This is not the post I had hoped to make...

[Desertcreature]

I've been looking forward for weeks to come to the Whole9 site to document my success after completing my first Whole 30. I signed up for the Whole30 Daily before I began (they were a huge help). And my paleo Meetup group was also very supportive. However, I am writing today because I am just so disappointed in my results.
I started on October 1st. I weighed, measured and photographed myself, then put the scale out of sight. I'd already been about 80/20 Paleo/Primal for the past 8 months, but couldn't completely kick the sugar habit and would sometimes eat bread and pizza. But after starting my Whole30, I never had a day of "carb-flu", and I actually felt the whole thing was pretty easy. I'm a bit of an all-or-nothing person, so this program fit my existing behavior. Previously I never drank soda and since I work from home I don't have a vending machine, cafeteria or co-workers to tempt me. For 30 days I drank 2 liters or more of plain water daily.

Today is Day 31, and I waited till this morning to weigh and measure myself, but right now I just feel like having a good cry.
I stayed faithful to the program, yet I lost just 6 pounds and virtually no inches. Before you mock "just 6 pounds," know that I started at 246 pounds, so 6 pounds is essentially nothing. I never felt like I had more energy and while I thought I was feelig less "puffy" I never felt my clothes getting looser. After reading so many success stories in the beginning, I kept thinking that since I am well over 100 lbs overweight, surely I could easily drop 10 pounds or more considering all I have "given up" - including the sugar-free gum and Crystal Lite I consumed on a several-times-a-day basis.

All along I had planned to have a measured amount of non-paleo treats on day 31 (some good quality chocolate and some ice cream after dinner) and then go right back to the program essentials on Nov. 1st, and just add heavy cream, grass fed butter and fermented dairy. I even thought about doing back to back Whole 30s with a single treat day in-between. I'll still follow the Whole9 general nutrition guidelines (I have no intention to add grains or processed foods - ever) but it will be with a much heavier heart and feeling of near dispair that nothing I do seems to work, even when I actually give something 100% effort. I mean - I gave up heavy cream in my coffee for 30 straight days for crying out loud! I cannot stand black coffee, so every morning I poured in full fat coconut milk (a lousy substitute for heavy cream). I would try and to convince myself to cheat and use my beloved heavy cream ("no-one will know"), but I always reminded myself it was just for 30 days, and that I need to be honest and finish this Whole30 with my head held high. I did, but there was no payoff.

It's now been 8 hours since I weighed myself and the voice in my head that tells me I will never succeed at weight loss and that I will always be fat is getting louder. I feel like I am in danger of that voice being the loudest tomorrow morning.
I cannot bear to read anyone else's success stories today. I don't want to know how you felt "boundless energy" on day 5 or dropped 15 pounds from your 140 pound frame. Sure, I am happy for you, but don't talk to me right now. I just need to make sure I don't go over the edge without the rope to pull myself back up.

[amberino21]

Sorry to hear you didn't get the results you wanted. You mention also not having more energy, which suggests to me like there could be some issues with your food that didn't help you...

Perhaps you could post a few days worth of food and activity?

Depending on your background (health, nutrition etc), you could need more than 30 days for your body to start showing you the results you want. Perhaps you've had other benefits that are hidden with the upset you're feeling because of the lack of weight loss?

[Physibeth]

Tell the voice in your head that is telling you that you will never succeed in weight loss and will always be fat to shut the F&*( up!

 

You did lose weight! You lost 6 lbs which is actually pretty darn good considering you started mostly compliant already it sounds like. The people that drop big lbs are usually coming from a SAD and most of those pounds are from dropped water weight. Whole30 is not supposed to be a weight loss program. It is supposed to be about learning to nourish our bodies and reset our hunger cues and be able to eat to live not live to eat.

 

Has the 30 days produced any changes for you from your previous mostly paleo diet? Are you feeling more free of sugar and other cravings? Were you losing weight before? 

[ShannonM816]

 I don't want to know how you felt "boundless energy" on day 5 or dropped 15 pounds from your 140 pound frame. Sure, I am happy for you, but don't talk to me right now. I just need to make sure I don't go over the edge without the rope to pull myself back up.

 

Sometimes it is annoying to hear all those boundless energy, lost gobs of weight and lots of inches stories. That's not exactly how my W30 worked, either. My starting weight was 298 lbs, and I lost 7 lbs. My clothes are ever so slightly looser but not much, I had some increased energy on some days but nowhere near the boundless energy or tiger blood people talk about, and I ended the 30 days with a real bang -- my seasonal allergies are worse than they've been in years. When I realized this, I was initially a little bitter. Okay, maybe a lot bitter. But then I stopped and thought about it. I did the math, and 7 lbs in 30 days averages out to 1.6 lbs a week, which is not so bad. Not the 15 lbs I would've liked, but still, not bad. I'd had some pain in one shoulder for weeks, never figured out what I'd done to it, but I realized that at some point in my W30, it stopped hurting, so that was good -- but I hadn't even realized it was better until I stopped to really think about what results I had seen, instead of lamenting the ones I didn't. (I know, it sounds cheesy to say focus on the good, not the bad, and it's not really that simple, but it helped me feel a little better about things.) 

 

Anyway, don't listen to that voice that's saying you can't do this. You can, and you will. Just keep going.

[ChickenNoodle]

The voice is a liar, don't listen. You are fabulous....keep at it. Don't give up too soon.

Do another W30 because you can and you are stronger than 99.9% or the people out there who would never dare do what you just did.

You rock!

[Carrots&Blueberries]

There's one success story that might be great for you to read right now. I'll look for it and post a link if I can. It was someone who talked about small changes and long-term persistence. For her, finally getting enough sleep seemed to really make a difference (if I remember it right). But my main takeaway was that even though she hadn't seen dramatic results from her W30 - and I think had similar discouragement to yours when she finished- she intuitively felt it was the right path and has seen really nice results over the long term. And also that she kept having to experiment and fine-tune to see what really worked best for her.

 

I think that we can never quite predict the pace of healing and change in our bodies; there might be a lot going on inside that you just can't see yet.  You might be the one to write in early spring: "Hey everyone, thought you should know that even though I only lost 6 lbs on the W30 and was so discouraged re: weightloss in the fall, something shifted for me in these last few months and I'm finally seeing the results I've been waiting for. I'm so glad I stuck with it!" 

 

(Also, I would agree with everyone above that 6 pounds in a month is nothing to sneeze at, especially for someone who has already been mostly paleo for a while... Your post next fall could easily read: "I was so bummed by my W30 results. But I finally decided that it was still my best bet for good health so I continued with almost full compliance - and it turns out that I kept losing 6 lbs/month. I guess that was just how my body needed to pace things. So now it's a year later and I'm down over 70 pounds!")

[Carrots&Blueberries]

Sorry, can't find it (and I don't want to suggest you dig through all the success stories to find it  We should have a sub-category of success stories: So-so W30 results, but amazing long-term success)

 

Good luck, Desertcreature! And please don't keep beating yourself up!!!!!

[WunderHase]

I'm going to have to leave for work soon, but I just really quickly wanted to respond that like Physibeth said, if you've already been eating a certain kind of diet before, the 6lbs you've lost is more likely from fat and not the water weight a lot of other people are losing. Shows like Biggest Loser and the *first* week or month successes of certain diets when people lose a lot of water weight are completely twisting our concept of what is realistic. 6lbs of body fat in 30 days without feeling hungry is actually a very reasonable expectation. Also, weight loss (or fat loss) is never linear and we can't directly influence it. We can only directly influence what we eat and how active we are. Our bodies will try to adjust accordingly, but that adjustment isn't necessarily going to be in favor of losing fat.

 

There is no way you wouldn't be able to lose the weight you want to lose, so the voice is wrong. "There are no unrealistic goals. Only unrealistic timelines."

[Physibeth]

I wanted to add another thought. You mentioned you didn't see many measurement changes. At your current weight the fat you are losing may very well be around your internal organs and won't have as noticeable a difference on the outside. However this is the most dangerous fat in our bodies! 

 

Just keep pushing forward for your health and your body will follow suite. I started out around 236 lbs 2.5 years ago and struggled trying to lose the weight (again - I had been down to 154) counting calories and exercising and I just kept losing and gaining the same 5-10 lbs. It wasn't until I started really focusing on eating real, whole foods that I started to see change and even then that change was slow. Paleo has helped me continue to see that slow change AND feel a lot better in general. I've also seen more positive body composition changes since going Paleo. I'm down to 180ish lbs now but I can wear a lot of the clothes I wore when I was 165 lbs last. Just keep making healthy choices and let your body heal!

[WunderHase]

Also, even if the changes are slow, they are still changes and will cumulate over time. The next month and year will come and go no matter what we do, so we might as well just try to do something.

 

I spent years thinking that I should lose some weight, but every time I did the calculations of how long it would take to get me where I wanted to be, I got upset and decided to continue as I had before instead. For years. If I would've just started and continued, even at a slower pace, that problem would've been solved ages ago! So much time wasted just because I wanted to see results immediately, not next year.

 

Don't be like me! :-)

[Zoodles]

I agree - stick with it, a year of losing 6lb a month is 72lb! Some people lose weight differently, they stall for a while and then it starts dropping off after about a month - that's usually what happens with me. You have to really stand firm and let your body know you are not giving in and it may as well just let that fat go!! 

[cayenne]

As others have stated, it may take a longer period of time to see results that you want. The first 30 days for me were less than stellar but I knew, at my age(55) that it would need to be longer. I have been overweight for close to 40 years with yo-yo dieting forever. I knew it would take a while. I started in April and have been 99% compliant since with occasional off road for a special "something". I am a big girl but since April, I have lost 22 pounds. Doing the math -22 pounds in 7 months is 3 pounds a month. No big deal monthly-actually pretty damn weak.

However-what I have found, and you can too, is the ability to nourish yourself with real food and get a grip on unhealthy habits that derail your self esteem. After 40 years of "dieting" and knowing in my heart I could not sustain  a "diet" past my goal of whatever weight on the scale-I have found a way of eating and nourishing my body for the long term.

Stay with it, give yourself more time, be patient with your body. What would you tell your best friend if she stated she lost only 6 pounds? Would you say that sucked? Or would you find the good things about the 30 days that she may have learned?

Be your own best friend.......

[stubby]

Desertcreature - You should be proud.  You stayed true and faithful to a challenging program.  I think a lot of us can relate to the voice.  I think all of us want to drown out that voice for you...you did great....you gave yourself a well-deserved, wonderful gift...be patient and kind to yourself....you are amazing.  

 

Also - I think it's great that you state that you are frustrated versus holding it in.

 

You're doing so many things right. 

 

Soak in all the words of wisdom and support in response to your post. Let those thoughts prop you up a little as you are getting over this little hump.

 

I can't wait to hear more about your story.  I can tell there's a lot of good stuff to come!