So today is the last day of my Whole30. I haven’t written for a while, but I’ve remained complaint. I was in the hospital for a few days with suspected appendicitis (it wasn’t – not sure what it was), so I got to fast for two days which made it pretty easy to stay compliant. (They think I passed a kidney stone, but I don’t really know).
Observations
I was really expecting the Whole30 to change my life, as advertised. I told my husband that I didn’t think it really had changed my life and he was surprised. He said it has totally changed his life. I was astounded, because I’ve been with him the whole time and his life is pretty much my life, so when did this life-changing happen? OK, so he had to retire his belt from high school because it’s too big now. That is pretty cool. His size 32 pants are pretty loose. That’s nice. He’s been coming up with some primo recipes that taste great and are super-good for us. That’s awesome!
And what does “change your life” mean anyway? I don’t know what I was expecting, actually. I was already eating paleo, so some of my life-changing happened before I ever started the Whole30.
I sleep like the dead now. I have a handle on my cravings. I think a lot about the food choices I make. I listen to my body more. I proved to myself that I don’t need to drink alcohol, and that, in fact, having a glass of wine isn’t nearly as awesome as sleeping really, really well. Things that I used to think were healthy (like dates) I now see as a decadent treat. I’ve got lots of energy. I am not sore after my workouts. My size 4 pants fit really loose. My nails are growing super fast. Are any of these things life changing? Not really. But together they definitely make my life better.
Plus, it’s really did change our family (even though the kids weren’t really doing it). My kids speak the same food and health language as us now. When I came home from the hospital, my 12 year old daughter commented on the length of my fast and said, “Well, you are definitely in ketosis now!” How cool is that? They understand when they are “splurging” and evaluate if it is worth it or not.
Tomorrow I step on the scale and measure my waist, chest and thighs. I don’t think I lost as much weight as I was hoping that I would at the beginning of this journey. If I could have stayed away from the dried fruit and nuts a little more, I might be seeing a smaller number tomorrow. But, I got more out of it in other areas than I had anticipated.
What happens from here? Well, I’m not going to go out and eat an entire pizza or anything. I really like the way I feel and I really like sticking to the rules of Whole30. Other than having a glass of wine with my husband on Thursday to celebrate our anniversary I’m not sure much else will change. I like sleeping really, really deeply and waking before my alarm at 6:30. I like not being bloated and not being sore after working out. And I like fitting into a size 2 dress.
Tomorrow I’ll post my results and maybe recap the good, bad and ugly of my journey. I’ll look at what I could have done better and what worked well for us.
Clan of the Food Freak 