BonnieStP Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 Hello! I am enthusiastic, motivated and excited about the Whole30, and have discovered that some of my local friends have done this, so have great support from them and other friends that I've also told what I'm doing. However, it's Day 2, and I feel like I'm constantly rushing to keep up with the next meal, even with reading in advance and following the suggested first week plan in the Whole30 30 Day Guide. THREE meals per day requiring planning, chopping, mixing, etc. No box mixes, side pastas, short-cut pre-made marinades and flavor enhancers. And constant clean up after. It's an adjustment! I feel an obligation to make every meal something tasty and satisfying, for my husband is doing the program with me and I feel he can benefit even more than the goals I have for myself (his is medical with prescription meds, mine is more to break a sugar addiction and stop snacking, keep weight off after losing it). I want HIM to stay motivated too, and not get bored with the foods. I realize this will get better with practice, have created sauces (mayonnaise, roasted red pepper... tomorrow... adding pesto) and fats (clarified butter and ghee, ground beef fat in a jar) that can hold me over for a few more meals, and that I'll also streamline with advanced prep for pieces of multiple meals, to stop feeling like I'm running just ahead of the next meal. Others must have experienced this bit of overwhelm in the beginning? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staggolee41 Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 It sure is a big adjustment! You'll get there. The first week, I thought the Hartwigs had to be totally insane to expect so much work all the time. I felt like I was drowning in prep and cooking, but it got easier every single week. Eating W30-compliant this week because I feel like it, even though my W30 is over, and I suspect that next week will be more of the same. You'll naturally get faster with prep as you get comfortable with it. Once W30 thinking becomes a habit, many other things will get easier, too. Also: Day 2 is a common time for extreme exhaustion. I was a total zombie on the second day! It gets better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators ShannonM816 Posted August 3, 2016 Moderators Share Posted August 3, 2016 Definitely this is a common feeling, especially for people who haven't cooked from scratch before. For me, I do best if I precook a lot of things over the weekend, then I can just heat stuff up during the week. This article has some tips for one way to do this, and the same author has some Whole30 weekly meal plans designed to be done that way, the first one is here. You don't have to use the exact same recipes she uses, but hopefully it will give you ideas for how to make this work for you. The other suggestion I'd make is to always cook more than you need for one meal. If you're grilling chicken or burgers or whatever, throw the whole package on the grill. If you're roasting vegetables for supper, roast a couple of baking trays of them. Use your slow cooker if you have one to be cooking things either during the day while you work, or overnight while you sleep. If you're willing to pay for the convenience, there are things you can buy to save yourself time. Pre-chopped vegetables, or even frozen ones, or sometimes even canned ones. Compliant marinara sauces and salsas are available at most grocery stores, though you're going to have to spend some time reading labels to find them. You can also find compliant sausages and hot dogs and cans or pouches of tuna, salmon, or sardines for quick protein options to keep on hand. Olives are a good fat source that take no prep on your part. Fresh avocadoes or some brands of premade guacamole, like Wholly Guacamole (read your labels, not every variety is W30 compliant), are other good fat sources that don't take a lot of work on your part. You don't really have to do recipes every time. You can throw together stir-fries with whatever vegetables you have on hand, you can make burger patties and roasted potato or sweet potato chunks and salad or other vegetables. Check out this list of other easy to put together meals from items you can mostly just keep on hand all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BonnieStP Posted August 3, 2016 Author Share Posted August 3, 2016 Thank you @Staggolee41! It's encouraging to hear others went through it and it gets easier to plan/prep! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BonnieStP Posted August 3, 2016 Author Share Posted August 3, 2016 Thank you @ShannonM816 - these are all great tips and the links are very helpful. I think I've come across some of them in my pre-program prep, and I'm sure happy to have them! I cooked extra ground beef yesterday, and a few extra chicken breasts today, and I totally get what you are saying with that. I will plan to do this with each recipe, and freeze some cooked sometimes too, for reaching for on days that don't provide the luxury of starting from scratch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arielle73 Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 Day 4: Seems like we started simultaneously on Aug 1. I have enrolled husband and 3 young boys. Am utterly exhausted and can barely hold my head up. And, all the additional cooking (3 meals for 5, every evening this week) is cutting into my sleep time. I am shepherding the effort at home and the rest of family are going along with it but I feel that if I don't have meals completely pre-made, they'll all slip up. Am not having much trouble with cravings and do feel satiated but the exhaustion is wearing me out!! Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BonnieStP Posted August 5, 2016 Author Share Posted August 5, 2016 @Arielle73, yes, Day 4!! I hear you and feel exactly the same. My husband is on this journey with me, but for the same fear you expressed, that if I don't make it easy and very tasty he'll fall off, I have taken on all the work.... for now. I've begun to tell him how, as this becomes more comfortable for us, he can prepare and help too. I felt a little better today than I did Day 2 & 3, I was SO tired(!), and I have started to combine my chopping/prepping efforts towards future meals too. I'm following the suggested first week (with some shifting here and there) plan, and now am looking ahead to the meal schedule I'll be setting up for next week. We had the brisket, using the crockpot, today and it was fabulous! It practically cooked and shredded itself. I planned it for some left for meal #1 tomorrow and meal #2 early next week, so cooked a larger brisket than the recipe called for. Like you, I'm not having cravings or feeling hungry. Will be pleased to have my normal energy back (without the afternoon crash, of course!). Good luck to you, your husband and boys too! I love that you are all doing this together. What a wonderful gift for your sons, to learn young how to eat for optimum health. Bonnie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pandora Black Posted August 5, 2016 Share Posted August 5, 2016 I was vegan before this, so I am used to making everything from scratch and dealing with all the cleanup, meal planning, grocery shopping, ect. So this didn't overwhelm me so much as freak me out because it is the polar opposite of what I had been eating. I have to admit though, I am not constantly hungry anymore, and that's keeping me motivated. You can do this!!! It might help you to do some meal prep in advance. Like set aside a day where you plan to make the bulk of your meals for the week, and freeze them (if needed). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BonnieStP Posted August 12, 2016 Author Share Posted August 12, 2016 @Pandora Black - thank you for your reply to my post here. I just saw it today by scrolling through the conversation - haven't quite figured out how to get notifications in a timely way, or follow the threads from this forum quickly and easily. It's now day 12 for me and I'm feeling more calm than I did on Day 4, but I am still finding my way. I bought some kitchen tools that are very helpful, have done some pre-meal chopping, and par-cooking prep, and now know from which stores/online the ingredients I'll be needing in my pantry and fridge/freezer are found. That was all a big part of it that overwhelm. I find this week that I'm falling back on easy to assemble meals without a lot of new recipes on top of it, or throwing all the left-overs in together in the skillet with olive oil or another healthy fat, but I fear we'll get bored if I continue this way with "kitchen sink" type of meals. The Whole30 recipes add small touches with spices and drizzles, side slices and such... a variety of a mix of flavors that I didn't cook with before, and it's easy to forget them if not following one of those recipes. Good luck with your Whole30 Journey as well - great to not be hungry!! Bonnie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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