Day 3 - Panicked, exhausted, discouraged

[BreeDee]

Hi everyone,

This is my first Whole30 and I'm on day 3. I started with the hopes of finding out which foods are causing my chronic stomach pain and bloating.

However, I'm already feeling entirely overwhelmed by this process. So far I've spent most of my week cooking (and I HATE cooking. For some reason it brings about extreme stress and anxiety for me). I literally come home from work and immediately get into the kitchen. Then I immediately go to bed when I'm done prepping meals because I'm so low-energy.

I feel completely exhausted, which is weird because in the past I've done 30 days without sugar, gluten and dairy and it felt great. I'm wondering why I feel SO tired.

Overall, I feel panicky when I think of the 27 days ahead of me and I'm not sure how I'm going to make it.

Does anyone have tips for people who absolutely loathe cooking and who are struggling with energy levels?

Thank you!

Bree

[SelWhole30]

While it may seem dauting that there are 27 days left, you will get into a groove where it doesn't feel like 27 days left you know? The best thing I can suggest is to go easy on yourself and meal prep each Sunday. Cook a bunch of chicken, roast a bunch of veggies, and make a big thing of olive oil dressing for your fat. Freeze half of it and pull it out on Tuesday night. 

You can do this with egg bakes (super super easy peasy) for breakfast and another meal for dinner. That way during the week you aren't going to your kitchen except to fix your plate and warm up your stuff. 

 

Here are the things that freeze very well from the Whole 30 book:

Salmon cakes --> make their serving and you'll have 3 days of lunches. Just pair with the homemade tartar sauce and put on a bed of lettuce.

Chicken --> I bake about 3 lbs of chicken EVERY sunday because it's just so easy. As long as you have a couple veggies in the fridge, you are golden. 

Turkey Meatballs --> one serving of the recipe below makes 35! that's about 6 days of meals so freeze half and pull them out wednesday. 

Any egg bakes or egg muffins - you can make 12, have 2 each morning with banana + nut butter boom, done. 

 

It is MUCH easier if you simply meal plan. If going out, just remember, grilled protein (confirm olive oil and only salt/pepper seasoning), steamed veggie (request NO butter), and a baked potato (again specify no butter). 

See? it will get easier just push through! 

[slc_melissa]

Can you list out a few meals worth of foods?  Although some energy loss at the early stages seems normal, it sounds like yours is more extreme.  I'm wondering if you may not be eating enough.  It's really easy to accidentally go low carb. It's also easy to not eat enough fat to cover the accidental calorie gap.

Are you eating any sweet potatoes / potatoes / butternut squash kind of starch?  If not, I'd add those to 1-3 meals per day.  (Also, depending on female/male and where one is in the cycle, more starchy carbs can help.)

I agree with prepping meals, I don't get food boredom, so I like to make big batches of things (say, crockpot full of chili) that feeds me for 5+ meals.  And meals can be really basic and totally not instagram-worthy.  3 hard boiled eggs, a handful of olives, and a sweet potato I cooked in the microwave....takes minutes, covers all the bases.  Frozen veggies heated up with coconut milk and a can of salmon or chicken and few spices - super easy and I didn't even have to bust out a knife.