Day 17, super irritable, people noticing

[dc221104]

I'm on Day 17, and I don't think I have gotten out of the "kill all the things" phase yet. Today it became apparent that my mood is noticeable at work, and my boss asked me if I was ready to pour an entire pot of coffee down my throat to cure my frustrations. I'm not usually this irritable, and I'm disappointed that it's being picked up on by my coworker. I don't think it's affecting my work, and my coworkers are all being very kind--I just am usually pretty likable and friendly, and as the PR/Communications person here, the last thing I want is for people to think I'm testy. I'm wondering if I need to get more starch? I've read that folks prone to anxiety might do well with more starchy veggies. While this isn't anxiety, I seem to be more easily stressed out and wonder if the same principle might apply. 

Here's what I've been eating recently

Meal 1 has been the same every day for the past week or so: 3-4 hardboiled eggs, about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sliced cucumber in vinegar, about 10 black olives, green tea with lemon

Meal 2/3: I always have about 8 baby carrots dipped in guac, and a granny smith apple with my lunch + leftovers from previous dinners. Here are some recent meals from meal 2/3.

--Crockpot brisket and green beans drizzled with olive oil, salt and garlic, sprinkled some ground flax seed on top

--2 chicken thighs (bone-in, skin-on) and stir fried veggie mix in sunflower oil (zucchini, cabbage, carrots, onions, bell pepper, yellow squash, kale, snow peas) with ground flax sprinkled on top

--Shrimp stir fried with bell peppers and onions - I eat a hearty serving of this, seasoned with this cajun spice mix I discovered and it's about the only way I like seafood at all!

--Pork chops and roasted asparagus.

[ArtFossil]

A mod will be along with more, but what about your fats?  I don't see much. Olives, for example, are 1-2 handfuls. Avocado is 1/2 to whole. Oil for cooking generally isn't counted, so you could add ghee, mayo, etc. Are you sleeping? Drinking 1/2 oz of water for each pound of body weight? Moving/exercising? How's your stress level?

[dc221104]

3 minutes ago, ArtFossil said:

A mod will be along with more, but what about your fats?  I don't see much. Olives, for example, are 1-2 handfuls. Avocado is 1/2 to whole. Oil for cooking generally isn't counted, so you could add ghee, mayo, etc. Are you sleeping? Drinking 1/2 oz of water for each pound of body weight? Moving/exercising? How's your stress level?

Adding the olives and guac are my ways of adding fat, because it's already been suggested to me to add more. I add olive oil after I have cooked food in olive oil, mostly because I just genuinely like the taste of it. I honestly do not think I could possibly add more fat to my diet without feeling sick. I've been choking it down as it is. Blah.

I drink 80 ounces or more of water per day, not counting green tea. 80 ounces is more than the 1/2 ounce for each pound of body weight recommendation. As of this moment today, I've already had about 70 ounces of water, so I'd be willing to bet I double that by bedtime. 5/7 days per week, I probably easily drink a gallon. This has been the norm for me even pre-w30.

I am sleeping okay. I have always been a restless sleeper, but I would say my sleep has been very slightly improved lately. 

I have not been exercising as much as I ought, but I get up and move and am not that sedentary either. I probably average 6,000-10,000 steps per day on my tracker. Not great, but certainly not awful, either. I try to take 30-minute walks on my lunch break at minimum, but the weather has not been too cooperative this week. 

My stress level is fairly normal. Nothing out-of-line, to be honest. I've had a lot of work, but it's maybe less than has been the norm over the past few months. I would say that if I had to put a number on it, my stress level has been at like a 3 out of 10. Unfortunately, I seem to be reacting much stronger than is typical for me, and to less stress. I almost lost it today because my computer was taking a long time to save a large file, for example. I have a bellabeat leaf tracker, which also has meditation walkthroughs on it. I generally use one in the evening before bed to help myself relax. 

I'm not having any food cravings at all, and slightly improved sleep, being fuller for longer after meals, and more consistent energy levels throughout the day have been the biggest benefits to W30. I wouldn't say my skin has improved, but I have problem skin and I imagine it would take longer than 17 days to see much difference there. My primary motivation is to screen myself for food allergies or sensitivities, and I actually have an appointment with an allergist on Monday (what will be Day 22 for my W30) because I've had many symptoms of allergic reactions come and go over the past several months--since about last summer.

[jmcbn]

47 minutes ago, dc221104 said:

I'm wondering if I need to get more starch?

Yeah, I don't see any starch there really. Carrots are starchy-ish, but something like parsnips,plantains, white potato, or sweet potato would be better. Start with at least a fist sized serving per day and see how you go. Some people just don't do well when they go too low carb, particularly if they are prone to anxiety....

Some omega 3's wouldn't do any harm either - do you like oily fish?

[dc221104]

Just now, jmcbn said:

Some omega 3's wouldn't do any harm either - do you like oily fish?

OH! I forgot! I don't like seafood (except shrimp), but I take fish oil every day. 

I love sweet potato, it's about my favorite food on earth. I haven't made it recently because I was just trying to introduce variety. 

[kruddock]

I would increase the amount of veggies in M1, add starchy veg as suggested, maybe check your salt intake?  You could also try magnesium just to help you relax more? If you can fit it in, increase your exercise a little more, that usually helps me when I'm in a foul mood.

Also, I noticed in your original food description that you mentioned cooking in sunflower oil, that's unfortunately off limits in the kitchen, sorry!

[dc221104]

5 minutes ago, kruddock said:

I would increase the amount of veggies in M1, add starchy veg as suggested, maybe check your salt intake?  You could also try magnesium just to help you relax more? If you can fit it in, increase your exercise a little more, that usually helps me when I'm in a foul mood.

Also, I noticed in your original food description that you mentioned cooking in sunflower oil, that's unfortunately off limits in the kitchen, sorry!

I would add more veggies into Meal 1.... except I am too full eating what I described. Eating 3-4 hardboiled eggs is almost enough for me at breakfast time alone. I can go down to two eggs and increase my veggies, or I can eat more eggs and less veggies. I don't want to stuff myself to the point of discomfort! I am usually eating this for breakfast around 8 am and am never hungry by the time my lunch rolls around at noon. Sometimes I can push my lunch back, in which case it's often not until about 2 that I start to feel hungry for lunch. I often cannot do that, and I eat at noon anyway, even though I don't feel hungry yet, because the alternative is to not eat until dinner at which point I'd probably be uncomfortably hungry.

My salt intake is another pain point, since I do not like salt. However, I am very cognizant of it because my doctor has requested I get *more* than average because I have chronically low blood pressure.

I do take magnesium.

I haven't been exercising much because I slipped in ice a few weeks back and twisted my back pretty good. But it's something I want to be doing more, trust me. 

According to this, sunflower oil is something one should "limit" and is not completely banned. I used it in this instance because I ran out of olive oil at that time and had a bottle of sunflower oil hiding in the back of the pantry. http://whole30.com/2015/01/rules-recommendations/ I feel okay about my one-time use of it. This quote from there says "don’t stress about using high-oleic safflower or sunflower oil in your homemade mayo"; if it can be used in homemade mayo, I feel like using a couple tablespoons to stir-fry some veggies that were broken up into four servings is low on a list of things I could possibly do wrong.

[kruddock]

It seems like 1/2 to 3/4 cup of cucumber isn't very much for veggies so that's why I suggested more, you could try playing around with the proportions between the eggs & veggies and see if it makes any difference. I wouldn't go below 3 eggs though. It's pretty important to have enough veggies with every meal and as you have probably heard before breakfast is the most important meal of the day, it can set you up for a great day or a bad day.

Sorry to hear about your injury, I hope you are feeling better real soon. If you could incorporate some stretching that might even help until you are back on your feet. Don't rush it though, you don't want a relapse.  Keep in mind an injury can always make you feel down in the dumps too!

I usually try to follow all the recommendations so I guess it is kind of cemented in my brain not to use sunflower oil or any of those other ones we need to limit, thanks for the reminder though. Glad to know you are doing the best you can under the circumstances and you thought carefully before using it!

I think you are doing really well, these are all very nit-picky things because there isn't too much else we can tell you other than to think positive and you'll get through this.  You are definitely on the right track with the Whole30, good luck!

[dc221104]

This morning I shifted my usual carrots and guac for lunch to breakfast and went down to two eggs. I know I shouldn't sacrifice protein, but there's just no way I could stomach three eggs with that. I get the largest size egg available that come from free range chickens, so they're pretty sizable. I'm sure it's still not ideal, but I just can't force myself to overeat.

So, since I last posted, here's what I have had:

Meal 3 last night: Baked chicken thighs (this recipe, which is super delish btw https://stupideasypaleo.com/2013/12/13/crispy-italian-chicken-thighs/), green beans tossed in EVOO + salt and lemon with some ground flax seed sprinkled on top, sweet potato--about half of a potato, cubed, tossed in EVOO + herbs

Meal 1 today: 2 eggs with a dash of salt, 10ish baby carrots (I didn't count, but that's about the number that fits in the tupperware I use for carrots every day) and guac, 13 thick slices of cucumber (for some reason I did count this) in vinegar

Meal 2: Left over chicken and green beans (saved the other half of the potato for tonight's dinner) and an apple. 

Meal 3 is planned to be the same as last night's dinner. I made like 2 pounds of green beans because they were on sale. 

I've had almost 60 ounces of water so far, and I'm about to make some green tea simply to have something hot to drink because it's cold in my office. 

I haven't felt that irritable today, but I have felt *really* lethargic, like all of the energy has been sucked out of my body. I haven't felt this way much on W30, so it could be isolated. I had fairly restless sleep last night where I felt overheated then cold then hot and on, so that's not helping. I also experienced puffy eyes when I woke up. Waking up with swollen eyelids is part of my motivation for doing W30. I'm convinced there's an allergen somewhere in my system, because I also have a runny nose all the time (not to get all TMI, but it's thin and watery, which seems like an allergic reaction) and I will get itchy all over my body after I eat sometimes, and will also get super phlegmy in my throat after meals--which I had always assumed was dairy. I haven't had much of the phlegm issue since starting W30, at least. I'm seeing an allergist on Monday, but I was disappointed that I had this eyelid symptom return. I had hoped Whole30 would help me identify what is causing this, but apparently I haven't quite fettered it out yet. I thought I ruled out environmental factors, but it's possible I'm missing something--and of course the allergist is the best person to help me identify that, so I am looking forward to Monday.

My back is doing a lot better lately, but I have been over-cautious about the healing process because I have made the mistake before of returning to the gym too quickly after injury. I actually do want to go to the gym after work today to walk on the treadmill, figuring that if I can handle some incline walking at a good pace without any pain I will be closer to being able to do more. 

24 minutes ago, kruddock said:

I usually try to follow all the recommendations so I guess it is kind of cemented in my brain not to use sunflower oil or any of those other ones we need to limit, thanks for the reminder though. Glad to know you are doing the best you can under the circumstances and you thought carefully before using it!

I had the link for the sunflower oil situation ready, because I had to research it when that happened! Believe me when I say I really stocked up on EVOO the next day In a perfect world, I wouldn't have used it, but I could have made many worse decisions. 

[dc221104]

Just as an update, I went to the gym. My workout was.... terrible. I had meant to do 45-60 minutes of fast-paced walking on the treadmill at varying inclines as a way to test my back. I had to stop at 35 minutes because I had zero energy. I felt like my legs and arms were weak. Before I went, I had some olives as a pre-wo snack. I meant to have olives and another hardboiled egg, but my dad called and I got distracted talking to him on the phone. Now, I've been more tired than usual all day today and my pre-wo snack wasn't outstanding, and I also forgot my water bottle, which was another victim of distraction from my father's call. I drink a lot of water all day, so I didn't feel dehydrated, but it's on the list of things that could have made my workout so miserable. The good news is that I didn't have any back pain, but we'll see how I feel in the morning. 

After my workout, I had my planned dinner of chicken + green beans + sweet potato. I also had a can of sparkling water with lime juice, because it seemed refreshing and I haven't had it in a while. I was right, it was super refreshing.

Also noteworthy is that I wasn't very hungry. I wasn't hungry before I went to the gym, nor when I returned, but I ate within 20 minutes of my workout anyway. I did a lot of leg stretches afterward as well to help keep my legs from feeling so weak and useless. Walking up the stairs to my second floor apartment was a lot harder than usual after what shouldn't have been that trying of a workout. 

I also noticed my heart rate was up higher than usual. Granted, the hand censors on a treadmill aren't the most accurate, so I'm guessing the readings above 170 were not completely right, but I could feel my heart rate getting high. I know I haven't exercised much in the past couple of months but I shouldn't be this out of shape. I have a low resting pulse, too. I didn't get too terribly sweaty, but this attempt at a workout was just so unsuccessful and miserable and blah. I don't know why I'm feeling so off right now. I had been hoping for some tiger blood at this point