What we ate today in a calorie deficit - whole food edition (and how do we feel?)

[thenewaveragebear1983]

I am on a long running ‘what we ate today’ thread, but I am currently trying to cut out ultra processed foods and Eat a (mostly) whole food diet. Mainly because I am really suffering with a looooooong list of minor ailments that are not independently any issue but as a collective, they are really dragging me down. My plan is to do the next 30 days (barring a weekend away) and to see if I notice any improvements, while also sticking to my calorie and exercise goals.

today:
water, black coffee
banana
salad, homemade mayo (egg/olive oil/lemon, salt), leftover roast meat and 2 roast potatoes
apple
salad, mayo, homemade wedges, more leftover roast pork
2 satsumas

how do I feel?
currently suffering with aching hands, they are really tight and sore. I ran 7km and walked the dog twice, felt ok running.
I have painful ribs due to a flare of costocondritis, they are really burning this week
I didn’t feel hungry at all despite basically eating the same meal twice. I have batch cooked a few things for the week. I miss tea but I just cannot stomach almond milk.
on the positive, I had no palpitations today (yesterday I think I had 50 🤷‍♀️)

Ooo…can I join you? I generally eat well, but I would quite like a 30 day focus. I’d say at the moment, at least 80% of my diet is whole food but there is the occasional piece of cake for a special occasion or the odd bit of chocolate/biscuit.

My vague plan for tomorrow is chicken & chickpea soup for lunch and tuna salad for dinner but will aim to update tomorrow with exactly what I eat.

I have flares of costocondritis sometimes (although not had it for a couple of years now). Sorry you are having a flare at the moment.

Also, why do you say you are missing tea? I will definitely still be having a couple a day!

@Autumnleaves82 because I am going dairy free for these 30 days (did not say in my op!) - and i cannot stomach almond milk in tea!

Ah, ok. I won’t be doing that - I have Greek yogurt most days and milk in tea. Are you still happy for me to join you?

I like having short bursts of time to really focus. I gave up chocolate & biscuits for lent. I don’t normally eat much chocolate & biscuits but knowing I had made this commitment meant it was easier to not have the odd staffroom
biscuit or chocolate that was passed round in a meeting. It just took the decision making away.

I really should join yes. I won’t list out what I’ve had today (“before pic” food) but will be back on the wagon tomorrow and a 30 day kickstart sounds just what I need.

@Autumnleaves82of course! I have done whole30 before and I know from doing that that dairy does affect me. I’m really suffering with inflammation at the moment, and therefore dairy has to go for me. 😢 goodbye cheese 🧀

costocondritis is a right pain, I saw a chiropractor when i had it previously - what I have is actually Tietze syndrome, but they are basically the same. My left side ribs are so painful today. I left a message at the chiropractor to try to get an appointment this week. I also had Bell’s palsy at Christmas which is another inflammation related condition and I still have a numb face and eye. I really am literally falling to bits at the moment!

day one went really well for me anyway. Let’s hope I see some improvement

@ItsCalledAConversationwelcome! It’s taken me weeks to get my act together to do this, I’ve been feeling progressively more tired with various aches and pains and basically ignoring it. The only thing I have done is given up alcohol this year so far, but honestly, I feel like I should have felt better for it than I do!

I need to refocus after the Easter break. I aim to eat mostly whole foods with a bit of dark chocolate thrown in. I’m not quite 5ft and don’t do much exercise so my maintenance calories are already low, not much room for a big deficit. I’m gluten intolerant, no issues with dairy. I have a fair bit of weight to lose and it’s slow now I’m in menopause.

Yesterday
Full fat Greek yoghurt and poached apple.
Chicken breast, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans and sweet potato.
Tuna stir fry with onions, celery, carrots, courgette and spinach.
Approx 30g 70% dark chocolate.
2 black coffees, 2ltr water.

Was feeling a bit bloated after a weekend of eating out and wine.

Ooh hello @thenewaveragebear1983 can I join you all here. I have had a week of doing similar and not eating bread but all fell apart at the Easter weekend. Interestingly I ended up eating more dairy to replace the bread and although it cut my sugar cravings quite well, I ended up feeling a bit ill and my face got redder - so although I might not cut dairy out I do need to reduce it back down at least.

I have done paleo whole30 many years ago but I think I am fine with lentils, beans etc so a wholefood version is a great idea. my symptoms that I would like to improve are skin, achey knees and tiredness. Oh and I need to lose a lot of weight! I am rubbish at eating vegetables so maybe this will encourage me.

my bf included a kind bar so not really on track but will start now.

Here is my lunch and breakfast for today so far

Can I join? I’ve not done this before so please correct me if I make mistakes!! I would just like to eat as cleanly as possible.
B- Greek yogurt with strawberries
S- banana
L- poached eggs on a slice of sour dough (is the bread ok? Maybe not?)
D- homemade chicken curry (just spices and tomatoes) with rice

@troppibambini6anyone can join, I think our aim is just to be trying to avoid UPF rather than a completely UPF free lifestyle. There’s always going to be days we struggle. I’m going to cut out bread/flour but that’s because I know they do me no good! I think sourdough is ok though as a rule? I have been following the advice to look at the ingredients and only use things that you’d find in your own kitchen, so trying to avoid all the chemicals, added sugars and generally UPF’ish sounding things!

Today (breakfast and lunch is almost same everyday except for change of fruits toppings) :
-Coffee with Wholemilk at 7.30 AM
-Breakfast at 10 AM : Full fate greek yogurt with mango and chopped nuts

• Lunch: 3 large scrambled eggs in butter with sauteed mushrooms
• Snack - watermelon
• Dinner will be at 6.30 - Black eye beans curry with 1 chapati, cottage cheese salad with cucumber and cherry tomatoes (everything home cooked including beans, I am indian)

Trying to lose last 4 kgs post pregnancy weigh. Only eating carbs at night works best for me as I have started to melt the stubborn fat off. I workout 5 days a week as well except for holidays as I truly struggle to find time when DD3 is at home.

@thenewaveragebear1983fab thanks for the tips will check out the packaging. I’ve recently lost just over 4 stone and I’m keen to keep the weight off and have a healthy diet!

Breakfast - 5% greek yoghurt with I Weetabix and raisins.

Lunch - 1 Warburtons wholemeal thin with cottage cheese, avocado, tomato and chilli oil. Packet of frazzles. Activia yoghurt

Dinner - chicken with new potatoes, peppers/onions/mushrooms all done in the air fryer with seasonings. Served with salad and chilli sauce.

Pud - caramel egg

Well Tuesdays are normally my danger day of the week because it’s the only day I don’t work from home. However, today has been really good. I’ll be ending up on around 1300 cals and have had ZERO UPF today! 😇

breakfast- chia pot- chia seeds, 1/4 can of full fat coconut milk, mixed seeds, raisins. (Made overnight) then topped with blueberries and raspberries

lunch- leftover roast meat, salad, homemade mayo made with olive oil, and homemade scotch egg. Satsumas. Grapes.

after work snack- apple slices. Almond butter

dinner will be chicken thighs cooked in lemon and garlic, and brocolli

things like almond butter, coconut milk can vary wildly depending on what brand. Avoid palm oil and added sugars, and check for e numbers and find out what they are and what they do. Not all nut butter is free from UPF. Choose one that’s literally nuts (and maybe salt). Same with dried fruit, they can often have lots of preservatives in them which render them UPF. It’s all about checking those labels!

it’s obviously incredibly early days but today I noticed I got no 3pm slump. My hands are noticeable less achy (this was a delightful addition to my long list of inflammatory symptoms this weekend), ditto my rib pain just feels less constant and like it’s a smaller area of pain. I’m almost not believing it could be because of my food after just 2 days.
I did find this morning my blood sugar was really low, I just felt very fuzzy and like I was having a bit of a crash. Mental note to eat breakfast! I usually don’t on my office day and I’m fine but today I definitely needed it.

I need to drink more, I filled my 1l cup and barely touched it today. I did drink black coffee, and decaf, and a cup of black decaf tea (which was actually ok. )

What an interesting idea for a thread! Lots of good ideas here already.

I try to follow a 80% UPF free diet to help inflammation and today I had:

B: Greek yogurt with nuts, seeds, blueberries

S: banana

L: edamame bean and courgette salad, falafels and hummus

S: homemade bread and peanut butter (100% nuts)

D: salmon pesto pasta. Hmmm not sure how UPF free that is!

@NinetyNineRedBalloonsGoBy what peanut butter do you use please? 😊

So lovely to hear everyone’s menus.

B: Black coffee and then mid-morning coffee with milk
L: Chicken & chickpea soup, some celery & cucumber batons, apple
D: Tuna salad then berries & Greek yogurt
S: Pear & babybel (are these too processed?!) I’ve recently been trying to ‘pair’ any carbs/fruit with protein.

I’m experimenting with trying a loose 5:2 plan, so today was a lower calorie day. I’m quite short and officially a ‘healthy’ weight but am around 7 pounds above my ‘happy’ weight. I seem to have to eat under 1200 calories to lose only around a pound a month (ridiculous!) but people on Nutracheck recommended that eating higher calories (maintenance) on 5 days and around 800 calories on 2 days might work better than trying to eat really low every day and still not seeing much progress. I’d be interested to know if anyone has any thoughts or experience of this?

@DancingDucks I use meridian almond butter which is 100% nuts

@DancingDucksI use the more expensive one in Aldi but I’ve also seen 100% peanut butter in Tesco and Lidl

Your scotch egg look delicious @thenewaveragebear1983. I’ve only made them once before and couldn’t get the meat to stick to the egg.

Day 2 - 1020 cals (Bmr is less than 1300!)
Full fat Greek yoghurt and mango.
Leftover lunch - chicken thigh, mashed carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans.
Mixed mushroom, spinach, tomato omelette and quick pickled shallots. Apple
25g 85% dark chocolate
Drinks - 2 x black coffee, chamomile tea, 1.8ltr water.

I ended up going a bit over my calories yesterday but I stuck to my whole foods/no UPF. My hands were so painful in the night it woke me up. This is a relatively new pain, probably only the last week or so, my right hand especially- my fingers ache and throb! I need to contact the chiropractor today about my rib pain as well, it was reduced yesterday but this morning is back quite sharp on the one side. I am falling to pieces!

today my diet will pretty much match what I ate yesterday:
chia pot with loads of fruit
scotch egg with salad and mayo
i have some chicken thighs and sweet potatoes chunks cooked for snacks
dinner is mince (kids will have cottage pie but I’ll just have the mince and veg)

I’ll walk the dog and would really like to get out for a run but it’s currently pretty cold and grey out there which isn’t particularly appealing

Thank you for starting this thread. I usually eat about 90% non UPF, but am away from home at the moment and spending most of my time in hospice with my DM, so finding it harder to eat well despite knowing it’s what I need especially now. This thread will help, and I already feel inspired to have a good day by reading others’ choices from yesterday.