Category: Whole30

So far, so good. This is my fourth Whole30, so there were no big surprises so far. In fact, I have to say, it’s been the least eventful Whole30 I’ve done. I expected the following:

• Some cravings in the beginning due to my bad eating over the holidays: check.
• That things would get better within the first week in regards to how I felt and energy levels: check.
• My weight would slowly, over time, decline with rises and falls: check (NOTE that I’m not supposed to be checking my weight on a standard Whole30. Call my Whole30 a Whole30PM (for PaleoMarine).

Things I’m looking forward to:

• Eventual elimination of cravings.
• Reduction in serving sizes and increased satisfaction from the reduced serving sizes.
• Eventual moderate weight loss.

As a fourth-time traveler down the path of Whole30, this journey has been much nicer and less stressful than the first three. Sherry and I have gotten pretty good at Whole30, and we know what we can eat, what we have to avoid, and where to easily get the food we need. It also helps that most of our friends have done Whole30’s, so when we get together, they know that we’re on one, and they accommodate our dietary needs.

Bottom line: A strong, positive, and motivated mindset makes this easy. When you know what to expect, what’s coming, and how to get past things like cravings, initial low energy levels, or locating Whole30 compliant ingredients/foods, it takes away a lot of the stress people experience on a Whole30. I have the benefit of past experience, but I hope that my blog posts shed some light on the things I’ve experienced this time versus my past Whole30’s.

I saw an article flash across my phone’s screen that stated something like “Whole30 tied for second-worse weight loss diet.” Gosh, I hate click-bait headlines.

First of all, it’s not a weight loss diet per se. Second, the person writing the article states that health experts and nutritionists were the source of the info, yet none are named or sourced. Third, the reasons stated in the article all seemed suspect to me based on the fact that they were using the government’s recommendation of low-fat and whole grains making up a large part of a healthy person’s diet. No: eating lots of carbs is not good for you, and it’s not better for your heart.

The stated reason they ranked Whole30 so low: “It’s too hard to give up bread and pizza for most, if not all people.” That’s ridiculous. If you can’t give those up, even for 30 days, then you have much bigger problems. There; I said it. It’s a matter of loving yourself to the point that you are willing to sacrifice certain foods. We can ALL give up pizza and bread. I love both, but I love my health more. I love life more. I love my wife and kids more. I love my family more. Whole30 is difficult in the beginning: true enough. But with some perseverance, motivation, and dedication, ANYONE can get through it.

Whole30 can be tough. It was over a week of hell for my wife. It was three days of difficulty my first time. This time? Both of us are doing much, much better. We had some cravings to get past, but it actually feels nice to get back to basics and eat clean food. The mindset that goes into this is the key. I don’t allow myself anything non-Whole30 compliant. I don’t even consider it.

Case in point: I had five soldiers from my National Guard unit come over the other night. They all drank some alcoholic beverages, many of which were appealing to me. But I told them from the outset that I was on a Whole30 and unable to participate in the imbibing of alcohol. They were all understanding and never tried to push it on me, but knowing ti was off-limits made it easy for me to not crave a drink. There were a few moments where I thought it’d be nice if I could, but it never was a full-blown cravings. Setting limits on myself really makes a difference in cutting those cravings when I know I am not allowed to act on them. Not even a little bit.

Weight loss is 50% mental, 49% diet, and 1% exercise is more like it. The mental part of adopting a diet is huge, and I dare say it’s as important, if not a tiny bit more, than the diet itself. You cannot succeed without the mindset of fully committing and making sacrifices. The nice part is that Whole30 is temporary (notice the 30 in the name? That means 30 days), but the changes you make should make you think about what you are going to adopt as your diet moving forward from the Whole30 and beyond. My wife and I decided on the Paleo Diet, but there are many other low-carb/high-fat (LCHF) options out there like Atkins, Keto, and Mediterranean are all good and viable ways to get into the LCHF lifestyle.

Regardless of your LCHF path, Whole30 itself is not impossible. It’s not easy, but it is simple. Just stick to the basics, push yourself through the first few days or weeks, and the rest becomes much easier and you will feel benefits that will make it all worthwhile.

Oh, what a wonderful morning! I felt great yesterday after catching up on some sleep, and I’m pretty sure that I lost a bit of weight due to finally getting the rest my body needed. When I don’t get enough sleep, my body swells/bloats and I hold on to weight. After some solid sleep, I dropped a few lbs in a night.

Breakfast: I started the day off with a yummy favorite; two eggs sunny-side up and two slices of bacon. No fruit or veggies. I wonder if those of you who have been following along are noticing a trend with my breakfasts?

Lunch: Smoked pork ribs and Brussels Sprouts and sweet potato. Sherry smoked the ribs in cherry wood and used a Whole30-compliant rub. The result was pull-from-the-bone meat that was tasty and good for me. The Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes were baked with some salt on them and were a great addition to the meat.

Dinner: Chili. This is the Whole30 compliant chili Sherry has been making for us for the past two years, and quite honestly, it’s one of my favorite dishes anyway, so having this on my Whole30 is like not being on a Whole30 at all.

Heck, I really must say that for me, Whole30 is just normal eating without some frills or extras I may allow myself when I’m not on a Whole30. That’s the beauty of eating clean and healthy all the time. I’m reminded on this Whole30 that the Paleo Diet really is good for me, and it shows in my body composition, blood work, and weight.

As for weight, I reached another new low this morning. I’m very close to getting back into not only my comfort zone, but what I call my safety zone. That’s where I weigh low enough to fall within the height and weight standards of the Army in uniform. Normally, I have to get weighed in my thin PT shorts and a t-shirt, but I prefer to be able to just step on a scale in uniform and still be under the max weight for my height. I’m almost there!

I did get out and run last night and do my push ups. My time was very good; back to normal speed after just two runs, and my push ups were much easier this time than last week. My PFT got moved up by two months, so while I was initially a little worried, I’m no longer concerned.

What. The. Heck.

I didn’t get nearly enough sleep last night. I need to fix that tonight.

I ate well the entire weekend, and my weight was up a little yesterday and back down a bit this morning. Nothing serious, but again, if I was in Whole30 just to lose weight, I’d be concerned. As it is, I am not. I’m after long-term goals and most of all, I’m wanting to reset my cravings and serving sizes. I’m doing both nicely.

Breakfast: Two eggs sunny-side up and three slices of bacon. No fruit or veggies because I don’t want them.

Lunch: Beef and ham rolls with pickle spear served with mashed cauliflower. This was the last of last week’s prepped lunches. The rest of the week will be new stuff Sherry made yesterday.

Dinner: Moroccan Lamb Roast with mashed cauliflower. This is a new recipe Sherry tried, and I loved it! It’s lamb with a bunch of spices, veggies, and even some dried fruit that sat in a slow cooker all day, and it comes out very tender with a very delicate yet layered flavor profile. I really liked it a lot, and I hope she makes it again in the future!

I took a nap after work which helped a lot, and then I was able to sleep in just a little bit since I had to take my car in for its scheduled maintenance which opens later than I normally get to work. I feel great this morning, and I reached a new post-January 1 lowest weight! (NOTE: It is NOT Whole30 compliant to be weighing yourself during a Whole30).

Day four is done, and all in all, I think it went well.

For food, I had the following:

Breakfast: Two eggs sunny-side up and a good-sized slice of ham. This is the same ham I had yesterday that Sherry bought at Whole Foods. It’s really good! Also, coffee.

Lunch: Garden salad with oil and vinegar dressing and a 6 oz Filet Mignon and a baked sweet potato with butter at Saltgrass Steakhouse. My friend Steve and I have steak together on Fridays, and I’m fortunate to be able to eat “Normally” while on my Whole30 by eating steak for lunch. It was yummy, as always.

Dinner: For dinner, we went to some friends’ for dinner, as we alternate between hosting every week. This week was their turn to host, so I didn’t know what to expect for dinner before I got there, but they were aware that both Sherry and I are on a Whole30, and as they are Paleo and have both done Whole30 in the past, they said they’d be able to make a compliant meal for us. The good news was that the meal was perfectly Whole30: sous vide pork with asparagus. It was delicious, and perfectly cooked. Our hosts made a baked pear for a dessert, and we ate it. Normally on a Whole30, you don’t eat dessert, but when you’re at a friend’s home and they make you food, you eat it, especially if they went out of the way to make it Whole30 compliant.

The weekend was pretty good, although Saturday was weird with food.

Saturday Breakfast: I woke up late. Very late. So I ate a lunch we had saved from the week, and ate the beef and pork rolled with mustard and pickle spear that Sherry made served with mashed cauliflower. I snacked on some cashews for the afternoon to get back onto a normal eating schedule.

Dinner: We ate a green salad with oil and vinegar and grilled red snapper with broccoli and sweet potato. It was a delicious end to the day.

Sunday saw us getting back to a more normal eating schedule.

Sunday Breakfast: Two eggs sunny-side up and ham slices. Again, no fruit on purpose.

Lunch: Chili. Sherry was doing the meal prep for the week, and she made her Whole30 Chili which I love. It was a treat to have some of this just as it came off the stove.

Dinner: Sous-vide steak with mashed cauliflower. I put the steak into vacuum-sealed bags with kosher salt and ground pepper and let it sit in the refrigerator for a few hours before Sherry put it into the sous-vide. After it was done there, I grilled it for about 2 minutes on each side to give it grill marks. It turned out to be tender and perfectly cooked medium-rare.

This week, there will be lots of great foods for lunch as Sherry went out of her way to make some of my favorites. I’ll be blogging them throughout the week. As for how I feel, my legs were very sore from the run on Thursday, so I didn’t run on Friday through Sunday. I may get to it Monday depending on how I feel. I was dealing with a bit of a cold and if I’m still feeling its effect, I may put off my run to Tuesday.

Day three is in the bag, and here’s how it went yesterday.

I slept only 5 hours, which is not good. I had friends come over last night, and while I had a GREAT time, it meant that I didn’t get much sleep. Oh well; it is what it is. I ran my 3.1 miles, and while it wasn’t fast, it was good to be back out there moving the legs. My pace was 8:52/mile as an average, with a first mile pace of 8:21/mile. That’s pretty amazing considering I haven’t run in four weeks. I added push-ups back to the routine and only did 50, but I’m happy to just be back to doing them again. I hurt my left elbow and let it heal only to then hurt my right elbow just as the left healed up. Unfortunately, the right elbow is still sore, and would likely need about 2-3 months to heal properly, but I don’t have that kind of time to throw away. I have a physical fitness test coming in April that I need to be ready for. It’s just an ache, so it’s something I should be able to work through until April. Then, if I need to, I will rest it for a few months to heal properly.

Yesterday’s food was:

Breakfast: Two eggs sunny-side up and a slice of ham. Sherry bought the ham a Whole Foods and was able to find ham that contained no sugar or nitrates. It tastes great, too! Again, no fruit or vegetable with breakfast. I did have a cup of coffee, though.

Lunch: Tex-Mex Casserole. This is a recipe we’ve been eating since our first Whole30, and is so good, we usually add it into the mix during our regular Paleo eating. It has beef and sweet potato and tastes like a taco casserole. It’s one of my favorites, and I always feel full after eating it.

Dinner: Two Sriracha and Jalapeno Sausages from Sprout’s which are sugar-free and nitrate/nitrite-free with red cabbage. Sherry made red cabbage as part of our dinner the day before, and since we had a lot left over, I used them as my side with the two sausage links. It was a great, filling dinner. I just grilled the sausages in a frying pan with a little coconut oil, and within 5 minutes, I had dinner!

I had friends come over for a Thursday night drinking event we usually have, and while they were a little unhappy that I wasn’t going to be drinking with them, they understood and are supportive. It’s nice to not have to deal with social pressure to drink when I don’t want to.

My weight this morning was down to 172.3 lbs which shows that I’m doing the right things. While this weight loss is certainly due to water I’m no longer retaining, it’s also telling me that my body is getting back to where it likes to be; lean. I’m going to call it a victory, considering that I didn’t get much sleep, either. I’m not sure I will get a lot tonight, either. Sunday morning? Oh, I’m sleeping in. You can count on that!

Day 2 is complete, and here’s how it went yesterday.

Breakfast: Two eggs sunny-side up and three pieces of bacon. No fruit or veggies. I guess if I had an apple or a pear, it’d be a perfect Whole30 breakfast, but I bloat when I eat fruit, so I tend to eat it in strict moderation. I got used to eating a slice of bread made with almond flour over the holidays, and it was a great addition to my meals, but it’s not Whole30 compliant, so I’m skipping those.

Lunch: Spaghetti squash with Bolognese sauce. Sherry made this on Monday, and they tasted great today! It’s a perfect mix of meat and veggies. I had a handful of nuts to sort of round out the meal a bit.

Dinner: Sherry made an amazing Wienerschnitzel that was covered in ground up pork rinds. Wow, was it delicious (and completely Whole30 compliant, too!). As a side, we had red cabbage. I had a second helping of the cabbage because I love red cabbage! My serving size was still decent; I swear, Sherry didn’t give me enough the first time!

I feel a bit better today. I still need to run, but it’s still really cold out, and since I’m still getting over a cold, I decided to not run yesterday. Perhaps I will run after work tonight if it’s warmer out than my age. It’s weird that I feel bad for not running. I haven’t felt up to running over the past few weeks, but now I feel like I need it.

As for sleep, I got a lot more than the night before: my requisite 7.5 hours. I feel a lot better today; more rested. As a bonus (and the following is NOT Whole30 compliant), I lost 3 lbs to be back under my max weight for the Army. That’s a huge weight lifted off my shoulders (pardon the pun).

I want to add that Whole30 is great. It’s a wonderful program to help people reset their appetite, their palate, and to get to a neutral food intake so that it’s easier to determine what foods affect you and how. It is through Whole30 that I learned that I bloat from fruits with a lot of sugar in them (bananas, in particular) and I bloat from the lactose in milk (much like my wife does). Whole30 also stresses that it’s not primarily about weight loss, although many (but not all) people who do a Whole30 will lose some weight. I was one of those; I lost 20 lbs on my first Whole30. This time, I’m not expecting great weight losses, but I do know my body well after two years of eating clean, and I know that when I’m careful and strict, I can lose weight steadily down to about 165 lbs. That’s what I’m after this time. It’s not my primary goal (resetting my sugar addiction/eating habits is my primary reason for doing a Whole30 this time), but it definitely is a secondary goal.

Also, I follow Whole30 as strictly as I can with regards to food and diet. I skip fruit sometimes, but I always have meat and vegetables and good fats. Sometimes an apple or a pear, or maybe even a tangerine, but not too often. The one Whole30 rule I break is weighing myself. It’s a tool I use in gauging my progress overall that I’m not comfortable leaving behind for 30 days. Besides, as a soldier, it’s something that I’m required to track and know at all times. Since my weight is close to the maximum, I need to ensure I stay within the maximum allowed (which as of this morning, I am).

I’m happy with where I’m at after Day 2, and I’m looking forward to Day 3!

I’m currently on my fourth Whole30. This is a feature I will post daily in addition to my regular daily posts.

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For this Whole30, I’m going to do daily posts to discuss my experience. This is my fourth Whole30, and I am already in pretty good shape physically, so I’m certain that my experience will not be the same as someone who is going from a standard high-carb diet, but I’m interested to find out what the similarities and differences are this time as compared to my first time.

Breakfast: Two eggs sunny-side up and two slices of no-sugar-added (and nitrate free) bacon. This has been my go-to breakfast since starting my first Whole30 on August 31st, 2015. Nothing new here.

Lunch: Rolled Beef, Ham, and Pickle Rolls with Mashed Cauliflower. This is a recipe my grandmother learned back in the 30’s, and she said it’s the first recipe she learned as a little girl. It’s a very simple yet tasty dish that turns out is very Whole30 compliant (which shouldn’t be a surprise as most old recipes are). This lunch was very filling and tasted great!

Mid afternoon, I was feeling a bit hungry. I snacked a lot over the past two weeks, and this led to some cravings today. It’s not too bad though; I’ll get through it.

Dinner: Buffalo Wings (8) with Paleo Ranch Dressing. I made these for our New Year’s Eve party, and they are Whole30 compliant. I warmed them up in a toaster oven, and they were absolutely delicious. Normally, I eat 10 wings at a sitting, but I have decided that I need to eat smaller portions, so I started with this meal. Oddly enough, I felt just as full, just as satisfied, and I didn’t feel hungry before going to sleep.

All in all, it was a good first day on this Whole30. I don’t have the flu-like symptoms I had the first time, but I did have a headache and I was a bit out of sorts. I’m not sure if that’s because of the weather, post-New Year’s Eve partying, or if it’s Whole30 related. Regardless, I am very much on-board and optimistic about this Whole30.