A New Challenge

The Whole30 was a great challenge for me and putting it out on the blog helped tremendously. The fact that I put it out there publicly helped me to keep going when I didn't want to. I loved the support from my friends and family and could use some more of that now!

I am not doing another Whole30 because I just don't think that is a realistic way for me to live forever. I do need to make more permanent life changes though, so I'm looking at challenging myself in a different way.

It has been 2 weeks since the whole30 ended and I have taken these 2 weeks completely off! I am actually totally fine with the weight that I gained back. I was hoping I wouldn't gain back more than 5 pounds and I gained back 4.6 pounds. It has been a busy 2 weeks. The kids finished up school and then we've been doing some fun things as a family.

First day of summer break - a day at the zoo!

Then a camping trip!

And finally a night at Kalahari!

But today the new challenge starts. The new challenge is to see how many days in a row (hopefully at least 30, but perhaps even more than that) I can stick to the Weight Watcher's plan 100%. Here is what this means to me: 1) I will track everything I eat and stay within my points range every day. The points range includes daily points (currently 35) + activity points (varies daily) + weekly points (49 points each week). I can use these points any way I want (i.e. spread out throughout the week or one big day of eating, etc). 2) I will get in at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies each day. 3) I will focus on eating mostly real, unprocessed foods. However, what it really comes down to for me is that as long as I'm tracking my food and staying within my points then I am "on program". I might have days where I don't eat as healthfully as I should, but as long as I stay within my points I will consider that to be on program and part of the challenge.

I think it is going to be interesting to see how much weight I can lose in 30 days of being strict on the WW program compared to the whole30. I don't realistically think I'll lose 6.6% of my weight in 30 days again, but perhaps I will. When I looked back on this blog to August 2012 I noticed that in 2 weeks I lost 10.4 pounds. It ended up taking me 5 weeks to lose 11 pounds because during weeks 3 and 4 I went off program and stopped tracking my food on a few days. Based on this, it is possible that I could lose just as much weight in 30 days on WW as I did on the whole30. It's my own little experiment!

Today is day 1. I've had 4 points so far for breakfast, which leaves plenty for the rest of today. Thanks in advance for any support you provide. If I don't post for a few days and you're wondering where I am please feel free to send me a message to check on me - it'll help keep me honest!