Appetite/Energy Swings

[Monii_1013]

I'm on day 18 of my first Whole30 and need some advice! 

The first week was actually pretty great and the only thing I really missed was creamer in my coffee. I even felt myself losing inches and clothes became a little looser. The second week, I felt myself gaining weight and definitely went through the "KILL ALL THE THINGS" phase for a day or two with people. This third week, I feel like I've had huge swings in appetite, energy and mood. Earlier this week, I had my normal breakfast (paleo bacon +  3 eggs) and could barely eat half my lunch (spring greens with chicken, tomatoes and cucumbers) and wasn't hungry again the rest of the day! Yesterday, I wanted to eat ALL the things despite having my normal breakfast + an avocado. I ended up snacking on some almonds while I waited for others who would be meeting us for a lunch meeting (eating out on Whole30 is the worst) and had a sad salad with some chicken. I ended up having a good dinner of again mostly greens with protein, but It was hard to stay full yesterday. 

Today, I'm feeling great and very energetic, but yesterday I was absolutely exhausted for no reason. I had my normal 7-8 hours of sleep and ate even a little more than my normally do so I'm not sure what the reason was. 

Normal parts of my diet: lots of broccoli and other veggies, eggs, avocados, curry sauces (especially Yai's), bananas, almond butter, sweet potatoes, red potatoes, ground turkey, ground beef, steak, ghee, avocado oil, paleo bacon and a lot of seasonings. With the exception of the ghee and paleo bacon, I regularly ate all of these things before starting Whole30 and generally preferred a more veggie based dish over grains. I love sugar, but have obviously eliminated it for this month and as a result I don't drink as much coffee as I normally do. 

I work out 2-3 times a week and sleep about 8 hours a night regularly. My job isn't generally stressful. I also get the occasional migraine (I believe mostly due to barometric pressure), but lately they've been having after breakfast when I'm driving to work instead of just waking up with one. 

I'm about 5'2" with about 40 pounds to lose (I know this isn't the point of Whole30), and wanted to do it to "reset" my body so I can steer back to 80% clean eating. 

Any insight as to why I seem to be all over the place this week?

[jmcbn]

Hey @Monii_1013 - so a couple of questions to see if we can't help you figure this out...

Assuming you're female where are you in your cycle?

Are you salting your food?

How much water are you drinking?

What type of work outs do you do? And are you including a pre and/or a postWO meal?

What does your daily schedule look like? ie. When are you waking & when are your meals?

What do your actual meals look like? Please provide a few days wirth of *actual* meals, rather than a list of common ingredients as it may be that the composition of your meals needs some tweaking.

[Monii_1013]

1. I am about a a week and half from getting my period. I don't normally vary this much in mood or appetite though when I'm not doing Whole30, so it didn't occur to me as a potential contributing factor. 

2. I usually add a bit of salt to my food but honestly prefer other spices like onion and garlic powder, ginger powder, curry powder etc. I probably use more of those than I do actual salt. 

3. I probably don't drink as much water as I should. I average maybe 2 18oz bottles a day including during my workouts. I have been drinking a bit more on Whole30 since most other liquids are out.

4. Previously my workouts were after work so I would have a small snack before going, but usually not each much of anything after because I wasn't hungry. My workouts are typically some strength training and about 20-30 minutes of a form of cardio (elliptical, running, cycling etc.) Today I switched to working out in the morning first thing, and made sure to have an egg before going even though I wasn't hungry (it was 4:30 am) and had a breakfast of eggs, paleo turkey bacon, spinach and avocado when I came back. I know pre/post workout meals aren't supposed to replace actual meals but I couldn't imagine eating three times in the span of two hours partially because I wasn't hungry and partially because I don't have the time to do so before work. 

5. My schedule varies, but for the sake of meals I'll tell you my schedule yesterday. Wake up between 6-6:30 am, get ready for work, have breakfast (two eggs, paleo turkey bacon and a small avocado) around 7:45/8am. Yesterday we had a reception at work, so I had some fruit (the only thing that was Whole30) around 10:45am and had my lunch around 1:00pm. Lunch was ground turkey, broccoli, cauliflower and roasted red potatoes in a yellow curry sauce. I couldn't tell you how much of each really because it was all mixed together, but the ground turkey and the veggies were the bulk of it. I had two small nectarines around 3:30 pm.  I got home from work around 7:00pm and ate a dinner of steak salad (steak, spinach, one boiled egg, cherry tomatoes and compliant greek salad dressing) around 8:00pm, and went to bed around 11:00. I felt pretty good food wise yesterday and didn't have any changes in appetite, mood or energy. 

 

Breakfast for me is the same every day: two eggs, two slices of paleo turkey bacon and an avocado. Today I added spinach because I wanted to add more veggies and I will likely continue to do that. I love my coffee very sweet, so I haven't been having coffee very much while doing Whole30. I get coffee maybe once every couple of days and usually drink it after 9am. I have noticed that it acted as an appetite suppressant the times I have had it though. 

Lunch varies depending on what I had prepped but sometimes it's a salad with an egg, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, chicken (or steak), spinach and compliant dressing. Sometimes it's veggies (mostly broccoli and brussel sprouts), roasted red potatoes and a protein like chicken. 

Dinner is usually the same as lunch.