What Is The Whole 30 Challenge? My Results

A few months ago I tried the Whole 30 challenge. It was an incredible experience. Since then, I have found that a lot of people are curious about it. They want to know what it is, how it works, and whether or not it's effective. My experience showed that it's extremely effective. It worked great for me and I would definitely recommend it to a person who has goals similar to mine.

So What Exactly Is The Whole 30 Challenge?

The Whole 30 is an elimination diet where you get rid of all processed foods, grains, legumes, sugars, dairy, and alcohol. Many people have heard of paleo dieting and the Whole 30 is a paleo-type diet. The main differences between paleo and the Whole 30 are that you don't eat honey on the Whole 30 and you don't eat paleo substitution foods like paleo pizza and paleo lasagna while on the Whole 30.

Many people would of course find this type of diet to be very restrictive. That's probably because it's very restrictive. :)

It definitely seems like there is absolutely nothing that you can eat during the challenge, but once you get going it really isn't that hard.

You eat lean meats, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, and healthy fats like avocado, olive oil, paleo mayo (that you make yourself), olives, and macadamia oil. That doesn't sound like much but after a week or so you kind of figure it out.

Breakfast

I ate the same thing for breakfast every day but I'm a freak like that. I don't like deciding what I'm going to eat for breakfast every morning so I've always repeated my breakfast meal. I ate three whole eggs mixed with either chicken, ground beef, or ground turkey. I would cook it all in clarified butter and mix in hot sauce (usually Tobasco or Cholula) and salsa. It tasted awesome and kept me full literally for hours and hours.

Eating eggs (fat/protein) and lean meat (protein) for breakfast has some important effects on your body. For one, it helps your body to learn how to metabolize fat properly. When you eat sugars and refined carbs for breakfast, you tend to want to use sugar all day. This not only makes it harder to burn fat, it also increases your cravings for bad food. If you experiment with that I believe that you'll come to the same conclusion I did.

Lunch

For lunch, my meals looked more like what most people eat for dinner. I would combine a meat like salmon, beef, chicken, or turkey with a plate full of vegetables. I would also add a healthy fat to each lunch. I would either eat half a can of olives, a half of an avocado, or mix some olive or macadamia oil in with my meat. On occasion I would accomplish this by adding a tablespoon of clarified butter to my vegetables.

Dinner

For dinner, I would have the same kind of meal I would have for lunch.

If you want to learn more about the different food options, someone I know logged each meal of their Whole 30. You can find that here.

I did the Whole 30 challenge because I wanted to take a little fat off of my body. I also wanted to experience what my body would feel like if I completely eradicated all processed foods and sugars. Honestly, it felt amazing.

During the 30 days, I dropped some pounds and more importantly, I lost a few percentage points of body fat. My waist got about an inch smaller and I already had a pretty small waist to begin with. I would definitely recommend this diet as a great tool for healthy weight loss.

I also saw some other effects. Within the first two days, I noticed that my water weight had dropped a LOT. This prompted my to create a hub called How To Lose Water Weight Quickly and Easily. By dropping down your water, you can look thinner and more defined. You can also check out my list of best diet foods to lose weight fast if you're interested in diet and nutrition.

I would highly recommend this program for people who want to gain control of their bodies. It really helped me to gain control of my appetite and my body reacted really well to it. I'm glad I did it.

My diet isn't 100% Whole 30 approved now but I have modified it to be much closer to what I did during the Whole 30. I'm stilling doing the same protein/fat breakfast of eggs and meats. I'm also staying away from most processed foods. I'm eating grainy foods like tortillas and bread on special occasions instead of three of four times per day like I used to.