Day 31! We Did It!!

[Kac1014]

Day 31! We did it!! YAY!

 

Surprisingly the 30 days actually went pretty fast!  My husband and I have both grown to really enjoy eating this way.  We are planning to do a full reintroduction because I'm really curious to know what bothers my system, but we are still planning to continue eating this way 90% of the time (relaxing a bit when out to eat with friends or the occasional summer treat).  

 

NSVs:

Crazy clear and smooth skin

I've fit into a few pieces of clothing that I haven't fit into in a long time

By about day 4 I had already lost a ton of bloat

Both my husband and I are looking much slimmer

Increased energy (once I figured out the right amount and mix of foods that I needed)

Increased confidence in my body 

Learned a lot about how the different macro nutrients effect me and how little changes to the ratios can effect my energy/mood

Realized just how much crap is in so much of the "food" that is out there (especially in things I thought were pretty clean before i.e. deli meat) 

Realized that I don't miss so many of the things I though I could never live without (cheese, bread, pasta, etc)

Decreased sugar cravings (even though they weren't too bad before starting)

Discovered some AWESOME new healthy recipes that I will be more than happy to keep making even when not on Whole30

 

And as an added bonus, I lost about 11 lbs and my husband lost 14!  

 

This weekend we will start to slowly reintroduce.  We're going with non-gluten grains first.  I'm looking forward to some tacos with corn tortillas!  

 

I was a little hesitant at the beginning of this Whole30 journey, but the effort has been well worth it and I am so glad that we did it!

[LeahF]

Amazing! So glad you had a great experience and learned a lot. 11 lbs?!? Go you! And so many great NSV. Congratulations! 

[Kac1014]

I'm back to recap my reintros!

Non-gluten grain: No issues here...thank goodness because life without corn tortillas makes me sad

Legumes: No issues here either

Dairy: After a month of beautifully clear skin I had 1 slice of cheese and a small scoop of ice cream and my face almost immediately started breaking out big time...boo   Definitely good to know though!  I'll definitely be saving dairy for only when it's really worth it!  

Gluten:  This was one I was very concerned about as my grandpa and cousin both have Celiac.  While I didn't have a major reaction to it, I still don't think my body likes it very much.  Both times I ate it on the gluten reintro day I felt mild pangs in my abdomen for what felt like the entire time it was digesting.  I didn't feel sick by any means, but I didn't feel right either.  My husband also had a similar reaction.  We're planning to cut gluten out of our diets as much as possible.  Side note: My grandpa came for a visit last weekend and was SO excited that none of the meals we made had gluten in them so he didn't have to make his own special food.  I love that we were able to make him feel like he wasn't missing out!

Alcohol: I had 1 very small glass of white wine and my sinuses went CRAZY!  Not super surprising because I've had mild reactions to wine like this before but whoa did it hit me hard this time!  

 

Since finishing reintros last week we've been sticking pretty close to Whole30.  We have been eating corn tortillas/chips and we've been asking a few less questions when we eat out, but other than that we've really enjoyed eating this way and it's becoming second nature.  I feel great and I love that I'm actually seeing results when I work out now.  All around we're both very glad to have gone through this experience and I think we'll probably to another strict round very soon!  

[LeahF]

Congratulations on making it thru your reintroductions. So far I've done legumes (mild bloating), non gluten grains (seemed ok), dairy (also seemed ok - I was really excited for icecream and that it didn't make me sick!), wine (typical alcohol reaction - I wanted to eat all the things!), and tomorrow is gluten grains. This is the one I'm worried about too. I've had some mild breaking out, but I'm not sure what it is exactly tied to....I think it started a few days after the alcohol. My allergies have been going nuts but have no idea if it's from food or just what's in the air. 

Anyway, it's been lovely connecting with you!

[Kac1014]

Hey Leah!  Good to hear that your reintros are mostly going well!  Did you go on your trip yet or is it still coming up?  After finishing up our reintros we gave ourselves a few days off (mostly stayed on plan, but did have some tacos and ice cream).  But then we decided we really liked the structure that Whole30 gave us, so we decided to do round 2 this month!  We're now on day 9...though I just had to count that because by now it's become easy to eat like this and I'm not really counting down the days anymore.  Thanks so much for sticking with me on round 1.  It was really great having someone to relate with during the journey!

[LeahF]

@Kac1014That's amazing! We leave for our trip on Tuesday and I'll be checking back in when we return on Oct. 1st.  

The rest of my reintros went pretty fine....honestly I thought I would have more obvious problems with certain things so who knows. After finishing the reintro I have felt to be in this strange limbo of not really knowing what to do since there are no more hard and fast rules and I know I have this trip coming up where I'm definitely going to break the rules. For now (and on our trip too) I've just been eating something if it seems worth it. So probably eating Whole30 still 90% of the time. It really does become a habit! 

Enjoy your second Whole30! I'm a little jealous of the big group one going on right now.