Whole 30 to Whole 60 - weight gain :(

[bronwyn_q]

A week ago I finished my first Whole 30 and enjoyed it so much I've decided to go for another 30 days.  I was about 80% there in my eating and lifestyle and figured why not go all the way and try it for 30 days?

 

Some background story:

My main motivation was to kick the sugar dragon that had every so slowly made its way back into my life after giving it up a year and half ago and to move from my 6-8 month weight plateau.  (I lost 33kg 72ilbs over the last year but I'm still obese at 94kg/207ilbs and need to lose another 13kg / 28ilbs  to get into my 'normal' weight range for my height)

 

So I stayed away from the scales for 30 days and watched all the other things, how my clothes fit, my fitness, my mental and emotional state, my health.  Everything was/is feeling fantastic.  But I'm not going to lie, at this moment, i can't move away from how i feel,   so very disappointed that I've put on around 3kgs / 6lbs.   Last week I was convinced I needed to get a size smaller pants and was surprised at the weight gain.  Talked myself into thinking it was muscle gain from doing pump classes 2 days a week, but I suddenly can't cross my legs today, not comfortably.  That's what tipped me over.

 

I know I'm focusing on the smallest (negative) detail, but I tried really really hard for 30 days without 1 slip up (and yes i've read the articles on the whole9 blog about what i might have done wrong, but I'm not feeling like any of it applies) and I just really wanted to see the scale move.  

 

I'm into my second week of whole 60 and suddenly I'm asking myself what's the point of being this strict when it didn't work?  I'm also hormonal and emotional (I'm very aware that I'm letting this cloud my thoughts) but I also wanted to get some feedback on my diet from others.

 

Maybe I'm doing something wrong.  Maybe my portions sizes are big (although I followed the meal plan very well), maybe my third serving of fruit a few days a week was too much, maybe i'm having too many eggs or dates.  I've got a lot of questions and self doubt at this stage.

 

average day's menu:

Breakfast - 3 eggs fried in ghee with 1 cup of sweet potato veggie hash. 1 cup of kombucha.

Lunch - Poached chicken salad with half avo, drizzle of olive oil, 4 olives, lots of greens and salad veggies.

Afternoon snack around 3pm - apple with nut butter

Pre workout snack at 5pm - 3 hard boiled eggs

Post workout snack at 7:30-8 - small sausage

Dinner - pan fried salmon with plate full of veggies

half and hour after dinner - fruit serving

 

I drink 2-3 litres of water/herbal tea a day.

 

I've learnt to recognize when I get full and be content.  That kicked in finally around week 2 or 3.  Was very enlightening for someone that never had that.

 

I'm exercising 3-4 times a week for 1hr and 2hrs on one of those days.

 

Although tonight all i wanted to do was hoe into a pizza (with my boyfriend talking me out of it) I'm going to continue doing the whole 30 for another month, but I'd really apprieate any feedback anyone has that i might be doing wrong.

 

Thank you for reading  xx

[missmary]

First, I'm sorry for your disappointment, and happy for your successes. I do think you might have gained a little muscle, especially if your pants are loose. That's a great sign.

 

What kind of workouts are you doing? Depending on that, you may be fueling a bit too much: three eggs is a lot. My pre-workout snack is one egg, and I only need it if I'm working out first thing in the morning (for afternoon workouts, only do the pre-workout snack if required for performance).

 

Your meals look good, but I also see a lot of snacking. If you can skip the apple with nut butter in the morning and the fruit in the evening, that would be good (if you can't skip them without being hungry, add more to your meals. It is better for hormones if you can give your body a longer break in-between meals to digest).

 

AND, try to see the big picture. 6lbs isn't really a lot and if you are hormonal it could be related to your cycle or bloat or some other factor that is temporary. What matters most is your health and if you are healthy I believe your weight trend over time will be where it needs to be.

[Tina R]

You might want to check out this post from everyday paleo, scale addict http://everydaypaleo.com/?s=Scale+addict.

[Hutlifr]

"I've learnt to recognize when I get full and be content. That kicked in finally around week 2 or 3. Was very enlightening for someone that never had that."

This is in my opinion the key... I am on day 20 and just now have discovered full vs. not full feeling. So maybe you have been eating more the first two or three weeks, and extending your whole 30 will do the magic. I definitely will extend my whole 30, because I feel that I ought to be further along when it comes to how my digestion is working. I am going thru menopause, and my body feels and acts so different from what it used to...

Don't give up because the scale tells you that you have not succeeded. Given your struggle with what the scale says, I just decided not to weigh myself at the end of 30 days. I feel great, I am down one size, I sleep great, have so much energy, am in a great mood, so how is the scale going to measure that? I have taken body measurements, and that's what my measuring tool will be.

[Carlaccini]

Hi There,

 

It really, really sounds like you gained some muscle along the way.  That's a good thing.  Especially if your pants are fitting looser and you think you need to go down a size.  Focus on this.  Please.

 

This is the main reasons why scales/BMI are not your friend.  They give you a number.  This is all it gives you.  It cannot give you how healthy you are, it cannot tell you how much muscle you have, it does not take your bone structure into account, it does not give you your body fat percentage.  It just gives you your weight.  That's it.

 

I lost 35lbs in 9 months initially during and after my first whole 30 (Aug 2012).  But for the last year and a half I have not budged. And yet my clothes continue to fit better and my muscle definition is much better.  People continue to comment on weight loss when technically there hasn't been any.  And trust me according to my BMI I could stand to lose more weight.  But my hormones seem to be happy at this point and my health is good.  So this is what I focus on.

 

So focus on the changes that you see physically, not some number on a scale.

[LadyM]

Here's what I know slows my weight loss and doesn't necessarily make me healthier: snacking or other food outside three template meals (I found I never worked out hard enough to require the pre and post meals), fruit, nut butters, and kombucha. You could try a week without those things and see how you feel. Or, you could ride it out, especially since you're hormonal, and see how you feel in a week without changing anything.

We're all different, and while for some people fat just melts off them with W30, for others of us we need to keep tweaking and in the meantime focus on the positive benefits beyond fat loss.

[bronwyn_q]

Thank you sooooo much everyone for your feedback.

I totally appreciate it.

 

I made a typo in my meal plan - it was meant to be 2 eggs before the gym.

 

The gym work I do do though is 1 hour of a pump class (all over body with weights) and 30 min cardio session.  I usually burn about 800 to 1000 cals (not that i count cals, even in exercise, but it's interesting to compare day to day).

 

I'm eating my fruit as an afternoon snack because I don't know when else to fit it in.  I'm full at b'fast and lunch and dinner but I also want my 2 servings of fruit a day.  I love my fruit    So I'm not sure when else to have it.  Any ideas?

 

I'm trying to not focus solely (or at all!) on the scales and focus more on the good stuff that's happened to me over the last 30 days so the next few weeks of my second Whole 30 will be a positive thing.

 

Thanks again

[stevejohnston]

Hey Bronwyn,

 

I think it may be simply that you are eating too much. 

 

I'm 6 foot 3 inch fairly active bloke, and started my first whole30 at the end of May this year, weighing in at 107kg/235lbs. For the last six weeks I'm actually eating less than you, and I'm not hungry or having to deal with between meal cravings anymore, and I'm not forcing myself to eat less, its just happening by itself. In terms of exercise I play football/soccer twice a week for an hour each time and usually cycle to work and back once a week, a round trip of 25 miles. For me, a typical day's food looks like this:

 

Breakfast: Spinach omelette made with two eggs, and a pear, or some cherries or a big portion of watermelon.

Lunch: Maybe some a full portion of leftover stew or chili from the night before, or, one of my favourites at the moment, a piece of smoked trout, a whole avocado with olive oil and one hard boiled egg. I also have a couple of portions of fruit, which is often a banana and some berries, and maybe a couple of dates.

Supper: A portion of salmon grilled with a salsa or a simply with salt and pepper, some spicy courgettes or egg plant and a portion of green beans.

 

I'm not snacking between meals, and its not an effort not to.

 

On the days I do my sport or cycling I sometimes have a post workout bit of protein, say an egg, as ISWF suggests, or maybe a pre game banana, but never both, and often neither.

 

After the first three weeks the conditioned cravings and hunger pangs had largely passed between meals, this all started happening of its own accord. It was a bit of hard work in the first weeks, but I kept reminding myself to trust my hormones to pick up the slack and release some stored sugar into my bloodstream. I just took a bit of patience. 

 

I do appreciate that you are dealing with a longer term effort than I am - my target weight is 85kg/187lbs, I'm at 95.2kg/209lbs now (losing 2kg per week on average)  - so I will have lost 22kgs in the end, and you have already lost a lot more than that, so you should be very proud! 

 

I eat my fruit at the end of each meal, so if you are too full to eat yours then, pull back on the savoury stuff, so that you do have room. The snacking between meals will be reducing your body's attempt to metabolise your fat, as you are providing the sugar through food. I'm sure this will be slowing things down.

 

For the record, I'm feeling so great, I fully expect to eat this way for the foreseeable future!

 

Hope that helps.

[missmary]

I eat my fruit at the end of each meal, so if you are too full to eat yours then, pull back on the savoury stuff, so that you do have room. 

 

nope. don't do that. if you are too full to eat fruit at the end of the meal, skip the fruit. The savoury stuff is the important bit.

[stevejohnston]

nope. don't do that. if you are too full to eat fruit at the end of the meal, skip the fruit. The savoury stuff is the important bit.

 

I find that advice a bit confusing, missmary. We're not advised in ISWF to eat our fill of savoury stuff and only eat fruit if we are not full, or still hungry. Fruit is part of our meal planning.

[missmary]

I find that advice a bit confusing, missmary. We're not advised in ISWF to eat our fill of savoury stuff and only eat fruit if we are not full, or still hungry. Fruit is part of our meal planning.

 

 Have you looked at the meal template Steve? While protein, vegetables and fat are a required piece of the template, fruit is an "occasional addition" I think that is pretty consistent with my suggestion above. Here's the template: http://whole30.com/downloads/whole30-meal-planning.pdf

[stevejohnston]

Thanks for that missmary, no I hadn't looked at that document, but from the book, which clearly I didn't read quite right. So I've eaten a bit too much fruit for my whole 60, but hey ho, every other benefit has come my way!

[tinman57]

Usually when I was younger and feeling hormonal I was also retaining water.  Just stating the obvious.