Lost it

[ched235]

I started the Whole30 last Sunday 2/21 and everything went well until Friday. On Friday I just wanted to eat more.

I fought it off but on Saturday I lost it. I started over again today.

Is it normal to hit that wall where you just want to eat? Should I use March as a prep month to start cutting back

and go full Whole30 in April or do I need to fight harder to get past the hunger attacks?

 

[ShannonM816]

If you want to eat more, it's okay to eat more. Sometimes it can feel like you're eating a huge volume of food, but if you're used to having rice or bread or pasta in most meals, when you stop eating those, it can take a lot of vegetables to help make up the volume, especially if you're (consciously or subconsciously) trying to be low carb and/or low fat as well.

Check out the meal template (available here: https://whole30.com/pdf-downloads/). Try to make all your meals match it, with 1-2 palm-sized portions of protein or if eggs are your only protein as many whole eggs as you can hold in one hand, so probably 3-4; 1-2 servings of fat in addition to the oil you cook in (because some of what you cook in is probably left in the pan and not consumed); and 2-3 cups of vegetables (probably more if you're having loosely packed raw leafy greens). At least once per day, have a fist-sized serving of starchy vegetable like potato, sweet potato, carrots, parsnips, beets, rutabaga, winter squashes (like butternut or acorn squash or pumpkin), or plantains.

Try making your meals big enough that you're not hungry for 4-5 hours at a time. While Whole30 asks you to remove certain foods from your diet for a month, you shouldn't feel ravenously hungry. This shouldn't feel like torture. 

[ched235]

I was a big brown rice and bread eater. Without the bread and rice my

stomach gets gassy. I can feel my stomach growling. I couldn't eat more veggies.

If I eat more potato should I limit them at some point? I don't know how many I would

need to eat to keep my stomach stable without the gas.

I started again this Sunday, I'm 3 days in again. I know it don't count but I'm on Whole30

9 out of 10 days. 

[Lorna from Canada]

Hey @ched235! Glad you're plugging through this challenge and trying to figure it out.  I have IBS and can't eat a lot of veggies either. After 4 W30s, I still can't eat to template because I can't fill up on veg and need something in my gut to settle it many times a day.  I hate feeling hungry (I have food scarcity issues stemming from my childhood) and my IBS needs a steady flow of food. So, I follow all of the rules except the template - that makes my W30s imperfect which is exactly okay. There's not such thing as a perfect W30 anyway.

I eat a lot of white and sweet potatoes for the same reasons you describe. My approach has been to trust the W30 process and not restrict ANY of the compliant foods. If I feel like eating potatoes 3 times a day, I do (and have - fried for breakfast/potato salad at lunch/baked for dinner). If I am hungry, I eat! The program still works. Despite my off-template eating, I still benefit in every way from being in the W30. I lose weight (11 lbs my first W30 - I threw away the scale permanently after that but I am down a size since January 1 so, I am losing weight now too), sleep like a baby, chronic pain free, a version of tiger blood, no more napping midday, SO many benefits. I have also done reintro - good information there. And, I come back when I go too far off plan and do it again.

Eat! Don't worry about how much - as long as it's program compliant you're good - let go of restrictive thinking! You'll be fine!

Good luck!

[ched235]

Lorna thank you for your reply. We are in the same boat with IBS. I need a little bulk in my 

stomach the reason I always eat a lot of bread and brown rice.

I will eat potato with my 3 meals. I mostly eat sweet potatoes, and 1 baked white a week, I eat the skin too.

I hope it works but I'll be giving it a shot.