WHOLE30 UPDATE: AKA I WANT CARBS

Well it's technically day 26 of my Whole 30 so I wanted to give you all an update. Most of you have probably seen the very embarrassing picture above. Embarrassing mostly because I was always know as the girl with the 4 pack. My abs were my pride and joy. Before I got married I use to walk 1-3 miles a day to and from school and around campus. Now I have a full time job and sit at a desk all day. I also would come home and just eat a salad for dinner. Now that I'm married I have to think of at least 2 other sides for that salad for Spencer. Here is what little proof I have of the glory days: 

Once I stopped moving and starting eating larger portions... it all went down hill from there. But it took 2 years for me to really notice. I recently read something on one of my favorite mock blogs "White Girl Problems" that I could totally relate to: 

"About once a month I’ll get “serious” about losing weight, go to the nearest juice place and get a smoothie that’s called “Green Machine” (which definitely has like 800 calories), and then give up a week later after having tortured myself to lose a pound. To clarify, it’s not that I’m “fat”, it’s just that I've been in this really weird medium space for the past few years where people don’t necessarily notice if I lose a few pounds, and “getting in shape” would require a overhaul of my diet and lifestyle. Basically, I’m not skinny or fat."

The problem with not being fat yet not being super thin, is that no one notices when you gain or lose a few pounds... including yourself. The real thing that called me out was a few pairs of my pants that were hard to button. See those white pants above ^ I had a hard time getting those on before Whole30. I literally bought them not fitting because the size up was too big but I really wanted white jeans. So I said to myself "Self, we have a few lbs to lose so lets get the pants as motivation." Seriously guys I only worked out 3 times (not including dog walks). The way you eat can really dictate how you look with or without exercise. Which is also great mental motivation because they I start imagining how great I could look if I actually did workout regularly. I honestly have only lost like maybe 3 pounds. But each pound of fat takes up more room than you'd imagine: 

I'll be very honest with you guys... on day 8 Spencer (aka the Devil) said "We deserve a dessert." So naturally we had cupcakes and ice cream. But I want everyone to know that he caved first! Ha! BUT that didn't mean we went back to eating like before. There recently was some Instagram controversy on a picture/post that was later deleted on @jennaskitchen's Intagram. Her caption talked about how she hates when people say they are doing Whole30 or that they finished but they cheated in one way or another. She compared it to running 17 miles but saying that you completed a marathon. Obviously a lot of people were overly-sensitive about this post (probably cheaters) but I didn't care... you know why? Because either way I got back on that horse and kept riding. And few cheats frankly made it so it felt like I wasn't on a diet but just choosing to eat right. Ya I could have McDonalds because I've already cheated once, but I'm not going to! I feel like this makes it easier to transition after the 30 days because I'm not going crazy and indulging on all the things I couldn't have. So maybe come this Sunday I shouldn't announce that I "finished Whole30" but ya know what... I'm going to because I just don't give a damn. In my opinion if having one cheat day, or leaving one food item in the diet that you're not suppose to have, or buying that one condiment you can't find preservative free means that you can do the rest of the Whole30... then by all means do it! It's not about a competition. It's about getting health and reminding your body what it really needs and how much better it feels with out all the crap. Literally my body was just bloated from junk. And after only the first 2 weeks I was able to unbloat it and get some of my old pants on. On top of that I've realized that I don't need as big of portions as I had been having. Spencer and joke that we are getting skinnier only because we are now forced to have a mild form of anorexia. I mean you really can't over indulge on fruits and veggies. But in all seriousness we've trained our body to realize it's ok to not be stuffed or feel like you need to unbutton your pants after a meal. That doesn't measure how good the actual food was. Spencer and I still want to continue to eat Whole30-style about 80% of the time after this week is over, and one great way to do this is to keep your fridge mostly Whole30 appropriate, and that way when you want to eat bad you have to go out to eat to do it (which that's generally when people eat the worst). This also prevents unhealthy snacking around the house. 

Lastly, I just want to stress what a God-send Pinterest is if you are trying to eat healthy. Are you feeling like pancakes? chocolate chip cookies? pizza? There is a "more healthy" way to make everything whether it's by making things gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, or just making it from scratch and cutting out all the preservatives and extra crap companies put in their food. Take pizza dough for example. You make it from scratch and its just water, dry active yeast, sugar, salt, olive oil, and bread flour. 6 ingredients! That's it! But if you go buy Pillsbury's Classic Pizza Dough, here is what you get: 

Enriched Flour Bleached (wheat flour, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), Water, Dextrose, Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean And/or Cottonseed Oil*. Contains 2% or less of: Vital Wheat Gluten, Leavening (glucono delta-lactone, baking soda), Salt, Mono and Diglycerides, Xanthan Gum.*Adds A Trivial Amount Of Trans Fat

I don't know about you, but there are a lot of those things that my body could do without on that list. I'm doing this change for me, but it's always makes you feel good when you have multiple people reach out to you and say they are trying Whole30 because you of. Thank you to all who have inspired me and encouraged me. I can't wait to continue this healthy journey!