Robyn's 2nd Whole30

[Robyn Lee]

On Monday, May 8th I will be embarking on my second round of Whole30. It's been 15 months since my first Whole30 and though I have totally relapsed back into old food habits, I have not forgotten the impact it had on my life. I had never tried a structured food program (successfully) before, so I learned that I COULD do it. I also learned the deliciousness of black coffee (still drinking it black to this day! No more sugary creamers). But I had some roadblocks on my way to success with the program which I think have been preventing me from trying it again.

The first challenge I encountered was the sheer quantity of dirty dishes that this program accumulates. I did not have a dishwasher at the time so I was spending 6 hours/day in the kitchen prepping/cooking food and then also doing All. Those. Dishes. My hands had seen better days! 

The second challenge I faced was how organized one needs to be to make this program work. Now, I think I'm fairly organized in general, but Whole30 was taking it to a level I wasn't prepared for. In order to prep meals, you needed groceries. To get groceries, you needed to know what you were going to eat for every meal of the week. To do that, you needed to pick out the food, write it down somewhere, before Sunday (prep day). At the same time you're trying to prepare for next week, you still have the CURRENT week to think about and stay on top of. 

This time will be different. I will still be successful, but I have some better tools at my disposal. Since the last Whole30, I've bought a home with a dishwasher (no more hours slaving over dirty dishes!). I've also adopted the Bullet Journal system to help keep me organized. 

This time, I have some fitness goals. In 3 months, I'll be riding across the state of Iowa in the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI). 2016 was the first year I had ever done it- it was amazing and I know it'll be MORE amazing if I have a healthier diet to back me up. I've already started biking to work (when the weather is above 40 degrees F........ WHY SO COLD IN MAY???) and also taking long rides on the weekends. I feel well on my way

So with my plan in place, my grocery list put together, and my fitness goals keeping me focused, I'm ready for round 2!

 

[Robyn Lee]

Day 1- 8:22AM

After a terribly hectic and stressful prep night yesterday, I finally made it to bed around 11pm and got up at 6am so I could bike to work. I arrived in 37 minutes, cleaned up, and nuked my "frittata poppers" in the break room microwave for my breakfast (followed the spinach frittata recipe from the book, but transferred the egg/spinach mix to a muffin tray lined with prosciutto. Topped each popper with a slice of tomato and baked for probably about 35 minutes at 350F).

Now that I've drunk some water to recover from my bike commute, I think it's time to hit the coffee so my eyes don't feel so bleary.

[Robyn Lee]

Day 3- To be honest, I didn't feel a whole lot of the "Dragon" affects from Whole30 my first time around. In terms of physical feeling, it was a breeze (I just got hung up on the food prep).

But oh-my-goodness, am I feeling it this time!!! I'm not sure why it's different, buuuuut ooft.