My Whole30 Review: Reflections On The Past 30 Days & What’s Next

My Whole30 Review & Results: Reflections On The Past 30 Days and What’s Next

Photo from Whole30.

Well, my Whole30 challenge is over now and I’ve had some time to reflect on the past 30 days and what they’ve meant for me.

Overall I found the Whole30 to be very pleasant. Prior to Whole30, I was doing intermittent juice fasts and cleanses to help improve my health. While I do believe in juicing and the healing benefits of it, I was burnt out. I also think the Whole30 was much easier for me because I had already been following a strict gluten-free diet for the past 10 months. That cut out a lot of the guesswork and planning because I already know how to eat well. Plus, a lot of the cravings and addictions we have with food come from sugar and carbs. I guess i was ahead of the game in that respect.

Now, let’s get to the questions and answers I’m sure you’re all dying to know. How do I know this? Because I’ve been hearing you ask me them for the past month!

Q: Did you lose weight on the Whole30?
A; Yes. I lost about 5 pounds total if you count bloat and weight gain from holiday eating. If you count where I was from my lowest weight right before the holidays, I only lost 2 pounds. I am currently at 134 pounds so you can do the math there. I am 5’8” so weight loss is not a focus for me right now as much as improving my health, cholesterol, and body fat is.

Q: Did you lose inches?
A: Yes. I lost about 1.5 inches from my waist and 1 inch from my hips. The rest of the measurements I’m unsure about.

Q: Are you happy with these results?
A: Yes. Very!

Q: What about your cholesterol? You mentioned that you would like the Whole30 to help lower your cholesterol count. Did that happen? 
A: On Day 32 of Whole30 I went to the doctor and got extensive blood work done. Aside from cholesterol I also have high leptin and homocystine levels in my blood so he believes the whole30 and paleo diet is a good diet and lifestyle for me. I should get my blood test results back in the next couple weeks and will share with you then.

Q: Did you lose body fat?
A: Yes. 2.5%

Q: What was the hardest part about Whole30?
A: Planning meals and cooking. It all comes down to taking the time to prep and plan. Planning is the key to success on Whole30, hands down!

Aside from my weight, inches, and body fat decrease I also noticed the following improvements in my health:

• An overall improvement in my energy. I normally get tired around 3-4pm in the afternoon but that never happened. On Whole30 I never really got tired until it was actually bedtime.
• Better Sleep I love to sleep. This is not a department I have issues with. But I slept so soundly on Whole30 it was pretty damn impressive. Normally I do toss and turn a bit during the night but I was sound asleep for 8-9 hours at a time.
• Improved Moods Aside from my icky mood on Day 22 I overall had a really good mood for most of the time. Normally “diets” make me feel deprived and pissed off. Especially when I see someone eating candy or some food that I’m craving. But this didn’t happen on Whole30. On whole30 I would see the processed foods that were being consumed around me and think, “Wow, how do people eat that way? How did I used to eat that way? How did I not know eating like this would feel so good?”
• Improved Digestion My colon has been very happy with me. Enough said.
• Skin I’ve had several people comment on how my skin looks very flawless and glowing lately. And these are people who didn’t know I was doing anything differently. Sweet!
• No more bloat When you remove all allergens from your diet your tummy flattens out. So nice to know it’s possible! And possible to keep!

I have thought about posting a pic of my before and after progress to complement my whole30 review, but there’s something about posting a pic of my belly on the interwebs that kind of weirds me out. Maybe one of these days I will get over that but for now it’s best for you to use your imagination!

On Day 30 of Whole30 I received an email with the below video from the folks at Whole30. It’s a video on the Holstee Manifesto:

For those of you who know the Holstee Manifesto, it’s a poster that looks like this:

You have probably seen the Holstee Manifesto poster at some point in a friend’s room, office, or floating around the interwebs. It’s got some pretty inspiring quotes and words to live by such as, “This is your life. Do what you want and do it often.” Travel often; getting lost will help you find yourself.” “If you are looking for the love of your life, stop; they will be waiting for you when you start doing things you love.”

Very inspiring and powerful words to live by. Definitely applicable to Whole30 as well as any aspect of your life.

So What’s Next? Many of you have asked me what my plans are now that Whole30 is done. Am I going to go back to my old habits? No. Am I going to take some time to  reintroduce foods I love back into my diet? Yes. Have I already had a glass of wine? Yes! For the most part I plan to keep my eating pretty damn close to Whole30 compliant minus a glass of wine here and there. And I do love sushi. So I will probably eat paleo most of the time except when I eat sushi. For now.

But for now I want to capitalize on the good results I’ve had and roll this behavior straight into the Whole Life Challenge. The WLC is an 8 week program that’s very similar to Whole30 except it’s based on a point system. You start with a certain number of points each day and you earn points by doing things such as stretching, working out, and taking supplements such as fish oil. And if you cheat you don’t have to go back to Day 1- you just deduct a point. Sounds much more like my style. It is 8 weeks so I’m hoping my new habits will really solidify over the next 60 days.

Will I be posting daily updates on the Whole Life Challenge? No. I think it’d be too repetitive with the daily recaps I’ve already posted about the Whole30. Instead I will do Weekly Roundups where I will post weekly about my progress. I plan to fill the additional time by posting recipes, articles, and exercise ides that I’ve found useful on my journey.

Additionally, I’ve created an ARCHIVE of all my Whole30 Daily Recaps that you can find here.

If you have read all the way down to the bottom of this post, I just want to say thank you. It means a lot to me! I am always here to answer any questions you may have.

Onward!

Love,

Lindsay