Different results from each whole30

[jadore43210]

Hello everyone,

So this was my second round of doing the whole30. I felt like I was more dedicated to it this time around.. perhaps it's the one snack that was my caveat that was my downfall. I'm much more overweight this time around. I started out 20lbs above my normal weight at the beginning of this whole30 while last round I was only 5 lbs above that. This was my 'kicking my health into overdrive and returning to normal' attempt, and I feel like I've failed. In my first whole30, I lost SO much weight and inches -- 12.5" and 14 lbs. This time around (being 15 lbs heavier to start with), I only lost 5 lbs (legit almost cried when I got on the scale) and only 6", which is really upsetting since I feel like I've been working so hard, have started working out and lifting again, etc. I know I should be happy about the results since it IS something, but I'm feeling discouraged and wondering if I'll ever get back to the weight I was at my normal. I'm not even looking to get back to where I was when I was "skinny", but just my normal, and it feels so far away right now. Will results from this whole30 be more longterm? Does anyone know if lifting affects inches as well? I thought combining the whole30 with good exercise would be a good thing, but it seems that I didn't get the results I was hoping for...

[ShannonM816]

It's definitely not weird to have different results from each Whole30. So much affects our health and our weight -- sleep, stress, food, exercise, hormones -- and some of these things we cannot control. It's hard to say why this Whole30 is so different from your last one. You might have been more stressed this time around, you might have (possibly not even consciously) been restricting how much food or how much fat you ate in an effort to make your weight loss happen faster. It might be because of working out -- not that working out isn't good, it definitely is, but it is a stressor, and it might be taking your body a little while to adjust to that added stress. 

The best thing to do for long-term health (and ultimately weight loss) is to keep making healthy decisions most of the time. So, if most of your meals are close to Whole30, if you work out a few times a week most weeks, if you get good sleep most nights, if you minimize stress as much as you can, and you keep doing these things consistently over time, you will continue to get healthier and ultimately your weight will get to a healthy place. We can't predict how long any of this will take, but in general, this is what will work. 

For now, focus on the fact that you lost a pound a week during your Whole30, and that you've lost six inches. These are good things, and they are evidence you are doing things that are making your body healthier. You have definitely not failed. We tend to think we can control everything about our bodies, but we just can't -- all we can do is do the things we know make us healthier, and then our bodies react however they react on their on timeline. 

[jadore43210]

@ShannonM816 Thank you so much for your kind words. It's quite true and I have been going through an extreme amount of stress and trauma in my personal life lately. I don't believe I was aware the kind of toll it took on my body in different ways apart from the scale (stress, interference with my sleep, etc). I know I was also much more in shape the last time I did the whole30, which could be a reason why my weight loss just kicked into overdrive at that time. I just got frustrated that I didn't lose as much as I had wanted, but I am feeling better and more optimistic. I have to realize that it is a long road, but there were definitely NSVs, progress that was made, and I haven't even gone off the whole30 yet technically and it's been done for 2 days now. So trying to take everything in stride, but thank you for the encouragement!