Is the Whole30 too restrictive? Why I don't think so...

Recently I saw a post from someone I highly respect in the health and fitness industry who said that he wasn’t a fan of the Whole30 because he felt it was too restrictive for no reason.

I disagree with him.

As someone who has done the super restrictive diets that are all about counting, weighing, tracking, and becoming obsessed with whether or not something was on or off plan, I felt the exact opposite when doing this program.

For once this was a nutrition plan that encouraged you to eat REAL food and not feel bad about it. When I did my first Whole30 in October of 2016, it was the most well fed I have been in about 2 years and I ended up losing nearly 10 pounds.

Holiday Weight Gain = 2 pounds

Over the Holidays I decided to give it a break from the Whole30 style of eating. I ate Brownies, Ice cream, Gumbo, Popeyes, Italian Food, Cookies, Mac and Cheese, Mexican, Ihop, and Super Duper Burger. What was different this year was that there was no urge to binge on these foods. If anything, I ate less than in years past.

I would eat normal meals for Breakfast or Lunch and then have the treats as well.

I have gained up to 8-10 pounds some years (mostly water but still) and last year I gained 5 that didn’t go away.

This year as an experiment I gained 2 pounds. That’s it.

This is a good sign that my body is starting to metabolize food properly again….I didn’t gain any weight from when I completed my first Whole30 back in October.

After that I did a 5/2 Whole30 style eating plan. During the week I stuck mostly to the Whole30 style of eating (I did eat Turkey Bacon) and on the weekends, I let up. I’d have Protein Waffles, Pancakes, or a Flax Muffin.

Still no weight gain. In fact last I checked before the Holidays we had gone down again.

I’ve gotten out of the habit of weighing myself once a week and with any regularity. I will do it after this second round of Whole30 just to see what’s happening.

Doing a Second Round of the Whole30!

Yes I am starting a second round of the Whole30 this January and I have some awesome people in my Fiercely Fit Lifestyle Community joining me!

Follow me on Instagram or my Facebook page to see my journey. I’m committed to daily posting of recipes and other experiences!

Now that I know it’s not bad at all, I’m gung ho about this round.

Is the Whole30 right for you?

Well you would need to do the case study on yourself to figure that out. I wouldn’t have been ready for a program like this 2 years ago because I was still in that restrictive mindset. I even told myself before doing the program that I would stop if I felt too restricted.

It worked for me.

All you can do is use it as a case study and go from there. A lot of the foods that I stopped eating during the Whole30 were not the greatest anyway so it’s fine.

I will most likely be leading another Whole30 group sometime in the Spring so stay tuned if you’re interested in joining.