The Whole 30

Today I had wanted to share a gorgeous furniture Before & After.  It is Monday after all, but that will have to wait.  Sorry.  Today I have to share this!

Luke and I are starting the Whole 30.

On Friday, I shared with you my word for 2015 is Nurture. To Nurture myself I must to take care of my body.  So we are starting the year off with fresh eyes and a fresh look at what we’re putting in our bodies.

I try to always be positive on my blog, but now I’m going to share some not so positive things…

I am obsessed with food.  I think about it all the time.

Pizza & Ice Cream are my favorite foods. If I was on a desert island and could only have these foods I’d be fine. I don’t eat them all the times, BUT in our house Friday is pizza night and we always have ice cream in the freezer or go out and get ice cream cones at Nona’s Homemade.

Growing up in my house we’d always have pizza on Friday nights. My dad, worked for Brigham’s, an ice cream company in Massachusetts.  EVERY night my dad would eat a bowl of ice cream at 10pm.  On school vacation weeks I’d help my dad at work and EVERY day he’d take me over to the plant and we’d eat ice cream straight from the machines before it was hard packed into gallons.  It tasted like heaven. I think I got my love of ice cream from my dad.

When I was in 7th grade my parents bought a restaurant.  It was a fabulous place where many people gathered for social occasions around food.  That same year I tore the ligaments in my ankle (I still remember my dad throwing me over his shoulder at the local carnival and being so embarrassed).  I was in a cast for over a month.  In August of that year I had bunions removed and was layed up for a few months.  I continued to eat like an active 11 year old – chips, snacks etc and I packed on weight.  No one told me this would happen. Sigh.

Living in a restaurant also didn’t help.  My summers home from college was restaurant food ALL THE TIME. We’d eat late – 9:30 / 10pm at night once everyone else had eaten.  This also wasn’t good for the waist line, but I was pretty active running in the mornings and also up and down three flights of stairs while waitressing.

In high school, I did crazy things.  Partly because my dad had a stroke.  I thought by cutting all the fat out of my diet that would somehow help me.  I cut out all protein and all fat.  I wouldn’t eat meat or oils.  I then started eating power bars, steamed veggies and salads thinking that way I’d know the calorie counts etc.  I lost weight but didn’t have much energy.  My hair was falling out and I came down with mono.  My mom said I had to start eating properly again.

College brought the freshman 15. Mount Holyoke College had milk and cookies (M & C’s) every night at 9:30pm.  I went down EVERY night for these.  This didn’t help with the freshman 15.

I’m 5 ft tall.  I’ve heard I look taller on my blog and you can’t imagine how happy this makes me! Being vertically challenged can be hard.  I’m not just talking about reaching high cabinets or finding jeans the right length (for some reason “short” jeans are too long), but if I put on 5 lbs it looks like I’ve put on 30 lbs.  I guess there is no place for the weight to go. So I’ve always struggled.

When I had John, our first, I lost the weight right away.  I actually lost too much because my metabolism went crazy.  Since I didn’t know many young mothers in the area, John and I would go for long walks – 3 hour walks. I was eating normally but the pounds kept melting off. I went down to 97 lbs and clothes just hung on me.  So this weight was too low.  I secretly hoped after having Conor this same thing would happen.

The thing is, I have steadly gained weight since losing the weight after having him.  I’ve been scratching my head trying to figure out why.

I walk the dog EVERY day.  I go to HOT Yoga 4 times a week.

I had a physical and everything came back fine, but I don’t feel good. I asked the doctor if your metabolism slows down at 37 and he said yes.

My skin is breaking out.  The scale says my weight is higher than ever. My clothes don’t fit.

My yoga pants are actually rolling at the top which makes me so sad.  I’m so embarrassed to admit that to all of you.  This has never happened before.

For a while now I’ve been convincing myself that my clothes have shrunk or the scale is wrong, but after reading these posts by Marian and Allison, I know I have to nurture my body.  How can I nurture and take care of my family otherwise?

Luke has also had the same struggle.  He ran his first half marathon and thought the training would help him lose the weight.  He didn’t lose a pound.  He feels tired all the time.

SO, what are we going to do?!?

Inspired by my friends and success stories on the Whole 30, we’re going to do this for a month to start.  It isn’t a diet, it is a way of life.  We are going to eat food, real food, healthy food and start caring for our bodies from the inside out.

For 30 days there will be:

NO ALCOHOL

NO BREAD, GRAINS, or RICE

NO DAIRY

NO SUGAR

The added sugar in ALL the food and drinks we consume is making us fat and unhappy.  I’m ready to give up my beloved pizza and my beloved ice cream to make me happy.

For 30 days (and maybe more) of:

ORGANIC PROTEIN – FISH, EGGS, MEAT

FRESH FRUIT

FRESH VEGETABLES

GOOD FATS

We are actually really excited to feel better.  If you’d like to join us, I’ll be sharing our journey on Facebook and Instagram. Hopefully I’ll have a positive post to share at the end! So wish us luck! x