Start date: March 20th

[W.J.]

Hello all. I plan to start my Whole30 journey on Wednesday, and I am absolutely terrified! I feel like this is my last chance to really change my life, and I'm afraid of failing. I've been overweight for as long as I can remember, and it has started to catch up to me. At 27 years old, I always feel drained, tired, and tired of being tired. I have reached the point where something has to change! I am currently a full time PhD student, so my life is pretty hectic. I'm always on the go, usually stressed, and as I'm sure you can imagine, I have limited financial resources. Processed foods have been my go-to-resource for the past 2 years, and it has really taken its toll. In order to be a success at this stage in academia, I've learned that you HAVE to be at the very top of your game (it's very much an expectation) and feeling so tired in class that you can't focus isn't going to cut it.

Most of my family is also overweight, so I usually get more temptation to eat fatty foods than support to get healthy. Dieting has always been a challenge, but I know it's time for a complete change. I have read some of the success stories on the site and they are definitely an encouragement. I am hoping that I will be able to add to that list soon.

Is anyone else starting on Wednesday or have any advice for me? Thanks in advance!

[Moluv]

My advice? Don't do anything for the next month besides go to school and follow this program to the letter. Limit who you socialize with- it's only a month and it WILL change you.

Congratulations and best wishes!

[Kirsteen]

Hi W.J. First of all congratulations on taking posiyive steps for your health. This can be done on a budget, a lot of us do. One key thing is planning especially when you have a busy stressful life. If you can plan a week ahead, that's brilliant (I never managed that ) but at least plan out the next days meals. It helps if you can think of at least 3 meals you can make, quickly, easily and with things you're likely to have on hand, as there will be times when you come home and want food 'now' without any hassle.

Keep the guidlines handy http://forum.whole9life.com/topic/5-the-official-whole30%C2%AE-program/. They're worth rereading. I recommend everyone to read the book if they can, it explains all the science behind the program but at least go to http://whole9life.com/itstartswithfood/ and download all the free material - it really helps. Above all don't be afraid to ask any questions you may have, they're a really friendly bunch here. Good luck, you can do it.

[golden]

I'm starting on Wednesday, too! Good luck.

[Maycat]

Hi W.J.! Congratulations! I think you will find that that a Whole30 makes your homework and studies much easier. I am going to school as well, and I found that the book Well Fed (Joulwan, M., 2011) is an excellent resource if you are crunched for time and money. What I did is pick a few recipes, followed her instructions for pre-cooking, and planned to cook session on a Sunday between the papers I was writing. I find that the break of stopping and cooking for 1-2 hours to prepare for the week helped my brain by giving it a rest (as opposed to my usual style of writing non-stop from Friday until Monday). Once I made a few items, I kept them in the fridge, and during the week between work and school it took much less time for meals and snacks. My food bill also dropped significantly. That book has paid for itself in the cost savings.

Best of luck to you! Hand in there, after the first few days it gets much easier.

[podiumchick]

I am new to the forum and just started my first Whole 30 today. I did South Beach several years ago and thought the first phase was difficult, but it didn't allow any fruit. I'm hoping that little difference will help me through the first days.

Here's to a great month, right?

[W.J.]

Thanks for all of the tips and support. I did buy the book and was absolutely amazed at some of what I read - just how much food affects our lives. I definitely think that meal planning for the week and setting aside time to do the bulk of the cooking will help (and be a great break indeed, Tanya). Thanks for the suggestions!

[kittycat]

I plan to start my Whole30 journey on Wednesday, and I am absolutely terrified! (...)

Is anyone else starting on Wednesday or have any advice for me? Thanks in advance!

I'm starting on Wednesday, too! Good luck.

I am new to the forum and just started my first Whole 30 today. (...) Here's to a great month, right?

Hi W.J., golden, podiumchick - I'm in, too.

Like podiumchick, I am on Day 2. It is my 2nd Whole 30 and might turn out longer than 30 days. You are welcome to take a look at my 'Project Phoenix' log in the forum to get the whole story. Short version is: Sugar dragon still alive and working on a few minor other things.

W.J., my suggestion: When it feels hard, come back to book & forum. We'll be there for you. And get some cool things to cook you never tried, and dare preparing them - it's fun.

Looking forward to having a bunch of people on the same timeline! Thumbs up

[kittycat]

Eww, not so nice - back to Day 0 for me as this morning I made the big mistake of first having a hearty bite of my sweet potato with sunflower seed butter that I had with my omelet - and, guess what, the bloody stuff contains sugar... always read your labels first!

Angry at myself, I had the rest of the potato with more of it - sure, that helps

After being angry at myself for about ten minutes I sighed and thought to myself: "well, back to day 0 then it is, because I want to keep it 100% clean".

There we go, never mind, lucky it was day 2 instead of day 22

Have a great day you guys!

[W.J.]

Okay, I have a question. Since I started the Whole30, my appetite has seriously decreased. I barely eat anything. It's not because I don't enjoy the food, bc the recipes are awesome! Is that normal?

[kittycat]

Okay, I have a question. Since I started the Whole30, my appetite has seriously decreased. I barely eat anything. It's not because I don't enjoy the food, bc the recipes are awesome! Is that normal?

Hi W.J.,

this is normal. Many people either feel increased hunger or hardly any appetite. Happened to me during my first W30 as well.

Have you read the book already? It does a very good job on explaining why this is likely to happen.

(I strongly suggest buying it, which I didn't do for my first W30 and made it through, but now I did buy it for my second W30 and I feel a deepening of my understanding. I also want to know the "science-y stuff" behind it as I am a researcher, something you might also be interested in as you are a PhD student.)

The short story about "no appetite" is that the hormones in your body are most likely out of balance right now and with the new way of eating, the body has to adjust and repair to get back to balance and the appetite will come back.

It is important for you to put proper food into your body until then, even if you don't feel that much appetite. But as you report that the recipes are delicious, it seems you are doing that. So, good job, and keep us updated.

Btw: If you were used to eat many carb-loaded foods, you might have slight headaches over the coming days, which is normal, but will go away soon. Sorry, don't mean to discourage, you might also be lucky and not get them at all

[W.J.]

Hi W.J.,

this is normal. Many people either feel increased hunger or hardly any appetite. Happened to me during my first W30 as well.

Have you read the book already? It does a very good job on explaining why this is likely to happen.

It is important for you to put proper food into your body until then, even if you don't feel that much appetite. But as you report that the recipes are delicious, it seems you are doing that. So, good job, and keep us updated.

Btw: If you were used to eat many carb-loaded foods, you might have slight headaches over the coming days, which is normal, but will go away soon. Sorry, don't mean to discourage, you might also be lucky and not get them at all

Hi Kittycat,

Thanks for the reply. I did read the book (like you said, as a researcher, I couldn't help myself either ), and I did recall the part about appetite changes, but I guess my change was more drastic than I expected. It started to worry me a bit. I also want to make sure I'm eating enough of the right foods. I know there's no perfect formula for this, but I can't help it - it's the engineer in me! lol

This morning, I had half an avocado baked with an egg and some ground meat leftover from my deconstructed burger recipe, oh, and an orange (just bc I didn't feel like cooking a second veggie). Then a cup of coffee afterwards. Does that sound okay?

Thanks so much for the encouragement. I already have friends questioning my dietary choices and I am only a couple days in!

[kittycat]

Hi W.J.,

sounds good to me!

Engineering? Nice - informatics on my side I am at UCI.

If the ground meat leftover was little, then you might want to have a second egg in that breakfast to make sure you have enough protein.

And if you don't like cooking more veggies in the morning, there are also many that I like to snack raw. Baby carrots or snow peas are some of my favorit "morning veggies". The amount of fruit in there sounds alright to me as you didn't have any sweet potato or the like.

Your "pragmatic approach on the formula" seems to work well so far - keep going and post your meals if you'd like me to have a look at them (not because I am the expert, just because a second pair of eyes often helps).

People are always questioning, I know, and the feeling you have to defend is not nice. Just remember that most of them are likely to question because they care about your well-being. Just tell them that this is your experiment phase and you will be happy to tell them in a couple of weeks when you have figured out how well it works for you. That is a strategy that has at least worked for me to postpone too many enquiries in a very short time, and after two weeks, when people already see a difference, they will simply congratulate that you seem to have found a way that works well for you (and maybe want to know some more details).

Enjoy your weekend!

[W.J.]

Btw: If you were used to eat many carb-loaded foods, you might have slight headaches over the coming days, which is normal, but will go away soon. Sorry, don't mean to discourage, you might also be lucky and not get them at all

It's funny that you mentioned this today, because I'm defnitely feeling tired and have a slight headache. I know it's going to be a bit rough the first week or so, so I'm hanging in there. I have to admit, I really want to go for a Snickers right now and I don't even eat candy very often!

[kittycat]

Yep, completely normal, both: headache and sweets you don't even used to like a lot

[W.J.]

Yep, completely normal, both: headache and sweets you don't even used to like a lot

Thanks. I'm starting to feel a little better, but I feel sort of bloated. I think I may need to give more attention to my daily water intake.

My morning meal was scrambled eggs (2) with ground meat (I found that I really like that combo's taste), onion, and tomato all topped with a couple tbsp of guacamole. I'm thinking I probably should've added another veggie, but even with what I had it was a little too much; I'm feeling stuffed. I'm still trying to get adjusted to my body's signals. I just can't eat as much as I was before.

[golden]

Hi everyone!

Today is my day 6, and I hit a definite slump yesterday. I felt exhausted and hungry at 4:30, so I ate a mini meal and felt better, but still exhausted. By 8:00, I wasn't hungry but I thought I should try to eat something, and so I made liver, which I'd bought to try it for the first time. I took one bite and could NOT handle it, had to spit it out. After that, all I could handle eating was some squash in broth and coconut water, but everything tasted like liver, and I was so grossed out.

I'm feeling a little headachy this morning and like my mouth taste meaty. I'm getting tired of meat! I think I'll feel better this morning after I eat something, and tomorrow when my CSA box comes in.

[W.J.]

I wasn't hungry but I thought I should try to eat something, and so I made liver, which I'd bought to try it for the first time. I took one bite and could NOT handle it, had to spit it out. After that, all I could handle eating was some squash in broth and coconut water, but everything tasted like liver, and I was so grossed out.

I'm feeling a little headachy this morning and like my mouth taste meaty. I'm getting tired of meat! I think I'll feel better this morning after I eat something, and tomorrow when my CSA box comes in.

Hi Golden,

I'm sure someone more experienced will give you a much better response, but I've found that for me, sometimes my exhaustion is just because I didn't get good rest the night before, even if I went to bed early. Some times it's hard to shut my brain down for the day.

Liver is definitely one of those things you either love or hate lol. I also think it depends on how you cook it. Also, I know what you mean when you say you're tired of meat. I get the same feeling sometime since I am not used to eating so much protein each day. Whenever I feel that way, I'll normally try switching to tilapia or some sort of fish. It feels much lighter and it changes things up a bit. Hang in there!

[kittycat]

I'm sure someone more experienced will give you a much better response

Hi Golden,

Not necessarily better but I can agree to what W.J. said.

Make sure you get enough sleep - it is normal that you have a slump during the first week, depending on how many carb-intense foods you were relying on before it might take 2 weeks, but I promise it will improve.

I also have that issue of getting tired of so much animal protein and I try the same as W.J. - just have some salmon in between. What works pretty well for me is for three meals a day I would have eggs one time, meat (white or red) one time, and fish or shrimps one time.

If that is too much cooking, you can at least alternate the days.

Hang in there, you will feel tiger blood soon, just make sure you get the rest your body needs.

Hugs!

[kittycat]

Thanks. I'm starting to feel a little better, but I feel sort of bloated. I think I may need to give more attention to my daily water intake.

My morning meal was scrambled eggs (2) with ground meat (I found that I really like that combo's taste), onion, and tomato all topped with a couple tbsp of guacamole. I'm thinking I probably should've added another veggie, but even with what I had it was a little too much; I'm feeling stuffed. I'm still trying to get adjusted to my body's signals. I just can't eat as much as I was before.

Ok, I'm happy you are better. For the feeling stuffed: I know that, I'm still learning to listen as well. One of my issues is that I eat too fast because I already think of the next things I want to get done while I should just enjoy my food, so that's a thing I'm working on right now. As Granny used to say "chew thirty times"

And: Water! Yes! I feel I need more water on W30.

[golden]

Hi Golden,

Not necessarily better but I can agree to what W.J. said.

Make sure you get enough sleep - it is normal that you have a slump during the first week, depending on how many carb-intense foods you were relying on before it might take 2 weeks, but I promise it will improve.

I also have that issue of getting tired of so much animal protein and I try the same as W.J. - just have some salmon in between. What works pretty well for me is for three meals a day I would have eggs one time, meat (white or red) one time, and fish or shrimps one time.

If that is too much cooking, you can at least alternate the days.

Hang in there, you will feel tiger blood soon, just make sure you get the rest your body needs.

Hugs!

Thanks! I had eggs this morning and chicken at lunch. I think I'll make chili from ground beef for dinner. I have some cod defrosting for tomorrow to vary things.

Next week, I am DEFINITELY going to take the Well Fed Woman's advice and cook tons of meat and veggies ahead for the week because I'm getting a bit tired of cooking, and tired of doing so many dishes after every meal.

http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/2010/01/14/paleo-kitchen-the-method-behind-my-madness/

[golden]

Wow, yesterday (day 6) I felt great, but today (day 7) I just feel lethargic. Anyone else? Guess I'm still riding ups and downs, though I'm getting the hang of food shopping and cooking for sure.

[W.J.]

Wow, yesterday (day 6) I felt great, but today (day 7) I just feel lethargic. Anyone else? Guess I'm still riding ups and downs, though I'm getting the hang of food shopping and cooking for sure.

I've been going through the same thing. This is my day 7 as well. I'd say don't worry, it's normal.

[kittycat]

Yes, I agree, it is normal, no worries. I also feel a little sluggish.

[golden]

I'm feeling better today (day 10) energy-wise, but a little blue.

How's everyone else?