Day 30. No exclamation points, no magic: is it just me?

[allysone]

I was prepared and excited for the Whole30! Friends had done it and looked and felt fabulous. We saw Melissa and Dallas speak in Boston and loved the event. I bought, understood, and loved “It Starts With Foodâ€, and bought a copy for my Mom. I committed to the 30 days without a doubt that I would have an amazing story to tell at the end of this journey. Even today, in spite of my story's lack of amazingness, I believe that this works.

Unfortunately, here on Day 30, I have to report that I am crestfallen. My Whole30 results are so disappointing. I just don't know what happened, since it seems like nothing has happened.

With the exception of one bite of a peanut butter cookie flavored Larabar that was quickly spitooned from the window of my car the moment my “duh!†radar went off, I did not stray one.single.time from The Plan. I spent at least three hours every Sunday preparing, cooking, and packing up food for myself and my also-W30 boyfriend. I even had to make an unplanned trip out of state to tend to a family matter and managed to pull it off with 100% Whole30 compliance.

The result? I do find that my sleep is better, and I may be less moody (aside from today's crying jags over what I am qualifying as a W30 failure). But my skin still breaks out, I don't need to eat less or less often than I used to eat, and I do not see or feel any real noticeable difference in my body shape. I do not have more energy. I am down 2 pounds. Maybe.

To be clear, we did not measure ourselves or establish body fat percentages or even take pictures when we started this. So, there is a chance that some things have changed for me. I understand this. That said, I really, really wanted the change to be clear and obvious and awesome.

My boyfriend's results are clear, obvious, and awesome. I am happy for him, am glad in many ways that I am the exception to the rule that the Whole30 can produce such great results. We are soon going to have a W30 Challenge at the CrossFit box we run, and I am grateful that he has the kind of “after†that will really motivate people.

I wish I knew what it is about me, about this body, that did not feel the magic. My sacrifices were relatively few: I already drank my coffee black, and I ‘gave up' gum, packaged dressings and marinades (which I used sparingly, anyway), feta cheese I put in my eggs, and the occasional PB&J or oatmeal with peanut butter and bananas. I want to think that this is the answer, that my changes in diet and lifestyle were not significant enough to reflect in a bells, whistles, and fireworks. But I just don't know.

I am deflated.

[befabdaily]

It took me longer than a month to really feel all the magic, and I've only lost about 2 pounds per month all along.

I did get some sinus and ear clearing and some reduction of my asthma in the first Whole30.

My head and lungs continue to slowly improve to this day.

I did not get the noticeable gains in energy until most of the way into the third Whole 30, and that might have been partly due to going off the asthma steroids.

I did not sort of look around and say "whoa, my moods are getting really stable" until this last week, when something happened that might have thrown me into despair and I just kind of rolled with it.

Complete digestive peace, I'm still working on, although some things have improved in that regard and I might have been creating my own problems with too much Natural Calm.

I think we hear the big dramatic 1-month change stories on here and they probably represent a small fraction of the people who try this. For me the change has been much slower, but still worthwhile.

Are the improvements you had worthwhile? Then, patience, grasshopper! Keep at it and maybe some day in a couple of months you'll realize that whatever slow progress you've been making adds up.

[Renee Lee]

Hi Ally,

You're sort of on the right track here. Unfortunately, if you make a small change to something, you can NOT reasonably expect ginormous changes. (Oh, how I wish that were the case though!) You sleep better and are less moody, THAT IS A VICTORY! Are you SURE that you are eating and sleeping enough? You own a crossfit gym (which one, btw? I was at the Boston seminar too). Running your own business is stressful and demands long hours by definition. Is your sleep adequate?

How has your relationship with food changed? are you thinking about food differently at all? If your skin is still breaking out, how much were you depending on nuts? Have you played around with dropping eggs for a short period of time?

For somebody that is already close to W30 guidelines, the program is more about discovering what little tweaks can be made, rather than the big, huge, obvious changes that so many people experience.

Last thought of the day: you personally may have hopped onto the W30 to find a nutritional solution to a lifestyle problem. I am guilty of doing the same. Sadly, you cannot W30 your way out of chronic stress.

[Tom Denham]

Thanks for telling your story. People need to hear that change can be so slow that you might not notice it.

I got excited because I started to sleep better during my first Whole30. I think my weight loss and strength gains that followed came from better sleep, but it all came slow. I lost 30 pounds over a 15 month period at a rate of 2 pounds per month. The thing is, the changes stuck and now more than 2 years later, I am still relatively thin and strong. Hang in there.

[Carlaccini]

I would say focus on the positive that you did have, rather than on the ones that you didn't. And remember everyone is different and takes different times to adjust. For example it took until day 21 for me to have a really great night's sleep. I had been feeling unsuccesful as well at that point because here everyone was exclaiming on the great nights sleep and here I was still struggling.

Also I have heard reported that somepeople did not have much luck on the first whole 30, but did much better on a second one. Like I said. Everyone has their time.

You mentioned that your skin is stil unclear. I have a thought on this one, but it only comes from my personal experience. I'm not saying this has to be you, but you could be having similar issues. I have issues with eating too much red meat or pork. I breakout. And these breakouts are on average bigger and uglier than any pimples I had. As soon as I backed off of these meat products, the breakouts would ease up. So it could be something along those lines or some other specific food that causes some issues.

[allysone]

Hi Ally,

You're sort of on the right track here. Unfortunately, if you make a small change to something, you can NOT reasonably expect ginormous changes. (Oh, how I wish that were the case though!) You sleep better and are less moody, THAT IS A VICTORY! Are you SURE that you are eating and sleeping enough? You own a crossfit gym (which one, btw? I was at the Boston seminar too). Running your own business is stressful and demands long hours by definition. Is your sleep adequate?

How has your relationship with food changed? are you thinking about food differently at all? If your skin is still breaking out, how much were you depending on nuts? Have you played around with dropping eggs for a short period of time?

For somebody that is already close to W30 guidelines, the program is more about discovering what little tweaks can be made, rather than the big, huge, obvious changes that so many people experience.

Last thought of the day: you personally may have hopped onto the W30 to find a nutritional solution to a lifestyle problem. I am guilty of doing the same. Sadly, you cannot W30 your way out of chronic stress.

Thank you for your response! We own CrossFit KGB in Kennebunk, ME. We are in the process of becoming Whole9 partners, and are really excited about it! (No, really! My pity party is a response to my own personal learning curve, and I am confident that it will make me a good source of support for some of the folks in our community who may find similar experiences and results.)

Stress may, indeed, be a factor. While Ben is at CFKGB all day, every day, I have a full time job and so travel to and from the box either before or after work to either workout or coach or both. His alarm goes off at 4:15am every day and I am often up with him, and getting home before 8:30pm for both of us is a challenge. We eat late. We sleep less than we should, but the solution to that in the first year of the business is a mystery.

I can not imagine Whole30 without eggs! I mean that strictly from a what-do-I-have-for-breakfast?! standpoint and not a wow-I-really-love-eggs! standpoint. I do eat almonds and macadamias each day, but not a ton and not more than I was before the W30 and I've cut out peanut butter and peanuts.

Thank you so much for your input!

[allysone]

I would say focus on the positive that you did have, rather than on the ones that you didn't. And remember everyone is different and takes different times to adjust. For example it took until day 21 for me to have a really great night's sleep. I had been feeling unsuccesful as well at that point because here everyone was exclaiming on the great nights sleep and here I was still struggling.

Also I have heard reported that somepeople did not have much luck on the first whole 30, but did much better on a second one. Like I said. Everyone has their time.

You mentioned that your skin is stil unclear. I have a thought on this one, but it only comes from my personal experience. I'm not saying this has to be you, but you could be having similar issues. I have issues with eating too much red meat or pork. I breakout. And these breakouts are on average bigger and uglier than any pimples I had. As soon as I backed off of these meat products, the breakouts would ease up. So it could be something along those lines or some other specific food that causes some issues.

Thank you! We did add more red meat during the past month, and I will pay better attention to this. I had the same sleeping thing that you did - I kept wondering when it was going to "kick in", all the deep and marvelous sleep, and it finally did. The thing is, though, that I don't sleep great every single night (we eat late, unfortunately, and, thanks to a crazy schedule, I only get a solid 7-8 hours of sleep one night a week - Saturday). But when I DO get good sleep, it is goooooooood. Does that make sense?

Anyway, I really appreciate your feedback. Reading about the miracles - and living with someone who had really, really positive results - was making me wonder what I'd done wrong, when I'd spent such an enormous amount of time focusing on doing things right. I think I'm starting to 'get it' now.

[EllieBellie]

Reading about the miracles - and living with someone who had really, really positive results - was making me wonder what I'd done wrong, when I'd spent such an enormous amount of time focusing on doing things right.

I hear ya! My fella isn't even paleo, but despite devouring bread baskets and sneaking in sweets when I'm not around his body comp is amazing just two months after eliminating gluten at home. I'm happy for him, but it does get me down from time to time.

[magnolia73]

I think that maybe you should view it as confirmation that your diet was pretty damn good already. I'm on Day 29 and have seen not a lot of changes either. I felt good before, I feel good now. I gave up cream and sugar in my coffee, occasional choclate and ice cream, occasional dairy. Otherwise, my diet was good. I went primal about a year ago and saw the huge change then I guess.

Maybe your issues aren't the peanut butter, marinade and feta. Maybe you can enjoy those things without hurting yourself.

[Cavegrrl]

I know you're feeling pretty punky about the lack of AMAZING RESULTS from your W30, but for my own selfish reasons, I am so grateful to read this. I thought it was just me.

I'm on Day 17 and, like you, was eating pretty much paleo before my W30, so the modification of diet was not earth shaking ... and neither are my results so far.

I'm moving past food obsession and being tempted by sugary yum yums, and I'm able to eat a meal and be finished -- no peckish grazing for hours on end -- but that's about it. I'm older than you (53) and not as fit as you (by like a mile), which I think should mean that I have MO BETTA results, but I don't.

So, Allysone, your despair is my validation and I thank you for sharing.

Keep the faith, sister!

Cavegrrl

http://forum.whole9life.com/topic/3428-cavegrrl-dominates-whole30-in-a-nice-way/page__hl__cavegrrl__fromsearch__1