Whole 30, Week 4 Meal Plan + Reintroduction // Observations

We.did.it. Whole 30 finishers over here- YAY!  It wasn’t easy, but we have completed 30 days of clean eating, loss some pounds/inches, and gained some new healthy habits to incorporate in our lifestyle from now on. (And congrats to my parents who did it alongside us- SO proud of you guys!)

So in case you missed it, here are the recaps from previous weeks:

Week 1 Recap

Week 2 Recap

Week 3 Recap

Here’s what the meal plan looked like:

(Yes, I do have some desserts planned…and I can’t WAIT!)

BREAKFAST-
Eggs (one way or another) with a protein like bacon or kielbasa (found a compliant option at Costco- SO good) and my French Vanilla nutpod coffee, sometimes with some fruit on the side. Oddly enough, I am not sick of eggs at all. They are so good and filling for breakfast!

LUNCH
-Roasted kielbasa with vegetables (make ahead for lunches for the week)
-Taco stuffed peppers (VERY good)
-Leftover from dinner: pulled pork, chicken thighs, roasted green beans and cauliflower
-Ground turkey burger with bacon, guacamole, tomato on a lettuce bun with sweet potato wedges and a pickle

DINNER
-Italian seasoned chicken thighs with roasted cauliflower
-Burgers on lettuce buns with sauteed onion, guacamole, tomato and potatoes with mustard (LOVE the crunch of the lettuce bun- I doubt I will ever order a bun with my burger when I go out moving forward.)
-Chicken breast skillet with bacon brussel sprouts (one of my favorite vegetables)
-Pulled pork with roasted green beans and a lemon dijon vinaigrette (SO good- we put it on everything from salad, meats and veggies!)

So…was it hard? Yes…on multiple accounts- dealing with cravings, food monotony, dishes, meal planning, etc. Was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY. The difference in how we feel overall makes all the hard work worth it. The pounds/inches lost are great (T lost 12, I lost 7), but I just FEEL better overall. More energy, mental sharpness, harder workouts, you name it. I’d definitely recommend Whole 30, no doubt.  There were also some other added benefits: I became more comfortable in my kitchen– working with new ingredients and working without a recipe- something I usually never do! I found my rhythm with planning meals, stocking up on essentials and also minimized my kitchen tools and supplies…win win!

Where do we go from here? If you feel that the Whole 30 was enough for you (some people do another 30 days after that, bless them) it is recommended that you do a 10 day reintroduction period, working in the different food groups one by one to see if any of them affect you. We plan to do this, and continue eating Whole 30 the majority of the time, with occasional indulgences that come with “special events” – like social gatherings, parties, weddings, date night, etc. And then we might do another round of Whole 30 again– maybe every January as a nice reset or re-calibration for our bodies. (And I feel like I might do a bit better in the future: our sleep is not so great with a teething baby, so having a full night’s sleep on Whole 30 would likely work wonders for us!) Plus, I’d definitely recommend reading this Food Freedom Forever book– really helpful resource post Whole 30.

There you have it! Glad to be done and thrilled to continue the rest of 2019 having done Whole 30. Totally refocuses my food choices going forward.

Any other W30 finishers out there? Or anyone looking to try it? Let me know in the comments!