Week three of Whole30 and I feel HORRIBLE.

thieambe
thieambe Posts: 41 Member
edited November 2024 in Food and Nutrition
For anyone who has done Whole30 or something similar: we're on day 23 and I feel absolutely miserable. The first three days sucked, the second week was awesome and I felt SO good. And then it crashed and I feel absolutely miserably, both mentally and physically. I can't even drag myself to class because I have no energy, my moodswings have been insane, I'm not sleeping better, and the last week I've had cramps and flu like symptoms. Today I can't stay off the toilet. The diet has not changed, nothing added or taken out. This is so frustrating. I did research and it claims that by now I should be feeling my best, not my worst. Ick! I don't plan to go back to the way I was eating, but this is certainly not promoting confidence. Advice?

Replies

  • whitpauly
    whitpauly Posts: 1,483 Member
    I couldn't even do one day on whole 30:(
  • Poisonedpawn78
    Poisonedpawn78 Posts: 1,145 Member
    dunno about the system, but the Cramping is likely dehydration. Make sure you are getting enough water.
  • klrenn
    klrenn Posts: 245 Member
    Could you actually have a bug? If you feel sick, maybe you are?
  • thieambe
    thieambe Posts: 41 Member
    klrenn wrote: »
    Could you actually have a bug? If you feel sick, maybe you are?

    I don't think so. I just got over a cold last week. Aside from the one week on this I felt okay, the rest of the time has been ridiculous. I want to finish it out and at the same time I'm wondering why.
  • thieambe
    thieambe Posts: 41 Member
    Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »
    It was hard, I couldn't complete it. I thought to myself, there has to be a better way. I discovered MFP and never looked back. I just ate in a slight deficit and lost the weight. Much easier to do.

    What does your diet look like? This is a complete 180 for us as we were crazy junk food and sugar addicts. I worry with calorie counting it will encourage me to slip back into unhealthy habits. When I was doing it before, I didn't have the willpower to eat less than like 2,000 a day.
  • thieambe
    thieambe Posts: 41 Member
    distinctlybeautiful wrote: »
    I was under the impression that Whole30 is a tool for determining food sensitivities one may have, so if doing it is making you feel worse I imagine you likely don't have food sensitivities and that it's not a program you need to continue.

    Apparently it's kind of supposed to be a detox blah blah blah but I'm not sure why it's 30 days. That seems like a long detox.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    distinctlybeautiful wrote: »
    I was under the impression that Whole30 is a tool for determining food sensitivities one may have, so if doing it is making you feel worse I imagine you likely don't have food sensitivities and that it's not a program you need to continue.

    It is, but some people found they also lost weight on it, so now it's put out there as an "eat clean, lose weight" thing. I looked at it at one point, but knew it would just make me miserable.

    OP, the no energy, moody, not sleeping well sounds like undereating possibly, do you know how many cals you're eating? Are you losing weight? I don't remember the specifics of the diet, are you eating much lower carb than you used to? Did you used to drink a lot of caffeine?
  • annette_15
    annette_15 Posts: 1,657 Member
    I did a round of whole30 last year, and I never felt physically worse than I did during those 30 days... My stomach was in so much pain for most of it, I was constipated, and looked 9 months pregnant most days... went back to eating my normal way and felt good again. No idea what caused it... I also gained weight lol... so yeah, cant say it was the best experience, but it did drastically improve my relationship with food at least
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited June 2017
    My thought was also to wonder if you are not eating enough, although the bathroom thing seems related to either something new you are eating or a bug. If you start eating lots of fiber all of a sudden after eating very little it can be uncomfortable -- it's much better to work up more gradually, as you develop the gut biome needed to digest it -- but I can't imagine that would happen all of a sudden in week 3.

    I think W30 is goofy, but it shouldn't make you feel sick 3 weeks in. (I don't eat most of the foods prohibited on W30 very often -- dairy being a huge exception -- just because of personal preference plus low carbing, and it never made me feel bad. I have been eating a mostly whole foods, nutrition-conscious diet for a long time, though -- actually more W30 like at times in the past, but the restriction they used to have on potatoes (for no good reason that I could see), as well as my view that restricting legumes for most people is contrary to what's good nutrition, is one reason I dislike it. Plus I think most people making a major change could just focus more on more practical ways of improving their diet and cooking more.)
  • thieambe
    thieambe Posts: 41 Member
    I appreciate all of your feedback! I won't be going back to fast food and junk food every day, for sure, but I'll be adding dairy and cheat meals back into my diet. The Whole30 is not sustainable and the creamer in my coffee this morning was so fabulous I think I'll let myself relax. Haha thank you all. I read about many other adverse effects and I'm glad it's not just me.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    sounds like for you the whole 30 was very low calories for you. many people find out that while doing the whole 30 and they weighed the food out of curiosity they were eating less than 1000 calories,now thats not everyone but a good majority of them. so sounds like that is what you are/were experiencing. also you dont need cheat meals as those can wipe out a deficit. just incorporate things you love and make it fit into your calories. I never cut out anything I liked and still lost weight.even if you want to say incorporate a little junk on the weekends and eat better through the week, that way it will make you feel as if its a cheat when really it wont be.
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