Survived the first 30, now on to the next 30

I started this challenge grumbling the entire way. Looking back I'm very glad I did it. To celebrate we had a delicious pesto, chicken and sun-dried tomato pizza and some nice wine. I had heard of those that had some nasty gi upset when they went back on bread and cheese, but I didn't get any of that at all.

My feelings after the fist 30 days:  I wish I could claim all the health benefits noted by some of the other participants. Am I sleeping better? Nope, too much stress at work and I still occasionally wake up and 3AM and can't fall back to sleep. More endurance? Not really. I still get tired in the afternoon and burpees still kick my ass. Weight loss? That's the one that I can claim. In a month I've dropped 17#.

So on to the next 30 days. I was getting frustrated trying to eat out because pretty much everything on the menu contained something that wasn't allowed. Take away the sauces, toppings, sides, etc. and you might as well eat at home - it tastes better and costs less. But now that we can start introducing a few things here and there I will feel better about going out.

And with the success of the weight loss, I'm motivated to keep eating this way!

Day 29

As last week progressed, I was really looking forward to Sunday night. Why? Well, we began the Experience on a Monday, it had been a month, so Sunday night was going to be the night to splurge!

But wait. It's the Whole 30, not the Whole 4 weeks. Damn, two more days to go.....

Viva Las Vegas

After three weeks on a very strict diet, you would think that a visit to Sin City would entail going off the deep end - gorging ourselves at the buffets and guzzling martinis at the bars. Instead, we were surprisingly good. We brought along healthy snacks for the drive, skipped big meals for better alternatives, and didn't drink nearly as much as we would have otherwise. Heck, we were even asleep early both nights!

Do I feel like I failed? Absolutely not. I believe this Experience is learning about choices. Making healthy choices. Early on I really missed my bread, cheese, diet Mt. Dew and wine. Now, it's not that big of a deal to skip them. After committing to the 30 days, I thought I was going to be DONE! Now, I'm almost looking forward to being a little less strict and moving on to the next 30 days. Much like a vacation gets you rejuvenated for work, this little break has me inspired to continue my progress.

Cheating

I know, I know. This challenge is all about sticking to good nutrition. But this weekend Dez and I are traveling to Las Vegas for big conference. I may eat well, but there's a really good chance I'm going to have a beer or two. I've been good for three weeks!

So to make up for it I'm posting a picture of one of the great meals I've been having on this challenge. This is homemade duck and wild mushroom sausage, butternut squash and mixed green salad with blackberries and basalmic vinegarette. Mmmmm tastey.

Day 13 - Weird dream last night

I had the strangest dream last night. It seems the lack of sugar in this diet was the reason for everyone being so tired. To combat it, we had to mix some table sugar with water, and inject it into our thighs before each round of the WOD. My thighs were getting all bruised up, and I hate needles. Right about then the high winds outside woke me up. WTH?

I really haven't been craving sugar that much. A couple dates after dinner has worked out great to satisfy my sweet tooth. And while the diet guidlines suggest limiting dried fruit, it come in handy keeping a bag of non-sweetened dried mixed fruit from Costco at the office for daytime snacks.

Yesterday was the first time I had restaurant food for lunch. I ordered Chipotle for the office, and I got a steak salad. Now I love a good Chipotle steak fajita burrito - steak, rice, fajita veggies, a big scoop of the hottest salsa, cheese and sour cream all wrapped in a warm flour tortilla. The Challenge version in a salad - lettuce, veggies, steak and salsa. Kind of boring and not really worth the $8 or so it cost. I think my left-overs are much better.

The End of Week 1

I miss pizza. Hot, gooey pizza. Add a couple bottles of wine and you've got a great way to finish up a hard week at the office.

Not that I've been hungry during this challenge. It's just that there are still some cravings there that can't be replicated.

It appears the best way to make it through this diet is meal planning. Dez and I spent Saturday visiting Whole Foods, Costco and our local Ralph's stocking up on Challenge-friendly foods. The hot ticket at Whole Foods was some really tasty nut mixes without prohibited oils to have for snacks.

Dinner was cocoa spice rubbed elk steaks cooked in ghee, braised spinach with toasted pine nuts and sun dried tomatoes.

Sunday was spent making food. A huge pot of venison chili simmered on the stove all day long and then packaged up for lunches during the week. While the chili was cooking it was sausage making time:  duck and mushroom sausage, wild boar chorizo and wild boar hot links.

I decided to do something NOT allowed by the Whole30 program - I stood on the scale. In one week of eating healthy I lost the 9 pounds I had gained over the holidays. Sweet!

The Start

Day 1:

Out the door with a banana and my big jug of ice water. Normally I would have added a breakfast bar, but not allowed on the diet. I'm going to miss my diet Mt. Dew.

For lunch ran to the local Albertson's to get something to eat. It shouldn't be that hard, right? Grabbed a big tub of lettuce then off to the dressing. Every single bottle contained some sort of oil that wasn't allowed on the diet. Fine, I'll grab a can of tuna. So I started reading the tuna cans. Tuna packed in oil all had soy or other veggie oil - not allowed. The ones packed in water contain vegetable stock - read the fine print and it contains soy. Screw it, I'll go grab some turkey meat from the deli section. All had soy or sugar on the ingredient list. WTH? I got appointments starting in 10 minutes so I got to get back to the office. I'll just eat my dry lettuce if I have to. The line to check out was 7 people back so it looked like I was skipping lunch today.

Conclusion - if you don't make your food without growing it in your own garden, or butchering it yourself, it's not on the Whole 30 diet. This is really going to suck.

Day 2:

I've decided that I have to make this diet work for my "real world". The Whole 30 folks say you have to avoid hidden soy and sugar in the ingredient for the duration of the challenge. I'm having trouble believing that little bit of soy in the vegetable broth in the can of tuna is really going to make a difference in my success or failure of this challenge. I'm going to make smart choices, read lables, and make extra food at night so I've got something to eat for lunch.

This diet is sometimes going to take planning and extra effort. I'm going to miss my grains, dairy, sugar and alcohol. But I'm going to make this work.