Whole30 Half Way

So....

I don't even know why. I mean obviously because I eat horribly and am overweight and I need to do it, but I don't even know why I started it. I have been hearing about it and reading about it and then I was home alone for a week when my parents went to see my grandparents and I was on facebook and saw that this author I follow had just started it. And I just...decided to start it too. I made a list of things to go buy and I went shopping the next morning and did a bunch of food prep and...there you have it. On Whole30.

If you don't know it is a 30 day diet that is kind of like a cleanse. It is no sugar, no dairy, no wheat, no alcohol, no anything basically. Ha! You just eat fruits and veggies and meat (organic if possible) and cleanse your body of all that is processed and bad. Then you are supposed to slowly introduce those things back into your diet so you can watch what affect they have on you and determine what you might have negative reactions to so that you can eliminate them from your normal eating. Also it is just a jump start for losing weight and more healthy eating. You can read a better explanation HERE.

So yesterday was day 15 for me so I am now 1/2 done. This month was a crazy time for me to do this because it was Easter and my birthday (I have passed both of those now!) and the end of the year (still to come) at work which always means parties and lunches galore. I just felt motivated to do it and I knew if I didn't do it then I never would! To be honest it hasn't been that bad. I mean there have been some hard times. When I smell stuff that I really like, that is the worst. But overall I haven't had any intense cravings or crazy bad desires for anything. I am shocked. I have a crazy sweet tooth and sugar is 100% gone from this but...I haven't missed it. In fact it sounds awful to me now. So maybe that is a good thing.

One good but kind of bad thing is that I can really see my bad eating habits. I am not a cooker. I need to be to do this right. I should be eating eggs and veggies and meat. I eat a lot of raw veggies and Lara bars (the only thing you can buy ready made to eat) and jerky. So the laziness and non-cooking is still there. As is the binge eating. When I open a bag of jerky or nuts...I pretty much eat the whole thing. Which is also my issue with a bag of candy. So big picture...why better a bag of almonds than a bag of m&ms BUT still not ideal. So I need to work on that. But at least I know that now and I am making positive steps right?

15 more days to go. I am not sure what will happen then. I haven't exactly decided what diet I will follow when my 30 days ends. I might keep doing this longer. I know I will want to lose more weight b/c I haven't lost much yet. Who knows....it is all in the air still. But 1/2 there and haven't quit yet...pretty excited by that!

Week One....survived

So when my doctor proposed this whole TOTAL change of lifestyle diet change she said (and yes, I quote)
"I think if you will do this for ONE WEEK you will be shocked at how good you feel and how much weight you will lose"

Well...shocked I can give her

Good.....not even close!!!

Last week was HORRIBLE!!! Okay I know that I have a lot of health issues that not everyone has so it was probably worse for me than for normal Joe Smoe AND I had really bad eating habits so that probably made it worse as well but seriously...not one of the bajillion blogs I read about switching to clean eating mentioned how HARD it was going to be?? NOT ONE???....

Thank you Internet.
So let me break it down.

Monday and Tuesday - massive migraine and felt light headed and dizzy the entire time. I truly convinced myself this was all about caffeine and protein loss (and it probably mostly was) and I would be fine. Got me some nuts to eat...the world is better right?

Wednesday....this was like Dday for me. I mean the WORST. I was supposed to be taking the morning off b/c we were getting one house ready for photographs for the realtor and a roofer was coming for the other house. Only problem? I couldn't stay out of bed for more than 30 min at a time. It was horrid. I hurt ALL OVER. My fibromyalgia flared up like someone poked it with a fire stick, I thought I was going to be sick all day...it was TERRIBLE. I mean seriously. Really bad.

Luckily that night my awesome friend Allison (no really, she is in grad school in London and for fun in her spare time she is interning with the London Symphony orchestra chorus....see? awesome...) got online to chat with me and give me some encouragement. She dropped the obvious on me...my body was detoxing....and it was not happy. All the chemicals and toxins and crap it was used to having were missing and it was yelling at me. A lot.

That actually made me feel better. At least I had a reason to be feeling so bad. I went to bed (but didn't sleep b/c I forgot to mention....insomnia also has invaded all week...barely sleeping at all)

Thursday got up feeling a little better so I went to work but...downhill as the day went by. At one point late afternoon I realized I was sitting at my desk in tears. I was just in that much pain that it was making me cry. So....left work a few hours early and went home, back to bed. Was really depressed that night. I HATE when my health interferes with work. It makes me angry and helpless feeling all at once. SO that night I learned a new important lesson.

Stress eating is still possible with health food......yep I ate a whole bag of healthy "clean" trail mix. Guess what? Not so healthy when you eat it like that. So that was important for me to realize. I can't just say well I am eating healthy foods so I can do whatever I want. I still have to change my bad eating habits....ESPECIALLY the stress eating one! I was sick as a dog all night long obviously.

The weekend was actually much better. I was tired, still am but everyday has been better than the last. I think maybe my body is finally starting to calm down a bit and accept what is going on. But I just gotta say, this was NO easy thing. Last week was hell. I haven't felt that bad in a really long time. and I still don't feel great. I am sure long term this is going to be a positive change but...either my doctor is clueless about the process or she just didn't tell me. It takes some work to get there!!!

Hoping for a better......