My Whole 30 Diary

I did it!! I finished all 30 days of the Whole30 diet! Throughout the 30 days I kept track of what I was eating and how I felt. Scroll through to see what my first whole30 looked like for me.

Day 1:

Breakfast – hard boiled eggs and 1/2 avocado.

Lunch – baked chicken with cucumbers and avocado.

Dinner – steak and baked sweet potato fries.

I prepped the eggs the night before and Jon made the chicken in the morning for our lunches. I felt pretty good most of the day, just a little hangry while grocery shopping before dinner. And I snacked on clementines, an apple and more cucumbers during the day.

Day 2

Breakfast – hard boiled eggs and 1/2 avocado.

Lunch – chicken, avocado, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, sweet potato fries.

Dinner – grass fed bison taco salad, homemade guacamole.

This day was a little rough. Sorry TMI – I took quite a few trips to the bathroom. And had such a headache throughout the day. I did my best to keep drinking water. You’re not supposed to weigh yourself during whole30 but I was already feeling lighter and was curious. I weighed 2.6 lbs less than I did the day before.

Day 3

Breakfast – hard boiled eggs and avocado with black coffee.

Lunch – chicken with sweet potato, cucumber, avocado, tomato.

Dinner – Pecan encrusted mahi (pecans in the food processor, whole 30 approved mayo and baked at 350 for about 20 mins), green beans and cauliflower rice.

I noticed my jeans were already starting to fit better. On day 1 I had to keep unbuttoning them at my desk but by day 3, they were fitting comfortably. I also click the ‘hide for 30 days’ button on Facebook for any food company, ad, group, video, etc. Don’t need that negativity in my life.

Day 4

Breakfast: eggs, avocado, black coffee (notice a trend?)

Lunch: planned leftover mahi, green beans, avocado (forgot the cucumbers and missed the crunch)

Dinner: sheet pan fajita steak and chicken with peppers

I felt pretty good but noticed a few more breakouts on my chin and jawline.

Day 5

Breakfast: the usual

Lunch: leftover fajitas and avocado with cucumber

Dinner: Paleo meatballs (grass fed ground beef, almond flour, egg, garlic powder, parsley, salt pepper), homemade tomato sauce, spaghetti squash

Day 6

Breakfast: scrambled eggs and apple with almond butter

Lunch: grilled chicken & lettuce (*did not eat the dressing or goat cheese seen on the plate)

Dinner: chicken, baked sweet potato, zucchini

This day was HARD. It was the first weekend day on whole30. No routine or meals prepped. It was nice to sleep in and make breakfast at home (and to have my eggs cooked a different way). But then I had a blogger event in the afternoon where lunch was provided. Thankfully I could eat the grilled chicken and the plain lettuce that wasn’t touching the cheese. We went to a friend’s birthday that night. They were nice enough to make plain chicken for us and I baked and brought the sweet potatoes for us. The worst part was when they brought out the ice cream cake.

Day 7

Breakfast: scrambled eggs, avocado, tomatoes.

Lunch: leftover meatballs and spaghetti squash.

Dinner: crockpot pot roast – stew meat, carrots, potatoes.

I just wanted to sleep all day. (The time change probably didn’t help) I slept in really late, felt like napping during the day and then of course couldn’t fall asleep that night.

Day 8

Breakfast: hard boiled eggs + 1/2 avocado.

Lunch: leftover pot roast.

Dinner: spaghetti squash, homemade sauce, meatballs

Day 9

Breakfast: eggs + avocado

Lunch: leftover pot roast

Dinner: taco salads + Jon’s homemade guac

Discovered a new huge, under-the-skin-painful pimple on my forehead.

Day 10

Note: At this point I mostly stopped taking pictures of my breakfast and lunch. Breakfast everyday was eggs (either hard boiled if I prepped ahead of time or my easy microwave scrambled eggs) + avocado. And lunches were all on-purpose-leftovers. I’m not big on meal planning but I’m all about making more food when I’m already cooking dinner.

Dinner: Salmon with ALL THE VEGGIES (cauliflower rice, broccoli, green beans (both steamed), and peppers and cherry tomatoes (cooked in a pan).

All I’ve wanted to eat lately is red meat. Meatballs, taco salads, burgers, etc. so it was good to eat a bowl full of health.

Day 11

Breakfast: microwave scrambled eggs + 1/2 avocado

Lunch: leftover salmon, tomatoes, peppers + added 1/2 avocado

Dinner: The easiest recipe that I’ve been wanted to try for a while.

Crock pot. Sweet potatoes in foil, chicken (frozen is fine), Frank’s Red Hot Original and some seasonings (oregano, garlic, onion powder, salt). When I got home I took the sweet potatoes out of the way, shredded the chicken in the liquid on the bottom of the crock pot.

I also had considered ordering some of the Tessamae’s dressings and sauces online but I was excited when I found the avocado ranch at my local grocery store. The chicken was hot and this store bought ranch was another time saver for this insanely easy dinner.

Day 12

Lunch: leftover buffalo chicken + lots of Tessamaes ranch + sweet potato + avocado.

Dinner: we were invited to someone’s house for Shabbat dinner (so no dinner photo). They were nice enough to accommodate our food restrictions and made plain chicken, green beans, salad (with oil and balsamic vinegar) + no wine for us.

Day 13

Breakfast: tried something a little different and cooked some spinach then added eggs + cherry tomatoes and scrambled it all up.

Lunch: we had lunch at temple so couldn’t take a pic but I like my emoji version better anyways.

Dinner: bun-less burger + mustard, sweet potato fries, pickles, and I made coleslaw for the first time. They had it temple and Jon really wanted it so I made my own with whole30 approved avocado mayo.

Day 14

Dinner – steak fajitas + peppers and I made guac and used cucumbers as a chip replacement.

Day 15

Lunch: I made a bunch of extra peppers with last night’s fajitas and after dinner made chicken with the same seasonings to have for lunches.

Dinner: Remade the salmon + veggie dinner from last week.

Day 16

Dinner: still cleaning out some leftovers. Heated up these meatballs + sauce. And we tried a new veggie (collard greens) and now I never have to eat that again.

Day 17

Dinner: bun-less burger (I had prepped these after eating them the other night), homemade sweet potato fries, pickles + salad.

I’ve been going to the gym every chance I get and I really am noticing how I just feel better. My clothes fit better. My mood is generally better.

Day 18

Dinner: we celebrated Purim at an Israeli themed party. We were able to eat the schwarma and some of the Israeli salads.

This was a little tough because the hummus, pita bread, and Israeli desserts looked SOOO good. And this is a big drinking holiday, so we said our l’chaims with water.

Day 19

Lunch: because we didn’t make dinner last night, we had no leftovers to take for lunch. I planned on making something (possibly chicken?) but then I got lazy and it just didn’t happen. Jon got up and made scrambled eggs in the morning so atleast we had something to eat for lunch.

Dinner: remade the delicious crock pot buffalo chicken.

Besides a few annoying breakouts on my jawline and above my lip, my skin is really clearing up.

Day 20

Dinner – I met my parents at a restaurant and ordered plan grilled salmon and a plain baked potato. It was the only option on their sides menu that wasn’t cooked in butter.

Day 21

Breakfast – scrambled eggs + cherry tomatoes + avocado. Love getting a little creative with breakfasts on the weekend

Lunch – we were in Miami so we stopped at an Israeli restaurant in Aventura and ordered grilled chicken. It was delish!

Dinner – Crockpot buffalo chicken salad.

Today was HARD. We celebrated a friend’s birthday in Miami at TopGolf. The food + drinks everyone had looked SO good. I snacked on nuts I don’t really like. I was happy I brought some sort of snack but realized how important it is to have snacks I actually like.

Day 22

Dinner – met a friend at an Italian restaurant and ordered salmon with sauteed spinach. The pizza and pasta looked SO good.

Day 23

Dinner – Steak + peppers + gauc + salad

Day 24

Dinner – taco salad.

Day 25

Lunch – leftover buffalo chicken with white sweet potatoes (?) and avocado

Dinner – salmon, cauliflower rice, sauteed spinach, pepper + tomatoes. I could seriously eat this for every meal.

Day 26

Lunch – leftover salmon and veggies over a salad my coworker made. She was nice enough to make me a bowl before she added the cheese and cranberries.

Dinner – We were invited to our friends’ house for Shabbat dinner (so no picture). And they were very accommodating – plain tuna with avocado for the fish course and even made a separate meal (chicken and green beans) juts for us!

Day 27

(late) Lunch – bun-less burger with sweet potato, avocado, pickles, salad with Tessamaes dressing.

This was one of those super productive Saturdays where I lost track of time and didn’t end up eating lunch til after 3pm. And it was a pretty big meal so I ended up skipping dinner.

Day 28

Lunch – pecan & walnut encrusted mahi with asparagus and gauc/cucumbers.

Dinner – we went out to an Israeli restaurant and I ordered schwarma with cauliflower and mashed potatoes (its a meat restaurant so I didn’t have to worry about there being dairy in my potatoes). We talked with the owner while we were ordering about the diet we were on. So he kept the flour off of my cauliflower and didn’t bring us any hummus or pita.

Day 29

Dinner – I attempted to make up my own recipe for paleo orange chicken. I coated the chick in almond flour and cooked it in olive oil before adding the sauce and it was really thick. The color was weird but it tasted good.

Can’t believe we only have 1 day left!

Day 30

Dinner – taco salad, because Tuesday.

I felt pretty bloated after this meal. I probably ate too much guac and I think I need to give up the sparkling water.

Results

I lost 9 pounds. WOOOOO! And I just feel so much better. My mood has improved and I’ve learned so much over the last 30 days.

Plan for the future:

We decided going forward (after our eat all the things trip to Philly this weekend) that we want to eat like this most of the time. Eating totally whole30 all the time is hard and sad. So many social situations and celebrations are based around eating and drinking.

If I eat paleo/whole30 for my day to day, make breakfast, lunch, and dinner at home for my everyday life, then when there is a special occasion I can enjoy a treat. And not feel bad about it. I still have more weight I’d like to lost and I want to continue feeling this good.