Hungry, moody and craving alcohol.

[Carole65]

I am currently on day 12.  Last week was great.  I felt full.  Didn't do so well at the gym but expected that.  (I went 6-7 days just under performed). Not al to of cravings at all.   This week I have been hungry. Again gym daily at 5 AM.  It started Monday when I forgot the tuna on my tuna nicoicse salad.  Today I went to the gym for 30 minutes followed by 60 min yoga.  Had 1 serving of Tomato bacon Quiche , snack 3 hours later 1.5 oz of combined cashews, raisins and almonds (1.5 oz Total) , 3 hours later a greek chicken salad with  red and yellow peppers, olives, primal ranch dressing, 1 hour later (just now) apple with almond butter. I awoke this AM in a terrible mood.  Made the fatal error of getting on the scale (I know WRONG).  Planning artichoke tomato chicken with spaghetti squash and Brussel sprouts for dinner.  Dying to go out for a drink with my hubby   Just a small glass of red wine will do me.  I WILL NOT do it BUT I really want to.   I will say that I think for breakfast last week I accidentally ate 2 serving of the quiche for breakfast.  I am a do it ahead girl and need breakfast and lunches to be done on Sunday and this fit the bill.  Any suggestions out there?  Thanks. 

[SugarcubeOD]

Ya, you're not eating enough... if you were better last week when you 'accidentally' ate more food, that's a good indicator also.

So your breakfast quiche... how many eggs did that have in it (divide the whole number you used by the servings).  Did it have 2-3 cups of veggies in it as well?  Did you add a plated fat? The bacon counts but at this point, if you're having trouble, adding more fat isn't terrible.

If you're going to need to eat between meals, choose protein and fat, not dried fruit and nuts... hardboiled egg with mayo or chicken and guacamole... 

How much chicken was in the greek salad?  Was the olive portion 1-2 heaping handfuls?  Were the veggies 2-3 cups?

The fact you ate an hour later (again, choose fat and protein for better results and hunger satiation) tells me you're not eating enough.  Your dinner doesn't list a plated fat.

Its not surprising that you are craving wine... if you're not eating enough your brain goes to places it knows it can gain comfort, satiation (in a way) and immediate gratification.

You also don't list a pre or post workout meal with your workouts - given you're having a hard time, you should at LEAST be having the post workout meal (just a few bites of a lean protein and starchy carb).

Speaking of starchy carbs, I don't see any listed in your meals.  Our recommendation is a fist sized serving at least once a day - more for very active folks, people on or near their period and people with tendancy toward mood disorders.

 

[Carole65]

Thanks.  I have been debating the whole pre/post workout thing.  I will start this week with some chicken and a little sweet potato right after and see what happens.  My goal is to feel better and lose some weight so eating more is hard.  However, I am willing to give it a try.

Last week I did it a whole lot more potatoes but not enough veggies.  This week I ate more veggies and less potatoes.  I will increase the potatoes again and add some carrots and parsnips.  And then there is fruit to add in too! I am trying to get over my potatoes are bad for you thoughts. 

Making a batch of deviled eggs now.  Can you help me understand what is wrong with nuts and fruit? I thought that was protein and fruit with some fat?

Quiche had 10 eggs, sweet potato leeks, tomatoes and bacon.  About 2 total cups veggies including potato. Maybe I should add some spinach?  SO it said it served 8 but I think I need to make it 5 so I get enough in the AM.  Thoughts?  

I REALLY appreciate your help here.  I want this to work.  

[Jihanna]

Eating more does not necessarily mean inability to lose weight, especially if your pre-W30 eating habits included plenty of heavy carbs, sugary drinks, snacking, etc. Without increasing my activity level at all, I dropped some weight during my month, and I guarantee you that I ate more food overall -- but what I was eating (and what I was skipping) made all the difference in the world.

Although I'm not as active as you are, I do have a mood disorder, and I've found that I function at my best with 2 moderate (slightly larger than my own fist, but I've got tiny hands) portions of starch per day, and one of those must be with the last meal of the day (the other doesn't matter quite so much, but I've found I tend to have less mid-afternoon tiredness if it's with my breakfast rather than my lunch). For mine, I change it up between regular potatoes, sweet potatoes, acorn squash, butternut squash, and carrots.

My "dinner" meal template is protein + starch + other vegetable. My plated fat depends on the veggies... if I have a baked potato then I'll add a bit of coconut oil to moisten it up, or if my "other vegetable" is a salad then I'll add some avocado to that. I don't make a purposeful effort to include fruits, beyond just a "hey, blackberries would be awesome on this salad" or using them for flavoring (like lemons in my whole chicken, or apples with a pork roast). Admittedly, I do sometimes make a small fruit bowl to eat alongside a salad, when I dress the salad with something I really just don't want on my fruit  

Regarding nuts and fruit...
From what I understand, nuts are not an optimal source of protein because of the amount you'd need to eat in order to equal what you'd get from meat and the protein-to-fat ratio is different than what meat provides. Nuts are also very much a hand-to-mouth type of food, which kind of inherently makes them a snack (unless they're incorporated into a meal) and reinforces the snacking (and potentially food-with-no-brakes) type of behaviors. Fruits are generally sweeter than vegetables, and can also reinforce the snacking/no-brakes behavior, including awakening a dormant (or not-so-sleepy) sugar dragon.

For your quiche, I'd definitely make that 5 servings. Because it's about 2 cups of veggies for the whole quiche, though, I would probably add some kind of vegetable on the side (roasted broccoli or Brussels sprouts would probably be amazing with it, given the ingredients, but even a small side salad could work). For my first week of Whole30, I made a massive breakfast casserole and split it into I think 10 servings (12 eggs and a lb of sausage) but also made a big batch of turkey sausage ahead of time, so each morning I could warm up a casserole square and a sausage patty. Some mornings I'd serve it with a green veggie from the night before, other days it'd be a slice of tomato and some sauteed onions and mushrooms.

Good luck to you!

[SugarcubeOD]

6 hours ago, Carole65 said:

Last week I did it a whole lot more potatoes but not enough veggies.  This week I ate more veggies and less potatoes.  I will increase the potatoes again and add some carrots and parsnips.  And then there is fruit to add in too! I am trying to get over my potatoes are bad for you thoughts. 

Make sure you're getting non starchy veggies too - potatoes, parsnips and carrots are all starchy veg so you want to be measuring those by a fist sized serving and then the rest being non starchy (think all the green veggies, leafy greens, mushrooms, peppers, summer squashes etc).

Also, you mention having to try and get the fruit in there somewhere too - you dont HAVE to have fruit... it's a nice to have in a salad or a cooked dish but it's not a requirement and we never want fruit to push veggies off your plate.  There's nothing 'wrong' about nuts and fruit it's just not going to be your best choice - as @Jihanna said, it can trigger all sorts of things with sugar cravings, nuts are not considered a protein for the purpose of Whole30 and they can be hard to digest.  Eating a protein and fat like the egg and mayo for instance is going to give you staying power of your snack and it has built in satiety (stop eating signals) that fruit and nuts and a combination of the two together don't necessarily have.

[Carole65]

Thanks so much for your help.  I will try your suggestions.  

 

[Lorna from Canada]

On 2/9/2019 at 8:21 AM, Carole65 said:

My goal is to feel better and lose some weight so eating more is hard.  

I, too, wanted to lose some weight. But, knowing this wasn't a weight loss program, I focussed on eating what I was told and hoping that, if I didn't lose weight, I would, at least feel better. So, when I was hungry and cranky between meals, I ate more at my meals and ate more fat too. I get it, this is really hard to do - at 58, I have spent a lifetime hearing that fat is bad and eating too much causes weight gain - all the while avoiding fat and starving half the time and not losing any weight anyway.

The last time I was on WW, I stuck to their point system like glue and the weight came off in dribs and drabs - a total of 12 pounds over 5 months - depressing! Everytime I ate my extra points, I gained weight. I talked to my doctor about this and she said, "some people just can't eat more than 900 - 1100 calories a day to maintain a healthy weight - you must be one of them." I am a marathon runner and am in the gym 5 days a week - and I get to eat approximately 1000 calories per day if I want to weigh 155lb (5' 5" tall)???? That's insanity! I don't care if I am menopausal, that's insanity.

So, I came to W30 with an open mind and ate my brains out for 30 days - lots of meat, fat, veg and fruit with nuts thrown in on occasion. I have no idea what the calorie count was but I was fed and full and happy as a clam. I didn't feel any benefits until day 25 or so - but, I kept focussing on the idea that this was a WHOLE 30 days and stuck with it to the end.

Long story short - I lost 10 1/2 pounds in 30 days. I found my chin and all of my ribs again. I feel fantastic - my energy is up, I am sleeping like a baby. There ain't any way I am ever going to go back to my pre W30 diet - seems like punishment to do so! For the record, my campadres also lost big - my 29 year old daughter lost 19lbs and Hubs lost 5lbs (he hardly had 5 to lose  )

So - eat! Enjoy! Do the W30 the way they tell you too. You'll get through this slump and come out the other side with insights and gains you can't imagine. And, I'm betting you'll have lost some weight too.

Good luck!!