Eggs?

[Miwaah]

I am on day 28. I have been following the plan and not feeling much different at all, with the positive exception of not snacking and feeling satisfied from meal to meal. I am also happy to be free of sugar cravings. I am disappointed by lack of any body changes. My rings are still difficult to get off, my clothes don’t fit differently, and while I’m not sluggish - I rarely was, I have certainly not experienced tiger blood. I have 30-40 pounds to lose so thought at least I’d feel some changes! On day 26 I began to wonder about a sensitivity to eggs as I was noticing some issues the last few weeks with stomach discomfort, etc. I have cut them out the last few day so will see if they’ve been one of my problems. Has anyone else had this happen?

[Lauraco]

@Miwaah I am interested in any feedback you receive.  I am on Day 30, and have not experienced tiger blood either.  I was really hoping that would happen!  I do feel like my clothes are a little looser and that I am a less bloated.  I want to lose 30-40 pounds too.  I will find out how much I've lost so far tomorrow.  

[Jihanna]

What I found worked for me was to play with meal composition until I started feeling the energy I'd been hoping I would get. I did things like changing around how many servings of starchy vegetables I was eating and when I ate them, how much protein I ate at each meal, the protein to (overall) vegetable ratio, and even whether or not I ate specific foods before/after specific times. Recording how I felt through all of that helped me to look back and judge which things seemed to help me achieve better results (i.e., fall asleep faster, rest more soundly, wake more refreshed, have better energy throughout the day, etc.) and which ones actually hindered me in the areas I was wanting to see progress. It wasn't always easy, but I do think it was definitely worth it for me.

My first experience with "tiger blood" honestly scared the crud out of me. I'm bipolar and I take medication daily (didn't stop for this, since stopping tends to be catastrophic)... part of what made me start playing with meal composition was this experience, in fact, because it felt almost exactly like mania coming on. The only thing that differentiated it for me was a lack of the "dark side" of mania (for me, that's things like feeling invincible instead of just energized, or feeling untouchable instead of just highly optimistic), so it was scary to think that I'd been following this program and was about to fall down a rabbit hole. Thankfully, I recognized the differences and managed to calm myself, but that's when I realized that I actually didn't want anything to do with tiger blood that felt like that... so I started playing around with things to see if I could get something that felt "safer" to me (less "high" and more "naturally energized"). My tiger blood comes at least one day every week now, even during reintroduction, but it doesn't feel like some have described theirs -- instead, it's more of a feeling that I know I have the energy and ability to do what I need to be able to do that day (which I put to good use by doing things like tackling 6 loads of laundry and making sure they actually get put up right away).

Just as a note to give an idea of my pre-W30 state, my diet was atrocious (no alcohol or nicotine, but epitomized the standard western diet of fats and sugars otherwise), I dealt with indigestion and reflux on a daily basis, I was borderline anemic, had little to no energy most days and couldn't even consider facing the world without caffeine, dealt with massive days-long headaches at least once every week or two, had nearly constant hemorrhoids, and weighed 234.4 lbs. My W30 experience broke my addiction to Coke, completely eliminated indigestion and reflux (except when I go too hard on tomato-heavy sauces), raised my energy levels to something resembling human even when I get less sleep than is optimal, taught me I can walk out the door without coffee if I need to skip it, decreased the frequency and intensity of my headaches in a big way, completely eliminated hemorrhoids (I now know several things that contribute to that), and I dropped 7.4 pounds without increasing my activity level at all during that month. I plan to do another month starting March 1, this time adding in daily walking and/or light exercise to see if I can continue pushing my metabolism to change.

All that said, this program is completely personalized. There's no clear-cut one-plan-fits-all way of doing it, apart from all of us following the same basic rules... but that means there's also no one set of results that will happen for everyone. Two people who seem identical can see two entirely different outcomes because of differences within their own bodies. Unfortunately, that means it can be hard to figure out how to tweak things for best personal results. Also worth remembering: although the excluded foods are those which have a tendency to cause inflammation and/or issues for most people, it doesn't mean those are problematic for a specific individual nor that they're the only ones that could be behind symptoms an individual experiences. I've just kind of treated it like a scientific adventure where I can experiment and see what does and doesn't work for me... then try to remember that as I go forward.

Sorry for the book, but apparently my brain decided there was a lot to say here!

[readyforchange716]

Miwaah, I know this is a delayed response. I am starting a March Whole30 and am on Day 2 so I wasn't current with the forums. You are now 5 days past the end of your Whole30, correct? I am wondering, did you keep going? I have read several blog posts on the Whole 30 website and in the pages of the Whole 30 books 'It Starts with Food', that mention 30 days may not be enough of a miracle for everyone. So many of us have such long held poor eating habits that 30 days is too short. Would you consider a Whole60? A Whole90?

I hope you discovered on Day30 that you did lose some pounds, or that you lost some inches. If you did not, I hope someone gave you the encouragement to keep going. Keep up the cooking habits you learned in your 30 days. Keep that sugar dragon at bay! I hope you continue on this journey and find that tiger blood, even if it takes more than one Whole30.