I always think Week 4 is such a funny week. I bet your entire Whole 30 you’ve been waiting for Day 31 so that you can eat that favorite food that you cut out. And then you get to Week 4 and think ‘but do I really want to bring it back in?’ ‘Will I just spiral and go back to my previous eating habits?’ And then my other thought (and I know I can’t be alone here) ‘I can’t wait to see how much weight I lost!’
We all know that I already have been tracking that- and let me tell you it’s still not a lot.
But as you go through this week and near the end, it brings up a lot of “where do I go from here” type of questions. It’s been easy (or easy-ish) to follow the rules but you can’t do that forever- so when, what, and how much are you going to let back in?
This is where Reintroduction comes in- and while I won’t be doing one for this Whole 30 I have done it before to see how I feel when adding back in the different food groups. For me, it’s always that my sweet tooth comes back and gets a little out of control, and that’s when I know that I want to reign it back in.
So that’s what I challenge you to do- think about the reason why you did this and then how can you reintegrate foods without going back into that previous state. Think of your foods with no breaks and then plan for how to make sure you don’t go down that road again.
But before we get to Day 31- let’s see what Week 4 looked like! This week we brought back some favorite recipes and also tackled Memorial Day Weekend BBQ and brunch plus a full day boating on the lakes with friends- all while staying Whole 30 complient!
Day 22
Feelings: I knew that with Memorial Day weekend, this would probably be the only time during our entire Whole 30 that we really ate out of our own house. Since we did this Whole 30 during COVID, we really didn’t have any pressure to eat out with friends, which really did make things easy. But as things have started to improve, especially in Tennessee (restaurants have actually been open for a few weeks now), we got invited to two small gatherings this weekend. Tonight was one of them.
And honestly, it wasn’t even hard! Grilling is the easiest thing to make Whole 30 ever. The host knew I was doing the Whole 30 so she grilled steak, chicken, and veggie kabobs and didn’t put any dressing on the salad. I was easily able to avoid the potato salad and baked beans without any difficulty- the hardest part was avoiding the 7-layer Mexican dip, but I stayed strong! I brought over watermelon and sliced strawberries so that when everyone else had some angel food cake, I just had fruit. Total success- and also yummy!
Food: We had a full brunch today with eggs, bacon, sautéed peppers and fruit. Justin isn’t too much of an egg guy, so we made his favorite sweet potato and bacon sandwich, which is exactly what it sounds like. Microwave a sweet potato, butterfly it, and stuff some bacon in there- sandwich! For dinner we had tons of yummy grilled steak, chicken, potatoes, and zucchini, with salad and watermelon for dessert.
Day 23
Feelings: Today we had brunch at a friend’s house. I knew this would be harder because: 1. None of them know I was doing a Whole 30 and 2. When I was invited the menu consisted of cinnamon rolls, French toast, bacon, and mimosas. But I love these work friends and don’t get to see them much outside of the office so I knew I wanted to go. I offered to bring the bacon (so I knew it was Whole 30 bacon I could have), an egg bake and some roasted potatoes + onions. I brought my own Spindrift so that I didn’t have to have just a glass full of water while everyone else drank champagne and OJ. My plate was full so it wasn’t difficult not to pile on the French toast. And we had a blast lounging in the sun and playing cornhole.
Pro tip: After attending back to back gatherings surrounding food these are my tips:
- Ask about what the menu is. If the main dish can easily be Whole 30- ask if they mind not adding a marinade that will have sugar or cooking it in ghee/olive oil instead of butter.
- Bring a few dishes that you can eat. Instead of just bringing one thing, I brought a few different things to brunch to fill my plate.
- BYOBeverage. I liked getting to have a fancy, sparkling Spindrift while everyone else drank mimosas. I like Spindrift better than other sparkling waters because it’s made with actual fruit. The raspberry lime flavor is my absolute favorite!
Food: I made the beef enchilada egg bake and it was a hit with everyone! I don’t have any specific recipe of the roasted potatoes- just roast some diced sweet potatoes, onion, peppers with a little olive oil and salt at 425 degrees for 35 minutes! As you can see, I had tons of food on my plate. And I kept going back for more little bites of the sweet potatoes and fruit. So much so, that we ended up not eating dinner. We were snacking on brunch leftovers until 5pm so Brunch turned into Linner (lunch/dinner).
Day 24
Feelings: Summer is officially here and in TN it gets hot by 10am. Today was a little more overcast, so we decided we should use this to our advantage and go on a nice long run before the sun came out a’blazing. Like real smart runners we planned our turnaround point at a friend’s house so we could steal some water before we headed back home. When we got home we were sat on the truck bed with our water, stretching out and talking. Justin said something that I had been thinking, but nervous to say. “Chelsea- I’m not saying we have to commit to this- but I think we should do this for 45 days. I just feel so good. My body feels so much better”. And that sums it up guys. Not even done the first 30 days and we’re already thinking about extending. I had been thinking the same thing. We might make some tweaks, add in legumes because I’m dying to be able to add beans and chickpeas as another form of good protein. But truly, we feel amazing. We both agreed it takes a good 3 weeks to feel all of the effects, and then once you get there you don’t want to stop! Decreased sugar and carb intake has left us feeling wonderful physically and mentally.
Food: By the time we got done with our run and cool down it was lunch time so we had the biggest salad full of greens, roasted potatoes and onions, beets, chicken sausage, oranges, and toasted almonds. I was hungry a few hours later and made a beet, apple, spinach and ginger smoothie- which honestly I have to perfect. At first it tasted too much like beets, then I overcompensated with ginger- I ended up not finishing it, but it still held me over a little. We had zero dinner plans, but a fridge that was fully stocked of proteins and veggies- I have finally learned!- so we put together tacos and plantains for dinner.
Pro tip: Get some sliced almonds and heat up a small saute pan on medium heat (no oil or ghee needed). Add in your almond slivers and toast them in the dry pan for 5 minutes, moving continuously. They’re so so good to top on salads!
Pro tip: Taco seasoning is actually really easy to make yourself and you probably already have the spices on hand. It’s so much better for you than the premade packets. When you add in the seasoning, add in some tomato paste. It adds a creaminess to the ground beef taco meat that we love!
Day 25
Feelings: Today was a bit weird. It was the Monday of Memorial Day Weekend, which usually would mean another cookout. But Justin had to work so it was just me at home. I used it as a time to workout, do a few things on the blog (like get up the Week 3 post!) and meal prep. The less exciting, but real life adult things. I did a few repeat meal prep things here- the Sausage Balls and the Warm Lemon Pepper Chicken Salad. My dinner here just goes to show you that really- your meals don’t have to be pretty to elaborate. It just had to be things that you like.
Food: I got to breakfast a little late- which seems to be my new usual on the weekends, so I had a big breakfast of scrambled eggs with spinach and onions. I quickly realized that wouldn’t be enough and made my favorite cucumber+tomato+avocado salad with toasted almonds. This week, I did a repeat and meal prepped the Sausage Balls again. I just love these so much and they’re easy to eat on their own at any meal or in a salad. So dinner consisted of a few of things plus some carrot sticks- not exciting, but filling!
Day 26
Feelings: Today I woke up feeling the most refreshed I have ever felt. I know that sounds crazy. But I had to wake up early to go into the office and I seriously woke up and instantly was full of energy. Usually it takes me a good 20 minutes to stop wishing I was back in bed. But today, only 2 minutes after waking up I just felt ready to go! It was the most change I have seen in my sleep. I was so so happy. I think the most exciting thing about today was that I tried some Old Navy leggings for the first time. One of my friends has been raving about them and I’ve been looking for leggings with a pocket that don’t fall down when I run with my phone in them. So I gave these a try! It’s a bit hot to run so I did burpees and rowing and box jumps with the phone in the leggings pocket and it felt pretty secure! Totally worth a try for $25 guys!
Food: Leftovers was the name of the game today! My breakfast today does not look very pretty, because I put tons of spinach on the top of my egg bake, but it tastes good! I had the leftover beef enchilada egg bake from brunch a few days ago. Leftovers for lunch too! I just put the warm lemon pepper chicken salad in the microwave for a little bit and eat it as leftovers. Tonight for dinner- surprise- leftovers. I heated up a few of the Sausage Balls and then had my favorite cucumber+tomato+avocado+toatsted almond salad.
Day 27
Feelings: Guys- I had a lot of food wins today. Starting with breakfast, I had my first Daily Harvest win. I started the day off with their Carrot + Cinnamon smoothie. I’ve like the first two I tried but wasn’t wowed, but his one really did it for me. It tasted like fall in a smoothie and I was totally ok with that even though it’s May. This one said to make it with milk but I did water instead and it still felt creamy. I always add 1-2 scoops of the Vital Proteins Collagen Powder to all of my smoothies to add some protein and make it more of a meal. For dinner I had another instant pot win! Plus I made one dish in the instant pot but turned it into 2 different meals based on the sauces- another win! Let me explain. I made some shredded chicken in the instant pot and then made 2 homemade sauces so I get totally different meals from the chicken. I made a teriyaki sauce (just make sure to omit the honey and I didn’t have tapioca flour so I went without that too- still tasted great!) And then I made BBQ sauce. Both were great! The BBQ sauce is a little spicy but still very tasty and the teriyaki sauce is out of this world! It doesn’t even need the honey- it has a sweetness to it just by itself! I split the shredded chicken into two different containers, added in the sauce and now we have leftovers with two completely different flavor palettes. Such a win!
Food: For breakfast I had my Carrot + Cinnamon Daily Harvest smoothie with 2 scoops of the Vital Proteins Collagen Powder. Because of the collagen powder, this held me over all the way until lunch. More leftovers here! I had the egg bake plus my usual favorite salad- only this time I added some leftover beets- so tasty! For dinner I made a teriyaki chicken bowel with roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli.
Pro Tip: Use a hand mixer to shred your chicken instead of forks- so much faster!
Day 28
Feelings: Today was an unexpected day at work and at home- sometimes medicine brings you the unexpected and that’s what happened today! I had people coming in that turned out to be much sicker than I had expected! So much happened that I forgot to eat lunch until 2pm and then I forgot to take my picture- Whoops! I came home with high hopes that I would make a roasted carrot dip that has a hummus like consistency. I had a recipe that I was pretty pumped. I had already roasted the carrots and had the cashews soaking overnight. The recipe called for everything to be mixed in a food processor, but I haven’t been able to find one of the key pieces of my food processor since our last move (yay Army for all the moves!) and I was very confident I could accomplish the task with my blender. Huge fail. Maybe if I had a Vitamix this would have worked. But I don’t (yet). So I ended up with a cashew mush with roasted carrots 😊 So let’s just say today didn’t go as expected.
Spoiler Alert: I ended up borrowing a food processor from a friend (only to find the missing piece a few hours later 😊) and the carrot dip still did not turn out as planned. Maybe I needed to leave it in the food processor for longer but it just turned into mined pieces and never fully into a dip.
Food: Guys- if you can’t already tell, the egg bake lasts forever. I had it for breakfast again this morning with some veggies and a pear. My non-photographed lunch consisted of the last of the Sausage Balls. For dinner I made a big BBQ chicken salad topped with Primal Kitchen Ranch. I’m telling you this ranch is such a saving grace when you don’t want to make your own dressing, but still want something creamy. I mean BBQ chicken is just calling to be topped with Ranch!
Day 29
Feelings: I can’t believe tomorrow is Day 30! Today is usually the day that my cravings are the worst because I start thinking about foods that I’ve missed and can’t wait to eat. This time- I didn’t have that as much! I had been craving chocolate a few days before, but not today. This Whole 30 has really felt more like a lifestyle shift than just a change for 30 days only. And the fact that Justin is so motivated to continue eating in this way ever after we finish has helped a lot with that mindset shift. Today I was able to work from home again, so I started the day off with a workout and didn’t eat breakfast until much later in the day. After work I took some time to do a little recipe development for the blog to make some Meatloaf Muffins with Sweet Potato Frosting. Let me tell you, trying to make meatloaf and sweet potatoes look like cupcakes in the photos was a challenge for me- but I think I did it! Plus this meatloaf recipe is so yummy and savory on it’s own it’s a total winner.
Food: For brunch I had an egg scramble with spinach, some raw sweet bell peppers, bacon and berries! It’s strawberry season here so I am always picking/buying pre picked berries from a local farm. It’s the biggest treat. I did a lot of taste testing while making this recipe so my dinner looks a little small but it’s only because I had already had a whole meatloaf muffin on it’s own.
Day 30
Feelings: We made it! During this whole journey, especially in Weeks 1 and 2, this felt so far away. I and was longing for it to be Day 30 so that I could dream of the yummy treats I could have. Now it’s Day 30 and I don’t know if I want to stop! (More in this in the very end in my final roll up at the end). Today we ended our Whole 30 with an amazing day out on the lake with friends. We rented a pontoon boat and tube (a watermelon tube to be exact- a very Chelsea tube) and we had a blast! This did mean that we had a plan a lot for what food we would bring on the boat that we could eat. I decided to make the buffalo chicken casserole that we made the first week the night before and then used it as a dip on the boat. Everyone loved it! I dipped carrots and celery in it and my friends used tortilla chips and raved about it! Plus we brought some Aidell’s apple chicken sausages to grill, some watermelon, and our favorite Spindrift (the raspberry lime is my absolute favorite!) so we had plenty of food that day.
Food: We got up and going pretty early to get the boat and drive to the lake so I just had a banana for breakfast on the way. Luckily, the snacking started pretty early once we got on the water! I filled up on the buffalo chicken casserole and then later on the Aidell’s apple chicken sausages. After we came home from the lake we had dinner at a friend’s house and she was nice enough to make yummy lemon chicken with garlic and fresh thyme- a very whole 30 meal!
Whole 30 in Review
The Whole 30 is like a workout. Sometimes you really don’t want to do it, but you know it’s good for you so you do it anyway. And just like a workout, you never end a Whole 30 thinking- man I wish I didn’t do that. I am so very glad that we did this Whole 30. I truly needed this food and mind reset during this quarantine. Plus this was the best time to do it- we didn’t have to navigate nearly as many social situations surrounding food as normal.
I’ve seen so many benefits- and almost none of them have to do with weight. While my husband lost about 10-12 pounds, I lost about 3. But, my clothes fit different, I think I look leaner and stronger, and probably the most important- I feel better I feel better physical, I don’t like I need to take a nap after every meal, and I am mentally so much happier.
So what does the future look like for us? So many times I go right back to how I was eating before the Whole 30. This time, we plan to try to make a longer lasting change. We actually continued our Whole 30 until June 12th because we were already in a groove and feeling great. I think we will end up continuing to eat this way as a mainstay but adding in beans, chickpeas, and then a glass of wine/beer and sweet treat when we really want to! I definitely don’t think that you should deprive yourself of these things for ever. That is not sustainable. And also you will miss out on some amazing tasting things! But every Whole 30 helps me be more in tune with how specific foods make me feel and then I can properly make a decision if the treat I want is worth it.
That worth it decision is one only you can make. You might think something is worth it and then later decide that it wasn’t. Remember that. For example, I went camping in the middle of June and had a smores at the campfire. Totally worth it. I also ate a few additional pieces of plain chocolate after my smores. Totally not worth it. Plain Hershey’s is just not something that I really love. So why eat it? I ended up putting the piece down after I ate half and not picking it back up. Catch yourself in these habits, evaluate how you feel, and then catalog what’s worth it or not so you can continue to make good decisions in the future.
I hope this Series has made you realize that you can do a Whole 30. Your meals don’t have to be gorgeous creations or full blown recipes every night. Sometimes, just putting a protein and veggie on a plate it all you need. You will feel better. You will see a difference. It will be worth it.
