April 2, 2018 will be the start of Whole30 round 3 for me! I will be documenting it on here so you can follow my journey and to give you some insight on how I am feeling.
Hello April and hello Whole30! I just wanted to pop in from my normal food and fitness posts and talk about how I’m doing a Whole30 this month. This will be my third Whole30, but I haven’t done a full one since June 2016 (I recapped the whole journey on the blog so you can find them if you are curious – week 1, week 2, week 3, week 4, and final recap). I have done a couple mini resets since then, but it’s definitely been awhile!
I’m going to try to keep this post short, so let’s get into why I am doing another Whole30. First of all, I think the Whole30 is great – it gives you a great awareness of what you are eating and helps you eliminate the crap. Yes it is pretty strict and you are cutting out some food that you might not have any issues with, but it’s great for a reset and to learn what works for your body and what doesn’t. I am doing it for two reasons.
- My family is “supposedly” doing it this month so I want to support them. When they were here last month, my dad read It Starts WIth Food and was totally on board. He doesn’t want to have heartburn, doesn’t want to feel tired all the time, and wants to get off some medications. My mom read it as well and is excited to try it too. She is a pescatarian though and it will be a lot harder for her. I say supposedly though because when I talked to my dad yesterday we he was like “when are we starting? Oh Monday, I don’t know Kel. We will have leftover food from Easter. We are having company over next weekend…” EXCUSES. There is no perfect time to start the Whole30. You will always have something going on. It’s just 30 days. Freeze the leftovers. Have people over and make a delicious Whole30 meal and don’t drink. I feel like I sound pretty intense right now, but he was so about it a few weeks ago. I am pretty sure he will read this post and I am just giving you some tough love dad. You can do it. It’s just 30 days and it will change your life. I did talk to my family today though and they said they were going to start tomorrow so who knows now! I guess I will wait and see.
- Number 2 and most important for myself, my food freedom has gotten a little out of hand lately. With my family here for a month, then my sister, I am way out of my routine. I was eating all the things I usually don’t eat, going out to eat a lot, and drinking [alcohol] a decent amount. I had a good grasp of my food freedom, but I seemed to lose it the past month or two. And I just don’t feel like myself – I am always tired, my energy is low, I feel bloated and gassy sometimes, and my workouts could feel better. The tired/low energy thing is really throwing me off. I feel like I could sleep for days and I usually hit snooze like 2-3 times in the morning. I want to feel alive again. I have also been snacking a lot, even when I don’t feel that hungry. It is more like I am bored. And to be completely transparent, I have gained a few pounds in the last month and a half. I was sitting around 124-125 for awhile and this morning I weighed myself and was 131. I’m pretty sure some of it is water weight as I have been drinking a lot and eating out a lot, and it is that time of the month, but I just don’t feel as comfortable at this weight.
Along with the Whole30, I am going to try to make some lifestyle changes as well. I am hoping to get more sleep as my sleep has been horrible with having people staying in our house for the past month and a half. I need to be drinking more water. I want to try to limit technology, especially at night. I need to set a hard cut off time for work and that’s it. No compromising. I also want to get outside more and would like to start taking walks a few times a week. I was really good about doing on them for awhile, but haven’t gone on one in awhile. These should be pretty easy changes and I’m hoping I can incorporate them in as well this month.
To be totally honest, I am a little nervous! I haven’t done a Whole30 in a couple years and while I eat that way a lot of the time, I haven’t been this strict on myself in awhile. I was eating gluten free grains (and gluten filled ones on occasion) and dairy for pretty much all of last year, although I’m not sure if dairy really does agree with me.
Some of you may know that I was counting my macros for probably about 11 months of last year. I was doing it this year up until mid-February when my parents came to visit for a month. I actually really enjoyed counting them for the most part – it is time consuming and can get mentally exhausting. I’m not going to get into macros on this post (will save that for another post), but during that time, my body relied on carbs as my main energy source. I was eating high carb and low fat. Carbohydrates are the main nutrient for fueling moderate to high intensity exercise…AKA CrossFit, AKA what I do most of the time to get moving.
On Whole30, you are now training your body to use fat as your main fuel source. Fat is great for providing fuel for movement that is more on the lower intensity side. I am not saying I have a huge problem with this (I am not competing in CrossFit and do it mostly just to break a really good sweat), but I am really curious to see how my body reacts. To see how my workouts feel, how/if my composition changes (I am feeling a little fluffy as of late), my satiety and appetite, and a few other things.
I worked pretty hard last year to get pretty lean and I am really anxious see how it is going to change over the next month. I’m hoping no bad changes, but hey you never know. I am definitely not as lean anymore, but am hoping this shift might be good for my body. I know have I some hormones issues (again, topic for another blog post) so hoping this may help some!
I will be documenting a lot of my meals on Instagram and using the hashtag #ETGwhole30 so follow along!
Here we go April Whole30!
Dad says
I’m in Kel you got me juiced with that post love DAD
Kelly says
You can do it DAD!! It’s only 30 days 😉