Monday, October 13, 2014

Whole 30 Confessions


Hello friends!

After Thursday's post revealing that I am doing the Whole 30 challenge, I had no idea so many of you had done it, are doing it, or want to hear all about it. I can tell y'all are going to be what keeps me going because Chris and his Cokes and cookies are not helping the cause.

If you have been around here for awhile, you know that I keep things pretty honest and I'm not good at the whole "of course eating celery instead of cookies is great" thing.

So, let me be honest, last week sucked. I was hungry, grumpy, in a brain fog, and all around pretty much wanting to gorge on pizza and ice cream. I was irritated at having to cook so much, only to wind up with a meal that wasn't even 1/100 as good at the Little Caesar's pizza Chris was eating. It was not good.

After some requests, each week I will try to let you know my grocery list and the meals I plan on eating. I think this will help me stay organized and it will help you decide if this is for you or not!

I have found the hardest thing is snacks. When I get home for school, I want a snack. It used to be a bag of chips or bowl of ice cream. Last week it was an apple, banana, orange, or a bag of carrots. Noting equivalent to ice cream, or chips.

Before I started this, I thought my eating habits were pretty good. I felt like my protein shake with fruit and Greek yogurt was a good start to my day. The Belvida breakfast biscuits I had for snack were delicious and a better choice than other snacks I could have opted for. For lunch I usually had left overs from the night before, and my dinners were normally a meat and some veggies, or spaghetti and some veggies. On the weekends Chris and I would normally go out to eat, but then again, nothing I ate I ever felt was terrible or loaded with carbs and sugar. Oh how wrong I was.

During the Whole 30 challenge you can consume absolutely no sugar, added or natural (fruits don't count). None. That eliminates basically everything. Almond milk, yogurt, bread, spaghetti sauce, noodles, grains, cereal, granola, Belvidas, and pretty much everything else I was eating. Of course my beloved Cokes, pizza, and ice cream are out the door, which has not been easy.

Last week I could tell that my brain was lost. I made so many dumb mistakes that even I was dumbfounded as to how much my brain relies on sugar to get through  my day. I am usually pretty with it and I wouldn't be one to consider myself to have a lot of "blonde moments." By Wednesday I had: put face wash on my loofah, opened the deodorant and just stared at it not knowing what to do next, put leftovers in their containers and went to the trash to throw them away, got out an apple to cut, but stood there for two minutes thinking about what I needed to do with this apple, left the bathroom door at school unlocked and someone walked in, called my classroom phone looking for a parent, walked around looking for my keys and they were in my hand, walked around looking for my phone and it was also in my hand, and this is just to name a few.

Y'all, that is bad.

I went to bed before 8:30pm every night last week. As in I was dead asleep by 8:30pm. I also noticed that I did not toss and turn as much as I used to and never once did I feel sick from my acid reflux, something that is a huge blessing.

I am typing all of this out to say that here I sit on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon feeling really good. Do I want sweets, yes, 100%. Do I crave them? Yes, 100%. But, I feel better. My brain is functioning better, I feel more alert and less like I am about to pass out at any moment. I feel skinnier and less blah. I feel healthy.

Tomorrow I will be back with some recipes I made this weekend, the hits and the misses! I won't lie to ya...if I say is is bad, it is probably pretty nasty! I was a cooking fool this weekend and I feel much more prepared going into my second week of the challenge.

Happy Monday!

Linking up with Leann and Kimberlee!

11 comments:

  1. I give you so much credit for doing the whole 30! Susan over at www.2catsandchloe.com heads Whole30 groups and I am always following her triumphs and her struggles as well. I don't think I could handle not having my Coke Zero every morning. More power to ya! You can do this!

    I hope you join us this week for the Celebrate Southern link up, held on Tuesdays over at www.blessherheartyall.com. You don't have to be a southern blogger to join, just love to be southern-inspired! xoxo

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  2. LOVE your honesty--and good for you for sticking with it :) Can't wait to hear more about your journey--I eat so much crap, I could def. benefit from doing something like this!

    Tori
    FashionBlingGirlyThings

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  3. I have seen a lot of people doing this recently, but I really didn't know too much about it. NO SUGAR. Like none? My brain would have done more crazy things than yours :) Seriously, congrats on your will power.

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  4. Well, I will say that the key to success for me has been prep work on Sunday. I use my giant muffin tin and fix an egg bake for each work day with 2-3 eggs/spinach and assorted veggies and or meat if I have it. I also fix guacamole to top the eggs on Sunday (it lasts until about Wednesday) and stays green if you lightly spray it with pam (weird, I know). Lunches are also something I preplan/prep - huge bag of lettuce washed and cut up goes with me to work as do salad toppings . . . . I also stocked my desk with macadamia nuts and a couple of apples/almond butter packets just in case . . .

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    1. I prepped allll weekend and you're totally right...that is the key to success!! Guac has been my go-to snack for sure!! Thanks for all these tips!

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  5. yay honesty - gotta love it. that's so awesome that it is going so well for you, i looked into it after i read your post, i'm excited to see your recipes and whatnot!

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  6. I love Nom Nom paleos website for yummy things to cook- she has a whole section on Whole 30 and i credit her with all my success in the kitchen!

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  7. good for you, can't wait to see the recipes.

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  8. I've been wanting to try a Whole 30 challenge, but I'm so afraid of snapping at someone at work because I'm cranky due to sugar withdrawal! Thanks for being honest with how your first week went, and also thanks for the inspiration!

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  9. I'm doing Whole30 with my husband it has made all the difference in prep. Mad props to you for doing it while your husband eats what he wants, I'd totally fall of the bandwagon.

    Our first week went really well, but last week was a bit tougher. I have to admit the good night sleeps are the best thing about this program. GOOD LUCK!

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