Day 12 Struggles

[lwolford]

I am having a VERY hard time today. I woke up not wanting to eat, I made eggs with a hamburger patty and hated the hamburger. I took chicken and okra to work for lunch and couldn't bear to eat the chicken, so I put the okra on a salad with balsamic. For dinner, I just had carrots with almond butter and a cherry Larabar. I don't want meat or veggies or fruit, I'm sick of them, yet I am so so hungry. I am not going to give up, but I'm totally struggling right now! What did you do if/when you felt this?

[ShannonM816]

It's not unusual to feel this way. Most people hit this point at some point in their Whole30. It is important to eat. What sometimes happens is people don't feel like eating, so they skip meals, and then they continue to just not feel like eating, and they'll start to feel bad. We don't want you to do that. The good news is that this feeling usually passes, as long as you find something that you will eat. Maybe you eat a little lighter tonight, and wake up and have a good breakfast in the morning and see how you go from there.

For some people, it can be helpful to try something new. Sometimes this is a little bit of boredom setting in. If that's it, make yourself something special. Is there a recipe you've been wanting to try? Even a new sauce or dip to serve with leftovers could help. Or maybe there's something that you made before that you really, really liked -- maybe it's time to make that again. 

For me, sometimes when I'm feeling blah about everything, I treat myself to a steak that I cook on the grill, some roasted sweet potato chunks with mayo for dipping, maybe a salad or some grilled zucchini, a glass of kombucha, and maybe some fruit if there's some that sounds good. For me, this is a totally compliant meal, but one that I don't make very often, so it feels special. Can you think of something along those lines that would work in the same way for you? If you're not a big meat person, it might be a salmon filet instead of a steak, or maybe you could make an omelette with your favorite veggies in it, topped with some hollandaise sauce  (https://www.stupideasypaleo.com/2013/07/06/easy-paleo-ghee-hollandaise-sauce/) to make it extra decadent. 

Or if you're just over the whole cooking thing, and the thought of making anything -- even something you really like -- is just enough to push you over the edge right now, maybe you could see if there's a restaurant near you where you can get a compliant meal, or see if your grocery store has a compliant rotisserie chicken you could pick up with some steam-in-the-bag vegetables, so you can have a healthy meal with minimal amounts of cooking or cleanup.

[lwolford]

Thank you for the response! I had a crazy work week and didn't have a chance to come check out the reply. 

I think I found out the culprit- I had shrimp 2 days in a row and I think I undercooked it. I also added a ton of garlic and red pepper flakes and it infuriated my stomach. What was interesting to find is that I'm not sure if it was the shrimp or the garlic (first time I ate both during W30,) so I am going to eat shrimp separately and garlic separately and see if it affects my stomach the way it did when they were combined. 

 

[lwolford]

OMG I posted the wrong response LOL. That was meant for another question I posted...

Thank you so much for the ideas- I am on day 14 now and things are getting better. I realized days 12 & 13 were hard because I was missing all the normal comfort foods I would normally eat when I'm feeling down and I was PISSED that I couldn't eat most things at the restaurants I went to Friday and Saturday. It was my first time going out to restaurants while on W30 and I wasn't even hungry because I had eaten beforehand, but I wanted to eat socially and it gave me a good opportunity to reflect on why I eat and when. 

Just these past 2 days I've realized that I eat WAY more food off of W30 than I do on W30. I am typically satiated with my W30 meals and it's shocking to me how much I used to eat because of social plans, holidays, and bad feelings.

 

[lwolford]

I am having a hard time the past 5 days- days 1, 2, 4, 5 I have had diarrhea, and day 3 constipation. Last night, my entire digestive system was so pissed that I only had coconut water, a cup of kombucha, and probiotics for dinner. Haven't been able to eat much because I am nauseated and also worried that whatever I eat will irritate my stomach.

I first thought that I didn't cook shrimp and some other foods correctly, but my boyfriend has been eating everything with me and he hasn't had any diarrhea or constipation, so that doesn't seem to be the problem. I am bloated, in pain, and not hungry AT ALL.

I'm not going to quit the program, but I would really love to know if anyone has experienced this before and what to do when your appetite disappears.

Thank you!

[SugarcubeOD]

1 hour ago, lwolford said:

I am having a hard time the past 5 days- days 1, 2, 4, 5 I have had diarrhea, and day 3 constipation. Last night, my entire digestive system was so pissed that I only had coconut water, a cup of kombucha, and probiotics for dinner. Haven't been able to eat much because I am nauseated and also worried that whatever I eat will irritate my stomach.

I first thought that I didn't cook shrimp and some other foods correctly, but my boyfriend has been eating everything with me and he hasn't had any diarrhea or constipation, so that doesn't seem to be the problem. I am bloated, in pain, and not hungry AT ALL.

I'm not going to quit the program, but I would really love to know if anyone has experienced this before and what to do when your appetite disappears.

Thank you!

I've merged this new post with the one that you already started - this is an ongoing issue that we're trying to help you deal with so we dont' need a new topic

On 3/16/2018 at 5:57 PM, ShannonM816 said:

It's not unusual to feel this way. Most people hit this point at some point in their Whole30. It is important to eat. What sometimes happens is people don't feel like eating, so they skip meals, and then they continue to just not feel like eating, and they'll start to feel bad. We don't want you to do that. The good news is that this feeling usually passes, as long as you find something that you will eat. Maybe you eat a little lighter tonight, and wake up and have a good breakfast in the morning and see how you go from there.

For some people, it can be helpful to try something new. Sometimes this is a little bit of boredom setting in. If that's it, make yourself something special. Is there a recipe you've been wanting to try? Even a new sauce or dip to serve with leftovers could help. Or maybe there's something that you made before that you really, really liked -- maybe it's time to make that again.

You can see here that @ShannonM816 already answered your question as to what to do when your appetite disappears.  If you think maybe you're actually sick and that's why you're having digestive issues, then you may want to go and see a doctor.  Otherwise, try making a template meal of easily digestible items like plain chicken, mashed sweet potato, maybe some banana if you're still having loose stools.