What if it IS about the weight ???

[Bridget]

I know it's not about weight loss,but that is a happy result for many people. I know I am sleeping great, better moods, more energy, am enjoying food,and am healthy.

 

But I am sure that the weight I carry, on a 5'4" frame, is NOT ideal. I see pockets of fat behind my knees that I did not have a year ago. I KNOW I had a pretty darn sedentary winter, and it shows ,in the dimpling here and there that makes me really disappointed in myself. I KNOW that when I strayed too far off the whole9 wagon about 2 months after my first Whole30,it affected my body composition a whole lot. It took several months to jump back on the bandwagon, and I finally did, and returned to restful nights and more stable moods.

 

I decided to weigh myself prior to the Whole30 I am working at now. I had gotten rid of the scale in our bathroom, certain that the great way I fels last August would supercede the need to ever hop on the silly thing again.

 

Then I see the dimples, and the lack of definition in my arms due to the layer of ew on them, and I know I have to get serious. So I get on the scale, and am too disgusted to even write the weight down.

 

This is NOT about being a tiny fashion model- I am very happily married with 6 awesome kids, am 48 years old, and am not looking to be something I am not.

 

But I am not happy with the fat that is covering what I have worked and continue to work for. I lift weights every week, and have a treadmill & stationary bike that I ride a few times a week.

I do not overtrain, get in 3 good meals following the template, including fats.

 

During this Whole30 I have been more attentive to water consumption, and have been seriously keeping mindful of my portions at each meal. In retrospect, I think maybe I have overeaten in the past- all good foods, but possibly too much of them. I am truly hoping that is the reason that I have not lost weight on my challenges previously. I am also committed to sitting for each meal, and not eating while preparing the meals.

I have upped my frequency of workouts, to be sure to get more movement in every day. I want to keep it at a level that is sustainable, and something I will be able to do years from now.

 

I am approaching this positively, and weighing myself was an eye-opener.

It's almost like I need this to be about weight loss at some point- though I do know the downside to that.

I am not sure what else to do in order to continue eating this way, which I truly feel is good for me, but also rid my body of some of this fat, which carries baggage of its own...

 

Any thoughts ?? (or did this even make sense out there ???

Thanks

[GFChris]

So, for you, it is about the weight. Great - you got that out there! 

 

What if at the end of your Whole30, you weigh the same, but you've lost inches? http://everydaypaleo.com/attention-scale-addicts-part-2/ Did you measure yourself at the beginning of your Whole30?

It sounds like weight is the primary motivator for you, yet you feel that eating this way is good for you.  If you could continue to eat this way and lose at least inches, would that work for you?

[Bridget]

GFChris-Yes, I really do not care about the number. I honestly don't . But the fat I can see is what is getting me. I have read the article you linked and have seen the photos-it is incredible. I guess I just want to get rid of all this nasty fat (or at least most of it).

YES-I would like to continue eating this way and lose inches.

I started this Whole30 on Monday- I did not take measurements (couldn't find the tape measure and was so disgusted by the scale- just blew it off) I am in a much better place now, three days later, so I will measure.

Thanks for your thoughts !

[LadyM]

I'm right there with you, Bridget, in just about every way. Though ive had positive effects and am convinced the template is the way to eat, i gained pounds and inches during my w47. I'm back to tracking my food intake to some extent and that has helped me shed some pounds/inches in the past month. I'm much more moderate with my fat intake and I've continued to eliminate fruit, nuts, and coconut. I've also increased workouts. It's still very slow going, and it's hard not to get discouraged when we read about others' dramatic weight loss, but we each have our own journey and unique body.

[Bridget]

Thanks, LadyM. I plan to keep on keepin' on, minding my portions as well as fat, and no mindless eating. It certainly is a different journey for everyone- I just want to stay compliant AND positive !!

Thanks for your comments !

[Jtandi]

I am a strong believer in taking the actions no matter what the motivation. 13 years ago I stopped drinking. I did it to piss off my husband who was still drinking and "the one who had the problem". it took me a long time to realize that my drinking was my own problem, I am a recovering alcoholic with over 13 years sobriety (day at a time) but if I hadn't quit for all the wrong reasons then I wouldn't have quit at all.

 

I did a whole30 because I wanted to lose weight. plain and simple. that was my motivator, and when I started the process I gradually learned more and more about myself, about my body, about the entire process - specifically my relationship with food. I never would've even found this program if it hadn't been for me trying to find a way to lose weight. now that I'm here I continue on for completely different reasons, but I don't think it's wrong to want to lose weight on a whole30 (or inches...really).

 

and I don't think there's anything wrong for talking about it! in fact, my weight loss has been a motivator for some friends to try a whole30. I don't care WHY they do it, I just want them to get the education I've been given through this program and you all!!!

[Moluv]

Also please realize that the dimples you see are not just fat, it is connective tissue- FASCIA- trapped like hard bands running through fat that gives that look. That can trap fluid under the skin and cause a lot of jiggling and lumps, not pretty-trust me I know- but also not necessarily directly correlated with weight or body fat. I want to be thinner with less jiggling but at the end of the day I'm livin in a mombod and must accept a certain amount of jiggling and lumps. Eating well, in the way that you know to be nourishing and moving in ways that you know to be rewarding can help with your body image, removing all possible inflammatory foods (even some w30 foods are inflammatory) and massage therapy and skin brushing can help with the fascia, and then if you want to burn more fat you simply must not have a speck of sugar. No grapes on a salad, no sweet pot, no kombucha. Zero sugar at all can give a shrinking effect mighty fast and is totally jiving with doing a w30. Another way to feel like you lost 10 l a overnight is buy a size up clothes so they fit baggier, it tricks the mind into FEELING smaller instantly and that can facilitate a more rapid positive outcome. Best.

[Jtandi]

here's a great article

 

http://breakingmuscle.com/womens-fitness/the-dirty-little-secret-of-the-female-athlete-cellulite

 

I always wanted to get rid of my cellulite. but I never will. I'm pretty lucky in that it's minimal, but in reality no one really cares!

[nutmegananne]

Bridget, I find myself nodding along with you on your post.  I'm a 46 year old happily married mom with two kids, and I carry too much weight on my body as well.  I don't want to look like a skinny supermodel, I want to be a healthy weight.  So a lot of my whole 30s has been about weight loss for sure (to be fair, I'm also trying to improve an autoimmune thyroid issue).  But in thinking about it, a better way for me to look at it (and something I have to tell myself) is that even though it may be about weight loss, it is really more complicated than that.  It's about changing my relationship to food.  Let's face it, if I had eaten this way all along, I probably would not have ever gotten this overweight.  No, I might not weigh what I weighed in my skinny college years, but I might be more likely to be at healthier weight than I am now.  So I'm plugging along, learning that the way to eat for the long term will be to fill my body with awesomely delicious, whole, unprocessed foods, and to enjoy eating this way...so much better than binge eating and then going on rigid diets that cannot be done long term...

[Karen]

I've done several Whole30s, some where I lost weight, and others were I didn't lose a pound (or inches).  Any chance there's more going on?  

 

A few things that I've pinpointed for me, for you to consider: 

 

- I had a BIA done and it revealed I had 18-25 pounds of EXCESS water.  Not fat, water.  It sure looked like fat, though, and ended up having everything to do with food sensitivities.  I'm so dialed into my body now that when something sneaks in that I'm sensitive to, I bloat up instantly.  It looks like blubber but really it's water retention.  Seriously, I can gain 4 pounds in a day, and if I eliminate the offending food, I drop it within a week.  If I eat it all the time, well, it never goes down and I beat myself up.  Have you done a careful reintroduction, or tested out some foods you regularly eat?  (Or have you been tested?)

- I second the body-brushing.  If extra water is your issue, that can help at least temporarily.  

- Do you have any digestive issues?  If you're not able to digest the food you need, your body is going to hold onto what it has out of fear of starvation.  Have you considered digestive enzymes, probiotics, etc.?

- Have you ever been tested for parasites or had any symptoms?  

- How's your stress level?  

- Do you eat a lot of nuts?  Those are notorious for bloat, which again, can look a lot like fat.

 

I think we're so trained to think that we're a failure if we don't look a certain way, but we fail to realize that our insides may have a lot more to it than our minds/willpower/etc.  None of those may apply to you, but food for thought.  I know it was a huge relief for me to find out (and remedy) why my body was holding onto so much weight, and I'm looking a lot better now as a result!  Here's hoping you can figure things out, too!

[megmac]

Bridget,

 

I feel like I could have written your post.  I did my first W30 about a year ago after coming back from vacation and seeing a picture of myself with what looked like a tire around my middle.  I have done 3 full and 2 half rounds since then, and while I do feel good and my clothes fit somewhat better, I have not reached my weight loss goals.  Sometimes I feel like even having weight loss goals is taboo on this forum!

 

During my second full W30 I lost almost 10 pounds, which left me within 6 lbs of my goal.  Then I joined a boot camp gym and put 6 of those back on.  I gained another 2 during my last W30.  I know that some of this is muscle, but I'm just not losing the fat.  I know how I feel, regardless of what the scale says, and this is NOT all muscle.  I feel "thick".

 

I've been really struggling the last few weeks.  The W30 has been a Godsend for me because I finally stopped diet hopping.  I felt like I had really found what works.  These last few weeks I haven't been so sure, and I've been revisiting some of my old books/sites/thoughts.  It doesn't feel good, but I am also not willing to abandon my goals. 

 

I've spend a good deal of time today reading back through these forums, and even some of my old posts.  Like a few other people have mentioned, my biggest struggle is that I believe that this is the healthiest way to eat, it's just not helping me reach my weight loss goals.  It's not like going back to bread and yogurt is going to help that, so what's next?

 

My final conclusion is that I overeat nuts and have lost all concept of portion control.  I think I really do eat too much fat (I promise-I'm not fat phobic-I've probably REALLY gone too far in the other direction) and have so thoroughly embraced not counting or logging that I'm not being honest with myself about how much I am eating.  I don't have a lot of weight to lose, and I'm not in a hurry.  But I do need to see my weight go in the right direction. 

 

So here's my plan.  I am NOT going to do another Whole30 right now.  I am going to continue staying 98% compliant, and pay attention to the template.  Correct portions is going to be my focus, and we'll see where that takes me. 

 

Rant over.

[megmac]

One more thing...

 

Karen-I'm interested to hear what you found was making you retain water.  Interestingly, I've been feeling that same way this year.  My socks leave marks and my breasts are extremely tender-both signs of water retention for me and have developed over the last year since I started eating this way.  I thought it was salt, but that doesn't seem to be it.

 

Thanks.

[Bridget]

I really appreciate everyone's input ! I am also somewhat comforted with the stories of those who are going thru the same things.

I am staying compliant,but have definitely monitored my portions this week. (not measuring, counting,etc) I am using a smaller plate for my meals, filling it up with good, pretty food that fits the template, and eating more slowly. I am finding that I am full -and know it when I am finished. I haven't been eating while preparing meals or packing lunches, which is big for me, and I have been sitting for all my meals. also a big deal for me.

Megmac- I also felt like I was eating too much fat, and have cut back this week. I also haven't had any nuts in the house for  a few months because I definitely overeat them. I probably eat fruit twice a week at the most. I, too, have revisited several of my old haunts, looking for something, but keep coming back here, where it's real food, filling and delicious, and I truly feel what is best for me. I even have a friend who lost quite a bit of weight recently with a popular protein shake diet set up, and now she sells it. Thank goodness I could never justify (or even have) the money needed to do something so against what I have learned here, but a quick fix sounds so amazing to me right now, and she looks incredible. sigh...

 

Nutmegananne- Hang in there ! I have been running circles in my mind about what to do, but keep landing right back here. I know it is good for me.

 

Hey Karen- Just a thought-

Could coconut milk cause me to retain a lot of water ? I have never eliminated it, and it has been the one consistent thing I have consumed every day since last mid- August when I started my first Whole30 . Boy would I LOVE to find something I could just eliminate that is adding to this !!!

[Karen]

One more thing...

 

Karen-I'm interested to hear what you found was making you retain water.  Interestingly, I've been feeling that same way this year.  My socks leave marks and my breasts are extremely tender-both signs of water retention for me and have developed over the last year since I started eating this way.  I thought it was salt, but that doesn't seem to be it.

 

Thanks.

 

There are actually a lot of things that make me retain water!  I saw a paleo-type dietitian a while back and she suggested my mass consumption of nuts was a huge part of my issue.  Once I stopped eating them so often, I realized she was right.  Later on, my doctor and I determined a mis-treated thyroid disorder, a bad case of leaky gut, and 20 food sensitivities as a result significantly contributed.  I've been tackling them bit by bit and am down 2 pant sizes now, breast tenderness is gone, pitting adema is gone, and I'm feeling a lot more like myself.  But it's taken a lot of work and I'm attacking this with more than just food (1 med, lots of supplements and testing from my functional doc).  Many of the foods on my no-no list are Whole30 compliant, so I'm doing without.  

 

As for coconut milk, it may or may not be your problem, but you won't know until you do some elimination.  Nuts, eggs, and anything that may be Whole30 compliant but on a common list of allergens might be some other things to consider.  Might not be your problem at all, but what if it is?  You'll never know unless you experiment.  

 

Good luck!