Today is day 31 for me, so I finished my Whole 30 yesterday!
I lost 18.4 lbs. in the last 30 days, and I've seen other benefits as well. I feel like I've been sleeping better (not waking up as much during the night), though I don't necessarily feel more rested or like I have more energy. My allergies haven't been a problem. Not sure if that's Whole 30-related or just the season. But I've been using allergy medicine daily for years (OTC Claritin and Flonase prescribed by my doctor), and I've stopped using the Flonase completely without having any allergy symptoms whatsoever. I'm super sad that I never saw any improvement in my acne, which in fact is quite a bit worse that it's been in a long time (emilyinchile).
My husband did it with me, with the exception of a few beer & burger days while watching football. I don't know how much weight he lost, but he's currently at 203 which is the lowest he's been in his adult life (he's 6'5"). I think his allergies have also been better, but again... no luck with the acne. (WHY DO WE STILL HAVE ACNE WHEN WE'RE 30/29 YEARS OLD??? It's infuriating, but I digress.)
I know the book and website say it's not hard, but I disagree. Of course it's not the same as fighting cancer and whatever other comparisons they make in the book, but that doesn't mean it can't still be hard. This was a drastic change from the way I had been eating for a long time. I was used to convenience foods and eating out. Completely changing the way I eat and going from cooking 4-5 meals at home each week to cooking 21 meals at home each week was really hard. I followed the plan to a T all 30 days. I never "cheated" or even ate out, and I gave up on several meals out with family and friends to ensure that was able to eat 100% compliant foods. That was hard for me. I'm extremely proud of myself for accomplishing this because it was such an enormous step for me to take.
I know I'm going to struggle with reintroducing foods because once it's not so black and white anymore that means I have to actually start making those choices again for myself. I'm not quite ready for that honestly, so I'm going to continue following the plan for a little while longer.
I'm really glad I had this board to check in with everyday. It kept me motivated! I know that doing Whole 30 isn't that big of a deal to a lot of people who already eat really healthy or have better relationships with food than I do, but since it was such a struggle for me I was grateful to have somewhere to read about other people who were doing the same thing as I was.
That's great! I agree that sacrificing eating out an social activities is the hardest part. My plan is to eat 100% on plan for every day that I'm not doing something social. For the 1-2 meals or activities out, I will enjoy myself while making the bear choices I can.
Post by emilyinchile on Oct 22, 2014 15:03:23 GMT -5
Boo, I'm sorry your skin isn't better (but thanks for remembering me and updating). But I'm glad that otherwise it sounds like this has been a good change for you, and congrats on achieving your goal of sticking with this!
I am am thinking of doing another whole 30 starting tomorrow, I've fallen off the wagon a bit since finishing my first whole30 last month.
Please update as you figure out how you are going to approach eating post whole 30. I've found that to be even more difficult than the actual whole 30 so I am always interested in hearing about others' experiences!