Year of 30

Whole30: Day 30

Posted on by megdanielle

Today is my 30th day of Whole30! I cannot believe the last 30 days have gone by so quickly.

In the last 30 days, I have gone without added sugars, dairy, legumes, alcohol, or grains. I’d love to boast a perfect record but I discovered some missteps along the way, mainly after I had already eaten the offending food. I also allowed myself some cheats in the form of dried fruit and veggie chips which met the Whole30 ingredient criteria but failed in the strictest sense of Whole30 for completely eliminating foods that facilitate over consumption.

Here’s what I think:

  • It’s not impossible.
  • It does require a lot of planning.
    • Day Designer has an awesome printable for meal planning that kept me organized. Thank you, guys!
    • My husband took over planning for a bit but I couldn’t have made it without breakfasts, lunches, and dinners written out next to the grocery list for the week! If you’re not a chef, don’t try to wing recipes. Research and plan. Trust me on this.
  • You won’t miss X nearly as much as you think you will.
    • Beer on a hot summer day?
      • Yeah, it sounds good. But I’ve gotten pretty crafty with sparkling water and none of the bloat!
    • Chips and salsa?
      • This one is a game changer. I am a tortilla chip addict. I consume them at such an alarming rate that my husband started to buy two bags when he’d go shopping so he could have some (we call that behavior enabling, but that’s a story for another day!).
      • As of this evening, I have gone t-h-i-r-t-y days without tortilla chips. You know what I realized? Being addicted isn’t really that funny. If I eat one, I want one hundred and one! I have no control and, even worse, that’s by design. The food industry designs processed food to be addictive.
  • Plan some Netflix food documentary binges through the process. They’ll reinforce your decision to do what you’re doing.
  • Don’t try to force your kids to eat Whole30 with you. Introduce some new recipes but don’t make your experience miserable because you’re making your kids miserable.
  • You might just find that energy you’ve craved.
    • I’ve been staying up later and later as I’ve been going through this process. The wise voice inside says I should’ve been holding steady to my bedtime to become a morning person but the fact of the matter is, I’m getting more hours in the day regardless of what time I’m getting them!
  • You will probably lose weight.
    • I lost 9 lbs. I’ve been comfortable wearing pants that were busting at the seams. I got to pull out a pair of pants from the back of the drawer that were hopeless. I can see definition in my arms again (which is funny because while I’ve been focusing on food, I’ve been putting zero energy into exercise).

Closing thoughts?

You should do it if there isn’t a medical reason that you shouldn’t. Outside of generally being healthier and more aware of what I’m putting in my body, I feel like this huge burden has been lifted from me. Food can pull at you. It calls to you and then shames you from your changing body. Or it can, if you’ve got too much processed food in your diet. Cut it out and replace it with wholesomeness. Your body and your mind will thank you.

Whole30 Update: Day 21

Posted on by megdanielle

I am less than ten days away from completing the Whole30 program and I’ve got to say, I’m nervous. I’m nervous because I love it and have done so well with this program. There’s something so simple about drawing hard lines about what you will and won’t put into your body.

I started this particular “Year of 30” challenge at the best possible time too. My CFO and HR Manager just finished the program so the office is somewhat familiar with the gig. The two have been incredibly supportive and everyone else doesn’t care, is afraid to mention anything and get trapped in a 30 minute dialogue about it with me, or has some pretty encouraging things to say.

Oh, and one of my best girlfriends just taught me how to make Whole30 compliant ranch. Yum. It’s so right and it feels so wrong…

I’m 9 days out and I’m afraid of losing those hard do-and-don’t lines. I’m worried that I won’t really know if something is causing inflammation and it will become part of my life again. I’m worried because it’s so easy to make concessions here and there until they’re everywhere.

Right now, I feel good.

I was starting to drag this weekend and I was feeling pretty down about getting this far into the program and not having reliable energy until I happened to look at the clock one night.

My bedtime has been 9:00pm for a long time; 9:30pm at the latest. I was exhausted. If I pushed myself, I woke up sick without fail. A late night? A sore throat. Last year, after 6 years of being tired, I finally went in for allergy tests but they all came back negative. I could not stand the thought of spending my 30s as tired as I had spent my mid-to-late twenties.

But this past week I’ve been shutting off around 11:00pm. I’m tired in the mornings but I’m not delirious and even if I was, I’m going to bed two hours after my usual bedtime. (I agree with you if you’re thinking that’s probably not the best way to manage my new found energy but you need to realize that this is new to me!)

Anyway, if anyone has experience with reintroduction or holding tight to some rules after Whole30, I would be so appreciative to hear from you. What worked? What didn’t? What setbacks did you not see coming? How are you succeeding today?

A Mile A Day: Days 29 and 30

Posted on by megdanielle

Well, I finished my self-imposed challenge of a Mile a Day for 30 days. In the end, I ended up one mile short. I thought about adding a day to the challenge but since it was my made up challenge, it seemed like a pretty lackluster way to make myself feel better about skipping. So I’m owning up to it. 29 miles in 30 days.

I trekked more than 29 miles of course but the purpose of this challenge was to engage in dedicated consistency toward achieving my mile. Day 29 was completed on my new bicycle because I love it and because it’s so fast that a mile goes by in the blink of an eye and my family barely knows I’m gone. I cannot get over how fast I get going on that thing!

I have it in my head that I’m going to the east coast for a color tour next year. You can bike 25-40 miles from B&B to B&B and a tour van will bring your luggage to your next stop while you ride for the day. It sounds perfect! Yes, I am sore after biking one mile… but I could build up to it. Add it to my bucket list!

It seemed fitting to end my 30 challenge with Winston so on day 30, he and I took out on our now familiar path. We took it at a quick pace and I paid extra mind to the length of my gait, stepping further to stretch out the last mile.

It’s so anticlimactic to finish something you’ve set out to do, isn’t it?

By definition, my 30 day mile challenge wasn’t very exciting and certainly wasn’t impressive, but I feel let down. Did I think I would find myself at the pace of 1 mile per day? I don’t know. Maybe I did.

A Mile A Day: Day 25-28

Posted on by megdanielle

I always say that anyone can do anything* for 30 days but 30 days really is a long time to do the same thing and continue finding interest in it. Or at least continue to find interest writing about it. I imagine it’s the same for reading so I’m going to start condensing the last bit of this 30 journey.

Day 25, Thursday:

I told my husband that I wasn’t going to walk and he told me I was. He’s chosen to be very supportive of my mile-a-day challenge where he could have been passive or irritated. And there were days that a passive or irritated husband would be entirely enough to dissuade me from walking. Today was one of them. So thank you, Freddy! Your insistence has refueled my persistence.

Day 26, Friday:

This is a total cop out but I promise you I got well over a mile today! In a throw-care-to-the-wind decision, I went left when I should’ve gone right after my haircut. Out of nowhere appeared Tanger Outlet mall! It’s not that it jumped right out at me, of course, but that the developers chose a more remote location. I completely meant to be there.

I spent about three hours walking the outdoor mall. I bought things. Things I needed. Things my daughter needed. Things I wanted. It was delightful! It’s been a while since I have been able to walk in and out of clothing stores with the sole question “Do I like this?” between me and an item of clothing.

I’m not trying to provide any false advertising but after over seven days of Whole30, I’m feeling good. My body is feeling good. Which meant I didn’t have to judge myself for the sizes I tried on and I was surprised to see an old size come back into play for certain cuts at certain stores. And most importantly, I did not ask “Do I like myself in this?”

The physical distance of a mile today feels like a cop out but the emotional mile was incredible!

Day 27, Saturday:

Today was my perfect day.

I was adamant that we head to a park to bike though I didn’t say why. After biking our mile, I ran to the truck to grab a tote filled with apples, carrots, cucumbers, nuts, almond butter, dried fruits, and waters. In the bag next to to the tote was a zipped up picnic blanket, perfect for a spot on the grass.

After our picnic lunch, Freddy and I watched our three year old athlete scale the side of a climbing structure in the park. She climbed robes with arms and legs and crawled across rocks and walked 90-some steps up to the top of a corn crib and back.

CornCrib_201705

Look at her face! She is so happy. I love these kind of memories. These are the same ones I hold onto from my youth. Family together outdoors. It’s so right.

Day 28, Sunday:

The whole family walked together tonight and while Freddy and I may regret naively stretching Emma’s bedtime (We do. We definitely do regret that), the walk was so nice. Freddy and I even found ourselves holding hands, swinging them back and forth. *sigh*

 

 

 

*anything in this particular case is anything that a person has chosen to do that may cause discomfort associated with a positive outcome

A Mile A Day: Day 23

Posted on by megdanielle

I’m tired of this mile. I feel worn out today so I came home and put on sweatpants and a baggy long sleeved t-shirt from my high school days.

But Winston and I did get in our mile. Disheveled clothes and all.

A Mile A Day: Day 22

Posted on by megdanielle

She rode her bicycle while Freddy, Winston, and I walked. She pedaled hard. She almost made the turn from road to sidewalk this time. She only needed a little push.

Halfway through the ride, she stopped. “I need to climb this wall,” she said.

She hopped off her little bike and scaled the retainer wall that comes up past my waist. Back and forth, back and forth she walked until she reached the end and hopped down back onto her bicycle.

We crossed the road, Emma and I and I pulled her bike up over a curb. I turned my head to watch Fred and Winston cross and her bicycle slowly backpedaled off the curb. It scared her. She almost fell off but she jumped backwards instead, avoiding a messy fall.

Good job, Em!

Near a fence with a cement retainer wall, she stopped again. “I just need a little rest,” she said.

She hopped off her little bike and rested. After a few minutes she asked, “Can we go to the rock?”

We could. So we did.

A Mile A Day: Day 21

Posted on by megdanielle

“Can you help me so I don’t go too fast?”

My daughter and I took today’s mile with her on her bicycle and me on foot. Each decent, she asked me to slow her down if her bike started to move too quickly. She didn’t panic. One time she even braked on her own without looking to me! She just wanted to know that I would be there to slow her down if she needed.

Maybe twice my hand did more than reassure her that I was there. She would’ve been fine without me but two times, I did slow her down as she asked. Then the pavement evened out and she brushed away my hand or shrugged her shoulder to dismiss me until I learned the pace.

Three quarters of the mile through, a street sweeper drove back and forth along a parking lot. It was loud. For a while, we stopped and watched. It reminded us of the Snort in Are You My Mother by the way its loud noise dominated the air.

She was afraid so I told her we could run, walk, or bike to the stairs where we would cut away from it. She chose to walk at a regular pace but her eyes were glued on that truck. Once we were safely on the steps, she seemed to have forgotten.

“Want to see where my house is?” she asked.

In a clearing between houses, she pointed.

“Right there!”

And it was. We went a little further and whistled at the boater on the lake. It took a few whistles but Freddy waved back and we continued on our walk.

A Mile A Day: Day 20

Posted on by megdanielle

A split mile.

Some on bike with my beautiful and ever-surprisingly-capable three year old daughter (Do you ever stop feeling amazed at what your child can accomplish?) who got a big girl bike with training wheels today!

And some with my trusty mutt, Winston. 

I adore this cautious and courageous child. She is a lion and a lamb. My little love.

Did I mention she bought this bike at a garage sale with her own birthday money?

So big!!!!!!!!

A Mile A Day: Day 19

Posted on by megdanielle

Day 19 was exhilarating.

I took my new bike on a 3 mile round trip, down a hill onto a bike path, up a hill, down a hill, and back home. It was raining but ever so slightly, more of a mist. It was cool at the fast speed but pleasant. My hands were chilled by the time I reached home.

I had to break coming into some tight turns, coming up on overgrown paths, and for cars passing their way. I thought I could zip around freely but my new bike is fast.

I mean really fast.

It’s amazing how much technology has changed over the last one and a half decades…