Second: I FINISHED WHOLE 30! Oh yeeeyahhhh! Oh yeah, oh yeahhhh, oh yeeeeyah **imagine fist pumping here** Ok, ok - please ignore that fit of dorkiness, it really couldn't be helped. Because, really I am just so incredibly proud of myself and happy that I survived the last 30 days.
Before I get into more detail, let me just give a little update since my last post 89342039 years ago...
So. My eating habits have just been a mess. I tried IIFYM. It didn't work. I really wanted it to work, but it didn't. Perhaps I'll do a post on this later. Anyways. I would go through cycles where I'd eat really well (relatively speaking) and be super consistent with working out for a few weeks. And then it would all go to shit and I'd just eat whatever the hell I wanted and completely ignore working out for a week or two until I got fed up and tried to get my shit together. This pattern continued for months. When I was watching what I was eating my diet was filled with carbs (all "healthy" ones), processed foods, mug cakes, Quest bars, some fruits - but really only on top of things like oatmeal or mug cakes, protein powders, etc. When I wasn't watching what I ate my diet was filled with the kitchen sink. Even though in my "healthy days" I was eating lots of stuff that should be filling me up and should be satisfying my never-ending cravings for sweet things, I was rarely satisfied. I would eat a cookie dough Quest bar (which are amazing) and not feel satisfied and want something else. Eventually I'd give into these cravings and that's when my weeks of eating whatever the hell I wanted came in. Physically, obviously I was not happy with the toll it took on my body composition. But mentally I was exhausted. I absolutely hated the feeling of not being satisfied and wanting something else and resisting it until I gave in. And when I wasn't watching what I ate I continually felt guilty about everything. I just wanted to be happy and satisfied with the things I ate. I actually gave a paleo-ish template another try (paleo + dairy + protein powders/quest bars + rice), and admittedly was much happier with this and lasted longer than doing anything else. Taking this into consideration, and the fact that I'd always toyed with the idea of doing the Whole 30, I decided to read It Starts with Food.
It took me all of 2 days to read It Starts with Food. Once I started reading I just wanted to know more and more. In the past when I had toyed with doing Whole 30 I was always too intimidated and scared. I didn't think I could make it, I thought it was too restrictive and as a result I would end up eating everything I could get my hands on. I told myself that my desserts and Quest bars and processed "healthy" snacks kept me sane, and if I got rid of those how could I possibly stick with any sort of diet. Once I started reading It Starts with Food, everything just made sense. The explanation of cravings and where they came from, what caused them, etc. The unifying reason behind the diseases of modern man. I was hooked and couldn't wait to start Whole 30. Was I scared? Fuck yes. I was still worried. Based on my track record I couldn't stick with anything for more than 2-3 weeks consistently. I figured I'd be OK for the first week or so, but I worried I would slowly start losing my mind and give up once I got to week 3 or 4. But I just really wanted to get rid of cravings and not feeling satisfied with food, so I figured why the hell not, I might as well give this all I got!
Ohmygosh so this is turning into a short novel. It's going to get longer. My bad -_- Ok ok, so that was just the background of me starting Whole 30. Now for the good stuff...
So basically I went in this desperate to change my relationship with food. Did I want to be in better shape? Sure I did, but that wasn't the most important thing to me. I wanted to be happy with the food I ate. I didn't want to have this sinking feeling in my stomach when I wasn't satisfied with the food I just ate and was craving other things. I wanted a healthy relationship with food. I wanted to be a normal person who wasn't constantly thinking about all the "treats" I wanted to eat/would eat later. I hated this feeling. This feeling was my primary motivation.
Was it hard? Yes and no. It really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, I definitely had rough days and one day where I was almost desperate to fall off the wagon. Lots of nut butter was consumed this day. Not optimal, but I got through the day without falling off. And lemme tell you, the next day was the best feeling ever - knowing that I had not given in. That was my hardest day. Other than that it was mostly little feats where I would have to rationalize with myself that I wasn't actually hungry and I didn't need to snack on things just because I felt like it. Oh and giving up desserts and cookies and protein pancakes and Quest bars...all my sweet treats...was definitely hard at first. Instead of a mug cake at night I would have berries with some almond butter. Definitely took some getting used to. Breaking some bad habits was a little difficult, but nothing that made me miserable.
Was I successful? I say yes. I'm going to be honest here. I wasn't 100% Whole 30 compliant. Probably more like 98%. But nothing crazy that I think should break your Whole 30 or make you start over (realize that others would definitely disagree and this is also extremely dependent on the person). Technically white potatoes aren't Whole 30-compliant. We went to brunch one morning and I was trying to put together a bit more of a substantial meal than just eggs and bacon. It didn't really work out and it turns out this restaurant was incredible resistant to re-working dishes for you. They had sauteed potatoes but no sweet potatoes. So I did some research and apparently kicking white potatoes off the Whole 30 bandwagon was kind of arbitrary and was really only done so you break your association of white potatoes with french fries and chips. Ok. Well for me french fries and chips weren't really my weakness. So I decided to get a good workout in beforehand and eat some damn white potatoes with lots of healthy fats after. I figured I am supposed to be building a healthy lifestyle and relationship with food, and writing off white potatoes on this one occasion because of some arbitrary rule didn't really seem like a healthy decision. It was a damn delicious meal and all was fine. But that's just me, this may not be the case for everyone. Also there may have been cheese in a salad I ate at a work meeting. I tried to pick it all off, but it was crumbly and hard to get. Again, to me this was not the bane of my whole 30.
Did it fix everything? No. But let me tell you, it made a huge difference. My relationship with food has improved so much, it's almost weird. I always feel full after my meals and am never left wanting more even though I ate a whole meal. I think this is because of the fats. There are still days where I find cravings creep in, or the need to snack on something, but now these are usually in the form of nut butters or fruit. It has become exponentially easier to say no to these sorts of cravings when I'm not actually hungry. I know that my relationship with food is still a work in progress, but I feel so much better. I have come a long way and I am going to keep working towards sustaining this relationship. I think that this change is mostly due to my change in foods: eating whole, nutritious foods that are rich in vitamins and nutrients. And fats. Lots of fats.
Oh!! I almost forgot!! Not only did Whole 30 completely turn around my relationship with food, but it also improved my workouts. When I read in various places that Whole 30/Paleo would improve your workouts I was kind of pessimistic. Guys, they weren't lying. I hit so many PR's in the past month that I never thought I would hit so quickly. This is what I'd consider an added perk. Also, in It Starts with Food they talked about how doing Whole 30 helped with tendinitis that Dallas (the co-creator) had and couldn't get rid of previously. Well it just so happens that I had tendon pain in my foot for the past month that I couldn't get rid of (even taking a break from the gym). So when I started Whole 30 I regularly went to the gym (3-5 days/week) and still, within 2 weeks my pain was gone! Which is awesome because it was really annoying.
And finally...my figure. Like I said, this wasn't my primary focus during the Whole 30, but I did figure I would lose some weight during the process. And I did lose some. I could see and feel the difference. Clothes fit markedly better. It's a little hard to see, but here's some pics for comparison:
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| Day 1 = 139 lb, Day 30 131 lb |
All in all, I feel so much better now than I did 30 days ago. I know I still have lots of progress to make and that just because these 30 days are over that doesn't mean that my relationship with food is just fixed. That will only happen over time. Also, I would have thought at day 30 I'd be dying to go eat everything I couldn't for the past month. But I'm not. I'm excited for reintroduction to see what I can tolerate or not (fingers crossed for dairy!) to see what I can include in my diet in the future. But I think I really found something in these last 30 days and will be sticking to Paleo. BUT. I will tell you, the things I am excited for are things like cauliflower pizza, or almond milk ice cream. Or the occasional paleo pancake. Yep!
Well, that's all I've got. I know. you're thinking "she must be kidding, she just wrote a short novel". Sorry! I'm often told I'm long-winded...
With love,
Tuffy
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