Whole30 finale

We finished our first Whole30 the last weekend of January, just in time for the Superbowl, and just in time for me to research how to introduce foods back into your diet, only to learn that you should do them one at a time, and one every few days. Well. We didn't do that. I am super picky about my snack foods and in situations like that where there are dips and random meats and crackers, I'm never a big snacker. I had already decided I wouldn't be drinking and I had guacamole in the fridge, ready to go with my giant, Costco-sized bag of carrots. Evan ordered a few pizzas though, and I did have a bite. ONLY to realize that it wasn't as good as I expected it to be. I knew it wouldn't be. That even though pizza is my boyfriend--and not in the sense that it's my comfort food, just that I love pizza more than probably any other kind of food--it wasn't as great as I remembered it to be. And for whatever reason, I didn't even care. I ate a few pieces because it was good, sure, but it wasn't like, YOU WENT AN ENTIRE MONTH WITHOUT PIZZA AND YOU'LL NEVER GET THOSE 30 DAYS BACK, LOSER.

Also, perhaps it was because Evan and I weighed and measured ourselves the day before and when I saw the numbers and then when I tried on a shirt that had previously been too small for me, only to realize that it fit!, I was pretty sold on this lifestyle.

I lost 11 pounds; Evan lost 15. I lost 2 inches off my chest, waist and hips. I didn't measure my legs or arms but I can definitely tell a difference with all of my clothes fitting looser, even a pair of my boots. And, I didn't exercise one single time. In fact, I did the opposite of exercise for most of January while my body flushed out toxins and I spend the month being sick and sleeping. And I still managed to lose 11 pounds.

In addition to the weight, I totally killed three of my worst eating habits: //I stopped snacking out of boredom. When Maddox wakes up from his nap, he usually has something small and I might grab a handful of carrots. I'm not searching for chocolate or sugar to give me an afternoon pick-me-up like I was in the past. \\I also totally kicked my dessert-after-dinner habit that was totally killing me. I picked that up somewhere along the way. Even when I was grocery shopping I would say, "No, I don't need to buy any dessert." Then dinner would roll around and Evan and I would decide that, yeah, dessert sounds pretty good. Off he'd go to the store to grab us ice cream or cookies or cinnamon bears or whatever to satisfy that sweet tooth. I did have some fruit after dinner a few times and Evan and I were pretty into dried mango from our natural grocery store that has no added sugar (hashtag high five!), but at some point we just stopped wanting anything. //And I also kicked my bad habit of eating late/snacking before bed. This was just a bad combination of eating dinner too early depending on Evan's evening plans and Maddox wanting dinner at exactly five o'clock. And then nine or ten would roll around and my stomach would be like, "Hey, haven't eaten in five hours. Let's fix that." And so I would. With whatever I wanted. Before bed. Like, no. I totally felt like I had no self control over it either; like, if I didn't give in to my stomach telling me I was hungry, that I might starve. I don't even know where that mindset came from but eating whole foods and not filling up on empty carbs or sugars left me fuller longer and not like I was dying of hunger before bed. And, the few times I have gone to bed feeling hungry, I've not been tempted to eat.

So, I want to continue this lifestyle change. I didn't know where Whole30 would take us when I started this in January and although I can't say that I "feel good" because I think my body was detoxing so much crap that it made me physically sick 90-percent of the month, I want to feel good and I think my body has finally caught up and I can now eat good and really feel it. I'm not going to call this Whole30 anymore because I want it to just be how we eat; but, I also am planning on allowing myself to have restricted items in moderation. And by "in moderation," I mean that I'm going on a girl date with my bestie for Moscow Mules and Evan is taking me to a fancy dinner for Valentine's day. I'm not going to have a piece of candy every day because that's moderation. I'm not going to put some cheese on one meal or have a coffee once a week. It's going to be a rare moderation--a treat.

Because in addition to the pizza I did have a fairly good amount of sugar, especially considering I hadn't actually eating sugar in a month. A few bites of oreo ice cream and a rice crispy or two and I was hyped out of my mind and my hands were shaking. My brain has felt fuzzy ever since and I can't maintain a conversation with anyone without getting so sidetracked and off-topic. I did have a 100% uncompliant dinner on Monday night, shared between the three of us (because I was busy watching that crazy episode of The Bach and live texting with my girlfriend Jamie and not eating or even planning on making dinner) and I felt a weird sense of gross after it. I felt like I could physically feel the food in my stomach, and like my body was working extra, extra hard to digest it. I never felt that way with any of my whole food meals and I never felt that disgusting full you sometimes get when you can't stop eating and your stomach might actually explode.

So. I like these changes. I'm pretty proud of us for getting through the whole month and for seeing a difference (ps, Evan looks so good and I'm so proud of him) and wanting to continue. Because a month ago I would have told you it was a one month only thing and I'd be back to pizza and coffee and cookies in no time at all. I can tell you that unless we make a plan to stick with this, we'll head right back into our old way of eating, like being too lazy to cook dinner because Evan worked all day and I chased after a wild toddler. But, seeing changes in yourself and when your friends and family members tell you how good you look, it FEELS GOOD and it makes me want to continue this. I'll be quiet about it now, maybe popping in to share more results or good meals that I make but my weekly updates will end here and this will now be a lifestyle, not a diet.