Whole30?

Suzukigrl1

Anyone here had a lot of success with this? I’m doing a soft start at the moment meaning I have had a few non compliant things like sauces or dressings. I lost 5 lb in 12 days. The loss fluctuates between 3-5 lb. I’ve had no dairy, no grains, no legumes, no artificial sweeteners, no junk food x 12 days. Im waiting for great things to happen and I am told it will take all of the 30 days to see them.

LivingtheLeanDream

Sounds very restrictive but I'll wish you all the best. I'll stick with counting calories and getting to eat all the foods I like/enjoy.

Panini911

What are your goals?

To loose weight it's about eating fewer calories than you use, repeatedly over time. for weight loss, quality of the calories doesn't matter (clean or "dirty").

you likely lost a ton of water weight which is great but the rate of loss will stabilize after that's gone. so unless you only had a few pounds to lose you likely won't achieve goal weight (IF that is the goal)

good luck!

htimpaired

I did a complete whole30 by the book in March, and lost a good amount of weight. (this was right before going on a cruise, I wanted to fit in my bikini!) I was very irritable at the end because of the restrictions. I did gained the weight back when I returned to normal eating. I think it just enabled me to go under the calorie goal, but it wasn't necessarily the food restrictions that did it.

My boyfriend did it in hopes he'd find some relief from some autoimmune symptoms, no luck there either.

suzyqholland

My husband and I both did Whole30 a couple years ago. He was hoping to get off his daily reflux medication and I wanted to kick my sugar addiction. He lost eight pounds but still had reflux. I lost four pounds, developed an egg allergy, got a yeast infection (tmi, I know). Neither of us ever felt the “tiger blood” effect and were pretty cranky by the end of it. We’re hikers and found ourselves scary, shaky exhausted in the middle of a hike when we’d never had energy issues before. It did, however, lower our triglycerides. We both put the weight back on and went back to our regular eating habits. 30 days of the torture of cooking every single meal, expensive grocery bills and crankiness.

VirginiasMom

I found that I overate on the Whole30. It was fun and got me into cooking but really screwed up my weight loss (especially because in a true Whole30 you are not allowed to count calories or step on the scale).

For me, fat doesn't do much to fill me up so increasing fat and decreasing carbs and not counting calories meant I was eating a TON.

The big long term outcome (other than some recipes) to come out of it for me is I now drink my coffee black.

If it helps you on your journey then that's great but be aware you may not get the "magic" people attribute to it.

urloved33

i tried the Whole 30 as an elimination diet...to determine which foods did not agree w me (I may be allergic too or sensitive too) and I did learn what I should and should not eat to feel my very best - lost 7 lbs...and still eat what does not make me feel well ....at times. - but knowledge is power.

megbeveridge93

I'm planning to do Whole30 as a sort of "reset" in January. I won't be recording my food, weighing myself, or taking any measurements until the end. Mind you, if your entire goal is to lose weight, you'll still have to be mindful of portion sizes and balancing macros. You can do that on a more general scale by understanding the proportions of macros in each meal. If you have a lot of avocado, that's a lot of fats. If you have a lot of fruit, that's a lot of carbs. If you mostly eat meat, that's going to be a ton of protein. If at any point you don't feel right, check in with your diet and see if you're missing something.

Love_2_Hike

Yes, I love Whole30! I eat most of my meals this way even if I'm not on a round. It works for me.

Crafty_camper123

Following.. I've been contemplating doing this for a year or two now. Mostly to see if there are any foods that contribute to my asthma & GERD. (Mostly my asthma.) It would be nice to know if I have some food allergy that sets it off, or if it's purely environmental (pollen and such). The things that worry me are
A) How dang restrictive it is. Can I really do a month of nothing but meat, veggies, and fruit?
And B ) Somehow developing an allergy to something I love that I have never reacted to before. And also I can't help but wonder if the "Nocebo" effect is a contributing factor to the food intolerances people seem to discover? Like maybe it's not a true intolerance, but after 30 days of elimination, the body now lacks the enzymes to digest certain things and now reacts poorly?

But I like that you pretty much eliminate most common allergens for 30 days and then slowly re-introduce them 1 by 1. As opposed to a standard elimination diet of picking 1 thing at a time and avoiding it for 14-30 days. Seems faster? I dunno. But I am interested to hear of anyone who may have tried it and found allergy, asthma, or gastrointestinal symptoms be reduced.

SVZee

Crafty_camper123 wrote: »

Following.. I've been contemplating doing this for a year or two now. Mostly to see if there are any foods that contribute to my asthma & GERD. (Mostly my asthma.) It would be nice to know if I have some food allergy that sets it off, or if it's purely environmental (pollen and such). The things that worry me are
A) How dang restrictive it is. Can I really do a month of nothing but meat, veggies, and fruit?
And B ) Somehow developing an allergy to something I love that I have never reacted to before. And also I can't help but wonder if the "Nocebo" effect is a contributing factor to the food intolerances people seem to discover? Like maybe it's not a true intolerance, but after 30 days of elimination, the body now lacks the enzymes to digest certain things and now reacts poorly?

But I like that you pretty much eliminate most common allergens for 30 days and then slowly re-introduce them 1 by 1. As opposed to a standard elimination diet of picking 1 thing at a time and avoiding it for 14-30 days. Seems faster? I dunno. But I am interested to hear of anyone who may have tried it and found allergy, asthma, or gastrointestinal symptoms be reduced.

If you think you have legitimate food allergies/sensitivities than you really should be working with an allergist/your doctor. We have food allergies/intolerances in my family and the first step to figuring things out was doing the scratch test (allergist), and then from there doing the FODMAP elimination diet, which is something you should do under doctor supervision. It's challenging to get through it but it really does work for figuring out the culprits. The food list is also a lot different than the Whole 30 list, and there's actual medical reasoning for what the FODMAP eliminates (and why it has a very specific reintroduction protocol). If you look into how the Whole30 thing began/what qualifications the founders actually have, it should make you very skeptical, to say the least.

eta: one of my sisters is currently doing FODMAP (through her doctor), and I saw her a couple weeks ago and was blown away-she looked amazing! She's lost weight, her skin looked amazing and she was feeling so much better than how she has been feeling (her symptoms would be so severe she couldn't leave her house some days). Going through FODMAP is a hassle, but it can really help give you some answers

Crafty_camper123

SVZee wrote: »

Crafty_camper123 wrote: »

Following.. I've been contemplating doing this for a year or two now. Mostly to see if there are any foods that contribute to my asthma & GERD. (Mostly my asthma.) It would be nice to know if I have some food allergy that sets it off, or if it's purely environmental (pollen and such). The things that worry me are
A) How dang restrictive it is. Can I really do a month of nothing but meat, veggies, and fruit?
And B ) Somehow developing an allergy to something I love that I have never reacted to before. And also I can't help but wonder if the "Nocebo" effect is a contributing factor to the food intolerances people seem to discover? Like maybe it's not a true intolerance, but after 30 days of elimination, the body now lacks the enzymes to digest certain things and now reacts poorly?

But I like that you pretty much eliminate most common allergens for 30 days and then slowly re-introduce them 1 by 1. As opposed to a standard elimination diet of picking 1 thing at a time and avoiding it for 14-30 days. Seems faster? I dunno. But I am interested to hear of anyone who may have tried it and found allergy, asthma, or gastrointestinal symptoms be reduced.

If you think you have legitimate food allergies/sensitivities than you really should be working with an allergist/your doctor. We have food allergies/intolerance in my family and the first step to figuring things out was doing the scratch test (allergist), and then from there doing the FODMAP elimination diet, which is something you should do under doctor supervision. It's challenging to get through it but it really does work for figuring out the culprits. The food list is also a lot different than the Whole 30 list, and there's actual medical reasoning for what the FODMAP eliminates (and why it has a very specific reintroduction protocol). If you look into how the Whole30 thing began/what qualifications the founders actually have, it should make you very skeptical, to say the least

This is why I haven't tried it... I've been on thier website, and my WOO-dar starts screaming at me in just a few paragraphs. But, on one hand 30 day elimination diet such as this could be a harmless way to find potential sensitivites. On the other hand it could just be a 30 day waste of my time. I know should just suck it up and pay the money for an allergy test... But, factoring in the cost of the office visit, the cost of the test itself, and then the cost of shots... They're expensive as hell (even with insurance). And what sucks is it will barely hit my deductable which means I'll have to pay for it all out of pocket. Hence my temptation to try this first and see what happens. Although I suppose I should note I've never eaten a food followed by immediate wheezing. Ever. So I suspect I won't find out anything useful anyways.

SVZee

Crafty_camper123 wrote: »

SVZee wrote: »

Crafty_camper123 wrote: »

Following.. I've been contemplating doing this for a year or two now. Mostly to see if there are any foods that contribute to my asthma & GERD. (Mostly my asthma.) It would be nice to know if I have some food allergy that sets it off, or if it's purely environmental (pollen and such). The things that worry me are
A) How dang restrictive it is. Can I really do a month of nothing but meat, veggies, and fruit?
And B ) Somehow developing an allergy to something I love that I have never reacted to before. And also I can't help but wonder if the "Nocebo" effect is a contributing factor to the food intolerances people seem to discover? Like maybe it's not a true intolerance, but after 30 days of elimination, the body now lacks the enzymes to digest certain things and now reacts poorly?

But I like that you pretty much eliminate most common allergens for 30 days and then slowly re-introduce them 1 by 1. As opposed to a standard elimination diet of picking 1 thing at a time and avoiding it for 14-30 days. Seems faster? I dunno. But I am interested to hear of anyone who may have tried it and found allergy, asthma, or gastrointestinal symptoms be reduced.

If you think you have legitimate food allergies/sensitivities than you really should be working with an allergist/your doctor. We have food allergies/intolerance in my family and the first step to figuring things out was doing the scratch test (allergist), and then from there doing the FODMAP elimination diet, which is something you should do under doctor supervision. It's challenging to get through it but it really does work for figuring out the culprits. The food list is also a lot different than the Whole 30 list, and there's actual medical reasoning for what the FODMAP eliminates (and why it has a very specific reintroduction protocol). If you look into how the Whole30 thing began/what qualifications the founders actually have, it should make you very skeptical, to say the least

This is why I haven't tried it... I've been on thier website, and my WOO-dar starts screaming at me in just a few paragraphs. But, on one hand 30 day elimination diet such as this could be a harmless way to find potential sensitivites. On the other hand it could just be a 30 day waste of my time. I know should just suck it up and pay the money for an allergy test... But, factoring in the cost of the office visit, the cost of the test itself, and then the cost of shots... They're expensive as hell (even with insurance). And what sucks is it will barely hit my deductable which means I'll have to pay for it all out of pocket. Hence my temptation to try this first and see what happens. Although I suppose I should note I've never eaten a food followed by immediate wheezing. Ever. So I suspect I won't find out anything useful anyways.

I hear ya on the cost of the scratch test-we had to pay out of pocket for it twice (my husband and two of my kids have had it done, thankfully one time was covered because we had hit our deductible), and all said and done it ran about $700 (for one person).

Could you talk to your regular doctor about starting an elimination diet, he/she may be able to give you the information without extra costs, besides the visit. Or even do one visit with an allergist-that's who we did FODMAP under and the office visit was just over $100 (no insurance), and she gave us all the paperwork/instructions on how to do it/come off of it.

Crafty_camper123

SVZee wrote: »

Crafty_camper123 wrote: »

SVZee wrote: »

Crafty_camper123 wrote: »

Following.. I've been contemplating doing this for a year or two now. Mostly to see if there are any foods that contribute to my asthma & GERD. (Mostly my asthma.) It would be nice to know if I have some food allergy that sets it off, or if it's purely environmental (pollen and such). The things that worry me are
A) How dang restrictive it is. Can I really do a month of nothing but meat, veggies, and fruit?
And B ) Somehow developing an allergy to something I love that I have never reacted to before. And also I can't help but wonder if the "Nocebo" effect is a contributing factor to the food intolerances people seem to discover? Like maybe it's not a true intolerance, but after 30 days of elimination, the body now lacks the enzymes to digest certain things and now reacts poorly?

But I like that you pretty much eliminate most common allergens for 30 days and then slowly re-introduce them 1 by 1. As opposed to a standard elimination diet of picking 1 thing at a time and avoiding it for 14-30 days. Seems faster? I dunno. But I am interested to hear of anyone who may have tried it and found allergy, asthma, or gastrointestinal symptoms be reduced.

If you think you have legitimate food allergies/sensitivities than you really should be working with an allergist/your doctor. We have food allergies/intolerance in my family and the first step to figuring things out was doing the scratch test (allergist), and then from there doing the FODMAP elimination diet, which is something you should do under doctor supervision. It's challenging to get through it but it really does work for figuring out the culprits. The food list is also a lot different than the Whole 30 list, and there's actual medical reasoning for what the FODMAP eliminates (and why it has a very specific reintroduction protocol). If you look into how the Whole30 thing began/what qualifications the founders actually have, it should make you very skeptical, to say the least

This is why I haven't tried it... I've been on thier website, and my WOO-dar starts screaming at me in just a few paragraphs. But, on one hand 30 day elimination diet such as this could be a harmless way to find potential sensitivites. On the other hand it could just be a 30 day waste of my time. I know should just suck it up and pay the money for an allergy test... But, factoring in the cost of the office visit, the cost of the test itself, and then the cost of shots... They're expensive as hell (even with insurance). And what sucks is it will barely hit my deductable which means I'll have to pay for it all out of pocket. Hence my temptation to try this first and see what happens. Although I suppose I should note I've never eaten a food followed by immediate wheezing. Ever. So I suspect I won't find out anything useful anyways.

I hear ya on the cost of the scratch test-we had to pay out of pocket for it twice (my husband and two of my kids have had it done, thankfully one time was covered because we had hit our deductible), and all said and done it ran about $700 (for one person).

Could you talk to your regular doctor about starting an elimination diet, he/she may be able to give you the information without extra costs, besides the visit. Or even do one visit with an allergist-that's who we did FODMAP under and the office visit was just over $100 (no insurance), and she gave us all the paperwork/instructions on how to do it/come off of it.

Thanks for your input. Might be something to look into. But aside from cruciferous veggies (and a few things I'm not thinking of I'm sure), whole 30 eliminates quite a few FODMAP foods. I'm going to go into lurking now so as not to hijack OP's post too bad.