Period Wreaking Havoc on My Whole30

[MelFig]

I’m on day 14 of my Whole30 and am feeling discouraged after this weekend. I got my period which triggered me eating way more than I needed to of things that aren’t the best (I.e. snacking on a lot of fruit and nuts over veggies and other sources of protein). I know tomorrow is a  new day, but I’m feeling disappointed with myself for not balancing things the way I should the past 3 days. 
 

Has anyone else experienced this? What helped you push through? Right now I feel like I should just give up and am disappointed for deviating from the ideal meal plan. 

[kirbz]

Hi @MelFig! Don't be too hard on yourself! You can do this! And even if it isn't perfect, it will be worth it to finish and to learn from the reintroductions! That information will serve you for life, not just for a couple of days where you didn't make the perfect food choices. 

I'm not sure this is exactly what you were looking for, but I thought I'd share a little bit of my story to pass along some things I've learned. I'm currently doing my fourth complete Whole30 (with many other false starts and mini resets). I'm totally a person who always wants to do "the perfect Whole30." I wanted every meal to match the meal template and I didn't want to snack or give into cravings. I wanted to follow all the rules and recommendations. And I did a pretty good job of that for my first two. But, here's what I learned. Establishing life-long habits is WAY more important than 30 perfect days. Perfect is never going to be realistic for a lifelong eating practice, so I'm a lot less hard on myself now and just focus on eating Whole30 in a way that will be sustainable for the long-term. Your period will come every month, and establishing healthier-than-before ways of pushing through that is a good thing! 

I'm not sure what your goals are, but if it has anything to do with new, long-term habits, then perhaps a little bit more of a long-term mindset will help you be more kind toward yourself! I wish you the very best and I hope this helped!

[MelFig]

Thank you so much for the perspective and encouragement, and I needed the reminder that this isn’t just a 30 day experiment- I want to understand my physical and mental relationship with food in a different way, and I guess this is it’s own little lesson. Thank you again!