I came, I saw, I conquered (ish)
My whole30 journey.
Let me start off by saying this was MY whole30 journey and while it may not have been picture perfect, it was 100% compliant for 30 days. This post is super long and detailed so if you want my Whole30 journey CliffNotes version:
+ I ate really healthy before and still went through a major detox Day 2-6
+ I wanted to quit SO BADLY from Day 16-22
+ I didn't feel great until Day 23
+ I didn't see any results until Day 25
My Saving Graces:
+ Chocolate Sea Salt RX bars
+ Coffee with Raw Coconut Butter
+ Cashew Butter
+ Keeping a snack in the glove compartment (I usually had Organic Roasted & Salted Almonds in there because I live in LA and sometimes you're driving around all day and so hungry that you want to die and it's much harder to simply stop and grab a snack on Whole30 so just trust me)
Let me preface my Whole30 experience by letting you know that I am a fitness professional aka I work out for a living - no, not like a cute workout where we break a sweat, I walk around with my little head mic and correct everyone and tell them how great they're doing. I am actually working out for an average of 3-5 hours per day... like moving my body, using all the weights, full-on sweat in your eyes, music blasting, ring your socks out when you're done kind of working out. That being said, I completely ignored the suggested Whole30 quantities.
I tried not to snack, I really did, but like I said earlier I work out so much that I truly am hungry every 2-3 hours when I get home from work. I attempted to make my meals bigger by putting more filling protein and fat in them and I would fill up so quickly but then BOOM, two hours later my stomach would be full fledged rumbling for a meal.
My average day would be some kind of post-workout snack; blueberries, almonds, half an avocado then run errands, do homework, etc and head home to have my biggest meal of the day (sometimes this was around noon, sometimes this was around 3pm). No matter how big that meal was, without fail I would be hungry 2 hours later and eat another small meal. After another 3ish hours I would be ready for dinner, and then if I had to stay up and do work I would normally end up eating a snack a few hours after that - this is the time that things got weird - I would stuff cashews into prunes, or put almond butter on raspberries, or straight up eat tuna fish from the can and sometimes even have an RX bar or two - I know, I know it doesn't necessarily follow the whole30 "rules" but listen when you do the Whole30 while working out multiple hours a day then you can come talk to me, but until then pipe down. I never once ate a non-compliant ingredient and that's pretty great I think.
The first week or so I wasn't sure if I was actually feeling everything accurately or if it was partially a placebo effect of reading the day by day in the Whole30 book and feeling how I was expected to feel (which was awful btw). Oh and if you've ever had the PMS feeling that you wanted to punch everyone who took a breath in your direction don't worry, my period arrived the morning of Day 10 (which in Whole30 world starts "the hardest days"). I won't go into detail but we made it through without killing anyone.
I was miserable. My entire digestive track was going haywire. I had a pounding headache. I was beyond exhausted from the moment I woke up. My stomach was bloated and uncomfortable and I felt even more large and in charge than when I started. I basically had all of the horrible hypothyroidism symptoms, which was the purpose of me doing the Whole30 to begin with.
Everyone who had done it before told me to just make it to Day 14, you just have to make it halfway and it all gets so much better. At that point I had experienced every possible negative side effect of the Whole30 and had yet to reap any of the benefits. Once we got to Day 16 and the tiger blood was no where to be found I knew the placebo effect was off the table. I read tons of online blog posts - some people said to push through, some people said they straight up quit and felt better, but lets be honest, no matter how badly I wanted to quit my ego would not let me. I had already blasted it on my Instagram and told everyone I knew that I was doing it and I am NOT a quitter. I was going to make it to Day 30 being completely compliant if it was the most miserable 30 days of my life (oh the drama, I know) ...but here we are, arrived at Day 23 and I did not wake up with a headache or a stomachache, my energy did not feel like I was dying and I started to feel like myself again minus all of the sugar, caffeine stimuli. Okay Whole30 I see you.
Day 23.
Is this tiger blood? Is this the incredible feeling that was supposed to flourish over a week ago and made me want to quit everyday since? Is it too good to be true? I popped right out of bed this morning at my first alarm - didn't have to snooze until the 5th one - and immediately went to the bathroom. Okay cool, things are up and running. I bought coffee on my way to work (because ya know, I had the time to) and I guess it was partially out of the habit of being exhausted because I didn't even drink it. I didn't need to. My classes were amazing, no midday nap necessary. Better late than never right?
Day 24.
I'm feeling pretty great but I definitely have not lost any weight. I mean that wasn't my intention but you're telling me that I took all of the chocolate and sushi and wine out of my diet and look the exact same?! Why did I do this to myself? On the other hand, the fact that I don't look that different must mean that I was not eating very badly to begin with, so that was exciting and reassuring. Good Job Lara!
Day 25.
OKAY. I woke up at 6:45am, not awful but it's Sunday and Daylight Savings stole an hour of my precious sleep. Stopped for coffee, put my raw coconut butter in it, and got onto the floor at work around 7:50am. For those of you normal people who do not know what it is like to be alive, nonetheless at work on Sunday morning - most of us do not really look in the mirror, and if you do, you are not really processing the reflection. So that being said about an hour later, the sun is shining, I'm finally awake and Damn Girl I look like I have a freakin Insta-filter on my face. I'm not sure when or where or why this happened (JK I know exactly why/how it happened - your skin and liver cells replace themselves about every month so what you eat literally becomes part of your makeup and integrity of every little cell in your body. You truly are what you eat). My brain knew this logically but to see the results staring back at me in the mirror was pretty awesome. I decided that if this real-life Insta-filter was the sole culmination of my Whole30 efforts, I would not be mad at that.
Day 27.
The Whole30 has really taken the importance away from food. Don't get me wrong - food is obviously so important and beyond instrumental to a functioning body and happy, balanced life; but food has completely lost its sentimental and emotional importance. It just doesn't matter for the first time in my tangible recollection. Food has always been SO important whether I was indulging in it, scared of it, avoiding it, hiding it, counting it, celebrating with it, but take that out of the equation and what is left? It makes the places and the people you are with so much more significant because you could be anywhere eating grilled chicken and vegetables. What makes that evening special? The people you're surrounded by. The idiosyncrasies of your environment, and of the moments you're living through. The importance of a sentimental restaurant or dish, and emotional attachments to a meal are NOT coming from the food we put into our mouthes, our brains have just always affiliated the two. I definitely had an ah-ha moment about how unimportant food is in the scheme of life.
On top of this beautiful realization, a dozen people came up to me that day and made comments on my physical appearance - from looking leaner, thinner, 'taller' lol, and even commenting on my Insta filter face ;) I guess it really aint over 'til it's over.
Day 30.
I did it! Now what… this way of eating has become so normal to me that reaching Day 30 was quite anticlimactic I’ll admit. I don’t feel THAT different - a little lighter, a little leaner. I stepped on the scale (a day early I know) and I lost 5lbs so that’s pretty cool! I guess that was the five pounds of sugar, dairy, and alcohol I had on me; which again was pretty anticlimactic compared to my non scale victories.
Now the real fun begins. Now I get to go through the reintroduction process and really put my elimination diet to work, but I am in no rush to do so. There are a few items I want to reintroduce, I’m going to start slow and reintroduce something from Sweet Laurel Bakery (which is like 98% percent whole30 compliant anyway) and wine! That being said I really didn’t mind a month of having coffee dates instead of wine nights, and going on hikes instead of grabbing a drink. I feel really great and plan to stick with a flexible whole30 way of eating for the imminent future. I also get my thyroid panel results back on Monday so stay tuned!
XO #ExWel