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Day 30 and extremely dissapointed!


jularoons

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Well, I've come to day 30 and I couldn't feel less like a success at something if I tried.  I'm angry, sad and disappointed.  I got on the scale this morning and gained another pound.  If one person writes back and says don't get on the scale I'm going to log off.  Everyone knows that most of us are motivated to do this plan in the first place to lose weight.  I've lost of total of 4 lbs., big deal.  I've been absolutely compliant for 30 days.  Yesterday I walked and ran on the treadmill for 30 minutes to try and burn off whatever was making me gain.  I ate three eggs and a little avocado for breakfast.  Made pumpkin soup with coconut milk for lunch.  Had the same soup and a banana for dinner.  Dessert I had about a cup of sweet potato and I egg.  I may have had a handful of sunflower seeds after dinner. I gained a pound.

 

I've read how people have lost 10, 12, 14 lbs.  I feel like it's all been a complete waste of time.  I got learn a few nice new recipes.  I always feel like I have indigestion.  I take digestive enzymes from Whole foods, (not cheap).  It's not easy to remember to take right before every meal.  I've cut out foods I like to try and figure out why I'm always so bloated and frankly I think this much meat is bad for ones health.

 

I'm not wanting to go on to the Reintroduction Phase because at this point adding anything back into my diet just adds up to calories in my book.  What am I suppose to do now, just eat veggies for the rest of my life?

 

I'm not an overeater.  I wasn't perfect with food portions, but well below what my husband was allowed.  I'm 5ft. 3inches and I'm still 152 lbs., so don't tell me that I may have just plateaued and don't need to lose more.  I'm too heavy for my size.

 

Yes, I'm pissed, disappointed and ready to go out and celebrate what a great job I did lasting this long on a program that didn't work, with a Cosmo and a piece of cake.

 

Thanks for listening!

j

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If I'm reading your post correctly, you lost five pounds over a course of 30 days. If your goal was to lose more, you will need to fall into one of two categories: a white male in your thirties, or have 100 lbs or more to lose. Based on what I read here, over and over, most other folks don't lose more than 4-5 pounds in a thirty-day period.

 

Weight loss and an increase in good health are not linear processes, no matter what the good folks at Weight Watchers, MyFitnessPal, SparkPeople, and all of the women's magazines at the grocery store checkout line would like us to believe.  This is one of the reasons we are very big on having you hide your scale. We want you to get healthy, and we don't believe in letting a number on your scale tell you that you are not healthy or fit or at a weight that's right for you today. The scale lies to you. It tells you you suck, you're fat, you're inadequate, you can't do it, you ate the wrong thing, you'll never lose weight. It's a beast. It is not your friend. Instead of logging off from here right now, go over and take a hammer to your scale. Then run it over with your car.  (I exaggerate, of course. Just hide it, or give it away. It sucks. Really.)

 

Some people do a strict reintroduction. Others (like yours truly) flew into Starbucks the morning after Whole30 and ordered the larger size flavored coffee drink of choice. :lol:

 

How would you have felt if you didn't get on the scale? I bet you would have felt kind of hungry. You didn't eat much yesterday. Whatever you do today, please, please, eat up. (Also, if you go for the mimosa/cake routine, don't follow my example and do it first thing in the morning - that's what Starbucks is for! :lol:  )

 

The scale did not tell you the truth about your Whole30. You can bet your mimosa on that fact. Think about what changed. If you liked the food and wanted to continue in some way, post some ideas of meals here for tips on how to continue eating this way.  I can almost guarantee that we'll tell you to eat more, based on what I saw that you ate yesterday. Also think about your sleep, stress level, exercise, and water intake. All of this is Whole30. The scale? Not Whole30. You can only evaluate Whole30 successes by Whole30 measures.

 

Eat up, take care, and hide your scale. Come back here and tell us how you did by Whole30 measures. And eat. Did I mention to eat? 'Cause, eat.

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Ok!  so I hate my scale as well as a number of other things in my life that seem to be going to hell in a handbasket.  I didn't run to starbucks or Joe's tavern.  I took my enzymes like a good girl and ate egg whites and spinach.  Thinking that maybe the yolks could be causing the digestive upset.  My brother can't eat eggs so maybe I can't either.  What next?

 

Today is day 30.  Just eat like I've always eaten and then start re-introduction tomorrow?

 

Sorry to rant and rave, I was just hoping to feel and look a lot better than I do.

Thanks for the pep talk.

I Just wanted a win!

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Ok!  so I hate my scale as well as a number of other things in my life that seem to be going to hell in a handbasket.  I didn't run to starbucks or Joe's tavern.  I took my enzymes like a good girl and ate egg whites and spinach.  Thinking that maybe the yolks could be causing the digestive upset.  My brother can't eat eggs so maybe I can't either.  What next?

 

Today is day 30.  Just eat like I've always eaten and then start re-introduction tomorrow?

 

Sorry to rant and rave, I was just hoping to feel and look a lot better than I do.

Thanks for the pep talk.

I Just wanted a win!

You made it to day 30, that's a win right there!  Once you get rid of your scale that will be another win.

 

If you have several things in your life stressing you out, weight loss will stall. That's not a moral failing, it's just how it is.

 

If you are having digestive upset, you can try a few different things, but randomly leaving out egg yolks for one meal is a bit of a hit-or-miss way to approach that process.

 

As for what next, I would say it's up to you. Once you hit the 30 day mark, you can continue for a while longer; do a formal reintroduction; or party on.  You'll need to determine what to do.

 

If you continue on in any way, including reintros, I'd suggest posting a few days' worth of your meals, exercise, water intake, sleep, stress level, and any other relevant factors (digestive upset for instance). Then you can get some tips here for how to strengthen your Whole30 eating.

 

Deep breaths, and I promise you egg whites and spinach is a rotten way to treat yourself. Eat more food. Go.

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This was an interesting piece of your story to me, and a big clue - CLUE ONE:

I always feel like I have indigestion.  I take digestive enzymes from Whole foods, (not cheap).  It's not easy to remember to take right before every meal.  I've cut out foods I like to try and figure out why I'm always so bloated and frankly I think this much meat is bad for ones health.

 

 I would be wanting to figure out that piece of the puzzle. For me, sugar and/or fructose gives me indigestion. It has all but disappeared on the W30. 

 

Bloating is usually caused by a sensitivity to something. Could be eggs, nuts, FODMAPs, cruciferous veggies or any number of things.  Ah ha, I just read above that your brother has sensitivity to eggs. CLUE TWO - family history of egg sensitivity. The fact that you still have bloating and indigestion suggests to me that your digestive system is still irritated by something which could be one reason that you're holding onto weight, or water weight.

 

This is something for you to consider. I know the last thing you want to do is another elimination eating plan but if you're serious about getting to the source of the issue, its a reasonably logical next step. There are definitely worse things than a month without eggs - I gave them up in April and can honestly say I don't miss them. 

 

I also agree that you don't seem to be eating much. No protein at lunch and dinner? Although the soup sounded good  :D

 

I also think that this piece of writing by the Hartwigs is valuable reading for anyone who didn't get the results they wanted on the W30:

 

Six Reasons Why the Whole30® Didn’t Work For You

 

We’ve been running our Whole30® program for 3-1/2 years now, and have received thousands of glowing testimonials. (There are even more floating around on the internet, too—Google “Whole30” and you get hundreds of thousands of hits. Literally.) We’ve proven the program improves people’s health, and many report the Whole30 really did change their life.

 

But the Whole30 isn’t perfect (no diet is, universally), and we will be the first to admit it. The program is as good as we can make it, to have the most significant impact on as many people as we can reach. We’ve tweaked it, adjusted it, made it better as the years went on. But it’s not perfect, by any means, and it’s not a miracle—despite the miraculous results some people do experience.

 

That’s not to say that a strict 30-day Paleo elimination program isn’t a damn fine protocol. In fact, the Whole30 generally works really, really well for the vast majority of people. Which is why, when we hear from those who say the Whole30 (or some other form of short-term Paleo intervention) “didn’t work” for them, we pay attention. We read their stories, ask questions of these participants, and over the years, have gathered some data on why, for these folks, “the magic” just didn’t come. (At least, not in the way they hoped it would. More on this soon.)

In many cases, it’s not your fault if it didn’t work. And the one thing we want you to take away from this article is that if the Whole30 didn’t work for you, you are not a failure, and there is nothing wrong with you. It just is what it is… but there are reasons for it.

So today, here are six reasons (infused with a gentle dose of tough love) why your perfect Paleo elimination program just “didn’t work”… and what you can do about it.

 

You Didn’t Do It Right

This is the most common reason for the “failure” of elimination programs like the Whole30 to provide results. You followed the technical letter of the rules, but didn’t embrace the spirit or intention of the program. You “slipped” or “treated yourself,” because you had to/wanted to/figured it wouldn’t really matter. You adjusted the program to suit your cravings, your social life, your idea of “healthy.” You only gave it two weeks before deciding it wasn’t working.

And if you’re really, truly honest with yourself, you know that you didn’t really give the Whole30 your full efforts. And as we’ve mentioned before, mediocre efforts yield mediocre results.

Of course, this isn’t everyone’s situation. So for those of you who really felt like you gave the program the attention and dedication it deserves, then maybe…

 

Thirty Days Wasn’t Long Enough

While radical health improvements can take place in just 30 days during the program, when you put it into context, decades of less than healthy behavior often can’t compete with 30 days of Whole30. Fat adaptation (teaching your body to use fat as fuel) takes time.* Stubborn medical issues, like psoriasis, migraines, chronic pain conditions, or diabetes, can’t be fully resolved with just a month of healthy eating. And an unhealthy psychological relationship with food—and the cravings, habits, and emotional ties that go along—are often the toughest battle to win.

*This is especially true if you’re coming from a S.A.D. (Standard American Diet). It can take several weeks before you learn to trust the “hungry” and “full” signals your body is sending you—and you may not have been eating enough in the beginning, because you were afraid of all that fat.

Many Whole30’ers report that they didn’t feel or see “the magic” until day 45, 60, or beyond. Whether you choose to extend your Paleo elimination program or not is entirely up to you, but think about your results in terms of the context of your life, your health history, and your habits—and realize that maybe, you’ll need longer than just 30 days to see the ultimate results you were hoping for. But then again, you also have to make sure you’re measuring the right thing. Quite possibly…

 

You Aren’t Paying Attention To The Right Stuff

You really, really wanted to lose weight on your Whole30, and you read tons of testimonials about effortless weight loss when nothing else worked—so of course, you expected this would be your outcome too. But you didn’t lose weight, or you didn’t lose as much as you had hoped. So you deemed the program a failure, because the number on the scale didn’t budge, or your pants still fit the same. (You could apply this same concept to anything—you were hoping your skin would clear up and glow, your gym performance would skyrocket, or your chronic pain would completely disappear.)

But were you paying attention to what else happened during your program? Are you falling asleep easier, staying asleep longer, waking more refreshed? Is your energy more consistent, or have you lost your usual mid-day slump? Has your pain decreased, has your skin improved, have your allergies diminished, are your sugar cravings easier to battle?

 

As we’ve written about so many times, the scale (and your body) aren’t the only measure of Whole30 success—in fact, we’d venture to say it’s pretty far down the list of potential life-changing results. And being open to embracing all of the changes the program has to offer—both the expected and the unexpected, the large and the small—can open your eyes to the results you’ve actually achieved.

So if you didn’t lose weight (or change one particular health factor as much as you were hoping), take a different approach and focus on all of the positive changes you have seen. Of course… it’s entirely possible that you’re barking up the wrong tree altogether.

 

You’re Looking For a Nutrition Solution To a Lifestyle Problem

If you come from a S.A.D.—even the “healthy” kind, with whole grains and low-fat dairy—we’d be stunned if the Whole30 didn’t make a huge impact on how you look, how you feel, and your quality of life. Stunned. But if you’ve been eating pretty Paleo for a while, decide to tighten things up that last 20% in the hopes of seeing the results you’ve been missing, and just don’t see them, you know what that tells us?

Diet ain’t your problem.

And no amount of additional Paleo elimination, carb-gram tweaks, or fasting cycles is going to completely resolve your issues. If this is your story, it’s time to look at your other factors. If you’re only sleeping five hours a night, doing high-intensity activity six days a week, and eating a purposefully very low-carb diet, you’ve got bigger fish to fry than the occasional cream in your coffee. Check out the Whole9 Health Equation, and see what other factors you need to prioritize to get things moving in the right direction.

 

In addition, just maybe, and we say this gently…

 

Your Expectations Are Simply Too High

This is a difficult one to tell people, because we hear “miracle” Whole30 testimonials every day. “The Whole30 made my hot flashes disappear!” “The Whole30 fixed my adrenal fatigue!” “My rheumatoid arthritis was curedthanks to Paleo!” So If you are in menopause, suffering from cortisol resistance, or have an autoimmune condition, you’re wondering, why didn’t this happen to me?

We understand. And we can’t blame you for feeling disappointed when you see other people “just like you” experiencing the results you desperately hoped to see… but didn’t. But the thing you have to understand is that no one is just like you. Your history, current context, genetics, environment all meld together to form a unique situation: you. Which means the same protocol applied to two very “similar” people can yield dramatically different results.

 

Here’s the other thing we need to be clear about—the Whole30, while a powerful dietary intervention, isn’t always a miracle cure. (We’re probably not going to use that as our next tag line, but it’s the truth.) To be blunt, the impact of your hormones during menopause far exceeds the benefits of not adding milk and sugar to your coffee. The long-reaching effects of chronic stress aren’t usually fixable with dietary intervention alone—that’s the exception, rather than the rule. And, as far as medical research has demonstrated to date, autoimmune conditions aren’t normally fully reversible.

So while the Whole30 could help you improve some symptoms, maybe all it’s going to do for you (depending on your history and context) is help you maintain—or not make things worse. It may improve your skin, your energy, your sleep, but if you’re battling a serious condition or disease (or are going through massive hormonal changes, such as during pregnancy or menopause), it’s just not reasonable to believe that any dietary intervention will magically see you through. It’s wonderful if it does, but it’s simply not realistic to expect. 

 

Which brings us to the final reason, which plays on the above…

Lifestyle Interventions Can’t Fix Everything

Many come to the Whole30 with long histories of yo-yo dieting, chronic stress, poor lifestyle choices, and longstanding illness. The effects of health history are far-reaching, causing changes to your metabolism, your inflammatory status, and how your body responds to stimulus like food, stress, and exercise for years—decades—to come. And some of you are still working through these issues when you come to Paleo nutrition or the Whole30.

 

This situation requires the toughest love of all.

Lifestyle interventions can’t fix everything. In fact, you could pile a Whole30 on top of sleeping ten hours a night on top of smart exercise on top of stress management… and that still might not totally “fix” you. Because some issues are so longstanding, and so disruptive long-term, that you need targeted intervention with a trained and experienced professional to fix your stuff.  (And we’re not talking about “Are you stressed a lot? You probably have adrenal fatigue. You should take some adaptogens and only do strength work.” This information is basically useless at your stage of the game.)

 

We’re talking about connecting with a good functional medicine practitioner, doing some very specific (and probably costly) testing to figure out exactly what’s going on, and then supplementing with the appropriate stuff, at the appropriate dose, for the appropriate amount of time. Months, generally. Perhaps a year or more.

 

We told you, this part would be hard to hear. And we’re sorry if this is your context. But trust us when we say weunderstand. (Melissa spent two years recovering from her stress addiction and cortisol resistance, working with several functional medicine practitioners, doing lots of testing, and following a very specific supplementation schedule and radical lifestyle interventions to get her to the very healthy place she’s at today.)

 

Of course, this doesn’t mean diet, sleep, exercise,  and stress management don’t matter. In fact, in this situation, rigorous attention to these details (and we mean rigorous—change-your-entire-life-around-to-improve-these-lifestyle-factors rigorous) is a prerequisite for the work you’ll do with your practitioner. So don’t give up on the Whole30, or your other healthy lifestyle protocols. But in this case, in your context, please don’t expect even this level of attention to the lifestyle stuff to fix everything for you. (Believe us, we wish they could.)

 

The Good News

After all this, there is good news. If you’ve done the Whole30 with not-so-stellar results, go back and reevaluate your efforts, and your outcome. Perhaps you’ll see your program in a new light—or be motivated to try again. (Our Whole30® Daily has a series of questionnaires to help you be more aware of the benefits, large and small, you may see along the way.)

If you’ve got a complicated health history, don’t be discouraged! You didn’t get to this place overnight, and you’ll not get out of it quickly—but armed with a healthy lifestyle (and perhaps the help of an experienced professional) you are already back on the road to recovery. Patience is key. Being kind to and forgiving of yourself is key. And focusing on the positive changes you are already seeing could have the biggest impact on your experience. How you view the situation is sometimes more important than the details of the situation itself.

 

We’ll be talking a lot more about these complicated issues, and the fact that lifestyle interventions can’t fix everything, in future articles. In the meantime, if you’re one of those people for whom a perfect Paleo protocol just didn’t work for you, take heart. You are not alone, and we’ll do our best to provide you with the information and support you need to continue to move forward with your health initiatives.

 
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I'm not really saying anything new here, but I just want to support the notion that W30 did, indeed, work for you and in terms of weight loss. Yes, others have had huge losses, but most of us haven't. And the upshot is we've had to shift focus to health as something not defined exclusively by weight.

 

Sorry you're so disappointed, but it sounds like it might be good to lower your weight loss expectations. I know the way the program is marketed sets you up to have enormous expectations, but it doesn't mean you've failed because you didn't reach impossible goals.

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Thanks everyone for your support.  I think I'm going to have to give up eggs for awhile which I'm not thrilled about.  The eggwhites and spinach didn't go down well and still feel stuck in my esophagus.  I'm burping quite a bit and the enzymes don't seem to be helping.  I didn't really have an appetite for anything more and still don't.  I'll try something different for lunch.  I'm not giving up on myself or the plan.  Just having a hard day!

 

J

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Good luck! As for the eggs, many people are actually OK with yolks but not with whites. I often go off them altogether for stretches at a time just because I think it's good to mix things up for better overall nutrition and to avoid developing intolerances.

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Hang in there, J. I still felt pretty crappy after 30 days, and only slightly improved after 60 days. Bloating, fatigue, headaches, are still bad. On the other hand... No sugar cravings, and I'm eating more veggies than I ever have in my entire life. And that's a big clue right there: I'm 55 years old, and 60 days of veggies isn't enough to reverse a lifetime of less than fabulous eating. Also, I still don't always eat three template meals a day... sometimes not enough veg, sometimes too much fruit, sometimes only two meals a day, etc., etc. So, I'm continuing on for another 30 days in an attempt to see just what makes me feel worse/better.

You are not alone!

ann

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  • 3 weeks later...

You might not be getting enough protein. That sample meal - soup at lunch and dinner - where's the protein there? I'd take a look at that and maybe adjust. I'm sorry things didn't happen the way you expected... I still have 11 days til my 30 is over and I step on the scale - so I might be right there with ya.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm disappointed too, because the program has caused a lot of discomfort.  

 

I started my Whole30 from a gluten-free paleo situation and what I didn't expect was that the small glitches I had in my digestion (gas, mostly) would get considerably WORSE when I added more veggies to my diet. Around days 10-20 I had horrible bloating and downright diarrhea from almost anything, and this is very,very uncommon. Nothing fixed it until I reduced the amount of veggies drastically. I guess I felt a bit betrayed after going through the effort of adding veggies and prepping them all the effing time, and being rewarded with all that discomfort. Now I feel better, after eliminating practically everything but fruit, carrots, berries, avocado and the occasional cucumber and tomatoes. I'm also suffering from heartburn daily, this I didn't have before, even though I was on a very similar diet.

 

The Whole30 has made it difficult to get my starches (which I need because I do Crossfit). I can eat only a small amount of potatoes without GI discomfort, no sweet potato (which also has too much fructose to my liking), which limits my carb sources to banana. I never had any problems with rice, so I've been pretty disgruntled with it not being allowed. Various paleo sources label rice as a "safe starch" unlike other grains, and frankly I can't see why not.

 

So the experience has felt like I'm going through all this trouble and it's making me feel worse. Sleep better and  more energy? Not really. To be fair, I have lost weight, but I've also realised it doesn't even feel very good compared to the discomfort I've been through. 

 

The thing that bothers me is how the Whole30 doesn't acknowledge the fact that maybe the same blueprint doesn't work for everyone. Would it be impossible to admit that "Eating a sh*t ton of veggies might not work for everyone, your GI tract might not handle it. Listen to your body and eat less if your body tells you that".  

 

I'll end it to a positive to show my marvellous spirit (yes, this is sarcasm): During the 30 days I got GI symptoms from eggs and noticed they don't keep me satisfied as long as meat. I'll exclude them gladly and this is a piece of information I hadn't learned, had I not excluded pretty much everything else from my diet. So I learned something, that's cool.

 

So, what am I gonna do now? I'll re-introduce rice to make my life about 10 times easier and get rid of the heartburn from eating banana every day. I'll buy a pound of butter to get rid of eating only olive oil (ghee was disgusting). I'll re-introduce whey to have an easy source of energy before or after a workout. I'll measure my waist tomorrow (it's day 30 now) and see how much has actually happened.

 

I'm so happy this is over.

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I'm disappointed too, because the program has caused a lot of discomfort.  

 

...

 

I'm so happy this is over.

 

Sorry you had a bad experience.  To comment on a few things:

 

Regarding carb-dense compliant options, there are other choices besides potatoes, sweet potatoes and banana. These include winter squash, beets, jicama, rutabaga, carrots and parsnips.

On the discomfort, I wonder what percentage of your vegetables over the course of your Whole30 were raw vs. cooked?  Some folks have a lot of bloating/GI issues with raw vegetables.  Another possible culprit: there are the cruciferous and FODMAPs as well that can bother some people. There's lots of past discussion about all these scenarios in the forum. Perhaps, like the eggs, you've indirectly discovered that certain vegetables, or how they are prepared, bother you.  

 

If you don't like ghee, making your own clarified butter is another fat option. I personally use that and coconut oil as my two main cooking fats.

 

On why rice is excluded on the Whole30, there is an entire chapter in It Starts With Food that explains why this, along with all other grains, are not part of the plan. In brief, it doesn't meet Whole30's good food standards of promoting a healthy psychological response, promoting a healthy hormonal response, promoting a healthy gut,  supporting immune function and minimizing inflammation.

 

As you reintroduce items and resume riding your own bike, I sincerely hope you feel better soon and wish you good health.

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Thanks Chris, for your comments.

 

On ghee and clarified butter - I've tried both and enjoy neither. I've use coconut oil a lot in the past, but nowadays even that doesn't seem to agree with me and I use it only for oil pulling. 

 

The veggies I got a reaction from were cooked and were not cruciferous - those give me another type of a discomfort and I've been avoiding them before this. Jicama is not available at this part of the globe, winter squash maybe around halloween at random locations. I'm familiar with rutabaga, beets and parsnip, but they take considerably longer to cook and are way slower to prep than potatoes and sweet potatoes , also more expensive. Quite frankly, I'd rather not go through the trouble every day or even every week. Carrots I use, but I'd have to eat an awful lot of them to satisfy my carb needs on a workout day. I'm not saying things are impossible, just that they're more bothersome than if my GI tract would agree with the more usual options. 

 

I'll have to look into the FODMAP thing more. 

 

Thanks again.

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It's possible that your gut needs to heal. You may have a candida overgrowth which will cause all kind of digestive problems. It could be you have a sluggish thyroid that will stall your weight loss. Unfortunately your doctor will not be able to help you with either of these things because they seem to only help you when they can give you a pill. You might want to check out Christa Orrechio at the whole journey. http://thewholejourney.com or Dr Kahrrazian who is an expert on thyroid http://thyroidbook.com. Did you now that raw tuna can cause an auto immune reaction in some people? There are other whole nutrient dense foods that can cause issues especially if you have a leaky gut. I am in the same boat although I didn't lose one single pound on my whole30s. I am still searching for the answer. Good Luck!

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I'm disappointed too, because the program has caused a lot of discomfort.  

 

I started my Whole30 from a gluten-free paleo situation and what I didn't expect was that the small glitches I had in my digestion (gas, mostly) would get considerably WORSE when I added more veggies to my diet. Around days 10-20 I had horrible bloating and downright diarrhea from almost anything, and this is very,very uncommon. Nothing fixed it until I reduced the amount of veggies drastically. I guess I felt a bit betrayed after going through the effort of adding veggies and prepping them all the effing time, and being rewarded with all that discomfort. Now I feel better, after eliminating practically everything but fruit, carrots, berries, avocado and the occasional cucumber and tomatoes. I'm also suffering from heartburn daily, this I didn't have before, even though I was on a very similar diet.

 

The Whole30 has made it difficult to get my starches (which I need because I do Crossfit). I can eat only a small amount of potatoes without GI discomfort, no sweet potato (which also has too much fructose to my liking), which limits my carb sources to banana. I never had any problems with rice, so I've been pretty disgruntled with it not being allowed. Various paleo sources label rice as a "safe starch" unlike other grains, and frankly I can't see why not.

 

So the experience has felt like I'm going through all this trouble and it's making me feel worse. Sleep better and  more energy? Not really. To be fair, I have lost weight, but I've also realised it doesn't even feel very good compared to the discomfort I've been through. 

 

The thing that bothers me is how the Whole30 doesn't acknowledge the fact that maybe the same blueprint doesn't work for everyone. Would it be impossible to admit that "Eating a sh*t ton of veggies might not work for everyone, your GI tract might not handle it. Listen to your body and eat less if your body tells you that".  

 

I'll end it to a positive to show my marvellous spirit (yes, this is sarcasm): During the 30 days I got GI symptoms from eggs and noticed they don't keep me satisfied as long as meat. I'll exclude them gladly and this is a piece of information I hadn't learned, had I not excluded pretty much everything else from my diet. So I learned something, that's cool.

 

So, what am I gonna do now? I'll re-introduce rice to make my life about 10 times easier and get rid of the heartburn from eating banana every day. I'll buy a pound of butter to get rid of eating only olive oil (ghee was disgusting). I'll re-introduce whey to have an easy source of energy before or after a workout. I'll measure my waist tomorrow (it's day 30 now) and see how much has actually happened.

 

I'm so happy this is over.

 Posted by Tom Denham on 10 April 2012 - 06:29 PM

Some people have difficulty with digestion when they change their diet. You could try taking a digestive enzyme like Now Foods Super Enzymes (2-4 capsules per meal). You can read the Whole9 view of them at http://whole9life.co...ments-part-

Posted by Tom Denham on 16 July 2012 - 06:46 AM

I wonder if it is a digestion problem. You might try taking several Super Enzymes from Now Foods at meal time.

Did you have this problem before starting the Whole30? Some people don't handle protein or fat well and need enzymes to get to a better place. 

 
photo-thumb-6.jpg?_r=1403697759 Posted by Tom Denham on 10 August 2012 - 03:53 AM
So he's been eating slightly different foods for 10 days and he has some gastric distress? Sounds like he may be adjusting to the changes. There is no reason to think the adjustment period would last any longer for him than someone doing a complete Whole30. However, if he decides to do a complete Whole30, his body would have to make more adjustments.

The issue is that our guts get used to whatever we eat and develop/grow gut flora that facilitates digestion. When we change what we eat, the gut flora don't fit at first and it takes some time for the right ones to grow and handle the new program. You don't need new gut flora when you eat broccoli instead of cauliflower, for example, but if you go from low fat to higher fat, or little meat to lots of meat, that takes some time to work out. 

 
 
It's entirely possible that a good digestive aid may have made all of the difference in the world.
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 no sweet potato (which also has too much fructose to my liking), which limits my carb sources to banana. 

 

Banana has far more fructose per gram than sweet potato: 

 

Sweet potato = 0.7g/100g http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/3242?format=Full

Banana = 4.85g/100g http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/2208?format=Full

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructose

http://paleohacks.com/paleo/fructose-beets-sweet-potatoes-35336

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Tina R: I don't have candida overgrowth, I've had a stool analysis recently. I do use probitics daily, for that matter. My "sluggish thyroid" is diagnosed, I'm hypothyroid and on a T4+T3 medication, am keeping my pills thank you very much (this is besides the point anyway, since lack of weight loss is not the problem).About the leaky gut, I've been minimizing the possibility and effect with my diet for a longer time, there's really not much more I can do about it. One would think that causing more distress (e.g. with veggies that clearly don't agree) wouldn't help a leaky gut to heal either. Good luck to you finding a solution for your problem!

 

Lily, regarding "did you have this problem before starting the Whole30? Some people don't handle protein or fat well". I didn't have problems before Whole30. My diet was similar in regards of protein and fat, I've eaten a palmful of protein and plenty of fat at every meal for years. As I've tried to point out, the only drastic change has been the sh*t-ton of vegetables this diet endorses, it's the only major change I've made (I don't count coffee cream, the occasional slice of cheese and rice as such). To put it another way, the problem started when I ADDED something new. For example, I didn't have a problem with mashed potato made with butter and milk, now I have a problem with plain potatoes (with dairy-free fat). As I wrote to my previous post, I didn't come from a standard poor diet, but a diet that was pretty darn good. Is it impossible to even consider that everyone is not the same and maybe everyone doesn't feel good on a very plant-heavy diet? Apparently in Whole30 it is. 

 

kirkor: I was not comparing sweet potatoes and banana, I was comparing sweet potato and white potato. Thanks for your contribution. 

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woah, niff. People are trying to help you here. Slow down.

 

Nobody is saying the whole30 is required, or that it is ideal for everybody. Maybe you personally do better with fewer veggies and more white rice, who knows? If you want to do the whole30 we are happy to help you do it better, and having fewer bananas and more sweet potatoes is just one of the tweaks that might help. If you are done trying the whole30, then no harm no foul, just make the choices you feel are best and carry on.

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missmary: well pardon me, but I don't enjoy it when people give suggestions apparently without reading or comprehending my text. I find it rude and ignorant. You commented that you are "happy to help me do a Whole30 better" if I'm  not "done trying", apparently completely missing that I already did a complete Whole30. Or would you say that anyone who has done the 30 days are "done trying"? As to your comment on the sweet potato/banana, I also wrote in my first post that sweet potato gives me such unpleasant GI symptoms I had to give it up, hence the banana. I wouldn't call it a very rational tweak to eat more of it.

 

Lily: yes, I eat two different probiotics daily and I'm quite sure they're the right kind to further balance my gut flora (which was okay to start with), they were specifically chosen based on a microbiological analysis from stool.

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missmary: well pardon me, but I don't enjoy it when people give suggestions...

 

This is the issue. A variety of people have made suggestions and you dismissed every one. Please help us understand what you are hoping to get out of your posts on this forum, if not suggestions on how you might tweak things to change your experience. It sounds like you aren't interested in tweaking, but instead are sure that your way of doing things is better. If that's the case. Do it your way. That's fine! But calling well-meaning strangers rude and ignorant is not appropriate. In fact: it's pretty rude. please stop doing that.

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missmary: you ripped my sentence in half and used it out of context to make a false claim about me. That is a very low thing to do in argumentation. Maybe you feel you have the right to be on your high horse about this, but for the sake of honesty, do not twist my words into something they did not mean.

My goal with the post I wrote was to share my experience honestly. Why? A direct suggestion from the final Whole30 daily -letter and also, I believe that it could be helpful for someone else in the future. I'm quite certain I'm not the first to have a bad experience.

Another thing that boggles me is this passive-aggressive consensus to dismiss the following fact: I told you I've tried those tweaks you suggest and they haven't worked. I told some of those things in my first post. And now I'm in the wrong to hope that you'd read what I write before commenting.

You refuse to take in the valid points I've made and distort my words. That's called a witch-hunt.

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