Whole 30 challenge COMPLETE

Well, Tuesday we completed our very first Whole30 challenge. Holy moly was it a ride. I wanted to document more, but life got the best of us (aka moved/appointments/support raising etc) and now we are done. Whoops.

I would say that I learned quite a bit about my eating habits and tendencies. I could tell when I was emotional it triggers my desire for a coke or ice cream. Now, I can fight against that. I don't think I understand the control that food had on my life. Now I feel like I have more control over what I allow to land on my plate in front of me. Plus, more self control on what I allow myself to eat. I'm excited!

I would recommend EVERYONE to try it. I will say that it was darn expensive. You don't really eat out so it helps to balance out some of a budget, but there would be NO WAY financially we could do this EXACT diet time and time again. We are in it for a lifestyle change and learning more about food, I believe we found success in that.

Now its time to figure out what our post Whole30 life will look like. That's hard to know currently. So far for lunch's I've had a medium size caeser salad (light on the dressing). Last night we did go eat at Chilis as a celebration of accomplishment. We didn't go overboard while eating. Teddy would tell you that he probably ate a little too much, but I walked away with basically an entire meal & didn't eat my piece of garlic/butter toast...SELF CONTROL. It's truly a learning process.

On our final weigh in after the 30 days:
Teddy lost 16.8 lbs
Kelli lost 13.8 lbs. 

We didn't do it for the weight loss, but boy is it fun reading those results. It's motivating too, knowing that food truly does make a difference in our bodies. I mean it's a no brainer, I know...but still to know that just by changing the way you eat and not working out ONCE during those 30 days can result in weight loss like that. Just goes to show what junk we were eating. We should start working out and eating better, we would obviously continue to see results.

Oh and for the record: I like strawberries in smoothies now. I used to not like them in any form. But I could go for a smoothie with strawberries at any moment now. :) We also grew to love coconut milk, but already purchased almond milk and will make our transition back to just almond milk again (what we were doing before whole30). We had gluten free waffles tonight at home with turkey bacon. I'm interested in testing out this gluten free business. Plus, making the switched to eating mostly paleo.

I think be biggest change is the way I have felt. I will say that the first 2 weeks I still felt pretty darn tired throughout the day. Many people talk about feeling more energy and such. That didn't hit me until about 3 1/2 weeks in. I noticed I could do more throughout a day and not feel so tired by the end of it all. Also, before starting whole30 I had my fair share of stomach issues. Just not feeling well a lot. But through this whole process, I have felt great. I believe that is one of the HUGE factors in this change that I want to continue to embark on. It is more expensive to eat healthy, but I would take that over going back to the ER again due to pain and having to pay at $1500 bill. My body needed a wake up call and that is exactly what it got during the month of April.

If you have any questions about it, let me know. We are pretty excited about it all. I can point you to TONS of resources that I've discovered through this process. It's times like these that I'm THRILLED to have the world wide web. Free free free stuff everywhere. Loads of recipes from different people (just like us) documenting their journey.

Hop in and try it. You will LOVE the results mentally, emotionally, and physically!
-Kelli

p.s. If you have no idea what I'm talking about look to your left. There is an option to read my blogs from April. Head there and you will understand more! :)