Days of abstinence: 38
Days until surgery: 46
Weight: 162.2 pounds
It’s been a while, a long while, since I had an
entire weekend off. The timing is good
since we have a lot of family coming to town in less than two weeks for what is
turning out to be a family reunion. We
will have quite the crowd here and we need the time to get the house in
order. We have a back bedroom that we
don’t use for anything and it’s full of stuff that never made its way into the
basement. Today and tomorrow there will
be a lot of organizing going on. I am
also way behind on my filing. It’ll be
good to get caught up today.
I’m still feeling great about my program. I
bought the Whole30 book last weekend and made a few new recipes from it last
week and they were all good. It was nice
having something different to eat. I
think I might make the chicken cacciatore for the kids while they’re here. It was really good. I’ll try some more new recipes this
week.
As my weight inches closer to the 150s I am
feeling more confident that I will at least be close to my goal weight of 150
prior to surgery. I can already feel
subtle changes starting to happen that are hard to describe but they are the things
that make the difference between feeling overweight and feeling like I am the
right weight. I noticed this the last
time I was getting close to 150, too. It
always seemed so arbitrary to me that based on my BMI (I am 5’6” tall) I am
considered overweight at anything over 154 pounds, until I reached 154 pounds. When I am between 150 and 155 pounds I don’t
feel like I am carrying around extra weight.
It feels like I am the weight I am supposed to be. When I am in that range I don’t want to be
thinner. I wish I could describe why
that weight feels right to me, but it is little things, like my breasts don’t
feel heavy any more. They’re all droopy
and yucky (we’re going to fix that!) but they don’t feel too heavy. In spite of not being able to describe why it
feels like the right weight, I can tell I’m getting closer to it by the way my
body feels to me. It’s not about the way
I look, I can’t really see a few pounds in the mirror, it’s really about the
way my body feels. I’m getting there,
one pound at a time and that is a very satisfying feeling.
This is satisfying. It gives me a lot of confidence to be 38 days
into abstinence and know that I will never eat sugar again. It also gives me a lot of confidence that I
am 38 days into the Whole30 and know that I will stay On Program until I have
recovered from surgery. There is no
doubt in my mind, none at all, that this is the healthiest food program I have
ever been on. You just have to look at
my plates of food to know that this makes sense. Breakfast is eggs and half a plate of veggies
and a small bowl of fruit. Lunch is
chicken or beef or pork (all locally raised, pen free, antibiotic free, etc.),
a bunch of veggies and an apple. Dinner
is just like lunch (that would be because lunch is leftover dinners). There are no snacks. I drink water and coffee. Coffee is limited to one French press
potful (about 2 ½ cups) a day. The
Whole30 is considered an elimination diet because it does eliminate certain foods
from your diet, but it doesn’t feel like an elimination diet to me. In fact, it bothers me when it is described
as an elimination diet.
When I think "elimination diet" I think of
something like Atkins, which removes virtually all carbs from your diet and
completely alters the way your body fuels itself by forcing your body into
lipolysis or ketosis. I just read a
brief article on the Atkins website and it talks a lot about how being in
ketosis is natural and is the most efficient way to lose weight. This may be true, I have done no scientific
studies on ketosis and the impact being in ketosis has on the body. What I have done is the Atkins diet (and
many, many other diets) and when I was on Atkins I felt terrible. Not only did my breath stink, I had no
energy. I went on a short bike ride when
I was about 3 weeks into an Atkins diet and just about fell off my bike. I was losing weight, but I didn’t feel
good. A diet like Atkins stresses eating proteins and
fats and severely limiting carbohydrates.
The Whole30 does not do that. In fact, the Whole30 is exactly the
opposite. It encourages moderate amounts
of protein, lots of veggies (including starchy, carbohydrate rich veggies like
potatoes), and healthy fats. What it
discourages is anything manufactured in a factory. It does eliminate a long list of foods, but
these are all foods that some people (not all people) have a sensitivity to, in
one way or another. The Whole30 is
designed to allow adding back some of these foods to your diet after the
initial 30 days. The thing is, I can’t
quite figure out why I would want to do that, except out of convenience. I don’t need or want to add back any of the
foods for the purpose of our day-to-day home cooked meals. The recipes I have and that I can find on the
internet are delicious and satisfying and I have no need or desire to cook with
any of the foods that aren’t allowed on the Whole30. On the other hand, it is very difficult to
eat at a restaurant and find food that you know, without a doubt, is Whole 30
compliant. If you decide to do the
Whole30, for the first 30 days it is easier if you can just avoid eating
out. So the convenience factor comes in
when I think about the rest of my life.
I’ll always have to avoid restaurant salad dressings, as they almost
always contain sugar. But it is fun to
eat out every now and then. It takes a
little fun out of eating out when you have to dissect the menu and quiz your
server about every ingredient in every dish (which is why you might as well
just eat at home for the first 30 days of your program). Something might sound perfect and then you
find out it has peas in it. Nope, not
Whole30 compliant. Or you might want to
order the crab cakes, but then you realize they are made with bread
crumbs. Nix that. Until such a time that someone opens a
Whole30 restaurant, eating out and staying on program will be a difficult
(though not impossible) thing to do. I
think after February 1st, I’ll start allowing myself to enjoy a
night out every now and then, and not worry about hidden off Program
foods. I’ll always make choices that are
primarily Whole30 compliant. For
example, pasta dishes are out forever, but I won’t stress over eating a chicken
dish that is cooked with red wine.
I feel good, I feel strong, and I feel
confident. This is a nice way to
live. I feel like I am making choices
rationally, not succumbing to cravings or falling victim to my addiction. I am not beating myself up about my food
choices or about how much I weigh. I am
not measuring my food, counting calories, or fussing about little choices. I’m cooking healthy meals, eating three times
a day, and that’s that. It feels so
natural. My body and my brain are happy
on this plan. It just plain works for me
(and my husband!).
I guess I better sign off. I have a lot to do today.
Have a beautiful day!
No comments:
Post a Comment