Whole 30... 12 days in...

Here is a breakdown of how things have gone down:

The good:

The first week of the program, the food compliance went really well.  It was fun for my husband and I to try out new foods and different combinations of herbs and spices.  It was also a low key week as far as physical activity goes.  The first week of the Whole 30 also coincided with my first week back at work.  The prep work of having students come back from winter vacation combined with them actually returning to work made it difficult to get in proper physical activity. 

The tough:

The first weekend of the Whole 30 arrived with Friday being day 6 and Saturday being day 7.  Here was the test- one of my childhood friend’s wedding.  It was tough but I am glad to report that we made it through.  Through the cocktail hour we passed on the DELICIOUS smelling Hors d'oeuvres and drank water- on the rocks.  The plated dinner was served.  The temptation of the bread basket was passed around.  We declined.  The salad was next.  We were able to eat nearly everything on the salad- minus the croutons and minus the dressing… not the best salad I have ever had.  Finally, the main meal arrived.   Salmon in a cream sauce, steak- cooked to perfection, new potatoes and green beans.  Here is where the toughest parts happened.  As everyone was digging in to their salmon, we passed it up (I don’t know the ingredients of the sauce, but if I had to guess I would say that it was probably not Whole 30 approved.  We passed over our scrumptious smelling new potatoes.  We were left with steak and green beans.  It was so good; we were starved by the fact we could not have what everyone else was indulging in, but once we left the table, the satiation finally set in- thank goodness. 

Day 10 was awful.  I ran out of time to make my coffee, and had the worst headache ever.  That whole day I felt drained.  I fell asleep early with a pounding headache.

The present:

Here we are at day 12.  So far so good.  I was able to wake up early this morning (with ease) and make a delicious recipie of garlic-herb-lime cauliflower, and sautee some spinach in which we will enjoy for lunch (very soon!).  The meat- chicken from a rotisserie chicken we bought at Whole Foods this weekend.  What a great purchase- sooooo tasty!!

The physical activity:

I have been able to incorporate a little more physical activity in my lifestyle.  My swimmers are meeting in my room once a week for a quick dryland session that is full of intense and fat burning exercises.  Also, I have been able to land my kids free yoga classes at a studio that kicks major butt!  The 100 pushup a day challenge is still going strong.  I have a few days to catch up on- but I am keeping a running total so by the end of the year I will have (hopefully) achieved 36,500 pushups!  There is still WAY more room for me to work out and as I adjust to my graduate classes, and this semester’s teaching schedule, I should be able to get back in the routine in no time. 

The overview:

I am loving this clean-eating lifestyle.  Finally, I feel like I am starting to look like the person that I feel like on the inside.  So many times in my life I have felt like I am not the person on the outside that I am on the inside.  12 days in… and she is finally starting to show. 

The hardest part for me DEFINITELY has been not to weigh myself.  I hate the fact that I cannot measure the progress.  This is probably why it has been easy for me to stay on this Whole 30 plan.  I feel like if I weight myself and see that I was making progress, I would allow myself to slip.  It would have been easy to do at the wedding.  On the other hand, if I see that I am not making the progress I had envisioned in my mind, it would be easy to quit and give up as well.  I guess for now I will have to rely on other people and my clothes.  I can tell a few of my work pants are getting looser, but then there are some I had hoped to see more changes in at this point- and have not. 

Like a crazy person I have been trying to guesstimate weight.  I have done this by looking up the size chart on specific brands (looking at the waist and hip sizes) and then tried on clothes in that size to see if I am there yet.  As of Saturday (day 7) I was not.  This Saturday I may muster up the courage check again.