I really admire Melissa and Dallas, and I think they do great work. That said, I think the Whole30 challenge is not right for everybody.

Some people do really well on their cold-turkey super-strict approach. Others do better with a gradual process (cut out vegetable oils this week, cut out sugar next week, cut out wheat the week after that, etc.).

Figure out what works for you. Just because you "cheated" once doesn't mean it's the end of the world.

The one thing I dislike about the Whole30 challenge is that people will feel like they "failed" if they don't manage to make it through the 30 days perfectly. In reality, you've figured out what works and doesn't work for you, and now you have an opportunity to make some further changes that will work even better.

Personally, I would continue to eat clean. The low carb flu will go away eventually, and if you relax, it'll just get extended. Boosting the fats should help your hunger. However, it looks like you're under a ton of stress already. That's going to affect your losses due to the boosted cortisol (so that could be contributing to the slowness of things). It doesn't mean that it's pointless to eat cleaner, since it could be the difference between "no progress" and "bloating up like a pig".

One last note in re. "failed". I'm sure you already know, but we don't always succeed in everything we do. Take the losses and learn from them, and don't be discouraged. I see it as a pyramid. The success at the top is usually built upon a ton of failures...

I agree with everyone else; don't be so hard on yourself. Overhauling a lifetime's worth of habits, is a also a lifetime commitment, in which you've already made so much progress. Don't think of this in terms of failure, but as a moment of hesitation where you stop and find the right direction.

In terms of more practical advice, remember that low carb diets are (especially initially) diuretic. It's very important that you stay well hydrated and get adequate potassium, sodium and magnesium to feel good. Sufficient magnesium is difficult to obtain even on a whole food diet, and a protein-heavy diet also increases your body's magnesium requirement. Take 300mg of magnesium citrate, malate or any form ending in "ate" per day, preferably on an empty stomach at night. You can increase this dose, but be careful as too much will have a laxative effect. (Splitting the doses throughout the day can help avoid this). This will help you to relax, giving you a feeling of natural calm and wellbeing which will not just enable you to sleep better, but which will also translate into a more positive and stable emotional outlook throughout the day. Avoid taking magnesium with calcium as they compete for absorption. Switch to a potassium-fortified "lite salt", eat at least a dill pickle per day, include plenty of spinach in your diet (a good source of both potassium and magnesium) and consider drinking coconut water, which is a relatively low carb source of electrolytes.

Maybe low-carb cold turkey just isn't for you. Perhaps consider going back to your previous carb intake, and then ease into it by gradually lowering it 20g/day.

Sometimes, when there's a lot of turbulence in your life, it just isn't the right time to try to make drastic personal changes, especially ones which affect your physical sense of wellbeing/ability to function. If you decide to go back to eating dairy, more fruit and higher carb e.t.c. remember that this version of Paleo is still extremely healthful*, and you would still without a doubt be a lot healthier than 99.99% of the population.

*It's also my personal way of eating! ;)

It seems like we see so many cases of people making themselves miserable by drastically changing their macronutrient consumption. From my experience, and those of many others, I'd say this is just not necessary.

Carbs are not, in themselves, bad for you. Yes, some people seem to benefit from removing them, but it frankly strikes me as bad advice to get everyone doing this when they first go paleo. So many people feel like crap and give it up.

You have plenty of time to change other things down the road. For now- focus on eliminating gluten, refined sugar, obvious junk, and franken-oils, and up your healthy fat-intake (but perhaps not going overboard- that seemed to cause some issues for me). Don't worry about fruits and nuts, unless you're prone to binge. Dare I say, eat some potatoes! I'm pretty sure this will make a huge difference.

You have all your life to tweak your diet from there. Yes, some people are seriously addicted to crap and going cold turkey in some way may be the best way to go, but eliminating all those things I've mentioned is already a ton for most people.

I don't know if this will help you but when I first started on paleo I found it very helpful to snack all day and on anything as long as it was grain-free and not some processed garbage. I hadn't even learned yet what omega 6's were and I didn't worry about the sugar in fruit. So I'd snack on nuts, any kind of fruit, cheese, salad, tuna, meat, avocado, etc. A couple of weeks later I had for the most part lost the desire to eat in between meals. Then as I learned more about paleo I started limiting fruit and basically cut out nuts but you may also find these snacks are very helpful for transitioning.

In other words, I don't think you should leap to the "no grazing" part until your body is telling you it's ready for that. If you're hungry in between meals - eat! Just eat good, real, wheat-free food.

You are doing crossfit. How many carbs did you eat per day, roughly?

Paleo doesn't have to be very low carb. If I kept up with my barbell/kettlebell/sprint routine and didn't have some starchy carbs, I would be a paleo faileo also. I eat lower carb on rest days, but get plenty of glycogen restoration several times a week. There are plenty of people out there who need moderate carbs - especially if doing workouts like crossfit.

If you are tired and hungry all the time for weeks, something doesn't sound right. How many calories were you eating? If you were eating low carb, did you eat enough fat? Anyway, my 2c is:
- Add starchy paleo carbs on workout days, post-workout, whatever you like.
- Lower carb OK on rest days but in that case you have to eat at least 60% of calories from fat! Track to make sure you are getting this. If you are eating chicken breast and spinach, that just isn't going to work.

If you find the withdrawal is too much, then do it slowly.As has been said before,you are undoing a lifetime of bad eating habits and damage to your body.It won't be easy,or quick.Keep active,but don't push yourself too hard at first.Pick the food you have the most problems with, and get rid of it.Give yourself a few days to recover, then start on the next one. The biggest thing I had to get used to was being able to eat real amounts of food, after 20 years of counting calories.If you are really hungry, then by all means, EAT EAT EAT!.Your body is telling you it needs something.Just learn to make real food choices.You feel like you need chocolate?Freeze coconut milk and unsweetened chocolate in a bowl.Potato chips?Green plantains cooked in animal fat or coconut oil.There are so many delicious alternatives out there to SAD foods..broaden your horizons and you'll never miss the old stuff.

Your symptoms were most likely from withdrawl and going cold turkey on everything. If you were drinking coffee and some alcohol, as well as eating grains and dairy then the switch from that to plain old meats and vegetables is going to feel very intense. I read the whole30 post and they would say you "failed" but you didn't fail in the grand scheme.

Try giving whole30 a try again while keeping quality carb sources handy if you feel sluggish (sweet potato for example, search paleohacks for other questions on that.) I would expect crossfit to suffer if you went from very high carb to low carb really quickly. If you don't want to have to go through the "low carb flu" and have the wods suffer try eating a small amount of berries pre-workout for a little carb boost.

My advice is to give it another shot. If you're feeling hungry chug some water since you may be a little dehydrated. You would also be well off to wait some time post-eating to see how hungry you really are (20 minutes or so.) My hat is off to you for going the whole way!

Check out this link if you haven't already: http://whole9life.com/2010/06/life-after-whole30/

One of the points of eliminating these food items so strictly is to create a clean slate so you can slowly introduce some of the eliminated foods back into your diet and see how you react. For example, you're wondering if primal might be a good choice for you. By adding ONLY dairy back into your diet at day 30, you'll see if you gain weight, create cravings, upset tummy, or maybe have no adverse reactions. If that's your goal, then start back at day one.

At the end of the day, you have to find your own balance. If you are miserable not eating certain foods, then eat them. Do I think ultimately you will feel better physically with a paleo diet? yes. Emotionally? Maybe not.

I will also add, if you continue to feel bad, you should see a doctor and have bloodwork done. I'd start with a thyroid check.

OK - this is a Weight Watcher's story (from my long ago past) but it IS relevant, I promise: Our coach told us a story about someone who came to her all bummed out and crying saying, "Oh my god, I really blew it! I went to a party and I ate and drank EVERYTHING and I had AT LEAST 50 points just last night! I've really screwed up and now I don't know what to do!" Her response? "Wonderful! At least you were STILL COUNTING your points!"

So, you haven't failed. You know what you did, what you didn't do, and you just need to decide what you are going to do now. If Whole 30 is a little "too much-too soon" for you - especially coming from your vegetarian background - just "trade ponies" and try another variety of this stuff. Personally, I would recommend that you take a look a www.paleonu.com and go to the tab labeled "Getting Started". And don't be so hard on yourself - it sounds like you're going thru hell already, so just do the best you can and let it flow.

I think you've gotten some really good advice. You also sound like you have an enormous amount of stress in your life! I would cut out all grains first and adapt to that and then as others have said...add things to cut out one at a time. It's about progress, not perfection. Take care of yourself and just start with one step.

Why don't you skip the low carb flu and add some potatoes? I eat 2-3 steamed russets a day with a lot of pasture butter. If you want to cut back on carbs in the future, you can incrementally remove them. No sense in cutting them all out immediately. Lowering fructose intake is far more important than lowering carb intake.