then go back and do a week or two of whole30, then a proper reintro. Will def do another sometime in 2016 when things settle down. Does that sound ok to you?? Thanks again so much for all your advice!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@jmcbn you're a doll-- I was really stressing about Christmas dinner (I only go home to the US for the holidays once or twice a year so it's really one of the only chances I have to eat my favorite family recipes.) My plan is too try to stay as on-plan as possible during the week that I'm home then go back and do a week or two of whole30, then a proper reintro. Will def do another sometime in 2016 when things settle down. Does that sound ok to you?? Thanks again so much for all your advice!

It's Christmas, it's once a year, you're going home for a traditional holiday - relax, eat the food, enjoy the celebrations.

Then.................. as I said above, when Christmas is done & dusted go back to Whole30 eating for as long as it takes for you to get over the off-roading - which I'm guessing from experience (although in my case only sugar, limited alcohol & dairy) will take about two weeks - then conduct the reintroduction of ANY foods you ever see yourself eating again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ach - I did exactly what JMCBN suggested the first time. My first whole30 was poorly timed and ended the day before I left for a 4 day tequila tasting trip in Mexico! So I finished my whole30, let myself experience the trip without worrying too much, and then came back and got back on the Whole30.  My plan was to just eat until I felt good again, like 2 weeks, but I ended up deciding half way through to continue on to do a full 30 days. And then at the end of 30 days, I was feeling such better results than the previous time, that I went another 10 days before I even started thinking about reintroduction!  Now I'm starting the reintro process and will wrap up just before Christmas.   That being said, this is my new norm for eating, and will continue so through the Christmas break. 

 

Good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

TriGirlD-- Thanks for the pep talk! I can totally see myself doing another full whole30 asap-- plus, as you said, this is kinda just how I eat now! Tequila trip sounds fun haha. Sign me up for one of those :) QQ for you- how did you feel after doing a whole30 with no reintro vs one without? Other than getting the opportunity to learn about how specific foods affect you, do you feel like the vacation set you back at all? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...