I can't keep on weight with whole 30

[JThomas]

I am a college student and usually eat whatever is free. Whether it be school meals or something quick I can eat between work, school, gym, sports etc. Especially those mass gainer calorie/protein shakes. I did great the first few days but ate over $100 of approved foods. I was maintaining my weight but not gaining any. Now I have no extra money and only access to foods that aren't approved. I have access to some approved things but not nearly enough. I felt great for the first few days but I can't afford the approved foods in the amounts I need. Should I give up for now?

[SugarcubeOD]

The recommendation is to eat three template meals a day.  If you can't afford this, then yes, the program might not be a good fit for you right now - there are a LOT of threads on college students and others with budget restrictions that have great suggestions for how to keep costs down... you can google to find these using search terms like 'whole30 forum: on a budget' or 'kirkor cheapskate Whole30' - he's one of our longtime members and has done a few 'themed' Whole30's including one on an extreme budget.

I"m not sure if the 'mass gainer' shakes are because they're cheap or if you're actually trying to gain weight - eating more fat on the program can increase your ability to keep weight on and if you add starch to every meal as well, that should help.

[ultrarunnergirl]

Here's a great article on keeping weight on during your Whole30: https://whole30.com/2013/12/keeping-weight-whole30/

Eggs are cheap, filling and nutritious. Eating more fat is also a good hack. You can buy a big vat of coconut oil on Amazon or at Costco if you have access to that. Buying whatever is on sale at the store is another pretty obvious tip. Cabbage is usually quite inexpensive.

Beyond that, if your financial situation requires that you take advantage of free food to survive, you don't have a lot of wiggle room, but you're certainly saving money not buying protein shakes - those are quite dear.

Wishing you good luck - and if all else fails, just do the best you can, even if it's not totally Whole30, the closer you can get the better you'll feel.