My Reasons for Starting a Whole 30

From 2002-2010, my weight fluctuated a LOT. I was as high as 237 pounds and as low as 183. I was everywhere in between, multiple times. I was in great shape and then terrible shape followed by decent shape and then horrendous shape. In retrospect, I had a lot of things working against me.

For one, I don’t have skinny genes – my body can really put weight on. On top of that, I didn’t have enough understanding of physiology to put together a decent plan that could work permanently. So, I would go up and down in weight.

Fortunately, in 2010 I really started figuring my body out. I got control of it. I learned about blood glucose, insulin, and fat-regulating hormones. Since then, I’ve found that I can eat as much as I want as long as I eat the right foods. If you want to learn a little more about how I came to the conclusions I came to, you can read about them here (because that’s another story).

For about two years, I really had control of my body. I ate healthy foods but I could eat sweets here and there and stay about the same weight . In fact, I got leaner and more muscular during those two years.

About a month and a half ago, I got married. My wife’s a babe. And, she’s way cool. And, she’s really easy to get along with. But, getting married was really stressful. Planning the wedding was really stressful. I started worrying about all kinds of new bills like health insurance, a mortgage (we bought a home right before we got married), and HOA fees. I started worrying about paying bills for two people instead of one.

My stress levels went through the roof. So did my treat-eating.

Instead of eating a dessert here and there, I started eating stuff almost every day. We had made some homemade ice cream and I started munching on that. I found myself buying a doughnut at the grocery store late at night – something I normally wouldn’t do. I ate M&Ms, Peanut M&Ms, Cadbury Mini Eggs, and lots of other treats.

Don’t misunderstand, I wasn’t eating bags and bags of treats. But, I had lost some control of what I was doing.

Then, we got married and went on our honeymoon.

Frankly I didn’t really care about what I was eating on the honeymoon. We ordered desserts and I ate plenty of pizza and burgers. It was awesome and if I had to do it all over again, I would do it the exact same way.

When we got home, my diet was getting somewhat out of control. I would start each morning with a healthy breakfast, thinking that each day would be the day I got control of my diet again. But, I couldn’t get it under control. I kept eating Peanut M&Ms and Cadbury Mini Eggs, among other things.

Eventually I realized that my diet was getting worse even though I was trying to make it better. I was in by far my worst funk in two years. That had to change. I needed some structure and I needed some peer pressure.

Enter the Whole 30

The Whole 30 is a 30 day program where you eat nothing but whole, healthy foods. You eat no foods with added sugars. You also ditch grains, dairy, and legumes. It helps you to reset your body when you’re out of control and it helps you to heal your hormones from the damage caused by processed foods and sugars.

I had never gone a full 30 days on whole foods before and had wanted to try it out for a while. Since my diet needed some serious fixing, I decided it was the perfect time. I told Carrie I wanted to do it and she of course was great about it.

I started the program on May 14.

Posting Food Journals

I made the decision to post daily food journals here on the site. Frankly, I needed the accountability. Without that accountability, I don’t know if I would have been able to get through the first few days, since that’s when I experienced all of the withdrawal effects. I really didn’t like the first few days but since then I’ve felt really good.

Posting food journals has also helped me to better analyze what’s happened while on the program. The approach that I used in the first two weeks didn’t get the results I’ve been getting since. I plan on writing a success guide that shows how to get the best possible results when eating this way.

If you struggle when you try to get control of your diet, I would suggest upping your accountability. Tell people around you what you’re doing. Track your progress on your blog so others can see it. It’s a lot harder for me to screw things up when I know I’m going to have to post about it. It’s happened a few times with minor mishaps but for the most part, I’ve been really good.

If you want to gain control of your diet but don’t really know how, feel free to get in contact with me. I’d love you hear from you and I’d love to help however I can. Drop me an email from my contact page.

1. 15 Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight
2. Why Can’t I Lose Weight? (6 Reasons)
3. Reasons You’re Gaining Weight on a Paleo Diet