# Limited duration modified diet/nutrition experiences (Whole 30 in my case...)



## edubfromktown (Sep 7, 2010)

My wife and I generally eat clean meals, rarely eat fried foods, not fans of chicken wings, dine out less than a handful of times per month and mostly make healthy choices for what we order up or put together ourselves. I definitely enjoy beer, wine and occasional mixed drinks and my wife is more of an occasional wine drinker. As we've gotten past 50, we have both started taking a closer look at our food intake and decided to have a go at the Whole 30 program. This is my first go at this sort of thing.

We are 8 days into 30 with no:

Added sugar, real or artificial
Alcohol, in any form, not even for cooking
Grains 
Legumes
Dairy
Carrageenan, MSG, or sulfites
Baked goods, junk foods, or treats with “approved” ingredients
No hopping on the scale (I can tell I've lost a few lbs. already for sure)

We've been able to stick to the guidelines without much difficulty. I cook most of the meals and have enjoyed the "challenge" of finding alternatives to what we would typically eat or come up with a similar flavor to something we're staying away from.

So far on the cycling side of things (ride knobby 29er's everywhere ~200-300 miles per month), I notice that my energy levels are somewhat lower. On fast paced rides or ones where I have to climb for extended periods of time, it takes me a bit longer to recover. Otherwise no worse for the modified diet.

How have others done with this or another of modified nutrition approach?


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## OwenM (Oct 17, 2012)

Well, any weight loss diet is going to be limited in duration, as it's never meant to be anything but temporary to begin with. My weight fluctuates quite a bit as I go back and forth between low carb/low calorie and "see food" diets. When I'm on, I'm on, and there is nothing halfway about it. Severely limiting carb/calorie intake always results in lost energy. My "solution" in the past has always been to ignore the diet pre and midride, and carb up for longer rides with...whatever(care less about the intake when it's a fraction of what's getting burned on a 4+ hour ride). Frankly, that was partially an excuse to eat a bunch of junk, though, which I've been trying to get away from..
A friend of mine who just started competing in NPC figure shows(3rd in both overall and 35+ her 1st time out:thumbsup, and is trying to add mass while maintaining very low bodyfat with a supposed "ketogenic" diet, revealed to me that she was using Carbion around her workouts. There may be other stuff as good or better, but this is the first product of its type that I've used. I haven't been consistent enough to attach any numbers, times, or rep counts to it, but have had noticeably increased energy levels toward the end of workouts(and additional heavy sets) and when riding, so my initial impression is positive. Worth a look for anyone getting tanked due to their regular diet being insufficient for the workload-mine certainly isn't when I'm in weight loss mode!


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## Albacore (Feb 21, 2005)

I've done Whole 30 in the past and I'm currently doing a similar "diet" now. Feeling tired is the first thing you'll notice but it will pass. I just finished my second week of eating clean and my energy levels are finally back up. The first week I constantly felt tired. That feeling improved to a general sluggishness. Now I have energy again. What's better is I no longer feel bloated, clothes fit better, no cravings for junk food, no more dry scalp and itchy skin, and my wife says nny skin has a glow.

Your initial 4-7 days will likely be your hardest. The more toxic you are, the worse your symptoms may be. Cravings, moodiness, irritability, headaches, fatigue, GI changes...just to name a few. ALL good signs that your body is purging those pesky toxins.

Sounds like you're like me and ate relatively well prior to starting this diet. I didn't find it tough at all to make a few changes. I just got better at planning ahead for my meals. I no longer miss, or need, coffee. I used to drink 3-5 chips a day. I would love to have a beer but soon enough. Dairy, gluten, and sugar are the hardest initially to give up because they are in almost everything. But just giving up anything processed or packaged greatly helps. When you make everything yourself you have complete control of what goes in.

Here's a great article about what to expect during a food detox:

https://completewellbeing.com/article/parting-pangs/

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk


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## edubfromktown (Sep 7, 2010)

So far so good... we'll be done mid-next week. The meal planning hasn't been too bad and we'll make some minor changes to what we were doing before. 

For example: find condiments with less sugar, preservatives and other stuff (balsamic vinegar, mustard, soy sauce, etc.), use more sliced/roasted (white sweet) potato to make sandwiches, use more clarified butter for cooking instead of stick butter (I use 1/4th-1//3rd of what anything calls for as gee goes a lot further), eat more mixed nuts (a friend turned me on to an awesome DIY spicy nut mix), etc.

As for MTB riding during it, I've done a few 50-70 mile rides and find that I don't have top-end energy to kick in when I am at ~80% or higher output. Years ago during a race I saw some riders eating sardines during a race... Trader Joe's has awesome smoked ones and I've taken to eating them after long rides as a way to kick in some protein.

I'm guessing I've lost 8-10 lbs based on the way clothes are hanging off me. We've stuck to not hopping on the scale until we're done as recommended.

On the totally unexpected front:

My wife noticed within a week of starting that she was losing like no hair in the shower (she has a lot of it and usually has to remove it from the drain catcher after a shower). Last week she fessed up that she noticed my thinning hair looks thickerrerr lol (I of course could care less and have wanted to shave it all off for a couple years now hahahah).


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## hesitationpoint (Aug 11, 2017)

I think the biggest challenge with eating clean is getting enough calories and carbs especially when you have grain and sugar restrictions. The thing that helped me "recover" my energy after eating clean is to make sure I have sufficient calories and replenish my glycogen. That means big post ride meals with lots of carbs and protein. 

Initially, I was very happy with the weight loss from eating clean, but after a couple years, I found the biggest problem is getting enough calories to maintain weight and strength. I've even had to resort to added sugar post rides to recover slow down weight loss. I know that is taboo in this day and age with the anti-sugar craze but if you apply it specifically to post ride recovery, it won't be a problem (my tryglicerides are 60 despite eating candy and ice cream after my rides).


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## edubfromktown (Sep 7, 2010)

hesitationpoint said:


> I think the biggest challenge with eating clean is getting enough calories and carbs especially when you have grain and sugar restrictions. The thing that helped me "recover" my energy after eating clean is to make sure I have sufficient calories and replenish my glycogen. That means big post ride meals with lots of carbs and protein.
> 
> Initially, I was very happy with the weight loss from eating clean, but after a couple years, I found the biggest problem is getting enough calories to maintain weight and strength. I've even had to resort to added sugar post rides to recover slow down weight loss. I know that is taboo in this day and age with the anti-sugar craze but if you apply it specifically to post ride recovery, it won't be a problem (my tryglicerides are 60 despite eating candy and ice cream after my rides).


Yes- post-ride (I aim for within 1 hour after), I tend to eat a sizable meal to charge back up. I also tend to do one hard ride per week (on knobby 29er tires- either 50+ miles or fast-paced ~25-30 mile urban assault) and not push as hard for the other 2-3 rides that I do on average.

The wife and I are not anti-sugar, just trying to go more with fruit or natural sugars instead of all the stuff that is in much of what is on the store shelves. As an example: greek yogurt with fruit of some sort has like 12g of sugar. Eating plain yogurt and adding dried cherries, cranberries, apples or whatever works well and tastes fine too.

I definitely get sugar/carbs from beer, wine and occasional mixed drinks. We don't eat dessert very often unless it is a special occasion or sometimes in the summer we'll go get a gelati.

I don't go crazy low on the weight... years back I got down another 10 lbs or so from where I am now and ended up worn down big time; to the point I ended up with shingles. Not doing that again!


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## Sid Duffman (Oct 5, 2015)

Bump.

How has the long term experience with this been? I'm thinking about giving Whole30 a go in the new year. My goals are to be healthier, feel better, and decrease cravings. I'm built like a roadie climber, so not trying to lose any weight, but wouldn't mind getting a little more toned.

Any advice for Whole30 compliant pre/post ride food that have worked well.


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