30 Days Post Whole30

As most of you know, I did a Whole30 during the month of February.  While the program certainly has short-term perks (i.e. weight loss), it was the longer term effects that I was more interested in.  A few of you have mentioned interest in finding out how the latter played out, so here it is: my 30 days post Whole30 update.  Don’t worry, no more bikini pics.  Just an overview on what’s stuck, what hasn’t, and what I’ve learned from the whole thing.

Am I still Paleo?  No.  Although you may have guessed otherwise from the recipes I’ve been sharing, I am not Paleo.  I still hate labels, especially ones that limit you.  I cook and eat the food I love, and one thing I learned during the Whole30 was that the foods that fit within the Paleo diet are pretty awesome.  So I’ve continued to cook many Paleo recipes at home, but not all the time, and I certainly do not limit my options when eating out.  In fact at Food Bloggers’ Happy Hour on Wednesday night I had pizza, pasta, bread, cheese and an ice cream sundae.  And it was awesome.

Can you still turn things down without having Whole30 to blame? Yes. I’ve learned that what I eat or drink is my choice and have become comfortable turning down things I don’t want.  You don’t have to have that stale bread that comes with dinner, a beer at happy hour, or those adorable cupcakes a coworker brought into the office just because it’s there or because everyone else is.  More often than not if you say, “I’m all set thanks,” people will respect that.  (And likewise, it’s perfectly fine to order dessert or a glass of wine if you want it, even if nobody else does!)

Are you still eating massive portions?  Yep!   I find that large portions help me avoid mindless snacking, which always makes me feel gross.  They also help avoid the embarrassing tummy grumbles that inevitably happen at the quietest moment of that 10:30 meeting.

What about Alcohol? As you may remember, I identified alcohol as the biggest “offender” in my diet.  So have I kept up the teetotaling?  Absolutely not.  But I have cut back, limiting my alcohol consumption to two nights per week or one drink per night.  Interestingly, one thing that has become much more apparent post Whole30 is just how much alcohol interrupts my sleep.  Even one glass of wine, and I just don’t sleep well.

Have you kept the weight off? Sort of.  When I weighed myself yesterday, I was two pounds above what I weighed on day 31, which is five pounds less than I weighed on day one.  And I am totally okay with that, just so long as my pants continue to fit!

What else have you learned or changed post Whole30?

I’ve stopped counting calories.  Not that I was every very consistent with this to begin with.  I pretty much only counted calories and kept a food log on days that I was eating healthy anyways, which sort of defeats the purpose.  But I used to calculate the nutrition content of most of my recipes.  It was a massive time-suck that I am relieved to be free from.

No more artificial sweetener.  Okay, this is a huge one for me.  I used Splenda and other fake sweeteners for ten years.  And not just a little bit.  I regularly put it in my coffee, in my baking, sometimes even in my oatmeal!  The issue is that artificial sweetener is unnaturally sweet, much sweeter than a similar amount of natural sugar.  So once you get used to using it, a reasonable amount of natural sugar doesn’t taste sweet anymore.  Having no added sugar, natural or fake, during the Whole30 reset my sensitivity to sugar.  I finally find foods with a reasonable amount of sugar sweet again!  And after having read a lot of scary things about the effects of fake sweeteners, I’ve finally realized that it just isn’t worth pumping your body with chemicals to save a couple of calories.  And really, if you can’t burn the amount of calories your food would have if it were sweetened naturally… well, maybe you shouldn’t be eating it!  So, with the exception of small amounts of artificial sweetener in the protein bars and protein powder I occasionally consume, no more fake sugar for this girl.

I don’t need chocolate after every meal.  I’ve kept the stash of dark chocolate morsels, (and even the Dove chocolate with the fortunes!) at arms length.  I used to have a little bit of chocolate after every meal, and a little bit of chocolate often turned into more than a little bit of chocolate.  You know how that goes.  Sweets make you crave even more sweets.  I’ll have dessert if I’m out and really want it (like that awesome homemade pistachio and rosewater ice cream I had at brunch on Sunday!) or maybe one of these homemade Fig Newtons after supper, but I continue to try to treat sweets as a treat not a habit. 

Johanna