I'm at a loss (or lack thereof) ...

[KellyBurghart]

I'm in tears, here, so please be gentle.  I know weight loss isn't the main goal of the Whole30.  I know this.  I have NSVs a mile long.  I'm beyond thrilled with my NSVs.  I've been so thrilled with my NSVs that I didn't let my lack of weight loss bring me down.  But my lack of weight loss getting really old, now, and I need some ideas or suggestions.  I'm was going to post anonymously (but I guess I can't) because I am a huge supporter of Whole30 and if someone were to come across this post who knows me would think I have a beef with Whole30 after all.  Which I don't.  I recommend it to everyone and brag about it (and all of my NSVs all the time).  I know there's gotta be something I'm still doing wrong but I just can't put a finger on it.  I started my first Whole30 on 9/1/14.  By the end of the 30 days, I felt so amazing I never wanted it to end.  (No more numbness & tingling, no more foot drop, MS symptoms, skin cleared up, mood stability, no more headaches, etc ... just to name a FEW.)  So I continued with Whole30.  I relaxed a smidge on Thanksgiving day and off and on through the Christmas season.  I wasn't feeling awful, but I wasn't feeling quite as good.  So I started up again with a strict Whole30 on 1/1/15.  My husband started his first at the same time.  He wasn't feeling amazing by the end of 30, so we continued ... all the way through Lent.  I was lax a bit in April and then got back on strict for May & June of last year.  Lax a bit for vacation in July and then back on strict Whole30 from August - Thanksgiving of 2015.  Started strict again on 1/1/16 and have stayed that way for most of the year.  I would say I'm 100% strict for about 80% of that time and 80% strict for the other 20%.  I never go back to gluten grains in those off moments and I try really hard to steer clear of dairy, soy, and refined or artificial sweeteners always.  My latest strict Whole30 has been since August 1 to date.  I think the first knot I got in my stomach recently was the week the kiddos went back to school.  Two of the teachers had visibly lost weight.  Both of them commented that all they had done was started walking 10,000 steps a day and it really help shed the pounds.  I walk 10,000 steps a day!  I won't go to bed unless I have at least 10,000 steps and at least 10 floors.  I actually average around 12,500.  I walk everywhere.  I run for about 20 minutes about three times a week.  I'm a busy & active mother.  I eat a perfect Whole30 MOST of the time (and often in 30+ day spurts).  I'm not obsessed with the scale.  I don't even own one.  But between doctor's visits, I've seen that I've barely lost 10 pounds in the past two years.  I haven't lost any pants sizes, either.  It just doesn't make sense.  I eat two or three full meals a day.  I try to eat in an 8 hour window.  I have about a palm-sized amount of meat and fill the rest with veggies.  I don't do too many of the starchy ones.  I use coconut oil, olives & avocado for fats.  I rarely snack.  If I do, it's an occasional Larabar or handful of nuts or an apple.  I've read the books cover to cover and I tell everyone about how amazing I feel.  And I DO.  I'm so happy to feel so amazing.  But I just can't stand still being so heavy.  It brings me to tears.  It's about the only thing that saddens me once in a while.  I have spiritually uplifting practices.  I journal.  I have an amazing & supportive husband.  I'm busy and have much on my plate but I'm not stressed.  I just want some ideas.  Is there something through all of this that I'm still missing?  Do I just need to accept that I was made to be 5'5' and 175#?  Any input?  Any support?  Any advice?  I truly appreciate it!

[jmcbn]

6 hours ago, KellyBurghart said:

I eat two or three full meals a day.  I try to eat in an 8 hour window

An 8hr window is pretty small - particularly for a woman who has weight to lose. IF can be great for those whose hormones are in good shape, who are in good shape physically, and are male IMO. For the rest of us, we need to eat.

An 8hr window for me would mean two meals every day. And I'd be skipping out on my postWO meal any days I train  in the evening too.

How much exactly are you eating in that 8hr window?

How old are you?

 

[ladyshanny]

Hi @KellyBurghart You mention MS symptoms. Do you have MS? Do you have any other autoimmune conditions? Thyroid issues?

When you've done all your Whole30's, did you ever consistently eat three times a day and provide yourself post-workout food when it would have been relevant?

What is your sleep like? Do you wake up hungry? Eat within an hour of waking? When you're eating your palm of protein and plate of veggies, are you consistently adding fat? Do these meals last you 4-5 hours in between? What are your cravings like? Night munchies? 

My personal suspicion is that you are not eating enough to support your body and this is first, causing your body not to trust inbound nutrition and second, is not allowing your hormones to rebalance. Your appetite will down-regulate if you are undereating which will mess with the messages you're getting about whether or not you're really hungry. At an absolute minimum, an adult woman should be eating three template meals a day. I also suspect you have gone too low carb by avoiding starchy veggies which can also mess with balance.

If you are hungry between meals, lay off the fruit, nuts and larabars. Stick with protein and fat. 

Finally, never mind about what other people are doing. Comparing them with you is like comparing a car with a shovel. They are two completely different things. Those ladies might have been extremely sedentary and eating a dozen doughnuts every night. Sure, they are telling you that it was just a result of starting to move around but I would think that anyone who decided that they were going to move 10,000 steps a day from possibly zero also decided to do other things like maybe to cut out soda, eat more veggies and drink a tonne of water. You have no idea what they did besides what they told you and you'll never know their whole story. For some strange reason people LOVE to declare that "they just did this one simple thing" instead of saying that they really dug in, powered through the tough spots, still struggle etc. Comparison is the thief of joy but also, you're comparing yourself to a tiny snapshot of what they are choosing to share. Not valid.

Come back and talk to us, Kelly, I think that there are revisions that you can make that might help.

[KellyBurghart]

Thank you @jmcbn and @ladyshanny for your guiding questions.  I will do my best to answer them all.

When I wasn't seeing weight loss results the first year of trying multiple Whole30s (and I did do the perfect template for all three meals back then), I tried merging it with ketogenic strategies ... thus the 8 hour window and the lower carb count.  I read something, somewhere, that that was a good way to target the adipose fat stores.  I carry most of my weight on my bottom and my legs.  I have a fairly small waist and belly.  I still made sure to follow the Whole30 template, however, I just stuck to lower carb vegetables.  My first meal of the day is usually around 10 am and my last is usually around 5 pm.  If I have a 3rd meal, it's usually about 1:30 and much smaller.

For breakfast, I typically have 3 - 4 eggs, pan scrambled in coconut oil, with a side of raw veggies (usually cukes, bell peppers, carrots or spinach.  Sometimes I'll have 1/2 an avocado with a small handful of plantain slices.

For supper, it's usually some sort of beef, chicken or fish with a side of cooked veggies or salad.  Added fats are either olives or avocado.

If there's a "lunch," it's usually and handful of cashews and carrots or a Larabar or an apple with almond butter.  (I see I should keep these more protein and fat than fat and carb or protein and carb.)  I like to drink a kombucha in the midday sometimes, too.

As far as hunger and cravings, I really don't have any.  The sugar dragon has been slain.  Dead and buried.  That's why I try and stay on Whole30 most of the time.  It's a liberating feeling.  The only off-plan things I seem to crave are feta cheese, swiss cheese, and chick peas/garbanzo beans.  I never have night cravings and I'm rarely even hungry in the morning.  When 10 am rolls around, I am very ready to eat.  Sometimes I'll get an afternoon hunger pang, but the "lunch" options above tend to suffice.  Sometimes I have to force myself to eat supper.  I'm usually not hungry then at all.

I should add that I do drink black coffee.  I usually just sip at a cup in the morning and sometimes even forget to have it.  It doesn't feel like a necessity to me.  Sometimes I have just one cup, sometimes more.

I am 42 years old.  I've been overweight for as long as I can remember.  I went through a bout of anorexia/bulimia when I was in college and stopped that when I started having hypoglycemic episodes.  I lost weight, but not a whole lot.  Of course I gained it all back and more.

I was tested for thryoid conditions for years but my TSH was always normal.  The psychologist who wanted to prescribe me antidepressants finally tested my full thyroid panel and my Hashimoto's was discovered (appox 1998 or 1999).  Synthroid/Cytomel never worked for me, so he added Adderal to "augment" the thyroid meds (I had NO idea what Adderall really was at the time).  Needless to say, I was never hungry and lived off of Intajuice and Frappuchinos for a couple years.  Lost quite a bit of weight then, too.  When I got pregnant, I learned what Adderall really was and got off it for good.  I was a mess those first few years and gained a lot of weight between the pregnancies and post-adderall period.  I couldn't find a doctor who could properly treat my thyroid condition.  Most doctors kept saying it was all in my head.  I finally found an endocrinologist who prescribed Armour Thryroid.  It was helping, but still far from perfect.  When he retired, I found a naturalist who put me on all kinds of supplements and a rigid diet.  I eliminated gluten and soy (this was back in 2012).  I was starting to feel better, but still not losing any weight and still not feeling perfect.  She was completely stumped with why I was not losing weight or feeling better and illegally obtained Cynomel from Mexico to try and jump-start my weight loss and help improve conditions.  When I realized her as a cheat and thief, I cut ties with her.

Shortly after my second (and final) child was born, I started having MS symptoms.  They never found lesions, but the elevated proteins in my spinal fluid were indicative.  They treated me as if I had MS but never had an official diagnosis.  The drugs made me feel awful!!!  I stopped taking them and researched the holistic route.  That's how I ended up at the naturalist (above).  When that didn't work, I did more research and decided to take the matter into my own hands.  That's when I came across Whole30.  I started it in September of 2014.  By the end of the month, just about all of my MS symptoms were gone.  Most of my Hashimoto's symptoms were vastly improved, as well.

I found a whole-person specialist who was willing and able to continue my Armour prescription (my PCP won't touch it).  He is a strong Paleo supporter.  He thinks Wole30 is a great idea.  When I confessed at my June of 2015 annual check-up that I was feeling great but still not losing much weight, he suggested looking into the ketogenic diet.  I don't think I incorporarted that until September of 2015, though.  When I still hadn't lost anything at my June of 2016 annual check-up, he did a "Wheat Zoomer" test on me and found that I had abnormal amounts of wheat proteins in my blood stream.  He "diagnosed" me with leaky gut syndrom and said to lay off the gluten and wheat for life.  He said that should heal up my digestive system and I should be able to start lsoing weight.  The funny thing is, I already had been completely since January of 2012.  But I wasn't perfectly careful.  Sometimes I'd take a burger off the bun or croutons off the salad, or a tiny bite of communion bread or eggs grilled in the same pan as pancakes.  Come to find out Armor Thyroid has traces of Gluten in it!!!  So he switched me to NatureThroid which is guaranteed gluten free.  I have been much more careful about avoiding wheat/gluten since June.  I still haven't lost any weight.  I'm so baffled!!!

As far as sleep, I always sleep great and feel very refreshed in the morning.  I don't nod off or take naps during the day and I feel tired and ready for bed by 9 pm.  I get up around 5 or 530 in the morning without a a problem.

I get the comparison thing.  I know it has more to do with me wondering why it seems so simple for others and difficult for me.  The hardest has been watching my husband shed weight (when he really didn't even need to in the first place) but his NSVs are much milder than mine and I'll take my NSVs over his any day.  I know I shouldn't get hung up on numbers on a scale (and I really try hard not to).  Maybe something else that triggered all of this is that I'm traveling to Japan in a couple weeks for my brother's wedding and I would love to just be able to find a cute simple dress and pack light, simple, fun clothes and not have to shop bulky plus sizes.  I just don't feel like my "outards" match my "innards."  I feels like I've tried everything!!  It seems like the ONLY thing that shrank on me is my face, my neck & most sadly, my chest (which makes me look even more "unbalanced" than ever before.  It looks like I melted from the top down and all the dripping fat molded to my bottom half.  I went from hourglass-shaped to iceberg-shaped.  :'(

What I DON'T do is intense workouts.  When I run, it's about a mile in 20 minutes.  I walk briskly.  I try and jump on my rebounder for at least 15 minutes per day to get my heart rate up and shake out my lymphatic system.  I run up and down the stairs to get my 10 floors by the end of the day.  I don't lift weights but I do muscular jobs around the house just fine.  I stretch in the morning to get the day started.  I ride bikes around town with my son.  I walk my kids to school and back and I get my 10,000+ steps every day no matter what.  But I've never consider any of it to need "post-workout" snacks or food and I never feel drained my any of it, only exhilarated.

I know it's kind of a mish-mash of responses, but I hope I've addressed everything you've asked.  Thank you both for helping me try to get to the bottom of this.  I am willing to do anything and everything I need to (and I always have).  I thank you for your time!

[ladyshanny]

OK, I can't address everything in your post because 1) I'm at work and 2) I'm not qualified.

However, I will say a couple things. Unless you are only getting up at 9am, eating breakfast at 10am is too late. You need to eat within one hour of waking. You cannot trust your hunger signals at this time if you have not been doing this.  Plate up a template meal and eat it. Fat, protein and veggies. 

Doing "intermittent fasting" is done wrong by so, SO many people and it can have absolutely devastating effects on women. The idea isn't to eat a reduced amount of meals in a shortened window, the idea is to have an eating window and to eat all your normal meals in that window. So for you that would be eating 3 full template meals in an 8 hour window. That's a lot of food to throw down in 8 hours though so you've been reducing. This, honestly, is not helping you. At all. You're basically on a calorically restricted diet and with your underlying issues, that is not good. 

You could try laying off raw veggies and sub in cooked ones. Raw are harder to digest and you may be experiencing bloating which would "look" like remaining weight but would hide any body comp changes.

Overall the main thing that has stood out to me reading your post above is that you have a complicated baseline and that you are stressing over it. Cortisol (the "stress hormone") is the first hormone that will tank weight loss. Full stop. Second, healing and dealing with underlying chronic illness and inflammation is extremely taxing to your body. If you are also underfeeding yourself and not getting what your body needs, there's no way it's letting go of weight.

So my suggestion to you is this: assume that you could eat an absolutely nutrient-perfect diet for the next year. You are also going to continue to exercise in ways that feel good to your body. Your health conditions improve or resolve, you continue to feel great, you enjoy your food and your life and you're happy. But you don't lose an ounce. Not one. What do you do? Cut, slash, restrict, stress, over-analyze? Or do you just let it go. Let good enough be good enough. Let your brother rejoice in your presence at his wedding. Let your family love you. Wear the clothes that fit you and move on. Honestly. We are so bombarded by having to be, look, act in one specific "perfect" way that anything else is an abomination that must be changed and dealt with and revised. When, in actuality, my guess is that you are just fine. You're a dynamic, beautiful, ever-changing human being. Don't focus so much on whether you fit into the westernized perception of what you should be. Just be who you are.

[ladyshanny]

@KellyBurghart - I also meant to mention that your "cravings" for calorically dense foods like cheese and legumes tells me that you are underfed in fat, carbs and maybe sodium. Cheese is something your brain knows is fatty (and salty) and beans as obviously super carby and your body wants it.  Try upping your fat and your starchy veggie and see what happens.

Women rarely do well on a ketogenic diet. The majority of keto and IF studies have been done on men. Women have vastly different needs. I meant to ask you also, what is your cycle like? Regular? Spotty? Non existent? Excess of cramping/bloating/mood swings? Do you spot between periods?

[CoffeeBean]

My knowledge is limited but I have seen the difference strength training has made for several people in my life (as well as for myself).  There are plenty of free programs available online to get started (even ones developed strictly for women).  Perhaps peppering in some bodyweight or core routines throughout the week could help?  It takes about 4 weeks to see the results, so you've gotta stick with it a hot minute.  Just a suggestion...

Wish you well!

[jmcbn]

@ladyshanny has covered pretty much everything I'd have said. I'd just add that at 42 you're likely peri-menopausal - a time when women need to do what they can with their diet to improve hormone stability as your hormones can & will naturally fluctuate fairly dramatically from day to day. IFing or keto-ing will only mess with your hormones further at this stage. Ladyshanny commented that little of the research in the IF/keto area has been carried out in women. I'd go one stage further & add that there has been no research AT ALL on peri/menopausal/post-menopausal women.

If you follow ladyshanny's advice and stick to three template meals, the first within an hour of wakening, you'll cut out the need for the nuts/nut butters/fruit & larabars (which are all fairly carb dense) which should also help with the bloat, and would allow room for further improvements.

Keep us posted!

[Bellmaestra]

I read this recently:

" It’s true, the scale can only give you a numerical reflection of your relationship with gravity. That’s it. It cannot measure beauty, talent, purpose, life force, possibility, strength, or love. Don’t give the scale more power than it has earned. Take note of the number, then get off the scale and live your life. You are beautiful! "

[KellyBurghart]

@ladyshanny, @jmcbn, @CoffeeBean & @Bellmaestra ... thank you all for your comments, suggestions & support.  Your words truly choked me up.  Deep down, I know I'm probably fine where I'm at.  I know I shouldn't compare myself to others.  It's just so hard not to.  I don't have a single other physical, psychological, emotional, etc. complaint other than my weight.  I should just be satisfied with that.  I should be so lucky.

I had never thought how keto or IF would impact a 42 y/o woman differently and it's sad that none of the studies have been tested on that demographic.  You'd think they'd be more upfront about it when presenting the information.  I'm appalled that my doctor even suggested it for me.

I will try to start eating within an hour of getting up.  I'm just never hungry at 5 am.  I'm sure my body will adjust, though, especially if it's what's best for me in the long run.  I will also do better about eating three full meals and not a snack instead of the middle meal.

I think I'll start when I get back from my trip, though, because I can't afford any weight gain just yet -- even if it's only temporary as part of the adjustment and healing process.

I think fat is one thing I definitely crave.  The compliant foods I crave most are avocados and cashews.

I agree that a number on a scale shouldn't matter.  I guess it's the wishing I could fit into the cute little clothes and wishing my husband could pick me up and carry me that I long for.  That, and knowing how hard I've tried for so, so long and it never seems to make a difference in my body size.  It just hurts.  

I will work on all of this, though.  I promise.  And I'll try to report back if it helps.  Thank you all for your input!  XOXOX 

[Bellmaestra]

This is where I get so frustrated with what our society constantly says to women: if you weigh more than 120, you are a fat slob. It's a load of bull, but it gets shoved down our throats all our lives. A lot of us are torn between the Fat Acceptance movement and buying into societal norms. I wish I knew the answer; we judge ourselves and each other way too harshly. One of the things I appreciate about the Whole 30 plan is the emphasis on putting the scale away for 30 days and appreciating the NSVs. But it's a struggle, I know.

Stephanie
 

[kanmuri]

I did Jason Seib's Alt/Shift protocol for a while and that really helped me reshape my body composition.  You might want to take a look. Don't let the word diet trick you.  Jason is a big name in the Paleo sphere and he's against calorie counting and looking at the scale for success.

 

 

[MeadowLily]

Alt Shift Diet - the body gets too accustomed to the same macro nutrients and shifting it in and out of ketosis will jump start things... so 3 days are low fat/high carb and 5 days are low carb/high fat.  Alt Shift in a nutshell.  The whole bushel of dieting is usually hacking the relationship with food into a million tiny pieces. 

In the end, if dieting really worked, only one would be needed. There would never be need for another diet ever again.  But sigh and alas, it doesn't work that way.  There's always another need for another new diet and changing things up.

Diets come with a hook in the jaw.  The half has not been told of the number of diets I'm familiar with.  The former me dieted my life away but I was left standing still, going nowhere.

I don't recommend any dieting whatsover.  They're only a temporary fix without the permanent solution.  

The solution is 3 meals aday.  Forget micros, macros, counting calories and steps.  The further away you can get from dieting the happier you'll be.  

Do you remember as a young child that dieting was not a part of our vocabulary and thinking.  Most of us ate our mother's good homecooking with joy.  There were school lunches and P.E. classes. We moved, lived, and enjoyed all of our being without dieting. When dieting enters into the picture, it destroys the positive relationship with food. It ruins everything, sometimes for an entire lifetime.

No dieting.  No food hacking.  Lay all of it down at the door.  Take a leap and jump on into the pool.  The water is fine.  No one is going to lead anyone astray with dieting or the misery that follows afterward with rebound weight gain by the whopping boatloads. 

No more dieting.  

[kanmuri]

As I said, Alt/Shift is not a diet, just as the Whole 30 isn't and yet Melissa uses the word in the book; sometimes, no other word will do. It's just a way of cycling macros to optimize fat burning.  There is a podcast that gives much more information.  Mark Rogers from the Simply Human podcast also integrated the protocol in his every day life with a lot of success.  It's very hard to go in ketosis with alt/shift unless you've been in ketosis in the past.  The 5 day window doesn't allow for enough time to become a fat burner.  Also, because fiber is subtracted from the total of carbs eaten, as a whole you end up eating more than 50g of carbs a day, which is the threshold for ketosis, even on low carb days.

However, just like anything else, if you see it as a quick fix, it won't benefit you.  I don't have any affiliation with Jason Seib, I was just trying to give another option.

[MeadowLily]

Kelly, I'm speaking in general here about my experience with that scale.

I eat three meals aday and move as we did as children and teenagers.  I don't even think of food in carbs/macros/micros/fiber or using food as a fat burner. We can enjoy our food and simply start moving.

I've been here long enough and watched even those with the largest weight losses rebound with every single pound.  They didn't think they would start moving until all of the weight was gone.  They were dieting and dieting and dieting.  But all of it came back.  Then, they started over.

It takes more than one conversation with self to unwind the damage that dieting does to the body, mind and spirit.  The scale crushes the spirit, mostly.

I think of meals as sustaining rocket fuel. They enable me to move and get stronger.  I can hike mountains and lift heavy things.  I started out very slowly with my positive food management plan.  

It's taken me 2.5 years to bounce back from a lifetime of dieting and scale hopping.  I don't log food or count my steps or calories.  The further away I get from dieting in my rearview mirror, I don't even have to think about meals in a meticulous fashion.  I eat, move and sleep. Hiking, housework, yardwork...working for others. 

Releasing all thoughts about food as a way to burn off more fat or get into a size 27 jeans is freedom.  Strong and fit is the new norm.  I'm not packing my husband around but you've heard about those bursts of adrenaline stories where women lift cars up to save someone...I think of exercise as emergency prevention and getting strong for great feats of bravery.  That catapults and motivates me to keep tooling along.  Fat burning is the last thing on my mind.  We all know exactly where we're at with our clothes.  

I put mine on and they fit.  It's enough. 

[littleg]

What are your thyroid numbers now?  Are your antibodies down? T3 up?  There has been a ton of stuff posted over on MDA lately (mostly podcasts) because someone in Sisson's world recently published a book on her experience dealing with docs mismanaging her hypothyroidism.  The book/podcasts might help you at least make sure that you are treating your thyroid appropriately... I know I'm my own n=1 study (as are you) but getting my thyroid levels appropriate *for me* is what finally helped with weight loss (via Naturethroid).  I don't have Hashimoto's just low T3 (but normal TSH) and when I got my T3 up just a little (literally from 1.9 to 2.3) the weight literally fell off.  After 1 W60 and ~3.5 years of paleo... which did nothing for weight loss.  

 

And maybe lift some weights too  If anything it will likely make the scale go up (that whole muscle is denser than fat thing) but you'll look smaller.  And be stronger.  And lifting heavy stuff is probably, aside from walking, the best thing one can do for his/her body.  Especially, as we, cough, continue to age...

[Tom Denham]

I am late to this discussion, but want to add that I think LadyShanny and JMCBN are on point. The key to losing weight is gaining the cooperation of your hormones. Unfortunately, intermittent fasting and keto protocols can push your hormones into the opposite rhythms of what you need to lose weight. Any technique to jump start/force weight loss can push your hormones out of a good rhythm. Our culture has taught us that we should try radical new things when what we are doing isn't working. Or isn't working fast enough to suit us. Sometimes new things work. Sometimes new things keep from working what really will work if you let it. 

When you are following Whole30 best practices - eating within one hour of waking. Eating meals that keep you satisfied 4-5 hours at least 3 times per day. Eating post-workout meals after intense exercise. Drinking 1/2 of water per pound of bodyweight per day. Avoiding nuts and fruit as a snack. Avoiding snacking at all. When you do these things, your body will respond, although it may take longer than you want.

Minimizing carbs from starchy veggies can be counterproductive. You can lose weight while eating starchy veggies several times per day, so I am suspicious of protocols that ask you to eliminate them or consume them irregularly. 

Many people have tried 30 different diets before coming to the Whole30 and, unfortunately, the Whole30 proves to be number 31 and soon they are on to number 32. The thing about the Whole30 is that it is organized to have you eating nutrient dense foods that your body needs on a schedule and in a volume that supports optimum health. There is not a more health-enhancing approach to eating. There are more convenient approaches and there are certainly faster ways to make weight disappear, but no approach will improve your health faster or support your keeping it longer. 

KellyBurghart, I am glad you heard the blessings in what people have said. I think you are on the right track. Stay strong. 

[guestdvp]

On 10/12/2016 at 11:34 AM, Tom Denham said:

I am late to this discussion, but want to add that I think LadyShanny and JMCBN are on point. The key to losing weight is gaining the cooperation of your hormones. Unfortunately, intermittent fasting and keto protocols can push your hormones into the opposite rhythms of what you need to lose weight. Any technique to jump start/force weight loss can push your hormones out of a good rhythm. Our culture has taught us that we should try radical new things when what we are doing isn't working. Or isn't working fast enough to suit us. Sometimes new things work. Sometimes new things keep from working what really will work if you let it. 

When you are following Whole30 best practices - eating within one hour of waking. Eating meals that keep you satisfied 4-5 hours at least 3 times per day. Eating post-workout meals after intense exercise. Drinking 1/2 of water per pound of bodyweight per day. Avoiding nuts and fruit as a snack. Avoiding snacking at all. When you do these things, your body will respond, although it may take longer than you want.

Minimizing carbs from starchy veggies can be counterproductive. You can lose weight while eating starchy veggies several times per day, so I am suspicious of protocols that ask you to eliminate them or consume them irregularly. 

Many people have tried 30 different diets before coming to the Whole30 and, unfortunately, the Whole30 proves to be number 31 and soon they are on to number 32. The thing about the Whole30 is that it is organized to have you eating nutrient dense foods that your body needs on a schedule and in a volume that supports optimum health. There is not a more health-enhancing approach to eating. There are more convenient approaches and there are certainly faster ways to make weight disappear, but no approach will improve your health faster or support your keeping it longer. 

KellyBurghart, I am glad you heard the blessings in what people have said. I think you are on the right track. Stay strong. 

I'm very intrigued by what you said about getting hungry every 4-5 hours. So if I wake at 5am, eat breakfast by 6, then I'm going to be hungry again by 10 or 11, which is before the typical lunch hour. Is your recommendation to eat four meals per day, or to sit with hunger an hour or two till lunch and dinner?  Thanks!

[ShannonM816]

7 minutes ago, guestdvp said:

I'm very intrigued by what you said about getting hungry every 4-5 hours. So if I wake at 5am, eat breakfast by 6, then I'm going to be hungry again by 10 or 11, which is before the typical lunch hour. Is your recommendation to eat four meals per day, or to sit with hunger an hour or two till lunch and dinner?  Thanks!

If you're hungry, eat. You may need four full meals a day if you have a long day, or you may need three full meals and a mini meal of a little bit of protein, fat, and vegetables or at least two of the three. You may also find that once you are  used to eating get this way, you can go longer between meals sometimes without a problem. But if you are hungry, especially if it's making you hangry or distracting you from your work, it's okay to eat.

[RandiW]

If my post isn't allowed, mods please delete and my apologies.

Great responses and suggestions here. Have you tried acupuncture to work with everything else you're doing? It's not necessarily going to magically fix anything, but it's about bringing you back to balance... rebalancing hormones among other things... if nothing else, it's great for reducing stress and lowering cortisol levels. 

Have a great time at the wedding and good luck!