Fat amounts/portions

[WildKitty]

Hello forum!!!!

I finished my whole30 2 days ago and lost 1 pound, I did notice the "magic" the lack of cravings and a different body composition overall, but I still have more stored fat to lose and I would have thought I would have lost more than I did, so I am trying to identify what I could have done "wrong" and that has led me to a confusion I may have and that I want to clarify before staring my next whole30 on Monday; I read the whole30 book and on the subject of fats it says to eat it with every meal (which I do) then on the success guide it also says to eat 2 fat type with each meal and the portion should be the size of your thumb, but I also read that a good fat option is to have have a whole avocado with your meals. But if that is the case wouldn't that go over the "thumb" rule? I am just trying to assess if I may be eating too much fat, as I normally have olive oil by default of cooking and or in my salad and then I have a whole avocado if it is a hass or small and half of one if it is a Floriday one.

Any advice will truly help. Thanks!

[Robin Strathdee]

WildKitty -

I will preface my comment with this: This is not directed at you, specifically. This is directed at the mindset that causes participants to completely discard their successes with the Whole30 because of the number they see on a scale.

YOUR SCALE NUMBER DOES NOT TELL YOU ANYTHING ABOUT YOUR HEALTH, PROGRESS, OR SELF WORTH.

Throw your %$&! scale away and worry about how your clothes fit and how your body feels. If you feel the magic, then feel the magic! Don't you dare undermine your success by tempering it against a number that only reflects the force of gravity on your body mass. If you have more fat to lose (most of us do) then, by all means, keep up with the program. Things will only get better for you! But stop looking for reasons why that stupid number didn't change as much as you wanted it to.

Start looking at what did change. Did you take before and after photos or measurements? Look at them! Compare the fit of your pants or admire your new muscles in the mirror - CONCENTRATE ON YOUR SUCCESS! You went 30 days without feeding yourself crap! You put away old habits and chose to build new ones. You are a fortress of willpower!!! Rejoice in that and hit your scale with a sledgehammer.

PS: Eating W30 sanctioned fats won't stall your fat loss unless you are grossly (to the point of being unable to physically consume more) over eating them. An avocado a day is fine, but it's better when your day includes MORE fat (olive oil, coconut milk, nuts as a garnish, homemade mayo). In fact, there's a chance you could be UNDER eating fat.

If you want to post some logs for your next W30, we can definitely help you make sure you're getting what you need.

[WildKitty]

Thanks Robin, I am actually overall happy with the experience and already into my 10th day of my second whole30 and honestly expect this to be my lifestyle going forward. To give you some stats: I am 5'6 and 145-148 lbs, I do CF 5-6 a week and I am one of the top athletes at my box, I also do competitions and I rank about top 12 locally so I am in overall good condition, I have also been 80% paleo for about 8 months so going on the whole30 wasn't much of a change for me.

For the first whole30 I got 2 couples to do it with me, one couple that were in good shape and had been pescatarians for the past 9 years, they now eat grassfed beef thanks to the whole30!!! the other couple was overweight, one single girl that was overweight and another girl that is a masters CF athlete as well that ranks really well, top 5 locally.

Reason weight came into the equation was for this reason:

The pescatarian couple; girl that weighed 127 lost 7 lbs, guy that weighed 205 (he is 6'5) lost 11 lbs

Overweight couple; girl lost 15 lbs husband lost 30 lbs

Single overweight girl; lost 20 lbs

Masters Athlete; lost 6 lbs

Me: 1 lbs

I also cooked all the meals for the overweight couple along with mine so we ate the same things yet results were very different, I guess now I have attributed that to the fact that I was already eating paleo for so long and was already a healthy eater so it wasn't much of a shock for my body and therefore no major changes were observed. Nevertheless I am onto the 10th day of my second whole30 and I still feel great but I have not seen many changes in my body and that is why I am kind of bummed out....I do have "fat" on my body and I would think that after 40 days it would start to have gone away!!!!

I pretty much cook everything with olive oil or coconut oil and by all means I do not meassure it, if anything i do way more then the "thumb" rule, I also have about half of a huge avocado or one whole avocado with every meal, and I may have a few nuts during the day with a meal as well. I do my pre and post meals as perscribed in addition to my 3 regular meals. I also pretty much eat the same thing for 2-3 days as I cook in bulk so for example the next 3 days will consist of me eating the following:

PreWO: 1 whole egg

PstWO: gound turkey with a sweet potato

1st, 2nd & 3rd meal will be a grass fed beef burger (made with peppers, onions, mushrooms & spices), colliflower mash, a sprinkle of shredded carrots, a few leaves of spinach, a dash of kale and half of an avocado.....the colliflower mash has ghee, a hint of coconut milk and coconut oil....Kale leaves also sauteed in coconut oil. So is this too much fat?

Thanks again for taking the time to reply and yes I agree, the scale IS NOT my friend, i just marely used it as a reference point because "my group" was all about the weight and I couldn't help getting a bit down (yes I am human).

[Susan W]

Possibly you don't need to lose weight? Just a thought. I know that after losing 84 lbs a couple of years ago (wow..amazing that it was that long ago) and maintaining, I don't even weigh myself. In fact, I gave away my fairly expensive Tanita scale because it no longer matters. I even refused to get on a scale at my doctors. I asked the MA if I looked anything but healthy and she agreed I could skip the scale. I think even if I felt I needed to lose, I would not use a scale for any barometer. I know I am at a good weight. I know I don't need to lose, so any goal that I may have by my Whole 30s has nothing to do with numbers.

[Robin Strathdee]

My thought is that you don't have much "weight" to lose. I'm a CrossFitter, too (though not top notch anything, for sure), and we tend to run heavy and hold onto higher scale numbers because of the weight training focus (at least at CrossFit Springfield). Maybe body fat % or benchmark lifts/wods would be a better measure for you? For instance, on my last W45 I lost .4 lbs but I increased my deadlift by 10lbs, my OHS by 20 lbs and took 2 minutes off my Fran time.

[WildKitty]

Way to go slw600 on keeping the weight off!!!

I see what you are saying Robin, but I am at 26% body fat which leaves lots of room for losing fat (that I don't seem to be loosing)

[Robin Strathdee]

Honestly, you could just need longer to get into that super-fat-burn zone. You really don't have too much fat to lose, I promise, even at 26%. I sit at 23ish and dont have much to lose without losing every curve on my body. You have to factor any bustiness you have (naturally) in there, any junk in the trunk, the fleshy bits on the bottoms of your toes...

Seriously though. I've been eating this way for more than 2 years and finally caught the fat burn with my last W30. For me it took being super vigilant about my meal times (I tend to under eat), not eating after dinner and getting decent rest.

[tcarson]

The question I find myself asking is, 1 pound of what? If you lost a pound of fat, which is likely since the easy early losses of water and inflammation that come for people who start Whole30 from a SAD diet won't be a factor for you, that's amazing. If you lost a pound of FAT (as opposed to muscle) a month, that sounds not only sustainable, but amazing. If you can lose anything while maintaining strength, it's a great program. 

I was also mostly paleo last year, but drinking a fair amount and overtraining. This month I'm doing Whole30 and only heavy lifting. I've lost two pounds, but the changes to my body shape and how my clothes fit are pretty amazing for only a little over two weeks. And I'm continuing to increase my lifts.