JoAnna's April Whole30

[joanna_banana]

Since it's a new month I've decided to start on my whole30 journey. I've been strict, almost 100% compliant, since I started my paleo journey in February of this year (even thought I didn't read ISWF until last week). I've been off and on paleo since June 2011 and almost completely gluten free since that time. I absolutely love eating a paleo template and I have seen SO many improvements since going paleo in February. I have struggled with acne since my teens and random digestive issues since experiencing an intestinal parasite during college in 2008. Removing grains, legumes, sugar, and most dairy has greatly improved both my skin and my digestion. I'm still suffering from mild breakouts and my digestion is definitely not 100%, so I want to try a whole30 to see if I see any more improvement. I feel like I unintentionally did a whole60 before even finding out about it, so I've already reintroduced a few things, including grassfed butter and I do well with it, so I will be including it.

UTA: I thought I should share a little bit more about myself after reading a few other threads...

I'm a 30 year old female, 5'8 and 120 lb. (so yes, a little on the low side). I just got married in November to my wonderful husband, although he wants nothing to do with this whole30/paleo thing. So I'm trying to balance feeding both of us and making sure he gets enough food (he thinks he'll starve without grains). Needless to say I have a lot of non-compliant food in my house. But I don't really feel tempted by it unless I'm really hungry, which is rare. At one point we had 4 boxes of girl scout cookies in our house and I'm happy to say I did not eat one of them. And it wasn't really a matter of will power, I knew they would make me feel crappy, so I didn't eat them.

I've always been pretty thin and for most of my life I could eat whatever I wanted. I struggled with disordered eating and body image issues in high school and in my early 20's (I was never overweight but had an irrational fear of gain weight; years of therapy ensued) . I'm sure I've done a fair amount of damage to my body over the years. I still struggle with body image issues but I've noticed a huge improvement since going strict paleo. I've struggle with acne since my early teens. I had an intestinal parasite in college (2008) and my digestion has suffered ever since. I've noticed the most difference in my skin since eliminating sugar and grains. I've also implemented oil cleansing and it has improved my skin tenfold. I never thought I would slather my skin in oil, but I will never use face wash again.

I've been active most of my life. I've been a marathoner, a triathlete, a cheerleader (in high school), and now a crossfitter. I'm starting my third month of crossfit and absolutely love it. When I got engaged in July I was completely consumed by wedding planning for four months and really let my fitness go. I didn't really 'get off the couch' again until January.

My goals for my whole30:

Eat good food - listen to my body, eat whole, real food until I'm full, and enjoy the process

Sleep well - I'm struggling with this a little; I'm playing with my carb intake to see if it helps. It seems like I have trouble sleeping when my carb intake goes too low (under 50).

Continue to see improvements in my skin

Crossfit 4-5x a week - I'm totally in love with this, I feel strong for the first time in my life

Maintain or gain a little weight - I lost about 5 pounds when I went paleo and I'm not interested in losing any more weight. I've gained about a pound or so back since starting crossfit and I anticipate I will gain a little more as I get stronger. I was up to 130 when I strength trained regularly (last year), so I'm thinking it will be a natural process. This might take longer than 30 days and I'm okay with that.

Day 1 (the plan)

I unintentionally fasted this morning until around 11:00 (my last meal was around 6:30 last night). I know there is a lot of controversy surrounding IF, especially for women, but I was trying to follow my natural hunger ques, and I was busy. I also didn't sleep well last night, so the first thing I should have done was eat, but I just wasn't feeling it.

Meal 1: Blackened baked tilapia (from the natural food store, but all ingredients were compliant); 2 hb eggs; roasted veggies - asparagus, red pepper, zucchini, and crimini mushrooms; mango (very sad that this wasn't very good... it seemed perfectly ripe, but wasn't very sweet)

Meal 2: taco salad (homemade: ground elk, red pepper, mushrooms, salsa (sugar-free), and spices) with spring mix and avocado;

PW: 1/4 of sweet potato roasted with coconut oil; pastured, uncured salami (I'm testing this today, as I was having fruit before my workouts, but I read in ISWF that protein and fat are better for PW, so we shall see)

Workout: crossfit (I will update with the WOD later)

Meal 3: thai green chicken curry (with lots of veggies); maybe a piece of fruit

[Tom Denham]

Your meals look good.

The purpose of a pre-workout snack is to send a signal to your body to get ready to release energy. You already have plenty of fuel in your body, so eating carbs before a workout is a bad idea. The fiber in sweet potato can cause problems during workouts.

One of the most helpful guides while doing a Whole30 is the meal template: http://whole9life.com/book/ISWF-Meal-Planning-Template.pdf

Hunger cues can be misleading until you have gotten your hormonal rhythms regulated. Eating breakfast within an hour of waking is one of the most important things you can do for getting your hormones in line.

We don't get to choose which guidelines we follow when doing a Whole30. We either follow the guidelines established by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig or we are free-styling and doing our own thing. I hope you will replace grass fed butter with ghee or clarified butter and join all the people who have done a Whole30. You may be right that the milk proteins in butter are not a problem for you, but many people are surprised at what happens when they clean up their diet to Whole30 standards. So come on; follow the whole program for 30 days!

[joanna_banana]

Thanks, Tom! I will replace the grassfed butter and I'm hoping I don't regret that sweet potato too much during my workout! I experimented with fruit last week before my workouts and felt awesome, but I will follow the program and see what it does for me. Thanks for the advice!

[joanna_banana]

Thankfully the sweet potato I ate prior to my workout did not make a reappearance. I did feel a little pukey during the run portion of my workout, but that tends to happen when I'm sprinting. I will stick with fat/protein tomorrow pre-workout and see if I feel better.

Workout:

400m run & dynamic warmup

strength: back squats - 6 at 60%, 5 at 70%, 4 at 75%, 3x2 at 80% (felt strong but 95 lbs was definitely getting heavy)

WOD: "Helen" 3 rounds for time - 400m run, 21 kb swings, 12 pullups

My time was 10:19, but I didn't Rx. I scaled to 18 on the kb and used a band on the pullups

When I first started crossfit I felt SO out of shape (and I was). It is amazing to me how much strength, stamina, and endurance I've gained in so little time. It's also amazing how one day I feel amazing after a workout and some days I have to lay on the floor to catch my breath. I love that no two days are alike at crossfit and I'm always challenged.

Here's to hoping I sleep better tonight!

[joanna_banana]

Day 2

Sleep was okay, but not great, last night. I fell asleep early, around 8:30, and woke up once when my husband came to bed and then again at 3:30. This early morning waking has become a pattern the last few weeks and happens a few times a week (cortisol, other hormone, blood sugar related???). I try to keep my sleep cycle consistent, even on weekends, so I tend to try to be asleep by 8:30 or 9:00 and up at 5:30. I used to try to get exactly 8 hours, but I seem to wake a lot easier on more sleep. Last night when I woke at 3:30 I got up to use the bathroom and had a hard time falling back asleep. I tossed and turned, not sure how long, and was groggy when I got up at 5:30. I felt pretty good after I was up and moving and my energy has been pretty consistent today.

Food:

Coffee with coconut oil

Meal 1: two eggs, 1.5 slices of bacon (uncured, nitrate-free, etc), leftover roasted veggies (red pepper, zucchini, mushrooms)

Meal 2: leftover chicken & veggie curry; 2 uncured salami mini-bites; 3 small pieces homemade dehydrated mango; coconut butter (this is a weird mismash of things but the serving of curry was small and I knew it wouldn't keep me full all afternoon)

PWO: HB egg; 2 uncured salami mini-bites

workout: crossfit (will update with WOD later)

PWO: I haven't really been eating a post workout meal because I usually go right home and make dinner. However, by the time dinner is ready it's usually been at least an hour since my workout, so I need to work on this. Any suggestions for post work out meals? I know its supposed to be protein and carbs, but I can't really see myself eating a piece of chicken right after working out. I'm usually not hungry at all at this point.

Meal 3: roasted red pepper and spinach chicken sausage (made at the natural food market in town; it's compliant) with sauteed kale and roasted veggies (asparagus, red pepper, zucchini, sweet potato); minneola tangelo

[joanna_banana]

Workout Day 2:

Crossfit

Warmup: Run 800m; dynamic warmup

Strength: Strict Press 2 x 6 at 70% (40lb)

WOD:

12 min AMRAP

3 power snatch (25lb)

8 wall balls (6lb)

12 medicine ball situps (6lbs)

7 rounds plus 3 snatches & 7 wallballs

My upper body strength is almost non-existent and anything overhead is really challenging for me. One day at a time though. I'm sure the strength will come. Wallballs kick my ass even with a 6 lb ball. I had a lot of no-reps for missing the target, so I probably did more like 10 rounds of wallballs!

My pre-workout meal sat well during the workout but I didn't really notice a difference between today and yesterday when my meal had carbs. But I will just trust the experts on this one and continue with the protein/fat combo. I also ate another HB egg postwork, while I was cooking dinner, and I definitely think that helped get me through until dinner was ready.

[joanna_banana]

Day 3

Sleep: Blah. I'm seriously dragging this morning. Last night was the third night in a row of interrupted sleep. I woke up at least 4 times and had trouble falling back asleep each time. I haven't slept this poorly since first trying paleo in 2011. And I can't really figure out what's going on. The weird thing is that I haven't really changed anything since starting my whole30 on Monday, since I was eating compliant the two months prior. I haven't changed my workouts, I haven't stopped drinking coffee, I haven't really changed my food. The only thing I was eating before that was non-compliant was grassfed butter, so that's the only thing I have eliminated. Maybe I'm just having an off week. I was so tired after teaching my first class this morning that all I could think about was going to sleep. Ugh.

Day 3 Food:

Meal 1: leftover taco salad without the salad (so I just ate the meat and veggies) with avocado; 1 hb egg; mini salami bites; spoonful of coconut butter

Meal 2: leftover chicken sausage (2) and roasted zucchini (with ghee); gingerberry kombucha

Meal 3: chicken, bacon, & kale

**I took a walk with my third hour class and felt SO much better than I felt this morning. I usually walk with both my first and third hour classes but I skipped the walk with my first hour today. I think the walk really helped to energize me. My energy has been pretty steady all day, but I'm still hoping for a good night of sleep tonight.

Today is a rest day, so no crossfit. My body definitely needs the rest, but my mind will miss the endorphins. I also have my second job tonight (cleaning the school) so it's definitely an active rest day. I have a few aches and pains for going pretty hard at crossfit, so hopefully the rest will help me heal a little.

[joanna_banana]

Day 4

Sleep: I'm going to sound like a broken record here... still not sleeping well. I have never experienced this many consecutive nights of poor sleep. I'm pretty tired and running on fumes. I have no problem falling asleep but if something wakes me up (like my husband coming home at midnight last night) then I toss and turn until it's time to get up at 5:30. I can't wait for some real sleep.

Food:

Meal 1: leftovers from dinner last night - chicken, bacon, kale & asparagus (probably my favorite compliant meal)

Meal 2: salad - more leftover chicken breast, spring mix, olive oil, avocado & kalamata olives

PW: hb egg & salami mini-bites

workout: crossfit (will update with the WOD later)

PW: hb egg

Meal 3: 2 eggs, bacon, kale, asparagus & sweet potato (cooked with coconut oil)

I didn't meal plan this week so my meals have been a little redundant. I know there's more bacon in my meals today than is preferred, but that's what I'm working with right now. I definitely need to meal plan and grocery shop for this upcoming week. I'm going to late crossfit tonight (5:30) so dinner with be a little late and I want it to be as easy as possible.

I'm feeling pretty good overall and my energy has been pretty consistent despite the lack of good sleep. Long gone are the days of the 3 pm crash and I couldn't be more thrilled. I used to feel like I needed a long nap every day around 2 or 3, but since going paleo in February my energy has been so much more consistent throughout the day. There were days in the past where I would be so exhausted after teaching all day that I would just go home and get in bed. I wouldn't go to sleep, but my energy was so low that I wouldn't want to do anything but sit in bed and surf the internet. I thought it was depression, but now I know it was my diet!