Advice at day 26 - few gains

[Buttercups]

I'm 26 days in. I haven't stepped on a scale, but my clothes feel just as tight and uncomfortable as when I started. I'm female, 53, weighed 138 when I started, 5'5" tall. I do boot camp three times a week, walk for 25 minutes two times a week, use a standing desk, and am moderately active aside from the above. I've had much less impact from Wh30 than I hoped, although I have read the "6 reasons Why the Wh30 didn't work for you" and understand the limitations.

What have I seen change? My energy is more level. After a week or so of indigestion from all the meat, my digestion is fine.  But the frequent hives on my face and neck are unchanged (plus some acne), my sleep is unchanged (7.5 -8 hours, a bit less than I would like) my shape/weight is unchanged, and my tendon/joint pain (not related to exercise) is unchanged.  Can you give me suggestions? I'm very motivated to loose some weight and reduce the hives and pain.

Yesterday I ate:

Breakfast; two eggs, 1.5 c cooked spinach, 2/3c sweet potato, all fried in olive oil, with 1.5 T mayo on top (I wasn't measuring, but I'm estimating now.) Lunch; W30 turkey meatballs in homemade sauce, from the Wh30 cookbook - a big serving, four 2" meatballs, 1.5 - 2c c thick sauce, and 1c broccoli roasted in olive oil and lemon. Dinner; about two card decks of grilled fish, 3/4 c sauteed kale in olive oil, a small tangerine, sparkling water, a few almonds. Evening snack of 3/4 c sliced jicima. At breakfast, evening, and a couple times in between had decaf coffee or tea with a pea-sized bit of coconut oil.  Two small handfuls of almonds or cashews (I keep trying not to do this, snacking is my weak spot. ) Before boot camp I eat a table spoon or two of almond butter. Not perfect, I know, but palatable at 5:30 am.

You all know so much, can you help?

[ShannonM816]

So, first, 138 is not an unreasonable weight for a 5'5 female, so it might be that losing weight is not going to happen for you -- if you still have bits you feel are a little softer/less defined than you'd like, it might be time to really work on strength training to tone up muscles, although I'm certainly no expert in that, so it's something you might talk to a trusted trainer about.

Hives and tendon/joint pain might be an indication that something you're eating is still causing some inflammation. If you're keeping a food diary, perhaps expand it to include a note about pain and breakouts each day (or throughout the day, if it changes that much), so you can see if you can link it to any particular foods. Hives in particular would make me wonder about histamine intolerance (read about that here:  https://www.stupideasypaleo.com/2015/09/26/what-is-histamine-intolerance/), joint pain and maybe the hives might also be related to nightshades (read about those here:  https://www.thepaleomom.com/what-are-nightshades/) -- I'm not saying cut all of these things out now, but read the articles, see if they sound like a possibility, and if one of them just really leaps out at you as something that sounds like a possibility, then work on cutting out those foods as much as you can (I know, no one wants to cut out more, I'm sorry). Now having said that -- no one here is a doctor. This is not medical advice. I'm also assuming you have talked to a doctor and ruled out other obvious causes of these things, like an allergy to something in fabric softeners for the hives, or ill-fitting shoes or a weird gait for some of the joint pain. Food is not always the be-all and end-all of everything, sometimes there are other causes for issues.

As far as sleep, to what extent are you working on good sleep hygiene habits? (Here's some tips:  http://whole9life.com/2015/04/mental-health-sleep-1/) Again, food is not necessarily the only thing going on here -- even if you eat absolutely perfect, squeaky clean meals, if you're stressed, if you're checking your phone right up until bedtime, if your bedroom is not conducive to sleep, you're not going to get good sleep. 

[Buttercups]

Thanks ShannonM816, those are some good thoughts.

I have indeed gotten extensive medical advice on the tendon pain, as well as many types of therapies, with little impact. The only time I have seen a real reduction was when I eliminated sugar (on Ludvig's Always Hungry low-processed carb diet) but was surprised that I didn't see the same effect on Whole30. My sleep hygiene is immaculate. But your idea about histamines definitely bears looking into, and nightshades too. My hives have been worse on WH30, so some of the histamine stuff makes sense.

I appreciate your help!

Any other thoughts out there on nudging even a little weight loss?

 

Thanks so much.