Success?? I want to continue, and improve!

[Staceyann]

I just finished my Whole30 yesterday!  I had been eating gluten free for two weeks before starting, and avoiding sugar/dessert (I was away from home at the time so couldn't technically start until my return).  I was 100% compliant except for eating pastured bacon from the farmer's market on the first day, before I read the label (cured using sugar).  Also, the one time I ate at a restaurant for dinner, I think there were some bread crumbs in my "pistachio crusted" swordfish.  Lesson learned.  

 

My grocery bill went through the roof and I spent A LOT of time cooking, but it was all worth it! My energy levels are MUCH improved, and I seem to be falling asleep earlier and waking up earlier -- but I have an 11-month-old who sometimes still interrupts my sleep, so I'm not in an entirely sterile environment to test that aspect of it.  My hunger issues are gone, and I can easily skip a meal if necessary.  I have been to several parties during the last month and did not feel one bit of temptation to cheat.  At times I desire dark chocolate, but I don't feel that annoying "crave" feeling, like I MUST have it, which was a huge issue for me before Whole30.  So overall, I feel like I need to conclude I've had huge success.

 

HOWEVER, my main problem is I need to lose weight!  I had two kids within 16 months of each other, and ended up with over 60 pounds to lose.  I lost a little before I started this program, and 8 pounds this first month.  I really was hoping to lose faster than that!  I feel like the effort I'm putting in deserves it, too.    I want to stay with Whole30, but I feel like I should be able to improve my weight loss results based on the success of others I see on these boards.  (I know, I know, everyone is different...but it doesn't make sense! Many people who look to me like they barely had any weight to lose in the first place are losing double what I lost!).  I can't help being bothered by it because it's so important to me.  

 

So here's what my diet looks like:

 

I have coconut cream in my coffee (one large cup) every morning.  Breakfast is usually two eggs cooked in ghee, broccoli rabe and/or mushrooms and/or cauliflower, and homemade sausage made with pastured ground pork.  Lunch is homemade chicken salad in a lettuce wrap with half an avocado, and usually some cherries or two small apricots.  Dinner varies, but always follows the Whole30 guidelines (last night it was cauliflower rice, a beef stew with mushrooms and onions and gravy thickened with arrowroot).  Except on perhaps 2 or 3 days, I have strictly adhered to the two servings of fruit guidelines, and have also eaten only berries, stone fruit, and three bananas the whole month. I must have eaten half a dozen apples with cashew butter, too (those were a major treat).  I even stayed away from sweet potatoes for the most part!  I cooked them three times during the month.  There have been a few spaghetti squashes, but other than that I can't think where I could be picking up carbs.  

 

I went through about half a jar of cashew butter during the month, and half a jar of coconut butter (in coffee or by the spoonful, once with a banana, which was probably SWYPO).  I practice heated vinyasa ("power") yoga 3-4 times per week, and am active caring for my kids (and cooking!).  So what can I do to speed things up?!  Any ideas?

[GFChris]

Congratulations on completing your Whole30!

Your eating plan looks good (I would add more veggies at lunch), as does your exercise.  It's also great to hear that your energy has improved.

 

Snacks should be a mini-meal, including a protein and fat. Maybe that's the only area that could use some adjustment? 

I would caution you on trying to speed things up, and comparing yourself to other folks.  People start this plan from different places, eating patterns, and lifestyles. Losing 8 pounds in 30 days is nothing to sneeze at: that's 2 pounds a week, which is a very healthy, sustainable, pace of loss.  Did you measure yourself before and after?  How many inches did you lose?

You didn't add those 60 pounds in 30 days ... trust the process of eating this way and allow your body to adjust and peel off the excess weight in due time.

 

[Tom Denham]

Eight pounds in a month is a lot. I never lost more than two! However, I lost 2 pounds per month for 15 months in a row. Just keep doing what you are doing and you will improve your health and lose all the weight you need to lose. If you try to speed up weight loss, you will almost certainly degrade your health. 

[lexes42]

Plus it sounds like you have very young kids - which in today's world =  high cortisol stress!  If you stress yourself out trying to be diet perfect and have an unrealistic weight loss goal, you are setting yourself up to throw in the towel altogether and / or tumbling off the wagon - in my opinion.

 

I would recommend ditching the scale and taking measurements - or using a pair of (currently snug) jeans to guide you.  The only thing I would suggest to do differently is

 

add more strength training 

add stress relief (for example, meditation)

 

Heated power yoga is great training with body weight, but you might want to 'mix it up' and confuse your muscles and metabolism a bit.  And it doesn't have quite the same hormonally calming stress relief that some other kum-bye-yah styles might offer.  So if meditation sounds frightening - although i would suggest trying it in short doses) maybe trade two power yogas for two relaxation oriented ones.

 

Just a thought!

[lexes42]

Sorry, one more thought....

 

Why is it 'so important to you' to lose weight quickly?  Were you previously a fitness model or dancer or something that having baby weight messes with your identity?  Is it a huge identity challenge to have two young kids and be in full on 'mommy mode' so that you feel you've lost your 'groove'?  Look into the 'whys' of why it feels absolutely unacceptable to lose weight at a healthy rate.  Life doesn't tend to reward the perfectionists as much as they believe it should.  It just makes them feel bad about themselves that they are human and can't control everything.

 

Losing less -  4 - 6 pounds a month - will STILL get you bikini awesome by next spring - and far more likely to keep it off then if you lost it all by Christmas.  I would look into why it's so important to you to lose pregnancy weight fast.  I would tell myself '10 months on.... so 10 months off'.  Stop reading fashion magazines and testimonials if they make you feel like you aren't the 'winner' at this weight loss thing.

 

 

[Staceyann]

All good ideas, thanks for taking the time to help me out!  I may have to give meditation a try -- this is definitely a stressful time for me with two small children in the house.  And you are probably all right that this is a decent pace for losing weight.  I wish I had taken my measurements because I notice a big difference in how my clothes fit.  However, my pre-baby weight is still so far away that it's obvious no matter how much my body composition improved this month, I still have a LONG way to go!

 

I should have made it more clear -- my youngest is already 11 months old!  I didn't worry about weight loss for the first three months postpartum.  Then, I started to make an effort to lose it using conventional wisdom that had worked for me post-college (the SAD diet: brown rice, whole grains, lowfat dairy, watch the oils, etc.).  However, this time, the weight was BARELY budging, coming off at a glacial pace, which really wasn't making sense to me.  This led me to finally research what could be going on, and ISWF really spoke to me (hormonal issues may be to blame), because I really felt like based on a strict calories in/calories out calculation, I should be losing at least twice as fast as I had been over SEVEN months.

 

I really am not concerned about getting into a bikini.  I just don't want to be overweight.  I want to fit into my pre-baby clothes (size 8), which is not super skinny.  I'm sure at this point the delay in losing weight is legitimately starting to bother my husband, and I worry about it so much that it is really time to take care of the issue for my sanity alone.

 

Just based on ALL of the success stories I've read, it seems like maybe I am eating too many calories, or too much fruit, or perhaps I could otherwise tweak my diet a little to up the rate of weight loss.  For example, often at lunchtime I am not really hungry.  I think I could easily skip that meal and have an early dinner around 4 -- I even inadvertently did this twice during my Whole30, and was fine even at bedtime.  I didn't eat snacks at all during the last 30 days!  No larabars, no dates, no nuts, nothing.  I just wonder what could be going on with me where at this weight, my body doesn't just want desperately to drop the pounds, especially on such a healthy diet!  

 

I guess ultimately, I can deal with this rate of weight loss being it is drastically better than the calorie counting/low fat approach I used for the previous 7 months.  However, if there's a way to improve, I would love to do it!  I will try everything already suggested and see how it goes.  Thanks again!

[lexes42]

I didn't want to mention it before, but since you are so incredibly disciplined (I am not), I think dropping the nut butter except in case of emergency is pretty much the only diet thing left.

 

I couldn't do it, I assure you!

 

Good luck, don't discount the AMAZING work you have done already!  So few people could be as committed as you have been in the circumstances...

[Carlaccini]

Hi There!

 

Congratulations on how far you have come!  I know weight loss is always in a lot of our minds.  But putting stress on yourself to lose weight could be working against you.  You keep on telling yourself I have X to lose, I have X to lose...... this may not be helping you.

 

I am another who lost 8lbs during my first whole 30.  I too felt it was a little slow as well.  But I was happy with it because I felt truly so much better.  In the next 6 months following my first whole 30 I lost an additional 22lbs.  So that's like 4.2lbs a month.  Which is like a pound a week.  I don't know about you but every weight loss plan I have ever been on - a pound a week is pretty good.  In fact it's more than I had ever seen before.

 

Focus on eating when you are hungry, eating good quality food, and relax.  Have fun with your kidos, even though they may stress you out at times.

[Bet]

I lost 8 lbs during my W30, which is incredible for me. I lose weight very slowly since I am hypothyroid. Since I have about 20 more to go, I will be starting another W30 on 9/1. I have just started exercising, just walking on the treadmill for 20-25 minutes a day.

 

The thing I love about W30 is that it's not a diet. It's a new way to eat. Not only do our bodies have to adjust to the new way of eating, but so does our brain.I never felt deprived while on W30. I was rarely hungry (in fact, I had a hard time completing some of the meals). I was never hungry. So right off the bat, that is different than any other 'diet' I've been on. I could live like this for a long time, which means I will lose more weight gradually (I've already lost one more pound in the week after my W30 ended).

 

Just hang in there.

[almeria]

I'm just starting my first W30, so by no means am I an expert, but eight pounds sounds amazing.  I also have two little ones... a 10-month-old and a two-year-old... and can totally relate to the stress that causes.  And with all of the hormonal changes, I've found it incredibly difficult to budge even a couple of pounds.  From what I understand, slow and steady is by far the most effective and sustainable method of weight loss (and 8 pounds in 30 days doesn't actually seem slow to me!).  Good for you.

[raptah]

Glad to hear, BET, that you're starting another W30 on Sept 1!  Me too.

 

STACEYANN-  I really agree with what LEXES42 and others were saying.  And I would say, if you are erring in any direction, it's in the direction of not eating enough.  I had/have a significant amount of weight to lose and ate according to the guidelines but always included a half a sweet potato and a half an avocado almost every day.  I also worked out most days with either strength training or cardio.  I thought of my body as a machine that I had to fuel!  Function over form (for the first time in my life!).  And I did have dramatic results which I know will slow down as I continue.

 

I would NOT suggest you skip meals.  It will further slow down your metabolism I think.  Instead of thinking, "how can I lose as much weight as possible?"  Think of this as "how can I eat as clean and healthy as possible?" and your body WILL respond.  Trust the process.