Whole30: Week Two

Okay folks. I've officially finished my first week of Whole30, and I am feeling pretty great. This is going to be a pretty detailed recap, but it's worth it I promise! (especially if you're interested in maybe doing your own Whole30 someday)

I'm not gonna lie, it was a little challenging. I made the conscious choice to start last week partly because that was the first week of our Residence Life Resident Assistant training. Since I am a crazy emotional stress eater ("I'm having a stressful day, maybe I should sit at my desk for 5 minutes and eat a few fistfuls of Doritos while I contemplate my many failures") and training week is pretty much a tasty conga-line of awful food (donuts, bags of chips, cookies, fried things, soda, Jolly Ranchers, those tiny mini chocolate bars, etc.), I decided this would be an awesome opportunity to kick up my willpower. Even though I steered clear of temptation, there were a few times when I would have liked to throw a temper-tantrum and eat a few fistfuls of bread. 

So I was the crazy girl who brought a giant lunch cooler full of Whole30-approved food to the off-campus portion of training. I got a few interesting looks as I filled my plate with hard boiled eggs, avocado slices, home-made prosciutto chips, broccoli florets, and assorted nuts, but in the end I felt much better for it. I admit I did have a wistful moment as I glanced at the carrot cake a coworker brought to the table, but I quickly remembered the quote I had memorized for just such a moment: "Discipline is just choosing between what you want NOW, and what you want MOST". In that moment I wanted to jump on that carrot cake like a crazy spider monkey. What I want MOST is to be healthier, feel better, and ideally shed a few pounds in the process. 

The other hidden gem of the off-campus part of training is that I ended up staying in a room that was a pretty good distance from the dining and meeting area where we spent most of our time. Since I'm a pretty early riser (I usually wake up between 5:30 and 6:00), I would wake up, get ready, grab my laptop bag and walk what felt like about a mile to get to breakfast. I'm super thankful that happened - even though I wasn't home to take my morning walk with Kevin and Ruby, I was super glad to sneak in some quiet "me-time" in the midst of some pretty busy days, and get some exercise at the same time. 

To give you an idea of a typical Whole30 day for me, here's what I ate today: 

Breakfast: 

- Black coffee (oh man am I thankful you can have coffee on Whole30)

- Small tupperware container of berries (blackberries, blueberries, raspberries)

- Nitrite-free turkey-jerky

Snack: 

- Small handful of sweet potato chips (I'm not done reading "It Starts With Food" yet, but I've heard it suggests staying away from snacks. In this case I was feeling pretty hungry, and needed a little something)

Lunch: 

- Leftover roasted lamb shank from last night (yum!)

- Mashed sweet potato with coconut oil and salt and pepper

- Almonds

- LaCroix Lime (a great brand of sparkling water that I pretty much always have in the house - it also comes in plain, peach-pear, coconut, grapefruit, lemon, cran-raspberry, and mixed-berry. It's literally zero calories, no sugar, no sodium, so it's essentially just water with a little natural flavoring to make it more drink-able)

Dinner: 

- Tilapia filet and a few shrimp cooked in coconut oil

- A salad of chopped cucumber, tomato, and avocado with a little balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper

- LaCroix Peach-Pear

A super grainy cell phone picture of my dinner! Check out that avocado....who doesn't love it?

Tomorrow's meal plan:

Breakfast:
- Fried egg on top of sweet potato hash cooked in coconut oil
- Black coffee

Lunch:
- Leftover tilapia (cooked in coconut oil)
- Salad of chopped peppers, carrots, cucumbers, and avocado
- raw walnuts

Dinner:

- Grilled steak with salt and pepper
- Grilled zucchini
- Fresh sliced tomato (I just love summer tomato sliced and drizzled with a little bit of vinegar and salt and pepper!)

Apart from feeling pretty awesome, I also stepped on the scale last night and I've lost almost 5 pounds, which in and of itself is pretty exciting (it's only been a week!). I'm going to be keeping an eye on the Whole30 timeline so I can get a better idea of how my body will react as I go through the process. I find it interesting that it suggests that days 6-7 are titled "I just want a nap", since most of the weekend was spent trying to figure out why I was so dang tired. Days 8-15 are titled "Boundless energy! Now give me a d**n Twinkie".

If you're thinking about doing your own Whole30, I highly recommend it! Check out the website. There's also an awesome Shopping List and seasonal produce guide. You can even do Whole30 if you're a Vegetarian!

So....are any of you thinking about starting your own Whole30? If so, let me know! I'd love to keep up with your progress!