Whole30 Accountability Blog

With 3 days to go, I'm surprised at how hard the last 2 days have been.  It feels like day 7 - 12 as far as how much I want to just stop.  It shouldn't surprise me because I know the voice I keep hearing that says "you've gone far enough".  I think this is how I'm wired because the same thing happens to me when I get close to a goal and like clockwork, the internal argument starts up.  Sometimes I give up and sometimes I finish driven by anger or irritation.  Having quit more than I care to admit I know how bad it feels to be so close and to give up.  I also know how good it feels to cross the finish line.  At this point, I'm easting an average of 3 servings of veggies to 1 meat protein, I'm sleeping like a teenager, and I dropped a few pounds.  Foodwise I'm looking forward to ice cream and popcorn.  I don't really miss cheese, bread or pasta, but Hot Chicken Takeove r with white bread sounds like heaven. 

I can hardly believe day 20 is here.  In some ways it seems like it should be day 2, in other ways like it should be day 200.  The good news I finally noticed a health change.  I have had crazy allergies for a long long time to the point that I would way up at nights to blow my nose because I couldn't breathe.  Most often I would wake up because my wife would wake me for snoring.  My nasal passages are clear as can be right now when I sleep.  Maybe not completely dry but certainly not clogged and certainly not resulting in snoring or waking up.  I'm really stunned by that simple fact. As for what I've learned is that I have more willpower than I thought.  I will get a craving from time to time but on the craving scale it is about a 2 now and passes as soon as I say no.  For example, I carried cracker jacks and cookies around for 2 days from a workshop, so I could bring them to my daughter as a special treat, didn't bother me at all....

I've done pretty darn good, but tonight I was done with it. I felt like I'd gotten out of this what I needed after 25 days so I ate a piece of pizza, had a glass of wine, and a few bites of ice cream. I failed in the sense that this is day 26, but overall, I felt like I learned what I needed to learn here. I think I'll go back to clean until Thursday. It's not like I got cravings and I just couldn't take it... I easily could have stayed on the clean... I just didn't have the desire to anymore. It was weird. I'm not going to beat myself up... I feel like I did pretty darn good and I can still go the next 4 clean if I want. That would still be 30 out of 31 days, except that time I had dairy in my salad dressing. So there you have it. Accountability means you have to tell the truth!

I’ve noticed that my cravings have become less. My routines are changing too. My meals are smaller and I snack more often. I snack on a trail mixture of various nuts (not peanuts), seeds, dried coconut shavings, and  raisins. These last 2 days actually have me thinking that this could be a new lifestyle rather than a 30 day cleanse. Likely not 100% compliant lifestyle but more paleo-like with some indulgences.  While I didn’t do this for weight loss I did hit a weight loss goal today. I crossed the 50lb mark about 12 months after setting the goal. Oddly enough I wasn’t overly excited about the number. Instead I was more satisfied with the total journey of smaller goals I reached so far in that year. I’m in my 40s and I have an eight year old and a one year old. When they are old enough to marry I’m going to be really old. The idea of being healthy and active when they have kids, like my father in law, is really what I set out to accomplish a year ago. Today I feel like I have ...

Next Friday when I wake up in the morning, I might have a bowl of cereal to see if my eye starts to itch! One more week... things are starting to feel more autopilot now. I've been really clean lately... except my small chunks of 75% cocoa dark chocolate after I eat. I've slept really bad last two days... lots on my mind and can't seem to shut it off at times such as 2:30 AM... besides that, I'm feeling great.

Guys, Chelle and I watched (some of) a GREAT documentary called "Love Paleo" from Netflix last night. You MUST watch it with your wife, friends, whomever will listen. It's the best one I've seen yet that explains the full story. Not just food, but sleep, exercise, culture, etc. it is VERY good. My Whole30 observation from yesterday was this: Sustained, even keel energy all day and night. No spikes, no drops, just even.... I worked from 5AM until 9PM (VMware work and personal work building a playset for the kids at church) and I had good energy for the full 16 hours!

Today was pretty easy for me. I’ve noticed that I sleep a lot more. In the past I would sleep about 7 hours. Now I’m sleeping 8.5 hours and am dead to the world. I’m dropping some pounds which is good but not really my goal in this. I’ve not noticed any health improvements like others are reporting. Maybe I need to be more observant in that regard.   I still get a craving for ice cream but it passed quickly today. I also can’t believe how much I like raw almonds.  They are quickly becoming my favorite snack. My cooking habits have adapted pretty well nice not been sealing out many new recipes but instead just augmenting what I typically eat. I have made a few new recipes though which is good. I have noticed that I like vegetables more than I typically ate them in the past.  I also haven’t noticed the difference between eating because I’m hungry vs. eating because it’s time in my routine.  Portions during a meal are certainly less but I still snack on fruit nut...

Took my son out to eat last night and purposefully gave in, but only a little bit. My wife and her friends are doing the same sort of challenge and their penalty for failure is 100 burpees in a row. So I decided I'd take that punishment. It was weird, in my brain I was just like "who cares!" Maybe that's why they make you do it 30 days... because after 20 days the cravings aren't much (at least for me) but you still have to "stick it out" for 10 more days. I took Max out to dinner, just him and me, and he wanted to go to an Italian food spot around here called "The Saucy Noodle"... so I got this salad that I just LOVE there... but the dressing is this amazing homemade gorgonzola dressing and it comes with a (very small, mind you) piece of garlic bread. I just went ahead and ordered it, along with a side of meatballs with "no cheese"... so I was bad on the salad, good on the meatball. For the purposes of looking back on the blog th...