My Tastebuds Changed!

[Kjohnson527]

My husband and I finished our whole30 yesterday!  I feel great!  I lost 7 lbs after already having lost 40lbs since January and being at a weight I was comfortable at.  I didn't think I had much more to lose, but I did!  

NSVs

Stronger fingernails, flatter stomach, better sleep, more energy (consistent energy - this doesn't mean that I'm not tired, I have 3 young boys, I get tired, but I don't crash mid-day anymore), I wake up ready to go in the morning and don't feel lethargic and my patience with my children increased.  

The hardest days

When were you ready to give up on it?  For us?  It was day 2.  Can you believe it?  Only day 2?!  The second day was absolutely the hardest.  Because I just can't drink my coffee without sugar (which begs the question on why I was drinking it to begin with), I went caffeine free as well.  The second day, I was tired, cranky and overwhelmed by the label reading and food prep.  My husband came home from work and said, this is hard, I'm done.  And I almost agreed with him.  But he was being such a baby, I knew I had to be the strong one.  So we kept going.  And it got easier!

The next big obstacle we encountered was a baseball game that had been planned for months.  Traveling 2 hours away for the game with friends.  We packed our cooler with compliant foods, brought them into the ball park and cruised past all the beer and food stands.  Was it easy?  No.  But we felt empowered and strong for making the right choices.  (And packed some cashews with our picnic lunch so we felt baseball festive!)

Then, on day 29 my son turned 5.  As always, we had a big party.  I made him his own cake as well as cupcakes to share with his soccer team.  Every time my hands had frosting on them, I reminded myself to go to the sink to wash them.  At his party, I wanted to say screw it and just eat a darn cupcake.  I mean, I had already made it 29 days, that was good enough - right??  But I didn't.  I refused to throw away weeks of hard work for one cupcake.  To me, that was progress.

Tastes

On Day 1 I gave up my morning latte, which I used to make with a flavored protein drink every morning.  It had sugar, dairy and plenty of other additives.  I tried coffee black, I tried it with every type of compliant milk, I tried bulletproof coffee, it all tasted awful.  I tried tea.  I tried La Croix.  I found nothing I liked to drink.  So I gave up and just stuck to water.

Then about 10 days later, I grabbed a different La Croix and I actually liked it!  Then, I tried some more teas, and I liked them.  I went back and tried the same ones that I tried on day 1, and it turns out I liked those too!  When my tongue wasn't used to it's daily dose of sugar, it actually began to like some of the other flavors I added.  

You know what else?  I actually like broccoli now.  I'd prefer it roasted or a little seasoning on it of some sort.  But I actually eat broccoli.  I never thought I would say that.  But variety in my meals is important, and I couldn't just keep eating the same veggies over and over.  

One thing I still haven't acquired a taste for?  Black coffee.  Or any other compliant coffee combo.  But so far, that's been okay.  

Next

We're following reintroduction to see how we react to food groups.  I have a lot of travel coming up in October and want to be armed with as much information about how certain foods affect me before I am away from home for long periods of time.  My goal is to stick whole30-ish and do another full whole30 if the time comes.  

Because weight loss was a huge goal for my husband and I this summer, we will stay close to the scale to make sure we're sticking within our goals of weight ranges, but will continue to work on focusing on all the other things that make us healthy besides the number on a scale.  

I love reading other success stories - thanks for letting me share mine!    

 

 

 

 

[Scott W]

Wow that was really a great encouraging story, thank you for sharing and congratulations.

[jnmcelwain]

Congrats! So nice to go through it as a couple