I have to say, I really HATE this new layout.  I can't easily navigate to anything.  It really sucks.

July 4^th, Christmas in July.  The first day after completing my first Whole 30.  I go to sleep with visions of sugar plums dancing in my head,  Not really, I don’t know what a sugar plum is.  But I have actually thought of a “beer float”  and BBQ with BBQ sauce from Mikes 4 Star BBQ, A Twix, Swimming Rama, a MOD pizza, and to a lesser degree potato chips and that I can, if I want, eat any of these starting Wednesday, July 4^th 2012.

Things I have heard in the last 7 days.

From a friend I haven’t seen since October when I met her in the restaurant. “Dave, you’re a shell of your former self.”  “Dave, you’re looking quite svelte, these days.”   And from a friend at work when I joking about all the food I can eat starting on the 4^th. “You are looking good, why give it all up!  Don’t waste all that you have done.”

I don’t always get what I dream of for Christmas, so I guess the real gift I will have on the 4^th is the “Choice” of what and how I eat, the choice of continuing a life style without being on a regimented plan. 

I am finishing the 3^rd week of my Whole 30 program; my last day will be July 3^rd.  I am not seeing real weight loss, but I am seeing a loss of inches, which I will be happy to announce on July 4^th.  I have not experienced the withdrawal symptoms that many people have reported, but that may be because I had been eating fairly healthy and removing grains and sugars from my diet for the proceeding 6 weeks or so.

This morning my department was in a 4-hour training session, we were notified there would be breakfast type snacks available.  I asked if there would be fruit available as I was not eating donuts or muffins and was told, “Sorry, only donuts.”   I stopped by a restaurant and picked up some scrambled eggs and mixed fruit to eat in front of everyone else that were eating donuts.  I actually went up and opened the donut boxes to look at them; I had no interest in eating one.  I did find myself looking longingly at a platter of cookies that was sitting in an auditorium yesterday.  And the worst time I had was an evening when I wanted something to eat that was not in the house and that was translating into something sweet.  I drove into Poulsbo, picked up a steak, dates and cherries, and made my famous fruit bars.  I satisfied my cravings for sugar while staying Paleo although I probably did blow my carb allotment for the day.

So the Spring Clean-up challenge is over.  I wrote about it in April, fully meaning to write on a regular basis about my experience, but failed to do so.  I did great for 4.5 weeks and then fell of the wagon, not for 1 meal, or one day, but for 5 out of 6 days.  I was so embarrassed about what I ate those days, that I quit filling out the food journal.  I also decided that I didn’t need to stay fully Paleo for the rest of the challenge since I had already blown it.  I ended up losing 4 pounds and 1.5 inches from my waist.

Well, there was amazing weight loss and inches lost by others and it was quite inspiring; I decided that I would get right back to the changing the way I eat and reshaping my body and hopefully losing weight in the process.  I have started the Whole 30 plan, which is Paleo, but stricter and it lasts 30 days.  This is the end of my 2^nd day and I am 1.2 lbs lighter than yesterday morning.  I weight .6 lbs less when I got home today, than I did when I left this morning. 

So far it isn’t hard to do.  I am eating good and full most of the time.  Once again it is hard to find the time to cook and make lunch, especially when I get home late, and tonight I didn’t get in until 8:00.  Luckily I have most of a lunch already for tomorrow all I will need to do is throw a salad together in the morning and if I don’t have time I can buy one.

I think a hard part of this coming month will be giving up fruit or at least cutting way back.  Fruit is healthy for you, but it is packed with sugar, something I didn’t account for in the challenge.