Whole 30 Week 1: Three Steps for Success

It’s Week 1 of my Whole 30 Challenge!! I decided to start yesterday so that I will be close to done by Memorial Day. I’ll probably stick to the food guidelines for the holiday, but plan on adding in a drink or two because I’m not a masochist. I spent part of my weekend planning out meals while enjoying my last glass of wine for awhile, and grocery shopped for the tools I’ll need to stick to my plan.

Instead of reinventing the wheel in this post, you can read about the Whole 30 food guidelines here. My favorite line is “This is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Fighting cancer is hard. Birthing a baby is hard. Losing a parent is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard.” Somehow thinking about that piece of tough love helps me relax into this plan with no temptation to cheat. Also reminding myself how good I’ll feel coming out of it is a huge motivation.

A little bit more background on why I’m doing this. As mentioned in the previous post, I have been eating way more junk than usual and not feeling my best. I generally eat really well for meals, but it has been the added treats and snacks (which have become habitual) that are really getting in my way. I’ve found myself accepting every sweet I’m offered and I crave sugar all the time. Sugar is literally an addiction (I’ll do lots of posts on this). The more you eat, the more you crave and that is a reality for me right now.

Besides cravings, I’ve also been experiencing some symptoms that are no fun:

My allergies have been terrible (itchy, puffy eyes, runny nose)
Digestion has been off
My skin looks dull and has increased redness and sensitivity
I don’t have my usual amount of energy (this could also be related to baby wake-ups…)
I had my first migraine a few weeks ago that resulted in vomiting and DO NOT want to experience that again
Lastly, I’ve got about 8 extra lbs of baby weight hanging on despite working out regularly and eating mostly well
So that is my “why”. Here are the three most important actions I take before getting started:

Record Your Starting Point:

I weighed myself yesterday to have a starting point and will not weigh myself again until the end. I also took “before” pictures, which I will share at the end along with some “after” pics. However, weight isn’t really my main focus at this point. Feeling better and re-focusing my habits is my most important objective. That being said. having a physical picture as well as writing down how you feel at the beginning is important. The changes will be gradual over the 30 days, so being able to refer back and see progress will help keep you on track as well as help maintain habits after the 30 days is over.

2. Get rid of as much temptation as possible.

Rid your house of as many non-compliant foods as you can in the weeks before you start. Even if the entire household isn’t doing this with you, they can live without cake, cheetos and ice cream for one month. Having a cabinet full of easy to grab processed foods is setting yourself up for failure. That being said, I would encourage you not to dwell on what you can’t eat, but instead focus on all the delicious foods you can eat and think about how good you’ll feel at the end.

3. Meal Plan:

In order to successfully stick to a Whole 30, planning is key. Especially if the whole family will not be joining in. The last thing you want is to be left hungry with no compliant food options available because that’s when you will be most likely to reach for a doughnut. Plus, the best part about this “diet” is that there is no counting calories or quantity restriction, so if you’re prepared with delicious foods on hand you can eat as much as you want! (The cool thing is, cravings disappear, so you probably won’t eat as much as you think).

When laying out our meals for this week, I chose recipes that are either already Whole 30 compliant OR added extra items to the grocery list that can be easy substitutes for components of recipes that are not. We don’t typically eat much bread, but we do eat tortillas, grains and rice regularly, so riced cauliflower and potatoes will be my best friends this month.

Here is this week’s dinner plan:

Monday: Mexican Pulled Chicken Loaded Fries (potatoes are compliant)

Tuesday: Meatloaf with Fennel Orange Salad and Polenta (I will eat riced cauliflower instead of polenta)

Wednesday: Cauliflower Gnocchi with Air Fried Broccoli and Salad

Thursday: Asian Stir Fry with Pot Stickers (the rest of the family will eat with rice, I will eat extra meat and veggies and avoid the pot stickers)

Friday: Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries and Salad (I’ll eat my burger bunless - which is normal for me)

Breakfast is always a green smoothie first thing and a banana mid morning, so that doesn’t change for me during Whole 30. Some people find they need more protein in the morning, so eggs are a great way to satisfy that.

Lunches consist of leftovers with lettuce and extra veggies to make a messy salad (I love a good mess).

Snacks are either Whole 30 compliant bars (like Rx or Epic bars) or a handful of nuts and raisins.

***Some people find that eating leftovers and salad for lunch every day can become monotonous. I personally don’t mind, but if you are one of those people, you may want to make a few more meals similar to what I’ve outlined for the dinner menu, so you can do hot meals for lunch as well. I’ll work on posting these recipes soon!