Impending feeling of guilt

[lawdiva8]

Today I completed my first Whole30! I am taking final measurements tomorrow and yes, I'm freaking out. I know I'm going to measure my "success" in terms of inches and pounds. I am really happy about how I feel, my energy, my skin, but I'm really scared/nervous for the future. This way of eating has changed my life and I know I will continue eating this way. I know I will try and stay pretty strict but hey, I'm a law student and some times you just need some ice cream or a cookie over a nice cry. 

 

With the 4th of July coming up, I am spending the weekend in a cabin with my family. I am already feeling guilty about food I haven't eaten yet. I don't know what is wrong with me, but I know that we are going to get fish fries this weekend and that I'm going to have a few drinks and go to a restaurant. I don't know how to get out of this mindset. I don't know how I got so fixated on what I see in the mirror and the inches I see on the tape measure instead of focusing on how my body is feeling. Does anyone have any advice?

[theheywhohaa]

Breathe sweetheart. 

Congratulations on finishing your whole 30. While it is an achievement, its not an end. For thirty days you had the comfort of the framework, but you built that framework inside yourself and it hasn't gone anywhere, you can call it up whenever you feel the need.

I say this as somebody on day 24 who has a tendency to forecast (like you I think), I guess out of a need to feel some control over events even before they have occurred. Plan your off-plan stuff if that helps. You managed restaurants up until now, you can manage in a restaurant over the weekend too. 

About the measuring...your body is a vehicle that takes you to the places you want to go and the things you want to do. Upkeep is crucial of course, if you want the damn thing to run, but do you really want to be like those weird guys who stroke their cars and keep them under a tarp and obsess about them all the time? Those guys? Kinda creepy. When you feel good because of how your body looks you are building up a crash for when it looks less like you think it should, you are not your body. Imagine if everybody focused as much on, say, the sound of their voices... people would have all kinds of weird voice hang-ups. It makes no sense.

So the inches are nice because they make your pants fit better, and the pounds will probably prompt other peoples' notice, but in the end what you lost over the course of your whole 30 is so much less by any calculation than what you have gained.

I'm so happy for you on your success and so hopeful for you on its continuation.

R 

[magso]

I know you posted this a while ago, but I think making a plan might help.

 

The Whole30 challenge was a plan for all of us who followed it. We knew for those 30 days what we could and could no eat. I just finished my whole30 3 days ago, and I understand the whole guilt thing because I feel that way too. I haven't gone off my whole 30 because I feel too committed.

 

But I have a plan! I'm going to follow the whole30 on a daily basis. But on the weekend, if I'm out with friends, I'll allow myself a drink or 2. Or if I go to dinner, maybe I'll get something with cheese on it. I don't want to go too crazy  but knowing I'll allow myself a treat if I want it, is helping me continue this!

[theheywhohaa]

Its hard without the training wheels, huh? I thought I had it planned out well enough, did my reintros by the book, didn't offroad like crazy...but still I struggle with sugar. Making compliant treats and gorging on them is still feeding the beast, no? I'm jumping back in the ring in late August and this time I intend to bury that bugger, even if it takes 100 days. 

Oh, and btw, I still haven't weighed myself and I don't intend to either. Eating frozen bananas directly from the icebox is dysfunctional enough for one chica.

Hope you are doing alright.

R