Whole30 - The Results

That was a tough 30 days, but I am so glad we did it. I am even happier we did it together as a family. I believe I said it before, but there is no way I would have made it through the 2nd week if my children weren't involved. During the darkest days, I kept telling myself that if my kids can get through this with minimal complaining, there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to. I also thought about what message it would send to them if I quit. So I didn't.

The Groceries
So I started tallying up the food that we ate during this 30 days to give you an idea of how much a family of 4 might go through during the Whole30. However, I didn't have this wonderful idea until after I threw away some receipts. I tried to remember and guess, but this list doesn't even include every thing that I bought during the course of 30 days. Here is why it was so darn expensive......

8 pounds of carrots
3 bunches of celery
5 pineapples
4 pounds of strawberries
1 pound of sugar snap peas
3 pounds frozen green beans + 3 cans green beans
1 pound frozen California blend (carrots, broccoli and cauliflower mixture)
2 heads of cauliflower
4+ bags of lettuce
2 large containers of baby spinach
3 pounds of walnuts
3 containers of raisins (big containers)
garlic (probably 3-4 bulbs)
4+ pounds of onions
2 pounds of lemons
4 packages of Prosciutto
4 limes
10 pounds of grapes
3 3 pound bags of gala apples
4 3 pound bags of granny smith apples
2 mangoes
2 cantaloupes
4 green peppers
2 pounds asparagus
2 pounds zucchini
1 pound ground veal
1 pound ground pork
4 packages of breakfast chicken sausage
2 pounds ground beef
10 packages of Lou's Bacon (no sugar added bacon)
1 can tomato sauce
2 cans coconut milk
5+ 18 pack container of eggs
1 dozen pasteurized eggs (for homemade mayo)
5 avocados
1 package of compliant hot dogs
6 pounds frozen chicken breasts
2 packages of fresh chicken breasts
1 whole chicken
6 rotisserie chickens
6+ Dole Squish ems Applesauce
2 big containers of unsweetened applesauce
3+ pounds of sweet potatoes
3 pounds of deli turkey
20 lara bars
4 packages of mandarin oranges
3 bottles of balsamic vinegar
3 bottles of light olive oil
1 large jug of olive oil
2 packages chicken apple sausage

Whew! That is a LOT of food. I know there are things I missed. And frighteningly, the steaks that we ate and some of the ground beef that we ate was stuff we already had in our freezer. I can't imagine how much more we would have spent had we had to buy that stuff as well. We spent a lot of money, about $500 more than we usually spend on both groceries and eating out in one month. That did not make me happy, but I'm not that surprised. I wasn't really able to use coupons, and when I could I would often forget because I got out of the habit.

How we felt/feel
As I discussed day to day in my posts, I experienced many of the emotions and physical side effects that they talk about in the book and on the website. Overall, however, I don't think I feel any better or different than other times when I'm eating healthy (i.e. less) and exercising. I didn't necessarily notice getting a big spike in energy or anything. I do think I am sleeping better, but again, I think I tend to sleep better when I'm eating well.

I have had minimal stomach pains throughout this 30 days. The bathroom happenings (TMI yes, but with Crohn's important) are not significantly different. But again, I can remember back in 2012 when I was having a pretty bad flare (almost all year), I felt the BEST when I was doing weight watchers, paying attention to what I was eating, losing weight and training for a marathon. So, I don't necessarily think avoiding all the things I avoided was something that made a big difference. I think for me, it's eating healthy and losing weight that my body enjoys.

Results
Ok. So I am sure that lots of you are curious about this. I want to start by saying that according to the BMI (which everyone knows how much I hate that measure of "health"), I have 100 pounds to lose from when I started the Whole30. Drew had about 25 pounds to lose and Mary and Robbie were both perfect! :)

Drew lost 14 pounds.

Mary lost 6.6 pounds (that seems like a LOT but she doesn't look too skinny or frankly much different than she did a month ago)

Robbie didn't weigh in on day 1 and forgot to weigh in this morning, but he basically maintained. Last night he was around 57 pounds and he's usually around 55-58 pounds depending on when he gets on the scale, so I'm going to say he maintained his weight.

I lost 16.6 pounds and 8.5 inches overall (3.5 from waist, 3 from hips, 1 from chest and 1 from arms).

I can't believe I'm going to post a before and after pic...I still have a LONG way to go, but the results in just 30 days are pretty cool so I'm going to post it. Please ignore my messy bedroom! :)

What's Next??
So, I "only" have 83.4 pounds left to lose! (actually, I'd be happy with 74). I do not think that this is a realistic way for me to continue to live. Yes, losing 16 pounds without really even thinking about it (in terms of measuring or counting) was great, but I like feeling like I can have anything I want as long as I keep it in check. Weight Watcher's has always been something that worked for me to lose weight as long as I was working the program. Well, that's going to be the case for anything. Clearly, this would continue to work too as long as I was willing to continue to eliminate all these things from my diet every day. What the creators of the Whole30 suggest is that after the Whole30 you stay as compliant to the program as possible, with some mindful periods of "off-roading".  The problem with me is that isn't clear cut enough for me. When eating like this I didn't have to track or measure or anything, but when you start adding in "off program" foods here and there, how do you know when it's too much? I just can't do that. I can do something like Weight Watcher's and focus on whole foods most of the time, but since I'm counting points, I know how to add in the unhealthy things without going totally overboard.

So yesterday I officially signed up for Weight Watcher's online. I am going to give myself a few days off to just take a break. I'm (hopefully) not going to go totally crazy, but I will be indulging a little over the next few days....and I'm totally OK with that. We'll see what happens with the scale, but I'm not going to stress about it. This has helped jump start my weight loss journey (again) and I am motivated to keep going. I truly need this to be the last time I start this journey.

I plan to continue to blog through my journey. Thank you for all the support you gave me throughout these 30 days. Hopefully I can continue to get the much needed support from this blog so I can continue until I hit that goal weight and then continue on to maintenance!