Not eating enough?

[rach291]

So I made a mistake this morning. I weighed myself. I said I wouldn't and I regret doing it, but anyway, it happened. So I'm on day 9 and have lost Xlbs since starting. Now I'm concerned that I'm not eating enough, because I didn't expect to lose so much in one week, even with water weight, inflammation, etc. I'm 5'3 and started at 124lbs, which is a few lbs heavier than my normal, so I'm still in my usual range. I really don't want to mess up my hormones by losing weight from eating too little though - could someone take a look at my typical day and maybe see if I'm following the template correctly? This is a typical day for me:

Breakfast:
3 egg scramble with a LOT of spinach, 1/2 pepper, 5 cherry tomatoes and some onion. Tbsp of homemade mayo mixed in at the end.

Lunch:
Homemade bolognese (with about 130g mince I think and a slice of compliant bacon, 1/2 pepper, 1/2 carrot, 1/2 onion) with a full packet of courgette noodles (which said 200g) didn't add fat as my mince wasn't lean and I added cooking oil and didn't drain off any of the grease at the end.

Dinner:
Large baked sweet potato, large salmon fillet (probably 1 to 1 and a 1/2 palm sized) with an almond flour crust, tbsp homemade mayo, a few pieces of broccoli, 1/2 pepper, about 1 carrot.

Sometimes for lunch I'll have a protein salad with a chicken breast and add a few toasted cashews with my mayo or something like that instead.

I feel full after every meal and each one probably keeps me satisfied for about 4 hours, so I feel like I should be listening to my body and ignoring the scales (the whole point of this), but it would be nice for some feedback as well.

[rach291]

Also I just wanted to add that I used to eat a lot of chocolate before, obsessively counted calories and weighed myself everyday, so this is a big leap for me. I have to say it's so freeing not counting calories, I had a bit of a NSV when I was presented with a 1/2 chicken and joyfully ate all the skin, something I've never let myself do before.

[jmcbn]

Ok, first off not weighing is a rule, just like not eating grains, and it's a rule for a reason - weight loss is not linear. IF you weighed again tomorrow you'd probably find your weight will have gone up. And the day after it may be up more, or it may be down again. 

Secondly I've edited your post to remove the documented loss as showing this may encourage/discourage others, or even tempt some people to weigh to see where they are in their journey - and the primary focus of this journey is not weightloss.

Thirdly your meals don't look too bad - if anything I'd add in more veg (spinach reduced down to zero when chewed/wilted) to your meal one.

If you don't want to lose weight I'd suggest eating to the higher end of the template, and in particular add in more carb dense vegetables.

You also might want to have a read at >this article<.

Hope this helps.

[rach291]

I'm aware that not weighing is a rule - I thought I had conveyed that pretty well by saying "I regret it". However I am choosing to move on, even if that makes mine a "Partial30" rather than a Whole30. I am not encouraging others to do the same - far from it - but this has been my experience so far and I genuinely wanted some advice.

Thanks for the advice re the vegetables, I'm running out of ideas for different veg (that I can actually get locally) so will try my best to keep up that side of things!

[SugarcubeOD]

I would suggest adding more fat to your meals.  Avocado, Olives, coconut flakes, more mayo... if you can't manage to put more food on your plate eating to the higher end of the template, at the very least, do fat to the higher end of the template.

[praxisproject]

Also, for anyone who used to eat *lots* of chocolate prior to Whole30, chocolate craving can actually be a sign of magnesium deficiency.

 

If you're not taking a magnesium supplement, this might be very good for you

 

What kind of veggie options have you got locally? Any frozen ones? Canned?

[beastmode13]

Hi Rach,

 

I was about to post about undereating so same here!!! I am on Day 9 and I am full all the time likely from the good fats like avocado and egg yolk that I normally don't eat so much of. I know we shouldn't count calories but the reason I did was because I was worried I was undereating. I know we shouldn't go below 1200 ish and turns out, I am eating around 900 right now. I want to be healthy and not be underfeeding myself! So, I know in Whole 30, we don't calorie count because we are learning to listen to our bodies- but what if our bodies are giving us a low number?

 

It's wild the decrease in appetite that happens when we feel full from good foods- I just don't want to erase the hard work of adding nutrients by not actually adding enough.

[SugarcubeOD]

Hi Rach,

 

I was about to post about undereating so same here!!! I am on Day 9 and I am full all the time likely from the good fats like avocado and egg yolk that I normally don't eat so much of. I know we shouldn't count calories but the reason I did was because I was worried I was undereating. I know we shouldn't go below 1200 ish and turns out, I am eating around 900 right now. I want to be healthy and not be underfeeding myself! So, I know in Whole 30, we don't calorie count because we are learning to listen to our bodies- but what if our bodies are giving us a low number?

 

It's wild the decrease in appetite that happens when we feel full from good foods- I just don't want to erase the hard work of adding nutrients by not actually adding enough.

If you are eating enough at each meal to truly feel full for 4-5 hours and including fat, protein and veggies, then you don't need to worry about calories.  Regardless of what the media would have you believe, a calorie is not a calorie... you are eating nutrient dense foods... the calorie number neither matters nor is it an indicator of anything useful.

[beastmode13]

Thank you, sugarcube! I didn't want to be unhealthy but that helps me

[SugarcubeOD]

Thank you, sugarcube! I didn't want to be unhealthy but that helps me

Great, I'm glad!

 

If you want to post a few days of your intake including portion size and specifics about what protein, veggie, fat etc... we can have a look as well and see if you're on the right track.  Might help for peace of mind as well

[beastmode13]

For sure! I'll post it here just because we are talking here, but I don't want to hijack rach's original post! It's the same topic though so rach, if I'm buggin ya, just let me know and I'll move!!!

 

Typical Breakfast: 3 eggs for breakfast
Typical Lunch: 100 grams of steak or chicken, 1/2 avocado, one tomato, 1.5 cups spinach and half a lime

Typical Dinner: 100 gram sweet potato with EVOO, 100 gram of protein or 3 more eggs and then some sort of veg- green beans, kale/spinach salad, etc

 

So, the above alone is keeping me full (lots of fat from eggs, EVOO and avocado) but I try to add a bit more bc I worry about undereating. Pre-Whole 30, I was always hungry but honestly- the above keeps me full- so wild. Looking at it laid out, I could add more green veggies in but even having some is a huge improvement for me, as I was pure meat, bread and wine before Whole 30- I was a viking!!

[SugarcubeOD]

Can you add some vegetables and fat to your breakfast?  It's severely lacking.

I'm not sure how 100g matches up to your own palm size (thickness x length x width)... your protein should be matching your palm size and make sure you're adding fat to every meal... your dinner doesn't have any.

IF you follow the template, then calories shouldn't be a concern.  Right now you're not, so work on that and you'll be great!

[beastmode13]

Okay awesome- thanks! I will admit I am confused though, bc I thought EVOO and the lots of egg yolk would count as lots of fat. My Fitness Pal is telling me that if I break down my daily food, it's like a 40-40-20 split with fat, protein and carbs. 

 

So much to learn but I'm happy to keep learning!

[praxisproject]

Ex-undereater here:)

 

Dump your MyFitnessPal during your Whole30, it's of absolutely no use on Whole30 (although I heard of Whole30 on MFP so it's good for something ) There's no ratios, no fat counting, no calorie counting, no macro counting and no weighing

 

Don't count egg yolks vs eggs, just eat the whole egg.

 

The yolk isn't a fat serve, an egg is part of a protein serve on Whole30, nothing to do with fat.

EVOO is a fat, but we don't count your cooking fat as most of the time, this doesn't make it all the way into your mouth, leaving some in the cooking pan and some on your plate.

 

Try for 3 cups of veggies per meal, palm of protein and a 1-2 fat serves.

You may be surprised at the results from the template, I was

[rach291]

Thanks for the responses! Going to try add more fat and make sure I get enough starchy carbs as the last few days I've been feeling particularly rubbish! No energy, thirsty, emotional...

I'm actually taking magnesium supplements at the moment so at least that!