Whole30 diet -thoughts?

Options
I recently heard of the whole 30 diet. It's basically 30 days in which you eat no sugar, no processed foods, and other things such as beans, legumes, corn, and all kinds of wheat are out. Please look it up for more information because that's just the cliff notes and I could be wrong about something. I have no doubt that this diet would make someone lose weight. My question is, essentially, is it worth it? I could not go the rest of my life without oatmeal, lentils, or corn. Wouldn't someone just gain all the weight back after they start eating "normal" again? And isn't it possible to eat healthy and clean but in a way that is sustainable long term, and not just 30 days that you have to practically force yourself through? Also can someone explain what the hell is so bad about legumes?? Or even corn? Or oatmeal? I thought these were good things.

Give me your thoughts, whatever they are. I'm not endorsing this diet and probably won't even try it. Just wondering what everyone else thinks. Extra points if you ever tried it.
«13

Replies

  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
    Options
    What's the point?

    Losing weight comes from a caloric deficit... doesn't matter what you eat.

    If you can't sustain it, don't try to. Just eat in a deficit and enjoy what you love, hit your micros and your macros.

    Clean eating is an arbitrary term and means nothing.

    There is nothing bad about legumes, corn or oatmeal... no food is bad or good.
  • Kimbot88
    Kimbot88 Posts: 109 Member
    Options
    What's the point?

    Losing weight comes from a caloric deficit... doesn't matter what you eat.

    If you can't sustain it, don't try to. Just eat in a deficit and enjoy what you love, hit your micros and your macros.

    Clean eating is an arbitrary term and means nothing.

    There is nothing bad about legumes, corn or oatmeal... no food is bad or good.

    That is basically where I'm at with it!
  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
    Options
    Kimbot88 wrote: »
    What's the point?

    Losing weight comes from a caloric deficit... doesn't matter what you eat.

    If you can't sustain it, don't try to. Just eat in a deficit and enjoy what you love, hit your micros and your macros.

    Clean eating is an arbitrary term and means nothing.

    There is nothing bad about legumes, corn or oatmeal... no food is bad or good.

    That is basically where I'm at with it!

    Then we can agree that there is no point in trying it? :)

    Just eat in a caloric deficit to lose weight... hit your micronutrient and macronutrient goals and enjoy treats that you like.

    Easy enough, right?
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    Options
    Tried it. Too restrictive. I have RA and I still have RA. So it did not help me at all. Left me hungry and grumpy.

    You know you can eat all the foods you love but eat less of it. Calories in calories out.
  • Kimbot88
    Kimbot88 Posts: 109 Member
    Options
    Kimbot88 wrote: »
    What's the point?

    Losing weight comes from a caloric deficit... doesn't matter what you eat.

    If you can't sustain it, don't try to. Just eat in a deficit and enjoy what you love, hit your micros and your macros.

    Clean eating is an arbitrary term and means nothing.

    There is nothing bad about legumes, corn or oatmeal... no food is bad or good.

    That is basically where I'm at with it!

    Then we can agree that there is no point in trying it? :)

    Just eat in a caloric deficit to lose weight... hit your micronutrient and macronutrient goals and enjoy treats that you like.

    Easy enough, right?

    I do agree. Why make myself suffer for a month when it's not a sustainable "diet"? Also I'm middle eastern. I cannot NOT have lentils or chickpeas.
  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
    Options
    Kimbot88 wrote: »
    Kimbot88 wrote: »
    What's the point?

    Losing weight comes from a caloric deficit... doesn't matter what you eat.

    If you can't sustain it, don't try to. Just eat in a deficit and enjoy what you love, hit your micros and your macros.

    Clean eating is an arbitrary term and means nothing.

    There is nothing bad about legumes, corn or oatmeal... no food is bad or good.

    That is basically where I'm at with it!

    Then we can agree that there is no point in trying it? :)

    Just eat in a caloric deficit to lose weight... hit your micronutrient and macronutrient goals and enjoy treats that you like.

    Easy enough, right?

    I do agree. Why make myself suffer for a month when it's not a sustainable "diet"? Also I'm middle eastern. I cannot NOT have lentils or chickpeas.

    Well there you go :)

  • Kimbot88
    Kimbot88 Posts: 109 Member
    Options
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    Tried it. Too restrictive. I have RA and I still have RA. So it did not help me at all. Left me hungry and grumpy.

    You know you can eat all the foods you love but eat less of it. Calories in calories out.

    That's how I feel about it. It seems too restrictive. I didn't read the whole website but there is something about it being "healing." And if you cheat or mess up you must begin the"healing" process again.
  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
    Options
    Kimbot88 wrote: »
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    Tried it. Too restrictive. I have RA and I still have RA. So it did not help me at all. Left me hungry and grumpy.

    You know you can eat all the foods you love but eat less of it. Calories in calories out.

    That's how I feel about it. It seems too restrictive. I didn't read the whole website but there is something about it being "healing." And if you cheat or mess up you must begin the"healing" process again.

    If I tried the Whole30 diet... I think I'd need healing for life.

    I can't be restrictive with my foods lol.
  • Kimbot88
    Kimbot88 Posts: 109 Member
    Options
    Kimbot88 wrote: »
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    Tried it. Too restrictive. I have RA and I still have RA. So it did not help me at all. Left me hungry and grumpy.

    You know you can eat all the foods you love but eat less of it. Calories in calories out.

    That's how I feel about it. It seems too restrictive. I didn't read the whole website but there is something about it being "healing." And if you cheat or mess up you must begin the"healing" process again.

    If I tried the Whole30 diet... I think I'd need healing for life.

    I can't be restrictive with my foods lol.

    Seriously. I would be starting over constantly. I mean maybe not. I'm sure I could do it. But i feel like I'd be more likely to binge after.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    Options
    Kimbot88 wrote: »
    Kimbot88 wrote: »
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    Tried it. Too restrictive. I have RA and I still have RA. So it did not help me at all. Left me hungry and grumpy.

    You know you can eat all the foods you love but eat less of it. Calories in calories out.

    That's how I feel about it. It seems too restrictive. I didn't read the whole website but there is something about it being "healing." And if you cheat or mess up you must begin the"healing" process again.

    If I tried the Whole30 diet... I think I'd need healing for life.

    I can't be restrictive with my foods lol.

    Seriously. I would be starting over constantly. I mean maybe not. I'm sure I could do it. But i feel like I'd be more likely to binge after.

    Yep. You start missing the foods you love. You count down each day, try and hold out. It was to difficult for me. I just don't have that kind of will power. But eating the foods you love is so much easier. You will be successful. Really.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Options
    I think it's supposed to be en elimination diet for food allergies - but it has become a fad for weight loss; and I'd think there would be faster, easier and more effective ways to find out about allergies.
  • Kimbot88
    Kimbot88 Posts: 109 Member
    Options
    I think it's supposed to be en elimination diet for food allergies - but it has become a fad for weight loss; and I'd think there would be faster, easier and more effective ways to find out about allergies.

    That would sense if it did start out that way. And yeah an allergy test would be faster.
  • cmtigger
    cmtigger Posts: 1,450 Member
    Options
    I think it's a fad diet at this point.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    Options
    I tried it because my husband wanted to. He has followed all my stupid ideas in the past so it was my turn.

    I actually liked it. I wasn't hungry even though I tend to do better on more frequent meals (Whole 30 encourages 3 meals a day with a snack after workout and no other snacking). I did drop weight. I loved all the food, I still make a lot of the same dishes and load my plates similar way (protein, fat, and lots of veggies).
    But...
    It was really hard to do because it's hard to find meals that are easy to prepare ahead of time. Last minute meals were difficult. And I wasn't prepared to give up things like wheat forever.

    If you aren't an Italian at heart and can't live without pasta like me or, in your case, Middle Eastern with a love lentils and chickpeas, it might work. But for me, I could never have done it forever.

    I don't think there is anything special about the diet unless you have an issue with some of the foods it eliminates. I do think that even though it excludes foods, it is a pretty healthy diet. A lot of people tend to be low carb on it but that is not out of necessity. I made an effort to keep my carb intake up even without things like pasta (the book does encourage that).
  • BeckyAnn71
    BeckyAnn71 Posts: 3 Member
    Options
    This is one of the things that drive me nuts. Reading their first book, you get it's not a weightloss diet, the science behind it makes total sense to me. Then something happens, and these very well intended people see the possibility of making even more money, so they write another book, same info just less of it cause it's the basics not the science, and now people think it's a new diet to lose weight, well because they are now marketing as that, though they still claim it's not for weight loss. You aren't even suppose to step on the scale for the whole 30 days. I did it for half a month, felt my best ever since all my food issues and other health issues started. I really love whole 30, and what it really is. I loved that people have been able to find healing in more than just diabetes, cholesterol and high blood pressure. But I agree, it is VERY restrictive. For me, if I could do it and stick too it, it would be a life time thing. No point in me restricting for 30 days and then going back to any of it. It's all a problem for me but so is trying to stay away from all of it. When I was doing it, I also followed the Autoimmune, low histamine and FoDMAPs protocal... Talk about OVERWHELMING! That's when I lost it all, and started gaining back after I had hit goal.

  • Kimbot88
    Kimbot88 Posts: 109 Member
    Options
    I tried it because my husband wanted to. He has followed all my stupid ideas in the past so it was my turn.

    I actually liked it. I wasn't hungry even though I tend to do better on more frequent meals (Whole 30 encourages 3 meals a day with a snack after workout and no other snacking). I did drop weight. I loved all the food, I still make a lot of the same dishes and load my plates similar way (protein, fat, and lots of veggies).
    But...
    It was really hard to do because it's hard to find meals that are easy to prepare ahead of time. Last minute meals were difficult. And I wasn't prepared to give up things like wheat forever.

    If you aren't an Italian at heart and can't live without pasta like me or, in your case, Middle Eastern with a love lentils and chickpeas, it might work. But for me, I could never have done it forever.

    I don't think there is anything special about the diet unless you have an issue with some of the foods it eliminates. I do think that even though it excludes foods, it is a pretty healthy diet. A lot of people tend to be low carb on it but that is not out of necessity. I made an effort to keep my carb intake up even without things like pasta (the book does encourage that).

    I am actually Italian as well. Italian, Greek, and Middle Eastern. Waaaayy too many good foods to give up forever!
  • Kimbot88
    Kimbot88 Posts: 109 Member
    Options
    BeckyAnn71 wrote: »
    This is one of the things that drive me nuts. Reading their first book, you get it's not a weightloss diet, the science behind it makes total sense to me. Then something happens, and these very well intended people see the possibility of making even more money, so they write another book, same info just less of it cause it's the basics not the science, and now people think it's a new diet to lose weight, well because they are now marketing as that, though they still claim it's not for weight loss. You aren't even suppose to step on the scale for the whole 30 days. I did it for half a month, felt my best ever since all my food issues and other health issues started. I really love whole 30, and what it really is. I loved that people have been able to find healing in more than just diabetes, cholesterol and high blood pressure. But I agree, it is VERY restrictive. For me, if I could do it and stick too it, it would be a life time thing. No point in me restricting for 30 days and then going back to any of it. It's all a problem for me but so is trying to stay away from all of it. When I was doing it, I also followed the Autoimmune, low histamine and FoDMAPs protocal... Talk about OVERWHELMING! That's when I lost it all, and started gaining back after I had hit goal.

    Interesting. This is how I felt about being vegan. I absolutely believe that eating vegan is the best thing for your body because of the science that backs it. People thought I was doing it to lose weight though. (I am no longer vegan but would probably feel better if I was.) anyway thank you for the insight. I was curious about the whole 30 because a friend mentioned she was doing it for weight loss. I would of course do more actual research before trying it.
  • Aeryn24
    Aeryn24 Posts: 34 Member
    edited September 2015
    Options
    Hi there. I'm finishing up Week 1 of Whole 30. When I first heard about it and saw what one of my old co-workers was posting on her wall (pics of meals, etc.), I thought "there is no way on earth I could do that." I've lost weight before just with caloric deficit alone or caloric deficit plus exercise. Caloric deficit works, for sure.

    I'm doing Whole 30 for health reasons as well as losing weight. I'm eliminating all of the other foods according to the Whole 30 program to see if it actually does make a difference. I do love my sugar and grains, so I thought that was going to be hard to give up. So I eased myself into it, using the weeks up to day 1 of Whole 30 to limit my grain and sugar intake and transition to a more paleo/whole 30 array of food. I'm actually really satisfied with the food and learned to like like things like sweet potatoes - which I previously thought I hated. But I eat them baked and plain and they're surprisingly tasty!

    So it's been an experiment and an adventure. I've been tracking for about 25 days now, 7 of them on Whole 30. Lost a tad over 6 pounds so far. In this first week of Whole 30, I've lost 2.2 pounds. That was interesting. I had never dropped that much before.

    The only thing I'm not following about the program is that I do weigh myself once a week and I still track my calories because it's not that big of a deal for me when I'm serious about losing weight. Hope that helps!
  • Kimbot88
    Kimbot88 Posts: 109 Member
    Options
    Aeryn24 wrote: »
    Hi there. I'm finishing up Week 1 of Whole 30. When I first heard about it and saw what one of my old co-workers was posting on her wall (pics of meals, etc.), I thought "there is no way on earth I could do that." I've lost weight before just with caloric deficit alone or caloric deficit plus exercise. Caloric deficit works, for sure.

    I'm doing Whole 30 for health reasons as well as losing weight. I'm eliminating all of the other foods according to the Whole 30 program to see if it actually does make a difference. I do love my sugar and grains, so I thought that was going to be hard to give up. So I eased myself into it, using the weeks up to day 1 of Whole 30 to limit my grain and sugar intake and transition to a more paleo/whole 30 array of food. I'm actually really satisfied with the food and learned to like like things like sweet potatoes - which I previously thought I hated. But I eat them baked and plain and they're surprisingly tasty!

    So it's been an experiment and an adventure. I've been tracking for about 25 days now, 7 of them on Whole 30. Lost a tad over 6 pounds so far. In this first week of Whole 30, I've lost 2.2 pounds. That was interesting. I had never dropped that much before.

    The only thing I'm not following about the program is that I do weigh myself once a week and I still track my calories because it's not that big of a deal for me when I'm serious about losing weight. Hope that helps!

    Thank you for an informative response! I would probably continue weighing myself as well. Do you notice that your cravings for sweets or carbs have diminished?
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    Options
    I don't know the Whole 30, but I am probably on a similar if not more restrictove diet - ketogenic diet. When I first began I felt like sugar, processed foods, and flours were too har to give up, but once I had been doing it for while I found my cravings for sweets were gone and my appetite diminished by a lot. I discovered that I can live without those foods quite happily and I feel healthier for doing it.

    Did it help me lose weight? Maybe. My appetite is definitely down, and I seem to be losing more than I should at my calorie deficit so who knows.

    Do I fee healthier by eliminating sugars, processed foods, corn and legumes. Yes! By a large margin. Because of this I can see doing this diet long term. The benefits are too great for me to give up.

    You could always give it a trial. If it doesn't do anything for you, then you've learned that you apear to do fine with those foods. If it improves your health, then you can decide if you want to continue with all or some of the whole 30 guidelines.