____Emily____ Posted February 1, 2022 Share Posted February 1, 2022 Hello! Started Whole30 on January 31st. This is my third Whole30. The first Whole30 (July 2018) was super successful, to include the full reintroduction period. The second (January 2020) was successful until Day 29, when I attended a bachelorette party that involved winery touring. I was invited to the party during my Whole30; otherwise, I would have not done a Whole30 at that time (I probably would have either started a couple of days earlier). Since it was an event I couldn't move and I already had done a full reintroduction, I decided to end early for it. No regrets (but I hate not being able to say I've done two successful Whole30s) This time, I'm hoping to readjust my relationship with food, in particular sugary foods. My past two Whole30s have ended with me immediately eating candy. I have never had the intention of keeping all of the Whole30 rules past the 30 days, so I essentially immediately revert back to my former eating habits when I finish. This time, I am planning to keep the no-sugar rule for maybe another 30 days (to the best of my ability... might allow some "less than 2% of" sugar ingredients because they're just so hard to avoid). This will allow me to specifically rebuild my relationship with normal eating, but minus the sugary treats. So, onto the log: Day 1 - Jan 31 Breakfast: Eggs and Coffee Lunch: Sausages with sautéed onions, Carrots & Celery with guacamole Snack: Applesauce Dinner: Salmon with Everything Bagel Seasoning (this threw my husband for a loop, lol. It's just the toppings of the everything bagel, so onion, garlic, sesame seeds, and poppy seeds), Roasted broccoli with lemon and garlic. Snack: Fresh orange and applesauce Exercise: None today (hoping to start incorporating walks/weights sometime this week, but I like to give myself some grace during week one) How am I feeling: Day 1 was rough. A lot of cravings - especially in the midafternoon, when I normally eat candy while sitting bored at my desk. I also am dealing with some tummy troubles, but I think those might have come from something I ate Sunday night, before I started. Felt brain fog/headache during most of the afternoon evening, but woke up fine on day 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
____Emily____ Posted February 2, 2022 Author Share Posted February 2, 2022 Woke up this morning with a terrible headache, and to my dog being sick under my bed. So not a great morning! Day 2 - Feb 1 Breakfast: Eggs and Coffee Lunch: Leftover Salmon, Salad with Trader Joes Green Goddess Dressing Snack: Applesauce, Chomps meat stick, pickled beets Dinner: Homemade hot wings with sweet potato fries and a mayo dip Exercise: None today How am I feeling: Day 2 was mostly okay, but I went to bed early because I started feeling a headache come on. The sleep did not help, so now I've woken up with the headache. Cannot wait until my sugar withdrawals are over Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
____Emily____ Posted February 3, 2022 Author Share Posted February 3, 2022 I think my terrible headache may be weather-related as I tend to get pressure headaches the day before it rains and lo-and-behold it's raining today. Mild headache now that is sitting in a different spot on my head, so I think this is my normal sugar/caffeine withdrawal headache. Overall, I'm finding Whole30 so much easier as I WFH most days now (currently 100%, but I'll be going back to the office one day a week mid-February). I'm able to cook on my stove instead of relying on an office microwave. I'm also not around many temptations either - my husband is doing Whole30 with me, so I really only have to look at things I can't have while I'm at the grocery store. Of course, that doesn't mean I haven't stared wistfully at the wine section in Whole Foods or at the bakery section in Giant. Day 3 - Feb 2 Breakfast: Eggs and Coffee, Applesauce (I thought that might help the headache I woke up with - it didn't) Lunch: Sausage with sautéed onions; pickled beets Snack: Applesauce Dinner: Primal Kitchen Penang Curry Bowl Snack: mixed fruit (mango, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry) Exercise: None today How am I feeling: Went to bed at 8pm last night to listen to a book on tape (was feeling light sensitivity) - it was around then that I realized my headache was entirely unrelated to Whole30 because of the pressure on my right eyeball. Feeling much much better today, thankfully. I'm hoping tonight I can do a bit of walking around the neighborhood for exercise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
____Emily____ Posted February 4, 2022 Author Share Posted February 4, 2022 Happy Friday! I'm looking forward to the weekend, which will involve a virtual book club (although I still haven't finished the book yet! ), a meeting with a contractor to get an estimate on a bathroom remodel, and a social club that meets at a coffee shop (planning to get black coffee and pack along some of my unsweetened vanilla coconut/almond milk to add to it). It's been fairly rainy here, but I have heard that it is supposed to lighten up and hopefully stop before the weekend starts) Day 4 - Feb 3 Breakfast: Eggs and Coffee Lunch: Sausage with sautéed peppers Snack: Apples with cinnamon almond butter Dinner: Hot wings and sweet potato fries and mayo dip Exercise: None today (blaming the rain for this) How am I feeling: Pretty good! The headache was mild and on/off almost all day and I found that I didn't need my snack in the evening (had planned to do carrots and celery with guacamole). I'm losing the desire to mindlessly munch in the evenings, and in general, I am finding my food more satisfying (instead of craving something different like a bagel or candy bar) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
____Emily____ Posted February 5, 2022 Author Share Posted February 5, 2022 Finally had a day without snacks yesterday! Although I did have an evening decaf coffee with unsweetened chocolate almond milk, so that may be worse (since it basically mimicked hot cocoa or a mocha) Day 5 - Feb 4 Breakfast: Eggs and Coffee Lunch: Diced pepper, onion and sausage sautéed together with two fried eggs Dinner: Baked Salmon with broccoli Drink: Decaf espresso with unsweetened chocolate almond milk Exercise: None today How am I feeling: Fairly normal today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
____Emily____ Posted February 6, 2022 Author Share Posted February 6, 2022 Ugh, yesterday was punctuated by a massive headache midday, about an hour after lunch. I'm going to start a normal allergy medicine to see if that helps because I don't normally suffer from this many headaches and didn't have this issue with my previous Whole30s (but I do tend to have headaches when it's allergy season) Day 6 - Feb 5 Breakfast: Shakshuka and Coffee Lunch: Salad bowl at Cava Dinner: Hot wings (this time with a garlic lemon hot sauce) with sweet potato fries and mayo dip Snack: Apple slices with cinnamon almond butter Exercise: None today How am I feeling: These headaches are really distracting, but I think I'm noticing less bloat and my resting heart rate has gone down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
____Emily____ Posted February 7, 2022 Author Share Posted February 7, 2022 First week down! my Sunday was a bit weird food-wise. I go to a club every Sunday morning at a coffee shop and it normally interferes with my eating schedule because it starts at 10 am, and can run until 1 or 2 pm sometimes (it's really casual so people come and go). I ate before going, and then went to the grocery store on the way home, meaning I didn't get home until around 2:30, so lunch was a bit of a frenzy Day 7 - Feb 6 Breakfast: Eggs and Coffee Lunch: Sausage, a handful of grapes, and a lot of applesauce (too much. Probably not going to buy the little squeeze applesauces again once these run out. Something about the hands-free nature of them just makes me eat too many) Dinner: Spaghetti squash with meaty marinara and potato wedges with ketchup Snack: Applesauce Exercise: A short walk around the coffee shop How am I feeling: Pretty good today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
____Emily____ Posted February 8, 2022 Author Share Posted February 8, 2022 Had a fairly busy day yesterday - someone scheduled a meeting during lunch so my lunch was fairly late, and then I also had a virtual game night in the evening. Thankfully, I didn't have any headaches. Day 8 - Feb 7 Breakfast: Eggs and Coffee Lunch: diced onion and peppers with two fried eggs Dinner: leftover spaghetti squash and an orange Snack: apple slices with almond butter, Applesauce Exercise: none How am I feeling: Great! Finally a day without headaches Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
____Emily____ Posted February 9, 2022 Author Share Posted February 9, 2022 Day 9 - Feb 8 Breakfast: Eggs and Coffee Lunch: diced onion and peppers and sausage Snack: Applesauce Dinner: Hot wings and sweet potato fries (We've been having this a lot, but it's such a simple meal and my husband and I were working our way through a Costco bundle of wing sections, lol) Snack: none Exercise: none (really need to start making myself do this) How am I feeling: Great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
____Emily____ Posted February 10, 2022 Author Share Posted February 10, 2022 Day 10 - Feb 9 Breakfast: Eggs and Coffee Lunch: sausage Snack: Orange slices Dinner: Thai green curry with cauliflower rice Snack: applesauce, mango Exercise: afternoon walk with my dog (approximately a mile, very easy pace) How am I feeling: Good. Can't believe I'm 1/3 way through now. Cravings are less acute than the early days but I'm definitely craving wine and candy. During my first Whole30, this was around the point where I dreamt I was eating noncompliant foods all of the time and I imagine this is going to happen again, lol. Last night I was thinking about all of the fruit I am eating. During my previous Whole30s, I did not let myself snack on fruit past the first few days because I was worried that it would prevent me from conquering my sugar dragon; but then when I finished, I immediately allowed sugar back in and went overboard. This time, I think I might continue eating fruit as much as I want and see if I can train myself to enjoy fruit as a snack instead of candy (something I did as a kid and teen when I wasn't allowed as much candy as I wanted all of the time). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
____Emily____ Posted February 11, 2022 Author Share Posted February 11, 2022 Day 11 - Feb 10 Breakfast: Eggs and Coffee Lunch: hotdogs with mustard; carrots and celery with guacamole Snack: Orange slices Dinner: Shakshuka Snack: Orange slices Exercise: afternoon walk with my dog (approximately a mile, very easy pace); 20 minutes cycle ride (indoor bike, relatively easy pace) How am I feeling: Good. I'm glad I'm finally starting to get some movement into my day. I'm sure my dog is glad too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
____Emily____ Posted February 14, 2022 Author Share Posted February 14, 2022 Had a relatively busy weekend and totally forgot to update these. Since I don't write down my meals anywhere else, I'm sure I've forgotten some stuff. Day 12 - Feb 11 Breakfast: Eggs and Coffee Lunch: diced peppers and onions with 2 fried eggs Snack: Goya frozen baked plantains . These are delicious - my husband actually accused me of them being sugared, lol. You have to be careful to get the ones I linked, because the ones called "ripe plantains," which are already cut into bite-sized pieces, are pre-fried in soybean oil Dinner: Seafood - my husband and I went to one of those boil-in-a-bag seafood restaurants. I actually have some regrets for this meal - I had wanted a pound of snow crab legs with no seasoning, but my husband convinced me that we should share a combo that had 1lb snow crab, 1lb crawdads, 1lb shrimp, 1lb mussels, and 0.5lb sausage and put seasoning on it. It was entirely too much food, and I'm concerned that the seasoning and the sausage weren't compliant. This is our third Whole30, so I'm going to let it slide, but it's annoying because I specifically picked this restaurant because of how easy it is to avoid noncompliant ingredients! Snack: banana slices with cashew butter (this is an old favorite of mine from when I was younger and my sister went on an elimination diet that involved not having peanut butter. I really like the sticky cashew texture with the slimy banana for some reason, lol) Exercise: long walk at lunch with the dog (approximately 1.5 miles, easy pace) How am I feeling: felt like a fairly extravagant day for me with the super sweet plantains and the potentially noncompliant seafood, lol. Day 13 - Feb 12 Breakfast/Lunch: diced onions and potatoes and sausage Dinner: Mixed fruit. Lots and lots of mixed fruit Snack: a sausage Exercise: none How am I feeling: I had a book club on Saturday evening at 5pm. I brought a mixed berry salad (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and green grapes) because it's normally a few nibbles and lots of wine. I wanted to make sure I had something to eat while I was there. I'm really glad I did because we wound up hanging out until 10pm! It had been a while since we all were together so it was more social than book chat, but it really helped to have fruit to nibble on while everyone else ate pizza, salad (pre-dressed), baked goods and chocolate. The host very kindly offered me sparkling water when I explained why I was passing on the wine, but I actually prefer water. So I left the evening well-hydrated and actually not that hungry (I think I probably consumed like 2lbs of berries, lol) Day 14 - Feb 13 Breakfast: a Chomp turkey stick and a banana, coffee Lunch: sausages Snack: beets (I'm obsessed with these, so good) Dinner: Hot wings with sweet potato fries and mayo Snack: orange slices and a mango Exercise: none How am I feeling: I woke up late and had to take a grab-n-go breakfast, but I think I did a fairly decent job getting something that filled me up through lunch. I keep a few of those meat sticks in my pantry for times like this specifically. I actually am not a huge fan of the flavor of them (they're very meaty...) but they are filling and give you a dose of protein. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
____Emily____ Posted February 15, 2022 Author Share Posted February 15, 2022 Halfway through! NSVs include increased focus and lower resting heart rate. Day 15 - Feb 14 Breakfast: Eggs and Coffee Lunch: diced onions and sausages with fried egg Snack: orange slices Dinner: steak with béarnaise sauce, potato wedges, and roasted broccoli Snack: banana slices with cashew butter and applesauce Exercise: none How am I feeling: Good. I actually didn't miss the typical Valentine's Day chocolates as much as I anticipated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
____Emily____ Posted February 16, 2022 Author Share Posted February 16, 2022 Day 16 - Feb 15 Breakfast: Eggs and Coffee Lunch: Leftover steak, carrots and celery with guacamole, apple slices with cinnamon almond butter Snack: none Dinner: Leftover Thai Green Curry (yikes, this was old, but still tasted fine. Curry saves pretty well) Snack: Orange slices and a mango (an unripe mango, unfortunately. Most of it was inedible) Exercise: none How am I feeling: My stomach was a bit messed up by the end of the day. I think the old curry may have been to blame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
____Emily____ Posted March 3, 2022 Author Share Posted March 3, 2022 Clearly I stopped posting my daily log, but wanted to close out the thread by saying that my Whole30 was successful. Today was my first day post Whole30 and I'm trying to keep some of my good habits so I turned down candy offered to me in the office and didn't go into the Krispy Kreme that smelled super good. I've mainly eaten Whole30-compliant today, except a specialty coffee (milk and sugar) and a single Ferrero Rocher (I received a large box of them during the month and put them away for today, lol). Results: Resting Heartrate: 75 -> 68 Weight: Lost 5lbs Inches lost on waist: 1 Inches lost on hips: 1 I didn't lose as much weight this time around as I normally do during my Whole30s, but I also consumed more snacks and fruits. I'm hoping that I've learned healthy snacking this month and can maintain good habits, which will help me actually keep the weight off and maybe even lose some more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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