Day 28 - seeing little to no change

[Cookie429]

Hi all,

 

I'm disappointed.  I have been doing the Whole 30 for 28 days, and the first two weeks were great!  The last two weeks have been harder and the initial positive changes I was feeling seem to have worn off. Here are my goals with the program:

 

1. Improve energy

2. Get rid of acne (I'm 30 and I've had a problem with it since a teenager)

3. Lose 5-10 pounds (I'm a female and I started at 145ish and I'm 5'8-5'9". I was 135 pre-babies.)

4. Improve athletic performance (I like to run 1/2 marathons, but have had slower performance since birthing twins two years ago.)

5. Reduce allergies and chronic over-production of mucous

 

First two weeks of the program seem to have gone swimmingly! I resisted my urge to weigh myself, but I felt like my midsection was slimming up. I felt like my face might have been a little smoother (although this could have just been a positive-thinking placebo effect... not sure). I felt like my daytime hunger went down, and felt less of a need to snack - which seemed like a radical change, as I was a constant grazer! And I was exciting about cooking again!  I loaded up on new recipes and tried new ingredients. It was fun!   I did have two random migraines that first week, which puzzled me, but it was around my time of my period so I thought maybe that was connected.

 

Week three was hard. I started craving sweets, although I resisted them. I did break down and had some dried fruit. I started to want to snack again. I've been getting more sinus-related headaches. Mucous hasn't improved. And I feel like whatever weight I might have lost I've put back on.  I broke down today and stepped on the scale. I was around 143, which might represent a 1-2 pound weight loss, but could equally be attributed to natural weight fluctuation.  And this last week my face has been breaking out really badly with acne.

 

I will say that I've been upping my running mileage, and I haven't gotten injurred, which is an improvement, as I used to get problems with my achilles tendon area when upping mileage. So that is one good thing. Running times are about the same.

 

Energy has improved somewhat, although I'm sluggish in the mornings and I find that I'm resorting to a little coffee (black) now. My energy at night is better. But I've made efforts these last two weeks to get 8 hours of sleep consistently, which could be enough right there to explain improved energy.

 

Cheats:  I haven't consciously cheated, but I do realize a few instances in which I consumed something I shouldn't have. For example, I have been occassionally drinking So Milk coconut milk (not the canned kind, the kind in the box), which I thought was OK, but I recently learned it is not. On two separate meals prepared by my mother-in-law, I realized she used soy sauce to marinate the meat after I ate it. Also, I find that I am eating quite a bit of nuts, which has increased the last two weeks, as I'm hungry for a snack and this is a convenient, portable snack that requires no preparation.  I think I'm eating more nuts than I'm supposed to.

 

Please, any encouragement, tips, suggestions are solicited!! I'm guessing I'll get some tough love, too, which is OK.

 

 

[GFChris]

Unfortunately, if it was So Delicious coconut milk you had, that would merit a restart, as it contains carrageenan.  Do you know what the last day was that you had that milk?  Make the following day your new day 1 and go from there.  If you had the soy sauce after that, extend your reintroduction of soy 30 days, to have 30 consecutive days free of soy.

Snacks should be a mini-meal, including at least a protein and fat.  Nuts are considered a fat only on a Whole30.

Watch the dried fruit, as some are coated in sugar or contain sulfur dioxide.

Re-institute the habits that had you so excited the first two weeks to get you re-motivated again. You can do it!

 

[Tom Denham]

Carrageenan is a powerful irritant to your gut, which stops the healing process that you begin by eliminating irritating foods during a Whole30. 

 

Nuts are high in calories, but relatively poor in providing feelings of satiety, so they could be a big problem. And, nuts provoke skin problems in some folks. You would benefit from eliminating nuts entirely and seeing how your skin does.

 

Whenever you feel hungry between meals, that is a signal that you need to eat more... either more food at meals or an extra meal. It is better to eat 4 meals than it is to snack on nuts or dried fruit.

 

Increasing your mileage calls for an increase in how much you eat. If you don't eat enough, that creates stress that can lead to skin problems and slow weight loss.

 

There are a lot of moving parts here and my guess is that you need to tweak several things to get better results.

[Cookie429]

Thanks for the replies and encouragement.

 

I just drank some of the So-Delicious Coconut Milk three days ago (which was also the day that I found out I ate soy), so looks like I'll pretty much need to start from ground zero. Very disappointing... I feel like I made a huge diet overhaul and it seems like all of that effort is down the dran...

 

I have an upcoming vacation to Puerto Rico next week, and I'll try to remain as compliant as possible on the trip -- but given my food will be prepared mostly by restaurants, I'm doubting 100% compliance is achievable. I think I'll restart Whole 30, sans nuts, upon my return. And no So Delicious Coconut Milk or soy next time! I'll work at improving my snack quality too.

 

Thanks again.