The Whole What?? My experience with January dieting
Oh man.. I hate even writing the word "diet". Let's call this my January "tune-up" instead. Doesn't that sound better?? I came across The Whole30 a couple months ago, but I knew that with vacations and the holidays coming up, starting a 30-day long diet (ahem, tune-up), was not about to happen. This diet (oh, whatever..) uses a tough-love approach to get people to change their dietary habits for 30 days (and hopefully thereafter). It is a *deep breath in* no dairy, no grain, no legume, no alcohol, no sugar of any kind (other than fruit), no harmful preservative and no dessert-kind of diet that is looking to break you free of cravings and unhealthy habits. It also has the bonus feature of a "reintroduction" period at the end to help to pinpoint any intolerances you may have, and have never been able to figure out. Want to know more? Check it out for yourself!
http://whole30.com/whole30-program-rules/
Now, you might be asking yourself, why did I want to do this to myself? Am I really that sick and twisted that I would want to deprive myself of all that is tasty in the world??? The answer is not really.. I'm sure I'm a little strange, but overall I wanted to challenge myself and make myself feel better in my own skin. The holidays are magical, but they're not so magical on my waistline nor my overall health, so why not give myself this month to reset and recharge? Well, that's exactly what I did! I am 15 days into this madness (I thought there might be too much swearing involved if I blogged any sooner), and I'm starting to get why this diet is as popular as it is.
These are the things that I have come to realize
1) I enjoy cooking!!! Who knew??
2) I don't enjoy dishes.. This wasn't as surprising..
3) I use food and wine as emotional crutches. This one wouldn't have been surprising had it been a few years ago, but I thought I had broken a lot of these nasty habits! It wasn't until the last few days that I noticed my mood taking a rollercoaster ride and realized how vulnerable and lost I felt without my usual "feel-goods". I guess it's time to find some new ones!
4) I was VERY bloated.. This diet asks that you don't weigh yourself throughout the month, but I was curious to see the changes happening in my body and I figured that I was not one to be easily discouraged (aka I cheated..). Anyways, this is what I saw:
Day 0: 147.5 lbs (what?! I've never seen that number before...)
Day 8: 140.6 lbs (Holy water retention..)
Day 15: 140.0 lb (Ugggghhhhhhh)
5) I am too tied to the numbers on the scale, haha. Even with the changes I noticed in the fit of my clothes, I still let the lack of weight loss get to me. It took some major pep talks from my people to get through that one..
6) Perrier water and Coconut water are my friends
7) My boyfrend is a very patient man..
8) Anything can be breakfast if it has an egg on it. Mmmm leftovers!
Anyways the plan is to keep on keeping on for the second half of this insanity. I will keep you posted as I go along and let you know of any other earth-shattering revelations! Shoot me a message if you had any questions about the diet, or my experiences with it!
Bye for now!
Tara
