About Whole30 and Day 1

Jon (my husband) and I kicked off health month yesterday. I'm doing the Whole30 diet, he's doing South Beach (at least phase one). They're pretty similar, but he can have low fat dairy and artificial sweeteners. When I talk food I'll be sure to point out differences between his and mine.

Whole30 aka Paleo is a diet that cuts out all processed foods (with some minimally processed exceptions). There is a ton of information about it here: The Whole30 Program It's supposed to give you more natural enegry, help you lose some weight (though that is not the ultimate goal) and detox your body from all the processed junk that's out there. It's supposed to make you feel good!

I am not a health nut. I don't exercise regularly, I don't care about healthy foods (Chick-fil-a = yum!), and I am sure you will frequently hear about my love of bread throughout my posts. I chose to try this diet for a lot of reasons:

• It makes sense to me. The main goal is health, not weight loss. I think there's a big difference, and if you're only focused on what you can't have and what's bad for you, it's not as likely to be successful. This is based on what's GOOD for you. And you are not supposed to step on a scale for the entire 30 days-I love it!
• The thought of having more energy sounds fabulous. I have an 8 month old and I work full time with kids so by the end of the work day I'm exhausted. My lack of energy since becoming a mom has been very noticeable. It's not because I'm staying up all night, either. He's been sleeping through the night since he was 2 months old, and I go to sleep early. My husband teases me about being old all the time because by dark, I'm ready for bed.
• All the other benefits listed. Better sleep, better exercise, better recovery time after exercise, less aches and pains-it all sounds good to me.
• I figure, it can't hurt. If I get through the 30 days and nothing has really changed (I don't expect that to happen) then oh well-I ate well for a whole month!

In addition to eating well, we are going to ramp up the exercise this month. I found an easy* month long ab routine for June so we're giving it a shot. I can't find the original website, but here's the link to my post on Pinterest: Mean Abs June

*easy if you're a normal human. I am a totally out of shape human who has never felt the need to work on abs (thank you, baby). My current (lack of) ab strength rivals this guy:

 

While I have never been one to "work out" I was always been pretty fit until baby. Not any more. So Jon and I started with day 1. 15 sit ups, 5 crunches, 10 sec plank, 10 push ups. 

I nearly died. It was humbling, to say the least.

I didn't decide to track our progress until day 2, so there aren't any food pictures from day 1. Our meals were: 

• Breakfast-scrambled eggs and turkey bacon (I realized the next day that turkey bacon has sugar in it-I started with a cheat. Way to kick it off right!)
• Lunch-Grilled chicken salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing
• Dinner-Easiest Roast Chicken Ever (so easy, SO delicious), asparagus, and steamed artichokes

So 1 day down, 29 to go. I'm feeling good and not having any cravings, but anybody can diet for a day. I'm determined to make it all month without cheating. I'm also determined to be able to finish 10 sit ups properly by the end of the month. It's the simple things.