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Why I’ll Never Do Whole30 Again (and What I’m Doing Instead)

by erika Leave a Comment

As some of you know, I completed a Whole30 last year. If you don’t know what Whole30 is, it’s a nutrition program that claims it will change your life. Yes, they say that over and over again every place they can. On social media, in their books, on their website. Basically, it’s a plan to change your eating from processed foods to real, whole foods.  I appreciate the spirit behind it!

Here’s the deal: While doing Whole30, you can’t eat grains, corn, sugar (of any kind), bread, butter, and dairy…so basically anything delicious. On this plan, you go cold-turkey for thirty days – depriving yourself of all the comfort and tasty foods you love. Why? They say it’s not a plan to lose weight. But pretty much everyone who does the Whole30 does it expecting to lose weight. At least I did!

Let me get this out of the way right up front. It didn’t work for me. It was a terrible idea! Yes, it did change my life…it made it WORSE!

First, I did NOT lose weight. I gained 8 pounds over the course of my Whole30.

Second, I did NOT feel amazing afterwards, or anytime during the middle of it. I felt like garbage. Actual, stinky gross garbage.

I understand that it’s supposed to be a “reset” – a cleanse, if you will. But all it did for me is make me feel deprived, which led to…

Out of control eating.

Yep, you can eat whatever you want – as long as it’s on the “approved” list.  Well, baby, that doesn’t work for me! I had free access to “good” fats – like avocados, walnuts, almonds…which, as anybody with a brain can tell you – those “good fats” add up fast. They do!

I am not someone who can self-regulate and do the whole “intuitive eating” thing. I’m just not. When I am presented with a plate of food, I want to eat it all and go back for seconds.  I have to monitor the portion control situation, or it gets out of hand fast.

So, yeah – I gained weight on Whole30 and was miserable, and craved my normal foods the whole time I did it. When I got done with the plan, I ate ice cream and had a juicy cheeseburger, and felt happy for the first time in a month.

Life is too short to live without cheese.

So what am I doing now? Well, a few months after I did the Whole30, I got pregnant and had a baby – so that’s keeping me occupied. 🙂

Me and my handsome prince out for a walk:

postpartum weight loss erika

So…back to the story: What am I doing to lose the baby weight?

Well, what’s working so far is NOT eating berries and nuts ala Whole30. Although I’m tempted to try Whole 30 again (the pressure is REAL!) – I don’t need to gain weight postpartum. That’s not my problem…haha.

I’m doing a mix of a few things. I’m walking as much as I can – that’s the exercise I’m able to do now. I had some pelvic issues due to the pregnancy, so I can’t do hard-core exercise (or even mild-core exercise – ha!) yet.

 

 

I’m still doing Noom, although I fell off the wagon over the weekend. I really like that my coach checked in with me today (Monday) and held me accountable. Before I was just journaling my food using a free app – but I found that without support, I was forgetting to log what I ate – or often, I would just eat a lot at the end of the day, go over my calories, and say “Oh well, I’ll log my food tomorrow.” Because I have the coach and the support group with Noom, I am definitely sticking to the program a lot better.

I’m also dealing with some post-natal depletion…which is to say that I’m exhausted from the big job of raising five little humans. In past pregnancies, I’ve had pretty bad postpartum depression, so I’m doing my best to stay on top of that.

I am taking really good vitamins that come as a subscription, so I love that because I never forget to take them and they are individualized for me.

And I just started doing green juice. I used to do my own juicing in the past – but I really don’t have the time or energy to do that at the moment. Instead – I am doing the green juice from Organifi. Already I feel a lot better and have more energy – but maybe that’s just psychological. Haha. Time will tell.

Anyhoo – What I’m trying to say is that I’m ditching the all or nothing mindset of Whole30. I don’t want to live like that – even for 30 days! I want to enjoy my life, and also lose weight…but not go crazy restricting myself and making myself feel totally deprived. That doesn’t work for me.

At least I’m figuring all that now…it took long enough! Haha.

Xoxo,

Erika

P.S. If you want to try Organifi, they offered me a discount for my readers. Use the code ERIKAFINN15 at checkout, and you’ll get 15% off. Yay!

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Why I'm not doing Whole30 (and what I'm doing instead...)

Why I'm not doing Whole30 (and what I'm doing instead...)

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Oh hey, you! I'm Erika, a homeschooling mom of 5 children, ages: 11, 9, 6, 3, and newborn. You'll find homeschool tips, family fun and travel, self-care for moms, the best books for kids, educational apps, plus encouragement for the homeschooling mom. I'm glad you're here!

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