February 9, 2016

My Whole30 Results | Breakup Challenge 2016

Hello friends! I have about one week's worth of non-Whole30ness under my belt and I of course fell completely off the wagon. My will power just "poofed" and was gone for the weekend. In my defense, it was a weekend away plus we had a Superbowl party, so it was double trouble.

Here's the thing though, I'm back on track now this week eating about 90% Whole30. After the weekend of binging on terrible foods and alcohol I was so ready to get back on track. I literally am craving veggies and salads so I feel like that's a success!

But enough about how naughty I was over the weekend, let's talk about how Whole30 went for me!

If you are just tuning in, Amy and I decided that 2016 would be the year we broke up with our bad habits, and we asked anyone and everyone in the blog world (or otherwise) to join in! Whether you picked one habit to focus on or kick for the 30 days, or joined us for Whole30, we were all in it together! 

The Breakup Challenge

Major Successes: 


Skin: The psoriasis/dryness on my scalp is about 90% gone. This is a drastic difference! I am no longer embarrassed to show my hairline! It's incredible that your diet influences your skin so much. I'm glad that this was one thing I could kiss goodbye!

Weight & Inches: I was very worried that because of my injury and how inactive I was the scale and the measurements wouldn't really change. But I was pleasantly surprised when I measured on day 31. I lost about 8.5 pounds, 3.5" off my beer gut (belly) and 3" off my bust line. Those are sizable differences! Everything else stayed the same (other than the thigh that is larger now due to it being my only functioning leg) and I can live with that. 

Before and after Whole30
Look at the difference in my face!!! That's Christmas week and then after!

Health: Another obstacle I had to tackle during my Whole30 was a bout of the flu. It was the drop you dead, head-cold kind of flu and guess what? It was gone in about 2 days. Why? Because of Whole30, I'm about 99% sure. When your body isn't processing all that other junk, you can just get well so much faster! 

Soda Addiction: The main thing I craved  during the 30 days was soda. Diet Coke/Coke Zero more specifically. I thought it would be the one thing I'd treat myself with after the fact. Of course during this horrible binge of a weekend I tried one. Guess what? It was so sweet I almost spit it out. It went straight in the garbage. I guess I kicked my Coke habit! 


I did pick up a La Croix habit though! Coconut was my favorite (mango is good too!)


Attitude & Mood: Whole30 is supposed to give you all this energy and make you happier. I don't know that I had ether happen necessarily, but I do know, I was able to get through a really tough time in my life without too much sadness. So instead of getting really happy and energetic maybe Whole30 just helped me cope - and I'm ok with that!

Mental Toughness: One of the things that was most important to me about doing Whole30 was proving to myself I could actually do it. I could go those 30 days without cheating. I could commit to something to better myself. I had moments I really thought I would crack - that I wanted more than anything some comfort food or to order food because I literally couldn't move. Injuries are tough and getting sick on top of that was tougher. But I did it. I stuck to it. And more than anything I proved to myself I could!

Not so Successful: 


Skin: Even though the psoriasis went away I for some reason had worse acne/spots on my face during Whole30. It could be a facewash thing, but I was really hoping my skin would clear up completely with this change, and it didn't. A bit of a disappointment there. 

Weight & Inches: Like I mentioned above I was very pleased with what I did lose. However a huge part of me is sad I couldn't be active during Whole30. Damn you peg leg! Who knows how much lower the scale would have dipped for me if I could have worked out the last 3 weeks.

Sleep: Whole30 is supposed to help you sleep better and through the night. I saw zero difference on this front. It probably was a lot due to having a boot or wrap on a very painful ankle, but still, I would have loved to have gotten better sleep.

Attitude & Mood: I don't think I got my "tigers blood" the way I'm supposed to. I was never fully energized once the injury happened and I blame that. I wanted that boost of energy more than anything and while I still think it's totally doable with Whole30, I might just have to do another round when I'm in better shape (two legs) to see if I can't finally have that tigery goodness flowing through my veins!

Some Confessions & Reasoning:

I think part of the reason I was not "extremely" successful with Whole30 was because I did opt to take prescription painkillers and over the counter cold medicine. While I don't think either was a bad choice for me (painkillers were a must to not be crying the first 2 days I was hurt), I know they negatively effected my Whole30 experience. My body had to work at processing and cleaning those drugs out of my system so I didn't have that completely "clean" Whole30. Thus why I will simply have to try again! I'm thinking September maybe? Summer is just too hard to not have a cold beer during every once and a while!

kitty snuggles
Kitty snuggles we're good medicine too.


What do you think? Would you ever try Whole30? Did you breakup with something with us? I want to know how it went!

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16 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you stuck through it even with your injury. I have felt pretty energized this past week, I think more than I normally feel on any other given week. Usually I'm a multiple cups of coffee a day kinda person, but this week I've only had black tea of black coffee a couple times a day so I'm pretty satisfied with that.

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  2. so glad you stuck through your challenge even though life threw a bunch of lemons at you. you still did amazing! the skin thing will clear up as well. your body is getting rid of all that crap and it shows through your skin. stick with it for 3 more months and you'll have clear bright skin!!

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  3. Funny... my face broke out a lot too. I think the skin thing just takes longer. I will say the breakouts were small spots and went away quickly so that's a bonus. My hair looks amazing though but that might be totally unrelated, not sure. You did great and we should definitely do it again.

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  4. I would've broken and ordered in or whipped up some mac & cheese or soup once I got injured. I think that would be so hard! Yay for losing weight and feeling better, though!!

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  5. Congrats on your success with Whole30! You did great! Look at all of those inches lost. Be proud girl!

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  6. That's a huge accomplishment! You can totally tell a difference in your face. I wonder if the acne has to do with getting the last bit of toxins out of your system? When my friend did it, acne popped out on her too.. I guess the reverse of when you eat too much fried food?

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  7. YOU DID IT, way to go!!! Very proud of you and I am stoked at your results. How crazy is it that processed crap tastes too sweet after Whole30? I can't drink sugary coffee drinks at Starbucks anymore and my wallet and body thank me.

    I had issues with skin too, I think mine had to do with coconut creamer in my coffee. And it might just be your skin processing everything takes a lot longer too. Glad it helped your moods when you were sad, I hope you are doing okay!

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  8. Those are awesome results! You can definitely see a difference in your face. It is a bummer about your foot. I'm sure your results in September will be awesome!

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  9. I think you did wonderful!!! Especially all things considered. And you lost more weight than I did and I worked out 5 days a week...so there's that!!! My face cleared up a lot on Whole 30 but I had a really bad problem before and I think it was due to either dairy or grains..soon to find out with reintroducing things. I bet yours broke out to release the toxins. Either way your after picture looks great! I will be doing Whole 30 again for sure. It was the only "Deit" I was ever successful at for more than a week!

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  10. i think you did amazingly, especially with getting cold and getting injured. high five girl! that is awesome.
    i really want to do something like this, just not as hardcore as the whole 30. i'm thinking march. maybe.

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  11. I've been heavily on the fence of Whole 30 for about 6 months now, but seeing the successes that you've had with it is making me think it really may be worth the effort and time. Just to see the physical and skin effects.

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  12. I keep reading so many wonderful posts about Whole 30 that it has me wanting to strongly consider doing it. I love reading about your success with it, and it definitely is pushing me to do it. It's awesome that the diet coke/coke habit is gone!

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  13. For being injured through half of it you did AMAZING and its definitely showing in your face!! I never got any tigers blood either so that was a little disappointing. I did have to break down and take some advil cold and sinus around Day 25 so that probably messed with things a bit for me too!

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  14. You did awesome! Good for you, girlie! & I think that you are simply glowing in your "after" picture & that your skin looks great.

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  15. CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I'm on Day 14! Yes!

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  16. Some things are good. Some are great. Then comes this blog.
    Resumeyard

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