Whole30 Results, Thoughts, & Tips

Yesterday was day 30 of whole30 for me. I’m done! Well, sort of. I’ll talk more about what’s next later in the post but for now I know you all really want to know my whole30 results.

If you’re not familiar with whole30 it’s basically an elimination diet where you take out certain things (dairy, legumes, sugar, alcohol, grains, artificial stuff) for 30 days and then add them back in one at a time to see how your body does. It’s more complicated than that so check out the whole30 site if you want more info.

So yesterday I finished up the initial 30 days and then for the next 10 days I am following their plan for reintroducing foods back into my diet and seeing how my body reacts. Then I reflect on what works and doesn’t and I will come up with a plan moving forward.

My Whole30 Results: Weight Loss

Like I said, I know people want to know… what happened when you did whole30 (how much weight did you lose????)? So I’ll talk about the scale results first and then about how my body felt.

I lost 18.2 pounds in 30 days. I did not take measurements because I’m lazy but also because I am mostly interested in doing this as a reset. Yes, I want to lose weight (I have 10 pounds more to lose to get to a healthy BMI) but what really attracted me to the program was the idea of trying to get a handle on my love of sugar.

It should also be noted that I increased my exercise during this 30 days. I hit my step count all but 3 days and did some other exercises. I didn’t do anything too extreme but this was an increase in my activity level.

Whole30 Results: My Relationship with Food

I have the biggest sweet tooth. Huge. My husband calls me a hummingbird. So giving up sugar and really focusing on filling my body with healthy protein, veggies and fruit, and cutting out the fillers of sugar and complex carbs was a good thing for me.

I also followed the recommendation of sticking to just 3 meals a day and not snacking. Many times I found myself wanting to eat out of habit (like snacking in front of the tv or while I blog) not out of hunger.

What I Ate

So for breakfasts I had a lot of eggs and cucumbers sometimes with a half a banana. Twice I just had leftover soup. You’re supposed to have veggies at each meal which is kinda weird at breakfast but the cucumbers went down pretty easy. And sometimes I made a potato hash. Yes, you are allowed to have potatoes, even white potatoes which feels so decadent on this program.

For lunches and dinners I had a lot of different things. Again, same rule of a portion of protein plus filling the rest of your plate with veggies and fruits. I ate a bunch of salads. My favorite compliant dressings are the Tessemae’s. They are so, so good. You can totally make your own but if you need something convenient then these are golden.

I also had a lot of protein (shrimp, chicken, tuna) plus raw veggies (carrots, cucumbers, celery). These were not pretty meals but they did the trick for a quick lunch. One of my favorite convenient proteins is the Aidell’s Chicken & Apple Sausages.

For some meals I tried some full-blown recipes recommended by a friend or found on Pinterest. Some of my favorites were:

• carnitas (I served it over lettuce with salsa and chopped onions)
• my whole30 chili
• Mongolian Beef
• sloppy joes
• my whole30 chicken soup

My Tips for the Best Whole30 Results

• If you’re heading into whole30 I would say be sure to read the Whole30 book. It explains the ins and outs of everything and it was a good reference for how to read food labels and what to look out for in ingredients.
• Think about what you like to eat. I know you’re probably cutting out a ton of things you like but try to think of the things you love that you can have and play to those strengths. For example, I love eggs and a simple potato hash. I don’t eat it all the time as I’m trying to get in a variety of foods but I do eat it a few times a week because I love it.
• See if you can modify a favorite recipe. I took my usual chili recipe and made it into my whole30 chili by reading the labels to make sure nothing was added to the canned tomatoes and sauce that I normally use and I left out the beans which usually get left out anyway because my husband doesn’t love them. No, I didn’t get to top my chili with my usual sour cream and cheese but I still found it to be comforting and flavorful.
• Enlist a buddy who is doing it or at least knows what you’re talking about so that you can have someone to talk to.

What I’m Doing Moving Forward

I’m very happy with my whole30 results and now I am moving on to the reintroduction phase. Over the next 10 days I will reintroduce things one by one to see how my body reacts.

After I see how my body does I’ll come up with a plan moving forward. For now I think that I’ll probably stick to whole30 rules during weekdays. For me this would mean no dairy, grains, sugar, alcohol, legumes, or artificial stuff. I don’t actually think that my body has a hard time with those but eliminating those means that I am filling up on more good stuff like lean proteins, veggies, and fruits.

On the weekends I think I will allow myself 2 “normal” meals for now. I’m not going to call these cheat days or anything because I don’t plan to go crazy all day or anything but I do think it would be good to have a little more wiggle room on the weekend.

But these are all just thoughts, subject to change depending on how my body reacts. I feel good right now, it’s been a good 30 days and I would recommend whole30 if you feel like you need to change things up some.

If you have done the whole30 program then I would love to know your whole30 results and thoughts in the comments below. And if you’re just thinking about doing it then please leave any questions in the comments below!

And it should go without saying but here’s the legal disclaimer- I am not a medical professional and this is not medical advice, this is just my experience. Please speak to a licensed medical professional before beginning any program.