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I began this journey as a total newbie - I had never really even read about the Paleo diet. I bought ISWF on a whim - I’m an avid reader, and was in the mood for something other than fiction, and quickly stumbled onto ISWF on Amazon checking out the non-fiction best sellers. Downloaded it onto my Kindle, read it in two days (finished on 7/4), and was instantly hooked. My friends would say “she drank the Kool-Aid”. I couldn’t wait to start - I spent my weekend perusing the options at my local grocery stores and stocking up in preparation. I began on Monday 7/9.
Through these 30 days, I have been fortunate that I didn't struggle terribly with cravings. I like vegetables, and I like to cook, which makes something like this a lot easier. My pitfalls were careless mistakes. Days 1-3, I had organic uncured bacon, with honey as an ingredient. Days 2-4, I had Applegate turkey lunch meat, with carrageenan (boo! I had a mini-meltdown when I discovered this 2+ weeks in). I have since learned to very carefully read the ingredients, twice. On day 21, at an oil and vinegar shop, I tasted three olive oils before realizing I had just downed three tiny pieces of bread in the tasting process. Those were my only “food” mishaps in my 30 days. Not bad.
The scale is another story. I had a terrible time staying off the scale. I weighed every day for the first two weeks, then stashed my scale in the depths of my garage for the remainder. Last Sunday I couldn’t stand it, and I dug it out and have weighed myself for the last few days.
Results of my Whole 30:
- Weight loss. I lost 9.6# - started at 178.4, this morning 168.8. This makes me very happy.
- Sleep. I am sleeping through the night, which was one of my primary goals. Before I started, I woke almost every night at 3am and couldn’t get back to sleep for sometimes two hours, then would be in and out of sleep until it was time to get up. I’m going to bed a little earlier, and fairly regularly sleeping 7 solid hours. SEVEN HOURS!
- Decreased body pains. I have a painful Morton’s neuroma in my foot, which I have received cortisone shots for. I haven’t been able to comfortably wear any shoes except my Dansko’s for more than a year, and high heels were out of the question. I can once again wear my pointy high heels all day without significant discomfort! I know it’s not a good idea to wear these types of shoes and I'm just asking for my foot to get worse, but it is sooo nice to be able to wear girly shoes once in a while
My lower back still has pain, but it has lessened. I can roll over in bed almost without even thinking about it.
- More energy. I'm more productive at work (and more cheerful), and getting things done at home which have been on the back burner for sooo long. Instead of spending the first several hours Sat/Sun morning on the couch drinking coffee, doing the crossword, and channel surfing, I have started to go for an early walk, have a healthy breakfast, and get stuff DONE. In the long run, I expect this will free up some weekend time to get out of the house and do fun things.
- Healthier relationship with alcohol. Before this, I had wine every single night. Sometimes two glasses, many times the whole darned bottle. I had gotten into the habit of buying a Black Box (contains 4 bottles), so I guess really I had no idea how much I was drinking. I’m sure this was a primary contributor to my sleepless nights. But it had gotten to be such a ritual for me to get home and automatically pour a glass of wine. Much of it was out of boredom, and because I was tired from a long day and it just felt so soothing. And I wonder how much it could have been from sugar addiction - I'm not much of a sweet tooth, but maybe I got my "sugar fix" with wine? What I’ve figured out during the last 30 days, is that I’m less tired from my long day if I get a good night of sleep, and my good night of sleep happens when I don’t drink. I still love my wine, and am not going to give it up, but will definitely make educated decisions about if/when I want to imbibe.
I plan to go forward on a mostly Paleo diet, using the “guide to nutritional off-roading” in deciding whether to have an occasional treat. And I will definitely do this again, maybe in a few months. I am so glad I did this, I really believe it is a life changer.
p.s. I'm going to stick with W30 eating until Saturday eve, to compensate for my slip-ups on Days 1-4.
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I promise you will fall in love with exercising after you get started. It is such a wonderful feeling to move your body and release endorphins. Try to find ways to make it pleasurable. As an example, I run on a treadmill (and lift weights) in my basement gym. I have a TV and Tivo in there, so it's a great time to watch my favorite shows while working out. When I run or walk outside I listen to podcasts on my iPhone. There are some AWESOME and very motivating podcasts. I'm happy to send you some suggestions if you'd like. You could also listen to books on tape or rather Audibles. Again GREAT JOB!!!! 
) and it makes it more tolerable. Mt fav in the health category would be -
