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Kirbz's Whole30 Log


kirbz

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MINI RESET, Day 5: Friday, February 8

Sleep Last Night: 8 hours 38 minutes (0:32 deep; 5:17 light; 2:49 REM; 0:21 awake)

Wakeup: 7:15 am

Meal 1 (8:30 am): three scrambled eggs with a splash of coconut milk cooked in leftover bacon fat; 2.5 slices of bacon; large bowl of zucchini soup

Exercise (12:00-1:00 pm): 1.85-mile snowshoe hike with 318 feet of elevation gain (170 max HR; 143 average HR)

Meal 2 (1:30 pm): four chicken tenders pan-cooked in avocado oil with BBQ sauce, salt, and pepper; one can of sliced potatoes pan-cooked in ghee

Meal 3 (8:30 pm): five slices of tri-tip cooked on the BBQ with marinade; three half spinach and artichoke potatoes

Water Intake: ~80 oz

Steps: 11,104

Symptoms/NSVs:

  • Still constipated

Thoughts/Reflections: Nothing significant to report today. Need more vegetables and more water. And probably less potatoes….

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Two things I wanted to note: 

  1. I have not been sick since I started my Whole30 journey shortly after Thanksgiving. This is despite coworkers, friends, and family all around me getting sick with all kinds of cold and flu yuckiness. 
  2. Bread, especially bread all on its own, is a trigger for me. It makes me want to eat all the things. Cookies. Chocolate. Ice cream. More bread. So bread is most definitely only for very special occasions. 
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I want to be eating more vegetables so I think I'm going to try a new thing for next week. I'm going to come up with a list of a variety of vegetables, some familiar and some newer, and commit to incorporate those into my meals for the week. So, here's what I have planned for next week! I'd like to then follow up and account for how I did! 

Vegetable List for Week of February 18

  • Asparagus
  • Cucumber
  • Kale (rarely eat) 
  • Broccoli 
  • Zucchini
  • Yellow Squash (rarely eat) 
  • Radishes (rarely eat) 
  • Cabbage (rarely eat) 
  • Brussel Sprouts 
  • Cauliflower 
  • Beets (rarely eat) 
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Well, I've eaten mostly garbage since my mini reset a bit over a week ago. They were not conscientious food choices. They were not "worth it" choices. They were born of laziness and convenience, which has always been my downfall with Whole30.  In my defense, we have been absolutely buried in snow, are struggling with flooding, and have had a couple of power outages. But, alas, I could have made more thoughtful food choices. Or at least eaten better garbage food! 

But, I'm going to do another mini reset and get back on track. And I intend to still eat all the vegetables I noted above! Bring on the vegetables! This will be my healthiest week of Whole30 yet! 

Two things worth noting though: 

  1. I still haven't given in to the temptation to have any sweet things. I have not had any chocolate or other forms of dessert since I started my Whole30 in November. I'm still not ready for that. 
  2. My pooping has returned to normal since going back to a SAD diet. I am now happily pooping once a day, in the morning, as I normally do. I'm not sure what it is about Whole30 that makes me so darn constipated! I'm going to try for more water and more vegetables, because I believe I've read that that helps... 
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Well, my Girl Scout Cookie order arrived. I guess it's just as well that it arrived today because I just committed myself to another mini reset! I'm honestly just not ready to reintroduce desserts into my life so this is something that helps me remain strong to my goals and committments! Because honestly, I truly just cannot see the point in eating a single cookie. In my past life, I would eat the whole box in one sitting. And even know, even with all I've learned, it honestly doesn't feel like it would even be worth eating a cookie unless I ate an entire row of them! And I don't want that right now. So I guess I wait longer until that attitude changes, or until it's worth it to eat a whole row... 

So, here we are with Day 1 of my latest mini reset. This one is about eating all the veggies! Though I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of these in my near future as I figure out how to make better food choices. 

MINI RESET #2, Day 1: Tuesday, February 19

Meal 1 (7:30 am):  two over-easy eggs cooked in leftover bacon fat; ~2.5 cups of breakfast egg roll in a bowl (cabbage, carrots, broccoli, sausage, seasoning/spices)

Meal 2 (12:30 pm): 5 salisbury steak meatballs served with generous portion of gravy; ~1.5 cups mashed potatoes served with generous portion of gravy

Meal 3 (8:00 pm): four chicken tenders pan-cooked in avocado oil with BBQ sauce, salt, and pepper; ~2 cups chopped Turkish salad (cucumbers, green peppers, tomatoes, radishes, onion, olives) with olive oil and lemon juice dressing

Water Intake: ~80 oz

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MINI RESET #2, Day 2: Wednesday, February 20

Meal 1 (8:30 am):  ~2 cups of breakfast egg roll in a bowl (cabbage, carrots, broccoli, sausage, seasoning/spices)

Meal 2 (1:30 pm): 5 salisbury steak meatballs served with generous portion of gravy; ~1.5 cups mashed potatoes served with generous portion of gravy

Meal 3 (8:00 pm): four chicken tenders pan-cooked in avocado oil with BBQ sauce, salt, and pepper; ~2 cups chopped Turkish salad (cucumbers, green peppers, tomatoes, radishes, onion, olives) with olive oil and lemon juice dressing; bowl of cauliflower soup

Water Intake: ~60 oz

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Welp... I ate an entire box of Caramel deLites. In one sitting. In about 15 minutes. 

The choice was not a particular well thought out one. I got stuck at work doing someone else's work and was there until nearly 8:00 pm. I was annoyed and hungry and tired and angry. And I had six boxes of Girl Scout Cookies sitting right there, because a co-worked had just delivered my order to me earlier in the week. 

So I made a choice to eat one row. That felt okay to me. I think I would have supported that decision today if I had stopped there. 

I wish I could say that the cookie didn't taste good. That, after more than three months without a single dessert, it would taste overly sweet and artificial. It did not. It was wonderful. And delightful. And amazing. And I loved every bite. 

So much so that I continued my way through the entire box. 

Good news is that I'm not having any significant cravings or other ill-effects the day after. Bad news is that I clearly still have no control over sweet delicious things. 

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  • 1 month later...

Alright, I'm back. Those darn Girl Scout cookies led to a complete downward spiral straight into a deep, dark abyss of SAD eating. It was back to fast foods, tubs of ice cream, bags of family-sized chocolate, cold cereal, and all foods completely devoid of any nutritional content. It. Was. Bad. 

So, here I am again. Another round and high hopes that this one sticks. I think I'm going to have to come to terms with the fact that I may not be able to do traditional desserts ever again. I cannot moderate them. I thought that I had my food choices under control. I really did. And I actually kinda did for stuff like an occasional slice of pizza or a burger and fries. But not for chocolate or candy or cupcakes or pies. Not at all. Not even close. 

I started eating Whole30 yesterday, but I think I might make tomorrow my official start day because I want 30 days of more than just Whole30. I want: 

  • 30 days of Whole30 eating
  • 30 days of exercise (I'll count 30+ minutes of walking as exercise)
  • 30 days of at least 10,000 steps 
  • 30 days of drinking at least 80oz of water 

I also want to focus on more variety of vegetables and less potatoes. But I'm not going to hold myself strictly accountable to that because sustainability in the way I plan and prepare my meals will be my number one priority. This one needs to last! 

Here we go! 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Greetings....instead of Girl Scout cookies (I remember selling those MANY years ago) how about having a few Lara bars handy. They are compliant (read the ingredients to be sure) and satisfy my occasional desire for something sweet. I cut the bar into about 4-5 pieces and eat one at a time, savoring each one, and limit myself to just 1 or 2, telling myself the rest will be there (in the refrigerator) if I want more, but that’s enough for now. That works for me. Good luck. Have fun with your W30 journey, enjoy the ride. The journal, Whole30 Day by Day is very helpful, I highly recommend it. It both guides and encourages you each day, and helps you keep track of your progress!! Good luck! :D

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  • 4 months later...

Alright, here I am again. I'm back up to 210 pounds and eating the saddest of SAD diets imaginable. And yet, I've been super active, climbing and backpacking and doing all the outdoor things I love. But those activities have been hard. So much harder than they need to be if I were just healthier. So, here I am. 

I have two major climbs coming up this month, including my very first combined backpacking/alpine climbing trip! My biggest concern will be fueling during 6+ hour days in the mountains. The new workout guidelines have me a bit confused and I haven't really figured them out yet. But they sound more appealing than the prior guidelines and I like the information about fueling during a workout so I'm giving them a try. I just bought a bunch of baby food pouches and tuna pouches and we'll see how those do! 

And then there's the ever-present challenge of making this sustainable. I don't mind eating this way. I do truly come to enjoy it and the cravings go away. But the time commitment of eating this way is just ... so daunting. I've done everything I can to make this easy, but it's still so much harder than picking something up on the way home. That'll probably be the thing I focus on the most. Fast and easy (and with minimal dishes)! 

Wish me luck! 

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ROUND 3, Day 1: Monday, September 2

Meal 1: three scrambled eggs with a splash of coconut milk; small bowl of zucchini soup; 2.5 slices of bacon

Exercise (6 hours, 40 minutes): 10.24 mile hike with 2,895 feet of elevation gain and some class III scrambling (139 average HR; 175 max HR)

Intra-Workout Snack: snack pack of coconut butter; Wild Zora meat and veggie bar

Meal 2: can of lemon pepper tuna  

Meal 3: three BBQ chicken thighs with BBQ sauce; two halves spinach and artichoke twice baked potatoes

Water Intake: ~120 oz

Symptoms/NSVs:

  • Heartburn (for the second half of my hike)
  • Extreme fatigue on return hike

Thoughts/Reflections: Day 1. Here we go.

I should have eaten more, especially given the big hike that I did. But, it’s such a pain in a** to eat on Whole30. So I didn’t. And the struggle continues…

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ROUND 3, Day 2: Tuesday, September 3

Meal 1: two scrambled eggs with a splash of coconut milk; small bowl of zucchini soup (which I ate later)

Meal 2: three BBQ chicken thighs with BBQ sauce; one half spinach and artichoke twice baked potato; head of steamed broccolini

Snack: green smoothie (coconut water, aloe juice, spinach, parsley, orange, pineapple, avocado) + one hard boiled egg

Meal 3: baked salmon; two halves spinach and artichoke twice baked potato; steamed carrots

Water Intake: ~80 oz

Symptoms/NSVs:

  • Heartburn (worse than yesterday, starting a few hours after I woke up for several hours)
  • Extreme thirst
  • All-day hunger (my stomach felt like a bottomless pit, even when eating a large, hearty meal)

Thoughts/Reflections: This was not a perfect day. But I’m not going for perfect on this round. I’m going for sustainable. And this felt pretty simple, yet still hearty and fairly delicious.

I’m also making a conscious decision to include green smoothies on this round, at least for this week. Again, it’s mostly about sustainability. How do I make eating whole foods easy so that it can truly become a lifestyle change? Green smoothies feel like part of that equation for me. 

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I've just skimmed through your logs past and present and WOW, first of all I love how detailed and honest you are, and second of all I feel like I'm reading a version of my own story with Whole30.  Soldiered through my first round successfully, kinda half-assed it on my second, with some stops and starts in between.  This stuff is HARD.

I'm rooting for you!  Here's to "not perfect, but sustainable!" :)

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@Prairie Dawn Oh thank you, that's very kind! I'm glad you enjoyed looking through my log and that you can relate. It really is hard! But I know how good I feel, so it really shouldn't be that hard, right? If only that were the case! Food really does do some crazy things to your mental processing! 

Anyway, thanks for checking in! Best wishes to you too! Let's do this! 

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ROUND 3, Day 3: Wednesday, September 4

Meal 1: green smoothie (coconut water, aloe juice, spinach, parsley, orange, pineapple, avocado)

Meal 2: three BBQ chicken thighs with BBQ sauce; one half spinach and artichoke twice baked potato; steamed carrots  

Snack: banana

Exercise (30 min): 3.06-mile trail run on flat trails (157 average HR; 182 max HR)

Meal 3: grilled ribeye steak with seasoning; baked potato with ghee; large sliced cucumber; can of coconut water  

Water Intake: ~80 oz

Symptoms/NSVs:

  • Heartburn (for a short time in the evening)
  • Lack of cravings

Thoughts/Reflections: One thing to note for myself is that I’m no longer going to worry about pre- and post-workout snacks for short stuff like a run around the neighborhood or yoga. Which I think aligns with the new guidelines… Either way, it's too much hassle and not sustainable so I'm not doing it. That's just the way it's going to be for this round. 

However, I do want to work on making my snacks a bit better. I’d like them to be a combination of protein and fat or protein and carbs. I ordered some convenience foods from Thrive Market that should arrive later this week that should fit the bill and help me improve there.

On a high note, I’m not really having any cravings. I think I’m just so darn committed to what I want that I’m not even allowing myself to mentally think about other stuff. Yay me.

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ROUND 3, Day 4: Thursday, September 5

Meal 1: large bowl of zucchini soup  

Meal 2: large bowl of chicken vegetable stir fry with carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, bell pepper, snap peas, and onion; large handful of Castelvetrano olives

Snack (before workout): one hard-boiled egg; 8 oz green smoothie

Exercise (48 min): 6.3-mile mountain bike ride with 285 feet of elevation gain (145 average HR; 172 max HR)

Snack (after workout): 8 oz green smoothie; can of coconut water  

Meal 3: two round steaks cooked in whole stewed tomatoes; baked potato with ghee and salt; brussel sprouts cooked in ghee with salt and pepper

Water Intake: ~100 oz

Symptoms/NSVs:

  • none

Thoughts/Reflections: I was so proud yesterday that I was feeling so committed and strong. That I didn’t have any cravings.

Well… not so much today. I wasn’t very satisfied with my Whole30 meals and I wanted all the foods.

And I guess that’s the problem. Convenience Whole30 foods aren’t very good to me. Not at all. In the meantime, convenience SAD foods are delicious and amazing! And the options are endless. And they’re fast. And cheap. And did I mention delicious?

And well that kinda sucks…

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Hi Kirbz! I've skimmed the last few pages of your food journal. So many kudos for you for your long-term journal! This is my first time doing it and I'm on Day 5 too. At a quick glance, it doesn't seem like you're eating enough for the amount of exercise you do, which I know you noted a few times. Is there any opportunity to eat more throughout the day? I know when I'm hungry, my mind immediately goes to bad food cravings. Anyway, just a thought from a newbie. I hope this round goes well for you!! 

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Hi @JessFind! Thanks for your thoughtful comment! I do tend to under-eat on Whole30, particularly during the week, because it's really just such a pain in the butt to eat this way. And I had quite an epiphany yesterday in that I realized that I really kinda despise Whole30 convenience foods. So, I'm not really sure how to get more foods in. I should probably start looking at building in a fourth meal each day because I tend to have long days. For example, I was up and moving from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday. That probably warrants four meals. 

On the other hand, my main meals are generally really large. So I think my log is slightly deceptive because the size of my meals may not come across. For example, my dinner yesterday was two full palm-sized servings of protein, a large baked potato with a ton of ghee (probably two full tablespoons), and ~2 cups of brussel sprouts cooked in more ghee. I also eat A LOT of potatoes, which I think helps compensate for my activity levels. 

Anyway, this is great food for thought so thanks for sharing! Best wishes to you on your first Whole30! 

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I gotta say, your Whole30 meals look pretty delicious!  Totally understand on the "convenience" foods not always being appealing on this plan.  One can only eat so many hardboiled eggs, after all.

I think your idea to add a fourth meal is a good one, considering how active you are and that you're not feeling satisfied.  Also something else to consider, how is the timing of your meals?  Maybe that has something to do with the satisfaction levels.  Active from 6:30-9:30 is a long frickin day!

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ROUND 3, Day 5: Friday, September 6

Meal 1: large bowl of chicken vegetable stir fry with carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, bell pepper, snap peas, and onion; large handful of Castelvetrano olives

Meal 2: two round steaks cooked in whole stewed tomatoes; small baked potato with ghee and salt; green beans cooked in ghee with salt and pepper

Meal 3: three BBQ chicken thighs with BBQ sauce; can of sliced potatoes cooked in ghee; six dill pickle spears

Water Intake: ~60 oz

Symptoms/NSVs:

  • Extreme exhaustion in the morning (it was super hard to get out of bed)
  • Bloating (my stomach felt full and bloated for most of the afternoon)
  • Lack of cravings (which was a relief after yesterday) 

Thoughts/Reflections: Nothing significant to report today. 

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ROUND 3, Day 6: Saturday, September 7

Meal 1: three scrambled eggs with a splash of coconut milk; bowl of zucchini soup; two slices of bacon

Meal 2: baked salmon with BBQ sauce; can of sliced potatoes cooked in ghee; three dill pickle spears; large handful of grape tomatoes

Exercise (50 min): 2.32-mile hike with 554 feet of elevation gain (143 average HR; 180 max HR)

Snack: two bananas

Meal 3: large bowl citrus grilled shrimp with zucchini noodles and citrus avocado oil sauce

Water Intake: ~90 oz

Symptoms/NSVs:

  • Poor physical stamina during exercise

Thoughts/Reflections: I did a hike today that shouldn’t have been hard. I’ve been training hard and doing much harder hikes. But… It. Was. Hard. I was so disappointed. I’m not sure whether its because of where I am during my Whole30 journey or because I’m really just not getting stronger.

Either way, it was disappointing and frustrating. And doesn’t bode well for the big climbing adventure I have planned for Monday. I didn’t do myself any favors starting on a day when my big climb would fall during the “I just want a nap…” phase. Oops.

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ROUND 3, Day 8: Monday, September 9

Meal 1: three scrambled eggs with a splash of coconut milk; bowl of cauliflower bone broth soup; two slices of bacon

Pre-Workout Snack: hard-boiled egg; banana

Exercise (6 hours, 20 minutes): 5.88-mile, 10-pitch rock climb with 2,395 of elevation gain and topping out at 10,306 feet (137 average HR; 174 max HR)  

Intra-Workout Snack: pouch of peach, apricot, and banana baby food; pouch of blueberry, pear, and purple carrot baby food; half mango RXBar

Intra-Workout Meal 2: collard green sandwich wrap with four slices deli turkey, one and a half slices of bacon, half avocado, onion, sprouts and mayo; banana

Post-Workout Snack: hard-boiled egg; pouch of sweet potato and beet baby food; can of coconut water

Meal 3: one and a half chicken enchilada stuffed bell peppers; can of sliced potatoes pan fried in ghee

Water Intake: ~100 oz

Symptoms/NSVs:

  • Improved physical performance
  • Jeans and climbing harness fitting more loosely
  • Regular bowel movements (this is a big deal because I’m pretty regularly constipated on Whole30)

Thoughts/Reflections: I did it! My first double-digit multi-pitch climb!

I don’t know if my hard work is finally paying off, if I’m turning the corner toward Tiger Blood, or if I just fueled right, but I felt great today! Honestly, it was probably a combination of all of those things and I’m so, so happy to finally see changes happening in the mountains.  

It was hard. Most definitely, it was hard. And my legs were oh-so tired. But I never doubted that I could do it! And that is a huge improvement over my last multi-pitch climb!

I do like the fueling strategy I used, which was basically lots of fruity carbs (thank you new Whole30 workout guidelines!). Though I think I could have used one more carb break before the summit. The final push to the summit felt like bonking more than general fatigue, and that’s likely due to the fact that I hadn’t had a carb hit in quite some time before those last few pitches. For a while, it just didn’t feel that far away so I kept holding out. And then I had an RXBar rather than fruit, which I think was a mistake. So, here’s to lots of fruity carbs for fuel!

[Photo 1: the lake where we started, with Tenaya Peak in the background]

[Photo 2: from the top of Tenaya Peak] 

Tenaya_Base.jpg

Tenaya_Top.jpg

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ROUND 3, Day 9: Tuesday, September 10

Meal 1: three scrambled eggs with a splash of coconut milk; bowl of cauliflower bone broth soup; two slices of bacon

Meal 2: two chicken enchilada stuffed bell peppers

Meal 3: Chipotle salad bowl with carnitas, grilled veggies, romaine, salsa, and guacamole; kombucha  

Water Intake: ~80 oz

Symptoms/NSVs:

  • none

Thoughts/Reflections: Not much to report today. I’d rather be back in the mountains, but here I am. Eating Whole30 and sitting long hours in an office.  

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