Welcome to my Whole30 week 3 recap! What a mixed bag this week has been! More highs than lows but definitely a whirlwind of emotions and feelings. With weeks one and two under my belt I am feeling pretty good overall and I can't believe there is only one week left! Well, plus 10 days of reintroduction but that's gonna be a fun experiment I think.
What I Ate
Here is a look at what I planned to eat this week. Things didn't necessarily go completely according to plan but I stuck with it for the most part. 
The changes I made? I forgot to buy salmon when I went grocery shopping (this happens way too often) so I used chicken like the original recipe for the sheet pan meal. Instead of using the slow cooker for the spicy chicken I used my instant pot for the first time. I loved it! The chicken was super flavorful and juicy so I think I will be returning to that cooking method for sure. I used New Primal Spicy Marinade with the chicken. Heads up, they're not messing around with the spice level in this stuff!
Wednesday night I had some errands to run which kept me out later than normal. So I ate out at Chipotle instead. I had a salad with carnitas, mild & hot salsas and guac. SO good and SO convenient when I need something while I'm out and about. Over the weekend I just played it by ear while following the plan loosely.
I enjoyed adding fruit with my breakfast so I will keep that going for next week. One thing I did this week was tone it down on the RxBars. I was getting into the habit of using them to satisfy a sweet craving during weeks one and two. This week I made sure to only use it for emergencies or after workout when I wasn't home in time to cook a post workout meal. I think that helped with some of the sugar cravings.
Links to some recipes above
Mexican Chopped Tuna Salad (this was delicious and super easy!)
Reflections
So a few days this week I was moody and low energy. I'm not quite sure why but in the beginning of the week I thought I was going to have a breakdown. I suppose it could have been just stress at work. That'll do that to you right? I woke up fairly easy half the week and the other half I was sleep walking through my morning routine. See what I mean about a mixed bag of highs and lows?
I am getting a little burnt out on the meal prep. Not gonna lie. I know I am doing it to myself because I keep making new recipes. Things will be a lot easier if I just prep some veggies and proteins and throw it together as I go. That's what I plan to do for the 10 days of reintroduction. Cause lemme tell ya, the dishes and mental effort of the prep and organization is wearing on me a bit.
I did find that I am starting to control my snacking more. This week my sugar cravings were way down and my only real craving has been wine. I so miss my Friday night glass! I got the Matcha Collagen I ordered from Vital Proteins so I enjoyed a Matcha Collagen latte after dinner which kept me out of the pantry. I just used almond milk and then a little vanilla bean ghee and blended together with the handy little frother that came with my order. I highly recommend it! I usually just use one scoop of my regular collagen peptides in my morning coffee so the matcha latte serves as my second scoop.
The other thing I need to work on is eating out. I'm so paranoid I am going to screw things up by trusting restaurants that I haven't tried to eat anywhere other than Chipotle. I have this (probably irrational) fear of being THAT girl that needs 80 substitutions and annoys the crap out of the server. Then I'll be worried they're gonna spit in my food and wondering if saliva is compliant. Ok that's gross. Sorry. I know I need to practice with this but since it's my very first Whole30, I may save the practice for my 2nd round when I feel like I have things more under control.
Overall it was a decent week. I am loving the support in the Whole30 Facebook group I am in (coached by Bailey from Whole Kitchen Sink). It's been so cool to go through this experience with a group and get ideas from Bailey who has been through several rounds of Whole30 and can relate to all the ups and downs. I definitely feel leaner this week and I enjoyed a few other fun non-scale victories like this one below!
Non Scale Victories
- Fit into a pair of jeans I haven't worn in 2 months
- Resting Heart Rate decreased from 78 BPM to 63 BPM since January 1st
- Reigning in my sugar cravings
- Feeling more productive with no mid-day energy slump
Next week is a big one! It will be my Week 4 recap as well as my results. Pictures and details to come. I'm both nervous and excited about that! So check back here next week as we wrap up January Whole30!
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