Hey! It’s Monday! And the 49ers lost….womp womp. That sort of sums up my mindset right now. I was going to do a more in depth post about Whole 30 2.0 and what I learned, but you know what? I’m tired of reading about the Whole 30. (Really tired, actually. Confession Time!) Mostly though, my experience with this Whole 30 was basically the same, so why repeat myself. Again I found that The Little Things Make A Big Difference. Also, things will feel hard, but you will be happy with the results. Yep, that about sums it up.
So instead of in-depth wrap up, I’ll just give you the game highlights:
1. Operation Get Rid of Back Fat was a success!
I mean, it’s not completely gone by any means, but I definitely feel like there is LESS to contend with. Before Pictures. UGH. Still can’t believe I took those. But hey, I feel like from the side I can definitely see a difference.
The front isn’t quite as dramatic.
My clothes are fitting different in the hip areas which is nice.
(But man, why do I take these AFTER I workout when I look hella beat up? LAME! ha! Whatever.)
2. The After FEELS better than the Before
If you remember, I wrote down how I was feeling in December to make sure I kept those things in mind when evaluating my success.
*Vampire Bite Acne is gone (actually MOST of the acne is gone. This is different from the last time around. AWESOME!)
*Body image is good. Plus I just feeeeeeeeeeeeeel better at the gym. We did a bunch of pullups the other night and they just felt so much easier (and I was doing them on a lighter band, so WIN!)
*No more splitting nails. Man, the fingernail thing is SO DRAMATIC for me when I’m eating better. It’s kind of nuts.
*Also, I ended up losing 14lbs, which was a nice little touch of icing to add on the cake.
*******
So how did I celebrate all the Whole 30 madness being over? By having a Cobb Salad (mmm bacon!) and a glass or two (or twenty) of wine on Friday night! It seemed like a great idea at the time (HA!) but it felt less ideal on Saturday morning when I woke up. Garrett and I were set to run with some pals from our Relay Team (Team Name: Longest Wod Ever) and I wanted to flake so hard it was palpable. But G dragged my butt out of the house and I’m so glad he did.
It was great to see the ladies, and after an hour of sprints, bleachers and hill runs I felt like I had my Tiger Blood back. So just for giggles we headed out to open gym to do some lifting.
After an hour of cleaning and snatching, Garrett and I spent some time getting to know the GHD Machine. I wanted to get over my fear of GHD situps (seriously, you guys, THEY ARE SCARY!) and Garrett wanted to do some back extensions. It ended up being rad. I like learning new things! Also I decided that I want to add the GHD situps into my regular rotation. I’m going to show my lower abs who’s boss!
After our workout though we showed the Whole 30 who was boss by eating Mexican food. I’m sorry, I want to be a better example, but I also really enjoy corn chips and salsa. So that’s what we did. 🙂 And then I took an epic nap with the dog. I mean, can you blame me? (Buster was exhausted by proxy.)
Sunday we celebrated the Super Bowl with some champagne (YUM!)
But this morning I am ready to get February back to (mostly) Whole 30 eats. The War Against Back Fat wages on, you know. 🙂
*****
How was your weekend? Any fun Post Whole 30 Eats? How are you feeling now that it’s over? Are you happy about the Super Bowl results? *sniffle*
Wow you look so amazing! Congratulations!
My post Whole 30 hasn’t been too bad but A LOT of chocolate has been consumed…oops. So I think i’m going to do a Whole7 just to re-adjust my mind again. All my meals have been fine but extras have definitely sneaked back into my diet and I don’t feel as healthy as I did a week ago!
Bummed that the 49ers lost, but Beyonce was AMAZING.
Beyonce WAS amazing! Only saving grace!!!
We are back to Whole 30 eats again today and I’m so happy about it. It’s amazing how quick you can go back to feeling kind of crappy after just some wine, champagne and peanut butter stuffed chocolate covered pretzels and mexican food….hmmm…okay I guess it’s not that surprising how quickly I went back to feeling like crap then. 🙂
New day. New Week. I like it! 🙂
I, too, am sick of Whole30. I have a lot of thoughts floating around that I need to get out but I think I’m kind of in shock that it’s over, honestly. I went a little off the rails this weekend, which was NOT my intent, but I’m back on clean (for me) eating this week. Basically Whole30, plus oats and quinoa. We’re also eating out at restaurants a few times this week because of some prior commitments and I’m just going to have to do my best to make healthy choices.
I know it’s not what it’s about, but I am so jealous that you lost 14 pounds. I am just so shocked I hardly lost anything.
I can’t WAIT to hear your wrap up. I mean, no pressure, but um…PREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSURE. 🙂
Awesome! You can totally see a difference! Good work!
I have only reintroduced dairy, and milk and cream are NOT my friends. So far, cheese is OK. THANK GOD.
And now I want chips and salsa.
I could eat chips and salsa daily and I’m not even ashamed. I am very good at rationalizing corn. 🙂
I’m on Day 15, so I’m only slightly tired of hearing and talking about it.
I hear you on the GHD sit-ups! I just recently started doing them myself. They are sceeeery, but once you get over it you feel really badass doing them.
Seriously…something about throwing yourself backwards off some apparatus just doesn’t feeeeeeeeeeeeeel right. But it DOES feel bad ass! 🙂
Holy cats girl, those pics are amazing. Niiiiice
Thanks, Lizzy-Poo!
YEAH BALLER STATUS. (Great seeing you yesterday!)
You look AMAZING Holls, I can’t get over just how great you’re looking these days. You’re such an inspiration.
I was pretty over TW30 too but a friend just asked about it and I found myself getting pretty excited while I told her about it. 🙂
You are making me blush. I’m the same way…so glad it’s over but then so overly glad to recommend it!
I’ve been all kinds of off the wagon since I finished, but I can DEFINITELY feel it when I eat crappy! I was proud of our super bowl spread that was all Paleo except for some cheese!
Yeah, in hindsight it was both a good and bad decision to finish up Whole 30 right on the Super Bowl Weekend. LOL
You look great!
You are sweet! I feel great too! going running back to whole 30 after all that champagne!
Those changes in the “After” pics are FABULOUS! You look really, really great.
And I watched the YouTube on the GHD sit-up and holy snakes on a plane. KIND OF INTENSE. I girded my loins just watching the video.
Thanks, lady!
Wow you look great! You can really see a difference! Even though I quit my whole30 early, I am still using it as a guideline for everyday eating. I have noticed such a difference in my energy levels, gut health, and skin tone.
ME TOO! And I just can’t wait to get back to it. One weekend made me want to go running back! 🙂
Ha my first meal was also Mexican. I convinced myself that corn can’t be THAT bad for me, right? Things I have learned however are wine is a no. And possibly chocolate. (My life feels like it’s ending). I tried two pieces of free chocolate at Costco. And immediately felt my asthma coming back after a month of it being gone. My best guess is because chocolate has soy in it. Need to order a few bags of the Enjoy Life kind.
Oh I rationalize corn with the rest of them! You know, I actually picked up some dark chocolate this weekend and ate some and like an hour later got a headache. I’ll have to skim the ingredients better and see if there is soy. YUCK. The enjoy life chips are THE BOMB! 🙂
Look at that booty, girl! Get it.
So happy for you and your clean and jerks and mexican and naps and cute dog. YAY
Ha! You are the best…thanks!
Those are some great results! This is totally inspiring. I might have to try this Whole 30 madness.
I really think it’s pretty easy to stick to. The physical cravings go away pretty early on…the psychological cravings are the hardest. But if you commit to being stubborn and just pushing through I think the overall health results are just palpable and worth it. (And the weight loss doesn’t suck, either.)
Congrats on your results – especially with the body image, that’s my favorite thing about Whole 30 🙂
The results are remarkable, I think I should try Whole30. I have declarede the battle against fats too.
Do it!!!!! 🙂
My first comment didn’t come through. Your results are awesome! I want to do a whole30 and I have read It Starts With Food but still feel so lost. Is there a more conventional/cheaper way to do it on a 1 income family budget?? Any suggestions?
Well, it depends on how cheap. We are basically one income, but I only cook for two, so for me it seems affordable regardless (We spend about 21% of our monthly income on food.) I don’t go into it “trying” to make it cheaper, but both times we’ve done it our monthly grocery bill has gone DOWN more than $200 so honestly, I think Whole 30 is cheaper than regular paleo, if that helps. You can always just buy meat in bulk when it’s on sale (I do that with pork shoulder and ground beef and it just basically takes up our WHOLE FREEZER, since we only have one now. lol) but I think you just have to buy the bargains no matter what. Kale is super cheap, we ate A LOT of that. Greens/salad stuff is generally inexpensive and we have tons of salads each week. I buy eggs at Costco (the hippiest ones they have — still pricey, but they go really far in breakfast casseroles, etc.) That’s probably my best (jumbled) advice. I think it’s mostly a misconception that Whole 30 is expensive, like I mentioned, for us it’s CHEAPER than Paleo because we do less snacking/dessert/treat making.
You look great and you were a big help during the Whole30. The folks at work are in for the 90……so thinking about it. We have been sharing recipes and herbs. Your pork chop ,onion jam was a big hit.
Thanks again.
Oh good! So glad you like them. We are basically back on the Whole 30 train today. Just one weekend and OOF…we felt a difference. I’m actually excited to get back, strangely enough.
Thank you!! My husband told me today “you know I will eat whatever you cook” so that is nice that he is on board!! Guess I need to start my grocery list!
You look wonderful Holly! I got really sick halfway through our Whole 30 (this was our second), so that kind of flew out the window. I did end up being 9 lbs down, but I think most of it was because I was too sick to eat.
My husband and I want to try to eat Whole 30ish until a trip we are taking to LA in April. We are giving ourselves one day during the weekend to have a treat or two, but the hope is that 6 days a week we will be eating clean.
Boy, I hear you on the nails! Such a noticeable difference when I did my first Whole 30, they seemed like they grew so fast and were so strong.
Congrats on losing 14 lbs! I’m sure I gained at least 5 lbs over the holidays, with all the desserts I had to eat because I come from a family of Clean Plate Club members…
I have a question for you on snacking though, not exactly related to this post. How do you not get hungry throughout the day? I have cut out most high-carbohydrate foods over a year ago because of my pre-diabetes (although I do break for the occasional dessert as mentioned above) but I still get hungry after a few hours, even if I straight eggs for breakfast. Any filling snack suggestions?
I swear to you the secret to not getting hungry is making sure you eat a lot of fat. Even folks who have been Paleo for a long time tend to still, somewhere in the back of their mind still have a bit of fat phobia. Protein is great for nutrients, etc but fat is really good and staving off hunger. I generally include olives/avocados/coconut whenever I can because they are dense sources of fat. Snacking on fruit is fine, but not really going to keep you full. Once I get in the habit of including enough fat at meals, you can’t talk me into snacking ever.
Nice work! Your commitment is inspiring 🙂
I have been following your blog since starting my whole 30 January1st and had to Simmental on your before and after pictures…..WOW! You should be proud of all you accomplished over the last month. The changes are very noticeable from your pics. Keep at it!
I do have to say that I fell flat on my face after the Whole 30. I did fantastic the whole 30 days and enjoyed it but then it was like a bad break up at the end and I have eaten things I would NEVER normally eat and am embarrassed that I have allowed myself to do so. I really need to get back to whole 30ish eating, so I will be getting back to it taming my sugar dragon…..again!
Looking good lady!
Maybe I missed something, I’m behind.. Was your awesome back smooth out just a result of the whole30? Or were you doing something specific to target it?
Nope. Just Whole 30. But my body definitely subscribes to the philosophy that “you can’t out train a bad diet” so when my food is dialed in, I always respond pretty positively (and AHEM vice versa LOL) no matter what exercising I’m doing.
I can actually see a significant difference in your before & afters. Good on you for sticking with it; especially since you know, there’s chocolate out there. . . way to go on your Whole 30!