Daily Archives: January 15, 2013

Whole 30 – Reaching the Summit

Living up to its name: Damn Good Chili! #whole30 #hwisc

Whole 30ers…can you see the summit? Maybe for you it is today. For me it is tomorrow. Regardless I wanted to pop in and share a few thoughts since we are halfway there:

*If you have made it this far — CONGRATULATIONS! This Whole 30 has been both easier and tougher on me than the last time around. Easier in that all of you are really helping keep me accountable. This weekend I had the desire to really go off the rails and just eat what was easy since Garrett was out of town. When I have no one to cook for I sometimes just want to eat mindless things which, while Paleo, are not necessarily Whole 30 compliant.

*It has also been harder though because I have really FELT all of the ups and downs. I’ve basically been a snapshot of The Whole 30 Timeline complete with random cravings for things I’d never eat (Mac and Cheese) and anxiety dreams that I bought the wrong almond butter with EEEEEEK. Evaporated Cane Juice OMG DRAMA. ha! If you are still wondering if your reactions are “normal” I highly recommend that read.

*My favorite part of that timeline is this quote from days 8-15, which is super appropriate. I think it is really worth marinating on:

All joking aside, though, this phase gets really intense and for some people. This is the part of the program where our minds try to drive us back to the comfort of the foods we used to know. Our food relationships are deeply rooted and strongly reinforced throughout the course of our lives and breaking through them is really big deal.

*Understanding how you relate to food is one of the major points of the Whole 30. People often forget this or hop into the challenge thinking “Oh I want to lose weight and feel great!” And of course those things happen too. But to get to the “feeling great” part, you have to put in A LOT of work that sometimes involves working through your relationship with food. I really want to commend you if things have gotten difficult and you haven’t yet thrown in the towel. Dealing with those emotions and issues and rationalizations can be really difficult and it can be super easy to find a legitimate sounding reason to put it off until later or just quit altogether and say “It wasn’t right for me” So high five if you have felt those emotions and are pushing through!

*But what if you haven’t pushed through? What if you have strayed, or found it difficult or decided it’s not right for you right now? Well to that I want to say, better luck next time and don’t spend too long beating yourself up about it. It’s important to remember that not being able to complete a Whole 30 does not indicate anything else about you except for that right now, you are not able to complete a Whole 30. That’s it. Let the judgment go. It’s not a failure. YOU are not a failure. Learn and move on. It’s the best thing you can do.

*At this point I also feel like it’s worth reiterating that the Whole 30 isn’t about losing weight. Yep, seriously. It’s not. At all. So, difficult as that is, try not to get all wrapped up in that idea. Dallas and Melissa have written two really great articles about this exact thing and if you have sneaked on to the scale (DON’T DO IT!) and are feeling discouraged, please read them both! Then I would recommend making a list of some of your health or fitness victories over the last few weeks. I had two last night that I’m going to keep in my back pocket for when I feel challenged during the next two weeks.

*The first was our warm up in last night’s workout — Run a mile. UGH. I am always so god damn slow so I just headed out and figured that I would run as fast as possible but not beat myself up for being last. I did my best, clocked my time and expected to see around 11 or 12 minutes, which is my average (Remember my hilly half marathon? I averaged 14 minute miles!!!) So when I got back to the gym I was shocked to see that I ran that mile in 9:34. Under 10 minutes! Victory. I have no doubt that part of the reason for the improvement has had to do with being diligent about properly fueling my body for the last two weeks.

*The last was during the metcon portion of the actual workout:
photo
I got through 9 of those wall walks and my arms basically felt like we noodles. (Here, watch {one of} my CrossFit boyfriend(s) Chris Spealler do them at about 30 seconds in if you have no idea what I’m talking about.) Anyway, wet noodles. I was ready to modify the second time around by my lovely coach basically said “Sorry, no dice. FINISH IT UP, CHUCK!” Well, she didn’t call me chuck, but you get what I’m saying. And in the end, I *did* finish. And it was hard as hell and my arms STILL feel like wet noodles 16 hours later. But last night also felt like the night that I got *my* fitness back. It’s been such a struggle over the past few months with the extra lbs and the crappy food in my body! Last night I really remembered what working hard and performing well (for me!) felt like. And it felt great! And that is way more important than the number on the scale right now.

NY Res to get better at body weight exercises like wall walks. Also to NOT play dead on the gym floor  #htcone #trooponex
****

So tell me about some of your victories over the last 2 weeks? I know it has been hard at times, but surely there have been moments when you noticed positive changes. TELL US ABOUT THEM!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...