We’re more finished than we are not…

…and it feels great!

I’ve been so silent on the blog front because 1) I’m a busy doc student and 2) there hasn’t been toooo terribly much to report. I had a rough week, emotionally, which may have been Whole30 related, or just related to the fact that I am in school and homesick. I continue to turn down temptation (chocolate, I miss you), such as an invite to a pizza party on Friday night. Anthony went and the host cooked a compliant meal for him, but pizza is a weakness of mine so I figured it would be best to stay far away.

I’ve been cooking up a storm and sticking to my exercise plan. My clothes fit really well. Actually, on Friday, I noticed a pair of pants were basically falling off of me and needed a belt. Huge NSV! I can’t wait to take my after photos and compare to the beginning and halfway points.

Today is Day 23, and I’ve noticed many changes besides weight loss. I’m sleeping better. Like, straight through the night. No bathroom breaks or anything, which is totally unusual for me since I am such a light sleeper. No random back pain while I am literally just standing there talking to someone, which is great. I have had random headaches for the past 4 days or so, which could be residual detox or dehydration. Besides that, I feel more confident in the kitchen and I’ve gotten my grocery bill $100 cheaper than what it was from the first week. Score!

For consistency purposes, here is my menu and meal plan from last week (and just a couple of photos because I’m terrible). As always, let me know if you need recipes!

Sunday

Meal 1- 2 eggs overhard, avocado, roasted veggies

Meal 2- Leftovers

Meal 3- Spinach salad with chicken–I spent the night in Richmond for a school assignment, so I put on a crockpot of chicken enchilada stew for Anthony

Exercise- Rest Day- too busy running around like a crazy person meal prepping and packing for Richmond

Monday

Meal 1- 1/2 banana,  1 chopped boiled egg with olive oil and 1/2 an avocado- breakfast in Richmond, the event I went to served a breakfast with fruit that I ate while everyone else ate bagels and muffins etc.

Meal 2- Tuna salad with celery, grape, egg, olive oil, and other 1/2 of the avocado- while driving back from Richmond, thanks to the help of my classmate who worked with me to prepare it and make the process manageable while multi-tasking!

Meal 3- Leftovers

Exercise- Rest Day- unfortunately…I was in Richmond from Sunday night until Monday at 11:30 AM, then drove back just in time for class 4-7 PM. That’s the life of a doc student!

Tuesday

Meal 1- Breakfast casserole- artichoke and sundried tomato- smelled like heaven in the oven!

Meal 2- Roasted sweet potato noodles, boiled egg, mashed avocado, and salsa

Meal 3- Crockpot chicken marinara

Exercise- BBG Week 8 Day 1

Wednesday

Meal 1-  Breakfast casserole

Meal 2- Hamburger with lettuce, tomato, and compliant ranch, side of roasted veggies

Meal 3- Leftovers—this day was a bad day. I did our taxes which was a fiasco (we are meeting with a CPA on Monday, needless to say). I was originally supposed to cook shrimp (fresh-caught, very important to a native New Orleanian like me) and zucchini noodles. Anthony decided to do it so I could deal with the taxes. Well, we sit down to eat and he mentions he added a random Asian seasoning he found in the pantry. Before we could eat it, I insisted on checking it. 2nd ingredient- brown sugar. I think to say I was upset would be an understatement. It is now in the freezer to be defrosted after Whole30…

Exercise- Run- I’m still injured, but I figured out that I can run about 5 minutes, jog for 3, and alternate doing that 3x without feeling any pain. Better than nothing. No time to address it right now, unfortunately.

Thursday

Meal 1- 2 eggs overhard, bacon, sweet potato noodles, strawberry with almond butter

Meal 2-Salad

Meal 3- Crockpot lemon chicken artichoke soup with russet potatos- yummy!

Exercise- BBG Week 8 Day 2

Friday

Meal 1- Sweet potato toast with almond butter, mashed avocado, and eggs overhard–okay, why did I wait so long to try sweet potato toast? So good!

Meal 2- Leftovers

Meal 3- Lasagna- this was sooo good. Seriously. I don’t feel deprived when I stumble upon recipes like this.

Exercise- Rest Day, unfortunately–my 2 day migraine came to a head (no pun intended) when I woke up on Friday barely able to move without it pounding.

Saturday

Meal 1- 2 eggs overhard, bacon, sweet potato noodles (burnt, whoops!), and salad

Meal 2- Leftovers

Meal 3- Tuna steak with roasted veggies and chopped apples

Exercise- BBG Week 8 Day 3

It’s the last week, and I’m feeling good about it! Hard to imagine how things will be after this. I feel like I’ll still try to live a somewhat Whole30 lifestyle without total deprivation. I’m really nervous about the reintroduction. I don’t want my body to rebel! Any tips?

Halfway Point!

It’s Day 15, and I have so many emotions about it.

I did a non-Whole30 thing and took halfway point photos for comparison from Day 1.

Holy. crap.

I could tell by the way my clothes fit that this whole process was working, but it is so different to see it through photos. I won’t post them because it is against the program, but it was incredibly validating. It was also proof to me that processed food is slowly causing health issues for all of us.

This validation could not have come at a better time. We went out to eat last night for the first time on Whole30. We went to a Mexican restaurant, so I figured fajitas would be no issue. Just in case, I made a little Post-It with our dietary restrictions to give to the server thinking it would help. I mean, I guess it did? But, the server and the rest of the staff seemed very confused by all of it, probably due to a language barrier. Apparently, the meat is all marinated in advance and the staff and kitchen were unable to tell me what was in the marinate. I felt like an epic pain in the ass, but it worked out in the end.

I had shrimp fajitas, which is what I wanted anyway, with tomato, lettuce, and guacamole. Anthony had a steak. No oil or seasoning on anything.

I’ll tell ya…I did feel like we stuck out like a sore thumb and that the restaurant felt we were troublemakers. Going out to eat on Whole30 is really no fun.

BUT! IT’S WORKING! And that is all that really matters to me in this moment.

Here is my meal and exercise plan from this past week. As always, let me know if you need a recipe. I’m a total slacker at the photo thing, sorry about that.

Sunday

Meal 1- Scrambled eggs with onion, spinach, tomato, and bell pepper, bacon, apple and almond butter

Meal 2- Salmon stuffed avocados

Meal 3- Buffalo chicken casserole

Exercise- Rest day

Monday

Meal 1- Roasted sweet potatoes with eggs, sliced avocado, fruit

Meal 2- Spinach salad with chicken, pine nuts, grape tomatoes, and red onion with compliant ranch

Meal 3- Leftovers

Exercise- BBG Week 7 Day 1

Tuesday

Meal 1- Breakfast casserole

Meal 2- Tuna with boiled egg, grapes, olive oil, onion, celery, and avocado

Meal 3- Slow-cooker pork with sauteed veggies

Exercise- Yoga

Wednesday

Meal 1- Breakfast casserole

Meal 2- Roasted sweet potato, salsa, boiled egg, mashed avocado

Meal 3- Sloppy Joe Bowls

Exercise- 2 mile run- I’m still injured and running is basically torture after the first half mile, but I seriously can’t stop trying.

Thursday

Meal 1- I was absolutely determined to have a non-egg breakfast…diced sweet potato with spinach and mashed avocado, bacon, and fruit

Meal 2- Leftovers

Meal 3- Leftovers

Exercise- BBG Week 7 Day 2

Friday

Meal 1- Breakfast casserole with roasted sweet potato strings and avocado

Meal 2- Hamburger on lettuce with ranch and roasted veggies

Meal 3- Anthony cooked a delicious and random spaghetti squash and chicken meal.

Exercise- BBG Week 7 Day 3

Saturday

Meal 1- 2 eggs overhard (my favorite way), bacon, sliced avocado, fruit

Meal 2- Leftovers

Meal 3- Shrimp fajitas at a restaurant

Exercise- Couch to 5K Week 6 Day 1–I swear by the Couch to 5K and Couch to 10K apps. I would have never made it to half-marathon ability without them. Since I am injured, I figured I’d do something that forced me to stop occasionally. I started to hurt after running for about 7 minutes straight, so I can’t move forward on the app. Something is really wrong with my knee and I don’t know what nor do I have time to deal with it. So, I think I’ll just start running in 5 minute intervals with 3 minute walks in between for 3 cycles. Better than nothing!

Much of this weekend has been spent prepping. Better get back to it. I’m headed out of town tonight for a school activity, so I’ll be prepping and packing all of my meals to ensure I am not stuck in a bind. I finally caved and purchased Larabars, though I am hesitant to use them because of triggering my sugar dragon. We’ll see.

 

The “Hanger” Is Real

(Photo pictured above is not me, but accurately depicts the me of last night.)

Yesterday was the worst day that I have had since that first evening I sat on the couch jonesing for my chocolate fix.

All day, I literally thought and dreamed of the mini-Snickers bars in the office down the hall. It was all I thought about for hours. The craving hit me, and it hit me hard.

It was Day 9, and all of the steadiness I felt from Day 8 started to waver. I started feeling self-doubt about my schoolwork and just crappy, in general. I also received a string of upsetting personal news, so that factored into my attitude. I had woken up at 6 AM to exercise, cook breakfast, and pack lunch. I was at my GA from 9-3:30, then I went to class from 4-7. During class, I ate a boiled egg that left a terrible taste in my mouth and I could just feel myself on the edge.

I returned home, and saw my husband hadn’t done every little thing I wanted him to do so I just snapped. I started blabbing about how I didn’t know how much longer we were going to do this program because I couldn’t handle the stress of it, there wasn’t even time, etc etc. I was a grump as I roasted some veggies and heated up the buffalo chicken casserole I cooked the night before.

Then…I ate.

And all was right in the world again.

HANGER.

I forget how real hanger is for me. With my day of cravings and self-criticism, the boiled egg during my class break just did not quell the hunger I felt but was burying deep along with the craving. I ate, and felt sooo much better.

We watched a couple hours of mindless television so I could just turn it all off.

One thing at a time.

It’s Day 10 and I feel a little better. Why? I had my first genuine NSV (non-scale victory).

I’m sitting at my desk and I did not need to unbutton the top button of my pants to be comfortable. This was a HUGE reason that I started the Whole30, and I feel so much better in my skin.

This reinforcement could not have come at a more perfect time.

Some days, you need an NSV to remind you of the greater purpose.

Week 1–Done!

Our first week is officially over and we’ve survived up to this point!

I’m feeling pretty good. The temptation continued into the school week when a classmate brought brownies. GASP!

It became pretty comedic because a classmate noticed that my eyes kept darting– okay, staring— at the brownie container and she thought I was looking at her.

How terribly sad, yet hilarious.

But, I ate my boiled egg and diverted my line of vision elsewhere. It was fine. Survival.

Anthony has his own struggles. He hasn’t read It Starts with Food, just following the elimination plan, so he weighed himself at the gym and found out he lost 5 pounds. You would think that is a good thing, but his goal is always to put on as much weight as possible. I’m going to try to add more fats and white potatoes into his diet and pack heartier lunches. He hasn’t abandoned it quite yet, but I’m sure he will if he loses 5 pounds a week…

My biggest struggle at this point is maintaining the constant meal prep with school starting to ramp up…I spent hours in the kitchen yesterday and had to drag Anthony into it when he got home from work. I’ve made him aware that he is really going to need to help when schoolwork comes first. He is totally supportive.

As promised, here is the exercise and meal plan I followed for the week. Like I said, let me know if you are interested in any recipes! This process has made me feel far more handy in the kitchen, which is nice. I have some photos, but not many. I won’t repost photos already posted, but I will share new ones that I did remember to take!

Sunday

Meal 1- 5 scrambled eggs with tomato and onion, sliced avocado, strawberries

Meal 2- Slow-cooker sweet potato chili

Meal 3- Fresh-caught Louisiana fish (Thanks, babe!) with lemon and olive oil drizzle, sauteed spinach and broccoli, sliced avocado, apple

Exercise- 2.5 mile run

Monday

Meal 1- Scrambled eggs and veggies with bacon and fruit and possibly roasted sweet potato noodles (amaaaazing)–I didn’t record this one properly, so I am a bit unsure of the specific details or if this is even the day I roasted the sweet potato noodles, I just remember how delicious they were…

Meal 2- Spinach and chicken salad with veggies and homemade avocado dressing

Meal 3- Grilled chicken with cherry tomato and asparagus

Exercise- BBG Week 6 Day 1

Tuesday

Meal 1-  Breakfast casserole

Meal 2- Spinach and chicken salad with veggies and oil/vinegar

Meal 3- Slow-cooker chicken and vegetable soup

Exercise- Yoga

Wednesday

Meal 1- Scrambled eggs with red pepper and onion, bacon, bananas and raspberries

Meal 2- Tuna salad with eggs, onions, celery, grapes, and avocado (yum!)

Meal 3- Salmon with an avocado and onion topping, side of roasted veggies (carrots, beets, squash, etc)–also yum!

Exercise- Run 1.75 miles- This run was cut short because I injured my knee somehow. No clue, how. It was fun to limp the last .75 miles home.

Thursday

Meal 1- Leftover breakfast casserole (I was careful to time out days that I needed this breakfast casserole for when I didn’t have time to work over the stove.)

Meal 2- Leftover sweet potato chili

Meal 3- Baked fish with zucchini noodles, avocado, onion, and tomato

Exercise- BBG Week 6 Day 2

Friday

Meal 1- Leftover breakfast casserole

Meal 2- Sauteed sweet potato noodles  with chopped boiled eggs, spinach, mashed avocado, and salad

Meal 3- Anthony made ratatouille! We ate it with the last of the baked fish.

Exercise- 3 mile run- my knee injury made another visit after the first mile…sharp pain. I once went to physical therapy for knee pain, so I’m not sure why it is suddenly returning after all this time. Hoping it is temporary because it definitely had me limping across campus earlier in the week, especially when walking downhill.

Saturday

Meal 1- Sweet potato hash with eggs over-hard (my favorite way!)

Meal 2- Spinach salad with pine nuts, almonds, avocado, tomato, boiled egg and Tessamae’s compliant ranch I found at Kroger when grocery shopping earlier in the day!

Meal 3- Leftover sweet potato chili and veggie soup

Exercise- BBG Week 6 Day 3

This weekend, we prepped most of Anthony’s lunches for the week and I made the breakfast casserole again since it was super convenient for a few quick breakfasts for us.

As you can see, I started to cut into it before I remembered I should take a picture!

I am working on some schoolwork for the rest of the morning and then we are going to a hockey game which will be a great opportunity to turn down beer and ignore the smell of popcorn, nachos, and other foods that smell great but would probably make me feel yuck after eating it. It is basically our first time “out” since starting this program, so wish us luck!

5 by 5

Any Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans out there? [Besides me!]. Feeling 5×5 on Day 5!

I expected to use this blog to process out my frustrations a lot more than I have as this begins, but it really hasn’t been that bad for me. Call me lucky, I guess. After the first day of excessive sugar detox, I didn’t really experience that again. The first day I finished lunch at my assistantship, I felt incredibly bloated because I didn’t have that “cigarette” [actually, chocolate] that I always had after lunch. I tackled this feeling at home, but I’ll deal with it in each of my regular environments, apparently.

I passed that test!

Speaking of tests…

I walk into my assistantship on the first day…HUGE bag of Hershey’s Kisses on the table. I considered moving them, but I didn’t. Those little jerks will NOT rule my life. The next day, I went to my internship and was offered a cookie cake from someone’s birthday.

Nope. No, sir. No, ma’am. No, EVERYBODY.

At my assistantship this morning, they brought donuts. The chocolate looked appealing, but the idea of stuffing my face with the pile of non-nutritious deliciousness just didn’t speak to me.

I will say…I’m starting to become slightly tired of eggs. It is such an easy way to get protein in the morning, so I have to manage. Everyone says to think of it as Meal 1, Meal 2, and Meal 3 instead of breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but I just cannot eat dinner leftovers for breakfast. It just doesn’t work like that for me. I’d rather deal with the eggs.

I’ve been sticking to my workout schedule! So, that is great. It’s the first week of school, so things have not quite ramped up yet. Easing into all of this, and it is working out well, so far.

Meal prep last weekend saved my life. It made this week so much easier (as did my wonderful and helpful husband, who is finally starting to let go of some of his tendencies to overconsume and really enjoy what we are doing here!). I’ve done a terrible job of taking photos of my meals. I’m just not that person.

Here is all ya get:

Chicken and spinach salad with homemade avocado dressing, tomatoes, bell peppers, almonds, and strawberries 

Veggie soup with roasted sweet potato noodles underneath…so yummy!

That’s all I got this week! Terrible. What I will do is post the meal/exercise plan that unfolded at the end of the week. If anyone is interested in recipes, just get in touch with me and I am happy to share. I’ll try to be better about photos from this point forward, but that obnoxiousness has to be limited somewhere.

So far, everything has been really good! I don’t feel like I am missing out on anything. I feel less bloated, less gross, less heavy in my body, and greatly accomplished because I’ve cooked so much  this week. I also like that my husband I are sitting down at the dinner table more. He is nice to look at and talk to sometimes. 🙂

This is not our dinner table. Just a dinner table. 

Hopefully, my report is positive again in a few days! I feel like this is a day-to-day experience.

Happy Thursday! 

We have 29 more days of this?

Ugh. It’s the evening of our first day of Whole30. I am literally detoxing from sugar, and I’ve had the shakes for about 5 hours now. Ignoring the fact that I would kill to engage in my ritual of having a sweet treat after lunch/after dinner, I find it pretty alarming that I am having such a strong reaction on just the first day.

Breakfast was good. It was satisfying and delicious…and I don’t have chocolate daily after breakfast. So, cool.

I went on a 2.5 mile run, did some laundry, swept the floors, grilled and cut up a few pounds of chicken, and ate my crock pot lunch of sweet potato chili. Delicious!

But then, I couldn’t have a piece of chocolate after lunch. I have been having chocolate after lunch/dinner meals FOR YEARS. Literally.

For years. 

Years, I tell you!

My body is so accustomed to this infusion of artificial sugar right after a meal that I went into craving mode almost immediately. I kept doing chores and watching Netflix to distract myself, but it was gnawing at me in the back of my mind. I reached out to the Whole30 Facebook Group and to my GroupMe chat for support. After a few hours, I ate some almonds to figure out if I was hungry, or if I really was craving this quickly into the program.

I was craving this quickly into the program.

Sad, right?

Finally, I cooked dinner.

Now, dinner is complete, and I am sitting on my couch as I type this, still shaking, slightly breathless, chewing madly on a straw, forcing down water, pushing away dizziness, and thinking how incredibly ridiculous it is that I am having this reaction because I haven’t had artificial sugar all day.

I’m not hungry. The idea of seconds doesn’t sound appealing.

What does sound appealing is…[sigh] chocolate. 

BUT!…The fact that I feel this way is absolutely insane to me. It is even more confirming that I need to do this. My body has built up such a dependency on artificial sugar, and I am on a road to major health conditions if I don’t get it together.

I feel like I did when I quit smoking cigarettes 5 years ago. The hardest smoke to quite was the one that I had after my meals. This is literally happening again, but with chocolate.

I moved past that. I can move past this.

Update on Anthony: my beautifully prepped lunches weren’t enough food for him today. He’s had a few random complaints here and there about “starving to death”. Some of it is sarcasm, but I took a look at what the lunches I used to pack him contained: a turkey sandwich, crackers, a cheese stick, carrots, celery, and a banana. I may throw a few other goodies in there, but that was usually all he ate. He almost always had remaining snacks in the bag. Like I mentioned in my last blog, he now has a hamburger patty, carrots, celery with almond butter, olives, grapes, boiled eggs, and almonds. It’s basically a similar amount to what he had before, but he is still hungry? That’s because I removed the unnecessary carbs and added healthy fats and protein.

Similarly, if you look at our dinner plate above, it wasn’t lacking sustenance. But he made a comment about still feeling hungry. Normally, we’d have a side of pasta or rice added onto that plate. While I am detoxing from sugar, his body is trying to figure out how to feel full from items that are not carbs or dairy. (PS. I’m not a terrible wife…I never intended him to do this program with me, but he decided he wanted to…I’ve told him multiple times he can drop out if he wants and return to the land of sandwich lunches…I’ll keep you posted if he takes me up on that…honestly, the lack of wine might crack him first!).

Anyway, those two interesting notions tell me that we are in for a bumpy ride until our bodies adjust. And they tell me that this is a ride we really need to take.

Back to my craving, I go…

Double, Double…

Double the amount of time I spent in the grocery store than usual.

Double the amount of money I spent in the grocery store than usual (sorry, hubs!).

But…double the amount of good health we’ll have…right?

*sigh* Anything to feel okay with the fact that this meal prep thing is not a joke. It is costly, especially in time and money. Weigh it with the cost of my health, however, and I feel more justified.

Here is a photo of my lovely basket yesterday:

Gorgeous, right? One of the workers in seafood even commented and said my basket was “pretty”. I said, “Yeah, pretty expensive!“. It is what it is.

I spent about 4 hours today cooking hamburger patties for Anthony’s lunch and putting them into meal prep containers for the week. I added almonds, 2 boiled eggs, grapes, carrots, 2 olives, celery, and almond butter for a meal fit for My King (and hopefully enough filling foods to keep him satisfied for long workdays!).

We had a slight boiled egg disaster last night, which is why they look so unattractive. 

After that, I became a slicing and dicing machine. Tomatoes, onions, carrots, squash, zucchini, beets (which make a beautiful and purple mess, in case you weren’t aware), sweet potatoes, red bell peppers, and apples were all cut up and placed into bags, ready to be sauteed or added to any dish. It took me HOURS. In case you weren’t aware, I don’t really know my way around a kitchen (even my own) and I am not very good with a knife. But, I survived and I didn’t lose any fingers (this time…).

This is my fridge now.

I didn’t take a before photo of my fridge, but here is a before photo of my pantry after I cleared out all of the non-compliant items:

Shows how much processed crap we were eating, right? The fridge looked similar before I filled it with so much goodness.

I still have some more prep to do, but I am going to wait for Anthony to get home. Actually, if you remember my to-do list from the last blog post, I have prep to do EVERY DAY. But I think the slicing and dicing is the most tedious.

Tomorrow, we start Whole30 Round 1 Day 1 (R1D1, for future reference).

GET READY…

GET SET…

GO!!!!

Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance

Alliteration, much? I came across this meme and it perfectly (another P for ya!) describes what I’ve been doing since my first post before the New Year. I’ve been preparing properly so that I may prevent poorly performing at this lifestyle change.

Thanks to a snow storm(8-10 inches for our first snow; I call that baptism by fire), I have had plenty of time to mentally and literally plan out this process. I’ve (mostly) read It Starts with Food. I’ve joined a bunch of Facebook supports groups, and I’m saving recipes and tips like crazy. I’m in an intimate little GroupMe chat with a few other ladies around the country. We talk daily. I’m finding it really helpful! Most importantly, I’ve planned out our meals for the first week.

This is no easy task. To be quite honest, it is pretty overwhelming, but I’m trying to maintain my sanity about it. There are no other options but to move forward, so move forward, I will. It has been very tedious to outline every meal of every day for 7 days while trying to make sure it is a meal that I will actually be able to find time to cook! I finished my grocery list today. I plan to buy the meat and dry foods tomorrow and the produce on Friday. I’m going to ignore the fact it will probably cost double what our usual grocery bill is, and remind myself it is for the greater good.

Doesn’t this just look tedious and overwhelming? I know it is messy, but it makes sense to me!

I start school next week, so I’ve also started to plan out my schedule. I realized I needed to make a “Whole30 To-Do List” to capture what needed to be done and when.

So, Tuesday is apparently the only day I’ve given myself reprieve from meal prep…

I’m (mostly) gaining control of the meal prep (for the first week, at least). I’m trying to do the same for my exercise schedule. Yesterday, I completed BBG Week 5 Day 1 for possibly the 4th time in the past few months. I kept stopping for a couple weeks at a time, for whatever reason, and then would resume again at this exact point. My goal is to really move past it and not look back. Today, I practiced yoga at home because my hamstrings and hips are DYING from W5D1 yesterday. They appreciated a nice stretch. Tomorrow, I’ll pick up W5D2.

Onward and upward…

Why I need this…

Something has to change.

My options: a) Move up a pants size, or b) take a hard look at my eating habits.

It’s not just the pants size. Call me vain (like my dear friend, Rachel), but I’ve fit the same clothes since puberty. That’s 15 YEARS of consistency. I know our metabolism changes as we get older, but this can’t happen. Not to me. I work out regularly, I love yoga, I’ve run multiple 5Ks, a 10K, and two half-marathons, I even competed in an all-female triathlon. While that may not be the most impressive list of accomplishments as far as  fitness is concerned, it is for me. I do not come from a family of health-conscious exercisers. I had to develop that on my own. I almost feel like a failure allowing it to get to this point. I’m also a licensed professional counselor; self-care is basically a counselor’s jam. If I’m having a more significant weight increase than usual, I’m pretty sure that falls under self-care issues…

I also need a change in energy levels. I can get 7-9 hours of sleep a night, and I’m exhausted all day. I’ve had plenty of bloodwork done. All of my levels are normal. I also have lower back and hip pain. Bone and joint inflammation is not uncommon for me.

And my skin…redness, splotchy, acne-prone, wrinkles. I use top-of-the-line skincare with minimal results. I’m betting diet could be a factor.

Something has to change.

My weight gain did not happen randomly. Four months ago, my husband (Anthony) and I moved to Virginia. I’m a first-year doctoral student at Virginia Tech. Life has been quite a whirlwind. We married in May, backpacked for a month for our honeymoon, moved across the country, and have been hustling ever since…

(The view of our backyard in Virginia…gorgeous, right?!) 

My schedule is erratic. I’m an incredibly structured person, but let’s be real. There is only so much time in a day to plan for health. I need to be held accountable for what I am setting out to do. Accountability starts with this blog.

Last semester, I had 12 hours of class, 10 hours of clinical internship, 20 hours of my graduate assistantship, and 2.5 hours of supervision. This does not include reading, writing, and research. In my personal life, I’m the newlywed wife of a pilot and the mother of 2 dogs and a cat.

So, when does a doc student exercise? Yoga classes are out. Most of them don’t fit in my schedule, and we are now living on the income of a flight instructor (modest) and a graduate assistant (meager).

That first week of school, I woke up at 5 AM to exercise. This was not uncommon when training for any of my past races. But, on the third day, I woke up crying and almost had a panic attack. With so much transition and the start of my doctoral student identity development, the pressure I had started to place on myself to exercise was overbearing. I decided exercise could fit in my life in a more reasonable fashion and I would back off. I moved to waking up at 6 AM and exercising for around 30 minutes 3x/week. This is a huge decrease from my previous exercise routine. Throw in a few travels for conferences, a few visits from friends back home, and the holidays–BAM!

This can’t continue to happen.

I need to be held accountable for my health. Sugar is my drug of choice, and I consume my weight of it (especially chocolate!). I’m also in a personal and intimate relationship with carbs.

Something has to change.

My early attempts at health included those 3x/week workouts that I mentioned. I was using Kayla Itsines’s BBG and modifying it for short morning workouts since I am so limited on time. I’ll continue to do this and follow the plan, modifying where needed. But, I need to run again. I miss the stress relief, and my body misses the cardio. I’ve made so many excuses, including lack of time and cold weather. I need to make it a point to at least run 2x/week on the treadmill at the gym, around campus, in my neighborhood, WHATEVER. But, it needs to happen.

I also need to incorporate a yoga practice at home 1-2x/week, even if it is for 15 minutes. That always helped to center me, and I really abandoned it this semester to sleep in, sit longer on the couch, watch Netflix, study, etc..

All of those exercise attempts are fine and dandy, but I am going to start controlling my diet. I heard about the Whole30 on one of my many pilot wife Facebook groups. I read the website and a couple blogs, texted a few people that I knew had some experience with it, and I purchased the audiobook to listen to on the long drive back to Virginia from Louisiana next week. Meal prep starts when we return to VA, and this life style change begins on January 15th (mostly to align with a Facebook support group starting at this time).

For those that haven’t heard of the Whole30, the goal is to understand and explore your relationship with food by eliminating unhelpful food groups. Meat, seafood, vegetables, fruit, and healthy fats make up the majority of the compliant foods. (This is hard for me, because eating meat often brings me guilt. I’m not a vegetarian, but I’ve always wished to be. Maybe that can be another goal at another time.) The creators ask you to commit just 30 days. Just one month of your life to allow your body to learn how to process energy using healthy food and to break its addiction to sugar, carbs, dairy, etc. I may die giving up cheese and chocolate, but the Whole30 allows for reintroduction to these foods after a month so that you can see how your body responds to it. Many bloggers say your relationship and consumption of these foods changes completely after you spend a month abstaining from it.

That’s right. ABSTINENCE. No cheat day. No slip-ups. No sneaking. This is why I need accountability.

This blog will be my way of keeping track of my month of discipline and rigidity. Anthony is supportive, and he will help to make sure my dinners are compliant since he is the main cook of the house. Next semester, I have 9 hours of classes, another 10 hour clinical internship, a 3-4 hour supervision internship, and my same 20 hour assistantship in addition to research and conference preparation.

Follow me as I try to navigate a strict food program, increase my exercise routine, and be a somewhat sane wife (though I may not be after I lose the 3 C’s: cheese, carbs, and chocolate) under my demands as a doc student!

If you have any experiences with the Whole30, let me know! I’d love to hear about them.