Need a reason to continue

[CappyRF]

Almost 3 weeks into this program and neither myself nor hubby are noticing anything different.   Be it sleep, energy, how we feel or clothes fitting better – nothing has changed.    

 

Previous diet included alcohol, plenty of carbs from bread, crackers, pasta, sugar in various forms and dairy.   We’ve always eaten a fair amount of protein and veggies/fruit (including fresh stuff when in season).   I’ve always been a big water drinker and walked several times a week for up to an hour.  Hubby would walk or use our home weight system a couple of days/week.   The exercise is in addition to normal movement needed for daily living.  While he isn’t as big a water drinker as I am, he would have 32 oz of plain water per day.

 

The first week we literally followed the 1 week diet as outlined in the book.   We’ve since branched out a bit and have been creating meals based on what we like and what is available locally yet still being compliant with the program. 

 

A typical day is as follows:   

 

Hubby:  breakfast - 3 scrambled eggs in clarified butter, maybe a potato and fruit   black coffee

                Lunch  - salad greens, canned tuna/chicken with homemade mayo, adding other veggies to the salad or leftovers from the supper the night before.

               Supper – ground beef, spaghetti squash with compliant homemade tomato sauce (this was last nights’ meal).  

 

We’ve been drinking club soda with supper instead of the milk we used to have with that meal.  

 

Me:        Breakfast – 2 scrambled eggs with various veggies thrown in or leftovers from the night before with a piece of fruit.

               Lunch – salad greens with canned salmon (with homemade mayo) or other protein such as leftover chicken/roast, other veggies added to salad (whatever we have ; tomato, pepper etc).   Occasionally throw some unsweetened coconut flakes onto the salad and use balsamic vinaigrette as a dressing.    Or I will have leftovers from supper the night before.

               Supper – roast in crockpot with butternut squash (we had this 2 nights ago and I took leftovers for lunch to work).

 

While he occasionally complains of being hungry between meals, I’m not having that issue. 

 

  I realize everyone is different and “mileage can vary” but at 3 weeks in we had hoped to notice *something* as an improvement and a motivation to keep going

[laura_juggles]

Both of your meals look like they might be a little light. When eggs are the primary protein, you should be having as many as you can hold in one hand without feeling like you're going to drop them. For the average female, that's 3-4 so you and your hubby are both short *at least* 1 egg in the mornings. He's missing veg in the morning too. 

Are you and your hubby having post-workout meals/snacks as recommended in the meal template? If not, that will definitely contribute to both his being hungry and your seeming lack of results. Under-fueling your body for 3 weeks is going to have an effect on how you're feeling. 

Some people also don't notice any particular changes until the very end of the Whole30, or even longer if they decide to extend it to a Whole60 or a Whole90. 

 

[Tom Denham]

Your meals look too small. Not eating enough slows your metabolism and stops fat loss. It also can mess with your sleep. 

32 ounces of water is fine for a 64 pound person. We recommend 1/2 ounce per pound of body weight per day. I need to drink 92 ounces per day. I don't count water consumed during exercise in the total because exercise is kind of extra. Getting enough water makes all kinds of systems in the body function better. 

[ArtFossil]

You're also light on vegetables as well as protein. If you had crock pot roast with butternut squash, for example, you could have added other vegetables as i doubt you at 1-3 cups of butternut squash. And if you have greens for lunch you'd need a HUGE bowl as greens are mostly water. Add other vegetables to those salads to get to your 1-3 cups of vegetables and aim for the 3 cups.

I also don't see fat in your breakfast or lunch. Remember to have 1-2 thumbs or other servings of fat with every meal.

The closer you follow the template, the more benefits you will see.

[CappyRF]

I've been at work all day and unable to get back here to reply.

 

I can only hold 2 large eggs in my hand; 3 feels like I'm going to drop one.   ( i literally just did this 5 minutes ago to see how many I can hold in 1 hand)     When I walk it is right after a meal and it is just a walk around our area.    I drink a minimum of 80 oz of plain water every day.  Some days it's a lot more.    He drinks more water now than he used to and I've tried to convince him to have more.  

fat?  Unsweetened coconut flakes are fat and i forgot to say i will have a  handful of nuts (not peanuts) as part of lunch about 3 times a week.     Both the homemade mayo & balsamic dressing have olive oil in it which is also a fat.        I have cooked my eggs in an avocado a couple of times for breakfast.

 

Veggies  I do add more to my salads and stated such.

[CoffeeBean]

I started Sep. 1 so have roughly the same amount of time invested..  am also waiting for the results to kick in.  But considering how I've treated my body for all the years before these past weeks I plan on extending my first whole30 longer before I can appreciate the benefits.

Are you both white-knuckled during the process (just waiting anxiously for the last day)?  Speaking for myself it's not hard and I can't say my decisions before this lead to more "fun" or satisfaction, so I'm just coasting it for now.  I keep reminding myself to trust the process; I believe my body deserves the opportunity to see this commitment through.  You're already almost done anyway!  Hard part is over, so why not finish the last stretch full force and close the chapter properly.  Worst case scenario is you honestly wouldn't see a benefit in doing it again, but at least you'd know for certain.

Dunno if this helps you any, hopefully it does though!

[CappyRF]

I can't say as I've been "white-knuckling" anything.    Except the urge/desire for a drink once in a while; especially after a rough day.