The Whole 30 Series- Week 2

Week 2 is here and let me tell you when this week started I felt like my Whole 30 was dragginggggg. During the first week every day felt like it went by so fast. Then I got to Week 2 and thought- how am I not at Day 20 already? 

Luckily, those feelings subsided mid week and I felt right back on track. Personally, I think Week 2 is the hardest week of the Whole 30- it has lost a little bit of the newness that brings excitement but you’re not even close to being done. Get through this week and the rest will feel like it’s all downhill. Plus at the end of Week 2, you’ll be feeling so many of the healthy mind and body benefits!

Day 8:

Feelings: I WANT CHIPS, CRACKERS, SALTY CARBS NOWWWWW. Today was another day when I was actually in the office during the Whole 30. I have to say- I wasn’t even really temped. I even went to a going-away lunch pizza party. I just sat there, socialized and ate nothing. No one commented! I promise- you can still be social and not eat- so many people don’t even notice! I also loved my lunch so I didn’t even feel that tempted. But let me tell you, when I came home that night- nothing that I had on hand sounded appetizing. We went for Chipotle- which is always a great treat that I don’t feel any guilt about. After dinner- alllll I wanted was chips and salty carbs- things that I don’t usually crave! I ended up eating some frozen banana and mango late at night (the opposite of salty carbs I know). Didn’t feel super proud of the high sugars at night- but it happens people. It’s ok.

Food: I had leftover turkey hash and mini bell peppers for breakfast (whoops! I forgot my picture!). For lunch I had the last of the buffalo chicken casserole with carrots and a fruit salad, and then finished it off with Chipotle for dinner + frozen mango and frozen banana for dessert because my cravings were so bad

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Day 9:

Feelings: I woke up full. I usually don’t wake up super hungry but I woke up this morning feeling like I just ate. Probably because of the late night frozen mango and banana snack- lets not do that again, ok Chelsea?? We had a very exciting (for me) morning and went strawberry picking! So I ate like ½ a scrambled egg and some bacon that my husband cooked- can’t say no to that!- and a few berries at the field. But I actually didn’t even get hungry until 1pm. Definitely a lesson that overeating the night before messes up my whole day. But we had some amazing food today and I loved my easy mocktail I made today!

Pro Tip: Mocktails and fancy drinks make my Whole 30 easier, especially if you’re having people over for dinner/doing a friends Masks & Wine zoom call like I did today. Add some berries and fresh herbs to your sparkling water.

My favorite sparking water is Topo Chico. It’s amazing. It is the fizziest of all mineral water. Sometimes I can find it in my grocery store in a little four pack but I found it here on amazon in a 24 pack. Once you try it, you’ll never drink anything else.

Best fruit/fruit & herb combos for mocktails:

– Watermelon and mint
– Strawberries and mint or basil
– Blueberries and Oranges
– Lemon and ginger
– Strawberry and Cucumber

Food: ½ scrambled egg and a piece of bacon for breakfast on our way to the Strawberry fields- I just was not hungry! Obviously I had a few berries while we were there- how can you not?! Later on we had a Brunch salad with hot dogs, scrambled eggs, apple, cucumber, radishes and primal kitchen ranch for lunch with my strawberry mint Topo Chico mocktail. We got real fancy for dinner and made filet minion, roasted potatoes, and a spinach, strawberry, walnut + balsamic salad for dinner.

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PS. Trader Joes has these hot dogs and they’re Whole 30 approved! I chopped them up and cooked them in a skillet to crisp them up.  They’re great in a pinch.

Day 10:

Feelings: Happy Mother’s Day! Today was a lazy Sunday and I had: 1. No more sugar detox headaches 2. Barely any sugar cravings and 3. Was ready to meal prep a little bit! We zoomed with our sisters and moms for a while sipping on tea and coffee so we didn’t even get around to eating until lunch. Today was a bit of a lazy day for me after my husband went to work and a spent a little time meal prepping some protein options, making a new recipe for savory meatballs (coming to the blog soon!) and relaxing!

Food: I had some roasted veggies left in the fridge that were getting past their prime so for lunch I heated them up and then also made a fresh cucumber+tomato+avocado salad with toasted almonds on top. I just threw some almond slivers into the oven at 350 for 5 minutes. It added such a nice crunch! Then I did a cooking and made one of my favorite recipes from The Defined Dish- Sausage Balls. You have to try them. They taste cheesy from the nutritional yeast and they’re such a good meal or snack. I made the sub for almond flour to be Whole 30 compliant. Always love having a little go to protein in the fridge! For dinner I paired the Sausage Balls with carrots, and roasted brussel sprouts.

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Day 11:

Feelings: I felt like the first week of this Whole 30 zoomed by. When we were at the end, I couldn’t believe it had already been a week! I have to say- this week I’m feeling the opposite. I really wanted to be able to tell myself that we were halfway done but we aren’t. I don’t already want to be looking forward to foods I’m not going to eat for the next 19 days! And I’ll likely only want to bring them in in small portions if I’m feeling good without them. Blah. Today I had a blah Whole 30 day. And that’s ok. It happens.

Food: Meatballs, carrots/pepper sticks and apple for breakfast. For lunch, I split a big salad split with my husband- complete with meatballs, sausage balls, broccoli, beets, radishes and apples. He made a roasted whole chicken, cauliflower rice and broccoli for dinner! One day i’ll have him help me do a blog post on how to make a whole chicken.

Pro Tip: Breakfast doesn’t have to mean traditional breakfast foods. If you haven’t figured this out I am a big believer that you can eat any foods you want for breakfast! Meatballs for breakfast? Sounds good! Veggies for breakfast? Perfect! Once I made this mental switch- it made Whole 30 much easier.

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Day 12

Feelings: Today I was back at work in the office and I have to say I did NOT bring enough food with me. Whole 30 mistake #1- not bringing enough compliant food when you know that you’ll be somewhere that healthy food is not easily accessible. I brought some leftover sausage balls and veggies for my breakfast and lunch. So now we all can see why I was so hungry when I got home. That’s not enough food Chelsea! I got home and was starving and I was having weird cravings- cauliflower rice and deviled eggs. (No, I’m not pregnant) My deviled eggs were not my best work so I ended up with the most hodgepodge of a dinner. Today I re-learned a lesson that I have learned before.

Pro Tip: When you’re committed to healthy eating- always over-bring food.

Food: As you can probably tell, today was a weird food day. But that’s really the point of this whole blog series- to show you that your Whole 30 is not always Instagram worthy food. Sometimes it’s just combining tasty things you have on hand and making it work. Breakfast/lunch: sausage balls, carrots and veggies. Here comes the hodgepodge dinner: cilantro lime cauliflower rice, cucumber+tomato+avocado+toasted almond salad and frozen mango. I know, not my most gorgeous meal- but it’s real life.

Pro Tip: I always use stasher bags to bring snacks to work. They’re reusable, can go in the dishwasher or microwave. I love them. Sometimes they do good sales on the stasher bag website. They can be a bit pricy, so I linked to other reusable “ziplocks” here!

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Day 13

Feelings: Today went by so crazy fast! It was a rainy day here and I was working from home and before I knew it it was 4pm. What the heck happened to the day? It went by so fast, I barely had time to have any food cravings, which is always exciting. Today started my newest craving of wanting to add sautéed onions to everything. It’ll turn out to be a good trend for the rest of the week and into the next too. And I guess that’s better than my last craving of chips/crackers/anything with a carb.

Food: For breakfast I had a huge, satisfying meal around brunch time- scrambled eggs with the leftover meatballs, bacon, strawberries, and of course, sautéed onions. Justin made us a wonderful grilled chicken dinner with roasted sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts with a little more sautéed onion. For desserts, strawberries and fresh pineapple!

Pro tip: When you’re grilling chicken, butterfly your chicken and put your spices in the center. Your spices won’t come of on the plate or the grill.

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Day 14

Feelings: Why did I wait so long to grocery shop again! I mean take a look at my breakfast people- I was running low. Pro tip for me- maybe see this coming and plan a little better next time. Whoops! But I did find something I could not pass up at the store- cookies and cream mochi ice cream. And there was only one. It’s like it was speaking to me. Obviously I had to buy it. It’s in the outside freezer for a special day. And honestly, I don’t really feel temped to eat it right now. So Whole 30 Chelsea is happy and post Whole 30 Chelsea will also be happy when I try this ice cream. After my joke of a breakfast I came home really hungry, so I made a little breakfast for Linner (that’s the meal between lunch and dinner) and I got ready for some more meal prepping! This time we made our variation of this Warm Lemon Pepper Chicken Salad and Bulgogi. We got this bulgogi recipe from the Whole 30 recipes instagram. It’s a sneak peak from the Korean Paleo cookbook from whatgreatgrandmaate.com.

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Pro tip: Get on the @whole30recipes instagram if you need inspiration! So many amazing food bloggers and recipes!

Food: My very weak breakfast of a handful of cashews, cherry tomatoes, strawberries and lara bar. Linner consisted of scrambled eggs and bacon. For dinner we dug into the Warm Lemon Pepper Chicken Salad. We made a few alterations and subbed out the snap peas for green beans. It also is wonderful if you add some sundried tomatoes!

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Pro tip: When you’re buying nuts make sure to look at the ingredients. Lots of cashews are roasted in peanut oil or they add in sneaky sugars- why???? I don’t know. But always check your ingredients! The Back to Nature brand roasts theirs without oil so I always buy them. I found this Back to Nature Blend of almond, pistachio and cashews on Amazon!

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Overall Feelings

Energy: I know that a lot of people go through an energy slump during the beginning of their Whole 30. I did have this happen in my first two Whole 30’s but I am happy to report that I haven’t felt my energy drop at all during this Whole 30. I haven’t felt sluggish during my workouts and my energy levels have been pretty consistently high throughout these first two weeks.

Emotions: I bet my husband would agree with this one- I am a lot less moody on the Whole 30. I don’t feel like I’m in a constant self struggle to not eat ice cream daily. I don’t have guilt or beat myself up about my food choices if I lost the internal battle and ate ice cream. This is definitely one of my biggest non-scale victories. I feel consistently happier.

Sleep: Last week I felt like I have having a hard time falling asleep some nights, but this week I have not had that problem at all! I also have found that when my alarm goes off in the morning, I’m a little less groggy. I’ve always been a amazing sleeper so this is pretty typical for me, but waking up feel more refreshed is definitely thanks to the Whole 30.

Skin: Last week I said that my skin was taking a huge turn for the better. And I feel like I jinxed myself. I got the world’s worst cystic acne spot 1 day into Week 2. Full disclosure, it made me cry. Like a few times that weekend. Since then, I think my skin has been better the rest of the week. I know from experience that skin and acne takes patience and time and I truly think that even with that little blip my skin is improving from what it was pre-Whole 30.

Weight: Ok yall. I know that not weighing yourself is a Whole 30 rule. I broke a rule. But I like to think that I did it for you. Previously, I have held fast to this rule and I am glad that I did because I think if I didn’t see a movement in my weight in my first few Whole 30’s, I would have felt very discouraged. But really, I’m past that now. I find that all of the non scale victories outweigh (see what I did there) anything the scale says. So here goes. It’s been 2 weeks of no dessert- which was a huge issue for me- and I have lost zero pounds. I actually gained .5 pounds. And let me tell you, my clothes feel better, I feel better about my body, my mental health is better. And I haven’t lost any weight, even with 2 weeks of consistently healthier eating.

Your scale does not matter. Do not let it run your life. The end.