Whole30

Are you doing it for weight loss or as an elimination diet for health reasons?

I did it last year, I wasn't allergic to anything but I learned to drink black coffee. Giving up sugar was very hard.

I’ve completed a round. I didn’t lose weight, but I ate some amazing meals. I didn’t do it for weight loss though, I did it to learn some good freedom and to learn to cook more wholesome meals.

If you are looking to lose weight I would cut out nuts, dried fruits, rxbars/larabars and fruit.

There is a misconception that whole 30 is a weight loss plan and it is not. In fact if you google it there are lots of people who stayed the same weight or gained - it still comes down to calories in/calories out

I have not done it, but some women in my running group are doing it this month. I don't think any of them are going for the elimination aspect, more of a mental/diet reset after the holiday food and drink. The recipes I have seen look really good, so at worst you might discover some amazing meals to add into the rotation.

I tried it, wasn't for me. i don't do well with restrictions, its not realistic to sustain for the long haul for me personally. I have failed the "diet" thing for many years because the mindset of restrictions made me only want it more... I am weak minded I guess LOL I eat pretty much clean, but when I want a piece of fruit and some oatmeal, or yogurt with granola on it and CHEESE... I WANT IT lol

CICO have worked for me over the year and I have lost a good amount of weight doing it without feeling like I am on a diet. Which was key for me. Everyone is different, they do it for different reasons, dietary needs, allergies etc. But if you are simply doing it for the weight loss, its really not necessary to be so restrictive.

I still make a ton of the recipes I downloaded for the diet itself. Like I said everyone is different, what works for some may not work for others. Find what works for you and ROCK it!!!

Happy New Year, good luck!

kgeyser wrote: »

I have not done it, but some women in my running group are doing it this month. I don't think any of them are going for the elimination aspect, more of a mental/diet reset after the holiday food and drink. The recipes I have seen look really good, so at worst you might discover some amazing meals to add into the rotation.

W30 is just not consuming certain foods which are not part of probably the vast majority of normal, non dessert recipes, so I wouldn't think one needs special W30 recipes or would have to be doing W30 to use the recipes. I am not paleo, but I look at paleo sites for recipes sometimes, and same with vegan sites.

I think W30 might be a useful incentive (it's a challenge! it's only 30 days!) if one is trying to encourage oneself to cook from whole foods, but I never understand why cutting out legumes and potatoes (although again I think potatoes might be allowed in the newest update) or oats is supposed to create a "reset" or why it's supposed to be better than just focusing on eating a healthful diet and (if you want) primarily or entirely from whole foods.

But whatever.

I love the Whole 30. It definitely changed the way I eat permanently since the first time I did it about 5 years ago. I now eat much more produce and less packaged/manufactured food. I also feel so much better physically after I've completed 30 days of it. I usually try to do a full 30 days strict about once a year just to kick myself back into gear of eating better.

I also learned a lot about what foods didn't work well with my body as I added them back in and noticed negative affects.

Having said that, I agree that having such a strict nutritional lifestyle is not for everyone and once I'm done with the strict 30 days I will add things back here and there, but it makes me much more conscious about making decisions of what to add back and when.

megs_1985 wrote: »

I tried it once but found it too restrictive. Plus I got annoyed with the people on the Facebook group being mean and so stringent that when I mentioned I put a bit of milk in my coffee they insisted I went off plan and had to start over. I did do the 21 day sugar detox which is kind of paleo and lost 8 lbs but also found it too restrictive and it made me crave sugar more since I thought about it all the time.

But you did go off plan, and if you were doing it for it's actual purpose, you probably should have started over. They were following the rules of the elimination diet, which means removing the specified items completely for the 30 days. Adding back in even a little bit can stuff it up for someone who's actually trying to assess if they have intolerances.

I take it you weren't actually doing it to see if you had food sensitivities?

It's not being mean to point out to someone that they aren't doing what they say they're doing. It's the whole point of a group for it, and I think it's good that people are making sure that newcomers know that to get the proper intended effect, they need to follow the rigorous rules.

I'm actually a member of the Whole30 forum and plan on doing it as part of Febfast, and it's frustrating to see how many people join and ask questions or share recipes or make statements about the diet which are wrong but they've been on FB or Pintrest and have seen these bastardisations. At his heart, it's a super strict diet.