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Day 29 - almost over and almost no difference to day 1


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Hey there,

 

maybe someone can help me. I'm almost done with my first whole30 and I feel like I wasted a lot of money and time for nothing. 

I'm female, 33 years old and morbidly obese. I have quite a few health problems and did the whole30 to at least get rid of a few of those problems. But so far - almost nothing. On day 1 I made a list of the things I'd like to see improvement in and the only thing that changed was, that I have less gas. Everything else remains - my eczema is still there, as well as my acne. Joint pains, runny nose, fatigue (this one is even worse now), brain fog, etc. you name it, it's still there. I spent four (!) times as much money as I usually do on groceries while I could've used that money very well elsewhere and got basically no results. While I did not weigh in yet (not allowed until it's over), I'm pretty sure that I haven't lost any weight either. My clothes fit the same and the reflection in the mirror didn't change either.

I chose the 30 days very specifically because I had close to no stress during this time. I did not do any special exercise (did not want to confuse the nutrition results with any potential exercise results) but I do not own a car and either walk or bike everywhere. On almost all days I had 3 meals according to the template (with a snack consisting of an apple and about 1 thumb of cashew butter on about 4-5 days). Once I had SWYPO - a fruit smoothie because I was promised a compliant meal option and that was the only thing available that had compliant ingredients. 

Before whole30 I followed the No S Diet. Which is "eat three meals a day, no sweets, no snacks, no seconds, except (sometimes) on days that start with S" I'd say that a typical plate would be 1/3 carbs, 1/3 veggies, 1/3 either legumes or meat (meat usually once or twice a week).

 

Two sample days:

 

Breakfast: large zucchini, 3 carrots, 4 eggs, coconut oil, topped with a generous amount of olive oil (1 thumb)

Lunch: meatballs (about 2 palm sizes), 2 turnips (? not quite sure on the translation, should be about 3 cups of veggies), 2 smallish potatoes, ghee, olive oil

Dinner: steak (a little more than 1 palm size), ghee, green beans (should amount to about 2-3 cups), 1/2 avocado

 

Breakfast: salad of 1 avocado, 3 tomatoes, 1/2 cucumber, 1 bell pepper, a little olive oil, 2 palm sizes of chicken

Lunch: salad greens, 1/2 avocado, 3 tomatoes, 1/2 cucumber, 1 bell pepper, generous amount of olive oil, about 1.5 palm sizes of chicken

Dinner: salmon (1 palm size), cauli mash (3-4 cups), olive oil (1 thumb), 1/2 avocado, 2 tomatoes

 

Drinks: water - at least 2 liters (about 1/2 gallon) a day, most days it was about 3 liters.

 

The veggies always covered at least 1/2 of my plate, often even more. 

I searched through the website and message boards for hints because I wanted to know why it seems like everyone else has success on this plan but me. Please help, because trading less gas for more fatigue while paying 4 times as much money for groceries is nothing I want to keep up...

 

Or are there people that simply don't have success with whole30?

 

 

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It might take months and months before you feel the way you would like.  Precondition Whole 30 has alot to do with post Whole 30 results.  Without blood tests pre/post, it's hard to tell how many internal changes have  really taken place.  There may be oodles of them that you cannot see or feel yet.    

 

We can't compare our results with anyone else's.  A pro athlete is going to breeze through this like a buzzsaw.  I like to read Melissa's take on everything.  With each Whole 30 she sees/feels results quicker than the first time out of the chute.  

 

There's always hope.  Don't give up on yourself.  I'm here to tell you that you don't need the higher priced items and extras for a compliant Whole 30.   Budget yourself. 

 

Emily, there's no going back to the SAD.  Bind yourself to  eating this healthy way for a few months. Post on and report back.

 

http://whole30.com/2014/09/five-things-melissa-hartwig-learned-whole30/

 

Five Things Melissa Hartwig Learned from the Whole30. 29 September, 2014 .... *The more Whole30's I do, the faster the Tiger Blood appears.

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1/2 a gallon is ok if you weigh 120-130 lbs, so it may be you need to drink more.

And I know for me, I'm my worst critic. While it may look like nothing in your reflection has changed, it may be something has changed but it's hard to see personally.

what other non scale victories have you seen?

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Meadow is right, unfortunately when you come to a Whole30 with multiple long pre-existing medical conditions, it can take more than 30 days for you to feel or see results.

 

I'm not sure why you spent 4X the amount of money on groceries... your meals look simple and reasonably well balanced so unless you bought a bunch of fancy schmancy items like coconut aminos, I can't understand why it would be four times the price but I dont' doubt that it was... if you were eating a lot of procesed carbs previously, those are extremely cheap and abundant so you may have had to trade up your grocery bill for better food.

 

I would also suggest that your body may need to learn to trust you that you're going to feed it nutritious food on a consistent basis.  While it learns trust, it may very well hold on to everything you give it in fear for the coming 'famine' (if you calorie restrict) rather than dumping weight right away... the truth tho is that if you keep feeding yourself healthily and consistently, your body eventually becomes comfortable to drop excess weight.

 

As meadow also said, it's impossible to know what is going on IN your body but there's nothing about eating whole, nutritious, non inflammatory food that is going to make any of your situation worse... Please don't go back to a SAD (standard american diet).. it really will not help you... from the sounds of it, you may be on a journey instead of a 30 day sprint... keep with it!

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Why my budget is so high?

Sunflower seed oil - 1.99 (about 1 bottle every 3-4 months) compared to coconut oil - 7.50 (one jar for about a month)

veggies 3x per day (instead of 2x) - 0.5 more per day (15 Euros more per month -> this is actually the smalles increase)

meat/eggs/fish 3 times per day (instead of once or twice per week) - an additional 30 Euros per week, which adds 120 Euros for the month 

avocados - about 1 Euro each (going through my receipts I had 23 so far) - 23 Euros extra

Not feeling like adding it all up, but you probably get the idea

I do buy everything at Aldi's that I can get there. Which is all of my meat, veggies, fruit, (sweet) potatoes Things like coconut oil, nut butter, etc. is stuff I can only get organic. Especially the meat/fish/eggs and fats added a lot of money to my grocery bill, although I went with the cheapest compliant options I could find.

Carbs (bread, rice, pasta), beans and dairy are definitely cheaper than what I ate during whole30.

My problem is probably that I would have to give up about every other budgeting category (including travel, going out with friends, books, etc.) in order to afford whole30 longterm. I guess that's what frustrates me so much. I feel like my choice is "healthy, but stuck at home or doing free things (most of which are only available during the summer)" or "unhealthy, but still living my life"

 

@Karen: I went through my list of symproms pre whole30. And aside from the gas I can't check anything else off of it. I also went though the NSV-list that is somewhere on this site, same thing. 

 

Another weird thing that I noticed: I have a craving for Ben&Jerry's for about 8 days now. Before whole30 ice-cream has always been the one sweet thing that I never had cravings for and that I could eat in moderation - no matter what. 

 

Thank you three for responding! Your answers definitely gave me food for thought. I guess I'll need a day or two to do some thinking before I know how I'll continue (don't worry, I'll definitely finish the whole30)

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Now that I've properly finished my first whole30:

My weight stayed the same (well, I'm down 200g, but that is normal weight fluctuation for me)

But: today was the first day my acne seemed to be better which means I had at least some success with my whole30 (crossing my fingers that it stays that way).

 

I still haven't really decided how to go forward from here. I did start the reintroduction of non-whole30 foods today and since that takes some time (I'm doing them one by one and not by food groups) I still have some time to decide and see how I feel. I truly hope that black beans and rice are things I'll be able to eat because those two foods alone would give my grocery budget a huge break.

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I hope you find a good balance and can add a few less expensive items into your meals but mainly stay on the plan. I'm on day 46 because I didn't feel like I got the stellar results that I hear a lot of people crowing about. I did get better sleep - that was my main NSV. Of course, that also lead to better mood/energy. But I did not see major (or really minor) improvement in arthritis. I'm still tweaking the diet to make it the best version of Whole30 for me. I hope you can do the same!

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Hey Emily, I can tell you from my experience that I saw some minor improvements during my first Whole 30, but it wasn't until I finished my second one that I felt some serious changes happening. My advice is to stick with it and trust that your body is just adjusting. Believe me, I KNOW it can be frustrating, especially when you see all these people having amazing results and you wonder why the heck you can't have the same thing, but it's just different for everyone. I have some health problems that have yet to resolve, too, even after two Whole 30s, but I have seen so many enormous improvements by now that I just plan to keep [mostly] eating this way and hope to see the rest of the changes I'm looking for follow suit. Hang in there! :)

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...while paying 4 times as much money for groceries is nothing I want to keep up...

You've been given some great advice above in terms of your results, but regarding keeping costs down going forward you could do some of the following:

Use tinned fish like sardines & mackerel which are much cheaper, healthy protein options.

Go to the supermarket around closing time when they are marking down produce close to it's sell by date - buy & freeze, or buy, cook & freeze.

Only buy products in season, or on offer & plan your meals around this, rather than planning your meals & then buying.

Make friends with your local butcher who can sell you cheap cuts of meat for slow cooking, and probably provide free bones for making broth.

Cook a whole chicken rather than buying then you can add to all kinds of meals throughout the week .(I can cook a whole large chicken for less than the cost of buying a cooked small one).

Use cheaper cooking fats such as lard.

Search for the more expensive oils (such as coconut oil or avocado oil) online - they are often cheaper.

Ditch the expensive & unnecessary nuts & nut butters

Rely on eggs a little more as a cheap protein source.

Switch out some/all of the avocado in favour of home-made mayo.

 

It's definitely do-able on a budget if you think outside of the box, and the truth is that going back to those cheap, refined carbs now will most certainly make you feel a lot worse, and that's when you'll notice how much better you've been feeling eating this way.

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