calorie counting and weight gain

[Frannietripp]

Hello! I am on day 23 of my whole30 I come from a long history of restriction/macro tracking/ body building competitions/ ect. I have trouble because I was on a very low calorie plan before starting the whole30, i was trying to reverse diet up from a competition in October. I was having trouble staying on track because I had been dieting for 17 weeks, losing 25 lbs overall and increasing cardio decreasing my intake of food during that time. Not trying to bash competing, just giving a background. 

Lately its been difficult to not want to fall back into my old habits of weighing and measuring because that worked for weight loss, but not for sustainable practices and happiness. The purpose of my whole30 is to have that good healthy relationship with food and though Im nearing the end of my journey I feel like I still want to track what Im eating, and I have considered doing a whole60 instead of a whole30 to help rid myself of that "diet mindset". 

I was searching through the forums and found some information about comparing intuitive eating vs calorie counting. This was posted from and admins (I think) form 2015 that really put it into some perspective. 

"If you are starving one day after lunch, do you go ahead and eat some healthy, whole foods and respect that signal? Or do you check and see how many calories you have left in the day, make an assessment about what is for dinner, how much that food will "cost" and then decide if you can nurture yourself?  Similarly, if you have 200 extra calories left before bed, do you go ahead and eat them even though you aren't hungry, just because you "can"?"

It was very eye opening because thats something I have been struggling with. Ive posted once before talking about my hunger. I have been able to get very close to having just 3 meals with Pre/PWO meals and not being hungry in between, but there are still some days for sure where I am hunger than others. I just am hoping I am still on the right track, I know I may be one of those folks come day 30 who may gain weight because of my history. I do sleep oodles better, almost rock like. My skin is clearer and I have a lot more energy throughout the day, more self-efficacy not quite tiger blood yet! I am a teacher so am on my feet a lot moving around, and I work out for about 2 hours a day. That includes intense weight lifting and cardio! (maybe training for a half marathon!) 

This is a what I eat during the day - 

M1: 4 eggs, 1/2 avocado, handful of roasted potatoes/ cooked in ghee

Coconut milk in my coffee

M2: 2 servings chicken, 1 hardboiled egg, 1/2 avocado, drizzle of olive oil, mixed greens

Pre Workout :1/2 turkey patty, avocado mayo

Post workout : 1/2 turkey patty, 1/2 medium sweet potato

M3: 2 eggs, 1 serving of ground turkey, 2 thumbs of avocado mayo, 1/4 avocado, mixed greens 

 

I don't eat fruit because of the sugar dragon and I have found that nuts make my stomach urpy so I don't do a lot of that. Any guidance or tips will definitely help, it was also nice to just write it out! 

 

Thank you!

 

 

 

 

 

[WholeDani]

Wow, I feel like I'm at the same starting spot as you. Today is day 2 of my third Whole30 and I am having a hard time changing gears from macro counting to the intuitive eating that comes with Whole30. I've had a lot of weight loss success from counting macros, but did find that it created bad eating habits, as this sentence sums it up pretty well: "Similarly, if you have 200 extra calories left before bed, do you go ahead and eat them even though you aren't hungry, just because you "can"?" My sugar cravings would go nuts and I would find myself "macro hoarding" my carbs so I could fit in sweets. 

I still have some weight I'd like to shed, and have contemplated between counting macros or doing Whole30. However, I chose Whole30 because I too want to focus on sustainability and want to stop obsessing over food and calories.

The past few times I did Whole30 I actually stayed the same weight. I was eating a lot of fatty protein in addition to the minimum fat intake. I really would love to see weight loss this time around, but I keep telling myself not to focus on that because the non-scale victories are truly amazing.

I'm not sure if that helped anything, but I'd glad to see someone in the same boat as me. Please keep us updated with your progress and results!