Whole30

We are now into the month of June, which means my Whole30 has come to an end, for now any ways. You can see my last post from two weeks into it here. I am so glad I did Whole30 as it helped me out in so many ways. I wanted to do Whole30 because I had heard so many of my friends say that they had done it and had a lot of success in doing so. I wanted to see if it would help me both with weight, but also just starting down a path towards a healthier, and happier me.

After the first few days of grumpiness, it was pretty easy going the rest of the month. After two weeks I did notice changes, especially in how clothing was fitting. I have two dresses that now are too big, and I got my butt back into pre-baby jeans again! Wahoo! For me that was huge because I needed to either purchase new jeans, or see if I fit into the pre-baby ones yet and to discover that they fit again I was over the moon with excitement.

I also knew that things were changing when I could easily put my wedding ring set on. There was no more wiggling it onto my fingers, no more pondering if I should get the set re-sized. My rings fit again, and dare I say they are starting to get a bit loose now.

I did start to miss my one big comfort, especially on rainy days or if I had a bad day at work, I wanted tea with good ol’ milk and sugar. But milk and sugar are a no no for Whole30. A friend of mine suggested I put my teacher’s assistant skills to use and make myself a countdown chart. I made a cute little paper ring chart to count down to when I would treat myself to a nice cup of chai tea from Starbucks.

It was such an encouragement to hear my husband say how much smaller I just felt when he hugged me, he has also been a huge encouragement in my getting my butt out the door and going for a jog. I’m sure my gym teachers from middle school and high school would be shocked to hear that I actually enjoy jogging now! I am trying to be more regular in when I do for jogs or workout at home, I am still learning all about home work outs and what I can do so if you have any tips and suggestions please send them my way. Getting to a gym just isn’t realistic for me right now, I need to be able to do workouts at home.

The biggest change I noticed, after people started making comments on it, was in my face. My face thinned out quite a bit thanks to Whole30. Now what about the numbers? Well I am down 17.5 lbs! In total I am down 8 inches overall off my body (I think most of it came off my butt and boobs… why must those go first?) and I am down 1 dress size. That makes me really happy. This mama is still on a mission to get to a happier, and healthier me and this has been a great step in the right direction.

I feel I have learned a lot from this past month. Read labels… there is crazy amounts of sugar in so many things. Try making things yourself instead. That I can survive without dairy, anyone who knows me will understand this was hard on me as I love milk, but I didn’t die and I have become a huge fan of almond milk. My body likes this way of eating. I feel better, my clothing fits better, I am sleeping the best I have in years, and my skin is clear. No more crazy teenage break outs. Oh and ladies, for the first time in my life I was not dying from crazy pain from period cramps! That in itself makes staying with this sort of eating worth it to me. I am introducing wheat and milk back into my diet now, but have already noticed that wheat/gluten will probably be something I limit myself from having lots of. I get a bit of a tummy ache when I have gluten, so I think things like fresh made bread (that I used to love) may become a rare and very special treat for me… if I feel like dealing with a tummy ache. I am probably going to venture into baking gluten free items.

I am taking a break for a week from Whole30, and I will either be going back into another round of it or joining my friends over at Little Miss Mama and Oh So Lindsay as they work their way to getting down 50lbs via the Dukan Diet.  If you are thinking of trying Whole30 check out the download section this was where I got the most useful information. It has the shopping lists, grocery planning, portion guide, and much more. Go there, print all those pages out. Get to highlighting while you read them over. Then if you have Pinterest, start pinning! Be careful as some people call different meal ideas Whole30 but there is some cheating going on in them, but most times you can easily change them around to be true to Whole30. Also if you have Instagram there is a large community of people doing Whole30 on there. Start following other people, and Whole30 itself on there and you will get lots of ideas for meals and encouragement when you need it. If you are good at meal planning I would suggest doing that, plan out your Whole30 one week at a time. Plan each meal out on the Saturday, and shop if you can that day too so you can be ready to go and know you have everything you need/will be eating for the week at your finger tips.

For now my journey continues.