Drum Roll Please

The numbers are in! I woke up earlier than normal and couldn't fall back asleep because I was so anxious to finally weigh in! Phil was up getting ready for work so we pulled out the scale and got to find out together.

My starting weight was 146 and this morning I weighed in at 138! That's 8 pounds lost for me!

Phil started at 210 and this morning he weighed in at an astounding 194!!!! That's 16 pounds lost!!!

This is only one month of food choices people. One Month!! This is basically without working out too.

Was it easy? No. Was it worth it? Yes.

You have to live with the choices you make. So it's up to you....

6 weeks post partum                                                                            14 months post partum

These two pictures are a little over a year apart. I lost weight in that year. I also gained weight back that I lost.

Hard work pays off. We all know that, but when it comes to living it out we often choose what we want in the moment.

You will have to live with what you chose to eat last night. You will have to live with the choice to rest and not exercise.

Sometimes it's worth it! Sometimes the cake to celebrate something is worth it and if you can go forward without beating yourself up about it, then eat that cake or sit on the couch and rest! But if you're constantly unhappy with your choices and unhappy with what you see in the mirror, just remember that nothing will change unless you choose to make a change.

...and if you do, you will get to live with the positive choices you make.

P.S. Just to show you that I'm far from the semi flat stomach in the pictures, this is what it looks like when I bend over.

That stomach is worth every sag and wrinkle.

DAY 30!

Wow, 30 days.

I completed what I set out to do, so what now?

I basically have 3 options. I can either continue eating Whole 30 and hopefully continue to lose weight at the same rate. (At least, I assume I'm loosing weight. I don't weigh myself till tomorrow) I can continue to eat mostly Whole 30 but allow treats and cheats here and there, and probably still lose weight but not as rapidly. Or I can go back to eating terrible like before and either plateau in my weight or gain back some.

Well I can't really continue to eat 100% Whole 30 because we actually have plans this week to go on a date specifically to eat stuff we weren't able to have.

So I guess that answers my question! I like the idea of continuing to eat Whole 30 while at home and only go off when I'm out.

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Tonight we are having some family over for a little celebration for my brother's new job and his girlfriend is bringing cake. I went back and forth about whether or not I should have some.

My first thought was that it would be a great way to break the diet, at the end of day 30 with my family.

Then I realized that the most likely scenario is that after eating it I would probably say, "That wasn't worth it." My palate for junk food has completely changed since cutting out all sugar.

It is such a powerful experience making the choice to eat only healthy foods and seeing so many changes in my body, and after only 30 days! It's very empowering!

I've struggled with the way my body looks after having kids, but doing this made me realizing that I have the ability to change myself.

Now let me say that I in no way intend to ever have my pre-baby body back. My stomach will never be as flat and the stretch marks will never go away. To wish for my old body back would be to wish I didn't have my kids, and I would never ever do that.

But the journey to accepting my body the way it is now has been a process and I get closer to fully accepting it every day.

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EDIT

It's the end of the day and let me tell you, I was SOOOOOO close to eating some of that cake, for one reason.....

It was ice cream cake.

She also made spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner, which I didn't have any of. For some reason I got bloated and gassy after eating my salad and fruit for dinner. Honestly I have no idea why. Phil said maybe I accidentally took a bite of something while feeding the kids their dinner?

Anyway, that made it easy to say no to the Ice Cream cake because I knew that wouldn't help the way I felt.

Day 30 COMPLETE!!!

Day 29: Letting Go

As Phil and I laid in bed after a long tiring day, I marveled that we only had one day left.

I also revealed to Phil my true feelings about being done with the Whole 30.

I'm not ready. 

I'm not ready for the "real world," where my food choices aren't pre-determined.

I know this is so weird, but I almost feel nostalgic about the whole month. This is mostly because I realize that no matter what I choose to do from here, I know that Phil is done with the Whole 30 and will probably never do it again.

I loved this experience with him. I loved knowing I wasn't alone in it.

There were ups and downs but through it all we did it together, and we are finishing together.

Day 28: Best Meal Award!

This was by far the best meal I made during the last month.

Coconut curry shrimp over cauliflower rice with grilled green peppers and sweet onions

This will definitely be one of our meal staples in the future. Phil and I both love curry and you can basically use it with almost any meat. I've been having so much chicken lately so I decided to BBQ shrimp and then put the sauce over everything.

Cauliflower rice was something I've been wanting to try the whole month but I just never got around to it. I finally did and now I'm wishing I had done it sooner!! I like rice normally but it's not one of my favorite things to eat so i'm not too picky about it, so this alternative is perfect for me. I thought it was just as good as rice, and much healthier. A great way to get a serving of vegetables without really tasting like it, especially when you have the sauce on it.

My Mom and I made quite the smorgasbord of food. We're getting close to the end of BBQ season so she decided to make some burgers and chicken while she was making the shrimp too.

And of course fruit salad for dessert!

Day 28: Best Meal Award!

This was by far the best meal I made during the last month.

Coconut curry shrimp over cauliflower rice with grilled green peppers and sweet onions

This will definitely be one of our meal staples in the future. Phil and I both love curry and you can basically use it with almost any meat. I've been having so much chicken lately so I decided to BBQ shrimp and then put the sauce over everything.

Cauliflower rice was something I've been wanting to try the whole month but I just never got around to it. I finally did and now I'm wishing I had done it sooner!! I like rice normally but it's not one of my favorite things to eat so i'm not too picky about it, so this alternative is perfect for me. I thought it was just as good as rice, and much healthier. A great way to get a serving of vegetables without really tasting like it, especially when you have the sauce on it.

My Mom and I made quite the smorgasbord of food. We're getting close to the end of BBQ season so she decided to make some burgers and chicken while she was making the shrimp too.

And of course fruit salad for dessert!

Day 27: Building Muscle

I want Pizza. So very badly.

Tonight we were out doing stuff through the evening and we didn't really have dinner. I had scrambled eggs around 4 and then we were out and about. I knew we would be going to the grocery store at some point in the evening so I figured we'd get something to have for dinner.

Well we didn't get home till 8:45 and when we got home and put all the groceries away, I looked in the fridge and thought, "There's nothing to eat." *facepalm*

That's one of the hardest parts of this diet. Healthy food is not fast. 

Basically any food that you eat takes some amount of prep, unless you literally just want to eat straight fruit or veggies. I was so hungry standing there at the fridge and I just had this overwhelming desire for pizza.

The kind that fills you up with a few bites but you continue to eat 4 pieces.

So I settled on guacamole with tuna. It's actually very good and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if I had chosen pizza I would feel terrible right now, mentally and physically.

This is one of the many reasons I wanted to do this. Self control is like a muscle; the more you use it the stronger it gets and the easier it is to do hard stuff.

Day 26: The Wedding

I am a very non-confrontational person. I hate "rocking the boat." I hate making a scene.

For those reasons, this diet becomes hard in a setting like a wedding. I don't want to have to ask for special food. I don't want to be seen not eating something and looking rude. I just want to blend in with the crowd and not be noticed.

That's not always possible when you're trying to eat this strictly.

One of the things that I've been thinking about throughout this is that people who have severe food allergies have to live like this all the time. They have to be constantly aware about every single thing they put in their mouth, and it can literally be a matter of life or death.

Even regular restaurants are now more accustomed to getting special orders because of the rate of food allergies, so really it's not as big of a deal as I make it.

We all have the right to know what is in the food that we are being served and to be honest, we should want to know. So I'm working on trying to care less about what other people think. Even if I rock the boat or make a scene, it's worth it.

In the end the wedding was fantastic. They had a fruit and veggie platter at the cocktail hour and then for dinner it was basically your choice of grilled chicken with white sauce, red sauce, or a vegetarian ravioli. Phil and I both asked for chicken with no sauce and that was that. No scene. No worries.

It came with Asparagus which didn't have anything on it because the sauce that went on the chicken would have also gone on the asparagus.

Then.......there were mashed potatoes.

I really went back and forth about it, because deep down in the depths of my heart I knew that it had butter in it. I guess I just plead ignorance and since I didn't know for sure, I made the decision to eat it and enjoy every bite. So that's what I did, and I don't regret it.

Now, technically I am supposed to start the 30 days over if I cheat. My rational is that I didn't actually do this diet to test my bodies sensitivities to certain foods which is sort of the main purpose of the Whole 30. If I truly was curious about my bodies reaction to dairy, I wouldn't have cheated.

And truth be told, I got super bloated after that meal! My guess is that since I've had no dairy my body is hyper sensitive and I probably did react slightly to it.

It was a wonderful wedding, and the food was fantastic. They had cupcakes literally on the tables right in front of my face. I wanted one for like 1 minute, and then I moved on and didn't think about them the rest of the night.

I survived a wedding on the Whole 30. I should get a sticker or something for that. :-P