No apparent changes from Whole30, and also need help planning my Whole30 timelines

[bridetobewhole30]

1)

I'm on day 21 of my first Whole30. I haven't experienced much change. I was hoping my skin would get better but I've gotten more acne on my face, as well as a bunch of tiny mysterious red spots on the upper abdomen area. I was hoping to lose weight/fat and haven't weighed or measured myself but feel that I haven't changed, or if anything, may have gained weight. I haven't eaten any non-compliant foods/drinks and have been eating protein/carb/fat in every meal and done my best to follow the meal template, although I do eat/snack in between the meals. Help?! 

2)

I really want to lose weight/fat and improve my body composition from Whole30, prior to my bachelorette party in ~1.5 months and for my wedding in ~3 months, and am worried that I'm not going to get to where I want to be or may even worsen (gain weight). Also, I am wondering how to plan out my Whole30 timelines from now until the wedding? I'd like to maximize the benefits and lose weight while being able to eat during a couple of special events between now and the wedding, as well as eat at my wedding and during my honeymoon. I also read that a lot of people experience negative effects when they introduce unhealthy foods after Whole30, and I want to be able to enjoy my wedding and honeymoon (and eat whatever I want during those times) without experiencing negative effects. Any suggestions on how to plan for this? 

As I mentioned, I'm on day 21. Should I do the following or does anyone have suggestions on how to best plan my timeline? 

• Day 21-30: Complete my first Whole 30
• Day 31-40: 10 day reintroduction phase
• Day 41-53: Go back to Whole 30
• Day 54-56: Special travel trip that I want to eat/drink whatever I want
• Day 57-73: Go back to Whole 30
• Day 74-77: Special travel trip that I want to eat/drink whatever I want
• Next ~3 weeks: Go back to Whole 30
• Last 10 days before wedding: 10 day reintroduction phase
• Wedding & leaving for honeymoon right after: eat/drink whatever I want

3) 

I've also read that Intermittent Fasting is really effective for fat loss, but that Melissa does not recommend doing it on your first Whole 30. I was thinking of doing it occasionally during the periods mentioned above when I "go back to Whole 30" so that I can lose weight prior to my bachelorette party and wedding. Thoughts?

 

[ShannonM816]

Congratulations on the wedding!

Let's get the IF part out of the way. Here's Melissa's take on it. I don't think she'd say you're a good candidate for this, based on the list at the bottom of the article -- you won't really have been successfully "riding your bike" so to speak for any length of time before you start trying it. You're getting ready to get married -- so I think you'll be under a fair amount of stress. Even good stress -- the joy of an upcoming marriage -- is still stress. And unless you're a very, very unusual bride, you're probably stressing at least a tiny, tiny bit over planning the wedding itself. Plus stressing over losing weight. Those are just the two I can speak to as a random stranger on the internet, so even if you meet all the other ones, it's not the best idea for you.

For not seeing results -- some people don't see results until the very end. If you want any feedback on if your meals are looking right, you can list a couple of days' worth of meals, including approximate portion sizes, and we can take a look. Your meals should be keeping you satisfied 4-5 hours at a time, and if they're not, you might need to change them a little bit.

As for not wanting to experience negative side effects when you eat anything you want -- none of us can tell you how to do that. That's kind of the point of Whole30, to do an experiment where you take the foods that are most likely to cause issues out for a set period of time, and then do careful reintroductions to see how those foods affect you. Some people don't react negatively to anything they add back, others react to everything they try to add back, to some degree. All you can do is do your reintroductions and see what happens.

 

[bridetobewhole30]

hi @ShannonM816thank you for the input and feedback! Appreciate it. 

As for the last part, I didn't quite mean that I was looking for a way to completely not experience negative side effects when I eat whatever I want; I understand that no one will be able to tell me that and that it's not completely preventable. I was more referring to what Melissa was recommending in terms of planning the Whole 30 timeline in relation to special events / once-in-a-lifetime vacations and milestones like special trips and weddings. She recommended starting Whole 30 after those special events, or exactly 40 days prior to the special event (to allot for 30 days + 10 days reintroduction). Given the spirit/rationale for her recommendations, is the timeline that I bullet-listed above something that you guys would recommend or do you have any suggestions on how to tweak based on the milestones I listed?