Finished Whole 30, but def not Whole9

[iomchris]

Finished last Monday. I didn't find it that hard, in large part due to my wife being a great cook and fully on-board.

The thing I was most worried about was my diet coke/coffee dependence, was probably averaging about 4 cans and 5 cups respectively. Cut it down to 2 (and sometimes 1) cup of coffee and obviously no diet coke. Felt really terrible around days 3 & 4, but after that smooth sailing. Have zero temptation to have a diet coke now, which feels somewhat miraculous.

I found myself hungry a lot the first week, but that stopped maybe 10 days in. I did adjust meal times a bit (mainly just delaying lunch by about an hour), and made a conscious effort to eat a bit more at breakfast and lunch than I had been. So I'm not sure if it was those changes, or my body adjusting to the new regime.

We attended a dinner party early on where the host was incredibly gracious and made a few dishes separate for us, but it still felt awkward and we decided to hermit it up a bit for the Whole30. I'm totally comfortable with the idea of not eating certain things at parties, but not all that comfortable grilling the host on every last ingredient.

Had one other awkward spot where I had to go to a work dinner so I emailed the restaurant ahead of time, explaining my restrictions and asking what was possible. They never answered my email, but when we arrived at the restaurant the manager loudly asked for me by name, and then apologized for not answering the email and went through every restriction I had listed and explained why they couldn't serve me anything. Maybe I embarrass too easy, but having the guy announce my dietary restrictions to the entire restaurant felt odd (not in a good way). I had a glass of water for dinner. Didn't help that it was one of the days where I was feeling terrible. But on the other hand, afterwards I felt kind of empowered because that's really about the worst that can happen and it's not that big a deal.

My biggest fail was definitely restricting fruit in-take, probably averaged 3-3.5 servings a day and would have preferred it be 2.

I lost 10.5 pounds, before and after shots attached. Was pretty happy with this as I had already lost 30 pounds in the previous 3 months so expected it to be a bit harder to continue dropping lb's. Attached photos are Day 1 and Day 31 of Whole30.

By far the biggest win for me in this, and the main reason I'll keep eating like this, is the consistency of energy levels throughout the day. The mid-afternoon crash that I'm fully accustomed to has just disappeared. As a result, my work productivity has gone way up. So I'm getting more done in less time, which means less evening and weekend work, which means more family time. It's a pretty huge difference and has a massive impact on my quality of life, with ripple effects all over the place.

Along the same lines, it's much easier to fall asleep at bedtime than it used to be. This also has a pretty big ripple effect throughout my life.

There are some costs to this for sure. Our grocery bill went up considerably, as did food prep time. And there are some awkward social moments. But overall, what I gained from eating this way so far outweighs the costs that I am fully committed to continuing. It's not a remotely close decision.

[Renee Lee]

Congratulations!!!

[Alison Webster]

You are an inspiration! Way to go!

[Guest]

I love this part:

"I had a glass of water for dinner. Didn't help that it was one of the days where I was feeling terrible. But on the other hand, afterwards I felt kind of empowered because that's really about the worst that can happen and it's not that big a deal."

Exactly ! if the WORST thing that happens to you is that you feel a little icky one day and have a glass of water instead of dinner ... hey, no one's shooting at you, right ? First world problems.

I absolutely agree with you about this being empowering - it makes me realize how many people are SLAVES to food. They MUST have their specific food item at a specific time, and standby for the meltdown that is going to occur if they don't get it. From my personal experience, Starbucks addicts are the worst.

I think that eating like this - for 30 days or a lifetime - gives me so much more control and power over food and my choices, and my time. I no longer have to waste time OBSESSING over my next sugar fix or caffiene hit.

Yes, it's more work. but it is SO worth it. All I have to do is keep reading these "Success Stories" to know that.

[Derval]

Brilliant, very significant body changes there as well as everything else!

[Susan W]

Congratulations!! You are a rock star. I sort of hunker down when doing whole30 as well. Just a little easier and I also don't like grilling people or restaurants. I would like to say though, that restaurant manager should be ashamed of himself. Restaurants are in the customer service business, so therefore, they should NEVER make someone feel uncomfortable and who wouldn't have been. Customer service 101. I'm sure you just want to move on, but I would call and speak to whoever it is he reports to. You'll be doing the owner a favor.

You are reaping the benefits of a well worked Whole30. You should be very proud.

[Colleen Roy]

Nice job! Great results all around!

I agree with the others about the restaurant manager-that was incredibly poor customer service! If it's a place that you might go to again, I'd definitely let the owner know about how poorly you were treated! No matter what kind of place it was, I find it hard to believe that they could not accommodate you in any way!

Good luck as you continue your journey!

[iomchris]

Exactly ! if the WORST thing that happens to you is that you feel a little icky one day and have a glass of water instead of dinner ... hey, no one's shooting at you, right ? First world problems.

So true. Sometimes when I read some posts here about how to handle certain situations I think people have too hard a time accepting that there actual are some costs to doing this. There's no advice that will make every tricky spot disappear. It's just that if you have any perspective at all, the costs are pretty trivial compared to the benefits.

Thanks everybody for the nice feedback.

Re the restaurant, I actually think the guy might have been the owner, or at least running the place. I'm just gonna let it go I think. My colleagues all said they wouldn't go to that restaurant again over the way it was handled. I'm not holding them to it, but I appreciated the solidarity at the time.