Day 9 & feeling hopeless

[Deepdiver343]

I am currently on day 9 of my first whole30. I am not experiencing any of these "little victories" that I feel I should be seeing now. In addition, my bank account is suffering due to the high cost of all the clean food. I'm finding it really hard to eat the volume of food the template shows. Even for months prior to Whole30 I did't eat too terribly. I eat 2 over-easy eggs and 1/2 an avocado each morning and that fills me up. The last few days I have had 2 eggs and 1/2 an avocado for lunch, and some meals that account for dinners and the next days lunch have been bacon-wrapped chicken with roasted broccoli, stir-fry chicken and, bang bang shrimp tacos. We've been getting all our recipes from the W30 guide book and cook book and a few from Istagram ensuring full compliance of ingredients. I'm not sure what I should be feeling at this point, but I haven't had the 'my pants are tighter,' EATT, 'hangover' etc. The only feelings I have had is feelings of doubt, that all this work that I'm putting in with meal planning, and meal prepping, and watching all the ingredients isn't worth it without seeing any 'little victories.' 

Lots of other forum posts I've read have answers that people aren't eating enough. I dislike the feeling of being stuffed and eat only about a 6oz portion of protein per meal. The stir fry recipe that we made was supposed to be for 2 servings and we were able to stretch it to dinner and lunch for 2 people (4 servings). I'm probably not drinking enough water, so i'm trying to improve that. 

Any help or encouragement will be greatly appreciated!

[ArtFossil]

First of all, not everyone feels terrific while doing a Whole30! It does help to follow the recommendations and the meal template and make sure you are getting enough protein, veggies and fats. It also helps to make sure you salt your food as you are not getting added salt in processed food. And many people feel better with at least one serving of starch vegetables every day. Finally, drinking water--HALF your weight in ounces--is key, so just do it!

Secondly, a Whole30 doesn't have to be expensive. Where I live, avocados, shrimp and (especially) compliant bacon are expensive so I would be limiting those foods (I never at bacon on my Whole30 because either couldn't find it or I couldn't afford it.). You can eat cheaply by roasting lots of vegetables (just olive oil, salt and pepper), eating things like grilled chicken breasts, and making your own mayonnaise and ghee (clarified butter). I roasted a lot of vegetables, made a lot of frittatas and tuna salad, and used my Forman grill almost every night and kept things very simple, with balsamic vinaigrette, dump ranch and a compliant curry sauce as my only dressings/sauces. I didn't make any "recipes;" I just made what I would already eat compliant.

On a more philosophical note, Whole30 is an elimination diet. It is designed so that if you comply and you eliminate completely foods that are common sources of inflammation for 30 days and then systematically reintroduce these food groups (not repeating them) during your Reintroduction, you will have invaluable data. That is, you will know exactly how YOU respond to these foods so that you can make an informed and conscious choice whether to eat them going forward. If you want this information, you'll stick with it.