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severe anxiety on sugar, and metabolic distress


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Okay, so I cheated on my Whole30. It's true. I'm starting again today. Great. Day 1 (I was on Day 27.)

 

From Days ~18-27, I began incorporating small amounts of added sugar from natural sources into my diet, and also allowed my nut dragon to come out. It got ugly quickly, and the biggest thing I notice is that my Cool Hand Luke calm has dissapated into "Holy Shit My Heart Is Thumping For No Reason". It's a great motivation to re-start Whole30, but I'm wondering if anyone has every had this issue as well.

 

Also. I have not lost any weight (I don't think). I struggle with binge eating (and have a history of anorexia), and last year I literally felt my metabolism fire go out - and promptly gained thirty pounds. Even with added sugar, I'm a bit frustrated that no weight has come off - I've cut out alcohol, chocolate, sugar-sweetened beverages - once every day parts of my life. That's lots of calories out!

 

I exercise well and often and feel a bit cheated for being as large as I am. (I'm 5'7, 165 lb, and very athletic. That being said, I'm about a size 10/12. For the last five years I've been a size 4!)

 

Any words of advice would be great. Thanks!

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Not sure what you mean by added sugars from natural sources.  Unless you are speaking of fruits, natural sugars (honey, maples syrup) are not allowed on the Whole30.  With that said, while you have cut out other sugars, alcoholic beverages, etc, the meal template is designed to fill in those holes with nutrient dense foods (fat, protein, veggies) so it may not be that you are at as much of a caloric deficit as you think.  Now, with THAT said, I don't mean to sound like you should be focusing on calories or a caloric deficit by any means. That is not what a W30 is about.  Just trust the process. If you search the forums you will see that many people did not experience weight/measurement loss until the end of of their W30 or some even carried it longer into 45-60-90 days.

 

Also, how is your stress level, sleep and exercise. These factors, of course, will effect the benefits you receive from the W30.

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I don't know much if anything about eating Whole30 with a history of eating disorders; but I suspect that underthinking is better than overthinking.  In other words, aim for this:

 

  • 1-2 palm-size protein, 2-4 cups veggies, 1 thumb-size or more (can be much more) of fat.  Do that three times a day. 
  • If you work out, eat something small before you work out, and some lean protein just after. 
  • Work out only if/when you have slept 8 hours or more the night before.
  • When your brain starts to tell you to do something other than the above, go back to the tools you have used successfully to deal with your eating disorders.
  • Lather, rinse, repeat.

 

Beyond this, find a medical practitioner you can trust to test for medical reasons behind your loss of energy. I work with a naturopathic physician in my area, but there are many kinds of functional medicine practitioners who can help - a quick google can show you providers in your area.

 

Rapid weight gain can feel disconcerting to anyone, but I hope you know that you are not overweight, and may have been underweight when you started gaining.  Just a thought.

 

Eat up, eat well, eat regularly.  Lotsa Whole30 love to ya. :wub:

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One focus of the whole30 is to get your body to switch from using carbs for energy to using fat for energy. Eating even small amounts of added sugars will keep this from happening as your body will use the readily available, easier to use carbs instead of the fat that is harder for it to burn.

I'm not an expert on exercise, but I know I've read one of the moderators on here, Tom Denham, say he will not work out on days he hasn't gotten enough sleep because sleep is that important to your recovery from physical activity. So if you're not getting enough sleep (and let's face it, many of us don't), the exercise might actually be hindering your progress, depending on what you're doing and how often.

Finally, this is a 30 day program. On my first whole30 I was convinced I was gaining weight the whole time until the last few days, but at the end of it had lost. You just have to trust the process, do the program as written, and be patient.

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Okay, so I cheated on my Whole30. It's true. I'm starting again today. Great. Day 1 (I was on Day 27.)

From Days ~18-27, I began incorporating small amounts of added sugar from natural sources into my diet, and also allowed my nut dragon to come out. It got ugly quickly, and the biggest thing I notice is that my Cool Hand Luke calm has dissapated into "Holy Shit My Heart Is Thumping For No Reason". It's a great motivation to re-start Whole30, but I'm wondering if anyone has every had this issue as well.

Also. I have not lost any weight (I don't think). I struggle with binge eating (and have a history of anorexia), and last year I literally felt my metabolism fire go out - and promptly gained thirty pounds. Even with added sugar, I'm a bit frustrated that no weight has come off - I've cut out alcohol, chocolate, sugar-sweetened beverages - once every day parts of my life. That's lots of calories out!

I exercise well and often and feel a bit cheated for being as large as I am. (I'm 5'7, 165 lb, and very athletic. That being said, I'm about a size 10/12. For the last five years I've been a size 4!)

Any words of advice would be great. Thanks!

I also get anxiety from sugar, which is pretty good motivation to stay away from it :-).

Your metabolism is going to take a while to heal from all the ups and downs over the years - think of it like a broken bone, the break takes weeks to set and even then it's weaker for a long time and susceptible to breaking again.

whenever I try to game the system at all by having "technically compliant" foods (like fruit and nuts in a non-emergency situation), that's when things can start sliding across the board. Something to keep in mind for your next 30 days.

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Rapid Weight Gain without change to your lifestyle and diet can be a clear indicator of low-thyroid, which I suffer from. It can be insidious, frustrating and mask itself as many other things. So before you go beating yourself up, get thee to an integrative health practitioner or endrocinologist! And kudos to you for being so honest with yourself that you are starting over again. I am only on day 4, and so far one of the main things that has kept me from cheating is the idea that I don't want to have to start all the way over. Like many people, I will be classically gung ho about a new regime monday-thursday, and then the weekend rolls around and something triggers me... and invitation for drinks with co-workers, parties, family gatherings, etc. My boyfriend and I have a barbecue we are supposed to attend this evening. I just walked to the butcher shop and bought a grassfed ribeye, which I am going to eat alongside sautéed super greens and cauliflower, so that I am not showing up to this party hungry. In the past my tact would have been to spend hours in the kitchen making something to share with everyone, and then inevitably show up at the party underfed- but as the days go by, I am realizing, that so much of this journey is about learning how to nurture myself first before I go reaching out to others. 

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