Day 23 feeling rough

[treeny_bash]

Hi everyone

I've been lurking on the forum for the last 3 weeks, but I thought I'd reach out today since I'm feeling so rotten at the moment. 

I had really bad withdrawals in week 1 and when they passed I felt so great and so positive but over the last 2 weeks I've gotten so exhausted and my digestion has gotten a bit iffy too. Twice I've woken up with headaches so bad that it feels like I drunk half a bottle of tequilla the night before. Both times I'd eaten out the day before so may have inadvertently eaten something non compliant I guess, but I'm not sleeping well and it's really starting to get me down. 

My meals are invariably eggs for breakfast (4 eggs, onion, peppers, spinach, ham or prosciutto and sonetimes avocado and tomato too), lunch is either leftovers or salad with fish and homemade mayo or avocado and dinner is usually some kind of meat dish either including coconut in the sauce, or served with mayo, a portion of veg and often sweet or white potatoes. I've only eaten out 4 times in the last 3 weeks.

I don't get hungry, i love almost all of my meals and I'm losing inches (I wore jeans on Friday that didn't fit 4 weeks ago), I just wish I had more energy. I've had visitors every weekend since I started, so I took Thursday and Friday off work to relax incase it was just a lack of downtime but it's made no difference. I keep waiting for tiger blood to hit but I'm worried that I'll get to the end and still be shattered

Thanks in advance for any advice

K

Xx

[jmcbn]

Hey there & welcome to the forums

Can you give us a little more info on your meals? How much protein are you eating in relation to the palm of your hand? How much fat are you adding? What specific veg are you eating? Are you eating fruit with your meals? And if so, which meals? How much water are you drinking daily? Are you salting your food? Do you have any pre-existing medical conditions? What are your stress levels like?

[treeny_bash]

Hi jmcbn

Thanks for your reply. I definately have at least a palm sized portion of protein with every meal, often more. Breakfast is 4 eggs plus 2 or 3 slices of ham or prosciutto, and other meals could be a chicken breast, 1 or 2 pork loin steaks, half or a full can of tuna, 1-1.5 fillets of smoked mackerel or 250g of minced pork or beef. I don't necessarily add lots of fat to every meal but i am eating a lot of avocado and trying to add either coconut or mayo to my meals. I'm generous with the fat i cook with and i never cut the fat off my meat. My main veg is onion (red and white), peppers (capsicum) , courgette (zucchini), spinach, broccoli, carrots and sweet and white potatoes. I don't have a lot of fruit, i may have an apple or banana if I'm hungry and there's no other choice but that's only been 3 or 4 times in 3 weeks. 

 I try to drink plenty of water, generally 6  or 7 pints a day. I've never really added salt to my food so I've been making an effort with this since starting w30 but it might not be enough. I don't have pre existing conditions beyond the normal sluggishness that comes with being overweight, and i have had a stressful summer, although that's getting much better now. Maybe I was expecting too much but I'm concerned about doing reintroducions and not noticing reactions if I still feel rubbish now. 

[Pippa WG]

I also felt a bit rough around day 20 or so.  Digestion was bizarre with some stomach pain.  I have good energy levels but I didn't like the feeling.  I cut out coffee and nuts for a few days and that really helped me.  What I'm trying to say is that, for some people, the Whole30 is not a consistent, upwards movement towards the utopia of feeling great all the time!  I'm starting to think that these first 30 days are just a re-set for my system and it might take longer to get things truly stable.  

I hope you keep going, despite everything that's going on.  I really think this is a fantastic program - I am learning a lot about my body and it's relationship to food.  Don't give up and don't think of this as a 30-day thing.  This might take you a bit longer but you will find your energy levels increasing and your body will heal.

 

Good luck!

[treeny_bash]

Hi Pippa

Thanks for your words of encouragement! I'm definately not giving up, there's some things I'd like to reintroduce including yoghurt, rice and oats, and beans and pulses because I don't think I'll have problems with them and they'll make my meals a little easier sometimes, especially with a vegetarian partner, but I'm loving this way of eating and I definately think I'll be taking a 70:30 approach to eating this way following reintros. I just wanted to check I wasn't missing something to move this from a good w30 to a great w30!

[jmcbn]

11 hours ago, treeny_bash said:

Hi jmcbn

Thanks for your reply. I definately have at least a palm sized portion of protein with every meal, often more. Breakfast is 4 eggs plus 2 or 3 slices of ham or prosciutto, and other meals could be a chicken breast, 1 or 2 pork loin steaks, half or a full can of tuna, 1-1.5 fillets of smoked mackerel or 250g of minced pork or beef. I don't necessarily add lots of fat to every meal but i am eating a lot of avocado and trying to add either coconut or mayo to my meals. I'm generous with the fat i cook with and i never cut the fat off my meat. My main veg is onion (red and white), peppers (capsicum) , courgette (zucchini), spinach, broccoli, carrots and sweet and white potatoes. I don't have a lot of fruit, i may have an apple or banana if I'm hungry and there's no other choice but that's only been 3 or 4 times in 3 weeks. 

 I try to drink plenty of water, generally 6  or 7 pints a day. I've never really added salt to my food so I've been making an effort with this since starting w30 but it might not be enough. I don't have pre existing conditions beyond the normal sluggishness that comes with being overweight, and i have had a stressful summer, although that's getting much better now. Maybe I was expecting too much but I'm concerned about doing reintroducions and not noticing reactions if I still feel rubbish now. 

It sounds like you're covering all bases protein/veg/fat wise so I'm wondering if there's maybe something that you are eating that you're perhaps sensitive to which is causing you to a feel a little off. Nightshades can be problematic (peppers, potatoes etc), as can avocados, and also eggs..... Is there  any of these you're eating a lot more of than before?

Of course it could just be another stage of the process and things will pick up again for you in a few days - 30 days sometimes just isn't enough to undo the damage caused with previous diets and it takes a little longer for digestion etc to settle.

Personally I'd hold off on any reintroductions until I was feeling good.

[Karen_Suep]

I second the holding off reintros until you feel good. I tried with a sinus infection and i couldn't tell if it was food or the infection causing me issues. Once that cleared up it was a bit easier to decipher my body. Like I can tolerate some dairy but not if I don't want sinus issues, so I keep it limited. I'm calling it good with reintros now because I feel great not eating gluten and I've done it before whole30 for a while. 

[KatBothe]

I had the same issue around days 20-23.  I discovered that if I don't eat a starchy carb at breakfast and dinner I will end up with a tremendous headache.  Just a thought.

[treeny_bash]

Well today is day 30 and I'm going to plough on with reintroductions and see how it goes. I've been thinking a lot over the last 7 days and I have had a pretty busy and somewhat stressful month, and I've got through it all with no sugar, no chocolate and no booze. I've only eaten out maybe 7 times and have prepared home cooked meals for every other meal, which is a massive improvement from the 3 months prior of living on ready meals and takeaways. I obviously haven't weighed in yet but I assume I'm still at least 100 pounds from my ideal weight, which is a lot so I can't expect miracles at the very start. 

I'm spending next weekend with friends and there will be drinking involved with that. I'm going to fast track my intros as best as I can and take a lack of significant symptoms as a greenlight to continue. I'm going with beans on Monday, dairy on Wednesday and non gluten grains on Friday. I need to do this because next weekend is definately not going to be compliant and I want to have beans, yoghurt and oats and rice in my diet to make life with my veggie boyfriend a little easier. I realise I'm supposed to leave 2 days in between but I don't have that at the moment. Since I never had the burst of energy or the totally settled stomach I'm already thinking ahead to a second w30, but realistically that's probably going to be January now so in the meantime I'm gonna try my best to carry on avoiding sugar and processed rubbish and eating real food my body needs.

Thanks for all the words of advice xxx