No body changes after 60 days?

[mamaruga]

I've just finished my first Whole60. The biggest gain has been having more energy and focus.  I hadn't expected that it would address one of my biggest tensions which was just feeling overwhelmed by housework and organizing my life.  I thought maybe I had ADD.  After the first three weeks, I noticed that I could think more clearly and follow through on details.  So that is a huge benefit and worth the whole experience.

What I'm a bit surprised about is that I've not lost any inches or had any change in my body.  On the one hand, maybe this just means my body is happy where it is at.  I lost a lot of weight 20 years ago when I discovered my gluten intolerance.  I already ate very healthy food and a bit toward paleo, but the sugar dragon had me.  I am not overweight, but a bit on the higher side within normal.  Since I dropped the 30 extra pounds 20 years ago, I've hovered within the same range weight and inch-wise, even post two babies.  So, I guess I could just be happy with the improvements to my thinking and feeling healthier in my body.  But, I do have to say I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't see better results body-wise.  I've still got the extra belly fat and muffin tops.

I have been eating good sized portions and following the meal template.  I may be eating a bit more fats (in the form of coconut) than is recommended. I decided to cut out nuts at about day 20 once I realized that they just were not doing me any good.  I had really thought that might have helped.  I had thought I'd just do 30 days, but when I measured at day 30 and found no change, I thought that I'd continue longer for another 30 without the nuts and see what happened.  But I measured yesterday at Day 60 and still no change at all.  Maybe I need to focus on more exercise instead (I only am able to fit in two days a week of hot yoga as a single mama with very young kids).   Or just realize that this is where my body wants to be?  In some ways it is a bit of a relief.  If I eat this healthy and my body is still the same, let's just be happy with that. Maybe that is its own gain. 

I'm just curious if I should have done something different or if this is just what it is going to be for me?

 

 

[SugarcubeOD]

It's hard to say if you could have done something differently without knowing what you were eating.  You mention leaving off the nuts, so that's something we don't have to tell you... Often when people's body composition doesn't change, it's because they're actually not eating ENOUGH and their body is not going to let go of weight when it thinks it's famine time.  That may not be the case with you and it could be that your body is content where it is...

If you want us to take a look at what you've been eating to see if there are some tweaks, list out three or so days of intake including portion sizes related to the meal template, specific veggies protein and fat per meal, water intake, sleep, stress etc... and we'll see if there's anything that could be tweaked.

[mamaruga]

Thanks Sugarcube!

I think water intake and sleep are both areas I can improve.  I tend to get around 8 hours of sleep, but I do better with closer to 9 hours.  On busy days when the kids get to bed later, I may only get 7 hours. I'm also making an effort to eat within one hour of getting up.  It isn't always easy because my kids often wake up when they hear me get up and they need my focus.  But I usually eat by an hour after I'm up. 

I feel like I eat a lot.  I certainly don't feel like I hold back. I'd be happy to be told I could eat more too.  But maybe my combos aren't quite right. Here are my meals for the past few days.

1. first meal is almost always two chicken sausages, 2-3 eggs, and a bag full size of greens sautéed with some onion.  All cooked in olive oil.  I have coffee (2/3 decaf) with canned coconut milk.

2.Second meal was from our coop hotbar.  It was seasoned ground beef and ground pork (two big servings spoonfuls of both) and a big scoop of sauteed mixed veggies on top of a bed of lettuce. I added a few olives and put balsamic and olive oil on top.   (Also drank a kombucha and about 1/3 of a 100% chocolate bar)

3. Last meal of the day was a potluck.  I had shredded cabbage, two servings of sautéed veggies (beets, cabbage, onions), sweet potatoes, and chicken wings.  Also, baked apples (with coconut oil and cinnamon) with coconut milk on top. When I got home I had shredded coconut with cacao nibs added in since there wasn't a lot of fat in the dinner choices. 

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1. Same first meal.

2. Grass fed hotdogs (3)  and a bag of TJ shredded cabbage sautéed with onion.  I also had a banana dipped in raw chocolate powder.  A few handfulls of shredded coconut.  More decaf coffee with coconut milk. 

3. Sauteed veggies (carrots, onions, zucchini, broccoli) (probably about 2 cups?) drizzled with some extra olive oil and baked chicken wings (I ate perhaps 10 wings).  Kombucha. 

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1. Same first meal.

2. Same as the first meal but with riced cauliflower instead of the greens.

3. Steak (two palm sized servings) with salad with balsamic dressing. Roasted sweet potatoes with ghee. Sauteed brussel sprouts (maybe about 1 1/2 cup).  

Thanks for the feedback!

[SugarcubeOD]

14 minutes ago, mamaruga said:

Thanks Sugarcube!

I think water intake and sleep are both areas I can improve.  I tend to get around 8 hours of sleep, but I do better with closer to 9 hours.  On busy days when the kids get to bed later, I may only get 7 hours. I'm also making an effort to eat within one hour of getting up.  It isn't always easy because my kids often wake up when they hear me get up and they need my focus.  But I usually eat by an hour after I'm up. 

I feel like I eat a lot.  I certainly don't feel like I hold back. I'd be happy to be told I could eat more too.  But maybe my combos aren't quite right. Here are my meals for the past few days.

1. first meal is almost always two chicken sausages, 2-3 eggs, and a bag full size of greens sautéed with some onion.  All cooked in olive oil.  I have coffee (2/3 decaf) with canned coconut milk. How does this relate to palm sized?  We don't count cooking fat as a lot of it stays in the pan or is split between portions so you're missing added fat here.

2.Second meal was from our coop hotbar.  It was seasoned ground beef and ground pork (two big servings spoonfuls of both) and a big scoop of sauteed mixed veggies on top of a bed of lettuce. I added a few olives and put balsamic and olive oil on top.   (Also drank a kombucha and about 1/3 of a 100% chocolate bar) Uh... chocolate bars, regardless of whether they're 100% or not are not allowed.  Olives when they are your fat are a couple open, heaping handfuls... do you think between the olives and the olive oil that you got the meal template recommendation for fat here? 

3. Last meal of the day was a potluck.  I had shredded cabbage, two servings of sautéed veggies (beets, cabbage, onions), sweet potatoes, and chicken wings.  Also, baked apples (with coconut oil and cinnamon) with coconut milk on top. When I got home I had shredded coconut with cacao nibs added in since there wasn't a lot of fat in the dinner choices.  Chicken wings aren't a ton of protein... how many did you have?  Consider the way the meat on one wing would look laying in the palm of your hand and then calculate how many you'd need to debone to get 1-2 palms (thickness x width x length) of meat, not including the skin.

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1. Same first meal.

2. Grass fed hotdogs (3)  and a bag of TJ shredded cabbage sautéed with onion.  I also had a banana dipped in raw chocolate powder.  A few handfulls of shredded coconut.  More decaf coffee with coconut milk.  Chocolate powder is not to be used in this way to make a faux dessert.

3. Sauteed veggies (carrots, onions, zucchini, broccoli) (probably about 2 cups?) drizzled with some extra olive oil and baked chicken wings (I ate perhaps 10 wings).  Kombucha.  Same point about the chicken wings... 10 is not a lot of meat.

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1. Same first meal.

2. Same as the first meal but with riced cauliflower instead of the greens.

3. Steak (two palm sized servings) with salad with balsamic dressing. Roasted sweet potatoes with ghee. Sauteed brussel sprouts (maybe about 1 1/2 cup).   This is your star meal of all the ones that you've listed.

Thanks for the feedback!

I can't say for sure that the reason that you've not changed body comp is due to your meals, but you do have some room to improve them... if I had to grade, I'd give you a B- for most of them and an A for that last one you listed.

[mamaruga]

Thanks for looking over this.  

I thought that adding coconut milk to my coffee might count as the added fat.  I do like to add olive oil or ghee on top of my food and I feel like I'm getting enough.  But sometimes I forget to put it on.  So maybe I need to pay more attention to that. 

My Whole60 actually ended last week (I just got around to measuring yesterday), so I was being a little more lenient with the chocolate bar and unsweetened cacao powder.  My boyfriend and his children were over for the weekend, so I had these while they had more sugary desserts for a birthday celebration.  Bananas aren't a great choice for me though, anyway. 

The chicken wings probably weren't enough protein.  I did eat a lot of them, but you're right, there isn't a lot on the bone. 

After I replied, I realized that I didn't mention that I have had often been snacking around the edges when I wasn't able to get to my lunch or dinner on time.  This is usually handfuls of shredded coconut or a beef stick.  I keep them in my car in case I get held up at school or work on my way home to cook. 

I also discovered coconut butter during the Whole60 but soon learned this was a food without breaks for me (after I went through the whole jar in three days). I gave it one more try at another point, thinking that it was a good fat options.  But I used so much of it on everything that it was gone in three days again.  I decided I just can't keep it in the house.  But I kind of felt like my body was definitely getting plenty of fat.