The halfway point! It’s day 15 of my first Whole 30 – but who’s counting? Obviously me. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to update you guys on my progress halfway through and then again at the end. I’m feeling very excited about my progress and the way my body is feeling so far. There was one day I nearly had a breakdown because of a mess up on my part and I felt so defeated. So here’s how the first two weeks went.
Week 1
The first week wasn’t as terrible as I was anticipating. I’m used to prepping all my lunches and I really haven’t been snacking nearly as much as before. I was having fun mixing together all different ingredients for dinners and made egg muffins for breakfast to have every other day.
That’s where I messed up. I grabbed a bag of mixed veggies and put them in my egg muffins. On day 7, someone said, “Oh but you can’t have corn or peas.” I lost it. Immediately defeated. Complete disappointment. I bought the Whole 30 book, I read through it twice. Took pictures of the compliant grocery lists. I was ready! How could this happen?! How did it not occur to me that these two items were in the mixed veggies? And why didn’t I realize that I couldn’t have these items?
I didn’t eat anything else that day until about 1:30 pm. I couldn’t decide if I should start over the next day with day 1, just quit all together, or keep going and don’t eat any more peas and corn. My first decision was to start over with day 1 the next day. I would just do it right this time since I failed the first time. 30 minutes later, I came to my final conclusion that I would just finish out the rest of the 30 days without the peas and corn.
I reached this conclusion for a few different reasons:
- I ate five egg muffins with mixed veggies. FIVE! There’s not a whole serving of peas or corn in the whole bag of mixed veggies, so total I maybe consumed 10 peas and pieces of corn.
- My error was completely unintentional. I truly just didn’t know. It wasn’t like I tried to sneak a piece of candy or drank a soda.
- Lastly, I’m doing the Whole 30 for me! This lifestyle change is about realizing the good, whole foods are what are best for your body. I remember waking up on day 7 feeling really good and very energetic. That shows me that the changes I’ve made ARE WORKING.
Now that’s okay if you guys feel like I should have started over, trust me I fought back and forth about it, too. I just decided I will do another successful Whole 30 this year.
Week 2
The second week had less of a great feeling. I started really having cravings, especially for Chick Fil A. I went to a basketball game with my parents and have never craved beer so bad in my life. In between meals is really hard. I’m constantly thinking about what I want to be eating and about all the things I could so easily go pick up from the restaurant across the street. I want everything that isn’t Whole 30 compliant, basically. It just feels like could probably make good choices without restricting myself to these guidelines.
When I’m cooking meals or actually eating, I’m happy and feel great about my decisions. After the meal is over, I feel content and the cravings are gone. The feeling of needing something sweet after dinner is gone and candy really doesn’t sound good like it used to.
The biggest things I miss are cheese and yogurt. Yogurt was always my mid-morning snack or breakfast and I loved to snack on cheese and olives. It’s also been hard getting used to no matcha lattes. Y’all know how much I love my matcha!
Worth It
Overall, it’s definitely been worth it. I’ve proved to myself that I’m strong enough to complete this Whole 30 challenge. I’m going strong, my clothes are fitting better, and I FEEL better. I’m definitely impressed by my own determination over the last two weeks. Cooking is becoming easier and coming up with different combinations for meals is definitely still fun. I’m ready for it to be over, but still excited to continue seeing the results from the hard work.
Advice?
The next two weeks will be just as challenging, if not more than the previous two weeks. What kind of advice do you Whole 30 pros have? Any great recipes you can share? I’d love to hear how you make it through the last two weeks!
3 Comments
Good for you, Elisabeth! I did the W30 last January and I had the exact same attitude – I’m doing this for ME, not to follow the rules “perfectly” or prove anything to anyone else. I have a few of my favorite recipes on my website, BUT, I will warn you that I chose to do an ingredient-compliant Whole30, not necessarily a “rules-compliant” W30. For example, I let myself have pancakes made from almond meal, banana, and almond milk (all compliant ingredients, even though technically pancakes are “against the rules”) and I also did things like eat sweet potato chips from a bag, because the ingredients were compliant (even though again, chips from a bag were technically “against the rules.”) My reason for doing the W30 was purely to see how my body reacted in the absence of the ingredients on the “no” list, so it didn’t bother me to eat food preparations that had all compliant ingredients, even if they went against the philosophy of the W30 creators. At the end of the day you have to do what works best for YOU and be proud of the choices you make! Rooting for you as you head into the second half of the month strong! 🙂
Thank you!! It really is just about doing what’s best for your own body. That’s a great idea how you did it too!