I have been active all of my life and never really thought much into body image. I never really gained weight, and I certainly never drastically lost any weight. About 4 years ago, I got up to about 136 pounds. I remember weighing around that much when I was cheering at KSU, but my quads were the size of tree trunks, and we were running about 3 miles at the end of each practice. Thanks to Weight Watchers and the buddy system of Rusty and some friends, I lost 13 pounds in 3 months landing me at 123 pounds in 2010. That number has sort of been my benchmark for the last 4 years. I remember that in April of 2013 I got back down to 123 pounds to go to Europe, and in September 2013, I got back down to 123 pounds for my Vegas trip for my 30th birthday.
However, since 30, I am really struggled to find my motivation to really attack my weight goals. We are been having such a blast socially, that I found myself creeping up to almost 140 pounds. This scared me (along with recent candid beach pictures) and made me consider an option that I have openly rejected for years…Whole 30.
Whole 30 always seemed so extreme to me. Partly because I watched how miserable Rusty was doing it and how it kept us from doing social event involving food. However, by 30, I know how to manipulate myself into easing into Whole 30 in a way that is not intimidating.
Here is how I have made approaching Whole 30 less intimidating:
- Research: I began reading the Whole 30 website which includes a Blog and a FAQ page. I also made Rusty answer a bunch of questions as I took notes (I suggest reading the book if you don't have a Rusty). I e-mailed other people who successfully did 30 days. I looked up additional blogs of people doing Whole 30 and even began pulling recipes.
- Practice: I pulled together several recipes that I wanted to try in advance. These were things such as mayo (for chicken/tuna/egg salad, dressings, sauces, etc), salad dressings, veggie dips and seasonings. I bought the ingredients and made everything on the Wednesday before we started. I was so excited as each and every thing I made tasted so good. I kept thinking, "I can do this." (Except for black coffee with only coconut milk - I can't do that) I had never roasted a sweet potato, so I made and sampled a pan of those. I also had Rusty thaw out some pork chops just for me to try the Longhorn knock off Prairie Dust recipe I found. I even made deviled eggs with my mayo. The cookbook, Well Fed, was the cornerstone for all of my recipes.
- Shop: We made a grocery list and went shopping on Sunday before we started. When we got home, we cleaned out the fridge of any "non compliant" foods and started organizing our new foods. I cut all of the veggies and washed everything and put them in clear tupperware containers without the lids to make it organized and easily assessable.
- Schedule: Since we are starting this with 3 weeks of summer left, we don't have be nearly as strict when it comes to preparation and scheduling. We have so much time during our days, that we can make up for any errors we make. We loosely have an idea of what we will eat for dinner this week meat wise, and we have enough veggies to pull stuff together. We plan on eating leftovers for lunch or cooking fresh meat on the grill for lunch as well.
So here it is, 9:17 on the night before we embark on our 30 day challenge (which we, of course, have already scheduled out to last until August 22nd which will be almost 40 days), and everything is all set to go. Tomorrow, I plan on eating deviled eggs and almonds for breakfast, grilled hamburger patty and veggies for lunch and "The Best Chicken You'll Ever Eat" for dinner (Well Fed recipe book, pg 69). We hope to organize the garage gym enough to lift starting tomorrow and continue on 3-4 days a week.
Tomorrow, I will step on the scale to see my official starting weight (although I cheated and weighed in last night at 139), take my measurements and one before picture. I'm completely skeptical that I will have enough of a change to be able to tell in pictures, but Rusty tells me it is an important part of the process and insists that I take one. Here's to hoping!
I've decided to blog each of my 30 days just as a personal record and as a source for any friend who might have questions later. And….since it is summer, I am OFF THE GRAMMAR CLOCK and will be blogging from my iPhone on a new app I downloaded. I am not editing any pictures either.
Day 0
//headed to a non compliant BBQ//
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