Day 30 and disappointed!

[Nay610]

Hello,

I am a healthy 68 year old woman and I am on Day 30 and feel that I followed the rules explicitly.  No sugar, dairy, etc.  My diet before W30 was a healthy one although I'd have a piece of dark chocolate after dinner, an occasional alcoholic drink and minimal carbs from grains.  My intention was not to lose weight although that would have been nice to lose the 5 lbs that I've been wanting to shed for years, but to gain more energy, sleep better and generally, feel not so sluggish. (All medical tests are normal.)  Just weighed myself this morning and lost 1 lb! Seriously.  What do you think is the reason for 1) no weight loss; 2) energy level still low.  Cravings are about the same, but I save a piece of fruit and nuts for those times.  Could it be portions?  (Don't feel I'm overeating - if anything, I feel hungry a lot of the time.)  I'm ready to continue on - maybe at my age it just takes longer? (I exercise at least 4 x a week.)

Thank you!

 

[ShannonM816]

If you're hungry a lot of the time, it's possible you're not eating enough, although it's hard to say without knowing more about what you're eating. If you want more feedback on your meals, list a say or two of typical meals and we'll see if anything stands out. 

Be sure that each meal contains one to two palm-sized pieces of protein, or if eggs are your only protein in the meal, as many whole eggs as you can hold in one hand, so probably 3-4. Pick one or two of the fat sources listed on the template, in addition to oil you cook in. And then fill your plate up with vegetables -- 2-3 cups at each meal. If you're hungry between meals, have a combo of protein, fat, and vegetables or at least two of the three. If you want fruit, have it with your meal, not on its own.

Also be sure you're drinking plenty of water, and that you're salting your food.

 

[SchrodingersCat]

Also, if you've only got 5lbs to lose and are at a healthy weight, weight loss will be slow. W30 isn't explicitly a weight loss program, and not everyone will lose weight doing it (or people who don't need to lose weight wouldn't be able to do it!)

[NJdieter]

5 hours ago, Nay610 said:

Hello,

I am a healthy 68 year old woman and I am on Day 30 and feel that I followed the rules explicitly.  No sugar, dairy, etc.  My diet before W30 was a healthy one although I'd have a piece of dark chocolate after dinner, an occasional alcoholic drink and minimal carbs from grains.  My intention was not to lose weight although that would have been nice to lose the 5 lbs that I've been wanting to shed for years, but to gain more energy, sleep better and generally, feel not so sluggish. (All medical tests are normal.)  Just weighed myself this morning and lost 1 lb! Seriously.  What do you think is the reason for 1) no weight loss; 2) energy level still low.  Cravings are about the same, but I save a piece of fruit and nuts for those times.  Could it be portions?  (Don't feel I'm overeating - if anything, I feel hungry a lot of the time.)  I'm ready to continue on - maybe at my age it just takes longer? (I exercise at least 4 x a week.)

Thank you!

 

I'm in a similar boat - weight actually going up and no NSVs at all after day 13. I think that the idea that you didn't eat enough to lose weight is ridiculous. At the end of the day I think that this works for people who are eating a lot more calories than what they can reasonably manage on this diet (i.e. you're never going to replace the calories in carton of ice cream with a steak day in or day out). But if you are fairly healthy to begin with it is very easy to end up *worse* off than where you started by replacing healthy legumes and whole grains with full fat coconut milk and a lot more meat than you are used to.

 

I'm sticking it out because I'm doing this to support my husband, but I can't help but be discouraged by this diet. Incidentally last year I just stopped eating refined carbs/sugar but didn't make any other changes to my diet and dropped about 15 lbs. I'm trying to take off the 5 lbs that I put on over the holidays and with post-holiday cookies. It's very clear that it isn't working.

[SchrodingersCat]

21 minutes ago, NJdieter said:

I'm in a similar boat - weight actually going up and no NSVs at all after day 13. I think that the idea that you didn't eat enough to lose weight is ridiculous. At the end of the day I think that this works for people who are eating a lot more calories than what they can reasonably manage on this diet (i.e. you're never going to replace the calories in carton of ice cream with a steak day in or day out). But if you are fairly healthy to begin with it is very easy to end up *worse* off than where you started by replacing healthy legumes and whole grains with full fat coconut milk and a lot more meat than you are used to.

 

I'm sticking it out because I'm doing this to support my husband, but I can't help but be discouraged by this diet. Incidentally last year I just stopped eating refined carbs/sugar but didn't make any other changes to my diet and dropped about 15 lbs. I'm trying to take off the 5 lbs that I put on over the holidays and with post-holiday cookies. It's very clear that it isn't working.

I agree with you. Nutritional content matters, but when it comes to the physics of losing weight, putting to the side elements which affect metabolic rate and the like, if you take in more energy than you burn, you will not be losing weight. 

[ultrarunnergirl]

You say you work out 4x5 times a week - it's also entirely probable that you have a little more muscle on you, thus you did lose a little but scale weight remains nearly the same. Are your tighter clothes any looser? This is a much better way to measure.  

If you have very little weight to lose, it may not come easily.

And it's also true that eating too little can cause your body to hang onto weight in women - this is why women survive famines at a much greater rate than men, and why men lose weight much more easily.

Finally, we recommend going 4-5 hours between meals without snacking - it's better to make your meals larger than to snack. This allows your digestive system a break. See chapter 5 in It Starts With Food for a fascinating explanation of the hormone glucagon.

[ultrarunnergirl]

17 hours ago, NJdieter said:

I'm in a similar boat - weight actually going up and no NSVs at all after day 13. I think that the idea that you didn't eat enough to lose weight is ridiculous. At the end of the day I think that this works for people who are eating a lot more calories than what they can reasonably manage on this diet (i.e. you're never going to replace the calories in carton of ice cream with a steak day in or day out). But if you are fairly healthy to begin with it is very easy to end up *worse* off than where you started by replacing healthy legumes and whole grains with full fat coconut milk and a lot more meat than you are used to.

 

I'm sticking it out because I'm doing this to support my husband, but I can't help but be discouraged by this diet. Incidentally last year I just stopped eating refined carbs/sugar but didn't make any other changes to my diet and dropped about 15 lbs. I'm trying to take off the 5 lbs that I put on over the holidays and with post-holiday cookies. It's very clear that it isn't working.

This is the second or third comment you've made about gaining weight. We ask that you not step on the scale during your Whole30, and it's a rule you should take as seriously as the others. We are very clear that the Whole30 IS NOT a weight loss diet, but it seems you are focusing on that aspect.

The scale is not a good measure of health, body composition and it's not doing your psyche any favors, either. Please give yourself some grace about the gravitational pull the earth is exerting on you. Here are some good posts about why we feel this way about weighing. 

Hang in there! Give yourself 30 days and then evaluate.