Day 31

[jbn]

Today is Day 31. And before I get on the scale I want to say: I’m sleeping better; I have less lower back pain; the bags under my eyes aren’t quite as puffy; I don’t feel the need for a nap every day as I used to; I can see the change in my face—I’m definitely less jowly; I can zip up a pair of jeans I couldn’t zip up before; I always had good hair, but it seems even thicker and shinier now; I’ve been walking much longer distances, pain free, than I have been able to in quite a while. 

 

Okay, to the scale.

 

Down 8.5 pounds. I’m very pleased with that. Especially since I never felt deprived or unsatisfied. And because of my lower back pain, I didn’t get much exercise. Coffee without milk and Splenda was the most difficult for me (although friends who have been out drinking with me might find that hard to believe). And I really, really missed cooking and eating Chinese food, which I do a lot. I tried at first to make Chinese recipes Whole30 compliant, but without legumes, soy, and sometimes a small amount of sugar, they lost too much in translation. I was very concerned about dining out. I had four restaurant dinners planned during those 30 days and I’m one of those who hates quizzing waiters in detail about just exactly what’s in everything and how it’s cooked. But all were very gracious about it and happy to go to the kitchen and ask the answers to anything they didn’t know. And I found that restaurants in New York never use butter to cook anyway; simply grilled or pan fried steaks, fish, and chicken were always cooked without butter so that turned out to be less of a problem than I was afraid it might be.

 

And now, I’ll do the fast reintroduction because in 26 days I leave for a month in China and one of the reasons I’m going is to sample as much as possible of the various regional cuisines. But I’d like to do so mindfully, knowing just how I react to each of the off-plan foods in order to be able to taste rather than indulge.  

 

Thank you Whole30. I’ll be back. This is something I can live with.

[bebeaccia]

Congratulations jbn. Lots of NSV and SV's you've listed above. There are about 5 of us that are on Day 30. We'll be joining you soon on the "success stories"