Whole30 Round 2 Reflections: Admissions, Results, and Next Steps

I haven’t blogged much about my Whole30 experience this time around, only about the ridiculously delicious recipes I’ve discovered while doing it. But I do have some reflections to share.  The first is that I didn’t find the Whole30 challenge to be much of a challenge this time.  Perhaps it’s because between grad school and work I have very little time to be social anyways, or perhaps it’s because I’m a stubborn little thing.  But the Whole30 just isn’t that hard.

“Giving up heroin is a hard.  Beating cancer is hard.  Drinking your coffee black is. not. hard.”

A lot of things are hard, but the Whole30 isn’t one of them.  It’s simple, really: you decide you’re going to do it and then you do it.  It takes dedication and willpower, or what we in the nutrition eduction world call “self-regulation skills,” and it takes a willingness to put some time and thought into the amazing meals you’re cooking – but it’s not hard.

“I did it for the abs!” A lot of people ask me why I would want to do a Whole30, either with their words or with their tone.  Last time around, I gave a lot of complex answers about how it was a science experiment of sorts to eliminate potential irritants and then add them back in one at time to find out which ones affected my body.  And last time, that was true to some extent.  But having done this before, I know I don’t have an intolerance to any of these foods, besides the fact that legumes make me gassy (but so does cauliflower).

This time I’m perfectly willing to admit it: I did it for the abs.  

So far, this has been the only method I have found that works for me to lose weight and get a taut stomach while eating large portions of delicious food and never being hungry.  I think that we’re often uncomfortable saying, “I’m not going to eat that because I want to look awesome.”  It’s easier to come up with a health-related reason that we aren’t consuming what the group is.  But it’s okay.  Diet is a huge part of physical fitness, and you’re allowed to make dietary decisions based on the physical outcome you want to achieve.

The real value added: That brings me to the sense of empowerment that comes along with Whole30.  As I said at the end of my first round back in 2014, “I also felt really good about how I was treating my body and very empowered by the sense of control that comes with knowing that I can say “no, I’m not going to have any of that.”  There is a lot of social pressure to eat things you don’t really want to eat, and Whole30 makes me feel empowered to say, “no thanks!”  On top of feeling empowered, this makes me enjoy the things I really do want that much more.

You can still be social: This Whole30 reinforced the notion that you can still be social without drinking alcohol or eating unhealthy foods. I found myself at bars and at beer club. I hosted dinner parties.  I went to meals at people’s homes and brought my own food.  And I still had a great time.  You focus on what you can have (laughter!) and not what you can’t, and you find creative ways to make it work.

Physical Results and Nutrition Stats: Throughout this Whole30, I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to see the same striking results as I saw the first time around.  I don’t think this was so much about anything I did differently this time, I think the truth of the matter is I was in better shape going into it, so I didn’t have as far to go.  I was actually surprised to find I’d lost 5.2 pounds (compared to 6.8 last time), and about 1″ off my waist.  I’m perfectly happy with that – while the visual change isn’t as striking, I feel great!

One major difference between this Whole30 and last was that I decided to track my dietary intake.  While this is not in the spirit of Whole30, as a student of nutrition I really wanted to know what the Whole30 meant nutritionally.  On average over the 30 days, I consumed 1,827 calories per day, 33% carbohydrates, 43% fat, and 24% protein.  This is lower carbohydrate and higher fat than is generally recommended (45-65% and 20-35%, respectively), but none of these were trans-fats and a large amount were monounsaturated. I actually wanted to test my cholesterol pre- and post- Whole30, but ultimately it was too much of a hassle.

So what’s next? “So, are you going to celebrate…by eating all the things?!”  There are two extremes when it comes to post-Whole30.  There are those who want to celebrate by having an Epic Cheat Day and eating and drinking all the things they couldn’t have during Whole30… and then there are those that are terrified to learn to ride the bike on their own so they decide, I’ll do a Whole60!  Or better yet, a Whole90!

I am neither of those. Honestly, I don’t miss much and I rarely feel like I’m missing out.  Even with alcohol, which is always the biggest challenge for me, I have enjoyed not having hangovers more often than I’ve missed drinking alcohol.  On day 31 I didn’t have a muffin or pancakes for breakfast (even paleo ones!) but rather made myself a big 100% Whole30 approved breakfast of plantains, turkey sausage, fried egg, avocado and salad.  So yes, I plan to celebrate… by continuing to enjoy awesome paleo foods!

I definitely don’t want to cancel out all my hard work, but I have no plans to do another Whole30 in the foreseeable future. I plan to continue to eat this way, because I love it!  I’m going to continue to feel empowered to say ‘no’ to foods I don’t really want, and let myself have the ones I do.  And I’m going to acknowledge that while it’s easy to say I’m going to do all these things, it’s natural for bad habits to sneak back into our lives. It’s like when I trained for a marathon and could run 13 miles no problem, I said my goal was to maintain my training such that I could run a half-marathon anytime I wanted.  Of course I’ve since found myself at times struggling to run five, but that’s not the time to despair… it’s the time to sign up for another race!

Johanna