Whole30 Survival Tips

Whew!

January is here and Day 6 of the January Whole30 is almost over! While I’m not one for the pressure of resolutions…I am a BIG fan of starting the year off with Whole30.

Why? A few reasons:

1. The group support via Social Media
2. The Daily Updates and periodic emails from the official Whole30 site/social media
3. I feel like I’m starting the year off on the right foot….with self care and self awareness where I struggle most
4. It’s a great way to catapult into healthier habits…especially before a trip to Paris in March and a photo shoot in Mexico in May!

I have a few handy tips/tricks that make Whole30 a lot easier and more manageable for my lifestyle (because 16 hour night shifts pretty much are the ultimate road block to Whole30 success and I need all of the help I can get)!

1. I source out some of my meal prep to Model Meals. They’re meals are all Whole30 compliant, and while the founder Danika Brysha is inspirational enough as a total GirlBoss, the meals she and her team come up with are always a hit…plus you can order RX Bars, fresh pressed juices, bone broth, and other essentials…straight to your door (SoCal only for now). I use these meals to supplement my own meal prep and especially for easier meals during my 16 hour shifts at the dispatch center. Use this link for $25 off your first Model Meals order!
2. I live at Trader Joes. Tons of compliant salsas/tomato sauces, grass-fed meats, sugar free chicken sausages, cage free/organic eggs, cauliflower rice, RX and Lara bars (emergency food only), and pre-chopped veggies for roasting or salad-making. Affordable, convenient, and all in ONE PLACE.
3. See Also: Amazon and Thrive Market: They have a ton of Whole30 compliant brands available for purchase all in one place. Tessemae’s sauces/dressings, NutPod creamers, compliant bone broths, La Croix sparkling water, and soooo much more! Use this link for 25% off of your first order with Thrive Market! Check out their really cool Whole30 starter kits!
4. I have a folder of Whole30 “Cheat Sheets” on my phones desktop. This way, if I need to know whether an additive is compliant, or refresh on appropriate portion sizes, I am good to go, ON the go.
5. I keep the Whole30 books close to me. I just purchased the Whole30 Day-By-Day book via preorder from Amazon and was so excited when it arrived earlier in December! Its got a kind of running “timeline” of how you may/should be feeling day by day, and spaces to put notes and track your progress and feelings as you go along! It’s like self-guided coaching, which I thought was really cool! Plus, I always have It Starts with Food close to me as well, to remind me that these lifestyle changes are about so much more than what it feels like I can’t have, and that its all about feeling better than I’ve been feeling-all by choosing to eat whole, minimally processed foods and making a few more dishes!

Are you doing the January Whole30? What are your foolproof ways to succeed and stay on track! Leave a comment and let me know!

 

I Hate This Part Right Here.

Bonus points if that made you sing a Pussycat Dolls song when you read it.

If you have been following (or even just reading occasionally since I started this blog, you may remember it all started with 30 Day Updates.

Every 30 days (or so), I posted a photo of myself in my under-stuff so that I could track my weight loss journey.

The main reason I did this? Purely for accountability, and to give myself a reason to KEEP. ON. GOING.

Alas, shit happens.

Here I am, 5 1/2 years later and the amount of life changes I’ve faced in that time is kind of mind-boggling to me. On top of changing jobs approximately 5 times, moving 3 (or was it 4?) times, beginning a serious relationship, a really weird and blurry 18 month old period where I worked upwards of 90 hours per week without sleep….I don’t really have any concrete excuses for what happened.

All I know is life got crazy, life got hard, and here I am trying to get back to the lowest weight I ever hit: 198 pounds. Or at least somewhere close to it, kinda sorta. Really, I just want to feel as amazing as I did then. I want to be able to do everything my body could do then, again.

You may have seen my most recent post about Whole30 and how since I discovered and tried it last August, I’ve made a lot of changes for the better.

Although I feel those differences, I was really struggling to physically see any changes. So I thought to myself, “Why don’t you start back at the beginning?”

When I began my first round of Whole30 on August 13th, 2016 I had Sean take a photo of me to compare to throughout my process. I actually felt so great and was so happy that my scale moved 13 pounds….I forgot the photo.

So, I took a new photo today before leaving home for work, and begrudgingly pulled up the old one for comparison.

I wasn’t looking forward to making this collage…but I am glad I did. Not only was it important to me to see the difference, but I thought it might be helpful to those who are trying Whole30 or struggling through these types of situations to see that my story and experience are real.

And so, Sondra in her underwear photos have returned.

August 13, 2016 and January 12, 2017

And so, thats where I’m at. It’s not perfection, and it probably never will be. But I’m ok with that.

How do you track your progress? Does the visual make you feel more accomplished, or do you prefer to track by weight and measurements? I wanna know!

Until next time!

 

How Whole30 is Changing My Life

If you know me at all, you know I’m obsessed with the Whole30 since last Summer. We could be real-life friends, you could follow me on Instagram, or occasionally watch my Snapchat story….but regardless, you know.

I learned about the Whole30 when I was introduced to Model Meals last year, and the founder, Danika Brysha, is passionate about a Whole30 diet and turned it into a (delicious) meal delivery service.

Whole30 is not a run-of-the-mill “diet.” Rather, it’s the opposite. It’s a fundamental approach to eliminating specific food groups from your life for 30 days, and then gradually reintroducing them after the 3o days to pinpoint what foods are affecting your health and wellness.

While Whole30 is a way to tackle issues with your overall health, I definitely considered it for weight loss, as well. My initial thoughts were that Whole30 could help me combat a serious sugar addiction I’ve been battling with over the past couple of years (but really, my whole life) pretty fiercely.

I thought it was going to be the end of my life. That I would be hungry and miserable and cranky and sad. But lo and behold, after the first three days, I was feeling damn near invincible. With the exception of some morning headaches (I’m attributing those to sugar withdrawal and having gone back to night shift at the same time as starting Whole30), I felt so much more in control of my life. Of my kitchen. Of my meals. Of my true health.

I first read “It Starts with Food,” then the “Whole30” book. I preordered “Food Freedom Forever,” and “The Whole30 Cookbook.” I immersed myself in the information. I made note of the cues discussed in It Starts with Food, and felt relieved to know that the food I was eating was indeed likely the reason I was facing fatigue, an inability to lose weight, uncomfortable bloating, and skin issues. This spoke to me and said “It IS you….but you can choose to change it.”

I began my Whole30 in August, using it as a catalyst to change my habits before an upcoming trip I had to San Francisco, Connecticut and New York to spend time with my mom and brother. I wanted to put myself on the right track, and be ready to enjoy this trip without feeling so out of control and sad about my choices.

30 Days. It actually became so normal for me, that I lost count of my days. I used social media to get a virtual support system. I used my Instagram and Snapchat to share my experience, and ended up making new internet friends who were Whole30 newbies, alumni, and absolute pros. I even inspired a couple of people to give it a try, and got to share in their successes.

At the conclusion of my Whole30, I was 13 pounds lighter, my skin was glowing, I didn’t feel like the world was over if my dinner wasn’t followed by dessert…..and it was so liberating!

Fast forward to the end of November, and I was feeling even more empowered with the new Food Freedom Forever (and hearing Melissa Hartwig speak at a book signing in San Diego and meeting Danika there, too!) and I decided another Whole30 reset was just what I needed going into the holiday season. I knew that following these guidelines and resetting before the New Year was the best way to avoid the excessive cravings and mindless eating that I generally face during that time of year.

With the amazing Melissa Hartwig for the Food Freedom Forever Book signing in La Jolla

It was pure luck that I got to see Danika Brysha of Model Meals at the very same event. I spoke with her for a few minutes and she’s seriously the most phenomenal woman. Model, Entrepreneur, and beautiful person? #Goals

It worked. I planned my reset so that I could be done on Christmas Day. I wasn’t tempted by all of the treats around me. I indulged in some of my very favorite things, and I listened to my body when it felt full. I questioned whether I was actually hungry or not when treats appealed to me, and I continued to learn more about myself. I continued to acknowledge that I am not as helpless as I was feeling…I just hadn’t found what worked for me.

I am so grateful for the tools Whole30 has given me. While I purchased all of the books, one of the best things about the program is that you can use their website for printable for all of the things you need to make sure that your Whole30 is successful! The books were important for me, because I felt the need to have something tangible in my hands to refer to when I was feeling weak or conflicted or just downright confused (you will read so many labels, and you will constantly be googling foreign words to find out if an item is compliant and that book helped me so much lol). Since my first Whole30, Im down 18 pounds total, and I feel like I have found a lifestyle that works for me. Because of Whole30, I am able to make choices based on what food is actually doing to benefit my body, but I am learning that I don’t have to be afraid of food that isn’t “real” every once in awhile.

I’m still a serious work in progress, but I’m creating a balance that works for me.

Today is Day 10 of the January Whole30, but you can start whenever you’re ready! Check it out, and plan when to begin your journey. I hear people pass on the opportunity because this wedding is coming, or that event is almost here…but the fact is, I did my first and second round of Whole30 while throwing a going away party for my best friend (catered by San Diego’s amazing Daniela’s Kitchen), working 12 hour night shifts, on a 3 day, 2 night Catalina Island Bachelorette party, and between Thanksgiving and Christmas when all the potlucks at work happen.

If I can do it? Anyone can!

What are some of the ways that you “reset” when you feel your food relationship getting out of control? Have you tried Whole30? Have questions? I want to know! Drop them in the comments!

Here’s to Happy and Healthy (and hearing a lot more from me about it in 2017)!