Day 25 and not lost much weight, medical issues not healed, sick and on antibiotics ..... advice?

[Nicol]

1.  I am on day 25 and about two weeks ago I got sick with what I now know is walking pneumonia. My coughing with constant so I took a tincture which was glycerin based and I also took cough drops regularly for several days. Just as I was feeling better it started all over again. And now I am on antibiotics.    I am not happy to have had to eat sugar during my whole 30. But I also don't want to start it all over. I'm also really bummed to have taken antibiotics which I know will mess with my gut. I know Dr.'s orders come before whole 30 but it's disappointing and I'm not sure how these small amounts of sugar might have affected me.   And I never get sick but I've been sick for at least two weeks of my whole 30. So tiger blood? Not so much.   Honestly the first several days I felt like I had Tiger blood but that's unlikely I know. Before I got sick I did feel that I had better energy. 

2. I have seborrheic dermatitis,  other autoimmune issues, muscle and tendon and ligament aches and pains, and migraines. And I'm also a bit overweight.    Besides maybe losing 5 pounds or so none of these other issues seem to have changed at all. I'm wondering if I need to cut out nuts for the migraines and Cut out eggs, nightshades and citrus for the autoimmune issues.   I guess at this point I am going to finish to day 30 and then cut out these additional things and add in one or two other things I would like to try eating again such as brown rice.   But overall I'm going to try to keep my diet the same. 

3.   I'm really wondering why I haven't lost more weight. Here are a few things I'm wondering about.   For the first couple of weeks I did sort of have for meals a day instead of three. I would eat a small breakfast at around 745 and then at 10 have a larger lunch. Then at around 2 o'clock have another small meal because often I can't eat dinner until around six or so.  Also in the first week or two if I was really hungry and couldn't eat dinner until later I would have some nuts and maybe one piece or so of dried fruit.   I have stopped all of that for the most part.  I also have trouble letting go of the idea of dessert. So I will eat some fruit but I will do it right after I finished eating dinner. Like immediately so that I'm digesting it together. But I might eat something sweet like pineapple. Or half of a banana. And if I'm really hungry  when I'm cooking dinner I might have a bit of fruit then as well. I am also eating a lot of that. Lots of avocados,  some olives, etc. If I want to continue losing weight or any of these things contributing to me not being able to do it? 

[AmyS]

Hi Nicol,

I'm one of the "old" moderators around these parts - used to post a lot, but haven't posted much during the time you've been doing your Whole30 - so another mod may step up to answer in more specific meal-related detail - but here's my take on your questions:

If I'm reading right, you started Whole30 with some history of a difficult relationship with food. You had some digestion issues early on, and then developed pneumonia which has taken a severe enough toll on your health that you're on your second round of treatment. You also deal with several autoimmune issues that are in play even when your daily health is good - which it hasn't been during this Whole30.

In this context, you're seeking to lose weight and eliminate most/all symptoms of your various autoimmune issues - in 25 days.

The thing is, you're sick. On top of your autoimmune issues, I mean. Just because you're walking around with pneumonia doesn't make your pneumonia less severe than other people's pneumonia. It just means you didn't stop walking around. I'm not a medical professional, so take this with a partial grain of salt, but unless you're a tiny kid with a fabulous immune system, I've not known grownups to fully recover from pneumonia until several weeks have passed.

During this time, eating healthy whole foods is a great choice, and you've done very well to continue with your Whole30.

Also during this time, your body is fighting off external invaders in the form of pneumonia, dealing with the antibiotics, and continuing to wrestle itself over the autoimmune issues (they don't take a vacation just because you're sick, as of course you know).

It would be more concerning at this point if you lost weight, because your body is using every bit of the nutrition you're giving it in order to fight infection and heal and stabilize your immune system.  If you were losing weight in this context, it might even mean that you were even more ill than you suppose. Again, I'm not a medical professional, but weight loss during a bout of pneumonia just doesn't seem like a sign of recovery.

Your best bet right now is to continue eating to the Whole30 template, including mini-meals as needed for hunger (and you might well be hungry, dealing with all of that stuff!). 

In other words, healing first, then see what your body decides to do about weight.

And finally, you probably deserve an award for doing a Whole30 with pneumonia and keeping up with it. You're doing so much better than you think you're doing. Keep eating, keep healing, and your body will respond in time. Not in 25 days with an active infection, but it will respond in time. 

 

[Nicol]

 Wow. Today is day 31 and I literally have not lost 1 pound. How is that possible? Are used to regularly eat ice cream and chocolate. On an almost daily basis. I have drastically changed my eating habits and literally haven't lost a pound. Please help me understand this if you can.    All of the details about how I have been eating or anything slightly off plan is and my first post on this thread. I really don't know what to do now. Should I keep doing the whole 30 should I do AIP for my autoimmune problems? Should I do AIP after I added some foods and see how they affect me? What am I doing wrong? 

[MeadowLily]

I read your health concerns. All those matter. The body prioritizes healing before it releases weight. 

This is just a general example: Hyper or hypo thyroid conditions - sudden bursts of exercise or overrestriction - the Hashi thyroid causes the heart rate to slow or speed up, depresses the metabolism further. It is such a delicate balance with the thyroid and it doesn't improve with age or menopause.  

I think you should work with a good medical practitioner.   As Melissa says here, there are some things that a Whole 30 cannot fix.

 http://whole30.com/2012/10/six-reasons-why-the-whole30-didnt-work-for-you/

[MeadowLily]

 Overrestriction for the Hashimoto patient is different.  It can mean - instead of burning 2000 calories aday, someone dials their food  down to 1400 or 1000, throw in interval training, IF, no carb or extreme low carb diet and it becomes more harmful to the Hashimoto thyroid.

A gentle change with 2000 cal aday works better than dialed down everything.  Many start dieting and it literally speeds up the destruction of the thyroid gland. Practice this for years on end and it's a goner. 

[ladyshanny]

On 08/03/2017 at 10:19 AM, Nicol said:

 Wow. Today is day 31 and I literally have not lost 1 pound. How is that possible? Are used to regularly eat ice cream and chocolate. On an almost daily basis. I have drastically changed my eating habits and literally haven't lost a pound. Please help me understand this if you can.    All of the details about how I have been eating or anything slightly off plan is and my first post on this thread. I really don't know what to do now. Should I keep doing the whole 30 should I do AIP for my autoimmune problems? Should I do AIP after I added some foods and see how they affect me? What am I doing wrong? 

Did you see Amy's response a week ago? She is/was right on the mark. You are and have been actively sick with a not insignificant illness. And you have autoimmune conditions & migraines that have been with you for a while. While we all love instant gratification, it is unreasonable to assume that your body is going to drop a shedload of weight in 30 days given all of these other factors. 

I know it's not what you want to hear. I'm sure you'd rather me tell you that yes, the cough drops were at fault and also here's the exact formula on how to exactly hack your Whole30 to get the exact results you want. I'm so sorry.............that doesn't exist. The way that you are eating when you are on Whole30 (protein, veg, fat & some fruit) is supportive of a healthy body. If your body isn't particularly healthy coming into it, there may be background healing going on that your body is prioritizing over weight loss. Would you rather reduce migraine severity and frequency or drop 15 pounds? Would you rather clear up your skin and improve your energy/sleep/mood/overall health or wear smaller jeans? Sometimes.......sorry..............we simply cannot have it all. And comparing yourself to others that you feel got the results you should have had is defeatist.

It's up to you if you keep going, do another Whole30 on the heels of this one and see how it goes. Or reintroduce foods that you miss and see how that goes. Just know that for people with autoimmune conditions/longstanding health conditions (never mind an accute, significant respiratory illness), we often recommend 60 to 90 days of full compliance to try and guide the body back to a more healthful place before reintroductions are done.

Let us know if you need further assistance. We're always here.

[AmyS]

On 3/8/2017 at 8:19 AM, Nicol said:

 Wow. Today is day 31 and I literally have not lost 1 pound. How is that possible? Are used to regularly eat ice cream and chocolate. On an almost daily basis. I have drastically changed my eating habits and literally haven't lost a pound. Please help me understand this if you can.    All of the details about how I have been eating or anything slightly off plan is and my first post on this thread. I really don't know what to do now. Should I keep doing the whole 30 should I do AIP for my autoimmune problems? Should I do AIP after I added some foods and see how they affect me? What am I doing wrong? 

Hello again Nicol, I'm responding to your post here and also your query on my profile. It sounds like your dilemma at this point is whether and how to continue with Whole30 eating, given your results.

Others have responded before me, so I'll chime in with my thoughts.

First, consider that you came to Whole30 with some issues and then you became quite ill during Whole 30. If my tally is complete, here's what you're dealing with:

1. Autoimmune issues (several, pre-Whole30)
2. Migraines (pre-Whole30)
3. Stress (pre-Whole30)
4. Digestive issues (beginning of Whole30)
5. Pneumonia that did not respond to treatment until a second round of antibiotics (during Whole30)

During all of this time, if I'm understanding correctly, you kept to the Whole30 plan. Frankly, with all of that going on, I think getting out of bed every day was heroic, and keeping on with your very first Whole30 was nothing short of superhero level awesome.

Your focus on weight loss may come from a way of thinking that you brought with you to Whole30. Many women hear that if our weight were "optimal" (whatever "optimal" is that year), that we wouldn't be ill or stressed in any way. This is not true, but it's really hard for us to ignore it. Some of us take the drastic step of throwing away our scales and refusing to have our weight told to us at doctors' offices. Removing focus from weight is a really big deal, and it's worth considering.

At the same time, autoimmune issues by themselves can make it difficult to manage weight. If you're approaching menopause and seeing body changes from it, you may also be experiencing weight in places you didn't expect to see it (as I get older, for instance, I always have a belly. I think it's weird. Nothing I do seems to take it completely away. Who knew this would happen?!). The combination can mean that the body feels out of sync with itself, and weight may be an easy way for our brains to focus on that out-of-sync feeling. But it's not as relevant to our health and longevity as, well, good health.

Beyond this, ongoing stress can result in the body hanging on to weight that you feel like you're done using, if that makes sense.  Women are often told that we'll reduce our stress if we lose weight. Don't be fooled - that's society asking us to stop taking up space. Ha! Take up space, sisters! If a reduction in stress results in some weight moving from your body to the atmosphere, so be it. But take up space!

Another thing to consider is that when folks are ill (and you are still ill, even as you are recovering), we can feel almost frantic to feel better soon. I mean, we have Things To Do. There is NO TIME to be sick, for goodness sake!!! So the three to six weeks that it's going to take you to feel human again post-pneumonia begins to feel like a drag on your life. It's not possible to rush your recovery, but fixating on weight at least gives somewhere you can put that frustration.

So - thank you for asking for my input, and here are my suggestions:

1. Congratulation yourself for making it through your Whole30, and for doing so with more obstacles than most of our posters here on the forums. 

2. Decide whether you'd like to continue eating Whole30 until you feel physically stronger or begin re-introductions now (there is no wrong answer here, it's just your preference).

3. Consider a temporary separation from your scale, at least until you are fully recovered. (And begin to consider the possibility of life entirely without a scale at some point in the future - this is food for thought.)

4. Plan your next 3-6 weeks to include time for full recovery, including scaling back on anything in your life that you can scale back on without the entire thing collapsing around you. Both pneumonia and antibiotics are completely exhausting. It will be May or June before your energy is back to where you started. That's not because you did anything wrong, it's because you got really sick. Scale back however you can for a while.

5. Every time your brain gets frantic about your weight, have a plan for something you can tell your brain. You could tell it things like, "Thanks for your concern, I'm fine" or "we're not focusing on that right now, we're focusing on recovery" or "I'll take up all the space on the planet that I want to, thank you very much!" or "time to go to sleep, you're telling me this because I'm sick and you need to recover too." Or anything else that will help you tell your brain it's time to stop panicking about weight.

 

You also asked about going to the doctor to review your autoimmune situation. If it's been a few years since you've done that, it's certainly advisable to do so - it might be good to make an appointment several weeks out, at least two, in order to give your body time to get stronger again.

 

It's possible that your body will change weight at some point. It's possible that there is a magic pill, diet, exercise plan, meditation program, etc. that will bring this about. It's also possible that you totally freakin' ROCKED your first Whole30 WITH PNEUMONIA and didn't let it stop you. Work hard to rest up and recover, and then work hard to tell your brain that you don't need it freaking out at you about weight, and then lather/rinse/repeat.

I hope you feel much better soon. You did great, and you get to celebrate that as you recover and move forward. All the best.