I mentioned in a recent blog post that I wanted to lose weight. I asked if people would be interested in a review of a Keto-Veganish diet or the Whole30, two very popular diets right now.
The idea here was that I would try one of these diets and report back to you with my love or hate, results and opinion. Upon a quick review, I know the Keto diet is not for me. I do need to look more closely into eating the vegan version but without being able to eat legumes, I’m worried already.
The Whole30 is a diet that began as a means to discover how certain foods effect your body by elimination and then adding them back in. Many people praise this diet but I do not have current ailments that I’m looking to solve other than I wanna lose the last 10 lbs of this baby weight. Again, you can’t eat sugar, grains, dairy, alcohol, LEGUMES (I don’t believe their explanation but whatever), soy, or any processed foods. You actually can’t even eat foods that are approved in a form that reminds you of comfort foods like pancakes (eggs + bananas) or ice cream (frozen bananas blended with unsweetened non-dairy milk) or smoothies even.
My approach has always been a realistic diet that allows you to maintain success while eating out, making dinner for your partner that you both enjoy.
After research Whole30 and Keto, I actually came to the conclusion that Paleo is the least restrictive however since I’m trying to eat a more plant based diet, none of these plans fit my lifestyle. Whole30 could be good if I had ailments and wanted to isolate what was causing me discomfort.
Then I heard about Intermittent Fasting. A bunch of people suggested I try the 16:8 method which means you eat relatively what you want but between a span of 8 hours and fast during the other 16 hours. Many people recommended 12-8 pm. I accidentally tried this when I got to sleep in one morning.
I continued to see if I could do it before jumping on any other restrictive programs or shilling out money. There is a version of Intermittent Fasting that is also part of an MLM called FASTer Way To Fat Loss that people on Instagram recommended I check out. Basically, the program is a 16:8 fasting schedule, with carb cycling and I think a feast day which means you can eat whatever you want. If I thought I could do the 16:8 without any restriction, maybe I could do the program. It’s $199 so I wanted to be sure I was going to follow the plan.
The plan allegedly comes with workouts (I don’t really need as I like to do my own and take classes) as well as the diet and support from a community which I don’t have time to participate in. That being said, I haven’t ruled it out…
But then someone asked on Instagram if IF (intermittent fasting) was allowed while breastfeeding?
So I asked Google…
And guess what, apparently it’s not recommended. I wasn’t really able to do it to be honest any way. This week I had 1/2 grapefruit with my coffee and “broke fast” at 11 or 12. I also finished a glass of wine at 9 pm.
I wake up sometimes at 6 am and to go until noon felt too long, especially nursing. Also, you can move your eating window but I usually can’t eat dinner until 7:30 or 9 pm with bedtime. An option I suppose is to eat at 5:30/6 with the boy and not Nick but I rarely have time to cook with both of them during the witching hour.
Maybe we should cook together?
After sharing my thoughts on Instagram about Keto and Whole30, a lot of people wanted to see me try a Keto-veganish diet but even more wanted to see a Whole30 lifestyle. I lost about 100 Instagram followers after I said I thought Keto and Whole30 were too extreme and some science behind the diet felt stretched, mainly the take on beans.
Bottom line: If I were to follow a diet, I think I would try IF, and would be very interested to try this FASTer program. However, right now, I think I may just need to focus on cutting out refined sugar, eating cookies regularly, cutting down the wine and less processed foods and maybe experiment with a 10:14 fasting schedule. I think I could do that!
I was going to do whole 30 but my SIL talked me out of it as she said that it was SO restrictive that she focused on food all the time vs. gaining a healthier mindset. SO I am trying paleo plus intermittent fasting (only more like 14-15:10-9) with vodka sodas allowed. 🙂 People are so nuts about the restrictions, but I am mostly just trying to get back to eating whole foods and not so much toast & eggs because it’s fast. I think you can create your own plan (and will be more likely to finish it).
Yep -- I think that’s exactly what is happening… wine and occasional dessert are definitely not going anywhere here.
I’m very confused why you feel like you need some sort of “diet” with rules to follow or eating windows or anything. You mentioned that you’ve been eating differently than prior to your pregnancy and have felt better in just the few days you’ve gone back to your regular eating habits. Why not just focus on adding back in more nutrient dense foods, workouts that feel good, and maybe even accepting that your body after having two children might be different? All this diet talk is quite the turn off. You have all the nutrition knowledge you need without needing to look to someone else for rules to follow. You look beautiful. Buy new jeans not a diet program.
Fair enough, I guess prior to becoming a mom I was a resource of reviews of all things health and fitness. People ask me my opinions still about all these different diets. I don’t feel like I need to diet, but I’m curious about them. I like trying new workouts even if they are not my thing to report back my thoughts. I guess for once in awhile, I wanna lose a few pounds and feel like its a good opportunity to review a diet that has become popular over the past 4-5 years since I tried anything.
I wasn’t I tend to read anti-diet blogs and feel strongly that women shouldn’t feel pressured to look a certain way. I had a baby the day after you had Connor so I get the desire to feel more like yourself and also have been trying to eat more plant based. I just don’t think you need those extreme (in my eyes) diets to feel good. And they can be very harmful for some people. Anyway I’ll say it again, you look beautiful. You’re doing a wonderful job with two kids (the transition has been a huge struggle for me). I say eat the damn cookie and definitely drink the wine 🙂
I’m trying out the Whole 30 for the first time this month and I’m hoping it’ll help with my chronic pain. You can eat so much good, healthy food and I’m looking forward to trying it! I do agree that it’s not sustainable though, and even the couple who created Whole 30 admits that it’s not designed to be. It’s a big experiment, and I’m excited to see the results!
I just started the FWTFL program and am pretty excited about it! It’s a combo of intermittent fasting, carb cycling, with macro counting. Basically your macros for the day depend on what your workout is. They would help you arrange your macros to meet your classes vs doing their workouts (which they recommend, I’m sure because it’s more of a controlled situation). You’d have time for the “community” part as it’s just a fb group to help with questions etc. I’m just excited bc I think it’s actually a lifestyle, you can eat it if it fits your macros for the day—just learning what to eat on what days depending on your activity ?.
Have you ever heard of the MIND diet? It was ranked #4 in diets by US news and world reports. It was originally designed as a diet to help prevent Alzheimer’s, but because it’s focused on eating more vegetables and whole grains and less processed food, it can also lead to weight loss. And it recommends a single glass of red wine every night
Have you looked at Arbonne’s program? It’s similar to Whole 30, but not as restrictive (legumes are allowed!). There is a 12-hour fasting window that is encouraged, and spacing out of meals during the day, so there are also some IF components. And it can easily be done as a vegan, vegetarian, pescetarian, or carnivore. It’s also totally fine for breastfeeding. Arbonne is a social networking company, full disclosure, but it really is a great program. I’d be happy to send you more info if you want to look into it and see if it could fit what you are looking for.
This is interesting so I just learned about the faster way program as well through IG. Katy Widrick is on it you might know her. I have not bought the program but I’m following the gram and basically have an idea of what it entails. I have been trying IF and can often make it 16 hours but if I can’t and only make it 14 or 15 I don’t beat myself. I am not nursing and I’m not sure how I would handle that if I was. I’ve been tracking macros in myfitnesspal and have stopped my evening snacking and wine except for weekends. I only want to lose about 10 lbs and I’m petite so I’m not expecting a massive change overnight. I think over time if I continue to track and be mindful it will work. Also thank you for the diastasis video, how to check. I’ve been terrified to check and finally did and I’m 1 cm. Your video was easy to understand.
I am so with you on legumes… I love them and eat them nearly every day, and we know that eating legumes is one commonality in the Blue Zones where people are living the longest… so nope, never cutting em out unless I had to! I usually do intermittent fasting, but typically for 14-15 hours, and if my stomach is growling like a crazy person when I wake up, I’m not going to force myself to not eat for hours as you mentioned. Intermittent fasting just kind of works for me because I tend to eat dinner around 7-7:30, and then in the mornings I’ll take my dog for a walk, workout and start work before I eat breakfast around 9:30 or so.
PS -- I think you look awesome! Cutting out the ‘extras’ for awhile would probably do the job of helping you shed those last baby pounds.