Day 29 - ThE eNd Is NeAr!

Oh man oh man oh man - I'm almost done! I have ONE DAY left! It's been an interesting month, and with only one serious injury to count, I must say, it's been real. It's been fun. But it hasn't been real fun :) On the Whole30 website, they suggest that one reviews their time on the Whole30 train, and I'm gonna do that here and now, becauuuuuseeee....I don't want to plan lessons for tomorrow. Also, I like memes. 

This is what my life used to be like: 

I've been on A LOT of diets, and I've done just about everything to try to get into shape and lose weight. I spent a lot of time worrying about calorie intake and whether or not I was getting my heart rate up long enough to burn those calories. This past summer, I gained 5 pounds in 3 weeks sittin' on the beach and drinkin' with my aunt (IT. WAS. AWESOME.) and then I freaked out and decided to go hardcore and work out to the EXTREME (go to hell, Tracy Anderson). I lost like 10 pounds in a and I was practically starving myself while I worked out incessantly, and *surprise!* I gained 5 pounds back immediately after I stopped the "program." So once again, I found myself experiencing another failed attempt at being healthy, not fully realizing that that version of health was NOT a good one! This all started when I was 10, so I'm going on 18 years of an unhealthy idea of what health is. And on top of that, I can eat like 2 pounds of chocolate in 10 minutes, and I love to wash chocolate down with chips and salsa. Then, a Diet Coke. Then, more chips. Ooh! and wine! Then maybe a quesadilla. I love having popcorn for dinner, and I think ranch dressing might be my favorite beverage of them all! But...the coke is diet, so it's all ok, right?  Oh, and I also have had a bad habit of taking supplements in an effort to lose weight, when really I know that it's all a placebo effect and they're stupid and they're such a waste of money but I GET SUCKED IN. Dammit. 

This is how I found the Whole30: 

Over this past Christmas break, as I sat at my parent's house for a week (being a teacher is neat!), I realized that I was eating a crap ton of crap. And I felt like crap about it. So, I thought about this book that I purchased the previous summer, and then I got Google-happy, and after reading a bunch of stories from people who have done the Whole30, and watching videos of their success stories, I said, "Fuck it. Let's do it." My main reason was weight loss (yes, I'll admit that my motivations were solely based on that) but as I continued to read and learn more about it, it was like a light bulb went off. I could either keep making unhealthy choices and hate myself for it, or I could make a significant positive change in my life and work toward making it permanent instead of treating it like a phase to go through. Why feel like shit all the time when....I could just *not* feel like shit all the time? A ha! 

During my Whole 30 experience: 

I've cooked things, I've baked things, I've discovered new foods, I've completely changed the way I shop for food, and I've had almost no digestive issues. I've lost 8 pounds (still working on that whole not-weighing-myself thing, but alas...it's a weakness) and I've done yoga everyday....I feel great! I'm actually excited to keep eating healthy and making good choices for my body so that I can LIVE FOREVERRRR. I'm less itchy, and while I still have eczema because it's winter and it happens every year and it blows, but I don't have a rash on my neck or my arms, so yippie! I can kinda see an ab, too - woohoo!  

Now that I've finished my Whole30: 

Well, I'm going to continue on it for another two weeks - I feel like I'm just hitting my stride and I want to keep feeling good! Also, I'm planning on adding to my workout routine, and I want to see if this thing is sustainable if I'm more active. Kind of like an experiment/I'm scared to go back because I don't want to feel like shit kind of thing. 

Bonus: Something I've noticed: 

So, I've told a lot of people about Whole30, and I've also talked about how I'm eating better, I feel better, and I've even had a few compliments that I look better (woot!). However, everyone keeps asking me, "So when are you done with that diet thing?" It's something that bugged me at first, but I realized that we all associate the word "diet" with like "I'm going on a diet because I'm fat, and when I'm not fat anymore, I'll stop my diet." ...Yeah, that's messed up. Isn't our diet supposed to be what we do/can eat? I see the Whole30 as changing my diet, not being on a diet - does that make sense? Ok, so maybe I can't have a ton of wheat-based stuff (I'll find out in a few weeks), but maybe making that change means that I feel better, function better, and woohoo, I feel awesome and you feel like shit. Muah ha ha ha haaaaaaaa :) 

Now the question is, what ever shall I blog about if I'm not blogging about how I sliced a piece of my thumb off?