Day 1 in the Books

[eramsey]

Ok so day 1 is done!! 

Breakfast was the mushroom, spinach and leek frittata from the cookbook. 

Banana as morning snack.

Lunch was salad with hard boiled eggs.

Afternoon snack of lettuce wraps with almond butter.

Some raising as a late afternoon snack

Dinner was sheet pan fajitas on broccoli ans cauliflower rice with avocado.

And night snack of chia seed pudding and blueberries.

I feel proud of myself. I had lower energy but my mood was very sable today. I am not sure what I have gotten myself into and am nervous about late night cravings.

I cannot eliminate all of the snacks because I have to keep some for my son. I do have them in a separate cupboard and I just need to make sure I dont have any reason to go in that cuoboard other than to get him his snacks.

[eramsey]

Day 2 in progress. Not feeling great but doing ok so far.

[MadyVanilla]

Oh my goodness, I'm jealous of your menu!  Everything sounds amazing!!  Do you like to cook?  

I also have to keep snacks around the house for other family members, but as your body recalibrates and no longer relies on sugar, it will be easier to avoid the snacks.  I'm always amazed at how unappealing Oreos and chips become for me around week 2.  YMMV, but it's a fairly common NSV to easily snub the sugary/processed snacks.  

And the low energy is no joke.  I'm so excited for you as you progress through the first few days!  

 

 

[eramsey]

Thank you @MadyVanilla. You are so sweet. I do like to cook but I have gotten away from it so one of the fun things for me is getting excited about cooking with whole ingredients again and trying new recipes. One of the problems I had was that I was stuck in a rut with meals so I think I was actually getting bored with the same thing or I would focus on what my son will actually eat (because toddler food tantrums are no fun) which is pasta, nuggets etc and then I sneak veggies in there. So by cooking to his preferences I would often skip out because I know that those foods aren't the best for me (nothing wrong with pasta but 3-5x per week is too much for me) and then that leads to late night snacking. (and by the way I feel bad saying all of this because with the amount of food insecurity people are going through, it is ridiculous to be bored with food if you are blessed enough to have any food in the first place)

Speaking of food waste and insecurity, I am finding that because I am being more conscious about my meal planning then I do not have that much food waste and one of my goals is not to waste any food. I cannot stand throwing out uneaten leftovers!!!!!!! It makes me so mad. 

My husband is on board for now and is doing it with me. Actually, because a doctor recently told him he needed to eat an anti inflammatory diet. When I compared the list of foods he could and couldn't have with Whole30 we realized that it was similar and we might as well do it together. We will see how this goes. I have gotten some resistance already but hopefully once he realizes how yummy all of these recipes are he will stick with it. 

[eramsey]

Day 2 & 3

 

So far I feel less puffy if that makes any sense at all. I do think I see an improvement in my skin's texture. I went for a walk/run this morning and it felt so good. 

I woke up happiest and in a better mood and lets just say there are frequent bathroom visitas but not as much gas. I will leave that right there.

I am very hungry a lot. So far no headache. I have done detox challenges in the past for up to 2 weeks so I know that I need to eat more than I normally do. I already miss cheese a lot and sugar in my coffee. And my son's snacks are so tempting when I have to get them for him. I need to get bed early while doing this challenge because that is when I snack. 

Yesterday's dinner was the Mexican twice baked potatoes from the cookbook and they were so good! We had leftovers for lunch and I was able to throw together a quick hash for breakfast with some grapefruit. 

Tonight's dinner is the chicken Tarragona with charred leeks. I am realizing just how much I really enjoy cooking with leeks.

[Rebecca001]

@eramseyhi, sounds like you have had a good few days? Well done! 
Is this your first w30? 
 

If you would like some advice, I would suggest go back to the book and reread the bits on the meal template; you might find that snacking on fruit doesn’t help you eliminate your sugar cravings, I do this especially when I am tired, so you are not alone. However protein/fat based snacks if you have to snack at all are a better choice. Ideally you would eat so much at your meals  that you could go 4/5 hours without needing any more food. This comes from having protein and fat in good quantities at your meals. That Dan sometimes feel like your plate is loaded high, and sometimes means you have to ‘waste’ food while you get your portion sizes worked out. 

I also think unfortunately your chia seed pudding is not allowed as it comes under the banner of the old Swypo rule, baked/recreated goods rules, even if all the ingredients are compliant - that might have changed now so maybe ask on a ‘can I have’ post and One of the lovely moderators will tell you what the current rules are around that sort of thing. I love chia pots and I miss them when I do a full w30 although I have them when I am reintroducing with no issues. 
I hope you don’t mind me saying. I definitely find my sugar cravings significantly worse when I eat more fruit, and in fact my challenge to myself  next week is to eat no fruit at all, in a bid to break my fruit addiction and increase the amount of veg and variety of veg I eat. I completely understand how easy it is to reach for fruit when giving snacks to the children too, my boys are snack monsters. 
 

your meals sound great, especially your twice baked potato! I made some loaded skins last week, by scooping out the inside of cooked baked potato and adding chives, bacon, and mixing with my mayo and stuffing the skins and baking again, they were so delicious and hardly noticed the missing cheese! 

[eramsey]

@Rebecca001

Thank you for the advice. I definitely don't eat enough protein. I try not to eat pork (for personal reasons) and I really limit red meat. However with other people in the house it is just easier to have a little sometimes. So with those 2 gone and nuts gone, fish is not always a viable option. And I cannot stand eating chicken and eggs 7 days a week. That was a big problem when I did a 7 day challenge like this in the past and I HATED it! I need to have a way to make whole food especially proteins enjoyable. 

I have also always been a mini meal or snacker type person. And I have typically been relatively healthy/active. It is only these last 2 years after giving birth and breastfeeding that the eating has become a problem. I am also getting back into running and I have always found as a runner that my body needs fruit/carbs. 

I much prefer to eat small frequent meals than 3 large meals. I also just don't have the time for it being a mom who works 6 days a week.  I grab food when I can. Part of this challenge is prioritizing my health. I am trying to break myself of the convenience of packaged food or fast food. Most days pre whole 30 I would skip lunch to do work and then I get dinner on the table for my husband and son but never actually eat myself because I end up dealing with the meltdowns. So there are just days when I eat after my son goes to bed and that is just how it is. Fruits right now are the easiest thing to grab. Today I have a snack of almonds and raisins. Lara bars are not available where I live so that is out of the question. 

So please throw any tips my way for eating small frequent meals?  3 big meals per day just will not work for me. 

I am working on getting more veggies in there too as this has been a problem. And if I buy a whole head of broccoli or cauliflower it will go to waste because no one else will eat it. I just cannot bring myself to waste that amount of food. Buying the pre packaged cauliflower and broccoli rice has helped so we will see how I can add more veggies. 

I made the Italian pot roast last night and had leftovers for lunch. That is pretty feeling so I am hoping that will hold me for a few hours. 

As for the chia seed pudding, quite honestly, for the next few days if I don't have that available I will end up eating cookies and having to start all over again. It is not ideal but it is where I am at right now. Hopefully as my body and metabolism adjusts I won't crave it as much anymore. But I do find the fibre from the chia seeds really helps me as well. 

[eramsey]

DAY 5 UPDATE

 

I got my weekend walk/runs in and it felt so good. I did feel lighter on sunday morning's run. Yesterday (day 4) I had a bit of headache but I just drank extra water. 

Saturday night we had the chicken tarragon from the whole 30 cookbook and that was relatively simple to make so it will stay around. 

Sunday night - I knew hubby would need some red meat to stay on track and although I try to limit it I decided to do the pot roast. It was so tasty. My toddler wouldn't eat it though so looks like I am still making him pasta and chicken nuggets most nights. I just cannot deal with this challenge and meltdowns all night when he won't eat his dinner so I will lose that battle to win the war haha. 

Monday - Breakfast was scrambled eggs, avocado and grapefruit. Mid morning I had a hard boiled egg that I brought to work. And I had to eat an early lunch in between meetings which was leftover pot roast and some almonds/raisins. I am feeling pretty full right now but I am sure I will need something around 3/4pm. I need to pick up some primal kitchen dressings so I can have some raw veggies cut up and ready to go with that or with some almond butter. 

Dinner tonight is just going to be a basic chicken stir fry with whatever is available in the fridge. 

Today I am going to the bathroom much more than I did. The craving seems to have died down a bit. I alternate between having lots of energy and wanting a nap. 

Does anyone have any suggestions for easy to grab protein snacks that are not jerky/pork/red meat? Also not Lara bars since I can't find them. 

 

[Semi]

I feel you on the smaller meals.

What I'm currently doing is: Cook bigger meals and eat one part as Main Meal and eat a smaller portion + fruit as a snack in between meals.
If I was you I wouldn't stress about the chia pudding (I do eat it on my normal diet, not as a substitute for rela pudding, but because I dislike eating chia seeds straight, it's filling and an easily prepped breakfast. If you try to do a "perfect" W30: You can just eat 1 tbsp of chia seeds (or grounded flex seeds) and drink about 400 ml of water right behind it (don't forget to drink, because otherwise you will get a stomach ache from hell).

 

For the veggies: Try to find a way that you enjoy eating them, for example I love oven roasted veggies and can eat them everyday. I also like creamy soups, so I put a ton in that soup before I put it into a blender. Most important thing is: Use all the spices. Most veggies alone taste a bit dull. Spice them up. If you can eat tomato sauce (or other sauces) use them for flavour.

[Semi]

I feel you on your toddler!
I actually have to cook separately because my kids only eat some foods (and the most veggies are not a part of it. The elder one is basically vegan at this point and prefers fruits, some uncooked veggies, bread and spaghetti).

At least she decided to try my cooked foods.

[eramsey]

DAY 6 MORNING:

 

@SemiThank you for the tips. Last night I made my toddler an eggo waffle with butter and syrup thinking for sure he would eat that but nope. He is going through a picky eater phase which is making this entire thing so much harder. Dinner time is just meltdowns, battles and timeouts. So last night I just let it go because I realized if I am not finishing my dinner I will be grumpy and not cope very well with that whole situation. I did get him to eat some Greek yogurt later so I guess that's a win? I had really high hopes that he would see all this yummy healthy food and try a thing or 2 here or there so we would find more veggies that he would like. On the flip side one win was that this morning he came into the kitchen while I was cooking breakfast and said "Mommy cooking food" so that means he has an understanding that food involves whole food that have to be cooked/prepared. We'll take what we can get right? But then there was a meltdown over what he wanted (I don't even know what it was) and it made cooking breakfast much harder and a longer process. (My husband would usually help but he had surgery last week. Part of the whole30 is that he needed to eat an anti inflammatory diet for his recovery). 

Day 5 Wrap Up

Lunch yesterday around 12pm kept me pretty full until about 5 pm. I did have some almond/raisins in between but it wasn't a full snack. I had pretty steady energy and mood all day yesterday and my sleep is definitely much better. Dinner was chicken stir fry and I put broccoli in. Since I was a kid, I have never liked broccoli. And I could barely finish the stir fry because of the broccoli so I think we will keep broccoli to a minimum. My husband loves broccoli so maybe some broccoli on the side for him. 

Day 6 Morning

I was ravenous when I woke up this morning. And although I slept very well I feel so tired and groggy. Last night I cut up some extra veggies for scrambled eggs with vegetables and added some spinach and then had some avocado on the side. I thought I was full but now 2 hours later I am very hungry. I had a banana on my way to work hoping that would help but nope--- still hungry. I do have a hard boiled egg, apple, and nuts/raisins with me so I may need to have a snack in a little bit. While I am craving bread/cheese etc. (I miss cheese so much) this is definite hunger not just a craving so clearly I will need to eat more at breakfast. 

Today I am thinking what have I gotten myself into? This is not sustainable. And then I notice some of the changes in my body and my more steady energy/mood and I go ok well maybe there is something to this. I am doubting if I can stick out the whole program. So my plan is to take the next 4-5 days to get my meal portions better aligned with my hunger cues and see how that goes. I am finiding that I have to go to the food store frequently which will not work long term for me and that eating this way  is wreaking havoc on our grocery budget. So as I meal plan for the next week the goal will be to stay within the grocery budget (no exceptions). Because if we don't find a way to make this sustainable long term now, then the re introduction/post whole 30 will be a disaster.

[Semi]

I feel you on the picky eaters...really. Just do you best and you know? in the end it doesn't matter that much what you feed them as long as it's somewhat natural (it's a victory if they eat veg and fruits!). You give your best and that is good enough

[eramsey]

Day 7 Morning

Last night was tough and good at the same time. I barely had any time to unwind. I am almost always in the kitchen now so I need to work on easier meals so I can actually spend time with my family. That being said, my sleep has drastically improved. I was up with my alarm in a good mood this morning. Last night however, the cravings were serious. I managed to get by with just some raisins and some almond butter on some chicken deli slices. It was pretty tasty as a snack!

This morning breakfast was scrambled eggs with spinach and avocado on the side. And a few slices of bacon that I brought to work with me. 

I do feel I have a tremendous amount of focus at work and I even have energy when I get home. 

Lunch today will be the remix pot roast ragout (which came out really well last night) and I also have a small salad, a hard boiled egg and some homemade trail mix at work with me. 

Tonight I will sit down to meal plan for next week so I have time to start getting everything we need. The goal is to stay under our grocery budget and make only 2 max 3 trips to the food store. Hopefully I can squeeze in a walk/run even if it is just 15 minutes or chasing my son around, just anything to get moving. 

I still go between being resentful of this program at times for how restrictive it is to realizing there are actual changes occuring. I do so more of a waistline when I look in the mirror. However my pants this morning seem tighter. I am so tempted to step on the scale but I know it will be demoralizing and the real change will come in the last 2 weeks of the program so I am trying very hard to stick this out. 

[eramsey]

DAY 7 - 12

I was feeling so good on the weekend, more energy, better sleep. However somehow on Sunday I was just not into cooking and meal prep as much as I was the week before. I did manage to meal plan and stay in budget with the grocery shopping until my husband got involved. 

He was supposed to be eating an anti inflammatory diet for his recovery from surgery which is part of what triggered us even doing whole30 in the first place. Well he had a gout attack which he suspects is from raisins. I think it is too much red meat and we need to cut back for now on that. But I will not win that argument. So on Day 10 he decided that he was not doing whole 30 but was going to make modifications. I am so annoyed that he couldn't stick it out longer but I knew this would happen at some point. He has also been making it more difficult for me to keep going. Just by small things. Not keeping the kitchen clean which makes cooking harder. I had the fridge and cupboards organized so things are easy to find. Not anymore. He is bringing unnecessary food into the house. He is not eating the leftovers I leave for him and this is a particularly sore point because I put so much time and effort into picking recipes he will like. I get up at 6am, get breakfast prepared, take care of our toddler and cats, make sure he has what he needs for the day (since he is home for a few more days recovering from his surgery). I set up homeschool playbased activities for my toddler. I leave lunch set up. I work a full day. Rush out of the office to get home on time to start cooking dinner, dealing with the meltdowns, clean the house and cat litter, feed the cats, get our son bathed and the whole bedtime routine and then set everything up for the next day leaving hardly any time for me to workout or unwind. This is what has led to stress eating and emotional eating in the past and now that I don't have that on this program I am re examining the fact that I need more help from my darling husband, So back to the frustration. It is frustrating not to have him stick this out or at least not over spend our grocery budget and help keep everything in order so I can complete the program. I do feel part of it on his part is deliberate sabotage or unconscious sabotage because it scares him to see me succeed at something like or rather he doesn't like the new demands I am now putting on him to help out around the house. 

I think because my mood is much better and my energy levels are higher, our toddler is much happier. So eventually hubby will have no choice but to get with the program. He has had problems with some of his medication the past few weeks but I told him with everything on my plate, he has to take charge of that. And when he tries to pick a fight I just tell him that we are not fighting right now and I refuse to argue. I really do think that eating this way must be helping to balance out cortisol levels (I don't have any proof so this is just my theory). So I am proud of myself that I am sticking this out. 

Today is day 13 so I am almost halfway there. I am certainly craving junk food especially anything with chocolate. And I really do miss cheese so I need to start looking at the re introduction phase. I do think I will need an occasional treat of cheese or chocolate to make this sustainable. I do not miss dairy milk at all. I do miss some bread and pasta but I recognize that these really are not good for me at all so if I can keep them out of my diet or to a bare minimum then I will. 

Going forward with my husband being so difficult I will have him sit down with me to meal plan tomorrow night and show him the budget for groceries and basically get him to agree that once that is spent for the week that is it. And with the meal planning I have been doing there is more than enough as leftovers for lunch so there really is no need to go over budget or be dining out right now. We will make allowances for dining out in the future but for now while we get adjusted it is not necessary. I also know that I have to keep going because of how good I feel regardless of what he chooses to do. Wish me luck because the next week or so is going to be very tough!

 

[MadyVanilla]

23 hours ago, eramsey said:

So on Day 10 he decided that he was not doing whole 30

This is spot-on with the timeline...just sayin' 

The struggle with the husband is so real for me.  We've long ago agreed to disagree and often cook our own, separate dinners.  Which is sad.  And expensive.  You have a great plan with sitting down together to look at the budget - hopefully, that will do the trick!  

You're a wonderful role model for him, sticking to it when it gets tough (I hear the chocolate and cheese...) and with your new energy and improved mood you don't even have to say anything for him to see the positives in really a very short time.  

Good luck!  

 

 

[eramsey]

@MadyVanillaThank you for your encouragement. It is great to hear from other people going through this. It is way way too expensive to be cooking separate meals especially with prices increasing globally on groceries. We did sit down. He did agree to eat the same dinners. So dinners will be whole30 which is the most important because then I have leftovers for lunch. We have agreed on a set $ amount per week that will be his lunch money and what he does is up to him. It is so frustrating to me that he won't eat this way considering that a doctor just told him to avoid ALL sugar, flour and dairy so a tumor doesn't grow back. Plus with his gout flare up he needs to eat an anti inflammatory diet. It doesn't have to be whole30 per se but pretty close to it. Anyways we have reached some sort of agreement for now. Tonight we sit down to meal plan for the week so he can see the 2+ hours it takes me weekly to do that at the end of a day when I am exhausted and then the 3-4 different grocery stores we need to go to to get everything we need and stay in budget. 

DAY 14-15

I crashed the last 2 days. These have been tough. I felt like my energy was lower but when I went for a run last night, I felt so much lighter and it was easier to run and I could go faster.  I tried to make Monday an upper body workout, Tuesday and abs day and Wednesday the day that I get a good run in during the week. Tonight I will try to do lower body. I am finding this works well as long as I keep it to quick 15-20 minute workouts that I do around 9pm after my toddler has gone to sleep. So I very much want to keep this going if I can and if it doesn't get to be too much. I just look something quick up on youtube. Fitness Blender has always been one of my go-to Youtube fitness channels. 

Now I am not sure what is going on today. I am tired and low energy. I think I need to drink more water maybe? Last night I used the ground beef base from the Whole30 cookbook sloppy joes to make the chili recipe topped with cabbage. This morning the kuckles on my fingers feel puffy and I am super tired. Maybe it is just the halfway point? Maybe I need to eat more now that I am more actively working out. My mood is still okish. I am very drained from work and my husband's surgery so it could just be my body telling me to rest. But I still think this must mean there was something that is causing this, either the peppers or from the canned tomatoes. I am not sure but I will stay away from that recipe for a while and see if it makes a difference.

For meal planning tonight I am looking for very easy recipes to throw together cause next week is a busy week. I am thinking baked chicken with root vegetables, loaded baked potato, maybe making egg cups/fritatta over the weekend to have during the week. We will try maybe salmon burgers or salmon cakes over a salad. If anyone has any other easy ideas, throw them my way. I am sure one night will either be some sort of stir fry or egg scramble with whatever is in the fridge. But the coming week is by far our busiest and therefore most challenging yet. Made even more challenging by the determination to stay in budget NO MATTER WHAT. Hopefully with 2 weeks worth of meals and the much anticipated tiger blood we can stick to it. Or at least I can.

[eramsey]

DAY 16 

Today I feel rough. This is supposed to be when tiger blood starts but I do NOT feel that way at all. I have fairly steady energy and am managing my stress levels but I could also nap for several hours if given the opportunity. A girl can dream, right? I know that I am losing weight and I have had co-workers start to comment so that gives me encouragement to keep going. Last night those cravings were intense but I stayed strong. It seems to be getting harder, not easier. Tomorrow morning will be a run/walk so hopefully that re energizes me for the weekend. 

[eramsey]

DAY 17 - 20

I thought I was getting my tiger blood over the weekend and maybe I had some for a brief time on Saturday. But I was just so over this whole thing on Sunday and Monday. I haven't felt like cooking. The meal planning and prep is getting to be a lot. I will keep going because I see the weight loss and I keep looking back on the reasons why I started in the first place. But these next few days are going to be tough. I am feeling very deprived of the foods I consider treats. I don't necessarily crave them. It is more so that I just want to be done with this program. During the re introduction, I am going to have to find treats that I can have every so often and ways to make this sustainable that don't involve spending hours in the kitchen, 

On a positive note I don't care for bread or pasta or cereal anymore and I know I was eating too much of those. But I do just want some nice cheese, chocolate and a glass of wine lol