Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Just finished day 7 of the Whole30 challenge- woo! Shall we do a quick recap of the Whole30? Here it is: no sugars, grains, legumes, or dairy for, duh, 30 days. And I'm throwing in no soda, but I think that kind of goes without saying. I mean, c'mon, one of the main focuses of the Whole30 is consuming, with a few exceptions, nothing processed. No additives, no dyes, no unpronounceable chemicals. A lot of people, when I tell them what I'm doing, tell me that they could never do it because it sounds so hard. I used to think that too, that it was too restrictive, too extreme. Then I started researching how different foods affect the body and honestly, it's been easy peasy. You know what else has been easy peasy? Losing 8lbs in 7 days, all the while feeling more focused and energetic than I have in months. No mid-afternoon crashes, no headaches, no starving, just pure awesomeness. Also, my skin is looking fan-freakin-tastic. Most importantly though, I think, is regaining the confidence I lost there for about 5 minutes.

In last couple of months, I've left my home, my family, my friends, and moved to a new city, in an apartment all alone, and have taken on a whole new life. I've started a career that is totally different from anything I've ever done, and I've been given so much more responsibility than I've ever carried before. Everything in my life is new and different, and I approached this change with total, 100% confidence. When I set my mind to it, I truly feel that I can do anything; that's how I roll. I've never been afraid to put myself out there and make things happen. It only takes regretting something once to convince you to never let yourself regret anything again, and I've tried to live my life without regrets, to avoid the "What if?"

I recently put myself out there- like, totally vulnerable out there- and ended up blowing it. Big time. I was super bummed for a few days, and it happened to coincide with an overwhelming work load that had me questioning my performance and what I was even doing here. As soon as I questioned, though, I was filled with an overwhelming sense of "No, you are supposed to be here. Moreover, you are totally capable of what's in front of you." Even though last week really sucked, I'm glad I put myself out there...in the end, it turned a pretty humbling week and I think I needed that. There is good to be found in everything, even the painful- I live by that belief and look for the good in every experience. I mean, experiencing a crisis of confidence keeps you from turning into an ego-maniac, and really, how is that a bad thing?

So, the moral of the story is this: eat more vegetables and less processed foods, don't be afraid to put yourself out there, and look for the good in everything, because it's there. I promise.

Also, let men do the chasing. Just sayin.

3 comments:

  1. I am just so happy for you. Life is so great when we find its lessons.

    I'm glad you're going no soda--that's actually one of the rules. No sugars = no artificial sweeteners. Plus it wasn't until my first Whole30 that I was finally able to kick my Diet Coke addiction. I'll never look back.

    I just weighed myself today too (not supposed to weigh during the Whole30, but oh well) and I'm down 6. I really didn't think I'd lose much since I already eat paleo, but it goes to show what cleaning up your diet even a little bit will do!!

    I'm so glad we subconsciously started this together!!

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    1. Duh, of course soda is part of the rules...not sure what I was thinking...it was probably the years and years of justifying my Diet Coke/ Diet Dr Pepper addiction. I think I've totally kicked my addiction too- hallelujah! I was getting some gnarly caffeine headaches there for a bit. (fyi, the whole time I'm writing this, I'm staring at a Dr Pepper truck parked outside my window...)

      I'm cheating too, with the weighing in. I think I'm going to stop though. I'm not doing this to specifically lose weight, I'm changing my lifestyle so that I can be healthy and I want to focus on that.

      Even apart, we are still so connected. Love it.

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  2. Think of all the cute shoes you can buy with your soda money. And shoot- 8 pounds; That's, like, almost a bowling ball! Where do I sign up? I've got a few bowling balls to sacrifice for the cause.

    I'm very proud of you for many reasons. Mostly 'cause you're my hero.

    xoxo
    Mom

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