Hello again - for 30 days

I know, I barely made it over a month of no blogging. At first, I wanted to go back and start blogging again, but it also freed up a lot of my time, and then I actually enjoyed not blogging. So why am I back?

The whole reason I stopped my blog, temporarily, is because "I needed to do something". Well, I will go ahead and tell you that something right now. I need to lose weight, and I needed to make time for it (out goes the blogging). For the past month or so, I've been working out (hardcore, sweating profusely) getting stronger (I can now do 150 squats before my legs turn to jelly), drinking half my body weight (lbs) in ounces of water, and loving it! I wake up in the morning, put on my workout clothes and I workout while the kids destroy my house - literally. They play (make a mess) and watch cartoons while I workout. See?

I've learned to not let it bother me because I'm exercising. And they are used to it. They usually don't bother me (unless Alexis gets hungry for breakfast before I finish) until I'm done. I shower (really really fast) sometime after exercising and Alexis just hangs out in my room and plays while I shower. They eat breakfast usually after I'm done working out or showering. It works perfectly, it's all good.

HOWEVER, no matter how hard I was working out, the scale was not budging. Annoying. So I counted calories for 3 days. 3 LONG DAYS! I hate counting calories. It's depressing. It makes me think of the food I can't eat and then I want that food even more. Anyways, I lost 1 pound, but the next day I ate something I shouldn't, like ice cream or pizza or whatever and I gained it all back. It's a horrible cycle and I needed to do something about my weight that isn't stupid calorie counting.

Usher in "Whole30". I've been hearing that for a while, I knew a few things about it. But what I did know was that more and more people I knew were doing it, trying it. One of my old college friends has a cooking book for it and a blog and was interviewed on the news about it. I hate "diets" and how once you stop the diet you gain back all the weight (especially counting calories), and I hate having to "buy" stuff, like shakes or meals or whatever in order to lose weight. People a hundred years, a thousand years ago didn't need shakes to stay fit. Anyways, I kept hearing that whole 30 was a lifestyle change. I knew you ate certain foods for 30 days, but then after what? You just gain all the weight back? Or so I thought. Well, I thought about it, researched it, thought about it some more, asked my neighbor countless questions (thanks for answering them all!) and then finally I purchased the book - "It Starts with Food" and read it. I devoured it more like it. It was so fascinating I couldn't put it down! After a few days of reading it, I HAD to start. I was intrigued. I thought "I can do this for 30 days". If it doesn't work and I don't lose weight and feel better physically (now that I read the book) then I give up. I don't know what to do.

I have always struggled with my weight. Food is so good - it's a weakness! I crave things, I overeat, etc. Like most people do. After reading this book I understand why I feel that way. This book has opened up a whole new world of food and healthy eating, etc. I'm so excited to do it. And I'm excited to do it because it should, according to what they say, help with cravings, food weaknesses, etc.

I thought, should I blog about this? Do I really need/want to expose my weakness and thoughts about food and weight to the world? Well, the book is fascinating and if it doesn't do what it says, then I either have something incredibly wrong with me, or they are lying. So why not document it? Ha ha. Plus, my parents are intrigued, and now they can see first hand what it's all about.

Here's my experience on the whole 30. I'm doing it. I planned all my meals, hung up all the pdf-downloads to help me along the way, I have recipes pinned, I went grocery shopping, I'm ready. And I have a desire. Not just to lose weight, but to help restore hormonal balance in my body (explains the hormone stuff in the book and is so interesting!) and restore health to my body.

This is my fridge after grocery shopping. That's the most fruit and veggies my fridge has ever seen. And yes, there's still stuff in there for the kids that we won't be eating, like yogurt smoothies, peanut butter, bread. etc.  I realize now that you're supposed to buy canned coconut milk. I bought the unsweetened kind in a carton before I got to that chapter. Oops!

My meal plans and reminders of what to eat, etc.

And, just in case you don't know what Whole30  is, you cut out anything that doesn't make your body healthy - ALL of their 4 good food standards which are: 1) Foods that don't give a healthy psychological response, 2) a healthy hormonal response, 3) support a healthy gut and 4) support immune function and minimize inflammation. Basically that means you can't eat dairy, legumes (beans), sugar, alcohol (don't have a problem with that), seed oils & vegetable oils, grains (including quinoa), and peanuts.

 But you CAN eat vegetables, fruit, eggs, meat, seafood, eggs, nuts (limited), olive oil, coconut oil, and good healthy fats (listed in the book). I mean, what's so bad about a diet (anything you eat is a diet) that makes you eat vegetables and fruit? And again, it explains why and goes into all the sciency stuff in the book with tons of references and doctors to back it up. And you're probably thinking but dairy is healthy and whole wheat is healthy, yada yada yada. Just read the book. It explains all of that in there.

I'll TRY to post each day of the whole 30 as I go along - with pictures, because I LOVE pictures - and let you know my thoughts about it. Enjoy!