Preparation:
I was thankful that I was pretty prepared for the Whole 30. Months prior I started changing our diet a little more heading more towards a Mediterranean diet - at this point I had no idea we were doing the Whole 30 (nor did I even know what the Whole 30 was!) and I had no idea that cutting back on things like sugar and grains and adding brain foods (healthy fats) would help me as much as they did on our Whole 30 journey.
- A couple of weeks prior to the Whole 30 I started shopping differently and got most of the non clean items out of our house through eating them (I know, I know) or by giving them to others. (I CANNOT throw food away.)
- I scoured websites and blogs looking for Whole 30 compliant recipes. Some of my favorites were from The Whole 30 (of course) & PaleOMG (I love her crazy rants!)!
- I ordered the book It Starts With Food.
- I signed up for daily emails from the Whole 30.
- In December I had a body analysis done. I wish I would have gone back and had it done the day I started the Whole 30.
- I weighed in at 139 pounds on day 1 of the Whole 30.
- I mentally prepared myself - there was NO WAY I was going to cheat AT ALL.
The 30 days:
There were good day, bad day, seriously ugly days and the most amazing days I've ever had. I'm not going to lie, the Whole 30 was much harder than I anticipated. You can go back and read my daily adventures. Here are a few of the highlights:
Days 1-5 slight headache on most days and was VERY THANKFUL for the black coffee.
Day 6 - I wanted to take someone's head off. It was the young girl crossing the road in front of my car eating a damn 7 layer magic bar.
Day 8 - slept an entire night without waking up & had my first bought of crazy energy! This was also the first day I didn't need a nap or a cup of Joe at 2PM!
Days 11 - birthday party hell. I should have bought the cupcakes. BUT in the end I was WAY PROUD of myself!
Day 12 & Day 16 - Learning to cook with new ingredients is sometimes painful!
Day 15 - My best day to date!
Days 15-21 were pretty easy...nothing too eventful other than dealing with the 'broken arm' - BUT THEN
Day 22 came and even though my body was feeling pretty detoxed from the sugar, my brain wasn't and it tried to get me to eat a cookie or drink a basil-lime martini. Day 22 was HARD! I had a little pity party for myself and everything in my life seemed awful that day.
Day 23-30 I was home free. Cravings were gone, my energy level was super high, my arm was feeling better and I could go out with friends without being too tempted! I starting looking to what comes next. I absolutely LOVE the Whole 30!
What I would do differently:
*Buy coconut aminos, ghee and curry paste PRIOR to starting the Whole 30. (I had to order and it took them a week to get here.)
*I would have bought the book early so I could have had it the entire time (I think I got it around Day 5).
*Figure out the forums on the Whole 30 - I still haven't figured them out. I will post something and try to go back to it and can't find it.
Things I learn:
- That even though I thought we ate pretty healthy we still had a LONG way to go!
- I have WAY MORE will power than I ever though I did.
- Sugar is in EVERYTHING. OMG.
- You can do the Whole 30 and still eat GREAT food.
- I love coconut milk.
- Mashed cauliflower is actually good.
- I didn't die without having a glass of wine on really bad days - and we were in the ER 4 times during my Whole 30. True story.
- Google Translate is a Godsend when shopping in foreign markets.
- That I will always read labels more closely.
- When you are putting good foods in your body you are stronger and have more energy than ever. (I know what many of you are thinking....Trish with more energy - God help us all.)
- Black Coffee is NOT bad.
- I don't ever want to go back to the way things were.
What is next:
This is something I have thought long and hard about, I still don't have a CLEAR idea but these are my thoughts as of today.
I am going to stay mostly compliant to the Whole 30, I am going to allow myself 3 cheat meals a week.
Tuesday lunches with the girls. Saturday night date night with Hubby and 1 other meal of my choice. I'm not going to go crazy because let me tell you, on Day 31 I had 3 glass of wine at the Army Ball over an 6 hour period of time (and I drank TONS of water) and only had 1 piece of real bacon on day 31 - everything else was compliant. When I woke up on day 32 I felt like I had been hit by a freight train. My head was pounding so bad I couldn't even get up to get Motrin out of the bathroom! You should have seen me running on Day 32 - it was SAD.
What you are really waiting for: Results - weight results.
On day 1 of the Whole 30 I weighed 139 pounds and on day 30 I weighed 130 pounds!!
And remember how I told you I did my body analysis back in December? I redid it on day 30.
In 6 months I lost 11% body fat and gained almost 4 pounds in muscle. So in reality, I really lost over 12 pounds!!
Now, I'm doing another month long challenge - running 60 miles in 30 days....
Come on over to my Facebook page and cheer me on!
Thanks for following my adventure and thanks to those of you that have joined in!
Till next time, have a GREAT day!
Trish