Day 16 - Am I doing this right?

[DCDeeDee]

I am on Day 16 and I am wondering if you all could analyze what I am eating and tell me if I am doing this right. My main goal is weight loss. I had stomach cramps for the first week but now feel fine. The only improvement I feel is less bloating after I eat but it's not enough to make my pants fit differently. I also did what I wasn't supposed to do and weighed myself this morning and there hasn't been an ounce difference in my weight. I'm concerned I'm doing something wrong. I feel like I should feel skinnier or see improvements to my body composition but I don't. I am sleeping 8-9 hours a night (I'm a good sleeper and haven't seen improvement here as improvement wasn't needed really). If i had to diagnose myself I would say I need to drink more water (that's a chronic thing for me - I never drink enough but I'm not dehydrated) and I need to eat more veggies (though eating more would be hard, I'm quite full and satisfied as is with what I am eating). What do you all think?

Here is what I am eating (pictures included):

Note: I use coconut oil in the pan to scramble eggs; ghee with mashed sweet potatoes and when roasting veggies. 

Sample Day 1

M1: 2 eggs scrambled with a palm-size amount of carnitas made in crock pot with 2 tablespoons of homemade avocado aioli on top; handful of raspberries

Mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack (which I only really had for the first 10 days); a cup of compliant dried fruit (raisins, apricots, or mango)

M2: Palm-size amount of carnitas with aioli; 1 cup of roasted carrots; 1 cup of roasted beets; 1 plum

M3: 3 eggs and 2 stalks of celery made into egg salad with homemade mayo, eaten with sliced cucumbers that I pretended were chips; squeezable 50 calorie apple strawberry fruit by Nature's Promise 

Sample Day 2

M1: 2 eggs scrambled with a handful of spinach; 1 Aidells chicken/apple sausage; handful of raspberries

M2: palm-sized serving of cashew beef recipe from book (minus the green peppers so it was beef, celery, and cashews only) with cauliflower rice; squeezable fruit

M3: palm and a half serving of cashew beef; mashed sweet potato; asparagus wrapped in prosciutto; squeezable fruit

Sample Day 3

M1: 2 eggs scrambled with a handful of spinach; 1 Aidells chicken/apple sausage; half of an avocado; cup of fruit (melon; raspberries; blueberries)

M2: 10 chicken meatballs; grilled asparagus with homemade lemon aioli; half cup of fruit (melon and raspberries)

M3: palm-size amount of grilled rib-eye, grilled asparagus with aioli; mashed sweet potatoes

 

Current mood: =( I just want to be skinnier...sigh.

[laura_juggles]

First of all, remember that you're only on Day 16. It's a Whole30, not a Whole16

Some other things to take into consideration: you seem to be massively stressing yourself out over losing weight. Lots of stress makes it darn near impossible to lose weight. You need to up the water, and probably cut the fruit in favor of more veggies. Several meals have fruit but hardly any veg at all. 

Are you exercising?

[DCDeeDee]

16 minutes ago, laura_juggles said:

First of all, remember that you're only on Day 16. It's a Whole30, not a Whole16

Some other things to take into consideration: you seem to be massively stressing yourself out over losing weight. Lots of stress makes it darn near impossible to lose weight. You need to up the water, and probably cut the fruit in favor of more veggies. Several meals have fruit but hardly any veg at all. 

Are you exercising?

I'm stressing today, yes, but I haven't been stressing for the past 15 days. I had just been going with the flow. Then, I did the stupidest thing ever by stepping on the scale. I had pretty much assumed it would tell me I weigh the same but seeing it in those big numbers was a hit to my still flabby gut. I swear, I'll chill out about it and stop stressing but the tips to make sure I'm doing this right are what I'm really after. 

I can cut down on the fruit if that's really needed. And, I'll up the veggies too. But, by how much do you think? Should I be adding a whole 1-2 cups of veggies each meal? That seems like so much! I'm really honestly full after eating as is. The fruit isn't really necessary for full-ness, it's just a sweet ending kind of thing which through some tough love I can do without. 

I am exercising a little bit. I go to Orangetheory (a high intensity interval training class that includes treadmill, rowing machine, and weights) but I don't go often. I've been 3 times since I started Whole30. I try to get two sessions in per week but my first week of Whole30 coincided with a horrible cold so I skipped that week completely and it's actually been really hard to get into classes ever since the New Year with resolutioners jamming everything up so I've been averaging 1 session a week. The classes tend to be heavy on cardio and light on weights and since I've not been going regularly or very often I don't think I've gained any muscle weight. I feel roughly the same composition-wise. 

[laura_juggles]

Yes, cut the fruit. That sweet ending? It your brain telling you it wants dessert. Your body will do better with the vegetables. 

Plates are supposed to be the portion of protein, and then the entire rest of the plate covered in vegetables, and then whatever you're having as your fat. Your cashew beef meals look closest to the template, but the one with the carnitas, beets, and carrots also looked pretty good. 

[slc_melissa]

I think you're implying you were only eating the dried fruit for the first few days and aren't currently, but a cup of dried fruit as a snack with no fat or protein is a pretty massive sugar bomb and could definitely have affected those first 10 days and beyond.  Echo everyone else on the more veg.  I'd try to cut out the squeezable fruit, and just stick with the real fruit.  

[DCDeeDee]

Ok. Got it. Thanks for the tips!

Now a new question: what are some ideas for veggies for breakfast? I have a hard time coming up with veggies that sound good in the morning, probably because I don't like omelets (I can do spinach in my eggs but otherwise I don't like my eggs mixed together with anything). I did do a sunny-side up egg in a nest of zuchini noodles this morning (along with half an avocado and a chicken apple sausage) and it was delicious so I have at least one go-to breakfast veggie now: zoodles! But, can you give me some other ideas of what veggies you use to fill your plate in the morning, other than omelets? 

 

 

[laura_juggles]

I don't particularly like eggs. So I had lots of non-egg breakfasts. I've found that I really love warm, savory soup in the morning. Mel Joulwan has recipes for zucchini soup and cauliflower soup and I could live on those. I'd do a big bowl of soup, steak or chicken, and coconut cream blended into my morning coffee for meals during my Whole30 and I still have that for breakfast sometimes. For me, there's something about that big, warm bowl (maybe with some nuts or pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top) that kind of hits those cozy breakfast notes of something like oatmeal (which I don't actually like, ironically), without being one of those weird non-compliant zucchini/coconut/egg "faux-meal" concoctions. 

[scma]

I absolutely love my egg breakfasts. Over the weekend I roast some cubed sweet potatoes with a little onion and sliced garlic in coconut oil and put them in the fridge. Then in the mornings I microwave about a cup of the sweet potatoes on a plate, then slide my 3 sunny-side-up fried eggs (cooked in coconut oil) on top of the sweet potatoes. Salt and pepper, then cut up the eggs so that the yolks break and make like a sauce on the whole thing. Super yummy. It's the only truly satisfying meal for me during the day.

[DCDeeDee]

45 minutes ago, scma said:

I absolutely love my egg breakfasts. Over the weekend I roast some cubed sweet potatoes with a little onion and sliced garlic in coconut oil and put them in the fridge. Then in the mornings I microwave about a cup of the sweet potatoes on a plate, then slide my 3 sunny-side-up fried eggs (cooked in coconut oil) on top of the sweet potatoes. Salt and pepper, then cut up the eggs so that the yolks break and make like a sauce on the whole thing. Super yummy. It's the only truly satisfying meal for me during the day.

Definitely trying this soon!

[DCDeeDee]

1 hour ago, laura_juggles said:

I don't particularly like eggs. So I had lots of non-egg breakfasts. I've found that I really love warm, savory soup in the morning. Mel Joulwan has recipes for zucchini soup and cauliflower soup and I could live on those. I'd do a big bowl of soup, steak or chicken, and coconut cream blended into my morning coffee for meals during my Whole30 and I still have that for breakfast sometimes. For me, there's something about that big, warm bowl (maybe with some nuts or pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top) that kind of hits those cozy breakfast notes of something like oatmeal (which I don't actually like, ironically), without being one of those weird non-compliant zucchini/coconut/egg "faux-meal" concoctions. 

I hadn't thought of soup. I'm going to look into this! Thanks!

[slc_melissa]

What are your favorite vegetables?  Eat those.

My personal favorites are (leftover) roasted sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, or asparagus.  I usually roast vegetables by sprinkling them with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roasting at 400 degrees F for 25-35 min. 

[Guest]

I usually go for leftover roasted potatoes or sweet potatoes for breakfast, or I'll put homemade salsa or the red pepper sauce from the book on my eggs.

[Pfgny]

I know potatoes and sweet potatoes are considered veggies on the Whole30, but to me they are carb heavy. Looks to me like you're getting a lot of those, and also a lot of fat.  Maybe if you ate less of that you'd have more room for the greens?  Or at least try to fill up on protein and green veg, save the heavies for last and eat less or skip them if you're full.  Not breakfast, but the other meals, especially dinner, where you're less likely to move enough to work it off.  And I agree with others, fresh fruit with all its fiber when possible instead of the more concentrated sweetness when dried or from a  tube.

Btw, I also love roasting cubed sweet potatoes or butternut squash with cubed beets and a little chopped onion and kale, kind of like a hash, for breakfast, then breaking my eggs over it like you do.  I plan to roast a big batch, stick it in the freezer in a zip-loc, then shake out whatever I want in the morning so all I really have to do is cook the eggs.  Yummmmm....

Good luck!

 

[laura_juggles]

14 hours ago, Pfgny said:

I know potatoes and sweet potatoes are considered veggies on the Whole30, but to me they are carb heavy. Looks to me like you're getting a lot of those, and also a lot of fat.  Maybe if you ate less of that you'd have more room for the greens?  Or at least try to fill up on protein and green veg, save the heavies for last and eat less or skip them if you're full.  Not breakfast, but the other meals, especially dinner, where you're less likely to move enough to work it off.  And I agree with others, fresh fruit with all its fiber when possible instead of the more concentrated sweetness when dried or from a  tube.

Btw, I also love roasting cubed sweet potatoes or butternut squash with cubed beets and a little chopped onion and kale, kind of like a hash, for breakfast, then breaking my eggs over it like you do.  I plan to roast a big batch, stick it in the freezer in a zip-loc, then shake out whatever I want in the morning so all I really have to do is cook the eggs.  Yummmmm....

Good luck!

 

Just to clarify re: fats, her fat portions are a-ok in the context of a Whole30. 

[Pfgny]

Sorry, I really meant she could try eating the green veg before the starchy carbs, which are quite filling.  I shouldn't have mentioned the fat at all.  I actually think I don't get enough, as fat being good is a new idea for me.