Whole 30. Ovah!

So yesterday was the last day of Whole 30!! I did it! Or kinda. The 'rules' for Whole 30 are supah strict. No cheats evah. And, well, I didn't do that. I cheated. More than once. And pretty much all this last week. See my dad was here and we went out to eat. A LOT. And going out to eat and Whole 30-ing doesn't work so hot.

Annnyway, I lost 10 pounds over the last 30 days. Which is all sorts of awesome. I also gained tons of energy and felt better than I have in my whole life. It was awesome!

Then I went and screwed it up. After eating like garbage this week, I feel sluggish and tired and lazy again. Which kind of blows. BUT, I'm going to get back on the wagon. Eventually. Whole 30 is HARD. We, as a family, kind of LOVE going out to eat. It's fun. I don't have to cook. Adam doesn't have to cook. I don't have to clean my kitchen. It gives everyone a break. It's fun! So, I know you can eat healthy and still go out to eat and that's what we are going to do. In January. The holidays are stressful enough and I just can't add another thing to my ever growing list.

So that's that. It was a good experience. I felt better and I still do even though I've been tired. I know it works and towards the end, it was getting easier because I knew what to eat and make and stuff. But sometimes, you're just out all day and you can't make food and make food and make more food.

I said so a lot in this blog. And now I'm done.

Day 11.

Today is Day 11 on this crazy Whole 30 journey. It's HARD, you guys. It's EXHAUSTING cooking and then cleaning the kitchen. And then cleaning the kitchen again. And then cooking again. Seriously exhausting.

BUT. I'm getting through it. I did eat a teeny bit of Wendy's on Monday night. But I'm owning it. I did it. It didn't jump into my mouth. I messed up.

BUT. I am officially down 6.8 pounds today and THAT is awesome. I will keep going.

It's funny how I'm so sick of cooking and cleaning up the kitchen and cooking again and you get the idea. And then, when I ate that stupid Wendy's, my body totally rejected it. I felt awful for the rest of the night. So clean eating is really kind of awesome. Even if I hate cooking and cleaning and cooking and cleaning.

I'll get through this and hopefully lose even more weight! I don't know if that poundage is water weight or actual fat, but either way, that mess is NOT coming back on my bod. NOPE.

Get excited, people! 19 more days to go!!!

Whole 30. Days 3 and 4.

Yesterday was day three of this crazy clean eating journey. I mean, it's not really crazy, but yesterday I was SUPAH pissed off. Like, all day. I had no idea what to eat and everything just sounded stupid.

I finally settled on two hard boiled eggs and an orange for breakfast. Not super filling, but it worked. Then I was damn near starving at 10:30 so I made myself and early lunch...or meal 2. Leftover almond flour crusted chicken and some Brussels sprouts. I fried them all up in a pan together with some spices and done. It was better than expected. I keep trying to keep in mind one of the things they say for Whole 30...am I hungry enough to eat grilled chicken and broccoli? If yes, then eat something. If no, then it's just my brain playing tricks on me. Again.

Dinner was pork lettuce wraps and some fried potatoes. I tried so hard to make the meat juicy and full of flavor. Adam liked it, but it could use some work. Everything was compliant, so go me! Then Adam made me a fruit smoothie for after dinner. I'm really missing sauces and juicy-ness. So that smoothie hit the freaking spot.

I wanted all the sugars yesterday so I ate more fruit than you're supposed to, but I haven't cheated!! So go me.

Today, I woke up feeling refreshed. Last night, I actually went to bed at 9:30 which is like totally unheard of for me. Of course, I didn't get to sleep through the night because Addison woke up at midnight needing her blanket put back on her. I need to get back on using our sticker chart for good sleep habits. She was doing so well and now. Well, now we are back to this. And I also had Makayla in our bed last night and I don't sleep well when she is in our bed. She moves a lot and pushes me and then she woke up screaming at 4:30 this morning. But hey! I went to bed at 9:30 and woke up feeling actually good. I only hit snooze on my alarm once. So go me. :)

Then breakfast came. I had this spicy sausage that I bought a few days ago...before Whole 30...and I checked the label. Not compliant. Citric acid and some other junk to help 'preserve freshness' or whatever. But I made some anyway because I really wanted it. There was no sugar added so I thought, 'What's the harm?!' Oh very much harm. So much harm.

I made about half of the package and I promptly threw the rest away so I wouldn't be tempted to eat more of it. Then I made over easy eggs and some green peppers.

That stupid sausage made me so sick. I don't even know, you guys. I feel all barfy and my eyeballs are going wonky and it's just a mess. I didn't even eat all of it because WHILE I WAS EATING IT, I started to feel disgusting. What a mess. So I'm not going to call that cheating because I do what I want. But I made a mistake. A big one. And I definitely learned from it.

It is literally no joke what they say about all this stuff that is added into food. And I'm only on day four and I already feel it! That's crazy and kind of awesome at the same time. So I'm ready for the rest of today. And I won't be doing that again. Not worth it.

Whole 30. Day 2.

I probably won't do this every day for the next 30 days, but I DO want to remember how I feel, what I ate, etc.

So today I woke up feeling refreshed-ish. I had to take Makayla to school before I could eat breaky so that was kinda hard, but I wasn't starving. Also my girls were up all the time last night and up at 5:30 this morning, ready to go. I sent them back to bed and tried to sleep some more.

Breakfast was easy because that's what I need or I know I will fail. Two hard boiled eggs, no yolk (I don't like hard boiled yolks, but you can eat them on Whole 30...and should), green peppers and onions cooked in olive oil with some salt and pepper and a handful of cashews. It was good. Filling, but I don't think filling enough because I was hungry at 10:30. You're technically not supposed to snack on Whole 30, but it's only Day 2 for me and I'm taking things slow for now.

So I had some shrimp ceviche that Adam made last night. It was AMAZE. And then I finished off the rest of my veggies from breakfast. I felt better and like I could last until lunch time.

Then for lunch I made shrimp scampi with clarified butter that Adam made yesterday, the juice of one lemon, two garlic cloves and some spices. I put two whole zucchinis in it and I ate the entire thing. I also made a banana cooked in coconut oil and then sprinkled it with cinnamon. It was SO GOOD. But I used too much coconut oil so it was a little soggy. But they say if you're hungry to eat more protein and fats, so that's what I'm doing.

So yeah, I've been feeling hungry today. And I've been SERIOUSLY craving some sugar. Which is unlike me. I don't eat many sweets ever. But I'm learning that sugar is in nearly every processed, packaged food that we eat, so that's probably why. I haven't had a headache all day, which is a nice plus because I suffer from headaches enough as it is. I was pretty energized this morning, but by the afternoon, I feel busted. Just kinda sluggish and ready for a nap. But that's pretty typical for me anyway. I love naps even though I feel awful after I take them. I'm weird.

Dinner was some kind of white Alaskan fish with asparagus and broccoli. It was awesome and I ate like four helpings. Then we had some bacon and eggs and avocado for a little snack after dinner.

Whole 30. Day 1.

Well here we are! Day 1 of Whole 30. How do I feel? Hard to say.

I was exhausted all day. I had a serious headache and slept nearly the whole day away. Adam took care of making ALL of our food today and even made some stuff for tomorrow for me to eat for lunch.

I'm just going to list out my ailments here so I have them and can look back on this list at this end of these 30 days and see how I feel. These are all things that have happened for a long, long, long time before I started Whole 30. So today's headache is from my body detoxing, I'm sure.

•Frequent headaches, like every other day
•Dizzy spells at least once a month, sometimes more
•Mental fogginess
•Both arms go numb all the damn time. More so the right arm
•Back pain on the regular, mostly lower and mid back
•Right shoulder pain
•Neck pain
•Tired ALL THE TIME
•Depression
•Anxiety
•Supah stressed out just about life
•Always hungry, but feel gross after I eat

I think that about covers it. I'm excited to see what these 30 days will do for my body and my health. I have pictures of our yummy food we ate today but my phone and computer won't sync up right now so hopefully I can add them later. But here's what we ate.

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with green peppers and onions. A whole avocado with salt, pepper and fresh cilantro. Some blackberries on the side.

Lunch: Almond flour crusted chicken nuggets with fried potatoes.

Dinner: Roasted chicken that was brined in salt and water overnight. Roasted potatoes, carrots, onions and Brussels sprouts.

All of the food was awesome today, but my body is just not used to eating so clean without all the preservatives and sugar and nasty junk that is in other 'food'.

I'm super excited about this journey. I'm so glad Adam is doing it with me and that he made all of our food today. He is the bestest. I'm also glad that my friend Cori is doing it with me and we are texting back and forth through this process! It's awesome to have a support system. Makes it harder to quit. And I'm determined. I'm determined to finish this and make my body healthier.

Also you aren't supposed to step on the scale during these 30 days. So Adam and I weighed ourselves today and then we will again on December 2nd. It's not about losing weight, but I hope I do some of that anyway. :)

Thanks for reading my journey and I look forward to keeping up with how I feel and all the changes I am looking forward to!

Whole 30. November 2.

That pretty much sums it up. We are starting Whole 30 on November 2nd.

I'm scared. And also a little excited.

I'm still reading about it. Still waiting for my book to come in at the library. But all the success stories that I've heard? I'm on board with that.

Something's gotta give. I've been feeling so horrible lately. My skin looks like crap. I have breakouts all the time and red, blotchy spots everywhere. I feel sick nearly every time I eat anything. Mostly when I eat fast food, which I know is bad for my body and my health. I get headaches every other day and about once a month, I get a headache so bad that the only thing I can do is lay down and go to sleep. Not really conducive to my lifestyle of three children to take care of and drive around all day.

Not to mention the obvious. I'm overweight and don't want to be. I want to feel good in my body and even though I am proud of how my body has served me for the last 30 years, I want to give back to it. I want to be healthy and show my girls how that looks. I want them to know that eating fruits and vegetables is WAY better than processed snacks and junk.

My main issue and probably the only thing that will make me fail is not being prepared. SO I am going to be prepared. I am going to have fruits and veggies cut up. I am going to have a menu plan. I am going to make sure that I can't fail. I'm not going to take the easy road on this. I want this and I need to make it happen. Because I'm the only one that can. So I shall.

Follow along on this journey! Even though my Write 31 Days will be over in November, I plan to continue blogging and I will share my stories and recipes and hardships on Whole 30. I've heard it's amazing, so let's see if it lives up to its end of the bargain.

Whole 30 starts in seven days!! Check it out HERE to see what all this fuss is about!