the Whole truth

[sarah09876]

I am going to be as honest as possible in this blog. Today is day two.

Yesterday I ate fruits, nuts and some leftover meats during the day and had mustard chicken with onions for dinner. I also found myself opening a can of tuna at 4:00 in the afternoon and eating it plain like that because I was ravenous! I could have eaten everything in the kitchen, but I didn't. I showed good willpower, maybe because it was the first day? I decided (being proactive here) that I would cook something every night to eat the next day. I can't risk being ravenous like that and not having anything acceptable in the house.

So, after dinner I went to the grocery store and bought the ingredients for the shepherd's pie in the book. I finished making it at 10:00 last night and ate it for breakfast today. It was good, but needed a lot of salt, which is strange for me because I almost never add salt to recipes. I brought some to work today for lunch along with a container of melon and strawberries, a bag of carrots and radishes, and a handful of almonds. It's a lot of food for me, but I don't want to get so hungry that I start to make bad choices.

I put some of the unused mashed sweet potato in my dehydrator this morning so hopefully I'll have potato flakes when I get home from work. My husband wanted to grill fish tonight, which is a recipe he normally uses bread crumbs for, but I'm hoping the potato flakes can substitute for bread crumbs.

It's an experiment, but if it doesn't work I still have leftover chicken and, so I should be fine either way. I bought some back-up food.

[CaGirl]

What do you do with potato flakes?    Also, are you sure your following the meal template?  Look over what you've been eating, double check

your getting  the right amount, if your doing one palm of protein up it to two.... I can understand going through a habit withdrawl of snacking but you shouldn't be ravenously starving   

 

ps.. just noticed what your using the potato flakes for.. I believe you can coat your fish with Almond meal..  (fine ground almonds)   

[Tom Denham]

We want you to eat proper meals composed with protein, fat, and veggies at least three times per day. What you ate on your first day sounds like a disaster and I am concerned you are planning to prepare one proper meal per day and eat leftovers or snack on compliant ingredients otherwise. Eating leftovers is a great idea as long as you are composing a complete meal of protein, fat, and veggies and not shorting yourself. 

 

It is possible to eat all compliant ingredients for 30 days and not experience Whole30 magic. The magic happens when you really nourish your body following our meal planning template.

 

How much to eat

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

[sarah09876]

Update: I'm in the middle of Day 2, and I'm starving! I started this because I want to lose weight, but I'm eating way more than I did before I started. Well, so far anyway. It's only day two.

 

I am at work, and I already ate my lunch (plan-approved shepherd's pie) and some vegetables and fruits AND my handful of nuts and I'm still hungry. After reading through the forum and getting some advice from the moderators, I think not enough fat may be causing my hunger. Tonight I'll buy some avocados and olives and maybe some coconut and make sure to include them in my breakfast and lunch tomorrow so that I don't have this problem.

 

Live and learn, right?

[ladyshanny]

Hi Sarah, what was your background of eating before Whole30? Sometimes when people come to W30 from a history of restrictive eating or eating a lot of things that were calorically dense but not nutritionally dense, their body will recognize the nutrition coming in and want more-more-more.  That's OK and would generally abate after a while, just honor the hunger and eat food; protein, fat and veggies.  Where you are in your menstrual cycle can impact your hunger signals too; so many women find that they need vastly increased nutrition around that time.

 

All that said though, it sounds like you might have a "dieting" mindset around Whole30? Eating little bits and bobs (fruits, nuts etc) to avoid eating 3 large meals is the antithesis of Whole30.  Not only do we want you to avoid the things on the "no" lists for 30 days but we want you to really nourish your body at least three times a day.  Colorful, whole foods in quantities that allow you to get 4-5 hours between each meal.  No restriction on quantity, especially at the beginning while you're learning what you need.

[Carlaccini]

I eat way more than I ever did before - people were chronically surprised on little I actually ate vs how big I am.  Yes I would sneak junk foods in here and there but it wasn't a lot in the grand scheme of things.

 

My traditional breakfast was a small bowl of cereal - i would measure out my serving size of cereal and milk.  

 

Now - my breakfast fills an entire dinner plate.  Seasoned ground beef, cooked cubed sweet potato, and handfuls of spinach and healthy dollops of homemade mayo.  I can hardly believe myself that I lost weight this way.  

 

I also remember the first few days I CRAVED fatty cuts of red meat for morning, noon and night - I rarely ate red meat previously as it was "bad" for you.  I questioned here in the forums if I should give into my craving - after all - we are programmed to ignore cravings - amIright? I was advised to roll with it. And roll with it I did.  For a few days I ate as much red meat as I could handle - after about 3 days the cravings subsided and I no longer craved red meat as much as I did.

 

What I am trying to say is:  Trust the process.  Throw out all the previous information about eating protein the size of a deck of cards out in in garbage. NOW. Throw out that fat is bad.  Fat is good - your brain is basically 60% fat - so therefore you NEED it.

 

Yes you will need to eat much more than you thought you SHOULD ever eat - these thoughts are kind of normal - but run with it.  This program is custom made for YOU - your palm size - not anyone else's idea of a palm size.  1 - 3 cups of vegetables, 1 - 2 thumb sized portions of fat.  With every meal.

 

Yes it seems like a lot - roll with the template - it knows what it's talking about.....

[sarah09876]

For a long time I have been eating nutrient-dense food (no 'junk' food) mostly salads unless I have a few beers and then I overeat things like corn chips and hummus.  I know from times I've tracked my food intake that I have a history of under-eating.

It occurs to me now that my body might not have a good idea of what a normal calorie intake is, as salads obviously don't have that many calories. 

It's not that I'm avoiding eating three meals, I just didn't know they had to be so big. I'll start eating larger meals with the goal of filling myself up so that I don't snack.

[sarah09876]

I eat way more than I ever did before - people were chronically surprised on little I actually ate vs how big I am.  

 

Isn't that strange how that works? I don't eat very much but I have been gaining weight. And it seems like the more weight I gain, the smaller my portions become to compensate and yet it doesn't work. I figure there is something I'm missing so that's why I'm here, to learn how to eat the right way.

Eat more, lose weight! I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around that, but, like I said before, it's only day 2, and I am a work in progress.

Thanks for sharing your story!  

[Carlaccini]

Isn't that strange how that works? I don't eat very much but I have been gaining weight. And it seems like the more weight I gain, the smaller my portions become to compensate and yet it doesn't work. I figure there is something I'm missing so that's why I'm here, to learn how to eat the right way.

Eat more, lose weight! I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around that, but, like I said before, it's only day 2, and I am a work in progress.

Thanks for sharing your story!  

 

Yep - totally sounds SOOOOOO familiar!!!!

 

Strange as it sounds - it does work!  Basically my theory was that I was overfed at times (times where I chose to eat junk food - which wasn't ALL that often) and I was under nourished. And then there were years that I was underfed and undernourished - I really messed up my hormones by doing this.  I did lose some weight initially by doing this - but then my body said - nope! we're not doing this anymore - and started storing more fat.

 

You need to eat good nutrient dense food.  

 

Also if you are eating a salad for a meal - make sure it is HUGE. Think mixing bowl size.  Why?  Because think about what 3 cups of wilted salad greens would look like cooked - it would *maybe* be around a 1/2 cup?  So a good way to "mix it up" would include some cubed cooked sweet potato or grate some beets in.  Be creative about it. Add texture to salads.

[sarah09876]

Day 2 update, after a yummy dinner which I ate until I was full, I'm off to bed. All-in-all, not too bad of a day. Tomorrow I've got even bigger meals planned, I hope I can stomach them. I really want to avoid the starving, feed-me-or-I'll-eat-you sensation I felt yesterday and today in the afternoons.

[CaGirl]

Have you read the book or any information on what your meals  should look like?    Theres no reason to be starving..  FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS 

[sarah09876]

I have read the book. The problem is my stomach needs to get used to such big portions. Last night, for example, I ate until I was full, but then, 2 hours later I was hungry again, so obviously I didn't eat enough, but I couldn't have eaten more.

This morning I ate a lot and it was kind of gross. I don't like eating so much, and my intestines don't seem to like it either, as I was stuck on the toilet with stomach cramps and diarrhea after breakfast.

[jmcbn]

I have read the book. The problem is my stomach needs to get used to such big portions. Last night, for example, I ate until I was full, but then, 2 hours later I was hungry again, so obviously I didn't eat enough, but I couldn't have eaten more.

This morning I ate a lot and it was kind of gross. I don't like eating so much, and my intestines don't seem to like it either, as I was stuck on the toilet with stomach cramps and diarrhea after breakfast.

In these circumstances we would recommend that you plate a template meal (even if it's more than you think you can eat), eat AS MUCH OF IT AS YOU CAN (ensuring you eat from each food group), then wrap up the remainder to eat as soon as you feel able.

You'll be surprised how quickly your appetite starts to increase, and with the plated food on hand you won't be so tempted to reach for anything 'snacky' to tide you over.