Ideas for Post Whole30 Rules

[RevKT]

So, the Whole30 was so strict that I could follow it. Now that I can have "small amounts" of dark chocolate or maple syrup or a paleo treat sometimes, I have no idea where to draw the line. Without strict rules, I loose it!

I want to stay Paleo so no need to reintroduce gluten and things or bad oils, soy, hidden sugars.

I do need help on thinking of strict guidelines for not overeating. Even Whole30 I overate because I can't really tell when I am full of chicken and broccoli and often a palm sized piece of meat was not enough and even with tons of veggies and fat I was starving!

What works for those of you who need better control over sugar consumption, portion sizes, and you need to loose weight? Paleo in Zone portions? I was trying to get away from my unhealthy weighing and measuring Weight Watchers days which made me loose weight but fueled my eating disorder. Zone might make all those issues pop up again. Any suggestions are appreciated.

[Derval]

I do need help on thinking of strict guidelines for not overeating. Even Whole30 I overate because I can't really tell when I am full of chicken and broccoli and often a palm sized piece of meat was not enough and even with tons of veggies and fat I was starving!

^This doesn't make sense to me, were you hungry, or were you eating past when you were satiated?

I am definitely with you re no nay never going back to weighing & counting my food. I guess you have good guidelines from W30 what a "normal" portion is and use them in conjuction with your intuition for what's right for you.

When you say "chicken & brocolli" it gives me the impression that you were eating quite palinly, maybe you need to experiment with recipes so it feels more satisfying?

[Tom Denham]

The meal template - http://whole9life.co...ng-Template.pdf - gives you a range, not a set amount to eat. The basic rule you can use all the time is to always eat at least the minimum amount three times per day and then add to that as needed until you are no longer hungry, even if that means eating twice the minimum. You can do that with bigger meals or more meals. I ate 5 to 6 meals per day when I first started eating the Whole30 way and did not work down to 3 meals per day until more than a year later.

You may need to keep doing a Whole30 for longer than 30 days to develop self control when it comes to sweets or treats. Many people need several months of following the guidelines strictly before they can trust themselves to make good choices with some foods. And some need to keep doing a strict Whole30 regularly to stay on track. That's okay. You can do that.

You can't succeed by blending the Whole30 with techniques from Weight Watchers or the Zone Diet or any other program. Those measuring techniques make you crazy and you can never become sane practicing them, even if you practice them with healthy foods. As you suspect, you will become crazy trying. But you don't need to weigh and measure to succeed. Just follow the meal template, take your time, and let your mind and your body heal.

[Snappy Shark]

Some musings from a former portion counter/Weight Watcher...

I gained weight on my Whole30 (about five months ago at this point) - and I needed to. I was about two steps away from a full-blown eating disorder when I found Dallas and Melissa (thank goodness), and I am still thanking my lucky stars that I'm no longer trying to maintain a caloric deficit while being so proud of myself for squeezing my 5'7" frame into size 4 skinny jeans (which have since found a new home at Goodwill). Anyway.

99% of what I eat is in the spirit of the Whole30. By that, I mean that I still don't count/weigh/track anything and I structure all of my meals after the meal-planning template to the very best of my availability. I cook/meal-prepare the same way that I did when I was on a Whole30, but I don't stress about "sneaky junk" like small amounts of sugars or bad oils when I'm eating out, which is a very rare event anyway. I will also have some (soy-free) dark chocolate on special occasions, a glass of red wine a few times per month. No gluten or dairy (besides butter) under any circumstances. It's nice to be relaxed and comfortable in my eating habits - I don't stress out about what to eat anymore, and in the rare event that I can't construct a meal more or less along the lines of the template I know that the next thing I cook myself will be nutritious and balanced.

I'm curious about what you mean when you say that you overate. Are you an athlete? Did you find that you ate more at different times of your cycle (if you're a woman)? Since you mentioned a history of disordered eating, I just wanted to encourage you to ask yourself those questions before you start thinking about Zoning or restricting portions of Whole30-compliant foods, etc. I had a very unhealthy concept of portion sizes prior to finding W30 so it's possible that you're not actually overeating.

As a side note, I'm curious about people who gain weight eating Whole30 style. I am a CrossFitter and have gained about 15 pounds since I started doing WODs and eating W30. I know that extra weight is helping me throw barbells around, but I think it took me a while to get over the fact that W30 will not make you thin - it will help your body get to a healthy set point, which for many of us (especially women) will not look like what you can accomplish on a calorie restrictive approach like WW or Zone.

Just my two cents. Keep us posted, RevKT, and DON'T STRESS!

[Flynn]

What works for me are meals. When I eat non compliant food, it's always with a decent meal. I don't really limit amounts or measure anything, I just think about what a thin fit person who indulges in delicious things from time to time would have and I have that

[RevKT]

Great advice everyone! And yes, I have a feeling Zoning will make me worse. My issue on Whole30 was that I can't tell where between the minimum and the maximum on the meal template is right for me. I have a binge eating disorder so will over eat if I don't have strict guidelines so a range means I usually eat at the high end. I am only 5' 1" so I should probably eat in the low range. On Crossfit days or around my period though, the low range means I end up hungry. I have tried to force myself to only eat the minimum but then only find out an hour later that it wasn't enough in certain days when I then have a severe depressed mood drop, get shaky, and dizzy. It's like I can't self regulate. I know I am overeating though because I weigh 166lbs and am flabby rather than muscular.

I don't know how to figure out what the right amount is I think because my hormones and blood sugar are just a mess due to such a long time of disordered eating. I have had hormones, thyroid, and blood sugar tested the doctor says "They are all fine so I am not sure why you have all the physical signs of hypoglycemia and PCOS." She was shocked that everything came out normal as she saw the tests as just a formality. She thought she had diagnosed me correctly.

As soon as the Whole30 ended "occasional dark chocolate" turned to whole bars of dark chocolate. "Some honey" turned to eating it with a spoon. Without extremely strict rules, I loose it. Yet they tell you if you have an eating disorder not to have any rules, even Whole30 because they say then you don't get a healthy relationship with food because it s considered a restrictive diet. (I disagree with that assessment though). Sadly, there s very little research and proven treatment for binge eating disorder on its own rather than with purging. Whole30 has helped me a lot actually but now I just overeat healthy food! And trust me, you can totally overeat Well Fed chili, sweet potatoes, and broccoli.

I think Tom is right and I need to extend the Whole30. Well, start a new one at this point. I also feel like no fruit or root veggies or squash would be good for the binge eating but then I can't function on CrossFit days or my period.

I will keep working on it as I know if I can find the right balance for me I can be healthy.

[Callan]

RevKT, back in December I was in a similar place to you, and was absolutely fed up with my tendency to binge on sugar and chocolate and yes, even dried fruit. So when I was planning for my first Whole30, I tried to say "no fruit, no root veggies, no squash!" and everyone told me that was a terrible idea. I listened to them, thank goodness, because they were right. I was SO much happier with my squash and sweet potatoes.

That said, right now I'm--once again--in a similar place to you, having eaten a whole bar of dark chocolate and a ton of dried fruit and hating myself again. I do think another (longer) Whole30 would help, and it would probably be advisable to limit or even cut out fruit (I had no fruit for the first half of my Whole30 and brought it back in [which was nice and pleasant but the quantities did creep up over time]). I don't have the answers, but I want you to know you're not alone!

[mslevy76]

It is very helpful to read all of these responses. I completed my first W30 in a couple weeks ago and was feeling great, totally thought I had combatted my Sugar dragons and cravings after dinner. But sure enough they have come creeping back in and I am now wondering if I should do another W30 to get back on track. Maybe I do need more time to figure out how to live healthily. My main problem is that without the strict rules of the W30 I don't actually know how to eat without going off the rails and slipping right back into bad habits that make me feel bad about myself. Last night I are Nutella out of the jar with a spoon and thought to myself, "How can I be back in this place again when just a few days ago I was feeling such resolve for my new W30/paleo way of life?" Would l

[Emily]

I do one Whole30 every three months (so I'm "riding my own bike for two out of three months). I've been doing this for over a year now. During my first few "free" two month periods I ended up completely off the rails and relieved when the next W30 came along. Over time I've gotten better and better about asking myself "is it worth it?" I'm getting better about really being able to feel the answer to that question, not just know intellectually that something isn't worth it. I think having short periods of no-Whole30 time is good for me, but I also think coming back to the Whole30 is good (and makes me feel secure!).

I'll echo what Callan said about carbs... don't forget this isn't a low-carb way of eating.

Also, instead of trying to think about how much to eat so much, what if you just eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full. Some days that will put you at the low end of the range and some days it will put you at the high end. But in time (like months or years, give it time) I suspect you might find that you are able to regulate.

Good luck. It's a process.

[30Canandaigua]

i did my first w30 in January. After reintroducing some things, finding out what doesn't sit well (and what I have no brakes with) I started my second w30 two weeks later. For me, I feel that 2-3 w30 pretty much back to back will give me the time to learn this new behavior of eating. I've spent decades eating like crap, I can't possibly expect myself to change my behavior and eating habits permanently after only 30 days. Stay with it! Good Luck

[jayelle]

This is a great thread! I did my first Whole30 in Jan. and loved it. Then I went off for Super Bowl weekend (didn't go completely crazy, other than the martinis), and felt crappy. Back on 2/4 and off again 2/15-19 for a family vacation. Again, didn't go nuts, but also didn't feel as good. Back on 2/21.

I absolutely refuse to weigh and measure - but I find myself eating the right amount to be satisfied without ever feeling "stuffed" like I used to. The key for me is LOTS of a wide variety of veggies, and adequate fat. If I feel unsatisfied at the end of a meal, I sometimes munch on a handful of almonds. That does the trick every time.

My plan is to give myself the ok to stray on occasion, but mostly staying on the plan, especially when I'm not traveling and there are no special occasions. I have lost 10 lbs so far, while doing intensive weight training. I do need to lose more, but I'm being realistic about how fast that'll happen - maybe 3-5lbs/mo. I know that if I limit nuts and eat more fish I will lose faster. Sometimes I will, sometimes I won't. That's ok - I feel GREAT.

Good luck everyone!

[Mj Slazak Courchesne]

Like you, I started to feel like I was going off the rails with too much dairy, too much wine sneaking back in. I spoke with a W30 coach locally, and she suggested that if I don't feel up for an entire W30, to just do a W7 or W14. So that's where I am right now: day 2 of a Whole 7, and I'll see how I feel at week's end. If I don't think that I feel comfortable enough going out on my own, I may extend again to cement the routine of not going too far to any extreme when not on a full Whole 30, and further heal.