Whole30 Review, Meals, Daily Journal, and Results & a Linkup

**DISCLAIMER:  I AM NOT A DOCTOR, NUTRITIONIST, OR DIETITIAN.  THIS POST IS BASED SOLELY ON MY EXPERIENCE.  I AM NOT AN EXPERT.  PRIOR TO STARTING ANY DIET SEEN ON MY BLOG, PLEASE CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR SO THAT YOU DON’T HARM YOUR BODY AND HEALTH.  I AM NOT LIABLE FOR ANY HEALTH ISSUES THAT MAY ARISE IF YOU TRY A DIET WITHOUT CONSULTING YOUR DOCTOR FIRST.

As y’all know, I’m kind of obsessed with trying new diets.  It’s honestly the only change I truly like in my life haha.  I love reviewing them and telling my readers about them in case they are looking into diets and researching them.  Now, as my disclaimer says above, please consult your doctor prior to testing out any new diets.  Diets are not for everyone, and some can do more harm than good.

I finished my Whole30 challenge!  I’m going to be brutally honest in this post and about my experience.  It was a negative one for sure.  I’m going to talk about results and I will give you a play by play of how I felt because to be completely honest, this was the most difficult diet for me to try.  I didn’t buy the Whole30 book, I just followed all of the research I saw online, so this may not be the true Whole30.

WHAT IS THE WHOLE30?  What is italicized was taken from the Whole30 website here.

Yes: Eat real food.

Eat moderate portions of meat, seafood, and eggs; lots of vegetables; some fruit; plenty of natural fats; and herbs, spices, and seasonings. Eat foods with very few ingredients, all pronounceable ingredients, or better yet, no ingredients listed at all because they’re whole and unprocessed.

No: Avoid for 30 days.

• Do not consume added sugar, real or artificial. No maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, coconut sugar, date syrup, stevia, Splenda, Equal, Nutrasweet, xylitol, etc. Read your labels, because companies sneak sugar into products in ways you might not recognize.

• Do not consume alcohol, in any form, not even for cooking. (And ideally, no tobacco products of any sort, either.)

• Do not eat grains. This includes (but is not limited to) wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, rice, millet, bulgur, sorghum, sprouted grains, and all gluten-free pseudo-cereals like quinoa, amaranth, and buckwheat. This also includes all the ways we add wheat, corn, and rice into our foods in the form of bran, germ, starch, and so on. Again, read your labels.

• Do not eat legumes. This includes beans of all kinds (black, red, pinto, navy, white, kidney, lima, fava, etc.), peas, chickpeas, lentils, and peanuts. No peanut butter, either. This also includes all forms of soy – soy sauce, miso, tofu, tempeh, edamame, and all the ways we sneak soy into foods (like lecithin).

• Do not eat dairy. This includes cow, goat, or sheep’s milk products like milk, cream, cheese, kefir, yogurt, sour cream, ice cream, or frozen yogurt.

• Do not consume carrageenan, MSG, or sulfites. If these ingredients appear in any form on the label of your processed food or beverage, it’s out for the Whole30.

• Do not consume baked goods, junk foods, or treats with “approved” ingredients. Recreating or buying sweets, treats, and foods-with-no-brakes (even if the ingredients are technically compliant) is totally missing the point of the Whole30, and will compromise your life-changing results. These are the same foods that got you into health-trouble in the first place—and a pancake is still a pancake, even if it’s made with coconut flour.

Some specific foods that fall under this rule include: pancakes, waffles, bread, tortillas, biscuits, muffins, cupcakes, cookies, brownies, pizza crust, alternative flour pastas, cereal, or ice cream. No commercially-prepared chips (potato, tortilla, plantain, etc.) or French fries either. However, this list is not limited strictly to these items—there may be other foods that you find are not psychologically healthy for your Whole30. Use your best judgment with those foods that aren’t on this list, but that you suspect are not helping you change your habits or break those cravings. Our mantra: When in doubt, leave it out.It’s only 30 days.

One last and final rule:

• Do not step on the scale or take any body measurements for 30 days. The Whole30 is about so much more than weight loss, and to focus only on body composition means you’ll overlook all of the other dramatic, lifelong benefits this plan has to offer. So, no weighing yourself, analyzing body fat, or taking comparative measurements during your Whole30. (We do encourage you to weigh yourself before and after, so you can see one of the more tangible results of your efforts when your program is over.)

Now that we got that description out of the way let’s get into it!  Since this diet is more of a mental thing and it’s about non scale victories I’m going to share a lot with y’all.  I’m going to be honest, I hated this diet.  It was really hard for me.  The reason being, I LOVE CHEESE.  I know that I have a slight allergy to dairy, so I know that one of the major reasons why my body was bloated and inflamed was because of the amount of dairy I was eating.  Yes, I was eating cheese a little more than I should have.  I also know for sure that legumes make me bloat.  They make me extremely gassy and I usually have issues with my bowels afterwards along with really bad stomach pains.  Which is why I avoid eating them when I know I won’t be near a bathroom.

WHOLE30 JOURNAL

Day 1

I failed horribly.  I had one of the worst days at work and I ended up being really good all day and as soon as I came home I devoured everything in site.  I felt like I had failed myself and told myself I’d start again the following day.

Day 1 Part 2

I started from square one.  I wasn’t going to count the day prior because I was not happy with the outcome and I wanted to start all over again.  This is just how I am.  I don’t half ass anything, I full ass everything (keep reading to see more on this statement lol).  My cravings for cheese were unreal!

Day 2

It was my fiance’s birthday and I couldn’t eat anything that I wanted to.  Insert sad face.  He ate something I couldn’t, and I stuck to my Whole30.

Day 3-6

I was a struggle bus!  My cheese cravings were insane.  I wasn’t craving chips or candy, but I just couldn’t get over not eating cheese.  I wanted just one slice.  On day 6 I went to my parents for lunch and my mom cooked me this AMAZING egg and potato dish.  It filled me up like whoa.

Day 7

I have IBS, and I don’t know what happened, but my stomach was in so much pain.  I had the worst bowel movements not to get into details.  I honestly felt terrible.

Day 8

I woke up extremely groggy, but as the day progressed I had more energy.

Day 9-11

I was doing really well!  I was a little hungry, but thanks to being busy at work, it helped me with my “boredom hunger.”

Day 12-13

Um, I kind of fell off track.  My cousin from Poland was here and my mom had dinner and then breakfast the next morning.  I cheated and had cheese, and some sweets.  I couldn’t say no.  Usually I’m really good, but I caved.  I have decided that I will not be restarting the Whole30 because, this is honestly the worst diet I’ve ever done, and another 30 days of this pure torture will not be a good thing for me and the world as a whole hahaha!  I will say though, cheating on the diet made me finally be able to “cleanse” my system lol.  I hadn’t been able to have a regular bowel movement and this helped move things along (no pun intended haha!).

Day 14

I’m doing ok, but I’m starting to get hungrier than usual.  I’m not sure if this is PMS because I usually get like this a week before Aunt Flow comes to visit.  I’m nervous because on day 19 I’m meeting up with my blogger bestie, and I know I won’t be able to resist.  I have been researching the Mediterranean Diet to try next, and it seems like it’s a diet I will be able to stick to and I like how non restrictive it is.  We shall see what happens!  I also almost caved and had a small bite of one of those peanut butter Snickers bars, BUTTTT I didn’t.  Y’all, the struggle is real.  I think the reason why I’m not able to stick to this diet whatsoever is because of all of the restrictions, I just can’t do it this time around.

Day 15

It would be nice to have a normal bowel movement with all of the veggies I’m eating.  I read that a lot of people had better bowel movements, but not for me.  I’m starting to get really aggravated with this diet, and I’m thinking I might cut this early.  I know all I’ve done is complain about it, and I’m sure my friends and family are annoyed by now because I’m miserable.  I’ve never felt this miserable on a diet before.  I loved the 21DF, Keto, and IF.

Day 16-18

Day 16 went ok, I didn’t get off track, however on Day 17 I had a really rough day.  I don’t want to keep blaming it on my stress, but it was either turn in 2007 Britney Spears (no offense Britney, I do love you) or have a small bite of a snickers bar.  I went for the Snickers bar.  There’s a lot of changes happening in my life right now and a lot of added stress, that I honestly chose to do a diet at the completely wrong time.  I have noticed that I don’t think this diet lines up with my health because I haven’t really been feeling as good as I have with previous diets.  I just feel off.  I’m not bloated, but I feel off.  For example with Keto, my brain was like a completely new brain.  With 21DF I felt like I could take on the world.  I’m not sure if this is a mental thing with this diet and that I’m just being over dramatic that I have taken out so many foods that I love, but I don’t feel right.  Day 18 was ok, I was hungry though lol.

Day 19-20

On day 19 I met with my blogger bestie Ellen from Ask Away blog.  I didn’t cheat!  I think this was also due to the fact that I was an hour and a half away from home and didn’t want to have any stomach issues on that ride back home.  However Saturday night and Sunday night I cheated on my diet a bit.  Not anything crazy, but a little bit.

Day 21-22

I made a new lunch for this week’s meal prep and I hate it.  It’s so gross, but I don’t like to waste food, so I have to eat it.  I had a meltdown and ate cheese, and I REGRET NOTHING.  I know that I’m not really doing Whole30 anymore because you’re supposed to restart the 30 days if you cheat, but first of all it’s the only way I will get a regular bowel movement, second of all Aunt Flow is in town, and third of all I’m going through a really stressful time right now.

Day 23

I ate pizza.  Go ahead, judge me.  I regret nothing.

Day 24-30

I hate everything about this diet, and I’m never doing it again lol.  I did have a few non approved Whole30 snacks and I don’t regret anything because I’m losing my mind with all of the restrictions.  This diet was an epic fail and I’m not happy with myself, but I’m not in a spot mentally to do the Whole30.  Any other diet would have worked, but not this one.

WHAT I ATE

Ok, so the one thing I couldn’t follow was not snacking.  My body cannot go so many hours in between meals unless I’m intermittent fasting since I rarely eat breakfast anymore.  However, throughout the day I need to otherwise I get light headed and dizzy and that isn’t good for my condition or my job because I kind of have to be on point all the time.  For snacks I ate fruits, carrots, and some pistachios.  However, for meals I usually skip breakfast because my stomach hurts after eating that early in the morning so I would have this banana/almond milk/chia seed “pudding” every morning.  Lunch was usually more of a dinner, and for dinner I would eat scrambled eggs with spinach because I don’t like to eat heavy at night time.  Above are some photos of things that I ate.

RESULTS

I was reading that a lot of changes were supposed to happen during the Whole30.  It was supposed to help with other health issues but it would get worse before it would get better.  I didn’t have the same experience others had and I know that they will argue that I had a cheat day or two.  The thing is, is I eat healthy as it is, and I thought switching to this diet would be harder, but I could do it.  I didn’t see the benefits that a lot of people did and I don’t think it has to do with the cheat days.  I think it has to do with the fact that my body does need some of the things I had to cut out.

Non Scale Victories

I lost inches.

I wasn’t bloated.

I learned more about food in general, and how addicting cheese can be.

Pros

I wasn’t bloated

I lost weight and inches

Cons

My migraines didn’t go away, if anything they were worse, just not as consistent

Not a fan of the no dairy thing, I can do without carbs and legumes, but not dairy.

It’s not for me whatsoever, and it actually made me feel off.

I was honestly miserable on this diet.  I took away every food group that I love besides meat.

Not being able to weigh or measure myself wasn’t a good thing for me.  I need to see results, and not knowing if anything was changing for an entire 30 days was not very motivating for me.  If I see results, I try harder to get even better results.  I think this was one of the major down falls of not being successful with this.

Results

Weight Loss:  down 11lbs

Arms: lost 0.5 inch in both arms

Chest: lost 2 inches

Waist: lost 3.5 inches

Hips: lost 1 inch

Thighs: lost 1 inch in both thighs

Calves: lost 1 inch in both calves

BEFORE AND AFTER

Pictured above are my before and afters.

CONCLUSION

At the end of the day I don’t foresee myself continuing this diet.  I generally eat pretty healthy and then indulge every once in a while, so I’m used to consistently doing a different diet every few months.  I have been consistent in making sure I don’t get over a certain weight because of how much weight I gained a few years ago (I was close to 200lbs).  I also feel better about myself in general when I am less weight.  This wasn’t a diet for me.  I hated it.  I was so miserable.  I felt terrible both mentally and physically.  When they say certain diets aren’t for everyone, they aren’t lying.  I felt like I was putting myself through torture with this diet.  My loved ones had no idea why I put myself through this, but I really wanted to try it and share it with y’all.  I think if it wasn’t my love for cheese and all things dairy, I would have had a better time with this.  I was talking to my fiance and he actually said that the happiest I ever was on a diet was when I was doing the 21 Day Fix.  He said that I had more energy, I lost weight at the pace that I wanted, and I loved the food more.  He’s right, I think out of all of the diets I’ve done, the 21DF was the most successful for me.  The common thing I’ve seen with any diet I’ve ever done or read about, it’s all about eating real food.  I honestly think that a bunch of these diets are BS.  One big change is people go from eating McDonald’s to making their own food in the kitchen.  That right there is a big step to becoming healthier.  A lot of people know that anything in excess can be bad for you.  We should all know that once you stop eating fast food every day or eating out all the time, you will be healthier and lose weight.

If you want to read any of my other diet posts and comparison posts, take a look at the below:

Keto, Intermittent Fasting, 21DF, Beachbody, BBG

1 Month Keto Progress

21 DF, Beachbody, BBG

Now, let’s move on to the linkup!  My mom from 60 Plus Experience is co-hosting with me again!

xoxo Monica

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