My first Whole30, meal planning vs. hyperpalatable foods

[tnicole]

Hello! I am a 43 yo working mother of a 3 yo boy. I have Hashimotos and struggle with a history of bulimia, depression and anxiety. I hope to find support, friendship and inspiration. Thank you all in advance for being honest and nonjudgmental. 

I am new to the forum and this is my first Whole30. I finally got books from the library (there was a wait for them) but got started unofficially Oct.1 doing what I understood as the basics but was flying by the seat of my pants. I was doing pretty great with a low self pressure attitude (since I hadn't declared anything yet as I wanted to read, prep, etc). 

Strange that once I got all the info (recipes, meal plans, etc) in front of me I self sabotaged and had a weekend full of binging. Last week I was starting to feel like I was gaining weight, spending more time learning/prepping/shopping and not exercising as much. I usually eat super simply out of necessity (work full time, 3 yo in preschool, running around all the time) but wanted to try to stick to a meal plan. Also, I tend to have trouble with portion control on super delicious foods (they whole hyperpalitability issue, I think?).

I spent a huge part of my weekend, and paycheck!!, starting the 7 day meal plan from the Daily Guide, and found that the portion sizes are pretty huge (most say, serve 2 for the whole recipe). I liked that a lot and it made me feel happy! Then I started browsing the recipes in the newer books and  I noticed that most of the portion sizes are much smaller, so immediately thought "no wonder I'm feeling bigger- I'm eating way too much!". 

So that brings me to today, recommitting, re-starting yet feeling sort of confused. I am aware of the Meal Template Guide and can follow that from now on, but am slightly insecure about following the recommended servings for the recipes. It makes it hard to meal plan when you are not certain how much to plan for if you are trying to prep ahead of time.

Do most people freestyle their Whole30 and add a few recipes here/there? How many of you have gone thru the Meal Plans laid out? I also started the Real Plans iphone app thinking that could be helpful, but again, I wonder if I should just eat plain/simple/ more bland foods to break my overeating habits. I would love to share my meals with my family, yet they enjoy tasty foods rather than plain chicken, eggs, steamed veggies.

Any suggestions are welcome. 

[ladyshanny]

Hi there, I'm not sure if I can say whether most people meal plan vs not but definitely having some sort of plan for the week is helpful. For some of us that just means having veggies in the fridge, meats in the freezer and then taking something out in the morning. If you are short on time or energy, pre-cooking is helpful and you can definitely pre-cook without knowing exactly how many servings you'll get. You'll either have the item for a few meals and can shake it up a bit with different fats and veggies or you'll only have it for one or two meals and have to go to something else the next day.

The meal template is a range and the cookbook provides the most common serving size but for each person we recommend that they match themselves to the meal template rather than just following the book.

As for recipes, lots of us don't make "recipes" during the week. We'll cook (or pre-cook) some protein and then make veggies and add a fat so they are more like "ingredient meals" rather than an actual recipe. Mess around and see what works best for your schedule/lifestyle.