Back in March we did our Whole30 which I documented for you as I tried desperately not to kill someone. After our Whole30 we pretty much decided that we were going to 'keep it up' not necessarily Whole30 style, but the whole grain-free, sugar-free, dairy-free life i.e Paleo. And much to my surprise, we have kept it up. In the 8 months we have been doing this, I can honestly say I have never felt better in my life. In a nutshell, we have cut out all processed foods, dairy, sugar and grain (more on our exceptions later). We have lost a combined total of 100 pounds and the only thing that has gone up in the last 8 months is our grocery bill and our self esteem.
Since I know what most people want to see is before and after pictures, I'll get those out of the way so you can concentrate. Here is a picture taken just a little bit after we started the Whole30.
Here is a picture taken in September of our family.
Since September we've probably lost a few more pounds, but at this point they come off slowly. In the beginning when our bodies were adjusting to the new normal, the pounds couldn't come off fast enough. Now they kind of slide off a little at a time.
Now that you can see our results allow me to give you the details.
Cooking & food prep: I can't imagine someone with no time or motivation to cook & prep food would be successful in this lifestyle change. I don't spend a million hours in the kitchen, but I do cook breakfast every morning, reheat lunch, and cook (or prep) dinner every night. The thing is, it's actually easier than what I did before for cooking, because a lot of meals are just simple and only require prep work as opposed to cooking (there's a difference between cooking a meal and prepping a meal). The choices are limited so I don't have to make 5 things. Every night we eat this: meat & veggies. That's it. I know it doesn't sound good and maybe even sounds boring, but we eat some amazing meals. My favorite is spaghetti squash, meatballs and sauce. But we love meatloaf muffins, "fried" chicken, roasted cauliflower, bacon and any vegetable, etc. We like dinner! Once I got used to this lifestyle, shopping for groceries is actually pretty simple. Spices, veggies and meat. I can get in and out of Costco in 20 minutes if I need to. The main problem is that our grocery bill did go up. It's not cheap to eat real food. And the more real food you eat, the 'cleaner' you want your food to be.
Weight loss: As I said, we've lost about 100 lbs together. The Whole30 was the biggest monthly weight loss and it was about 30 lbs for us combined. Since then each month we're a little lighter. My guess is that at about the one year mark we'll plateau and probably not lose any more weight.
Eating out: We don't eat out that much- and that's pretty important given what I am about to tell you about our eating out habits. When we are eating out for "need"- meaning we have to eat out because we don't have time, etc. We almost always eat at Chipotle. We know exactly what we want, we love it and it's not too expensive. We probably do this twice a month. When we are eating out for fun, we eat wherever is 'fun' and we pretty much get what we want. We probably do this once a month. It's our 'exception'. We get dessert if we want, have a couple chips and a nice big drink of alcohol. We enjoy every minute of these exceptions- until we don't. The problem is that every time we do this, I almost always feel bad afterwards. Not emotionally, but physically. I can tell when there is sugar in something that there wasn't supposed to be sugar in. This week, my mom and I went to CPK and we both got salads. They were compliant, except I didn't check the dressing, because I didn't really care, but as soon as we were done, I could totally feel it in my belly that there was sugar in the dressing. My body has adjusted to life without sugar and as much as I love and crave sugar sometimes, I know how bad it is for me given how I feel when I ingest it.
"Cheats": Whole30 talks about how ridiculous it is to use the same term for marital infidelity as for food choices. They talk instead about making 'choices'. We make exceptions all the time, but they are choices we make and we decide before (and sometimes after) if that choice was worth it. For example, I was recently dying for a Costco ice cream. After said ice cream, all I could say was, "dang. that wasn't worth it." And I meant it. I was bloated and felt sick all over, I was practically sweating and I couldn't get the fake sugar taste out of my mouth no matter how much water I drank. But the point is, I made that choice to eat that ice cream and I didn't feel bad emotionally about doing it and I didn't beat myself up and consequently make more shitty choices. I did what I did because I wanted to, I counted the cost for it and then I went back to doing what I knew was best for me. A year ago, if I would have done that, I would have then eaten a box of M&M's, a bag of chips and batch of cookies and a 1/2 gallon of ice cream just try and not feel bad about myself.
Coffee: FYI- long live my daily cup! I didn't drink coffee on the Whole30 and I didn't really miss it. For me, I knew coffee would be something that could trip me up and I didn't want to deal with it. But now I am back on the wagon and DANG, I love coffee. I've had my coffee all kinds of ways on the Paleo life- with steamed coconut milk, a big old hunk of coconut cream, occasionally with heavy cream and even almond milk. But the best cup of coffee in the world is Bulletproof Coffee. Bulletproof is this: espresso, a tablespoon of coconut oil, a tablespoon of unsalted butter and for me a bit of cinnamon all blended in the blender for 30 seconds. It is so creamy and delicious. Basically, Bulletproof is a heaping serving of healthy fat (GOOD FAT IS GOOD!). Between my probiotics and Bulletproof, let me just say I'm a regular girl now.
Overall health: Obviously when you lose a significant amount of weight, it is better for your overall health, but I have a few top health benefits I've experienced on the Paleo Life.
#1 Headaches. I do not get nearly as many headaches. It's actually amazing. I still get them, but not nearly as often and they are not usually as severe as they used to be.
#2 Gut health. I didn't realize it, but I always felt sick. Heavy and sick in my gut. When I didn't (during W30) I realized how "sick" I had been.
#3 Energy. I am amazed how much more energy I have. I used to eat and want to just lay down right away, now I really don't stop moving!
#4 Cramping. TMI, but I used to get horrible menstrual cramps (don't worry! I'm still a major bitch when I am PMSing!) and now I will get my period and be shocked because I had no warning signs!
#5 Shopping! Ok, it's not health related, but let me tell you. Shopping for medium shirts and size 6 pants is a million times more pleasurable than trying on XL shirts and size 14 pants and being dismayed when they don't fit. For my emotional health, shopping is great.
Overall, I can't tell you how happy we are with our lifestyle. We don't miss anything from before (and if we really, really do- we make a choice to indulge!), we feel great and we look great (can I say that? Because I've never said that before and it feels good!)
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