Whole150

[DevonMrs]

Hi

I did my first W30 last April and it was amazing! I did it for health reasons but a bonus was losing weight too. I am now doing it again for health reasons but need to still lose weight and I am currently on Day 20 of what I've estimated will be 150 day program.

To anybody who has done it longer term - should I stick to it rigidly for 150 days or after the initial 30, will it keep me going or hinder me if I allow myself set days off or special occasions etc?

Would really value your advice.

Many thanks.

[kirkor]

There's some relevant discussion in this thread: http://forum.whole30.com/topic/32923-whole90/

[Tom Denham]

Only strict compliance is a Whole30. Anything else is your personal program. After you have done 30 days AND completed a serious period of reintroduction testing, it is time to design your own program and follow it. Then if your personal program is not working as well as you want, modify it. Don't say you are doing a Whole30 for months at a time when you are really doing your own personal program. 

[DevonMrs]

Tom that was my whole question really, is it ok to do it for that length of time or should I re-introduce things after 30 days? I feel the rules are clear for the w30 and want you to change your relationship with food but I didn't achieve that after 30 days and I would like some guidance if I do go off plan or in creating my own. If it's best and ok to stick to the rules long term I assure you I comply completely.

[DevonMrs]

Thanks Kirkor.

[ShannonM816]

Physically, there's no reason you shouldn't continue eating this way for as long as you want.

 

Mentally/emotionally there might be some concerns. Some people may find the restrictions over that long a period of time problematic -- it could cause them to fight against the restrictions and go overboard eating off plan foods (kind of saying, screw it, I'm sick of rules!), or it could cause them to be so super strict with the rules that they cannot be flexible enough to deal with circumstances beyond their control (and the longer you're doing this, the more likely you are to run into those circumstances).  It could also make it difficult to socialize, if your friends and family tend to plan get-togethers around food. We don't want you to be a hermit, so you'd need to figure out how to deal with that, if you haven't had to figure that out yet.

 

It truly is best to do reintroductions and see how different foods affect you, then write your own rules for how to deal with different circumstances. For instance, your rules could be, I'll eat Whole30 when I'm at home, but if I go out to a restaurant or someone else's home, and the foods they're offering don't physically cause me major issues, I'll go with the flow, make the best decisions possible, but not worry if there's sugar in the salad dressing, or cheese in a dish, or soy sauce in the marinade on the steak (assuming you're not sensitive to these ingredients and would have major negative reactions).  Or your rules could be that you will always be Whole30 compliant, period, no matter what. That also would be okay, but be sure you know why you're deciding to do that -- maybe you do have noticeable reactions to almost everything W30 leaves out, so you're truly happier just leaving all of it out of your life forever. Don't make that your norm because you're afraid to try non-W30 foods, or because you don't want to take responsibility for your own decisions and prefer to have someone else write your rules for you. (I'm not saying that's what you're doing, you're the only one who knows the reasons for your decisions, I'm just saying be sure you know why you decide what you decide -- you're more likely to stick with it if you have really good reasons for what you're doing.) 

[QuilterInVA]

In the Whole30 Daily newsletter today it says that it takes 66 days for the average person to form a new habit. I'm going for a Whole90 this time as I fell off the wagon over the holidays and in part I think my habits hadn't really changed. I really want this way of eating to be my normal habit this time. I might even go longer than 90 days if I feel I need it.