Day 43- No weight loss

[Clementine123]

This is long, but I wanted to be as detailed as possible in order to get the best advice as possible. 

I am on day 43 of my Whole30 (Whole60, WholeLife) and have not experienced any weight loss. I know, it is not about the weight loss. And trust me I'm not a scale person. In fact I bought a scale for Whole30 because I had been ignoring the fact that I was in a danger zone when it came to my weight. I am 220 pounds at 5'3. After 43 days of Whole30, I finally weighed myself and was confused about how there could be no scale results. I see other results and with that I'm thrilled. But for my health- I need to drop some weight, or more specifically, some fat. Last year I gave up smoking and coffee. I've never been a soda drinker. I went into Whole 30 expecting things to be much more difficult than they were. The hardest thing I experienced was intense hunger the first 10 days which eventually evened out. 

Here's some more information about my Whole30. The first 30 days I ate according to template. I home cooked all my meals personally, never ate out and stayed completely complaint.  I ate whole foods, slayed the sugar dragon, went 5 hours between meals, and without much fuss got to Day 30. Day 31-Day 43, I decided to loosen things up in order to sustain this lifestyle. I added in bacon from Costco (even though it has maltodextrose) and rotisserie chicken (even though it has carrageenan) because my budget simply couldn't afford the fancy meat any longer. I added in one mini indulgence a week, a child's size ice cream in a cup. I believe in moderation and having the one indulgence makes the week just that much more mentally successful. Besides the ice cream, I didn't reintroduce anything else. I also added in exercise. My first 30 days I did not work out. Now, I'm doing pilates 6 days a week and going for walks. The routines are average intensity and about 30 minutes long; I'm sweating fiercely after them but not much out of breath. For someone so overweight, I'm pretty in shape. I could run a 5k today without much fuss although running makes me an angry person so I avoid it. 

I know that's a lot of information, but I wanted to lay it out there so someone can give advice. I'm feeling bummed and discouraged but not deterred. I will continue to eat like this because I know it's better for me and I can't imagine that if I continued like this for 5 years, it wouldn't EVENTUALLY result in a more healthy weight. 

What's you advice? Do I need to be adding in cardio? Am I eating too much fat or having too large of portions? Do I need to cut out the 2 Costco items that aren't really compliant? Do I just need to give it time?

Two last details that may help. One, I have never experienced a food sensitivity. I've never had digestive or gut issues. Going Whole 30 didn't change or improve anything in that area and when I added in the dairy from the small ice cream my system didn't even comment. Nothing. Two, I have a long complicated past with losing and gaining weight. I'm only 30 and by the time I was 23, I lost then gained 50 pounds, 3 times over. I've remained the same weight roughly for the last 7 years. 

Here are some food log samples:

SAMPLE 1

Breakfast (within 1 hour of waking up)

-2 Eggs, handful of each: broccoli- onion- mushroom- tomato- spinach, 3 pieces of bacon, hot sauce, 1 cup of decaf coffee

Lunch (4-6 hours later)

-3 cups of mixed greens, cucumber, carrots, bell peppers, 1 cup shredded chicken, 1/2 avocado, homemade dressing, 1 piece of fruit

Dinner (5-7 hours later)

-1.5 ground beef patties (each the size of my palm), 1 cup spinach, 1 cup mushrooms, 1 sweet potato, ranch dressing, mustard

Snack (every other night)

Popsicle made of blended fruit and coconut milk

 

SAMPLE 2 (same timing as above)

Breakfast 

-2 egg, 3 cups of cabbage, 1/2 Aidells sausage, handful of onions, cilantro, mushrooms

Lunch

-3 cups of cauliflower rice, 2 pieces of bacon,  3 oz. of steak, onions, mushrooms, 1 piece of fruit

Dinner

-2 cups of zucchini noodles, 1.5  cups of ground beef marinara

 

SAMPLE 3 (same timing as above)

Breakfast

-Egg bake (size of 2 palms) with eggs, coconut milk, zucchini, tomato, broccoli, chorizo, decaf coffee

Lunch

-3 oz. of chicken, 1 cup of curry sauce (coconut milk, onions, mushrooms, spices), 1.5 cups of cauliflower

Treat (edited by moderator to be perfectly clear, this item was added AFTER the member did W30)

-Child size ice cream in a cup (every 7 days, after Day 30, so I've only done that twice)

Dinner

-5 ounces of chicken rolled in coconut flour, 2 cups of green beans

 

[ladyshanny]

I don't see anything particularly outstanding except that some of your meals might be a bit on the small side. When eggs are your sole protein, eat as many as you can hold in one hand without dropping. For most people that's at least 3-4. Bacon is a fat so in that first breakfast example you might be a bit light on protein.

Honestly...............with a history of gain/loss of a substantial amount of weight and assuming that you didn't do so in a healthful manner (ie, calorie restriction followed by no restriction?), your body is more than likely Ner-Vous! Weight loss is less about what you eat and more about hormonal balance. Obviously what we recommend folks to eat is what will quickest balance those hormones but sometimes it just takes longer than 30 days.

What are your non-scale victories? These are the things that tell you that something good is happening even if it isn't the exact thing you want just yet. 

Edited to add: the blended fruit/coconut milk popsicle you made is 100% non-compliant with Whole30 as per the SWYPO rule. 

[Clementine123]

I will definitely stick with it and hope eventually my body gets comfortable with letting go of some of the weight.

Here's a thought @ladyshanny - I'm not sure if you have any knowledge about this but since you mentioned hormones, I'll give it a go. I take two medications (doxycycline and spironolactone) for severe adult acne. They are hormonal based, meaning they interfere with my hormones in order to produce better skin results. I can't go off of them on a whim but I could ask a doctor how/if they could be preventing weight loss. I would only go that approach after a very long time of Whole30 with no results though. When I read about the no medications part of Whole30, I thought, interesting. I figured taking medications might slow scale results but it couldn't possibly make them invalid. Maybe I'm wrong? Thoughts? 

And I see what you mean about the popsicle. But my understanding of the SWYPO rule is that it's a mentality. It's the idea (mentally and emotionally) about making something "healthy" or able to fit into your lifestyle that has no business being there. Pizza, cookies, baked items. A popsicle, by definition, is frozen fruit. This is exactly that. Plus, isn't the heart of the matter- how would you feel giving it up?  I could do without the popsicle  

[ladyshanny]

I'm sorry, I don't have enough background to understand how those medications might change your results. Hormones are the chemical messengers of the body so it stands to reason that you could take a medication to alter one without affecting the results of the others. That said, I really have no idea. 

As far as the SWYPO rule.........it's the rule for everyone, not open to interpretation. Same as we tell people who tell us they have no particular association to pancakes so they can make egg-banana pancakes on their Whole30..............the rule stands, no pancakes. No matter your personal relationship with the item. That said, although you could do without the popsicle, you did mention that having a "treat" once a week makes the whole thing mentally sustainable to you. That is what the point of eliminating these things does. Off your Whole30 you eat the ice cream. During your Whole30 you ate the popsicle every other night. You called it a snack but there's nothing about that item that is going to do anything for actual hunger if that was what the problem was. I'm just putting it out there..........you might want to examine how you were using that frozen fruit. If it was a sweet treat or a reward to wrap up the day, then there's more of a connection there than you might be aware of.  

If you are legit hungry between meals or before bed (as in, could eat bland steamed brocoli and white fish), have protein and fat or protein and veggie. We do not recommend fruit on its own.

[Clementine123]

Thanks for the advice! 

[Clementine123]

Anyone else have any input or advice? 

[MeadowLily]

Oooo my darlin' Clementine, you do have a sense of humor.I just reread your post.

You've been at the same weight for 7 years. You've given up everything but the meds. You could ask your doctor but as you know every med has side effects. I'm not sure what you meant about the 'no meds part of Whole 30'. Doctor's orders/meds 'trump' Whole 30. When I read about the no medications part of Whole30, I thought, interesting.

Hormone healing. Have you been tested for PCOS and HA? Hypothalamic Amenorrhea and PCOS at the same time can cause these problems. Check out the link below. Maybe something in there rings a bell or will give you more to discuss with your doctor.

http://paleoforwomen.com/hormonal-acne-where-its-coming-from-and-what-to-do-about-it/#

[Clementine123]

Thanks @medowlily for the link. I appreciate it!