Days 9 & 10

Day 9

This day I felt the most normal out of all of the days so far. Pretty decent energy level. Overall a pretty good day!

Feelings:

1. Positive
2. Energy - normal

Day 10

Today I feel pretty normal again. One cool thing is that I feel like my clothes may be a little looser! I'm not positive but it feels like I may have lost weight. Definitely a nice feeling.

I still more irritable than normal. At work, for example, I have people giving me a ton of last minute things and expect me to bend over backwards for them. This is pretty typical but I am finding it extra annoying today. Although, I could argue that today has been worse than usual at work so my irritation could be because of that and not because of the diet!

Feelings:

1. Positive
2. A little irritable
3. Satisfied

Days 5 - 8

DAY 5 - Kill All The Things!!!

Today I feel the worst out of all the days so far. It was really hard for me to get out of bed (I CANNOT wait to sleep in tomorrow), and I am REALLLLLLLY irritable. People at work have been driving me mad. I also feel really really foggy and tired.

Update - My moodiness went away a little bit as the day went on. I got REALLY tired though. We went over to a friend's house and by 11:00 I was beat!! I went right to bed when we got home and passed out!


Day 6

Day 6 I felt pretty okay. I think I was a little tired throughout the day but not as bad as usual. I was a little moody but not too bad. I honestly thing the moodiness is partially coming from the stress of my life right now (I'm in two graduate classes, working full time, 1 hour commute, we're building a house, packing, living with three people and three dogs in an apartments, etc etc), so I can't tell when it's diet induced or just life induced!

TMI Moment!
- I have an IUD for birth control and never get my monthly visit, but since this diet I have seen a lot of spotting. It's really weird and interesting .. I've seen a few other people post about changes in PMS and their cycle. People seem to think it's just because the body is going through a lot of stress right now.

Other than that I definitely think it is much harder to do this on the weekend. We were out and about all weekend so it was hard for me to eat compliant foods. You really have to put work into it. I DID remain compliant but just noticed it was more difficult. I mostly just stayed hungry and then ate when I got home! I was scared to eat anything that was made at a restaurant!

Feelings:

1. Tired
2. Frustrated
3. Mostly positive

Day 7

Yesterday, I woke up pretty late and it was wonderful! I felt pretty good all day and cooked A LOT! It took me forever to cook everything up. I think it's just a learning curve. Eventually I'm sure I'll have it down to a science on how to prep for the week. Towards the end of the day my emotions took a dip. I felt angry, frustrated, stressed, and powerless. I'm not sure if this is diet induced, life induced, or both.

Feelings:

1. Morning/afternoon - Awake, determined, positive
2. Night - Angry, frustrated, stressed, powerless

Day 8

Today I woke up fairly easy. I barely got any sleep last night because my dog was coughing all night so I was up worried and making sure he's okay. Today I'm tired and a little foggy. On Whole30's countdown it says days 8-9 are the bad gut days. I can kinda see that. I definitely don't feel smaller than when I started!

Feelings:

1. Tired
2. Foggy

Days 1 - 4

Over the past few months I have just felt horrible. I got this way after starting my first "big girl job" aka a solid paycheck working 9-5 (I also got into a relationship around this time too). Now, I'm not blaming those two things on my abadonment of healthy living, but it made it easier. I stopped working out and started eating poorly (Apparently, I can't eat as much as a full grown man without gaining weight .. who knew?), and things went south from there.

I went on Weight Watchers

I tried my own "low calorie" diet

I told myself I could just choose smarter choices and the weight should fall off and my health would naturally become better.

Alas, none of these worked, and I started to realize I have a problem with food. I depend on sugar and treats the most. I did some research on cleanses but all of them seemed really unhealthy to me (Drink only juice for a week? umm no thanks.). I needed something that was strict (so I wouldn't find any loopholes that would, in my mind, allow me to eat cake) but still healthy. Then I remembered seeing a pin on pinterest (my other unhealthy obsession) about the Whole30 program. I looked into it and it made sense to me. Protein, Vegetables, Fruits, natural/good fats? Seems logical to me. Plus, I really like their focus on eliminating the mental addiction to foods too. I know I have an emotional connection to my food and a dependence on it. I also know that I need to tame that dragon before I can ever be successful at living a healthy lifestyle..

So, here it goes! I started on September 15, 2014

STATS

Height: 5' 8" (Obviously, this won't change but just listing it as a reference)
Weight: 228.6

Measurements: (Taken on Day 3 at around 9PM)

Waist = 42"
Muffin Top area = 50"
Left Leg = 28.5"
Right Leg = 28"
Right Arm (bicep area) = 15"
Left Arm (bicep area) = 15"

Feeling/Problems

• Fat
• Mental Fatigue
• Physical Fatigue
• Heartburn
• Achiness (mostly in my back)
• Random knee pains
• Light-headed feelings
• Fogginess (especially in vision)
• Digestion problems
• Seasonal allergies (that seem to be around all year ...)

Day 1

Overall, good day. I prepared a lunch and extra food (I have class right after work) but of course I forgot it on the table! I was so annoyed, but I ended up eating fruit for breakfast (they prepare eggs with butter and nut oils at my work) and had a salad with a bunch of greens and a balsamic and olive oil dressing. Not too awful, but I'm not much of a salad person I am awful at making salads.

After class (I was starving because nothing there was Whole30 approved) I went home and ate what I had made for lunch which was seasoned chicken baked with a bunch of veggies and spices.

Feeling:

1. Positive
2. Optimistics
3. Determined
4. Foggy
5. Tired

Day 2

I remembed my lunch! Phew! This made eating a LOT easier. I felt good most of the day and still felt positive about starting the program. I have noticed that I can REALLY smell sweets. I'm like a shark smelling blood in the water from miles away. I think someone downstairs in my building had donuts this day .. just saying.

Around 6:00 on my way home I started getting cravings for different bad foods, mostly baked goods. This made me worry a little bit, but I remain determined!

Feeling :

1. Tired
2. Worried
3. Determined

Day 3

This day I was TIRED! I felt like I was living in a dream world, and not the good kind. I was foggy and a little grumpy. I did good though! I had my prepared lunch all ready to go (cauliflower pilaf and shrimp scampi). My team at work ordered pizza and I didn't even feel tempted (and I love me some pizza)! It was awesome!

After work I went to Whole Foods to stock up on more healthy stuff (mostly organic, grass fed, free-range, etc etc meats). I totally underestimated how much I would need last time I went shopping so I stocked up this time! The bagger at the checkout line was like "Oh! This is all for you??" Yea buddy! It is! #Whole30problems

I also made a really good stir-fry dinner with beef, egg, a bunch of veggies sauteed in coconut oil with some ground ginger and cinnamon. It was delicious! (BTW - Coconut Aminos are awesome .. seriously. Go get some.)

I also find myself habitually looking for something bad to eat. For example, I saw a tub of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream in the freeze, and I almost went to get a spoonful solely out of habit! It's like my brain completely forgot about the Whole30 and went on auto pilot .. Kind of scary. Junk food has taken over my brain!

Oh, and I have a pimple the size of Jupiter on my face. Not sure if it's Whole30 related, but I have a feeling it could be attributed to my body pushing out all the crap and only having good food to feed off of.

Feeling:

1. TIRED
2. Foggy
3. Little Grumpy
4. Determined
5. Accomplished

 Day 4

I woke up a little easier today than yesterday. According to the chart on Whole30.com I'm supposed to want to kill everything today (not the same for everyone). So far I feel fine. I'm a litte moody but not painfully moody. I don't really feel like doing anything. I kind of just want to be left alone just because.

The one thing I really need to work on is breakfast. I have been eating just fruit for breakfast. While this doesn't break any of the hardcore rules of Whole30 it is frowned upon since it keeps the pattern on eating sugar in the morning. Honestly, the fruit isn't really about the sugar. It's more that it's easy to grab in the morning and still tastes good. I just read the part in the book (It Starts With Food) that I should still be having protein and fat in the morning and shouldn't eat fruits and veggies by themself. Good to know! I'll have to start getting up earlier .. blah.

Feeling:

1. Tired
2. Blah
3. Kind of grumpy

So, that's it. I'm mostly keeping this for me. I think it'll help me evaluate how I'm feeling and help me stay determined. It will also help me follow my progress. IF someone stumbles upon this blog and it helps them regarding the Whole30 then that's awesome!