My Whole30: The Good, The Bad, and what I'll keep forever.

[josymarie]

So I completed my Whole30. There were ups and downs but ultimately I learned a lot about my body, mostly my tummy and my head, and myself.

The Good:

1. I have to lead with the weight loss, I lost a total of 10 lbs this month. Which is the most I've ever successfully lost with any type of eating plan. And I didn't exercise at all, I just don't have time for it…I'm going to try and do that slowly.

2. I took before and after pics, the difference is stunning, my stomach is flatter, my face is thinner, I look brighter, and my fun little roll that appeared about 2 years ago on my back right under my bra is rapidly diminishing thank god…

3. I became super regular, every morning without fail, around 8-9am, this is a huge deal for me. lol.

4. I actually started liking looking at myself in the mirror again

5. I realized that fruit is super sweet, and other than that one week that sweets paraded in front of me constantly, I didn't really want sugary stuff.

6. For the most part, I didn't really miss whole grains at all, and probably will continue to exclude them from my diet for the most part. They made me feel bloaty and too full too quickly before. They made me crash.

7. My clothes fit soooo much better!

8. My migraines pretty much disappeared by the last two weeks. I had them pretty constantly the first 2 weeks, then they just disappeared!

The Bad

1. Me and meat fought it out. Like big time. Eating meat at every meal has always been difficult. It took two weeks for me to be able to tolerate it. Now I'm doing well. I'll try to keep it up with eating it at every meal.

2. Being creative with veggies is hard! But my tummy definitely appreciated it.

3. I had some mega sugar cravings mid way through. And that was probably the only thing I missed the most…I really just wanted to sweeten up my coffee.

4. Oh and the worst: I discovered I was allergic to coconut, so I can't use it as a substitute like I was planning on in the future I guess I'll have to use almond milk like I was before. I can only see the allergy getting worse.

What I'll Continue:

-Only sparingly have diet soda. Like pretty much never have it. Keep up with the water and coffee as the main sources of intake.

-Stay away from gluten containing grains. My tummy was very happy with me for not having it. It's actually been a few days after I finished my Whole30 and I've started some grain reintroduction, I don't do dairy for the most part anyways (I cut it out like 95% at age 16) so I started with the glutens. Yea it didn't go well, and it immediately confirmed my suspicion that gluten is a no go for me. Interestingly enough I was tested for celiacs when I was undergrad because of all my issues, but I was negative. I found this interesting article though on people who test negative to celiac's but have a gluten sensitivity, they're finding that there are people out there that have this issue. I'm officially putting myself in this category!

-I'm continuing my dairy abstinence, and not going to bother reintroduction.

-If I want something sweet, I'll try fruit first. Chocolate and candies are kind of a gateway that I don't want to really go through.

-I'm going to keep trying to eat veggies, sweet potatoes over regular potatoes for pretty much always.

What I'll Modify:

- I have to have almond milk, because I can't have soy due to the estrogens and I can't have coconut because yea I'm allergic..

-Yea I'm gonna have to have some sweetener in my coffee, but STEVIA only, no artificial nonsense!

-Basically I'm a coffee whore and I think that if I can have my fixins in my coffee I'll be able to maintain this…

I have about 40 more lbs to lose. But I think this will really help me get there in a heathly, happy, well adjusted way.

Thank you Whole30 for changing my life! You've helped me get my migraines under much better control and make my tummy the happiest it's probably ever been in my entire life....Funny little story, I was discussing how I feel with my mother, and her comment was, "yea after you quit breast feeding you just always had issues with food, whether it was refusing to eat or never quite digesting things right, I never knew what to do with you". I think we figured it out!

I attached a photo: before on the right, and after on the left Can't really see the drastic tummy effects from before, but I'm not one to go posting pics of mah belly on the internet lol.

[hulaomanini]

great job!!

[Daisy]

Your visible change in just 30 days is amazing! Looks like you shed more than 10 pounds and, more importantly, you really look so healthy. I am on day 3 and decided to comment on your success because I can relate to the coffee w/o sweetener issue (as of now, that is the only change I KNOW I will make post W30 i.e. a bit of stevia in the ol' brew). So far I don't miss any other kind of sweets as fruit has taken care of that (hope it lasts). Thanks for being such a terrific inspiration and congratulations!!!

[BevP]

You look amazingly happy in your after pic! I know that glow! And I really understand about the coffee. I have never liked black coffee or black tea, but I hated the way coconut milk tasted in it so I decided to suck it up for 30 days... I can do anything for 30 days, I told meself... It's just 30 little days. I, too, lost almost 10 lbs during my last Whole30. The first time, I wasn't seeing any progress until I cut out my after dinner apple and almond butter routine. Come to see most nuts are my gateway food. Binge much? *cough cashews cough* Keep up the good work noticing what does and doesn't work for your body. That is the best thing I took away from both of mine!