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Post Whole-30 Reflections

It's been a long month since I finished my Whole 30 in August. I've had SO much going on but I really wanted to take the time to reflect on the changes I've experienced since I completed my first Whole 30 round.

First of all, I lost a total of 16 pounds over the course of the month. I've since lost 4 more. I weighed myself a few days ago fully expecting that I had put weight back on. I have not even been close to eating anything that resembles the food I was eating on plan. I was shocked that I hadn't gained any weight. So shocked that I kept moving the scale to make sure it wasn't stuck on something because I couldn't believe it.

I feel a lot better without the extra pounds on my body. I've been having so many back problems, and I can't afford the co-pay with my chiropractor right now, so I've been doing a lot of stretching and twisting. I imagine that it would be so much worse if I was still carrying an extra 20 pounds of body weight on my twisted spine. I'm by no means cured, but it could be worse. My clothes are fitting me better and I really enjoy feeling comfortable in my clothes. I'll catch a glimpse of myself in a window or mirror and am surprised over and over not to see my belly hanging over my beltline. It's a nice feeling.

The downside so far has been my acute awareness of how miserable certain foods will make me. Between remodeling my kitchen and not really being able to cook much, getting food poisoning, and surviving a pretty bad cold, I have not been able to make the best choices about what I eat. I've discovered that my body HATES dairy and gluten. I can have very small amounts of it, but if I have too much (aka pizza or a bagel with cream cheese) my mid-section bloats and my intestines feel like they are being stabbed from the inside. I had a slice of pizza yesterday and I thought I was going to throw up a couple hours later. It's very inconvenient since so many delicious foods come in a gluten/cheese pairing. Part of me wonders if I just found drugs like gas-x, lactaid, or beano if I could control the symptoms at least somewhat, but then another part of me wants me to suffer so I avoid these foods since they seem to be so mean to my system.

I want to do another shorter round of whole-30 when my kitchen is more functional (it's so close!) and I have prepared myself to attack another round. It's so difficult but so worth it. I've also had this concept of exercise in the back of my mind lately too. I've been giving myself space to get our house settled, to adjust to our new routines, and to just enjoy that I feel so much better before I start pushing to do more. I do think walking regularly would really help with my back problems. But one thing at a time!

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