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Discouraged by weight gain...


Ghostowl

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Hi

I've just completed my first Whole30 last week and I started another round on Monday gone. I feel like I am sorting out a lot of my bad eating habits (and missing meals) and feel rather than deprived, that Whole30 has opened up my world again in terms of choice. I do binge on sugar and junk on occasion and I wanted to eliminate that bad habit but I did whole30 to lose my fat phobia more and to force myself into eating three proper meals a day rather than miss meals and snack on nuts etc or a sugar treat like a biscuit and a cuppa rather than eat a meal.

I feel good that I am eating more but I have put on weight and this makes me feel really bad. I wonder if anyone else has experienced weight gain as opposed to weight loss? Has anyone else got a history of undereating and overexercising and manged to balance it out on Whole30 without a massive weight gain?

I have about 5-7 kilos to lose. I also haven't been training for six months as I had a bone removed in my foot and I was used to training a lot (burning 3000 cals a week which worked out to about 2/3days of eating for me, I know this is not awesome). I've been back strength training and crossfit for two weeks averaging three sessions a week. I want to learn not to overdo the CV and just exercise enough to be fit and healthy but I do want to lose weight.

I wonder if I ate too much fat for my first Whole30? I followed the guidelines of 1tbsn per meal and tried to limit nuts etc but did get in to them when I needed "something". Will my body adjust over time or will I just keep on gaining?

Thanks for your thoughts...

Laura

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You would not gain weight from eating a tablespoon of fat with each meal. Give us more information... What are you eating on a regular basis? Protein, veggies, fats, fruit, nuts, etc. The whole deal. A food log would help to troubleshoot. How much are you sleeping? How much stress are you under?

How much weight did you gain?

You probably need to eliminate nuts as a snack because it sounds like you have a nut dragon that is as fierce as any sugar dragon. And depending upon how much you "got in" them when you needed "something," that might account for your weight gain.

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I've been paleo for about 15 months now. At first, I lost weight fairly steadily but not 'easily' like some might classify it. I was thrilled with the improvement in my relationship with food as I had to relearn how to eat without counting calories, without fearing fat and listening to my real hunger signals. That said, about 6 months into it, I destroyed my foot in a stupid accident and after surgery and therapy, I'm still not 100% (it's been 8-9 months since my injury! My mobility was severely limited and boy...did I start gaining weight. Turns out, I'd adjusted my intake to my activity level before the injury and then didn't really re-adjust.

I did lose weight during my first Whole30, but I can absolutely relate to a history of disordered eating. I don't think the fat is what is making you gain weight. I would actually check your carb levels (not track...just look at it objectively). If you say your activity has dropped, you may be eating too many starchy foods (sweet potato, winter squash, fruit, etc) for your new activity level and even if it is 'clean' Whole30 approved food, you could still gain weight from it.

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Hi

Thanks so much for the replies. I did think that I didn't really provide enough history in there, more just a ramble of bits of my past!

Firstly, the 5-7 kilos I want to lose was not gained on the Whole30. I think I probably gained maybe 1-1.5 kilos and I would have liked to see it go down rather than up.

For a day on my first whole30 I'd eat:

2-3 eggs for breakfast with a vegie stir fry or some chopped raw veg

Lunch would be a piece of chicken or a tin of tuna with some olive oil mayo and veggies, both raw and cooked.

a few nuts in the arvo (a handful)

maybe another egg if I am hungry

Dinner would be a slow cooked meal (meat and veg)

Differences to how I was eating prerviously is that I was cooking with fat as opposed to eliminating it entirely (or trying to) and also making sure I didn't meals as I had a habit of drinking a lot of herbal tea or having a coffee and an apple and then not feeling hunger and then realising I'd missed lunch and then pick at the kids tea for dinner. So, yeah, a long history of disordered eating that started 15 years ago which I intend to sort out.

I actually tried to eliminate fruit for my first round, I did have the odd banana but I used to eat heaps of fruit but I felt like that could potentially set me off for a sugar binge so I aimed to not eat it at all. I had one serve of strawberries in the 30 days and some fresh dates and also the odd mandarin, but that's all.

My kids are on the GAPS and I come from a good background in nutrition (not so good on the self care and eating enough I think) so cutting out "junk" was a no brainer, we don't really go there anyway. It was the coffee I found hard with milk and the amount of food I ate. Looking at the above, I'd like to think it's not too much food and my body just needs to adjust to eating a normal person's amount, rather than a piece of fruit or a boiled egg with a piece of toast as a meal. Could that be it?

Stress wise, we are under a lot of stress at the moment and admittedly, sleep has not been anywhere near what it should be, so this time I should work on that. it's 10:20pm here in Melbs, I should sleep :)

Thanks for the article too, I shall check it out now. I appreciate the time taken to respond, thank you!

Laura

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Your Whole30 eating habits sound good. Your levels of stress and minimal sleep are probably the serious influences on your weight loss. Sleep is critically important to your hormones remaining in a proper balance and so is stress. When they go off track, your body holds onto fat more aggressively. If you eat less to try to make up for it, your hormones are likely to go farther off track and make things worse instead of better. It is a vicious circle. The answer is to find a way to make peace with your life and sleep more. I know. I know. Easier said than done.

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Wait - that's it what you are eating now (and during your first whole30) and it's significantly more than what you ate before?

I would think that you are still healing your metabolism. I don't know how big you are (you may be a tiny person, I suppose) but that is not very much food. I would think that your body is still trying to re-calibrate to having an ample supply of food. Long before I'd heard of paleo, I knew of a few women who were actively working to reset their metabolisms to a healthy level after a lot of disordered eating. It can be extremely difficult to do, it does often cause some initial gain (1 - 1.5 kilos sounds about right!) and it takes longer than 30 days in most people. I would keep on with what you are doing, eat more if you can, and take Tom's advice and get better sleep (my biggest challenge, too).

I think it's too early to tell if just following the program will be enough for you or not. Give it another 30 days and see where it leaves you.

(but I'd eat more too - throw an avocado in there!)

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Thanks very much for the replies, yes I think sleep and less stress is key and I also did promise myself I would be patient with the eating more and let any weight gain wash over me, easier said than done. Avocados and sleep, here I come :) I'm not tiny, 5 foot 7 and I weight 64 kilos, but like to be about 58-59 but I'm not huge either. Think I am going to keep doing Whole30s and tweaking so that my food amounts stay stable and my body adjusts. Cheers to you both, L.

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I am 5 foot 7 and weigh 73 kilos (at the beginning of my whole40, we'll see what I weigh at the end), so I definitely do NOT think that your weight is anywhere near high. I definitely get that you feel like you'd be more comfortable if you lost some weight, but try not to focus on that too much.

I don't look like I weigh 73 kilos, but I've got a stockier build with more muscle and that weighs more than if I was just "overweight". It's something that I always have to keep in mind when I'm thinking about weight--it's more important for me to go off of how I look rather than what the numbers say (which is so easier said than done, most of the time).

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Hi

I've just completed my first Whole30 last week and I started another round on Monday gone. I feel like I am sorting out a lot of my bad eating habits (and missing meals) and feel rather than deprived, that Whole30 has opened up my world again in terms of choice. I do binge on sugar and junk on occasion and I wanted to eliminate that bad habit but I did whole30 to lose my fat phobia more and to force myself into eating three proper meals a day rather than miss meals and snack on nuts etc or a sugar treat like a biscuit and a cuppa rather than eat a meal.

I feel good that I am eating more but I have put on weight and this makes me feel really bad. I wonder if anyone else has experienced weight gain as opposed to weight loss? Has anyone else got a history of undereating and overexercising and manged to balance it out on Whole30 without a massive weight gain?

I have about 5-7 kilos to lose. I also haven't been training for six months as I had a bone removed in my foot and I was used to training a lot (burning 3000 cals a week which worked out to about 2/3days of eating for me, I know this is not awesome). I've been back strength training and crossfit for two weeks averaging three sessions a week. I want to learn not to overdo the CV and just exercise enough to be fit and healthy but I do want to lose weight.

I wonder if I ate too much fat for my first Whole30? I followed the guidelines of 1tbsn per meal and tried to limit nuts etc but did get in to them when I needed "something". Will my body adjust over time or will I just keep on gaining?

Thanks for your thoughts...

Laura

I have a similar history and it took my body close to a year to balance out - I gained immediately and then SLOWLY found myself at a healthy and more "acceptable" weight and/or size. It takes a lot of time and patience. In the meantime, do your best to let your body do what it needs to, to heal and try not to overanalyze the peaks and valleys. It will balance, but only if you allow it.

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