YogaKarmaGrace Posted August 1, 2016 Share Posted August 1, 2016 This evening ends the 14th day and 2nd week of my Whole 30 experience. I decided to wait until the 2nd week to actually chronicle my daily summaries. To be honest I didn't believe I'd be this successful. I'm confident in this second week that I can actually have this lifestyle for the rest of my life. I turned 50 this year and have been going through the typical symptoms of menopause. I've been working with my doctor to find the right formula for me to regulate the irregularities of my hormones. I thought for sure dealing with this and changing my eating habits to this extreme would really mess me up. I have to say that I haven't felt this amazing in a long while. I'll start with the first week, 7/18 - 7/24 where I had more energy every single day, Mon - Sun. I worked out on my usual schedule, where I swim laps on Mon & Wed in the evening, I also do strength training at the gym at lunchtime on M - Th and yoga on Sat. Even with that workout schedule, my eating was on point with 3 great Whole 30 compliant meals a day, with a pre and post workout snack. I had lots of energy to complete my workouts without the usual starchy, full of crap snacks. Saturday, 7/23 brought an obstacle I didn't think would be successful but turned out perfectly. Me and a girlfriend (who is also participating in the Whole 30 program with me) of mine spent our day at the salon, then off to do some shopping. We were a bit hungry while out shopping for a while, so we decided to chance it. We went to a common chain restaurant in our area of Ft Worth, Tx., called Houlihan's. The food served there is mostly American Bistro type cuisine but a very selectable menu. She and I were both perplexed at what we were going to eat there, so we spoke with the waiter and he was very accommodating. We ended up eating a plain grilled chicken breast and thankfully they had just started a new menu because they had added zucchini and yellow squash noodles with lots of herbs and spices. Now that I had the first week done and I'd say very successfully, on to the second week. Well, this week as far as the eating was successful but for some reason, starting Monday, I started feeling a bit overwhelmed and stressed. My job didn't help the situation but I stood fast and worked hard to not let the stress of work or my feelings of being overwhelmed get me down. I still got my workouts in and my Whole 30 eating was on point. This 2nd week also brought on a lot of headaches that I suffer with outside of this lifestyle. I experienced a couple of migraines and had some pretty severe headaches. I also missed work one day just to rest but kept on trucking with my week. Towards the end of this past week, I experienced some low levels of energy. I'm guessing with the stress of the early part of the week and the headaches are the cause of this. Yesterday was a relaxing day, with a morning of yoga and grocery shopping. I felt great all day and had a lot of energy. Today, I slept in later than usual but had a delicious tropical smoothie this AM and a day of self care. Tackled eating out again today in a small town Italian restaurant. I wasn't sure I could eat anything on the menu but in the end was able to muster up some grilled red snapper with a lemon/garlic olive oil sauce and grilled veggies. With all of this said, I'm looking forward to my 3rd week of Whole 30 and I'm looking to what positives it will bring. Two weeks down two and a half to go and some great lifestyle lessons in my eating habits! Woohoo!!! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YogaKarmaGrace Posted August 1, 2016 Author Share Posted August 1, 2016 YogaKarmaGracie's Week 3 Meals 8/1/16 - 8/7/16: Note: If hungry or pre/post workout snacks: Whole 30 compliant nuts coconut water banana w/Tbsp cashew or almond butter hard boiled egg Epic, RX bars or Whole 30 Compliant Larabars Monday Workouts - Strength Training at lunch, swim practice in the evening B - Banana Cream "Oatmeal" L - Cashew/Almond Crusted Tilapia w/salad D - Garlic Lemon Chicken w/veggies Tuesday Workouts - Strength Training at lunch B - All Day Frittata L - Leftover Lemon Chicken w/salad D - Leftover Tilapia Wednesday Workouts - Strength Training at lunch B - Apple Almond Bake L - Cilantro Burgers w/guacamole D - Chicken Fajitas w/cauliflower "rice" Thursday Workouts - Strength Training at lunch, swim practice in the evening B - All Day Frittata L - Leftover Cilantro Burger D - Leftover Chicken Fajitas over salad Friday Workouts - Rest Day B - Banana Cream "Oatmeal" L - Burrito Bowl w/salad D - Meatballs w/zucchini noodles Saturday Workouts - Yin Yoga practice B - All Day Frittata L - Pulled Pork Sliders w/sweet potatoes D - Go out to dinner! Sunday Workouts - Free day! B - Smoothie L - Leftover pork D - Sweet Potato Chili w/salad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators ShannonM816 Posted August 1, 2016 Moderators Share Posted August 1, 2016 Hi, Grace, welcome to Whole30. I'd strongly encourage you to take a look at the meal template and work on building your meals to match it. I'm not sure what's in your "oatmeal" but most of those recipes are very heavy on the fat and the fruit and lacking in protein or vegetables. If you like something warm for breakfast, you could trying something like a creamy soup (something like this golden cauliflower soup maybe), and either have protein on the side or stir some leftover ground meat or shredded chicken into the soup. Smoothies are also discouraged, partly because they also tend not to meet the meal template, but also because your body actually does react differently to meals you drink versus meals you actually eat. This is the official word on that from the Can I Have list: Smoothies: We’d rather you didn’t This is a very popular question, with a very unpopular answer. Smoothies (generally made using lots of fruit) are technically compliant on your Whole30, but we strongly recommend against it. Food that you drink sends different satiety signals to your brain than food that you chew. So when you drink your meal, your brain isn’t getting the feedback it needs to tell your body that it’s had enough of what it needs. Plus, smoothies are generally really fruit-heavy, and starting your day off with a liquid sugar-bomb sets you up for cravings, hunger, and volatile energy levels throughout the day. In summary, we’d rather you just eat the food, and skip the smoothie. It doesn't look like you've had anything that would warrant a restart or anything, but trying to incorporate these recommendations will give you the best possible results for your 30 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YogaKarmaGrace Posted August 1, 2016 Author Share Posted August 1, 2016 Hi @ShannonM816. Thank you for the advice. The "oatmeal" is just a metaphor for this, it's basically a ripe banana mashed with 2 Tbsp coconut butter, a pinch of sea salt and some cinnamon. I'll eat this with a boiled egg/half an avocado and my coffee. I haven't had any crashes or cravings at all the first 2 weeks and eating like this for breakfast has worked for me. Also my smoothie is only one day a week and I totally get the chewing and drinking my food. I only have one smoothie one day a week and have not had any ill affects from it. My smoothies consist of some fruit, spinach or kale and/or a sweet potato with alm/coco milk along with flax meal, and some coconut meat. Thankfully, I have not had any sugar demons appear before me but I wasn't much of a sugar eater in my former lifestyle except for the occasional bowl of ice cream or a dessert. Salt is my demon and like sugar it's in almost everything. The one lesson I have learned over the past 2 weeks is that cooking raw whole meals is the way to go to feel absolutely amazing. I will change up the smoothie drinking from my menus for the next 2 weeks and see how I fair. I do believe I'm getting enough fats though. I didn't include in my menu that I add avocados to my meals more often and use a lot of the recommended fats from my Whole30 book. I believe the hardest part of this way of eating is eating out. My husband and I have quit eating out as much as we used to even before I started this program. But every now and then we choose to have a meal out on a Saturday evening or Sunday lunch. I will continue to figure out what's best for me through this journey and I would love to continue hearing other folks opinions of how I'm eating. Once again, I appreciate the feedback for my continuing success. Have a great week! Grace aka YogaKarmaGrace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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