Starting February 20

[jen c]

Those of you having a rough first week, try to push through it and hang in there.  It's a real eye-opener of what all those inflammatory foods do to our systems and it takes some time for the body to adjust and heal.  As many have said, having this support forum is so helpful. 

I hope this will be encouraging to you.  Here is what I wrote last March after finishing my first W30:

 

Ok, gals, here's my list of NSVs and SV:

- appreciation for food as nourishment

- headaches completely eliminated

- heartburn only once, after eating pumpkin seeds (heartburn occurred daily pre-W30)

- enjoying heartburn-free coffee!

- sugar dragon in hibernation

- bellyaches, cramps, pain, bubbles, gas, bloating, feeling full too quickly, all eliminated (initial motivation for starting W30)

- whole family is eating healthier

- sustained and consistent energy levels throughout the day

- no afternoon slump

- better sleep and more hours of it (except for recent nights I've stayed up waaay too late watching Jane Austen movies!)

- an inside feeling of calm

- no more brain fog

- pride in making good choices and avoiding self-sabotage

- 13.7 lbs and 11.75" gone

- sinuses are clear

- no sign of spring allergies yet (unheard of for me)

 

[DotinTO]

3 hours ago, DotinTO said:

Good morning, Day 6!

I've been pretty quiet on here so far because my experience has been largely negative (headaches, exhaustion, food frustrations), but I'm hoping that things will start to turn around heading into week 2. I'm home with a cold today, and have no idea what I'm making for dinner yet (just about to make breakfast -- ground turkey and sweet potato hash with chili seasoning and on-plan salsa, side of avocado), but I've got the whole day to figure it out and run out for any missing ingredients.

It's been great reading about others' experiences. Some of you are facing the same issues I am, so it's good (for me, at least!) to know that I'm not alone.

Here's to a happy day 6!

Crap. Just realized I'm only on day 5. HAHAHAHAHA... *sigh*

[Allison1022]

I started on Monday 2/20 as well.  I have yet to have any of the symptoms laid out in the timeline.  I get tired, but not really any moreso than I did prior to starting.  I am starting to wonder if I'm doing something wrong.  I didn't drink coffee or soda prior, so I don't really have that beast to slay.  I ate tons of sugar and carbs though.  I wonder if I ate so much sugar that I haven't even started to detox yet?  I don't know.   I prepped my house well getting rid of anything that was non-compliant, so I don't have any temptations.  I did have a dream last night that I was grocery shopping and picked up a bag of pretzels and just started eating them while pushing the cart.  After dream me ate a few, I then freaked out realizing that I broke the rules.  Then I woke up, feeling a little anxious.  It's really strange, because I don't even really like pretzels!  They have never been one of the foods I have had trouble with.  Cravings overall haven't been too bad.  It has mostly been mindless things that I can sweep away in a couple seconds.  Anyways, here is what I have been eating in case any body spots something that's off.  

Breakfast:  Banana, handful of almonds, and an egg bake (has peppers, onions, ground turkey, and eggs).  I know I'm light on veggies here, but I struggle to fit them in, especially after a Day 1 or so because I'm not terribly hungry when I get up.  My stomach used to growl and wake me up in the morning.  

Lunch: I made up stirfry like bowls to bring to work, so the meat and veg varies, but in the same proportions.  About 6 oz of meat (chicken breast, pork chop, or ground beef), then two kinds of vegetables of about a cup each (broccoli, carrots, green beans, or peppers) all mixed together with some onions and spices.  Then I have about half a cup of strawberries. 

Snack: I made up a snack to bring just in case I got hungry.  I haven't eaten it every day, only if I feel hungry before I leave work.  I know if I get home ravenous, I might not make good choices.  My snack includes Green and red bell pepper slices, a pickle, a boiled egg, and some black olives.  I also have a couple clementines.  I try to only eat those if I have already eaten the egg and black olives to avoid the sugar spike.  

Dinner:  Dinner is similar to my lunch.  Last Sunday, I did a whole cook up where I cooked and chopped up all the meat (Chicken breast, pork chop, chicken drum stick, ground beef, and ground turkey) and cut up a bunch of veggies, some steamed, some roasted, some just raw (carrots, broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, etc.).  I pick my meat (about 6 oz) and veg (about 2 cups) and toss them in a skillet with coconut oil and some spices.  I also eat some fruit with dinner as well, usually strawberries, blue berries, or cataloupe.  For the last couple nights, I haven't been very hungry, so I only ate about 2/3 of the stirfry and only a bite or two of the fruit.  I'm trying to listen to my body and not eat when I'm not hungry.  

Sorry, that turned out much longer than I intended!  Any tips are greatly appreciated.  Good luck everybody!  It's almost the weekend!

[TryingOver]

@MButcher my last whole30 involved a trip out of state to see my family and it was definitely difficult to avoid temptation. I went a little off the recommended plan and had some "treats" (like coconut cream with strawberries while everyone else had cake/cookies/etc). I also offered to cook a lot of the meals which helped. My family even tried some new things like Brussels sprouts which my sister now eats regularly! 

[TryingOver]

@Allison1022 I had a similar dream. The other night I dreamt I was shopping, picked up a Hershey's milk chocolate bar, and started eating it. Like you, that is not a food I ever have issues with! I actually detest milk chocolate. 

In terms of the issue with veggies at breakfast, you might consider cutting out the banana to see if you are hungry enough then for more vegetables. I like leftover roasted vegetables with my eggs. This morning I made sweet potato patties with some leftover baked sweet potato (just mashed it, added an egg and a few tbsp coconut powder to help it bind, cooked with coconut oil on the stove) and topped it with over-easy eggs, compliant chorizo and avocado. Startchy vegetables like potatoes and sweet potatoes might be a good swap for the banana as you adjust. 

[brandyontherun]

Okay, so I tried posting an update yesterday and couldn't get it to work.  Let's try again!  I'm hoping to be more active here, as I see so many of you are.  To everyone having a rough first week, you can do this!!!  

Day 6 here.  Until today I've had no sugar cravings whatsoever.  I forgot some of my lunch at home and I suspect that's why I'm losing my mind here....   @Allison1022 I've been feeling like you- why aren't I falling over asleep and dying for carbs and sugar?!  Like you, I ate a lot of carbs/sugar before this, but I'm actually no more tired then I always am.  I actually feel fuller way more often and am enjoying (most) of my foods.  I wonder if it's just going to hit us hard one of these days?!?!???

My workouts are suffering.... I suspect it's because I'm used to using a preworkout and have a hard time eating before working out.  I wake up at 4:30am and am at the gym by 4:50.  So I need something to grab and go. I prepped boiled eggs to eat preworkout this week but it was just gross lol.  Will be looking for something else to fuel these workouts next week. 

Overall summary so far: good food. full. mostly happy. same level of tiredness as always. eating more veggies then I ever have in my entire life.

 

[MButcher]

@Allison1022 I like TryingOver's suggestion to replace the banana at breakfast with veggies. The recommended amount of fruit is 1-2 servings per day, if at all. Fruit has a lot of sugar, so even though it is generally a healthy food, it can be used to feed your "sugar dragon." My first Whole30, I found myself doing that a lot, so I ended up cutting it out altogether after the first week or so. This time around, I've been keeping it to one serving a day, and that's worked fine so far.

[MButcher]

@TryingOver Thanks for sharing! Yeah, I'll definitely be doing my own cooking and I know my dad at least will eat it with me - not so sure about the others. I like your idea of having "treats" with compliant ingredients too. Maybe I'll have to try some fun new recipes over the weekend and see if I can get any of my picky siblings to try something new

[Allison1022]

@brandyontherun, agreed!  I feel full most of the day too!  I wake up every day expecting to get hit with a ton of bricks! It's gotta catch up with me eventually!

[DotinTO]

Feeling immensely proud of myself over here. Whole fam just had take-out pizza, and I made myself a compliant stir-fry with shrimp, Asian eggplant, carrots, zucchini, shiitake mushrooms and coconut-amino/sesame/homemade chicken broth sauce and I managed not to eat even a nibble of their 'za. THAT is will power. 

Now if only I could lose the late-evening sugar craving (and, let's be honest, the glass of wine craving) after the kids are in bed, I'd be golden. 

Hope everyone had a good day!

[TryingOver]

@DotinTO Way to go! That is impressive. 

[MKFish]

@DotinTO Great job! You should be proud! 

I'm ending my Day 5 very proud as well! I'm just really proud that I have made it this far! I am seeing my first physical change, a little less puffy in the face. It's small, but I notice it, and it's nice! 

I had a great dinner tonight too, the chicken meatballs from the W30 book, SO good! I did as suggested and added a little almond flour, and they were much better than any other chicken meatball I've ever had! 

Still having headaches, and I'm noticed a rash-type, ache thing that has just *popped* up. So, that's odd... But the book says that's pretty normal actually. 

Feeling good going into the weekend!! Great job today everyone! 

[TryingOver]

Day 5 went well here also. Staying on track and I am not feeling too tired.

I'm beginning to realize that I am eating way more vegetables than I am used to. I bought what I thought would be 1-1.5 weeks of vegetables on Monday, but was out by yesterday evening! 

M1: Sweet potato patties (made with leftover baked sweet potato from earlier in the week) + chorizo and eggs. I was super excited to find compliant chorizo and it tasted pretty good. 

M2: Roasted chicken with a large salad (fennel, 1/2 a tangerine, spinach mix, and cherry tomatoes) drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. 

M3: Roasted potatoes with garlic and garlic aioli + chimichurri flank steak. 

 

Dinner was super easy and absolutely delicious. It was a bit heavy on the starchy vegetables today, but we've only had sweet potato one other day and it made a good date night dinner to share with my husband.  

[ShellyM]

Today is Day 6 for me.  I am doing this with my husband and for him, yesterday was "Kill all the things."  Luckily, I work a long day on Thursday so I missed most of it.  I haven't had a cup of coffee in over  week.  But that hasn't been the biggest challenge.  I am a commuter and I have to walk through Grand Central Terminal (NYC) every day. It's like a temptation obstacle course!  My strategy has been to make sure I bring plenty of food with me to get me through the day and onto my train without any stops.  I even invested $8 in a new insulated lunch bag that holds enough "tupperware" for 2 meals.  

StartingOver, you"re right, the chopping, cooking, kitchen clean-up is an extreme sport!

I made this for dinner tonight: http://acalculatedwhisk.com/picadillo-with-plantains/.  Really good! This recipe is from the Well Fed Weeknights cookbook.  I have all 3 Well Fed cookbooks and they are my favorites.  

Keep up the good work, everyone. 

 

 

 

[Bonblis]

1 meal short of 7 days! Woo Hoo!

Just done a food shop with hubby and our bill came in at about $100 just for fruit and veg! Insane how expensive it all is. Wasn't sure we'd go through all our fruit and veg last week, but get through over $70 just for the two of us, we did. After expecting a week's worth of timeline-symptoms, and not getting them (at least in full force) I think the biggest hurdle for us, a single-income family of 2, is going to be financial. $300 for this fortnight's shop which only included 1 weeks supply of protein, and fruits and veg. I think I'll need to move away from planning easy recipes to the Whole30 Ingredient Meals (http://whole30.com/2015/07/ingredient-meals/) to see if it brings down our costs. I tried to find chuck steak to do a slow-cooker pulled-beef and the closest we could find was $14 per kg round steak.

Has anybody else got some budget busting ideas? We're in Australia, so it's a bit different here than it is in the US - we don't even have collard greens or jicama or kohlrabi, and I went to Costco and literally went through every potentially complaint food and found nothing! All tips very welcome regardless of where you live!

Really enjoying the food, but that's not a surprise, we enjoyed paleo when we were on it, too. This time it's without the paleo treats and I'm a bit surprised by how much I'm NOT missing sugar! It was a major concern before we started! Compliant bacon is upwards of $34 per kilo here, so after having non-compliant bacon for the 1st week (not free-range and sugar was used in the curing mix - not even sure if we can find free-range bacon without sugar in the curing mix!) I think we're going to be bacon free from now on and we'll add another week at the end to make up for it.

No cravings and I think I'm feeling a bit more well generally, though after more than 17 years of so many complex medical issues, many of which will be improved but not eliminated by Whole30, it's hard to tell. Plus, my pain is bad now at the moment (fibromyalgia) and it might be clouding the wellness/improvements I am actually getting. I can literally feel some weight loss, though, as can my hubby. I think we've mostly gotten the hang of the recommended proportions because my afternoon and post-dinner cravings for *something* have gone, but I think we're still eating a bit too much protein. I've even managed to overcome my breakfast aversion and have gone from not eating until 2 or more hours after getting up, and then only having 2 slices of GF toast with gluten free vegemite or nut butter, to eating a full meal! My metabolism and hormones won't know what's hitting them!

So, here's to a day full of prep tomorrow for both hubby and me: oven roasting 2kg of chicken thighs and slow cooking 2kgs of beef for pulling; semi-steaming loads of veg (in prep for the sautee step as per Mel Joulwan) and roasting more veg; chopping up loads of Chinese broccoli and kale, and carrot, capsicum and celery sticks; making sunshine sauce, magic mushroom powder, spicy salmon frittata, salted herbs, and avocado lime deviled eggs; and food-processing cauliflower for rice. All in readiness for a very yummy (if expensive) week's worth of meals.

Onwards and upwards!

[jmcbn]

17 hours ago, KatKat said:

So far found 1pm every day I feel tired.  This is about one hour after lunch so Im not sure whats causing it.

What are you eating for lunch @KatKat?

And what does breakfast look like too...?

[MKFish]

6 hours ago, TryingOver said:

I'm beginning to realize that I am eating way more vegetables than I am used to. I bought what I thought would be 1-1.5 weeks of vegetables on Monday, but was out by yesterday evening! 

Haha! I literally said this same thing outlaid to my husband at dinner! I was amazed that I went though all the veggies I bought!! 

[ShellyM]

6 hours ago, Bonblis said:

 

So, here's to a day full of prep tomorrow for both hubby and me: oven roasting 2kg of chicken thighs and slow cooking 2kgs of beef for pulling; semi-steaming loads of veg (in prep for the sautee step as per Mel Joulwan) and roasting more veg; chopping up loads of Chinese broccoli and kale, and carrot, capsicum and celery sticks; making sunshine sauce, magic mushroom powder, spicy salmon frittata, salted herbs, and avocado lime deviled eggs; and food-processing cauliflower for rice. All in readiness for a very yummy (if expensive) week's worth of meals.

Onwards and upwards!

Wow!  This sounds like enough to feed a small army!  I know it goes fast when you are preparing 7x3x2 meals per week.  I usually split my "cook-up" into 2 sessions, since I am usually off from work on Wednesdays.  That's also a good day to get to the supermarket vs. weekend.  Let us know how you put this all together into dinners.  

 

[MButcher]

Day 5 - I was super tired yesterday evening. Then I had a dream I cheated. I can't actually remember what I ate, a small piece of some kind of dessert I think. Also dreamt that I was Leslie Knope and I had a bunch of evil clones and I had to go poison them all. Not sure what that means lol! And an NSV: my acne is clearing up already!

[TryingOver]

@Bonblis - I don't know about Australia, but here food that is close to its expiration date gets marked on clearance. I've found grass fed high quality ground beef and steaks on sale for the same price as the inexpensive stuff because it had to be cooked or frozen that day. When I see it on sale, I stock up (by 5-6 pounds) and throw it in the freezer. Same with chicken. I also plan so that if an ingredient isn't available in budget I can either swap it with something else (ex: swap pork roast for beef roast) or replace it with a different meal. 

I definitely think the idea of the "no recipe" meals will help. Also, in our area frozen produce can be less expensive than fresh, but just as good in a stir fry or steamed. 

If you have a smartphone, there are also apps that you can use to enter your grocery list and find the items on sale near you. 

[KatKat]

 

@jmcbn Meal 1 is usually a protein salad with some kind of dressing.  Meal 2 is leftovers from the night before.  Meal 3 is whatever I cook from the book. 

Today meal 1 was spaghetti squash, chicken breast, and tomato sauce.

I am planning on making cauliflower and leek soup with some protein for lunch.  For my last meal either carnitas or salmon cakes.  I cannot find canned sweet potatoes without any added sugar for the salmon cakes, anyone here found it?

I went grocery shopping again yesterday and WOW!  A lot more expensive, but I do feel better overall.  I found W30 bacon at HT!  My husband is very happy.  He is "doing" it with me even though he hates eating three meals a day.

I am so surprised how much more satiated I am with just one meal.  I always chided away from using fats and good lord I was missing out!

My energy is almost back to normal.  I am planning on starting my BB workouts again on Monday (took a week off).  I do them as soon as I get up so there is no time for a PreW,  but I will definitely have a PostW protein.

I have a humongous sugar dragon, my sole reason for working out previously.  This week is hasn't been unbearable.  I try to keep myself distracted and not think of sweet things!

We are going to do this!

Happy Saturday 

Kat

[Kelley Flees]

I am having an absolute blast regarding whole30. I get so excited to make a new recipe. Last night, I had chicken fajita sweet potato skins. = AMAZING?!!  I am doing this plan while my husband is gone for a month for a class for the Air Force. I have my fridge stocked with food. I will have to be careful going forward to not make food too much in advance since he will need room for food too. It is a good problem to have. 

I made a mexican breakfast casserole and that gave me 8 PWO meals. It is stuff like this that makes things easier. 

[Efeiner]

1 hour ago, Kelley Flees said:

I made a mexican breakfast casserole and that gave me 8 PWO meals. It is stuff like this that makes things easier. 

Could you share the Mexican breakfast casserole recipe? Keep up the good work!

[DotinTO]

2 hours ago, MButcher said:

 And an NSV: my acne is clearing up already!

Good stuff! Mine has gotten worse.  I'm hoping it's just a hormone thing and I will start to see it start clearing up soon. It's part of the reason I'm doing this in the first place!

[TryingOver]

@KatKat I use canned pumpkin (not the pumpkin pie filling) in place of canned sweet potato. I've found it is easier to find a compliant version of that.