Day 30- results and reflections

[WFG0529]

Today is day 30 for me.  I know I was supposed to wait until tomorrow, but I just couldn't resist and hopped on the scale.  I had been starting to feel kind of like, what if I did all of this and I didn't lose any weight?  I know that it is not supposed to be about that and I've definitely had other improvements, but I won't lie, the number is somehow important to me.  Anyway, I am down 8 pounds or 5% of my bodyweight.  I am thrilled with this result.  To be honest, I've had some times when this Whole 30 thing seemed to drag and I just wanted to be free to eat whatever I wanted again.  But to see this sort of result is totally motivating.  

So... about all that other stuff...

Physical stuff

- My clothes fit better and I can wear my belt one notch tighter.  Actually, I can go two notches tighter but it just doesn't look good because it accents this funny skinny place I have between my belly fat and hip fat.  I don't know if anybody else knows what I am talking about, but it's one of those things that I just hate about my current body shape.  But I'm looking leaner and that area is starting to look better.  

-My acne seems to be a lot better.  Still get the occassional breakout, but they seem to have decreased.  

-My legs used to be itchy all the time and that has gotten way better.  I used to think it was just the dry air here, but now I am wondering.  I read a post from another poster that said dairy made them itch and I think that may be a very real possibility for me.  


Mental stuff

-My energy may be a little better, although I still feel tired a lot.  This has been a problem for me for quite some time.  I can sleep 9-10 hours and still want a nap during the day.  Also, eating always makes me just want to go to sleep.  I live alone and work at home, so I spend a lot of time alone.  This might be kind of a wierd thing to say, but I don't feel very differently as far as energy or mood goes when I'm alone, but I've noticed that when I'm around people I feel more energetic and happy than I did pre-W30.


My relationship with food

My relationship with food has long been pretty rocky.  Throughout my teenage years and early 20's I didn't eat enough and was always pretty skinny.  Probably kind of borderline eating disorder.  Somewhere around my mid-20s I actually started eating regularly.  And for the last couple of years, I have been slowly but surely putting on weight.  It was getting to a point where I just really had to do something.  I had bought new clothes becasue my old ones were too small.  And then the larger clothes I had bought were starting to get too small.  My weight crept from the upper end of a healthy BMI for me to being officially overweight.  

I tried a few diets, but found the meal templates totally unrealistic.  They'd have recipes that made 8 servings and yet I was supposed to have 1 serving in the week.  What do I do with the other 7 servings?  Or they'd call for a small amount of an ingredient that wouldn't be used again in another recipe.  And each recipe would call for a crazy long list of ingredients that I likely didn't have on hand. Or I tried logging my food and counting calores.  I'd last a week at most.  

I did a little better with fitting in some exercise in my life, but saw no results from any of my efforts on the scale.  (I have actually been getting less exercise throughout my Whole30 than I was prior to it and I still lost 8 pounds!!!)

The flexible meal template of the Whole 30 has been very do-able for me.  As long as I stick to the meal template and eat a full meal, I'm not hungry or craving in between meals.  I feel satisfied when I eat. 

 

Also, I had reached a point where I was turning to sugarry things A LOT.  While I still have a few sugar cravings, I do think that it has gotten much better. 


Misc

-People I know keep telling me that I look good!!!  I'm not even exactly sure what it is that they see and maybe I haven't detected the changes because it is hard on a day to day basis to notice.  But nobody was telling me I looked good before my Whole30.  

-I have had fun cooking and trying new recipes.  While sometimes it is a challenge to throw together a meal with stuff I have on hand, other times I have come up with amazing creative and delicious recipes.  I made it a point to really try new recipes and foods and that has been fun and rewarding.  Perhaps my favorite discovery has been using clarified butter to cook with.  That stuff is AMAZING!!!


Other goals

-I made an effort to eat without distractions.  I wasn't perfect about this part and got worse about it at the end.  But for most of my meals, I ate without any internet, phone, tv, etc.  A lot of times I would take my food outside and eat on the front porch or in the backyard and that has actually been pretty nice.  It's still a struggle though and my initial inclination is to want to surf the internet or watch Netflix while I eat.  One thing I did notice though was that when I didn't do TV/internet when eating, I seemed to spend less time doing it through-out the day in general.  

-I also tried to clean up the kitchen and wash all dishes after every meal.  When I'm all full and happy, the last thing I want to do is clean-up.  But if I make myself do it, it's not that hard when I only have a mess from one meal and it feels amazing to have a clean kitchen.  Plus when it's time for the next meal, it is so nice to have the kitchen all clean and ready to cook in.  

Going Forward

-I still crave sugary stuff sometimes.  I need to keep an eye on that.  

-I still want to lose more weight.  This has worked for 8 pounds, so I think it makes sense to stick to what is working.  I will probably loosen up a little on some things and not stress if something isn't compliant, but I plan to lean towards Whole30 eating for now.  

-I would like to get back to working out a bit more again.  

-As noted above, I feel tired a lot.  I hope continued healthy eating helps some with this.  I may decide to explore more stuff related to my sleeping habits at some point in the somewhat near future and see if that helps me.  


And.... I LOST 8 POUNDS!!!!!!!!!!  #HappyDance 

 

Tips

 

And last but not least, a few tips to anybody starting out. 

 

- Make cooking fun.  I know not every meal can be this way, but as much as you can, try new recipes and foods that you are excited about.  It makes cooking seem like something fun rather than a chore. 

 

-Quick meals.  If I had to recommend a good quick meal, I would say to keep home-made mayo, pickel relish, lettuce and cans of tuna, hard-boiled eggs or chicken around so you can easily whip up some tuna, egg or chicken salad and put it on top of some lettuce.  I love apples in tuna salad, too. 

[WFG0529]

I totally meant for this post to go in the Success Stories area.  Is there a mod that can move it?  Thanks!

[ShannonM816]

Congratulations!

 

I've moved this to Success Stories for you.