Began May 26, Day 12...Ready for support!

[AZKatie]

Hello everyone, I have been stalking for awhile now - and I am so grateful to this board and everyone who shares their experiences and knowledge so freely. Thank you!

 

I recently graduated from graduate school and after several years of putting myself through dire stress, on top of being a divorced mother with three kids - I came across Whole30 and dove in. (It's what I tend to do) and while I'm job hunting this is a perfect time.

 

I've been extremely compliant to the program and have read It Starts With Food (waiting for the second book to come available at my library).

 

This is a LOT of work and expense BUT I'm not complaining and have genuinely come to enjoy cooking, spending time in my kitchen, playing Mad Scientist while I'm cooking, and putting healthy foods into my body.

 

By default, my boyfriend is also partaking in the Whole30 challenge. He's struggling a bit more with digestive issues but I'm guessing it has to do with either uncontrollable stress of being a small business owner or the repair of years of horrible eating and food habits.

 

I'm on Day 12 and for the first time since the first week, I am feeling sluggish   And I hate it! When I look at the official "timeline" this was supposed to be the days of boundless energy I have been looking forward to. I ate all healthy meals yesterday and slept well; nothing really out of the ordinary. My youngest didn't even wake me up at an absurdly early hour.

 

Anyway, happy to be here!

[SugarcubeOD]

Hey there Katie;

 

If you would like us to take a look at what you've been eating and see if we can pinpoint what might be making you sluggish, feel free to list two-three days of what you've been eating including portions sizes as related to the template, specific veggies, protein and fat, water intake and anything else you think might be relevant.

Because this is a troubleshooting thread and we want as many people to help support you as possible, I'm moving your post to Troubleshooting.

[AZKatie]

Hey there Katie;

 

If you would like us to take a look at what you've been eating and see if we can pinpoint what might be making you sluggish, feel free to list two-three days of what you've been eating including portions sizes as related to the template, specific veggies, protein and fat, water intake and anything else you think might be relevant.

Because this is a troubleshooting thread and we want as many people to help support you as possible, I'm moving your post to Troubleshooting.

 Dang it! Thank you SugarcubeOD, I just realized I put it in the wrong board.... dang it. Meant to put it in the general intro board. Sheesh.

[AZKatie]

Well, I thank you for the invitation and so I might as well go ahead and respond.

 

the biggest change I have made in the past couple days is adding coconut milk (compliant) to my morning Earl Gray tea. I was fine before just having plain tea but the coconut milk sure was lovely. Thoughts?

 

For breakfast I have been loving 3 hard boiled eggs with a 1/2 avocado mashed together and small side of berries (either blueberries and/or raspberries)

 

For lunch I typically make a massive salad filled with protein that was leftover the night before: a crumpled salmon cake or a 1-2 palm sized portion of chicken. Other ingredients include kale, spinach, pecans, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, avocado, unsweetened coconut shavings, and the compliant balsamic dressing.

 

For dinner I typically make a protein and put it in a bowl of zucchini noodles or cauliflower rice.

 

I drink water throughout the day. Learning how much I typically graze throughout the day has been eye-opening. I'm usually not hungry until the next meal time.

 

Am I eating too much?

 

I recognize that in the beginning I was not getting enough protein so I've made more of an effort to be aware of that.

 

Thanks for any and all suggestions!

 

I'm feeling it again today - sluggish.

 

i know I'm doing something wrong.

[SugarcubeOD]

I can't imagine that it's the coconut milk that is making you sluggish... (and I LOVE coconut milk in Earl Grey!).

 

The problem it seems is you're not actually eating enough... You have no veggies with your breakfast where we would ask for 1-3 cups (and fruit is extra to that IF you can eat that much... it should not be replacing veggies).

 

Your lunch sounds good but remember that salad greens don't generally amount to very much unless you eat a wheelbarrow full... it's good you have the tomatoes and heartier kale but you either need to make that salad enormous or add some cooked veggies... also, for some people, regardless of how enormous the salad is, raw greens will never be enough so maybe try switching to cooked veggies?  One crumpled salmon cake isn't very much so I would go to 1.5 and make sure that balsamic is a good portion of fat or add olives, avocado etc... if you're using the coconut shavings for fat, it's like open heaping handfuls so unless that's how much you have been adding, it's probably not enough.

 

Your dinner doesn't list fat and zucchini noodles are a lot like salad greens... mostly water and don't amount to much volume/nutrients so I would do them in addition to the cauli rice or other veggies.

 

Water is 1/2oz per pound of body weight so if you weigh 150pounds that's 75oz of water... are you hitting that recommendation?

 

Not eating enough along with potentially not drinking enough is going to be a sure fire way to feel downtrodden in the energy department.

 

Take another look at the template linked in my signature below and try and make the rest of today's meals and tomorrow's match and see how you're feeling.

[AZKatie]

Thank you!!!!!! 

 

I'm sure you nailed it. 

 

Thank you thank you!!!!!! I really appreciate all your help.