Whole 30, Awesome-ized

Starting yesterday, I embarked on a Whole 30, which is basically a 30-day whole foods cleanse based on a primal or Paleo diet (check it out here). Anyway, I knew right from the start that I was not going to have a perfect Whole 30. I know me, and I know that I tend to strive for perfection, then dump the whole project if I mess up even a tiny little bit. So, I decided straight up that I wasn't going to be perfect and hopefully this will make it more sustainable for me.

Yes, I'm a wuss...plenty of people do a Whole 30 without cheating at all, but I do not have that kind of willpower or stick-to-it-abilities. I know that about myself, so I'm doing the cleanse in a way that I feel can be sustained for a whole thirty days. Basically my planned-cheats are a daily cup of coffee with a bit of stevia and cream. Though last night I did have a small dessert (I know....one day and I go off the wagon!)...but the husband had friends over and they brought dessert and I didn't want to be rude (I promise, I just had a tiny bit...and YES, I paid for it later....bloating, tummy upset, blech!)

To prepare for the cleanse, I made a menu for the week (something I've never done) and went grocery shopping for the specific items on the list. Usually I just wing it and thus end up with things I never eat, or a bunch of random stuff that doesn't go together into anything resembling a meal. This will be better. The fridge is packed to the gills with produce, so it's my challenge to eat it all by the next shopping day. I hate throwing out food, so that's even more reason to stay on plan :-)

Here is what my menu looks like, complete with assignments for prep work in the far right column....this comes in especially handy as I head into my work week (Friday, Saturday night).

So, there you have it folks...we'll see if I can keep this up. I know I definitely need to lose weight, but I am going to try to focus instead on how I feel and hope that weight loss is an added bonus. I am also going to try to incorporate more exercise, which will be a combination of barre workouts, cycling and ramping up my Cough-to-5K running again. Stay tuned and stay awesome!