Is this working?

[MrsQuannaB]

It's day 11 for me and I feel like giving up. I didn't go through the hangover flu. I don't see anything other physiological changes. I've been reading labels and sticking to the rules. What gives? 

Prior to Whole30, I ate out a lot and snacked a lot. So far, the Whole30 has taught me I do have self control... I can easily give up on snacks, sweets, etc. 

I feel like it's "not working" and for that reason I want to quit... 

[Eccentrica]

On some level you must not really want to quit, to throw away the 11 days you've put in, otherwise you wouldn't have posted this.

One thing to remember, and you'll see versions of this advice again and again when someone considers dropping out: This isn't a Whole11. This is a 30-day program, and you can't judge where you'll be at the end of it when you're only one-third of the way in.

Some people don't even start seeing real results until their final week -- final days!

Even the one thing you say that you've gain from this -- the knowledge that you have self-control with snacks and sweets -- you don't really know that yet. You know you can give them up for a few days. It takes weeks to really form or ingrain new habits.

If you really want to give this a chance put you on a better path with food and health, then stick around.

Maybe you can posts your meals from the past few days. If you do, I'm sure a mod will pop in and give you some advice about how and where you tweak them to make the program work better for you.

Regardless of what you choose to do from here, good luck!

[laura_juggles]

Days 10-12 are generally when everyone wants to quit, so you're doing just fine. 

Stick with it; it'll only do you good

[michicali65]

I also started March 1 and see no results. I did discover on day 9 that a supplement I was taking had soy in it, and "started over" on day 10 just in case, so I'm evaluating my progress as day 18 and day 9 simultaneously. Not feeling I'm meeting the benchmarks for either day. Negligible wait loss. No change in energy. No hangover. No cravings. 

I had a pretty healthy diet before this. I was mostly vegan, consuming a bit of dairy now and then. I've cut out all the alcohol (mostly wine), sugar, beans and soy and added pasture-raised eggs and fish. This is easy and I could do it forever, but why?

My weight has mysteriously ballooned in the last year and I thought this might be the answer. I'm disappointed thus far.

MrsQuannaB, has anything changed for you in the last week?

 

[mompoet]

I am on my second Whole30. When I did my first, in October, I too wondered if it was really working. I had no hangover and no astonishing challenges or improvements during the 30 days. During the first 2 weeks I had a more difficult time with my workouts, but that resolved, and by week 3, I ran a 10k race while on Whole30 and felt great. During reintroduction, I didn't notice any negative effects from the foods I put back in. Before Whole30, my eating was more "whole" than most of the people who I know, without much prepared food and hardly any sweets or junk food. Perhaps this made for less of a contrast. I am back on, because although I have stuck with generally very healthy eating, I wasn't feeling tip-top. I felt a bit bloated, lower energy, kind of restless. This time around I am trying to tune in to more subtle changes, and I have decided to do a "slow roll" reintroduction to find out if I can catch anything that is problematic for me over a longer number of days. I am also keen to continue working on a healthier lifetime relationship with eating. I'm reading Food Freedom Forever to help me understand that, and put it into practice.

Thirty days is a short time to make lifetime changes, and to tune in to changes and improvements that may be pretty subtle, but ultimately really beneficial. I hope that you discover some of these changes in your life. I think it's worth it.

[michicali65]

Thanks for the encouragement, mompoet. Did you ever notice a difference in your weight or shape? At what point? 

[SugarcubeOD]

1 hour ago, michicali65 said:

I also started March 1 and see no results. I did discover on day 9 that a supplement I was taking had soy in it, and "started over" on day 10 just in case, so I'm evaluating my progress as day 18 and day 9 simultaneously. Not feeling I'm meeting the benchmarks for either day. Negligible wait loss. No change in energy. No hangover. No cravings. 

I had a pretty healthy diet before this. I was mostly vegan, consuming a bit of dairy now and then. I've cut out all the alcohol (mostly wine), sugar, beans and soy and added pasture-raised eggs and fish. This is easy and I could do it forever, but why?

My weight has mysteriously ballooned in the last year and I thought this might be the answer. I'm disappointed thus far.

MrsQuannaB, has anything changed for you in the last week?

 

How do you know there's only negligible weight loss?  Also, as we always say, this is a 30 day program and it's not a weightloss diet... so you have 12 days left to go which is just a little under half and as well, this isn't a calorie restricted weight loss diet, it's an elimination protocol so that you can heal your gut and add things back in to see how they affect you personally.  Many people lose weight as a side effect because they're removing a lot of processed, packaged and bagged food, a lot of sugar etc... but the intent is not as a diet.

[michicali65]

OK, you can call it what you want, but let's face facts: 99 percent of people doing this are trying to lose weight. Something has been wrong with my body or my diet that caused weight gain. It doesn't seem to be fixing that problem. I hope I'm wrong.

[MeadowLily]

Perimenopause can start as early as age 28, that's right.  Hormones are the biggest cause of mysterious weight gain. There's hyper/hypothyroid, adrenal gland fatigue, pancreas/insulin resistance.  Leptin imbalances.  The sky is not the limit for the reasons that people start a Whole 30.

The weight loss side effect, it's true, many are thrilled with that but if the hormones aren't balanced, dropping it like it's hot - 30 lbs in 30 days seldom sticks.  That's mostly muscle mass that's being lost.  It's such a delicate balancing act of maintaining muscle mass while losing weight.  Done incorrectly and the metabolism will slow down even further with each episode of dieting.

So stay the course. Think about finding the sweet spot - balancing your hormones and hopefully all will fall into place.

[michicali65]

I hope so. I'm not going to stop, just feeling discouraged. Thanks for the encouragement, MeadowLily!

 

[MeadowLily]

The "weight gain side effect" of hormones really sux.

 

This. Is. Awesome.  This is the delicate balance done right. I'm far more impressed with this than 30 lbs in 30 days.

 

http://www.adrienneosuna.com/

[slc_melissa]

@michicali65: have you talked to a doctor about unexplained weight gain? Like meadow Lily said, it could be a thyroid/hormonal problem.  And it's a bit ambitious to expect a problem a year or more in the making to be fixed in 17 days. 

[SugarcubeOD]

3 hours ago, michicali65 said:

OK, you can call it what you want, but let's face facts: 99 percent of people doing this are trying to lose weight. Something has been wrong with my body or my diet that caused weight gain. It doesn't seem to be fixing that problem. I hope I'm wrong.

No.  99% of people who are doing this are not trying to lose weight.  99% of people who are doing this are trying to become healthier.

[michicali65]

You make an excellent point, sic. I'll definitely give it more time and try to be patient.

I'm sure it's thyroid/hormonal. The doctor was little help.

[mompoet]

7 hours ago, michicali65 said:

Thanks for the encouragement, mompoet. Did you ever notice a difference in your weight or shape? At what point? 

You are so welcome michicali65! I did notice about halfway through my previous Whole30, that my pants were feeling a bit looser, and friends told me at the end that I was looking great. I didn't change a size, or anything, and I have not weighed myself in a looooong time, so I have no idea if I lost weight! This time around, I am feeling a little "easier" in my tummy and intestinal area, so maybe I am less bloated. I am not sure yet. I do notice right away (last time and this time) that I am not hungry between meals. I think that this is a huge help with the relationship with food part - actually being not hungry is helping me with "it's time for a snack because we are watching Netflix" - that sort of thing. 

I read the posts about suspected hormonal implications. In my own experience, I have noticed a gradual tendancy to need less food since I got through menopause a couple of years ago. That's a bummer! For me, it just makes it all the more important that I am eating for nourishment, and not for comfort, or out of boredom or unexpressed emotions. 

Whatever is making you feel unsuccessful, I hope that you will persist in searching for the answers. We all deserve to be as well and zesty as we can manage to be.