Acne

[Nimra19]

Hi everyone, 

I'm on Day 29 of my first Whole30. The main reason that I decided to do the Whole30 was that I struggle with adult acne. The medications prescribed by my dermatologist 5 months ago have not made much of a difference, and after reading so many success stories in the realm of skin issues, I wanted to give the Whole30 a try and see if it made a difference in my skin...

By the end of Week 1 my skin looked significantly clearer. However, in week 2 I experienced my typical pre-menstrual breakout, which took a week or two to heal. My skin looked as if it was starting to improve again when all of a sudden, on day 28, I woke up with a terrible breakout, one of the worst I've had in a couple months. I still have two more weeks before my period so I don't think it's that. I did have a pretty stressful event take place 3 days before the breakout, perhaps that could be contributing, I'm just not sure... There are so many varying factors that can potentially contribute to acne, and I was hoping that cleaning up my diet with the Whole30 would make a change for the better, but my skin seems just as temperamental as it was thirty days ago.

I am so disheartened. Tomorrow is Day 30 and I don't know if I should extend my Whole30 by a few weeks in hope of seeing the change in my skin that I'm looking for (this idea is not particularly exciting to me, I was hoping to have my reintroduction process done before Thanksgiving)--or just throw in the towel and accept that I will always have bad acne

Has anyone else gone through this? All thoughts and advice welcome. Thanks. 

[saraip]

I woke up this morning with some acne on my face...not sure if its the change of weather...I have no idea but just to let you know, you're not alone   I'm on Day 17

[ShannonM816]

Hi, @Nimra19, I'm sorry you're having a rough time. Do know that skin conditions sometimes get worse before they get better, so it may be a matter of time. I'd also say that some people find that during a Whole30, their monthly cycle can change, even if they're on a birth control that usually regulates it pretty well, so it is possible that that could be contributing. And as you mentioned, stress can cause issues.

I'd encourage you not to give up just yet. Many people with underlying conditions find that it takes more than 30 days to really see improvement, so if you're up for continuing, you could continue to see more improvement over time. You mention Thanksgiving -- another option could be to do your reintroductions, do the best you can eating-wise through the holidays, and then starting another Whole30 either after Thanksgiving or after the first of the year.

I'd also encourage you to keep a food log of some kind if you aren't already, not a calorie counting type of thing, just a record of what you're eating -- it could be written in a notebook, could be pictures on your phone whether you share them somewhere or not, or if you want, you can start a log here in the forum, either in the Whole30 log section if you're going to continue Whole30, or in the Post-Whole30 log section if you're going to start reintroductions. Some people find that certain foods -- even completely Whole30 compliant ones -- contribute to skin conditions. If you keep a log, you can note what you're eating and maybe rank how your acne is on some kind of scale that makes sense to you. It may be hard to see, because it's not typically that you eat something and then an hour later have a breakout, it can take a couple of days for skin stuff to present itself, so it may be that over time you notice that every time you eat some food, a day or two later your breakout is worse.

 

[Nimra19]

Thank you, @saraip for the support and @ShannonM816 for the advice! I think the food log is a good idea. I'll keep you posted on my progress! The good news is, besides my skin,  I have experienced a lot of awesome benefits from the Whole30 and I'm so happy I did it!