eastendeater Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 Hi Whole30 community. I am nothing but disheartened. I am a very clean eater to begin with. The only BIG change for me has been incorporating protein into every meal, which is a big change! But... For the past five years, I pretty much only eat organic, whole foods with the exception of some vacations and weekends here or there. I did Whole30, in part, to try to jumpstart my system to lose some weight. I have subsisted on mostly carbs (fruits, veggies, and grains) for quite some time. So: I'm doing lots of eggs and chicken! But I'm on Day 16 and my face is puffy, my belly is bloating and all my pants are so tight, I can barely wear them. There has been FOR SURE no weight loss yet. I am trying to keep positive but. A typical day is like this: Breakfast: chia seed pudding with some banana, walnuts, coconut milk, Vital Proteins collagen peptides Lunch: large salad with chicken breast, Whole30 approved and homemade pickled vegetables and avocado and sweet potato Snack: apple, nut butter, Whole30 approved turmeric latte Dinner: three eggs veggie scramble with avocado After dinner snack: raspberries I have had a couple of RXBars because of my crazy schedule and some dried fruit here or there, but that's it. I've been meticulously adhering! Please tell me what I'm doing wrong and if I should be as down in the dumps as I am! And thank you so much in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmcbn Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 Ok, so there are a couple of things jump out at me here that could definitely be causing you to bloat - namely chia pudding, nuts & lattes.... Nuts, seeds & their by products are recommended to be eaten in moderation only - so say a closed handful every other day max (or a Tbsp of nut butter etc) Nuts & seeds are notoriously hard on the digestive system and they're also pretty high in inflammatory omega 6 which you really want to be limiting. Nut milk we recommend only for use to whiten up coffee, rather than being used as a drink - same reasons as before. I'd cut back on nuts/seeds for sure. The dried fruit & bars won;t help either I'm afraid and the bars are approved for emergency use only (how about some tinned fish, pouches of olives etc?) What might also help is adding in a digestive enzyme until such times as your guts adjusts to the additional animal proteins & starts producing the necessary enzymes on it's own. As an aside the chia pudding isn't really what we'd call Whole30 - think of it in terms of the template - it lacks protein, is fat heavy, and tends to encourage the consumption of fruit over vegetables - keep it for after your 30 days... You may also want to branch out on fats (think home made mayo, compliant bacon, ghee duck fat etc) as avocados can also be a little problematic when eaten in volume. Hope this helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtFossil Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 If you want the benefits of Whole30, follow the rules and the recommendations. Compose your meals according to the template! If you follow the template you won't need to snack and you'll be getting adequate protein, vegetables and fats. Ditch the fruits and nuts for a while, eat large enough meals to hold you 4-5 hours so you don't snack, and don't eat Rx bars, which are a sugar bomb and a poor source of protein. And as jmcbn says, eat other fats, not just avocado. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastendeater Posted November 14, 2016 Author Share Posted November 14, 2016 Wow. Thank you! This is all so helpful. I will eliminate the extra milk, the bars, and the chia pudding and fruit. I totally see what you're saying. As for more animal proteins: I only do eggs and chicken. So... If you have any thoughts on how to fill up a third meal, I'd so appreciate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators ShannonM816 Posted November 14, 2016 Moderators Share Posted November 14, 2016 46 minutes ago, eastendeater said: If you have any thoughts on how to fill up a third meal, I'd so appreciate! There are tons and tons of ways to cook eggs and chicken, I'd recommend browsing recipes if you feel you're getting bored. Here's a few ideas: Egg foo young, grilled chicken with a really awesome dipping sauce, comfort noodles, chicken (I like to add fresh ginger to this), shakshuka. Can I ask why you don't eat other protein sources? If it's a texture thing, we might be able to find ways around that -- like if you don't like the flakiness of fish (or even the fishy taste) there are ways to minimize that to make it more palatable, which would give you some more options. If it's not that, that's fine, I know some people have moral or religious reasons around not eating certain items, and we'd never ask you to ignore those, but if it is something that you'd like to be able to eat them, you just can't quite stomach them the ways you had them in the past, we might be able to offer suggestions. And feel free to just ignore this last paragraph completely if you're not interested in any of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastendeater Posted November 14, 2016 Author Share Posted November 14, 2016 it's so wonderful of you to offer to help like this! i've never eaten red meat or pork in my life. i wasn't raised on it. i try to only eat fish when i know where it's sourced from and that can be hard when the weather gets cold. i've been doing fluke and cod one day a week... but that's it. the rest of your recommendations are great. and i'd forgotten about shakshuka! guess i know what's for dinner. do you think my efforts then--all along--have been for naught? overdoing it with fruit and bars have messed things up gravely? or might i still see weight loss results despite... ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen_Suep Posted November 14, 2016 Share Posted November 14, 2016 I might also suggest finding compliant chicken sausages. I've seen them from Aidell's and True Story and there may be other brands (double check ingredients!) i really like chicken tikka masala from againstallgrain.com or the green curry from The Domestic Man. Also making burrito bowls from the domestic man is delicious too. (I use left over meat for adding to scrambled eggs and top with guacamole and salsa!) there are several brands of sustainably caught fish that you can use for things like Mel joulwan's salmon cakes or for nom mom paleo's spicy tuna cakes. I don't know that you necessarily need to start over but you may choose to add days in order to reach your goals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators ShannonM816 Posted November 14, 2016 Moderators Share Posted November 14, 2016 2 hours ago, eastendeater said: do you think my efforts then--all along--have been for naught? overdoing it with fruit and bars have messed things up gravely? or might i still see weight loss results despite... ? No, definitely not for naught! You're still doing really good things for yourself. This is a process, and everyone has to kind of tweak things over time and figure out the best way to do things. Please remember that weight loss is not the main goal of Whole30. If you have underlying health issues, if you come from a background of disordered eating or even just from a typical dieting background where you limit fat or calories or carbs, it may take a little longer for weight loss to happen, and that's okay. The main thing is that you are making yourself healthier, and if you're getting healthier, your weight will, over time, get to a point that is healthy for you. It just may not happen as fast as you'd like it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastendeater Posted November 15, 2016 Author Share Posted November 15, 2016 just a great big thank you to all who replied. what an incredible community. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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