cegrimes17 Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 So a lot of my questions after my first day (1/14/19) revolve around meal planning, I'm just gonna fire them off.. 1) Does the Whole30 guide book and the servings for each recipe take into account male vs. female portion control? I found that I was stuffed by the end of breakfast on the first day and didn't eat the fruit that's on the meal plan. Anyways, the portions just seem big to me but I used to be a 4-6 meal/day, weighing everything I ate, person. Should we just eat until we've had enough and then up the meals/day if needed until we can get down to 3-4 meals/day? Or should I finish the whole serving size in the recipe and try to cut to 3-4 meals/day now? 2) When planning ... I want to plan the days meals on my own because I'm seeing so many recipes that look great, but I was curious if the 7-Day meal plan (on pg. 196) is set up in a specific way? Basically, does my meal around lunch impact what my meal at dinner should be or should everything go by the meal planning pdf? If I have a lean protein at lunch should I go for a fatty protein at dinner? This is kind of a hard question to explain but hopefully you get what I'm saying! Basically, can I just choose any Whole30 recipe I find and go with it for whatever meal? 3) I like meal prepping so I don't have to cook much during the work week. What I have been doing for the past few years is making 2-3 recipes/week and then just eating that all week (bc I'm lazy but it works for me). For day one, I had the spinach frittata and half an avocado for breakfast. For lunch, I had the protein salad (chicken) on a bed of baby spinach with ranch dressing and a side of fruit. For a pre-workout snack, I had a lemon LARABAR. For my post-workout meal which was at dinner time so it was also for dinner, I had the perfect ground meat with italian seasoning, tomato sauce and roasted spaghetti squash (I probably had 1/2 of the serving size that the recipe makes, it is a lot of food! But that did fill my plate anyways.) My actual question here is... can I eat that exact meal plan for 4 days in a row? It really has never bothered me to eat the same thing everyday, I'll switch it up next week, and I have a ton of leftovers anyways from making the whole recipe from the book! I guess I am wondering if I might be missing key nutrients by not switching things up. Any discussion here would be helpful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators ShannonM816 Posted January 15, 2020 Moderators Share Posted January 15, 2020 1) check out the meal template, which you can download here: https://whole30.com/pdf-downloads/. Base your meal sizes on this, rather than the the serving sizes in the recipes, if the servings are a little too big. Whole30 does encourage eating three meals a day, going 4-5 hours between meals, so the meal sizes may seem very large if you're used to having smaller meals every couple of hours. 2 & 3) don't overthink things. It's fine if one day you have a little more fat or another day a little less, or if you eat lots of broccoli one week and none the next, it'll all even out over time. Same with the meal prep, it would probably not be great to eat the same thing 30 days in a row, but lots of people eat basically the same things for a week because it's easier to meal prep that way. Lots of people eat exactly the same breakfast for weeks and just change up lunch and dinner. As long as you're eating vegetables and you're feeling good with what you're eating, it's all good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cegrimes17 Posted January 17, 2020 Author Share Posted January 17, 2020 @ShannonM816 Thanks for the fast response!! Some follow up... 1) I've been using the template, I guess my question had me wondering why a male and a female would both fill their entire plate. I know a males palm will be bigger than mine but then the veggies fill the entire plate and so on.... do you know what I mean? But I will keep following what you're saying! 2 & 3) Great, thank you! I know I overthink a lot of things. I just am finding sooo many good recipes online and want to mix and match meals. Like I said, I used to weigh and track macros, so in that life, my breakfast vs. lunch vs. dinner definitely affected each other to keep the macros perfectly in line. Sounds like I can pick any whole30 meal throughout the day as long as I'm staying compliant with the meal template. Also keeping in mind if I have a fatty lunch then to go easy on the fats at dinner, etc. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jihanna Posted January 17, 2020 Share Posted January 17, 2020 Plate sizes may vary... The ones I primarily use (except for salads) are a little bigger around than my spread-out hand and they have up-swept sides that make me refer to them as "bowl-plates", whereas the typical "dinner plate" we have in our house has another 1 to 1.5 inches diameter and flat edges all around (which allows too many things to fall off the plate too easily, haha). My mom tends to use oval plates, and my daughter uses several tiny plates with one type of food on each. The key point here, however, is that plate sizes may vary. The idea is that whatever plate size you choose, whatever size works best for your hunger level, you're getting a balanced intake by starting with the suggested template as a way of learning how to judge portions and suggested restrictions for certain foods (like fruit or nuts). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cegrimes17 Posted January 17, 2020 Author Share Posted January 17, 2020 @Jihanna, I love how you put that, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whole30 Certified Coach Shani_SWP Posted January 17, 2020 Whole30 Certified Coach Share Posted January 17, 2020 The two main items that are "measured" are protein (1-2 palm sizes) and fats (depending upon the type). You can't really overeat on vegetables, and without cheesy, buttery sauces, they aren't very high calorie, and you'll get full long before you eat 1000 calories of say...raw spinach or steamed broccoli, so really, eat as many vegetables as you want. Whole30 isn't a low carb or keto lifestyle, so eat what makes you feel your best. We like to call breakfast, lunch and dinner Meal 1, Meal 2 and Meal 3 to break away from the connotations that breakfast needs to be eggs or something sweet like pancakes or a smoothie. A lot of us eat dinner leftovers for breakfast, and that's not weird at all! I am not on a Whole30, but I generally still cook Whole30, but I haven't made it to the grocery store due to family things, so last night I went freezer diving. Found some leftover pork loin, ham (not Whole30) and some haricots verts so I tossed all that in a bowl, with some random herbs (I think it was parsley) in some oil, and microwaved it for a few minutes. Ta-da. Frozen dinners have never been so healthy lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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