Whole 30, the Easy Way for a Busy Mama

I first did Whole 30 about 3 years ago when my first was around 9 months, and I hadn’t yet lost all of that baby weight. I lined the counter with mason jars full of home-made sauces, dressings, etc. I bought several specialty products online because you couldn’t find them in the store, and I even made my own clarified butter.

I found it all a little tedious, but was thankful I broke my sugar addiction and lost the last of the baby weight before we found out we were pregnant with baby #2 a few weeks later.

With my second, I had to eliminate SO many things from my diet and my weight just fell off, and I was hoping with my 3rd I would have a similar experience, but alas, every pregnancy and postpartum recovery is different.

Related Post: The Ultimate Survival Guide to Going Dairy (and *mostly* Soy Free) for Breastfeeding MSPI Mamas

So as we approached my third son’s 8 month birthday, and I sat still about 30 pounds over weight, my husband encouraged me to do the whole 30, again.

And, SO much has changed in the world of paleo products in the last 3 years! It was WAY easier to do this time around because you can buy whole 30 compliant salad dressing (hello Tessa Mae!) and ghee at just about any grocery store. And, the blogging world has exploded. There are so many great food bloggers out there full of wonderful tips and recipes to try.

When I did the whole 30 this time, I had 3 boys under 4, and the baby still was not sleeping at night. I was exhausted, but wanted to work to regain some self-control in my life.

I posted the following on instagram when I first began:

I always wanted to be one of those naturally “skinny” girls who hardly gained any weight during pregnancy and instantly bounced back to their pre-baby weight. • ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I gained around 60 lbs with each of our 3 boys and having them all in quick succession has been rough on my body and ability to put my health first. {especially with all that lack of sleep}. But alas, comparison is the theif of joy and I know I have 3 healthy boys to be endlessly thankful for. •
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God has worked wonders on my perception of myself in regards to body image specifically. For a decade I was in bondage to dieting and counting calories. He truly miraculously healed my mind in regards to food. I hardly weigh myself, but use my clothes and the way I feel as a guide. •
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Yet here I am, 8 months post-partum and struggling to make the scale budge (I know they say “9 months in, 9 months to get the weight off), but we’ve got a long way to go. I want to feel comfortable in my body again, and feel like I have enough energy to keep up with my rowdy boys. •
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So here’s to self discipline (2 Tim 1:7), treasuring His Word (John 4:34) over my go to treats that I tell myself I “deserve” after a hard day. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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It’s tough to change habits, but here’s to day 2 of the #whole30 and working out 2 days in a row! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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⠀⠀ I want to have a healthy and whole mindset in regards to taking care of myself, and fight to not find my identity in anything other than Christ. I want to take care of my self because we are to treat our body as a temple- we were bought with a price and we are not our own. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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⠀⠀⠀// side note: I’m not a “fancy” cook, and my goal is to make simple real food meals that don’t take a ton of time! Recipe is in the comments and in my instastories.

For those of you who don’t know what the whole 30 is, check out this site– it does a great job of explaining the “rules”.

My goal was to do whole 30 in a way that would be as easy as possible and create the least amount of stress when it came to meal planning and prepping. So this is what I did:

I was boring (again tried to keep things super simple, aka least thinking and prepping required), so I had eggs pretty much every morning. Sometimes I would have some fruit, or left over roasted potatoes to go along with them. I made a brekfast casserole into egg muffins one morning. I actually noticed my milk supply going down a lot, so added in some oatmeal (non whole 30 I know, but I allowed it in an effort to prolong my breastfeeding relationship with my baby)

Left overs or grilled chicken or shredded chicken on bed of greens with random fruits and veggies and some pecans or sliced almonds with tessa mae caesar or ranch dressing was my go-to.

I did make up this delicious chicken salad and ate that for a couple of weeks for lunches.

“Monkey salad”- cashews, flaked coconut, banana

Apple with almond butter

Lara Bars (some of them are not compliant, but several flavors are)

RX Bars

nuts (just not peanuts)

veggies and tessa mae’s ranch

frozen grapes

Siete chips and guac (not exactly in the spirit of whole 30, but still delicious)

1. I made this shredded chicken in my instant pot using the recipe from the mindful mom. It is so easy and great to throw on salads through out the week or make my chicken salad.

2. Meal two was a simple one, as well. We made grilled chicken using a basic marinade. Roasted some veggies and had cauliflower rice (find in frozen section) on the side. Last time I had to make my own cauliflower rice and it took a while to shred it and made a huge mess. So thankful for some easier things this time around. On a side note, I don’t particularly love cauliflower rice.

3. Meal 3 was this pork tenderloin. Mashed potatoes (just added some coconut or almond milk, ghee and salt and pepper) and broccoli.

4. Meal 4 was these pork chops (use coconut aminos or beef broth in place of soy sauce), hot crash potatoes and salad.

5. Meal 5: Spaghetti squash with meat sauce (packed with veggies) and salad!

6. Meal 6 was BBQ pulled pork on baked sweet potatoes. This was probably the most involved meal I made (and it still wasn’t hard), and my hubby approved of the sauce.

7. Bunless Turkey Burgers– these were actually delicious and I’ve made them a couple of times since. So easy to broil them! Just don’t line your pan in parchment paper. I almost started a house fire the last time I made them.( I had run out of aluminum foil)

8. Pot Roast. So good, so simple. I’ve made this meal many, many times and my boys love it.

9. Turkey chili. This is another favorite around here.

10. Crockpot Enchilada Soup from Real Simple Good.

11. If you don’t follow the defined dish on instagram, just go ahead and do yourself a favor and do it now! SO SO good. I’ve tried a few of her recipes and have loved them all. This meatloaf was gobbled down by all of the boys in my house.

12. Mexican “rice” bowl

13. Butternut Squash Noodles with Paleo Running Mama’s Meatballs

14. Recycling Meals- Grilled Chicken, Baked Potato (with some ghee and salt and pepper- you could also add bacon bits/chives), carrots, broccoli

15. This Sheet Pan Salmon from the Defined Dish was Uhhhh-Mazing! I am normally intimidated by fish (I’m keep it simple sally over here when it comes to meals), but this couldn’t have been easier. And my 9 month old, 2 year old and 4 year old all loved it, too!

1.5 lb salmon

1 bunch of asparagus

2 TB olive oil

2 TB dijon mustard

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 cup raw pecans

salt

pepper

Remove the ends of the asparagus and place them on one end of the sheet pan. Drizzle them with olive oil and salt and toss to combine well.

Put the salmon on the other side , brush with 2 TB of olive oil. Mix the paprika and mustard together and brush on top of the olive oil coat. Season the top with salt and pepper. Then crush your pecans (you can hit them with a mallet in a ziplock baggie, or chop them in a chopper) and sprinkle them on top.

Bake until the salmon is flaky (about 20-25 minutes) on 275. (I know that’s a low oven temp, I thought so too- but it works!)

I realize I only have 15 meals shown above. The other days were a combination of left overs, salads, and just redos of the meals above. Again, I tried to keep this whole 30 as simple and least stressful as possible, and I hope these meals help you see that you CAN do this. It is not super hard. It just takes a little bit of planning, a few substitutions and of course the discipline when you’re in public situations (parties, showers, etc) to say, “No” to sugary, refined, processed foods. But you can do almost anything for 30 days, right?!

In the end, I lost about 10 pounds, broke my addiction to eating ice cream every single night (because I mean a mom of 3 under 4 “deserves” that, right?!), and felt more energetic. I am hoping to continue some healthier habits, and start making working out a priority. I really cannot get my stuff together in that area (and I have tried SO many different things- home work outs, videos, Beachbody, gym memberships, etc).

I got a stomach virus a couple weeks after finishing the whole 30 and that helped me lose a little more weight…so I just have about 10-15 lbs to go to get back to my pre-baby weight. My real goal would be about 10 lbs less than that, but slow and steady. Lifestyle changes over “diets” is the goal. I learned a long time ago the most freedom (at least for me) comes when I don’t weigh myself often, but rather use how I feel and how my clothes fit as a guide.

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