Starting Monday 1/4

[AmyKaz]

Hi!

 

I am excited to get started right after the holidays. I will be doing 1/4 - 2/3 for my very first round. I bought the book and am still reading. I want the week after Christmas to clear out all the stuff the guests bring and prepare and I will get going first thing Monday morning after our weekend trip to Chicago to ring in the new year.

 

I am kind of wrapping up a round. I have been eating Whole30 on a cleanse (not knowing it was called Whole30 until I found the book) since October. I have been going 43 days and I feel great. I have been having stevia, though, so I have to read more to understand cutting that.

 

I will be eating about 95% paleo from now until 1/4, with the exception of a few things around the holidays, so I am hoping that after 45 days of Whole30, then Paleo for about 7 weeks, then back to Whole30 I will not have a lot of the detox to deal with but we shall see.

 

I just want to feel better. Since August 2012 I have lost 75 pounds. I am just at the top end of my healthy weight and within 10 pounds of my goal weight, so I think this will first round will help me nail it.

 

And, I love how I feel eating this way, so I am planning 5 Whole30s in 2016. 

 

Round 1      1/4 - 2/3

Round 2      4/13 - 5/12

Round 3      6/12 - 7/4

Round 4      8/7 - 9/5

Round 5      9/19 -10/18

 

I am strategically planning one after each of my big events/trips during which I will be less likely to follow my predominantly paleo lifestyle. Hopefully following each big trip with a clean up 30 days will help me stay on top of my health goals.

 

I plan to post here. I will try to post each day.

[Tom Denham]

No. Please no. You are planning to make the Whole30 into a diet by planning 5 in a year. The Whole30 was never meant to be a diet. People frequently lose weight when doing a Whole30, but it is not a diet.

 

The Whole30 is a research experiment designed to show you 1) that eating meat and veggies and good fats exclusively makes you feel good and 2) to facilitate your discovering other foods that cause you trouble, big or small, so you can devise your personal eating plan. If you make it a diet, you fail to develop and execute your own personal eating plan which is the real reason to ever do a Whole30. 

 

You don't need someone else's rules telling you how to eat for the rest of your life. You need your own rules. The Whole30 is a way to discover your own personal rules. Use it the way it was designed to be used. Anything else is selling yourself and your life short. 

[AmyKaz]

Well, no, I had no intention of this being a diet, whatsoever. I was just thinking that I may lose 10 pounds while doing it, but that is certainly not my intention for doing it and now that I reread what I wrote, I can see where it appears that is the case.

 

My intention is to stay in closer tune with my body and truly learn to overcome the challenges I have with specific foods and gain a better comprehension about what foods trigger me, make me feel bad, and cause inflammation and issues in my gut.

 

I follow a predominantly paleo lifestyle but I do occasionally have grains, paleo sugars, wine, cheese, etc. For example, I am going to an all inclusive resort in St. Lucia in April and I am going to eat things I may not normally eat, and drink alcoholic beverages. I was thinking more about doing this as a reset after events where I may eat non-paleo foods for 2-7 days to help me re-focus on my paleo eating habits.

 

Am I really that wrong to think about it this way?

 

Obviously I will do my first one and see how I feel, but I was thinking of it more as a periodic check in with my body to gain alignment, focus, and clean out things that may have been finding their way back into my daily eating (cheese is my nemesis). I like the idea of eliminating for 30 days from time to time to reset to health and that focus.

 

Help me understand why this is wrong. I see many other people doing occasional Whole30s or extending them into Whole60 and Whole90. I just want to understand.

 

Thank you so much for your help with this.

[ladyshanny]

Help me understand why this is wrong. I see many other people doing occasional Whole30s or extending them into Whole60 and Whole90. I just want to understand.

 

It's not really "wrong". There is nothing wrong with resetting if needed and lots of people do one or two Whole30's a year.  And yes, lots of people extend their Whole30 to a 60 or 90, generally when they are deep in autoimmune conditions because 30 days sometimes is not long enough to see benefits.

 

But scheduling a Whole30 almost every other month for a year is not doing yourself any favours.  It's not realistic and it's not overly respectful of yourself.  And in a way it's foisting responsibility for yourself onto someone else's rules.  The idea behind Whole30, beyond correcting and assisting with health issues, is to determine how foods affect you and then make your own plan.  Maybe for you that means no dairy, soy or wheat ever but some sugar is fine and corn doesn't bother you.  That then becomes your own plan to follow indefinitely.  

 

When you come at Whole30'ing every other month for a year, you're not learning anything new in each go-round because there is no "rest time" to live your life in between and find out what works best for you.  You're also probably not using it to correct any health issues.  It sounds like you're doing it more as a "I went on vacation and ate all the things, now I will follow this restrictive plan to correct that.".

 

This is not to say that you cannot eat "whole30-ish" forever, you can and lots of us do. But we're not doing a Whole30....we're just eating the way that we've found best suits ourselves.  For me that's having a glass of red wine on Friday night, having ice cream on a hot day, not worrying about the oil that restaurant foods are cooked in, occasionally ordering french fries instead of salad.  95% of our meals would be Whole30 compliant and our eating follows the template because that's just how we choose eat.  But I haven't done a Whole30 in nearly a year because I've learned my limits.  I'll do one in 2016 because enough time has passed that I'm not the same person I was 12 months ago and it's good to reassess where you are right now.  But to do it month to month.......no.

 

Does that make sense a bit?

[AmyKaz]

This is very helpful, yes. I see where I was not understanding things. This has all been very helpful, thank you. I will only do one in 2016, 1/4 -2/3 and try to learn from that one, and from this community. I am so glad I joined here instead of going it alone with the book. I would have likely made a mess of it.

 

Appreciate all of your help. 

[kirkor]

And in a way it's foisting responsibility for yourself onto someone else's rules.

 

Wise words, LS. I think whether it's W30 or the latest Dr. Oz miracle, people want to be told what to do. The emphasis is primarily on the "what", with the "how" coming second, and "why" trails a distant third.

[Geralyn5]

Hi Amy! 

 

I am planning on starting Whole30 with my fiance and a coworker on Jan.4th as well. I have never done anything like this, and my diet is nowhere near what yours sounds like, but I am so excited to be doing this. I am spending the next month slowly cleaning up my diet so that it does not seem like such a shock when I go all in, and reading "It Starts with Food", which I just received yesterday! 

 

Looking forward to this adventure!!

[pyrotek]

Hello Amy, I am planning on starting a whole 30 on Jan 4th as well. I completed one about a year ago,and Ifeel great. I lost all of my joint pain and sinus infections. Most of the year I stuck with the whole 30 template with occasional deviations of sugar, wine, and GF bread crumbs. However, I joined a workout group and added a plant based, organic, high quality protein shake into the mix. I would mix it with spinach, berries, and 1 tablespoon of Peanut butter. ......big mistake. If I had it on occasion, if probably wouldn't have been a problem, but that became my meal 1 at 500 AM before work DAILY!!!! Over the past few months I have become extremely constipated, gassey, and bloating. I have stopped the shakes and the peanut butter, but still have an issue. I did ho to DRs for my yearly visit, results tomorrow. I feel that a 30 day reset after the New Year is in order!!!

[pyrotek]

Well I gotm my redults back from the DR. My TSH levels are high. He needs yo do more testing to see if the thyroid isue is an autoimmune issue or the lack of iodine. I haven't used iodine salt in years!! Also for the first time my blood pressure is going up!! Cholesterol and blood sugar slightly up as well. He wanted to start meds ...I wanted to see if I can change all of this on my own first. He is giving me until mid January. Then more tests. I am SORRY, BUT I NEED TO START NOW!!!!!! I will be on here to encourage you.

[Tertswill]

My husband and I plan to start 1/4 as well. I've never joined a group like this but am looking for some extra support through all of it. I'm excited and nervous! I'm glad to be a part of this group!!!