Adaptation...

[malamusa]

Hi,

Just completed my second Whole30 and extending it for 2 more weeks just because I want to.  I have tried asking this question in several ways, but I haven't gotten a direct answer. I FULLY UNDERSTAND AND SUPPORT he fact that the WHOLE30 IS NOT a weight-loss diet.  My question is has anyone found a way to adapt it so that it can be used as a weight loss diet? Something like Whole30 Plus for example... I think there would be a lot of people VERY INTERESTED in this adaptation!

Thank you Whole30 for changing my life,

malamusa

[MeadowLily]

Remember. You lost 8 lbs in 30 days.  Whatever you were doing clearly worked. You could continue following that template and/or adapt in any way you want to after 30 days.

I can't tell you how to turn the W30 into a weight loss hack.

Dieting = an illusion of control. When the willpower runs out and gutting it out no longer works, do you know how many people can actually maintain weight loss after dieting - 5%.

95% of the people rebound back with weight gain. Even after a year or more. If dieting worked, you would only need one diet and do it one time, solving all weight issues but it does not work that way.

The only way to reach your optimum set point and maintain weight loss is  create a sustainable plan that you can live with for the rest of your life.  Consistently.

Bouncing in and out of a weight loss plan or dieting hack is a temporary fix. The minute you return to your old ways of eating, it all comes back.  Every single time you put your body through the paces of another diet, the metabolism will slow down even further and you will have to eat less and less to maintain the weight loss.

Eventually, you could end up around 700-900 cal aday and start gaining again if you go above that.  You've got to throw down the gauntlet and say enough is enough.

Stand your ground. Don't ever go on another diet. Start eating 3 meals aday and don't ever look back.  It's the very rare person who can live on one meal at noon time and make that work for an entire lifetime. Consisting of a spinach ball or sparse greens, dollops of fat with a smidge of protein.

[ShannonM816]

Here's what Melissa Hartwig herself had to say about this in a recent edition of the Wholesome newsletter: 

 

Quote

 

Dear Melissa,

I’m about to start round 2 of my Whole30. Any suggestions on how to tweak it for weight loss? Maybe cutting out nut butters and Larabars … can you suggest other things to SEE (and not just feel) results? - Marie, on Twitter

Dear Marie,

My short answer is… no. No, I cannot offer you suggestions to tweak the Whole30 for weight loss, because the Whole30 is not a weight loss program. But that’s the “tough” part of my tough love, and there’s way more “love” to be found in this answer. So, here’s the longer version (which, by the way, does actually include a few tips).

I don’t want anyone to take the Whole30, designed for a VERY specific purpose, and try to tweak it to accomplish something it was not designed specifically to do. Could you make some changes to your lawnmower engine so it turns into a bubble machine for your kid? Probably. But that’s pretty dangerous, and it probably won’t mow your lawn very well after that.

Samesies with tweaking the Whole30 for weight loss by purposefully counting/cutting calories, unnecessarily restricting food groups (like carbs or fat), or adding protocols like Intermittent Fasting. You’ll do some serious damage to the way the program is supposed to work… and you probably won’t get much further in your weight loss journey either. At least, not the kind of sustainable, permanent weight loss the Whole30 offers, exactly as written.

Because I just KNOW you’re not looking for a quick-fix. You’ve done that. It never works. Moving on.

Our premise is simple—change your health (tastes, blood sugar regulation, hormonal balance, digestion, immune system), habits (how you reward, self-soothe, comfort, and show love to yourself), and emotional relationship with food (losing cravings, attachments to, and dysfunctional thoughts around food), and a healthy body composition has to follow. It HAS to. But it doesn’t work the other way around.

You can make your Whole30 a low-calorie, low-fat, low-carb approach, and you’ll for sure lose weight. But you’ll screw up your hunger, cravings, hormones, and willpower AND slow your metabolism. Which means (you guessed it)… welcome to Rebound-O-Rama, where you violently descend into a frenzy of donuts/cookies/cakes/chips/wine, and end up regaining all the weight and then some. How do I know this will happen? SCIENCE. The literature clearly shows that diets based on caloric restriction simply don’t work for sustainable weight loss.

So don’t turn your Whole30 into another quick-fix crash diet. The very idea breaks my heart.

Here’s the thing; the Whole30 isn’t a weight loss program, but I know you want to lose weight. And I honor that. I just want you to do it the right way. So, now we get to the meat of the question: Can I offer some suggestions to help you lose weight on the Whole30? I can. Here you go.

1. Sleep more, and sleep regularly. Yes, I’m serious. This is perhaps the biggest unrecognized factor in body composition, and really just about everything else.

2. Walk. Here’s a bold statement: walking is the most underrated form of exercise. You don’t have to join a gym, kill yourself at home in front of a DVD, or sign up for an adventure race. Just go for a walk. Regularly, at a brisk pace. Maybe sometimes up a hill. Maybe sometimes with a backpack. Ideally outside in a green space. Hey, bring a friend!

3. Reduce stress. Yeah, yeah, easier said than done, but I’ve got a strategy outlined in Food Freedom Forever, and a 20-minute talk about the stress/craving connection to get you started.

4. Embrace a growth mindset. I talk about this a lot in Food Freedom Forever, but the best thing you could do for healthy, happy, sustainable body composition is embrace the idea that you are a healthy person, living a healthy lifestyle. Then, surround yourself with people, places, things, and experiences that support that!

Armed with those tips, the new Whole30 Cookbook, our amazing @whole30 social media community, and our extensive NSV Checklist (many of which, as requested, are things you can SEE and not just feel!), there’s no way you won’t rock round 2 of your Whole30—regardless of the scale.

Best in health,
Melissa

 

 

[MeadowLily]

That was great, Shannon.  I don't have the Wholesome Newsletter but I have all of the books....and it's written right there in the pages.  There's nothing in the books that says after a Whole 30 that you then can graduate onto zero carb and fasting for the big WIN.