My husband and I just completed our first Whole30! This was our first Whole30 and not knowing what we were doing I wanted to document as much as possible. I thought it would be nice to keep a journal for ourselves of our thoughts and feelings as we went along to see how our mindsets transformed throughout the 30 days.
Why Whole30?
Our cycle of eating over the past several months has generally gone like this: Sunday rolls around we get mostly healthy groceries and have healthy meals planned for the week. We want to get back to healthier eating, we have meals planned out, our fridge is stocked. As the week goes on we get tired and our meal plans go out the door as we get more tired. Friday rolls around, we are so ready to be done with the week and enjoy the weekend so we get takeout, order pizza, etc., Saturday and Sunday goes much of the same but then we feel guilty about the crappy foods we've been eating and we promise ourselves next week will be better. And on the cycle went..
Every single week we complained to each other about how we had a serious lack of energy and motivation. We needed a kick in the butt to get back into the healthy lifestyle we wanted to be in! We wanted to get out of the cycle of craving junk food 24/7, start to feel healthy again, and get more energy.
Pre-Whole30
A week (maybe two?) before we started our Whole30 I started reading the book. It's a really quick read and the second half of the book is all recipes so really you only have to read about half before you begin. A one week meal plan is provided in the book and we used that for the first week. The plan give you all the recipes you need for every meal and tells you exactly what to do each day for meal prep. That was exactly what we needed! Then, the day before we started we had a food funeral, made a grocery list, went shopping, and prepped what the book said needed to be prepped. And yes, we did go to Culver's one last time for a Concrete Mixer.
Week 1 (Days 1 - 7)
Honestly, the first week was easier for us that we anticipated. We had read in the book and heard from a few friends about the dreaded headaches/hungover feelings the first few days, but thankfully we did not experience any of that! So thoughts from this past week? So far, this has really helped us to rediscover our love for cooking. Because the Whole30 really gets down to the basics of food there isn't much work involved in cooking (at least for us!) and you get to be creative. The meal plan in the book was very simple, and easy to follow. We craved junk food every single day. But what was amazing to us was that we realized we were not craving it because we were hungry, we were craving it simple because our brains were craving it. Sugar addiction is a crazy and real thing! Another thing that surprised us was how full we were and how long we were full. Before the Whole30 we would eat a meal and end up being hungry 2 to 3 hours later and needing snacks in between meals. For the first time in a long time we went from meal to meal with no hunger in between. We were also surprised by a few recipes in the book we were previously hesitant on, that ended up being a hit!
Week 2 (Days 8 - 14)
There is only one week of a meal plan in the book because one of the points of Whole30 is to teach you how to cook and how to eat. We could have followed the same exact meal plan for week 2 but that would not be teaching us much and there were a few things from that past week we were tired of eating so we needed to change some flavors up! Still craving sugar every. single. day. Not in the sense that we want to give up and eat it, but our brains are constantly thinking about it. The cure? Go on Pinterest and look at a bunch of desserts ;) it helps a little anyway.
Week 3 (Days 15 - 21)
Whoa we are halfway there! Finally not craving #allunhealthythings constantly. It was seriously annoying when you were not even hungry and your brain is telling you it wants junk food. Josh suggested Culver’s for dinner on Monday as a joke and it honestly didn’t sound appealing whereas the past 2 weeks I still would have said, "no," but my brain would have been saying, "Ahhh I want it so bad!" We are getting into a groove of Whole30 approved cooking and have started talking about what our eating habits are going to look like post-Whole30 (more on that later). Near the end of this week I had a baby shower to go to. As much as the desserts did look delicious I wasn't tempted to have any and stuck to grapes and strawberries!
Week 4 (Days 22 - 28)
I feel like we pretty much found our stride. We have both successfully navigated social gatherings where we have had to say, "no, thank you" to things. While there are definitely some things we are still looking forward to once our 30 days is done we are also planning on continuing to eliminate some things we are currently not eating except for special occasions. We are still deciding what type of Reintroduction of our eliminated foods we are going to go with. The rest of these 30 days we’ll keep going at this! We’re so close to being done & yet I feel like we could keep going for another 30 days because we feel so wonderful not eating added sugar, processed foods, etc.
Week 5 (Days 29 - 30 and beyond)
Last two days! Oh my goodness here we go! We re-read through the Reintroductions portion of the Whole30 book today and honestly I think we are going to keep going for at least another 30 days. At first I thought I wanted to do the 10 day Reintroduction because I have a bridal shower I am hosting on what would be day 11. However, thinking through the Reintroduction I do not need any of the foods I would be reintroducing and I love how I feel right now and I want to keep up with my Whole30 progress. Having energy every day is so different than how we felt before!
End Results/Final Thoughts
Josh: Has lost a total of 20 pounds. He has been way more diligent at working out than I have, doing 4-5 days weekly at 5 a.m. and I'm so proud! He is feeling ridiculously good (and looking amazingly good too, if I may add!) and was the one who helped me decide to skip the Reintroduction for now and go another 30 days. It took me so long to convince him to do the Whole30 I never expected this guy to be so in love with this way of eating. Hi Josh, if you're reading this I love you forever and I'm so thankful you decided to go on this journey with me! Anyway, I know there are plenty of non-scale victories he would share with you if you want to know!
Kayty: Lost a total of 11 pounds, and I am officially back to my pre-pregnancy weight! My biggest goals for the Whole30 were to have higher energy levels, become more consistent with working out, stop eating emotionally, stop using food as a reward, feel great emotionally and physically, recognize how certain foods effect how I feel, and feel comfortable in my clothes. Besides being consistent with exercising (Still working on that!) all these goals have been accomplished. I also have not had a migraine in the past 30 days, something I have been struggling with for the past 10+ years, and my skin is starting to be much more clear. I feel amazing in so many ways and have so much more energy now on a daily basis than before we started the Whole30.
So yes, we have decided to go for another 30 days! At the beginning, I never would have expected us to keep going past 30 days. It is so crazy to think back through those first few days and how much we craved sugar all the time. We were so convinced we would be wanting those foods even after the Whole30. We feel so much more confident saying, 'no' to things we don't want to eat instead of feeling socially obligated or eating just because we can.
Have you done Whole30 before? Would you be interested in knowing what we eat weekly that is Whole30 approved? Let me know in the comments!
x, Kayty
