Am I doing this right?

[Elana Finkel]

Hi there. I just completed day 4 of my Whole 30. Whew! I read a lot on it, did a lot of meal prep, stocked my kitchen, read all my labels and so forth. As I continue to peruse other folks' whole 30 posts, I am noticing the same trend. People feel cranky, strong cravings, run down, etc at this point. I am feeling great! I haven't had one cranky morning, or overly challenging craving at all so far. I've even been able to continue my swimming and strength training workouts. Am I doing this right? Does everyone feel all the awful feels and so therefore if I don't, I must be doing something incorrectly?

[SugarcubeOD]

Everyone does not feel awful, it can depend on how you used to eat before and your own personal context.  As long as you're eating 3 template meals a day spaced 4-5 hours apart, using fruit as part of a meal and not as a sugar craving prop and following all the rules of the program, you're doing fine   

[ElizabethG]

Agreed, everyone's body is different, so everyone is going to respond different to a change in eating. For example, my body is always delayed in reacting to everything, so in my previous Whole30s I tend to hit a rough spot around days 8-10. 

[RB1]

I felt awful the first few days of round one of whole30 but this time around I don't feel as bad (starting day 6) so far. Hoping my body remembers what good nutrition feels like lol

[urbanlady07]

My "hangover" phase was delayed, but probably not as extreme as others. Everyone is different! 

[rycrafty]

OK good! I came here to post this exact same question. I'm on day 9 today, and no hangover, not much difference in general!

I've had the Whole30 book for a while, and have used the recipes while not doing a Whole30, so the meals are pretty much what I used to eat for lunch and dinner. The difference is portion size (I used to eat less) and snacks (chocolate bars, croissants, muffins, ice cream, you name it!). I was thinking that that might be why I'm not feeling any withdrawl, although I'm surprised the chocolate bar-a-day habit was so easy to break.

 

I have been having a banana and a handful of spinach drizzled with almond butter as part of my breakfasts, along with something protein-y (scrambled eggs or homemade sausage). Is a banana a day too much sweet? I don't feel like it's making me crave other sweets.

[ladyshanny]

@rycrafty - the banana sort of depends. If you think about spending a week having breakfast which does not contain any fruit and you feel anxious or ripped off or fussy about it, then ya, you're using the banana to fill a psychological need rather than a physical one. Go ahead and try removing the fruit from your breakfast and see how you feel. Often fruit can cause increased hunger earlier than normal for people too so if you're noticing you need snacks or are having a rough time getting from breakfast to lunch, it could be the banana's fault.

[racheleats]

3 hours ago, ladyshanny said:

@rycrafty - the banana sort of depends. If you think about spending a week having breakfast which does not contain any fruit and you feel anxious or ripped off or fussy about it, then ya, you're using the banana to fill a psychological need rather than a physical one. Go ahead and try removing the fruit from your breakfast and see how you feel. Often fruit can cause increased hunger earlier than normal for people too so if you're noticing you need snacks or are having a rough time getting from breakfast to lunch, it could be the banana's fault.

@rycrafty Just my own experience here, but I used to always have a serving of fruit for breakfast, even on W30 but a few months ago I had a come to Jesus moment with myself and asked myself the exact questions @ladyshanny asks here. I had to be 100% honest with myself that yes, I would feel bit**y if I had to give it up, so I grumbled a bit and gave it up. I feel SO MUCH BETTER (of course I do, they know what they're talking about here!).