Day 22 - feeling discouraged

[suzy-W30]

Hiya

This is my first time doing Whole30. I am a vegetarian and I normally eat quite well. But I really wanted to get a better handle on my sugar cravings.

I feel like that has gotten better. I still have a desire for sweets and breads, etc. But the feeling is much less strong and easier to turn away from things. And when I do have something sweet, like a Nakd bar, it feels PAINFULLY sweet. So in that sense, I'm quite happy with the change...

But now it's Day 22. I feel no difference. No tiger blood. No significant increase in energy. My skin looks terrible. I have moments where I do feel great! But it fluctuates. And I can't say it feels much different than before W30. And I feel more grumpy than usual. I'm just feeling very discouraged and I'm so ready to be done. I'm at the point where I want to finish the 30 days just for the sake of finishing, of committing to something.

 

What my meals usually look like -- if it helps.

Breakfast (9:00) - Usually chia pudding made with coconut milk, topped with a seed and nut mix, plus tbs pea protein; sometimes add fruits, or half a date and some cacao nibs. Black coffee. // Sometimes a banana-and-fruit smoothie with 2 tbs pea protein

Lunch (12:30) - Salad of leafy greens, various veggies, nuts and seed mix, OVOO, 1/2 avocado, sometimes hard boiled egg

Pre workout snack (3:30ish) - Banana-and-fruit smoothie with 2 tbs pea protein // sometimes hard boiled egg or two and nuts 

Dinner - varies; usually mushrooms and green veggies, often egg or two of some sort... 

[ShannonM816]

Have you seen the meal template? You can download it here: https://whole30.com/pdf-downloads/. We really recommend trying to make all your meals match the template. 

Your meals are very light on protein. Nuts and seeds count as fats for Whole30 purposes. They have some protein but aren't necessarily complete sources of protein -- they don't have all the same stuff that eggs or other protein sources do. When you do have eggs as protein, the serving size is as many whole eggs as you can hold in one hand, which is typically 3-4 for most people. I'm not really sure how the protein in peas or pea protein powder compares to the amount in eggs, but you could easily google protein in eggs and compare that to the protein in a serving of the powder.

You're also doing smoothies and chia seed pudding, which aren’t really recommended, and which aren’t going to help with the sugar cravings either. 

During this last week of your Whole30, really try to make as many of your meals as possible match the meal template and see if that makes a difference. That means you're probably going to eat a lot of eggs this week, since for meals where they are your protein, you'll probably be eating 3 of them. Fill up your plate with vegetables (leafy greens are great, but have others as well, and try includinga fist-sized serving of starchy vegetableseach day if you don't already), add some fat in addition to the oil you cook in. Maybe have a serving or two of fruit a day, if you want it. Drink plenty of water, salt your food. See if these changes make any difference in how you're feeling.