Whole30/Whole 9 for weightloss

[PuffinsMuffins]

Hi all,

 

I am on day 22 of my Whole30.  I feel it has been a fabulous experience and I have seen a number of benefits.  I feel much healthier, my skin looks great and many of the symptoms of my autoimmune disorder have gone away.

I have not weighed myself as suggested by the program.  However, I know when my Whole 30 is done next week, I will still have a lot of weight to lose.  I started this at 174 and, given my short stature, 135 puts me on the higher end of a normal BMI.

 

I realize I should not expect weight loss miracles from the Whole30 as it is not a weight loss program.  I appreciate the other health benefits.  However, I am looking for ways to keep a Whole 9 lifestyle while also losing approximately 40 lbs.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Tom Denham]

Keep eating Whole30-style and composing meals according to the meal template and you will keep losing weight that you need to lose. You may not like how long it takes, but you have a much better chance of staying healthy and trim if you follow this plan long-term. I lost 30 pounds when I started this process... at the rate of 2 pounds per month for 15 months. I dropped from 215 to 185. I wanted to go faster, but every time I tried to goose the process, my weight loss stalled.

[amy3509]

I think there are a number of ways to do it that are as varied as the people who try them.  I will tell you my approach in case it resonates for you.

 

My context is that I have been gaining and losing the same 30 or so lbs for over 15 years.  I work really hard and restrict my food etc etc, lose all the weight, and then slowly gain it back.  I've done this a bunch of ways - weight watchers, Dr Phil's books, veganism a la "Eat to Live", 'primal eating', whole30/paleo etc - so nothing super drastic, but they all led to quick weight loss (30 lbs usually took me 4-5 months) and then eventually rebellion and crappy eating with sugar at the forefront.

 

In January 2014 I was 45 lbs above what feels like a comfortable weight range for me.  I decided to do things differently this time.  I promised to:

1.  Learn to love my body exactly as it was - challenge negative thoughts, stop insulting myself in my head and out loud, find a way to love my body instead of feeling disgust for it's current state.  I read an idea in Jason Seib's "The Paleo Coach" that really resonated for me - he says that he has never seen lasting body changes in someone who hates their body.  If I didn't love my body at 185 lbs, I wouldn't love it at 140 lbs.

2.  I have worked hard to stop feeling guilt or shame over food choices, exercise (or lacktherof), or  attaching any kind of moral victory/failure mentality to the size of my body or the food I ate.  This has been a GAME CHANGER.  I read a lot about this and there are numerous blogs that were super helpful in shifting my thinking.

3.  I was going to focus on the behaviour changes and do everything in my power to avoid thinking/obsessing over the weight loss.  My focus became the sustainable lifestyle changes and I was to avoid thinking about how my clothes fit, whether I had lost weight, etc.  I took no measurements, I did not weigh.  I am eating without much in the way of official restriction now but have made an effort to avoid foods that make my body feel bad (in my case grains, vegetable oils, sugars/sweeteners, milk).  Once I removed the guilt/shame my cravings/binges subsided significantly.  The only thing I am still enforcing as far as restrictions go is sugar/sweeteners because i really needed some distance from that long term.  I occasionally eat the other stuff, but mostly I just don't want it anymore so I stay pretty close to 'paleo' almost all the time.  This is a huge departure from past paleo eating for me where I would still crave that stuff.

 

4.  Because I chose to stop thinking about the changes I was making as being primarily for weight loss, I needed to really commit to this as a long game.  I would not be at a comfortable size in 6 months.  It would take longer and that was ok.  The biggest part of this one was that I needed to trust my body to arrive at a size that was right.  This meant letting go of the idea that if any kind of abdominal fat remains I must of failed and similar kinds of thoughts.  If I eat in a way that provides me with health my body will figure it out.  This might not end up where I would have originally liked and I need to make peace with that.  Forcing my body to a certain weight/size has not worked out well in the past - even when doing paleo. I can be (and have been) 125 lbs, but it takes incredible effort to do so and it is not sustainable or healthy in my context.

 

I hope I have made some sense.  Lots of thoughts swimming around my head and typing them all quickly.  I guess if I had to sum it up, I took what I learned from paleo/whole30 and applied it in a way that fit with my new approach to body image/esteem - one where I was valuable no matter my size, where beating myself up was being replaced with body acceptance, and the realization that the judging combined with the constant restriction for weight loss followed by bingeing had never served me well.  I won't do it to myself any longer.

 

My results?  It has been 8 months since I really started to put the above into practice.  My body is smaller - about 2 clothing sizes smaller, maybe a bit more.  If I had to guess I would say I likely lost about 30 lbs.  My body size hasn't changed much in the last 6 weeks or so.  Time will tell whether this is the weight I will stay at or if more will come off.  I expect that will depend a bit on my activity level (i've been not super active and am finally starting to feel some motivation to change that recently).  I have avoided sweeteners/sugars for almost 7 months.  I no longer obsess over food or feel guilty for any of my food choices.  I behave differently around food - it is now common for me to stop eating before my plate is cleared, I don't binge, and emotional eating is more rare than it once was.  I don't miss the foods I rarely eat anymore, although if I wanted to eat them I could.  It feels more like a choice than once upon a time when it felt like a restriction.

 

It's amazing how much mindset affects things.  I am eating similar food to other times I 'went paleo' to lose weight, but I no longer feel like a crazy person around food and it feels sustainable beyond the initial 'honeymoon paleo phase' that for me usually lasted 3-4 months.

 

Maybe you aren't a 'crazy person' about food and maybe your mindset is just fine.  I offer the above in case it is helpful to you or someone else.

[PuffinsMuffins]

Yes, all of this makes sense.  I am a REALLY bad dieter.  I've been trying to explain to my mom how much easier I've found it to eliminate sugar than I ever found it to reduce sugar.  I think I've found this program somewhat liberating because there are no "good foods" or "bad foods," just foods with more or less nutritional content.  I feel like when I was on WW in particular I was always trying to game the system with lower point "swaps."  Sugar free jello pudding, no matter how few calories it may contain, simply is not a building block of good health.  Also, it tastes like glue.

[GoJo09]

I think there are a number of ways to do it that are as varied as the people who try them.  I will tell you my approach in case it resonates for you.

 

My context is that I have been gaining and losing the same 30 or so lbs for over 15 years.  I work really hard and restrict my food etc etc, lose all the weight, and then slowly gain it back.  I've done this a bunch of ways - weight watchers, Dr Phil's books, veganism a la "Eat to Live", 'primal eating', whole30/paleo etc - so nothing super drastic, but they all led to quick weight loss (30 lbs usually took me 4-5 months) and then eventually rebellion and crappy eating with sugar at the forefront.

 

In January 2014 I was 45 lbs above what feels like a comfortable weight range for me.  I decided to do things differently this time.  I promised to:

1.  Learn to love my body exactly as it was - challenge negative thoughts, stop insulting myself in my head and out loud, find a way to love my body instead of feeling disgust for it's current state.  I read an idea in Jason Seib's "The Paleo Coach" that really resonated for me - he says that he has never seen lasting body changes in someone who hates their body.  If I didn't love my body at 185 lbs, I wouldn't love it at 140 lbs.

2.  I have worked hard to stop feeling guilt or shame over food choices, exercise (or lacktherof), or  attaching any kind of moral victory/failure mentality to the size of my body or the food I ate.  This has been a GAME CHANGER.  I read a lot about this and there are numerous blogs that were super helpful in shifting my thinking.

3.  I was going to focus on the behaviour changes and do everything in my power to avoid thinking/obsessing over the weight loss.  My focus became the sustainable lifestyle changes and I was to avoid thinking about how my clothes fit, whether I had lost weight, etc.  I took no measurements, I did not weigh.  I am eating without much in the way of official restriction now but have made an effort to avoid foods that make my body feel bad (in my case grains, vegetable oils, sugars/sweeteners, milk).  Once I removed the guilt/shame my cravings/binges subsided significantly.  The only thing I am still enforcing as far as restrictions go is sugar/sweeteners because i really needed some distance from that long term.  I occasionally eat the other stuff, but mostly I just don't want it anymore so I stay pretty close to 'paleo' almost all the time.  This is a huge departure from past paleo eating for me where I would still crave that stuff.

 

4.  Because I chose to stop thinking about the changes I was making as being primarily for weight loss, I needed to really commit to this as a long game.  I would not be at a comfortable size in 6 months.  It would take longer and that was ok.  The biggest part of this one was that I needed to trust my body to arrive at a size that was right.  This meant letting go of the idea that if any kind of abdominal fat remains I must of failed and similar kinds of thoughts.  If I eat in a way that provides me with health my body will figure it out.  This might not end up where I would have originally liked and I need to make peace with that.  Forcing my body to a certain weight/size has not worked out well in the past - even when doing paleo. I can be (and have been) 125 lbs, but it takes incredible effort to do so and it is not sustainable or healthy in my context.

 

I hope I have made some sense.  Lots of thoughts swimming around my head and typing them all quickly.  I guess if I had to sum it up, I took what I learned from paleo/whole30 and applied it in a way that fit with my new approach to body image/esteem - one where I was valuable no matter my size, where beating myself up was being replaced with body acceptance, and the realization that the judging combined with the constant restriction for weight loss followed by bingeing had never served me well.  I won't do it to myself any longer.

 

My results?  It has been 8 months since I really started to put the above into practice.  My body is smaller - about 2 clothing sizes smaller, maybe a bit more.  If I had to guess I would say I likely lost about 30 lbs.  My body size hasn't changed much in the last 6 weeks or so.  Time will tell whether this is the weight I will stay at or if more will come off.  I expect that will depend a bit on my activity level (i've been not super active and am finally starting to feel some motivation to change that recently).  I have avoided sweeteners/sugars for almost 7 months.  I no longer obsess over food or feel guilty for any of my food choices.  I behave differently around food - it is now common for me to stop eating before my plate is cleared, I don't binge, and emotional eating is more rare than it once was.  I don't miss the foods I rarely eat anymore, although if I wanted to eat them I could.  It feels more like a choice than once upon a time when it felt like a restriction.

 

It's amazing how much mindset affects things.  I am eating similar food to other times I 'went paleo' to lose weight, but I no longer feel like a crazy person around food and it feels sustainable beyond the initial 'honeymoon paleo phase' that for me usually lasted 3-4 months.

 

Maybe you aren't a 'crazy person' about food and maybe your mindset is just fine.  I offer the above in case it is helpful to you or someone else.

 

Brilliant!

[DocGB1973]

Hi there,

Hoping to restart this thread. I love amy3509's plan and how she promised herself to do it differently.

Wondering how she's doing...

I'm on day#18 of my first W30, which I chose to do because of horrendous sugar cravings and emotional eating. I also have gained and lost the same 20 lbs multiple times over the past 15-18 yrs. Now that I'm in my 40s, it's 25 lbs and much harder.

Definitely "easier" on some level not to eat sugars at all! I doubt I'll be able to live the rest of my life never eating another bite of dessert, but for now I need this neurologic reset.

Would love to hear more from people with similar issues who have ongoing health/weight successes.

GB

[praxisproject]

It's really worth keeping a food diary and seeing how things make you feel, especially sugar/cravings, even sleep.

 

If you have any health issues, these may also be holding back your weightloss. Your body may struggle to lose weight if it's got other battles to fight.