August 14th Start - Group Whole30 Log

[FoodFreedomFighter]

Hi there, Mid-August Whole30ers!

Thought it'd be beneficial to start a group log so we can share the journey.  Anyone with a 8/14/16 (or thereabouts) start-date is welcome to join, but please keep it supportive and not snarky (logs aren't moderated by the moderators).

So, how'd everyone's Day 1 shape up?

For me, "the best laid plans oft go awry"...breakfast was waylaid by tandem tantrums from my 5 y/o and my 10 m/o.  Gotta "mom" before you "Whole30". Instead of my Diner Breakfast (Whole30, p.208), I had a makeshift salad with Italian sausage and an apple. The rest of the day rounded out ok...bought a compliant kale salad with chicken for lunch (reading those dressing ingredients, tho'...it's a quest to find one with compliant dressing!) and ended with Pork chops with spiced applesauce (Whole30, p.258) over frisèe (30 minutes late, but it's the first day). First lesson learned: preparation is the key to success. Last night, after the boys were in bed, I spent the time prepping all the veg for Diner Breakfast and for Cauliflower Rice (tonight's dinner side dish). The payoff: I was able to get the sausage and sweet potato hash done before the 10 m/o had his morning attempt to houdini out of his high chair and had to be fed. Once I fed him, all I had to add were the eggs and I got my planned breakfast in. Yes!

Now I'm prepping the veg to add to tonight's Roasted Citrus Chicken (Practical Paleo), so I think that will go smoother and hopefully on-time.

How about you all? Looking forward to hearing from you,

3F

[Tinkcabell]

I bought swiss chard for tonight's dinner and I'm sure there will be leftovers. I'm gonna pan fry some seasoned salmon and add carrots. I'm also going to chop carrots for snacks and blanch some cuz I bought a giant bag of carrots. Aside from the soup and pork, I don't have a plan. I should probably work on that.

[Tinkcabell]

I'm hungry! Or am I?

[FoodFreedomFighter]

Day 2: I nearly slipped three or four times today, mostly out of the habit of nibbling on my son's snack while we play or read together. I didn't even realize that I had this habit! 

Today went better, in that I actually made all the meals I planned. New lesson/hypothesis: my 3pm hunger has everything to do with the fact that there's twice as much time between lunch and dinner than between my breakfast and lunch. Starting tomorrow, I'll be eating lunch an hour later to try to stave off snacking. 

Day 3 plan:

B - leftover Diner Breakfast

L - Harvest Chicken Salad

D - Perfect grilled steak with Butternut squash with Kale and Swiss Chard

Here's wishing us all luck!

[Natnewbie]

So, now on day 3 for me (I live in Dubai-big time difference)! 

Went to bed last night with a headache, hoping it would pass, only to wake at 3am this morning thinking my head was gonna explode! Had to take a tablet although I really didn't want to... Almost 12 hours later now and the headache is coming back.... :-( 

Anyone else having these symptoms? X

[Colorado gal]

Headache day 2. Me too. Exact scenario. 

[Tinkcabell]

Day 2: getting a late start. Slight headache. No desire to eat, but I'm gonna do it anyway. Leftover salmon, tomato and cucumber salad, root veggie bisque.

[WholeFitMom]

8 hours ago, FoodFreedomFighter said:

 

Day 2: I nearly slipped three or four times today, mostly out of the habit of nibbling on my son's snack while we play or read together. I didn't even realize that I had this habit! 

 

Same! I never realized how many little things I taste or sip to see if the kids would like or if it's too cold/hot. UGH! Crazy!

 

Day 2: Drank my black coffee, had my leftover Frittata and veggies! 

Lunch will be either leftover Salmon or Tuna Salad.

Dinner thinking of making Pork Carnitas, or Seared Chicken.

Don't know yet.

[FoodFreedomFighter]

8 hours ago, Natnewbie said:

Went to bed last night with a headache, hoping it would pass, only to wake at 3am this morning thinking my head was gonna explode! Had to take a tablet although I really didn't want to... Almost 12 hours later now and the headache is coming back.... :-( 

Anyone else having these symptoms? X

So sorry to hear some of you all are suffering with headaches. The Whole30 timeline warns about this (read more here: http://whole30.com/2013/08/revised-timeline/). In another thread, someone suggested drinking 1/2 oz. water for every pound you weigh to help with the headaches. So, for example, if you weigh 160 (like me), try to drink 80 oz of water. I've been carrying around my 21 oz Camelbak water bottle and making the effort to drain and refill it at least twice (so minimum 63oz) a day. It ain't easy and I've taken to only drinking from it (after my morning tea) until I've drained it three times. 

Hope that helps!

[Anastasia]

Day 2 - done!

Morning was easy enough. Black coffee for breakfast, followed by more black coffee at work - first day back to work with serious "jet lag" from holidays, moving at vacation speed so running late. I packed a thermos of herb tea, a hard boiled egg, some nuts and a banana to get me through the morning to gym time. After 45 min gym workout, lunch was fish, green beans, zucchini and a slice of melon, then 3 small plums for a snack a couple hours later. Home around six. Time after work is always the hardest. That's when I feel cravings for a glass of wine, crackers and cheese, grilled peanuts, etc... Smoked salmon with lime instead, a sliced tomato, then a slice of jambon cru and a few drinks of juice. I was REALLY hungry. Dinner an hour or so later with cucumber slices and stuffed pepper/zucchini. Altogether too much food and fruit - I'll try to do better on that tomorrow. I'm not overweight, but for some reason, I eat a LOT, and I want to work on that. Anyway, conclusion for today: hoping to get closer to 3 meals a day and less fruit sugar, but happy to have made it past day 2.

Good luck to all the rest of you! 

[LydiaJo]

For those with head aches...drink more water.

Day 2, I'm up and running. 530 comes early so that's where left overs come in. While my daughter isn't on W30, she is eating better and taking lunch to school.

Lydia Jo

[Tinkcabell]

Day 3: I feel ok. No edginess. No crankiness. The only craving I've had is for gum or tic tacs after I eat. I have come to realize that I did not plan enough. I am doing way too much cooking and preparation every day...and its only been two days. My kitchen looks like a nuclear bomb hit it. My favorite meal thus far has been a soup I found on a paleo blog: Butternut squash and carrot. I used coconut milk instead of the almond milk that it calls for and it tastes delish. Everything else has been pretty meh, but I like cooking and experimenting with flavors, so there are a couple of things I would try again with more herbs and spices. I am a teacher so I have a lot of time on my hands in the summer, I should have read these books earlier, but Oh, well. Today and tomorrow I am at work for exams. I didn't prep breakfast or lunch last night, so that lesson has been learned. Night prep is the way to go. I have 2 more days of work week after next. These days are great practice for when school actually starts back full time. Even then, though, we are in school for 4 days (2 days without students, 2 days with), then we have a 4 day weekend. So, I'll be prepping, prepping, prepping.

[ShannonM816]

20 hours ago, Anastasia said:

Day 2 - done!

Morning was easy enough. Black coffee for breakfast, followed by more black coffee at work - first day back to work with serious "jet lag" from holidays, moving at vacation speed so running late. I packed a thermos of herb tea, a hard boiled egg, some nuts and a banana to get me through the morning to gym time. After 45 min gym workout, lunch was fish, green beans, zucchini and a slice of melon, then 3 small plums for a snack a couple hours later. Home around six. Time after work is always the hardest. That's when I feel cravings for a glass of wine, crackers and cheese, grilled peanuts, etc... Smoked salmon with lime instead, a sliced tomato, then a slice of jambon cru and a few drinks of juice. I was REALLY hungry. Dinner an hour or so later with cucumber slices and stuffed pepper/zucchini. Altogether too much food and fruit - I'll try to do better on that tomorrow. I'm not overweight, but for some reason, I eat a LOT, and I want to work on that. Anyway, conclusion for today: hoping to get closer to 3 meals a day and less fruit sugar, but happy to have made it past day 2.

Good luck to all the rest of you! 

You're not eating too much food. The big issue looks like from what you've said here that your meals are too small, and then you're snacking to make up for it.

Try to eat your first meal within an hour of waking. If you're having trouble eating first thing in the morning, skip the coffee until you've eaten. It's an appetite suppressant, so drinking it won't help you to eat the kind of meals you need to be eating.

When eggs are your only protein in a meal, have as many whole eggs as you can hold in your hand which is probably 3-4. 

Pre- and post-workout meals are in addition to your three meals. You may not need pre-workout if you've eaten within a few hours of your workout, but afterwards, within 15 minutes or so, have a few bites of lean protein and starchy vegetables, like chicken or tuna or egg whites with some sweet potato. Then go have your full lunch as usual.

If you are truly hungry between meals, have a mini meal of protein, fat, and vegetables or at least two of the three.

[Anastasia]

Thanks for the advice, Shannon. I'm going to try bigger meals and look for some protein ideas for pre/post workout.

Day 3 - done! 1/10th of the way there...

Breakfast egg, nuts & herb tea + the usual morning coffees. Lunch: Duck and potatoes. Home early from work & big late afternoon snack: Apple slices, walnuts, smoked salmon & a slice of jambon cru. Dinner: Olives, Sausage, squash & pepper with tomato sauce.

Today's challenge: navigating the restaurant at noon. Limited menu options, but avoided grains/cheese/sugar. Yeah! Easier today than yesterday, maybe because I skipped the gym. Still hungry in the evening but less craving for a glass of rosé with salty food before dinner.

A bit tired tonight and feeling bloated, like I had too much water to drink. I read about that on timeline page someone linked to... hard to know if it's this way of eating but thought I'd share in case others are feeling the same... you are not alone!

Hope all is going well for the rest of you!

[FoodFreedomFighter]

15 hours ago, Tinkcabell said:

Day 3: I feel ok. No edginess. No crankiness. The only craving I've had is for gum or tic tacs after I eat. I have come to realize that I did not plan enough. I am doing way too much cooking and preparation every day...and its only been two days. My kitchen looks like a nuclear bomb hit it...Everything else has been pretty meh, but I like cooking and experimenting with flavors, so there are a couple of things I would try again with more herbs and spices...I didn't prep breakfast or lunch last night, so that lesson has been learned. Night prep is the way to go. I have 2 more days of work week after next. These days are great practice for when school actually starts back full time. Even then, though, we are in school for 4 days (2 days without students, 2 days with), then we have a 4 day weekend. So, I'll be prepping, prepping, prepping.

Tink, the prep-struggle is REAL! I'm a teacher, too, so I tapped into that and started planning the days like they're units, with each meal a lesson and focusing on how the next meal can be built off previous ones. Switching into that mindset made it a bit easier; trying to plan for 2 days, helped too. So, now on Day 5, my new routine is to plan, today, for Days 7 and 8 (Day 6 was planned on Day 3); then tomorrow on Day 6, I'll shop for Days 7 and 8. My goal is to get back to planning for the week (like I was able to do pre-Whole30) by the end of the Whole 30. Like you, I prep the night before.  What I've found really helpful: whole roasted chicken. That think lasts for four meals (breast, then leg/thigh), plus a snack or two (wings), if I get to eat it all myself.

Best, 

3F

[FoodFreedomFighter]

11 hours ago, Anastasia said:

Thanks for the advice, Shannon. I'm going to try bigger meals and look for some protein ideas for pre/post workout.

I'm looking for post-workout mini meal ideas, too! Maybe we can share what works?

[FoodFreedomFighter]

Day 4 is in the books!! Breakfast: leftover Butternut Squash with Kale and Swiss Chard (W30, p. 268) with three fried eggs.  Those veggies, Yu-UM!! Those will DEFINITELY be making a repeat appearance. Lunch: Harvest Chicken Salad (W30, 232; using leftover Citrus & Herb Whole Roasted Chicken (Practical Paleo (PP), 256)); Dinner: more Butternut Squash, et al. with leftover 5oz. Perfect Grilled Steak (W30, 154).  I still felt hungry about 45 minutes after dinner; that "gnawing at your stomach" hunger, so I warmed up the wings from my leftover roasted chicken...hunger abated with protein and fat.

Today's challenge: figuring out what to eat post-workout AND fitting it in to the busy schedule. Any tips for post-workout mini-meals are MUCH appreciated...bonus if I can eat it while pushing a stroller or watching my 5 y/o on the playground. I confess, however, that this isn't a frequent enough occurrence. This week, my sole full-throttle workout is the one scheduled at the gym on Wednesday afternoons. All other activity is in the form of walks around town. But I figure getting the eating, planning, prepping, and cooking are priority number one. Getting in 3 workouts a week will become a priority after surviving "the worst days" around Day 10/11. 

Starting to feel the tiredness purported to arrive on Days 6/7...although the fact that the baby still wakes at 6am for a feeding may have something to do with that. 

Tomorrow's menu:

Breakfast: Premade Paleo's Melissa's Chicken Hash (I forgot to mention that I bought the 5 day package as "emergency" and "cut myself some 'prep' slack" meals)

Lunch: either Harvest Chicken Salad (again using left over roasted chicken...this is my go-to meal whenever I'm trying to eat better) OR eating out and navigating a restaurant menu (cringe-face)

Dinner: my own Bolognese (minus the deglazing wine and Tbsp of sugar) with Spaghetti Squash (the boys will have it with pasta), another recipe with LOTS of leftovers

Hope Day 5 dawns well for you all!

3F

[Tinkcabell]

My Day 4 is going well. It's funny. I am so used to snacking that I find myself reaching for nuts or fruit even when I'm not hungry. It's just mindless eating and you can do it with healthy food just as easily as with junk food. Now, I'm 45 minutes from lunch and an stayed starting to feel hunger. I also felt hungry for breakfast this morning at 7:00 am. I'm never hungry in the morning. (Even tho I often ate pastries or fast food on the way to work. Just more mindless eating.) 

This morning I had leftover hamburger hash. (My own concoction.) 2 kiwi. For lunch a giant salad with hardboiled eggs, walnuts and raspberries. For dinner I will have leftover squash/carrot soup with a porkchop and some greenery. And watermelon.

[Anastasia]

Day 4, nearly done. I may have a slice of watermelon...

To 'foodfreedomfighter', I'd love to hear mini-meal ideas for pre/post workout. So far, I've had mixed unsalted nuts or a hard-boiled egg and fruit. I was thinking about trying chicken strips or tuna salad + cherry tomatoes from the garden or carrot sticks in a small tupperware.

Breakfast: Hard-boiled egg (again) & nuts (again) with coffee and herb tea throughout the morning. Breakfast has never been my strong point... 

Lunch: Tuna steak with basquaise sauce, cauliflower, green beans, tomotoes and melon. I'm lucky to have a cafeteria at work that has several good choices.

Gym after work... snack/dinner kind of merged... Almonds (lots), sun-dried tomotoes, a slice of jambon cru, leftover zucchini with tomatoes, scrambled eggs with ham.

It seemed easier today and I felt lighter. Manageable afternoon cravings - dark chocolate, corn chips, don't ask me why those two. Much better for the glass-of-wine-to-wind-down-after-work thing, good progress for me!

Best wishes to y'all

 

[Tinkcabell]

I'm doing so much chopping and peeling of vegetables, I'm getting a sore on my knife-stabilization finger.

No cravings yet, and I'm pretty surprised by that. I have been having (cough, cough) digestive issues. All that fiber and water. 

[MrsZimm13]

1 hour ago, Tinkcabell said:

I'm doing so much chopping and peeling of vegetables, I'm getting a sore on my knife-stabilization finger.

No cravings yet, and I'm pretty surprised by that. I have been having (cough, cough) digestive issues. All that fiber and water. 

Hi Tink-

One thing I do if I'm short on time or tired of prep- I buy frozen veggies (per cut and prepped) and roast them, or buy per cut veggies in the produce isle.  There is a time and place for them- certainly not my daily go to, but they sure do help in a pinch or if your finger is sore.

[Tinkcabell]

40 minutes ago, MrsZimm13 said:

Hi Tink-

One thing I do if I'm short on time or tired of prep- I buy frozen veggies (per cut and prepped) and roast them, or buy per cut veggies in the produce isle.  There is a time and place for them- certainly not my daily go to, but they sure do help in a pinch or if your finger is sore.

I used to think buying pre cut veggies was a waste of money, but now...I see the light.

[Tinkcabell]

I want to get on my scale. Really badly.

[ShannonM816]

6 minutes ago, Tinkcabell said:

I want to get on my scale. Really badly.

Resist that urge. 

What does it really tell you anyway? Your relationship to gravity. That's it. It can't tell you if you feel better or you're sleeping better or your skin and hair look better. 

Plus consider that weight loss is not linear -- you don't lose in a nice straight line on a graph. Some days your weight will be up, sometimes down, and if today is a day that it's up, what is that going to do to your mood? How would it affect what you're eating? We've all done the thing where the scale doesn't say what we think it should so we either decide we need to punish ourselves by restricting what we eat, or we decide what we're doing isn't working so why bother? Neither reaction is helpful.

Trust the process, pay attention to any NSVs you experience, and try not to think about the scale for 30 days.

[Tinkcabell]

13 hours ago, ShannonM816 said:

Resist that urge. 

What does it really tell you anyway? Your relationship to gravity. That's it. It can't tell you if you feel better or you're sleeping better or your skin and hair look better. 

Plus consider that weight loss is not linear -- you don't lose in a nice straight line on a graph. Some days your weight will be up, sometimes down, and if today is a day that it's up, what is that going to do to your mood? How would it affect what you're eating? We've all done the thing where the scale doesn't say what we think it should so we either decide we need to punish ourselves by restricting what we eat, or we decide what we're doing isn't working so why bother? Neither reaction is helpful.

Trust the process, pay attention to any NSVs you experience, and try not to think about the scale for 30 days.

I forebore. Even though I could see it peeking out of the closet. Gotta bury it deeper. I THINK my skin looks better, but I can't be certain. I know I'm properly hydrated for the first time in forever. And I haven't eaten anything processed in almost 5 days!!!!