Wow.

We did it! We finished THIRTY ENTIRE DAYS with no sugar, dairy, legumes, grains, alcohol, MSG, or soy. Like NONE. (If you want to start at the beginning here’s our week 1, week 2, and week 3.)

I’ll share our results at the end of this post, but in case you’re wondering how that last week felt (including Superbowl Sunday), then keep reading.

What I Ate and How I Felt: My Week 4 (+2) Meal Plan

DAY 22 (Monday):

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Sweet potato hash with chopped Chicken & Apple sausage, omelet with fajita veggies and heirloom spinach

Meal 2: Leftover steak on salad with monkey salad (bananas, strawberries, blueberries and cashews)

Pre-workout snack: hard-boiled egg and handful of nuts

Meal 3: Shrimp tacos on mashed plantains (blend in food processor and make into patties then bake until done), leftover sauteed veggies (zucchini and red onions)

Kid dinner alternatives: tortillas and cheese for the tacos, guac, salsa and chips

WORKOUT
Zumba for 1 hour

HOW I FELT 

Really digging plantains with the tacos. We typically only do plantains either sweet or as tostones, so using them this way is a nice change. Still feeling lots of energy during workouts (and my workout pants are getting baggy).

DAY 23 (Tuesday):

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Leftover sweet potato hash (just a bit left), leftover spaghetti squash, fried eggs and bacon

Meal 2: Steamed broccoli, plantains with leftover carnitas, fajita veggies, and guac (one of my fave things yet), banana

Meal 3: Sopa de pollo (chicken, zucchini, squash, yuca, carrots, seasonings)

Kid dinner alternatives: Added noodles to soup and only gave them what they liked from last time (chicken and carrots). This time they did NOT like it. Go figure.

HOW I FELT
Just another day of Whole 30. Enjoying the food.

DAY 24 (Wednesday)- ONE MORE WEEK!:

WHAT I ATE

Pre-Workout Meal: Hard-boiled egg and cashews

Meal 1: Fajita veggie egg scramble, bacon and fruit (strawberries, blueberries, 1/2 banana)

Meal 2: Leftover spaghetti with spaghetti squash, apple with cashew butter

Meal 3: Butter Chicken Masala (Whole30-style) and roasted cauliflower, mixed fruit (melon, pineapple, grapes)

Kid dinner alternatives: Cheese pizza from Trader Joe’s. They did try the masala but of course didn’t like it.

WORKOUT

1 hour Zumba

HOW I FELT

Nothing too special about today… other than in ONE week we’ll be on Day 31! I’m a time-keeper. I love counting down so you’d better believe I’m counting the days.

DAY 25 (Thursday):

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Chicken and apple sausage, leftover cauliflower and spaghetti squash, two fried eggs

Meal 2: Leftover butter chicken and cauliflower

Snack: half a Cashew Cookie Larabar

Meal 3: Beef, cabbage and tomatoes, roasted butternut squash and parsnips, rest of my Larabar

Kid dinner alternatives: Dinner served on top of egg noodles for the kids.

HOW I FELT
Breakfast was hard to eat, honestly. Partly because I’m tired of spaghetti squash (but didn’t want to waste it) and partly I’m just tired of breakfast.

My oldest was sick and went to the doctor- walking pneumonia. Awesome. Luckily he really didn’t feel too bad and we now have medicine to clear it up.

I went and got my hair cut tonight. She always pours me a glass of wine, but I let her know beforehand not to. Another mini hurdle passed!

DAY 26 (Friday):

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Bacon, leftover butternut squash and parsnips, fried eggs

Meal 2: Curry chicken salad in lettuce, steamed broccoli

Meal 3: Pork and sauerkraut, baked potato wedges, mixed fruit

Kid dinner alternatives: Annie’s Mac n Cheese in addition to the rest. This time they did NOT like the pork. Last time they did. Grrr.

Pre-Workout Snack: Handful nuts

Post-Workout Snack: Baked sweet potato with ghee and cinnamon, hardboiled egg white

WORKOUT

1.5 hour Zumba Night Out

HOW I FELT

Gah, really sick of heavy breakfasts. I know it doesn’t have to be so heavy, but I also don’t want to be starving come mid-morning either. Also, my stomach was hurting mid-afternoon. Not really sure why, but it ended up passing. Despite being on Day 26, I am still not 100% used to no snack in the afternoon on non-workout days. I did eat dinner early though so I could let my stomach settle before the Zumba Night Out! Sweet potatoes are surprisingly good after a workout!

DAY 27 (Saturday):

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Fajita veggies, eggs, and sausage

Meal 2: Leftover sauerkraut and pork, fruit

Snacks: Fruit, carrots and Whole 30 approved ranch

Meal 3: Whole Foods Hot Bar (chicken, vegetables, plantains, and salad)

Kid dinner alternatives: Pizza

HOW I FELT

I went to my sister’s house for my niece’s first birthday… and I didn’t eat birthday cake! I mean, there’s no way I was going to ruin my Whole30 with a few days left. Honestly, I didn’t crave it that much anyway. I did miss having a glass of wine with company. But again, just a few days left.

Since my sister had family in town from her husband’s side (and my other sister was visiting too), we stayed at her house after the official party to hang out. We knew exactly where we were eating: Whole Foods. I love that most of the family ended up eating Whole Foods too. We ordered pizza for the kids and a few people, then the rest of us hit the hot bar for some grub.

We had two chicken choices and got both. One was terribly dry but the other was pretty good. The rest was veggies and a salad.

By the evening, I was feeling even worse with my stomach and ended up laying on the couch while we watched a movie. Went to bed feeling blah and ended up almost getting sick in the middle of the night. BUT it really had nothing to do with Whole 30 eating. I think I got a minor version of what my son had earlier in the week.

Day 28 (Sunday):

WHAT I ATE

Meal 1: Bite of sausage and sliced potatoes, then switched to banana and mango (still feeling sick)

Meal 2: Salad with chopped deli turkey, chicken broth, and mixed fruit

Meal 3- Superbowl Style!: Baked jalapeños with guac and bacon, sweet potato with buffalo chicken casserole

Kid dinner alternatives: Tacos their uncle made!

HOW I FELT

Muuuuuch better after lunch. Today was Superbowl Sunday so we headed to my mom’s house since we sister was still in town. And? We passed up a delicious slow cooker full of nacho cheese dip. I’m a sucker for cheese dip, but just pretended it wasn’t there.

We made “football food” Whole30-style though! The jalapeños and our buffalo chicken were both amazing (recipes at the end). I’m happy that we could still enjoy the game without downing all the food.

Day 29 (Monday):

WHAT I ATE 

Meal 1: Fire-roasted sausage and sliced potatoes, eggs with pico, broccoli

Meal 2: Salad with tuna salad, monkey salad (strawberries, mango, pineapple, banana, cashews, coconut flakes)

Meal 3: Chicken marinated in red wine vinegar and olive oil with parsley, side of roasted pineapple, red peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, dried pineapple, handful baked plantains

Kid dinner alternatives: Corn and applesauce to go along with the chicken

HOW I FELT

My throat’s been hurting off and on all day. It got worse. Plus, I’ve been so busy with preparing for a presentation that I’m just feeling stressed. Oh and I fell going down the steps in my garage and hurt my ankle a bit. Despite all that, tomorrow is my last day of Whole 30 so hip hip hooray!

Day 30 (Tuesday):

WHAT I ATE 

Meal 1: Bacon, sliced potatoes with pico, scrambled eggs with spinach

Meal 2: Leftover buffalo chicken and sweet potatoes, leftover pineapple, peppers and mushrooms

Pre-workout meal: Cashews and hardboiled egg

Post-workout meal: Plantains and proscuitto (I didn’t have any compliant deli meat so I just rolled with it)

Meal 3: Leftover sopa de pollo (we froze a batch from last week), mango and pineapple

Kid dinner alternatives: Plain chicken noodle soup with grilled cheeses

WORKOUT

1 hour Zumba

HOW I FELT

I woke up without the terrible sore throat I went to bed with (yay). But my voice was a little hoarse. Not super when you have to give almost a 2 hour presentation, but I managed.

TOTALLY phoned it in with the food today. Daniel cooked breakfast, I ate leftovers for lunch, and dinner consisted of dumping the leftover soup into a pot and heating it up. Easy for the win.

I did okay in Zumba class, but certain moves put a little stress on my ankle so I just kept it low impact when I needed to. Wish I could have ended stronger with my last Whole30 workout, but – hey – it’s not about the workouts anyway.

Recipes I Used

Indian Butter Chicken Masala (we used Coconut milk to make it Whole 30 – which made it a little more like korma)

Guacamole Bacon Stuffed Pepper Poppers (we used jalapeños instead of sweet peppers)

Sweet Potato with Buffalo Chicken “Casserole”

The Results

I’ve already told you about my clearer skin and sharper mind. But we all know what you REALLY want to know… did I lose any weight?

One of the Whole 30 rules is that you can’t weigh yourself during the 30 days. I actually love that rule because I stayed focused on what I was eating. However, you better believe we jumped on that scale on Day 31!

For years I’ve wanted to lose those pesky 10 pounds… well I lost SIX of them during Whole 30. Yes, six pounds. Insane!

My husband (who also didn’t have much to lose), lost TEN pounds.

Whole 30 did in thirty days what months of counting every little calorie couldn’t do.

I believe the hype about Whole 30 now. It’s nothing short of amazing!

We were fairly healthy eaters to begin with too. But we were in a rut with our food (mini bagels much?) and Whole 30 opened our eyes to try all sorts of new recipes we wouldn’t have tried otherwise.

And I see why it’s Whole 30 and not Whole 15. The eating habits weren’t quite habits yet. I would have probably gone back to my past eating with a few mods. Now it’s the flip side of that. I will keep eating mostly Whole 30 while adding my “old” foods back sparingly. Thus, the shift.

The big question I’m sure you want to know is… what are I going to do now?

Well, next is the reintroduction phrase, where you reintroduce non-gluten grains, dairy, legumes, and grains one at a time. If you don’t want to add anything back, then don’t. I’ll post about this phase too, but for now I can safely say we won’t be eating as much of those things as before!

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