Post-Whole30

Last month I did the whole30 diet. And it was rough. I had to come down off of it, and process before I decided to write an update. I didn't lose weight, or inches, but I did gain some energy towards the end of the diet and I really liked that. But, it came at the expense of being on perma-PMS for a month. I was horrifically grumpy and unreasonable most of the time. It seemed even worse since I work with young children and have to act like I'm patient and happy all the time. My husband got the end-of-the-day-I-can't-take-it-anymore me. Poor guy.

The whole30 is really whole45 because of the reintro phase. However, I'm not that patient. I went a freakin' month without eating hushpuppies. And tortillas. So on day 31 we went to Cook-Out. I reintroduced 3 out of 4 food groups all at once.

And I got sick. Not like puking and stuff, just a really upset stomach like I would get before I did whole30. That still happens on occasion too. Mostly when I get Cook-Out (It's just so delicious though!).

About 3 days after stopping, my energy plummeted again. And my stomach had been off for the entire time. I can't truly say that it's all because of the food I was eating because I happened to time everything perfectly. I had cramps all week due to the wonders of being a woman, so the upset stomach and energy slumps could have been the food but it could have been the confounding factor of being of child bearing age. ;)

Update to now, my energy is still suffering and I still have occasional upset stomach, but nothing like it was before the diet.  I am very close to going back on the diet just to get my energy levels back up to where they were the last week or so of the diet. But when I said that out loud, the look on my husbands face said I shouldn't. So I'm compromising and will integrate more vegetables and fruits into my diet, and still cook at home as much as I can. This also means avoiding pre-processed meals like frozen pizza and such as much as possible.

In all I think it was a good thing to try, and the principles in the diet are a good idea to incorporate into everyday life. However, it let me know that dieting is all I thought it would be: horrible.