Whole30 Diary

I just completed my January Whole30! I’ve done a Whole30 before (you can read my diary from last time here), so I knew I could do it. But it still feels like such an accomplishment. Here is my Whole30 diary where I share the meals I ate each day and how I felt throughout the experience.

Also if you’ve never heard of whole30, this is how I would explain it. Its a 30 day elimination diet where you only eat ‘whole foods’ (has nothing to do with the grocery store). So a month of meat, chicken, fish, fruits and vegetables…basically. There are a few sauces that are approved and almost all seasonings. You cut out sugar, alcohol, dairy, gluten, legumes, and all baked goods. If you want more info, check out the whole30 website for all of the rules.

Day 1

Breakfast – scrambled eggs (cooked in a non stick pan so no butter or oil), avocado, potatoes
Lunch – salad with mixd greens, tuna with avocado mayo, avocado, cucumbers, green peppers, walnuts
Dinner – burger with no bun, sweet potatoes, sauerkraut, mustard, and Tessemaes sugar free (whole30 approved) ketchup.

Today was hard. My meals were good and filling but I still felt hungry in between. I definitely should’ve eaten more snacks throughout the day. I also was pretty cranky. I was getting really upset over little things and then would get more frustrated that I couldn’t eat a cookie to make myself feel better.

Day 2

Breakfast – scrambled eggs with spinach, potatoes, and a few drops of Frank’s Red Hot sauce
Lunch – salmon, tomatoes (I only like them cooked), avocado, sweet potatoes
Dinner – chicken wings, sweet potatoes, Tessemae’s ketchup

Still feeling pretty cranky and tired. Basically the worse you eat before whole30, the worse the ‘hangover’ is in the beginning. I know I’ll get through this but these first few days are hard.

Day 3

Breakfast – egg salad with cucumbers, black coffee
Lunch – salmon, avocado, sweet potato fries, and cucumber and strawberries
Dinner – tuna

I surprisingly felt so much better today. According to the whole30 timeline day 3 is still part of the ‘hangover’ period. And I didn’t get much sleep the night before (hello 10 month old baby). I was expecting to still be in a bad mood (yes, this is something that should be within my control but doesn’t always feel that way). Thankful for a better day.

Day 4

Breakfast – egg salad with avocado, black coffee
Lunch – the last of my leftover salmon (thankfully, I’m a little salmon-ed out) and avocado
Dinner – pulled BBQ chicken (homemade whole30 bbq sauce), sweet potato fries, sautéed peppers

Still feeling good. I think it helps that I’m packing enough snacks for work. Today I brought and ate pistachios, blueberries, carrots, and a Chomp stick.

Day 5

Breakfast – hard boiled eggs for the first time in my new egg maker
Lunch – salmon, avocado
Dinner – salad, roasted veggies, meat

I am obsessed with my egg cooker, I have never been able to make hard boiled eggs that aren’t the ugliest eggs you’ve ever seen. This thing is seriously magic.

Also we were at a shabbat dinner so no phones/pictures of my dinner.

Day 6

Breakfast – poached eggs (from the egg cooker) + hashbrowns
Lunch – bbq chicken + sweet potato fries
Dinner – BBQ over a baked sweet potato

Yes, my lunch and dinner were basically the same thing, no I didn’t mind. As long as my food is yummy and filling I generally don’t mind repeating meals. It makes things much easier for me to eat healthy.

Day 7

Breakfast – poached eggs + hash browns again (and coffee of course)
Lunch – chicken wings, broccoli, avocado
Dinner – salmon, cauliflower rice, broccoli, and peppers

Tonight we did some meal prepping for the week. I cooked a ton of cauliflower rice and ‘stir fried’ broccoli and peppers. Jon grilled some salmon and steak and this will be most of my meals for the rest of this busy work week. I’m realizing how much better I do when I keep it simple. I get overwhelmed having to find a recipe every night. So just making sure I have enough protein and veggies ready to go really helps with a successful whole30 (at least for me).

Day 8

Breakfast – egg + spinach omelette
Lunch – bbq chicken + cauliflower rice
Dinner – taco salads and Jon’s guac

I went grocery shopping today to fill in a few things we needed (since most of our meals are prepped for the next few days). And all I bought was produce. Lettuce for our taco salads. Tomatoes, onions, jalapeños for Jon’s guacamole. Carrots, bananas, and a sumo citrus.

Day 9

Breakfast – fried egg + breakfast potatoes
Lunch – salmon + steak, cauliflower rice, peppers, broccoli, avocado
Dinner – bbq chicken, cauliflower rice and a few tomatoes

I ate most of my snacks early in the day (banana, pistachios, carrot chips, and a Chomp meat stick). Seeing people’s stress-eating food posts on social media were tough today but I survived.

Day 10

Breakfast – scrambled eggs
Lunch – salmon with broccoli, peppers, cauliflower rice
Dinner – whole30 sloppy joes over baked potato (so yum!)

Day 11

Breakfast – scrambled eggs
Lunch – leftover sloppy joes + baked potato
Dinner – bunless burger, sweet potato, sauerkraut

I’m starting to crave more hearty meals than sweets. I definitely still miss sweets but I want meals that leave me full and satiated these days.

Day 12

Breakfast – scrambled eggs and banana
Lunch – all the things – salmon, steak, broccoli, peppers, cauliflower rice, sweet potato
Dinner – chicken tenders dipped in egg and almond flour + asparagus

Day 13

Breakfast – omelet and potatoes
Lunch – taco salad and 2nd lunch was a baked potato
Dinner – steak and avocado

We didn’t really have a plan for dinner (I usually don’t). And we were eating kinda late so we just warmed up the leftover steak in the fridge and had some avocado for some healthy fats. Probably not the best meal but trying to keep things easy.

Day 14

Breakfast – scrambled eggs + potatoes
Lunch – lox, whitefish, avocado
Dinner – leftover chicken and asparagus with my homemade bbq sauce

We had a family brunch and boy did the homemade challah French toast look delicious. But I was proud of myself for having self control and not really getting upset over the things I couldn’t eat.

Day 15

Breakfast – frittata with tomatoes, asparagus, and spinach
Lunch – salad with tuna
Dinner – buffalo chicken (frozen chicken + Frank’s Red Hot Original in the crockpot) with all the roasted veggies.

I was home today which made today meals much easier. I made a whole bunch of roasted veggies for the week and I should have a couple days of leftover with the frittata for breakfast. I’m learning how much easier this is when I prep some easy proteins and veggies.

Day 16

Breakfast – leftover frittata and potatoes
Lunch – buffalo chicken with tessamaes avocado ranch, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, avocado
Dinner – whole30 sloppy joes and baked potato

Day 17

Breakfast – hard boiled eggs in my egg cooker, sweet potato, broccoli
Lunch – sloppy joes over baked potato
Dinner – sloppy joes over baked potato with peppers

Yes my lunch and dinner were the same thing today. But I really didn’t mind. It tasted yummy and was really filling.

Day 18

Breakfast – scrambled eggs and strawberries
Lunch – tuna
Dinner – burger and sweet potato fries

I didn’t have anything prepped or any leftovers to take for work, but always having tuna in the pantry is super helpful. My biggest goal with this whole30 is to get in the habit of packing a lunch at home.

Day 19

Breakfast – eggs, peppers, zucchini
Lunch – tuna, broccoli, and cauliflower.
Dinner – chicken soup, brisket, carrots and potatoes

When did I become a person who eats veggies for breakfast?? I’m also starting to notice that I’m not starving all the time. I’m usually pretty hungry by lunch time but today I didn’t even finish my lunch. I’m also not starving the second I wake up and don’t desperately need coffee either.

Day 20

Breakfast – eggs and potatoes (the usual)
Lunch – brisket and potatoes
Dinner – chicken soup

My appetite has been settling down. I still feel like I’m starting for lunch early in the day but today I didn’t even finish my lunch. And I still had some snacks leftover. I will keep making more snacks than I need because I’d rather have too much than not enough!

Day 21

Breakfast – eggs, potatoes, avocado
Lunch – grilled chicken salad from Chili’s (lettuce, tomatoes, chicken, oil and vinegar, a little guac
Dinner – orange chicken, cauliflower rice, broccoli

I went to a restaurant for the first time since starting Whole30. I ordered a grilled chicken salad with no cheese, black beans, or dressing. And had them put oil and vinegar on the side. I was mostly fine watching my family eat fajitas and pasta but decided to leave before their dessert came. Tonight’s dinner was one of the most complicated but delicious recipes I’ve made this entire month. There was a lot of steps and a lot of dishes but it was absolutely worth it. Just not something I have the time to make all the time.

Day 22

Breakfast – eggs, potatoes, broccoli and a few pieces from my orange chicken
Lunch – chicken soup and a smoothies
Dinner – brisket, potatoes, carrots

Soup was not enough food for lunch. After a couple hours I was starving so made a smoothie with frozen bananas, strawberries, blueberries, avocado and water.

Day 23

Breakfast – eggs and avocado
Lunch – orange chicken
Dinner – ground beef and broccoli

This ground beef and broccoli will absolutely be added in to our rotation. So yummy!

Day 24

Breakfast – scrambled eggs with some ground beef and broccoli leftovers
Lunch – ground beef and broccoli
Dinner – chicken soup

Day 25

Breakfast – fried eggs and potatoes
Lunch – ground beef and broccoli
Dinner – chicken soup

Day 26

Breakfast – eggs
Lunch – burger + sweet potato fried
Dinner – sheet pan chicken fajitas

Day 27

Breakfast – eggs and potatoes
Lunch – chicken & pepper fajitas + avocado
Dinner – chicken soup

Day 28

Breakfast – poached eggs and hash browns
Lunch – chicken, peppers, avocado
Dinner – crockpot chicken and Frank’s Red Hot over baked sweet potato

I swear I almost quit today. I’m way too close to the end to not finish. But I made the mistake of walking down the chip aisle at the grocery store. And a beer was really calling my name tonight. But instead I drank my sparkling water and called it a night.

Day 29

Breakfast – eggs and hash browns
Lunch – buffalo chicken and sweet potato
Dinner – meat sauce over spaghetti squash boat

Day 30

Breakfast – eggs and potatoes
Lunch – spaghetti squash and meat sauce
Dinner – chicken, peppers, avocado

Recap

For my entire whole30 I ate 2 meals at other people’s houses and 1 meal at a restaurant. I didn’t even step foot in the food court (I work in a mall) which was one of my biggest goals.

I lost 8.6 pounds.

My skin looks better. But I’m dealing with some hormonal acne. My overall mood is much better. But just changing my diet alone isn’t going to solve all of my problems.

What comes next

After completing my whole30 I will complete the reintroduction period. So 2 days of eating whole30 and then trying one of the things I eliminated. So first legumes (hummus), then not gluten grains (rice), then dairy (cheese or yogurt) then gluten grains (bread or pasta).

My long term goals are to eat mostly whole30 or paleo foods. Especially for breakfasts, lunches and dinners during the work week. My body is much happier being filled with healthy meals and fruits and vegetables. I also don’t want to not eat the things I enjoy when we go out for a date night or a special occasion. If I feel good about the healthy meals I’m eating during the week, I don’t have to feel guilty about eating something less healthy for a treat.

If you’re looking for the recipes I’ve shared, you can find them all (and a whole lot more) on my Whole30 Pinterest board.

Foods that got me through Whole30