I can't believe we are so close to the end. It feels really real now. Like, we are actually going to do this. When I first told people that we were doing this, a lot of people were like "Whoa, really? 30 days? You can do that?" and I have to be honest, I wasn't always sure I could. But here we are!
The weekends have actually not been as challenging for us as we thought they'd be, so we're in smooth sailing now. We did our first meal plan tonight that includes non-Whole30 food (okay, it's still Paleo food but still!) and planned for our first "20" day. It feels surreal to know that I can have ketchup again soon, or that in 4 days I will remember what bread tastes like (*drool*). I. Can't. Wait.
You know what else makes me feel really great? Our credit card bill. We have one credit card that we use for all our expenses -- gas, groceries, etc. -- and then we pay it off every month. Well... let's just say that with eating out all the damn time, we were spending a LOT of money. Needlessly. So far, we're on track to save about $800 or more this month. Holy CRAP that's a lot of money. Again, I repeat -- if you think you can't do this because you can't afford to buy healthy food, you are very, very wrong. I don't think either of us really even realized how much we were spending on eating out, honestly. And I mean, that amount isn't necessarily all dinners out -- we've had some incidentals, like fixing my car, or vet emergencies, doctor appointments, etc. -- but still. We know where the money's going and now we can see that more of it is going to stay in our bank account. What is not to love about that?! As if I needed another reason to stick with this kind of eating, right?
I will say, though, that one thing that makes me nervous about Paleo is that the guidelines aren't quite as clear cut as they are with Whole30. With Whole30, there is a set of rules that were written out and explained by one entity, and they're very straightforward. For the most part, it's very easy to know or find out what is and isn't compliant. Paleo has a lot more gray area, though. Some people's Paleo thinking says you can have a little dairy, some say you can't have bacon (total non-starter in the Hackley house!), some say natural sweeteners, some say NO sweeteners, some say do what you want, just don't eat grains and artificial crap. It'll take a little time, I think, for me and Derek to settle on what will work best for us. Maybe it'll work best if we start with the most lenient Paleo plan and then hone it back to figure out what gives us the results we want. I mentioned before that I don't think either of us really have any sensitivities to specific categories of food, like dairy, soy, etc., so that may not be an issue for us. But, with PCOS, I know that my body can't really handle grains as well so it'll still probably be important for me to limit them as much as possible. It'll be a game of trial and error, but we will get there. One thing that's good about there being many schools of Paleo thought is that there are faaarrrrr more resources than there are for Whole30. More cookbooks, blogs, recipe sites, etc., meaning it'll be a lot harder for it to become stale and boring. And, of course, baked goods. I get to bake again. WOOT.
As with anything, I'm nervous because I don't have all the answers right now, and I want them, like, yesterday. I have a hard time accepting that I'll just have to figure things out as I go along, and patience has NEVER been my strong suit. It's part of the reason I've failed at all my previous weight loss attempts -- I might make a little progress, but it's not fast enough, or I have a small setback, so I give up because I haven't lost 100 pounds in 3 months. Get real, Sarah. I know it's unrealistic but I want to see results, and fast, because I feel like that's what will keep me going. Knowing it's working. I'll just have to work on my understanding that this will NOT happen overnight -- I didn't gain all this weight in a year, so I certainly won't LOSE it all that fast either. I'm just crossing my fingers that I've finally found the right path to walk down (read: walk, not sprint), and that I have the strength to keep walking when the path gets bumpy or splits.
With that, let's get to the nitty-gritty:
What I Ate:
Breakfast: I ruined the last two eggs we had trying to hard-boil them, and we have very little left in the house protein-wise, so I had cucumbers, an orange, some almonds and pecans.
Lunch: veggie beef soup, and the remainder of the cucumbers and tomatoes we had.
Dinner: Steak, potatoes, and prosciutto-wrapped asparagus. The asparagus was not my favorite (I'd never had prosciutto before and wanted to try it... way too salty for my tastes. Bleh.) but I suffered through half of it.
How I Feel:
Still exhausted. I did get a little bit of a nap today, but not as much as I wanted/needed. I'm cramping and kinda feeling awful in the lady department, so it was nice to just lay around today. Still in a great mood though. Cooked dinner for the hubs and had it [mostly] ready for him when he came home, which makes me feel like a rockstar (not in the set-my-gender-back-50-years sense, but in the he-had-a-long-day-and-he's-done-the-same-for-me sense).
Oh, forgot to mention. I made a doctor appointment for two Fridays from today for an annual physical. Mostly I just wanna see if Whole30 helped any of my bloodwork. None of my numbers were bad before, really, although my cholesterol levels needed a little work, so I'm anxious to see what will have become of them after eating good food for a change, ha! Also, I'm anxious to get in there and step on the scale and show her that I HAVE managed to lose some weight, even if it's only a little. Especially considering that I'd gained weight since the last time I went in there (haven't been to my primary care in a while but have had a billion other doctor visits and I kept watching the scale creep up). So... we'll see. I'm sure that will be the topic of a blog post! :)
Onward and upward!
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