Staying Whole30 Strong

breakfast that's delicious and nutritious

Technically, I have fallen off the Whole 30 wagon. I say "technically" because the things I ate are not on the "yes" list for the Whole 30 wagon because they can possibly cause some people issues. What did I eat? A few soy beans and a little quinoa.

Yeah, I'm not concerned.

This weekend I avoided Hot Tamales, Twizzlers, and chocolate cupcakes, but I scummed to a soy bean and a "psudeo grain" called quinoa. For 18 days, I've been awesome. It has NOT been easy. So the fact that I allowed myself to eat a few soy beans and a little quinoa (in a salad, no less) doesn't worry me one bit.

Honestly, I didn't eat much of either. Soy beans and quinoa aren't my problem. Sugar and carbs are my problem. The whole reason I started this process was to feel better and lose weight. To see what would happened if I eliminated those things in my diet that dominated. I never wanted to admit it out loud, but I knew what my problem was. What I was eating that was making me fat and tired and grumpy and moody. Sugar and carbs dominated my diet, not soy beans and quinoa. Soy beans and quinoa are not making me sick or fat or tired or moody. It's the sugar and the sugar and the sugar and the carbs that I would eat in between the sugar.

This past Saturday we had a pool party for B's birthday. He's our boy that loves to eat hot and spicy things, so along with burger and dogs, we served Hot Tamales, chips and salsa, Twizzlers and Hot Cheetos. If we had served pizza, he would have wanted jalapenos. It was a pool party, so we had plenty of junk food which of course included a dozen delicious, over-priced cupcakes.

Prime example of the way I used to do things before the Whole 30:

I would have mindlessly snacked on the Hot Tamales and the Twizzlers while getting the party ready. I would have had a cheeseburger with a bun, along with some chips and salsa. Would have washed it down with a Diet Coke. Of course, I would have had a chocolate cupcake after all of the kids had been served, and then later that night after the kids were in bed, I would have helped myself to another cupcake because it had been a long day and by damn I deserved another cupcake.

Now the way I do things:

I avoided snacking on ANYTHING while getting ready for the party. Not even a single, tiny Hot Tamale made its way to my lips. The Golfer and I ate a hamburger patty without cheese or the bun. Instead, we mashed up some avocado on top and instead of chips and salsa on the side we enjoyed the fresh fruit that I had served and the kids weren't eating. When it came time to serve the cupcakes things got hard, but Whole 30 has taken out the option so I didn't even allow myself to think about it. I made it through the whole day without so much as a lick of the chocolate icing. This is HUGE, people. Huge.

I didn't eat them or lick them, but I smelled them a lot. The Golfer caught me with my head in the bakery box just...smelling.

I know that Heaven will smell like chocolate cupcakes when I get there.

I desperately want to step on a scale. I'm not sure if I was just puffy from eating so much crap all of the time or if I had truly lost pounds, but either way I am telling a difference in the way I look. I would love to know what the scale would say if I got on it this morning, but it's a big no-no so I have refrained.

Shockingly, I've gotten really good at refraining. Before this, I was not a good refrainer. This too is HUGE.

The Golfer mindlessly got on the scale after less than a week on the program. He had already dropped 5 pounds. So typical of a man. Drops a quick 5 without really trying. And he doesn't even need to lose 5 pounds! He's only doing this to support me. Well, that and to get healthy too. Of course it irritated the crap out of me because I was fairly certain if I had gotten on the scale right after him, I would have lost like...only 1 pound...if that.

Here in 12 days I will allow myself to step on the scale. I have no expectations of what the number will be. I really don't want to set myself up for disappointment by putting a number out there. I just want it to be lower that where I started from.

And if those soy beans and quinoa caused me to retain any weight, I'll really be pissed.