Saturday, April 6, 2013

good ol' selfie and the whole30

The photo below has little (nothing) to do with the fact that I'm starting the Whole30 today. It's a pretty terrible quality photo, isn't it? I may or may not have done that on purpose. ;)

Partly due to my mother's unwavering dedication to eating healthier since last summer, starting off with this program before going full-fledged paleo on the world, and partly due to the fact that my own healthful eating and weight loss has hit a serious and annoying road block, I've decided to give this a try.



I've always been overweight. If not by a lot, then always by a little. Only within the last few years have I really started to take the health side of this more seriously. I took up cycling a couple of years ago, and in the summers I try to shop at the farm markets and eat whole foods as much as possible. But what about in the winter? What about when those baked casseroles start to sound real good? Or when my coworkers deposit three or four trays of baked goods in the break room and all I can think about is how much I won't be satisfied until I have another chocolate peanut butter cookie? What I need is a change of pace, a new way of looking at how I eat, and a better way of taking care of myself. That's where the Whole9 team and the Whole30 program come in (and also my mom, over at knitorious, who has taught me through her actions that this is not only possible, but enjoyable).

And the Whole30 sounds great! Whole foods only. That's it. Of course there are some limitations, but they are things I mostly already follow: No dairy (I've only got to cut out the creamer from my coffee and yogurt), no bread (no more crackers, but I haven't bought bread in months), and no sugar. THIS WILL BE CHALLENGING. But I'm halfway there. In 30 days I hope to feel more energized, fit into my clothes better, feel awesome on my bike -- because it'll actually be warm enough to get out on the road! - and create some eating habits I can take with me past the 30 days.

As far as my history with weight loss goes, I'm at my "usual" right now. Last summer I weighed in at my highest, which was 196. I freaked out and knew that was just not okay, so I counted calories and successfully lost about 25 pounds, which, give or take a couple, has remained about par for the course since November.

So for posterity, and also as a benchmark, I'm going to throw out there what is totally taboo to throw out there: my weight. I've been ashamed of it my whole life, for better or worse (we could have numerous discussions about the pros and cons of this, but it will just be depressing, so let's not). The point is, I'm not going to weigh myself for 30 days. That's part of the deal: no scale. I weigh 174 lbs. There. Big sigh. Why is that so hard to admit?

I'll keep up with this for the next thirty days, and then some, and on Monday, May 6, I'll give myself a little weigh-in and see what's up (or hopefully down), and how I feel then.

Cheers!


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