Loulabelle

Bloody hell! You look flipping amazing! Positively glowing 

The most I ever lost when I started doing the Whole30 was 2 pounds. I kept going and lost 2 pounds every month for 15 months in a row until I was down 30 pounds. This meant I shifted from body fat of something around 25 percent down to 9 percent. Then, without making any changes, I stopped losing weight at 184 pounds. I've been roughly 184 pounds for going on 5 years now. 
 
I am worried about you. Being disappointed with losing 12 pounds suggests you will attempt to make changes in your approach in an effort to lose more. Doing so would almost certainly disrupt your hormonal rhythms, erode your health, and set you up for gaining weight. Slow weight loss works. Fast weight loss is a profit center for the diet business because it is a roller coaster and the participants get to do it over and over again because short-term processes can't sustain long-term results. Be smart and settle into this life-style change for the long term.

This is the 1st step to me committing to Whole30 so once i hit the post button i'm doing it!

 

I have had digestion problems for as long as I can remember. The main symptoms are abdominal pains but also include skin rashes / hives, headaches, diarrhoea, brain fog and severe fatigue among other things.

 

Over the last few years I have had many visits to my GP and they carried out various tests to rule out serious conditions. The last test I had was an upper endoscopy which showed inflammation in my duodenum and oesophagus and the doctor advised that the treatment was to take lansoprazole which I had already been taking for 2 years.

 

This frustrated me as I know that this wasn't helping and if anything was causing more problems with food allergies/sensitivities.

 

It was at this point that I decided to take matters into my own hands and started to research it for myself via books, blogs, forums, podcasts etc. and discovered that many people had the exact same experience and resolved it naturally through diet, lifestyle changes and natural supplements.

 

I started to notice that many of my symptoms were brought on by what I was eating, particularly dairy and gluten so cut both out and felt much better but still not right and was still getting skin rashes and other symptoms. My doctor was reluctant to carry out allergy tests and said that tests are inaccurate and an exclusion diet was the way to go.

 

I then purchased a food intolerance test from Amazon as I was unable to pinpoint the exact cause. The test advised that I had problems with cows milk, maize (corn), hazelnuts, spinach, salmon, rabbit! and peas. I wasn't surprised about cows milk as noticed symptoms after eating cheese but corn was a surprise to me as I thought wheat would be the main problem. With this new found knowledge I started to monitor how I felt after eating corn and sure enough it was bringing on headaches / irritability along with IBS symptoms. After some research I realised how hard it would be to avoid corn as it seems to be in pretty much anything that comes in a packet.

 

At this point I discovered the Paleo diet and then read about the Bullet proof diet and then Whole30 and realised that I could probably resolve my symptoms through diet and have realised that a few positive changes weren't enough and a more radical approach was required.

 

So here goes, I'm fully motivated to starting my Whole 30 which I hope will relieve my symptoms, help me make better choices about what I eat long term and hopefully prevent further visits to my GP!

 

Africa do a lot of really interesting studies that don't get funded in countries like America, especially on things like infant mortality. Peer reviewed science is science, no matter where it's done.
 
For people really trying to avoid particular GMOs, many of these are banned in Europe and countries outside the USA. Importing from these may get you a differently sourced product (depends on labelling & import laws).

An important thing to remember is that there is no failure with Whole30. Ever. Even if you only last 1 day that is 1 day of nourishing your body and 1 day of discovery and paying attention to your body and learning about the process. You can keep on starting again until you make it to 30 days. If you have to do what Kathryn suggests and start out by lowering your consumption of sugar and other foods first that is fine too, we can do baby steps until you get there. 

An important thing to remember is that there is no failure with Whole30. Ever. Even if you only last 1 day that is 1 day of nourishing your body and 1 day of discovery and paying attention to your body and learning about the process. You can keep on starting again until you make it to 30 days. If you have to do what Kathryn suggests and start out by lowering your consumption of sugar and other foods first that is fine too, we can do baby steps until you get there. 

An important thing to remember is that there is no failure with Whole30. Ever. Even if you only last 1 day that is 1 day of nourishing your body and 1 day of discovery and paying attention to your body and learning about the process. You can keep on starting again until you make it to 30 days. If you have to do what Kathryn suggests and start out by lowering your consumption of sugar and other foods first that is fine too, we can do baby steps until you get there. 

Success! I began my first Whole30 on November 12, 2015. I weighed 204 pounds, at 23 years old, at 5’6”. And my weight was climbing. I wasn’t active, eating poorly, and felt awful. I used to actually think there was something wrong with me, where I must be sick, because I would have unexplainable headaches and I would walk around feeling fuzzy and in a daze. I would often feel dizzy and exhausted for no reason whatsoever. I had yo-yo dieted and struggled with my weight for my adolescent and young adult life. I had a two year period of bulimia where I dropped a significant amount of weight, however I quickly gained all of that back again, and more. Any diet I ever tried left me feeling deprived and starved where I would just crave a tub of ice cream or anything deep-fried.
 
I found the Whole30 by accident. I went into Chapters looking for self-help books or motivational stories as I found myself tumbling into depression and uncontrollable stress. I had been diagnosed with extreme anxiety and moderate depression, and I was scared. As I scanned through the bookshelves looking for anything that wasn’t the “30lbs in 30 days!” “15lbs in only 15 minutes!”, a young woman approached me and changed my life. She recommended the Whole30 book, she had tried it for the recipes as she had dietary restraints, and recommended it as a “lifestyle” book, not a quick fix.
 
And so began my journey. On Day 1 I weighed myself, did full body measurements, and then hid my scale under a box in my spare bedroom. Goodbye scale!! I was ready to see what good food could do for my life, not just my gravity measurement.
 
Now, honestly, my day 2 hangover was so bad I was 4 hours late for work. For the first week, it took everything in me to have the energy to make the Whole30 compliant meal plan I had laid out for myself. Then it happened. Around day 10 or 11, my Tiger’s Blood began to course through my veins. I had energy, I was enthusiastic, my stomach felt slimmer, and I saw the light.
 
By the time day 24, 25, 26 rolled around I no longer had to think about it. I was grabbing the right foods, feeling good about it, and passing by those office donuts like they were dirt on the floor. I lost track of my days because I was just soaring through.
 
Now it’s Day 31. Time for the scale. I was so scared to get on it because I was worried if it wasn’t big, I’d be discouraged. Then I reminded myself that this was about the other positives. The big changes. The amazingness.
Over the course of the Whole30, my non-scale victories included:
My skin cleared up. I used to constantly break out around my chin and forehead. I’ve had one pimple in 30 days. I slept better. I used to take over an hour to fall asleep, I would toss and turn, and wake up exhausted. Now I’m out in under 15 minutes, I sleep peacefully, and I wake up feeling energized. My nails are stronger. I could never grow out my nails before, they would always crack and tear. They are now healthier than ever. I stopped getting headaches. I used to get mini-migraines at least once or twice a week, and I pretty much lived with a perma-headache. I’d pop ibuprofen like it was going out of style. I took ibuprofen once in the entire 30 days for a cramped muscle. My 4pm sugar crash is gone. I used to hit 4-5pm at work and need food, and would have no energy left for the day. Now my energy is consistent throughout the entire day and I never crave in-between sugary snacks. My hormones leveled out. Before Whole30 I had issues with not having a normal ‘cycle’ (ladies), and now I’m feeling healthy and balanced again. My clothes fit better. I'm not a picky person when it comes to what size clothes I have to buy, what matters is how they fit. I'm still buying a size large, but now I have a waist and it looks good. Now that I reminded myself of the life changing positives that have nothing to do with numbers, I do have to mention them. With full body measurements, I lost just over 25 inches. 5 inches from my waist! I feel like a new person.
 
And of course, the scale. At this point I decided I didn’t care, as long as I wasn’t up I knew I was in the right direction. But today, the scale and I were friends. I lost 16 pounds and now weigh 188lbs.
 
The Whole30 was my gift to myself. I feel fantastic, I never felt hungry or deprived, I learned how to make new, delicious recipes, and I feel like I have control over myself again. I plan to continue on with the Whole30 being my guideline for daily eating. I know there will be Christmas parties, vacations, and other excuses, and maybe I will indulge from time to time. But I want my lifestyle to be the same as it was, and to continue to make good choices for myself.
 
The Whole30 rocks, and I’m going to make sure everyone knows about it!

There is nothing ethical about eating corn, soybeans, or wheat. The monoculture approach to raising these crops destroys the environment and wastes the resources of the earth at a rapid rate. Vegetarians don't seem to have much to say about factory farming of plant food, but they have a lot to say about the factory farming of meat. The reality is that all factory farming is awful. I am sorry you cannot afford properly raised meat and poultry, but it is important to know that the protein our bodies need is raised kindly and spiritually on some farms. I guess this does not help you with your dilemma, but to the extent you are influenced by the one-sided propaganda of vegetarians, I want to offer a counter-balance. 

I'm really interested in this too as my boys eat way too much junk either at their fathers house or they buy it themselves. It drives me nuts the amount of fizzy rinks and sugar they consume. I try to tell them they are storing up problems for later but later is too far in the future for them to comprehend. 

@ladyshanny ...after years of weight loss/gains and posting/questioning in other weight loss forums for same/different reasons - you have been the most helpful, and in the shortest amount of time, too. I always felt like I couldn't trust my hunger radar - I am ALWAYS hungry. The question, if you had a plate of fish & broccoli before you, would you eat it - my answer is always yes. But I'm clearly not filling my plate well enough, requiring snacks between meals, staaaaarving. It's because I need more. I've been afraid that my stomach is stretched, and enlarged, and that to reduce my hunger, I needed to adjust my stomach size, by slowly decreasing the amount of food/calories I intake. Leaving me forever starving.
I am going to throw every one of my researched preconceived notions and beliefs to the wayside, and simply trust and believe.
Thank you.

Things are still going fantastically! Since my last update I spent almost 3 weeks travelling around South Africa where it was surprisingly easy to stay compliant. We Braai'd mostly so lots of delicious meat and veggies cooked over wood fires. When we stayed in catered places I did have to resort to a pile of bacon & avocado for breakfast a couple of times but the bacon there is very thick & meaty therefore could count as protein. Biltong, which is sort of similar to beef jerky but much better, was a god send for the long drives we had to do so I never went hungry. 
 
I still feel wonderful eating the majority of my meals W30 style, my skin is great, my mood is fantastic despite a couple very stressful events & I'm still losing weight. I'm now the lightest I have been in 15 years! I don't obsess about what I weight though as it does fluctuate up and down a little but my belly is again flat and my clothes are all too big. I jump on the scale occasionally out of interest more than anything and also as a bit of an experiment in fluctuation, it really does yo-yo up and down depending on time of day, month or whatever. The obsession that we have with the number in that little window is such an evil thing, why should we allow that to determine how we feel about ourselves? We are all so much more than that. 

OK now I have a real problem. I got my winter clothes up from the cellar and all my dresses that I love to wear are way too big for me! Since my last update I have dropped more weight and at least another 4cm off my waist; my UK size 12 clothes no longer fit me. I'm going to have to look at getting a lot of my clothes taken in 
 
This week I have met up with people I have not seen in years and the compliments I received on how good I look, not just physically but mentally were rather flattering to my ego  . Everyone said separately how happy & content I look and those were the best compliments of all! I put that down to the food I eat making me feel so damn good. 

It's been another couple of months so time for an other update. I'm still eating W30 style nearly every meal, I don't really off road too much and when I do I don't feel guilty about it as I make a concious decision for everything that I eat. I do drink wine and or a couple of gins every weekend which I really enjoy. My energy levels are good and I can head out at lunchtime for a 30k bike ride and feel great afterwards. Afternoon slumps are really a thing of the past; my energy levels tend to be very consistent throughout the day. The only time I have problems is if I don't eat a proper breakfast! I cannot stress enough to any new people just how important this is, if breakfast is not good that is when my energy levels go screwy and I become ravenously hungry in the afternoon. 
 
My skin is still doing fantastically, my eczema has little flare ups occasionally but nothing major. I'm still losing weight too, I jumped on the scale this morning to find I am at my lightest in many years but I don't really care about that as my clothes are fitting me wonderfully and I am buying some things in smaller sizes now. I never have to wear Spanx any-more :-) This slow and steady weight loss has been incredibly satisfying after the initial shock of gaining 2kg wore off and the reality of NSV's seeped into my conciousness. It feels like it is a proper, real & most importantly permanent change to where my body would like to be rather then where I wish it to be. So for all of you who are disappointed at not losing lots of weight in 30 days I can only recommend to be like Dory and just keep swimming, positivity and treating yourself to great nourishing food wins in the end. 

It's now 2 months since I did my whole30 so I thought I'd give a wee update on how I'm doing. The 2kg's I put on during my W30 have gone along with another 2 on top of that (I think, I don't actually weigh myself so much). I've also shrunk more, my clothes fit so much better and I can get into things I couldn't back in January. Food wise I stick pretty much to the meal templates and this way of eating, it really does suit me. I do ride my own bike by having the odd off-plan thing, I just enjoyed some dark chocolate for the first time in months. Mostly though I am slowly introducing things banned from the normal food list for AIP to see what happens with them. 
 
I did have some allergy testing done and found out I am allergic to apples, bananas, eggs and a-amylase enzyme which is found in grains so no more of any of them for me. I'm going to miss bananas as I really enjoy them and eggs for the quick easy protein.
 
I found that over the 3 months since I started this my moods are much more even, I don't tend to get bouts of anxiety any more and I'm more even tempered not that I was very bad tempered before.  The couple of days I did eat bread that all changed, I really didn't like the person I became after eating wheat, totally lethargic and apathetic. Even if I could eat grains I would now choose not to. I love, love, love that I no longer have afternoon slumps, they have never come back.
 
My eczema, which was my main reason for starting this, is so much better. I still get little bits but nothing like what it was before. I can't tell you how happy I am about this. 

A question for you as I don't know the answer (not meant to antagonise I really am curious about this). What is more important to successful IVF a healthy eating, sleeping well, well nourished, energised, non-sugar craving, losing weight and recomposing her body at a steady and sustainable rate women or one who has starved her body into achieving a weight goal that discounts all other factors in her life?

Loulabelle, I'm sure you're right.  However, all the studies show that women who are within a certain BMI have drastically higher success rates. The moment you get to 30 BMI, the rates plummet (according to my specialist).  Now, I think this is a chicken-or-the-egg problem. Women who have higher BMI's are much more likely to be that way because they have PCOS - which makes it very difficult to lose weight on the conventional american diet. And it also inhibits ovulation.  Now sometimes, symptoms get better for PCOS women when they lose weight, but what is the root cause?   And why do success rates drop at 30 BMI - is it because those women have ovulation issues or because they are heavier? 
 
Either way, I want to give myself the best possible chance.  I am sticking with this because I truly believe it is the right path - the healthiest path, and that even if the weight doesn't just drop from my body, it's probably still giving me huge improvements! And hopefully over time, it will change the number on the scale, even if that happens slowly. 
 
And, I just read your story Loulabelle - totally completely inspiring.  

It's been another couple of months so time for an other update. I'm still eating W30 style nearly every meal, I don't really off road too much and when I do I don't feel guilty about it as I make a concious decision for everything that I eat. I do drink wine and or a couple of gins every weekend which I really enjoy. My energy levels are good and I can head out at lunchtime for a 30k bike ride and feel great afterwards. Afternoon slumps are really a thing of the past; my energy levels tend to be very consistent throughout the day. The only time I have problems is if I don't eat a proper breakfast! I cannot stress enough to any new people just how important this is, if breakfast is not good that is when my energy levels go screwy and I become ravenously hungry in the afternoon. 
 
My skin is still doing fantastically, my eczema has little flare ups occasionally but nothing major. I'm still losing weight too, I jumped on the scale this morning to find I am at my lightest in many years but I don't really care about that as my clothes are fitting me wonderfully and I am buying some things in smaller sizes now. I never have to wear Spanx any-more :-) This slow and steady weight loss has been incredibly satisfying after the initial shock of gaining 2kg wore off and the reality of NSV's seeped into my conciousness. It feels like it is a proper, real & most importantly permanent change to where my body would like to be rather then where I wish it to be. So for all of you who are disappointed at not losing lots of weight in 30 days I can only recommend to be like Dory and just keep swimming, positivity and treating yourself to great nourishing food wins in the end. 

It's now 2 months since I did my whole30 so I thought I'd give a wee update on how I'm doing. The 2kg's I put on during my W30 have gone along with another 2 on top of that (I think, I don't actually weigh myself so much). I've also shrunk more, my clothes fit so much better and I can get into things I couldn't back in January. Food wise I stick pretty much to the meal templates and this way of eating, it really does suit me. I do ride my own bike by having the odd off-plan thing, I just enjoyed some dark chocolate for the first time in months. Mostly though I am slowly introducing things banned from the normal food list for AIP to see what happens with them. 
 
I did have some allergy testing done and found out I am allergic to apples, bananas, eggs and a-amylase enzyme which is found in grains so no more of any of them for me. I'm going to miss bananas as I really enjoy them and eggs for the quick easy protein.
 
I found that over the 3 months since I started this my moods are much more even, I don't tend to get bouts of anxiety any more and I'm more even tempered not that I was very bad tempered before.  The couple of days I did eat bread that all changed, I really didn't like the person I became after eating wheat, totally lethargic and apathetic. Even if I could eat grains I would now choose not to. I love, love, love that I no longer have afternoon slumps, they have never come back.
 
My eczema, which was my main reason for starting this, is so much better. I still get little bits but nothing like what it was before. I can't tell you how happy I am about this. 

Yesterday was day 30 for me on my first Whole30. I woke up today and so far have still been in Whole30 compliance. It is time to reintroduce some food groups and I am still deciding on the order I do that but that is another topic. For now, I want to discuss my Whole30 experience. But first, a little background. I am a 45 year old male, 5"7" (on a good day) and started the program at about 300 lbs.
 
Things I learned from the process in no particular order:
 
1) I believe I have problems with nightshades that include upsetting my bowels and possibly inflammation. This is disappointing because I love tomoatoes, tomato sauce, ketchup etc...I found this out the last week of the program so some more experimentation is needed.
 
2) Once you get accustomed to not eating sugar or things that turn to sugar veggies taste so much better!
 
3)I get less ear wax build up when eating Whole30 style. LOL
 
4)That home made Mayo really does rock!
 
5)All these years I thought I had gotten lazy in certain aspects of life and thought my will power had decreased. The truth is now obvious. When you are not eating clean, you flat out do not have energy. Also, the processed foods have so many addicting things that cause physical addiction yet virtually zero real nourishment for your body. I found myself gladly doing household chores and doing extra things for my job that I never did before.
 
6)You can season anything to taste good with natural spices and such.
 
7)Food really is fuel. It is not for pleasure, even though it can bring pleasure. I always stuck to the "Shopping List" and ate compliant foods, but on days where I did not eat enough or in the right balance I was definitely fatigued and felt run down even late into the program.
 
8)I am actually a pretty decent cook and have potential to keep getting better at cooking!
 
Now let's discuss my victories:
 
On the scale I dropped 25 lbs in 30 days. I went from just under 300 lbs. to just under 275 lbs. Anything under 15 would have been a disappointment for me. I was thinking I had probably hit the 20 mark but when I stepped on the scale today and saw it was 25 I was pretty pumped up!
 
Non scale victories:
 
Hardly any headaches for the past 30 days compared to every other day headaches before! The couple that I experienced during the program were most likely to my neck being out of sorts.
 
Less pain in my lower back and knees (partially due to weight loss but mainly due to clean eating and eliminating the processed stuff).
 
Acid Reflux went from SEVERE to moderate. It is probably still a little worse than moderate actually, but I have noticed improvement.
 
Skin is a little clearer
 
More energy to live life and accomplish things
 
I did grow an addiction during this process- Stir Fried Veggies! That is a good addiction for a change!
 
New outlook on life. My weight does not seem so hopeless anymore and I am starting to believe I can get back down under 200 lbs.
 
 
I hope this inspires anyone reading this. Particularly if you were brought to this website or forum and were just looking for some motivation and some real, actual results. I must say that the only thing that is "hard" about this plan after the first couple of days, for me at least, was the fact that you have to prepare three meals a day. That is right, you have to cook and clean three times a day. This may be a shock to some like it was to me. My wife and son were not on the plan so I cooked for the first time since college and I did it three times a day. It seemed like a real hassle at first but after about a week the energy started kicking in and that made it much easier and all the worthwhile! I did it and you can do it too!
 
 

Things are still going fantastically! Since my last update I spent almost 3 weeks travelling around South Africa where it was surprisingly easy to stay compliant. We Braai'd mostly so lots of delicious meat and veggies cooked over wood fires. When we stayed in catered places I did have to resort to a pile of bacon & avocado for breakfast a couple of times but the bacon there is very thick & meaty therefore could count as protein. Biltong, which is sort of similar to beef jerky but much better, was a god send for the long drives we had to do so I never went hungry. 
 
I still feel wonderful eating the majority of my meals W30 style, my skin is great, my mood is fantastic despite a couple very stressful events & I'm still losing weight. I'm now the lightest I have been in 15 years! I don't obsess about what I weight though as it does fluctuate up and down a little but my belly is again flat and my clothes are all too big. I jump on the scale occasionally out of interest more than anything and also as a bit of an experiment in fluctuation, it really does yo-yo up and down depending on time of day, month or whatever. The obsession that we have with the number in that little window is such an evil thing, why should we allow that to determine how we feel about ourselves? We are all so much more than that. 

OK now I have a real problem. I got my winter clothes up from the cellar and all my dresses that I love to wear are way too big for me! Since my last update I have dropped more weight and at least another 4cm off my waist; my UK size 12 clothes no longer fit me. I'm going to have to look at getting a lot of my clothes taken in 
 
This week I have met up with people I have not seen in years and the compliments I received on how good I look, not just physically but mentally were rather flattering to my ego  . Everyone said separately how happy & content I look and those were the best compliments of all! I put that down to the food I eat making me feel so damn good. 

Hi Loulabelle,
 
Thanks so much for continuing to post your results. I am on day 6 today and not feeling particularly enthusiastic so reading through this thread has inspired me enormously!

Things are still going fantastically! Since my last update I spent almost 3 weeks travelling around South Africa where it was surprisingly easy to stay compliant. We Braai'd mostly so lots of delicious meat and veggies cooked over wood fires. When we stayed in catered places I did have to resort to a pile of bacon & avocado for breakfast a couple of times but the bacon there is very thick & meaty therefore could count as protein. Biltong, which is sort of similar to beef jerky but much better, was a god send for the long drives we had to do so I never went hungry. 
 
I still feel wonderful eating the majority of my meals W30 style, my skin is great, my mood is fantastic despite a couple very stressful events & I'm still losing weight. I'm now the lightest I have been in 15 years! I don't obsess about what I weight though as it does fluctuate up and down a little but my belly is again flat and my clothes are all too big. I jump on the scale occasionally out of interest more than anything and also as a bit of an experiment in fluctuation, it really does yo-yo up and down depending on time of day, month or whatever. The obsession that we have with the number in that little window is such an evil thing, why should we allow that to determine how we feel about ourselves? We are all so much more than that. 

Things are still going fantastically! Since my last update I spent almost 3 weeks travelling around South Africa where it was surprisingly easy to stay compliant. We Braai'd mostly so lots of delicious meat and veggies cooked over wood fires. When we stayed in catered places I did have to resort to a pile of bacon & avocado for breakfast a couple of times but the bacon there is very thick & meaty therefore could count as protein. Biltong, which is sort of similar to beef jerky but much better, was a god send for the long drives we had to do so I never went hungry. 
 
I still feel wonderful eating the majority of my meals W30 style, my skin is great, my mood is fantastic despite a couple very stressful events & I'm still losing weight. I'm now the lightest I have been in 15 years! I don't obsess about what I weight though as it does fluctuate up and down a little but my belly is again flat and my clothes are all too big. I jump on the scale occasionally out of interest more than anything and also as a bit of an experiment in fluctuation, it really does yo-yo up and down depending on time of day, month or whatever. The obsession that we have with the number in that little window is such an evil thing, why should we allow that to determine how we feel about ourselves? We are all so much more than that.