As I sit here and write this I am eating a cookie. Ok, it’s barely a cookie. Almost none of it resembles a cookie. There’s no sugar, flour, butter, or chocolate. Regardless, the #1 rule of this Whole 30 thing is no fake baked goods. Really, it’s more like rule #143. But it’s still a rule.
After 21 days, the last 3 of which were cooped up in the house thanks to storm Jonas, I broke down. If it’s any consolation, they weren’t very good cookies and everything in them was Paleo- and technically Whole 30-approved (Whole 30 just doesn’t doesn’t approve of putting them all together into anything that resembles a treat).
I feel like this story serves as the perfect metaphor for week 3. I am starting to get a little sick of the restricted eating and some of the cravings are back in full force. But I am also a little bit afraid to go back to total unrestricted eating and I definitely want to see the 30 days through.
I am now really looking forward to day 31 when I can start introducing certain foods back into my diet. Not just so I can eat all those foods I have been missing, but so that I can actually find out if I do have any sensitivities or allergies that I was unaware of before.
Other than that, there isn’t much I can add about week 3 that I haven’t said in previous weeks. I am still feeling great. There have been a couple days where my stomach didn’t totally agree with me, but I probably wasn’t eating enough vegetables and too much meat and nuts. And while I am not weighing myself, a friend of mine who is doing the Whole 30 with me had lost 5 pounds at the end of week 2, so that’s promising!
This week, the meal plan went a bit out the window. I had a 2 day training that involved a catered lunch, Wednesday my husband was out, Thursday I had book club, and on Friday we had a snow day. I also tried to mix up the breakfasts more since I am getting so sick of eggs.
Paleo lasagna
Monday:
- Breakfast: scrambled eggs with salsa and avocado
- Lunch: leftover butternut squash soup and Traders Joe’s Just Roasted Chicken
- Dinner: zucchini noodle lasagna (recipe to come)
Tuesday:
- Breakfast: leftover lasagna
- Lunch: leftover lasagna (that’s how much I’m sick of eggs)
- Dinner: Slow cooker pork carnitas topped sweet potato. Altered this recipe.
Wednesday:
- Breakfast: Acai smoothie and chia pudding bowl (recipe to come)
- Lunch: Steak and chicken fajitas with no tortillas (catered)
- Dinner: Leftover butternut squash soup
Smoothie bowl
Thursday:
- Breakfast: Acai smoothie and chia pudding bowl
- Lunch: Garden Salad with chicken (catered)
- Dinner: Classic Greek Salad with chicken (ate out)
Friday:
- Breakfast: Sweet potato fritata
- Lunch: Salad topped with smoked turkey (ate out)
- Dinner: Paleo Chili
Saturday:
- Breakfast: Acai smoothie and chia pudding bowl
- Lunch: leftover salad
- Dinner: Naked turkey burger (ate out)
Sunday:
- Breakfast: Sweet potato hashbrowns with a fried egg
- Lunch: Cucumber Tomato Salad
- Dinner: Korean Beef Lettuce Wraps (inspired by the Against All Grain cookbook, similar recipe here)
I only have 1 full week left. This week may be the hardest. The first week was full of excitement and I planned every little meal. The second week I was feeling great, like I could do this forever. The third week was just more of the same, feeling good, but getting bored. As I go into the fourth week, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I can feel my self control and motivation slipping.
9 days and counting.