Severe Body Aches And Headache

[Jera]

Good morning everyone! 

I am on my second round of W30 but this time I convinced my husband to do it with me! Woohoo!  He is 6’7” and weighed 317lbs when we started Monday, so were on day 5, and he did not sleep at all last night. He is having severe body aches, he rolled around all night, tried sleeping in the guest room bed, came back to our bed, and tried flipping the opposite direction, and was still unable to sleep because of how much pain he feels in his legs, back, and headache.  I figure this may be symptoms of withdrawal, he was consuming an insane amount of calories from bad foods, for example for he had 9 eggo waffles for breakfast Saturday...  however I read an article that said he may be starving and that’s what’s causing these symptoms, so I’m just worried and want to make sure he’s getting enough. Here’s what he’s been eating: 

Monday:

breakfast: 3 eggs fried in olive oil (haven’t convinced him to eat veggies with it)

lunch: pork chop with mixed veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots) -had a little bit of olive oil 

Dinner: same as lunch 

 

Tuesday:

breakfast: 3 eggs in olive oil 

lunch: chicken breast and carrots with ghee

dinner: pork chop with mixed veggies (broccoli cauliflower and carrots)

 

Wednesday: 3’eggs with olive oil and a banana 

 

lunch: chicken breast and carrots and walnuts 

Dinner: can’t remmber (he did eat just can’t remmebr what) 

 

thursday: 3 eggs with olive oil and a banana

lunch: burger (just a burger patty) and mixed veggies-same as above. Walnuts 

dinner: salmon and broccoli. Cinnamon roll Lara bar 

 

Typing all that out definitly

makes it sound like it’s not enough food for him but what do you all think? Thanks in advance! 

 

[ladyshanny]

Hi @Jera - he is definitely not eating enough. I'm not sure if that would result in the body aches you're describing but he would definitely not be feeling well.

Have you seen the meal template? Linked in my signature below. It's a range and he needs to be eating enough at each meal that he feels that he can easily make it 4-5 hours between meals. How is he feeling hunger-wise during the day?

When we use the meal template, we have to remember that it's for each person themselves. So when you measure protein to be a palm (width, length and thickness), that needs to be his own palm. He should also be eating 3+ cups of veggies at every meal. Protein provides the energy, fat provides the staying power and veggies are the bulk that keeps you full.

Depending on what his diet was like before, it is very likely his body not liking what is happening now. The thing is, there will be withdrawals and adjustment to the lack of quick burning sugars and we've seen withdrawals from additives too for folks that drink a lot of soda. But this isn't a "diet" in the typical sense of the word. He can still eat. Enough to feel satisfied and satiated.

[Jera]

Thank you @ladyshanny ! This was super helpful!  Im not finding the meal template link /:  but I think I do have this, it’s got a bar across the top of portions for each category right?   I shall tell him about the veggies, he’s not going to be amused haha!  I gave him about 2 cups of carrots for each of his pork chop meals and he said it was too much :)   as for the protein the sizes they’ve all been his palm size, should I give more?  And as for eggs the morning, should he be consuming more? 

Ill be blatantly honest, he had a horrible diet prior, soda (mostly Mountain Dew), and most everything was very processed  foods other than what I’d made for dinner and he’d sometimes have eggs for breakfast, but usually it was waffles or about 8 cinnamon rolls....    So his body is used to consuming an insane amount of calories per day and really bad food so it’s not surprise to me he’d go through serious withdrawals, but I am very worried he’s starving especially considering his diet prior!  

 

Thank you again so much!!!! 

 

[ladyshanny]

3 hours ago, Jera said:

Thank you @ladyshanny ! This was super helpful!  Im not finding the meal template link /:  but I think I do have this, it’s got a bar across the top of portions for each category right?   I shall tell him about the veggies, he’s not going to be amused haha!  I gave him about 2 cups of carrots for each of his pork chop meals and he said it was too much  as for the protein the sizes they’ve all been his palm size, should I give more?  And as for eggs the morning, should he be consuming more? 

Ill be blatantly honest, he had a horrible diet prior, soda (mostly Mountain Dew), and most everything was very processed  foods other than what I’d made for dinner and he’d sometimes have eggs for breakfast, but usually it was waffles or about 8 cinnamon rolls....    So his body is used to consuming an insane amount of calories per day and really bad food so it’s not surprise to me he’d go through serious withdrawals, but I am very worried he’s starving especially considering his diet prior!

He's not starving but he'll be more uncomfortable than he needs to be. The protein sizes are a range of between 1-2 palms so he can definitely have more. Eggs are as many as he can hold in one hand without dropping. For a large man I would say 4 would be the minimum - but we have lots of people (myself included) that top out on eggs at 2-3 and then feel better adding another protein source rather than more eggs. I can eat 6 eggs and still not feel satisfied whereas if I have 2 eggs and some leftover chicken or burger, I feel great for hours.

Veggies.....tough love? Man up and eat your veggies, man! The micronutrients in them are going to be desperately needed by his body if his diet is as bad as you are alluding to.  They provide the bulk - vary them up, roast, steam, sautee, pan fry, raw. Any way he can get them, the more variety he gets, the better he's going to feel and quicker. Make sure he's having at least one fist sized serving of starchy veggie per day also because he is likely coming down hard off of a major carb addiction.  Make sure he is drinking a tonne of water too (and salting his food). 1/2 ounce per pound of bodyweight. 158 ounces per day based on your report of his bodyweight. Water will help tremendously in clearing out the sh*t in his system from processed foods - which is what is making him feel horrible.

Finally, some emotional advice for him. Embrace how horrible you're feeling. And then understand the entire reason for that is the chemicals and concoctions that the food scientists create to make the foods you were eating so addictive. Those foods are engineered to make them highly craveable, to make you have no shut-off valve for them and to hit all the physiological markers that we have. Super sweet, super fatty, super salty when fat, salt and sugar are naturally desired by the body. Those scientists don't give a rip about the people that they are hurting when they concoct these foods to hit those sensors like a freight train - leaving you nearly helpless against them. Embrace this feeling and get angry. They caused this. The food manufacturers caused this. You got sucked in, but they caused this and they don't care about you. YOU care about you. YOU acknowledge the discomfort and change and push forward and leave those dirtbags where they belong. In the dirt. We are here for you and you CAN do this. We believe in you.