Why I do the Whole 30. Okay?

[Coffee girl]

You experienced people can be brutally honest with me. I can take it and want to hear your thoughts. I did Whole 30 when I was going to a trainer to lose weight. I was doing great, getting in shape, then  I had to have emergency surgery on my leg so I had to stop working out. I have RA, and I need to lose about 60 pounds. Tried WW, tried Keto, tried my own attempts. But I did great on Whole 30 because I never felt deprived with potatoes and fruit.

So what I’m saying is, I’m in my second month. People tell me I can’t do it for more than 30 days... says who? I want to continue to do this. I’m know I’m loosing, clothes are looser... but it’s not meant for weight loss... am I wasting my time?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.:)

[ShannonM816]

The goal of whole30 should be to figure out how to eat for the rest of your life to be the healthiest you can be. For some people, that looks a lot like whole30 most of the time.

When it might be an issue is if you're continuing on whole30 because you're afraid to reintroduce foods or because you're afraid to try to make your own decisions about when non-whole30 foods may be worth it for you.

Another thing that can be an issue is if you find yourself doing multiple whole30s, but in between them you're not making any changes -- so you're yo-yoing between strict whole30s and a totally non-healthy diet. 

As for weight loss, many of us want to lose weight. But I would really encourage you to focus on measures of health other than a number on a scale. Are you able to do the activities you want to do? Do you feel good? Do your skin, hair, and nails look and feel healthy? If you have bloodwork done at the doctor's office, are those numbers good and holding steady, or showing improvement? Is your mood and energy mostly even most days? Are you sleeping well? If you focus on health, your weight will get to what it needs to be.

[Coffee girl]

I feel great. I sleep better than I have ever. Those empty carbs were making me more tired and sluggish...you know- the ones WW says are ok. Only thing I miss is whole creamer... I tried a little after month 2 and it did make me not feel great. So I leave it out.

[Lorna from Canada]

Welcome @Coffee girl. I love Shannon's reply - the Mods here are great! I'm an aging athlete and had surgery on my foot last May - ended up with some compensatory issues during recovery - completely stopped working out October - January because I was angry and seemingly unable to do anything without hurting myself. I returned to the gym at the end of my W30 and  that has been great! The W30 is amazing 

I don't listen to what other people say I can or can't maintain in my life. I feel utterly fantastic when I'm 100% compliant and staying that way is attractive to me. Now, I do need some wiggle room because life requires I be flexible and health requires flexibility too - rigidity isn't good. So, I did the proper reintroductions over 3 or 4 weeks. I discovered a bunch of interesting things and am currently working on my ideas around what would make something "Worth It" to eat? There are some food categories that are going on my permanent off limits list and I feel committed to eating mostly W30 compliant forever. So - screw those...

16 hours ago, Coffee girl said:

People tell me I can’t do it for more than 30 days

Do it for as long as you like! I'm going to. Right now I am heading into the final 2 weeks of my annual trip to Australia - the day I get home I am starting my second W30 to reset and get ready for summer in Canada. Bring it on!!