Why I Quit Whole30 and I'm Not Looking Back!
Before we get started, let me get one thing straight. I loved my first Whole30. Loved it. It did everything everyone said it would for me and more. I slept better, I felt good after meals rather than queezy. I could feel the built-up inflammation in my muscles falling away and leaving behind a leaner, healthier body. I learned new things about food and found healthier (better tasting) recipes for some of my favorite meals. I may have been skeptical at first like many are, but by Day 3 bananas started to taste like candy bars and I was hooked. I became sort of an evangelist for the program, suggesting it to everyone I met, thinking it could solve any problem. Because for the first time in a long time, I felt like myself in my body. Like I knew what to do to make myself feel how I wanted to feel. Good, healthy, strong. My second Whole30, is another story.
I wrapped up my first 30 the Sunday before Thanksgiving and I feel very good about how I took what I'd learned and transitioned it into a more "real life" scenario. I even resisted those tantalizing yeast rolls my at my first Thanksgiving. The thing about cleaning out your body though is that when you re-introduce even the smallest amount of old foods back into your diet it can make you feel like crap. But let's be honest. As good as I was trying to be I wasn't NOT going to eat Christmas sugar cookies, ok? So I thought to myself, "Great! January is around the corner and I'll just do another Whole30 then to get back on track. Meanwhile, I'll come up with a plan to find better balance come February." WRONG!
I seriously misunderstood the impact everyone else's January fitness resolutions would have on my mental state. If you read my New Years post a few weeks back you'll know that I am really starting to vibe on the week between Christmas and New Years as a magical time of rest and reflection. A golden opportunity to reassess your life and try some new things or recommit to the old. This year especially I was excited to strike up conversations with my friends and family about what we were all planning to do in 2018 and how we were all making commitments to make our lives better. For me, among other things, this included a second Whole30.
What I didn't count on was the competitive environment these conversations would create. The lust so many New Year’s resolutions create about simply losing weight. These initially hopeful conversations with other people took something I loved, my Whole30 feeling, and turned it against me. I've lost plenty of weight following Whole30, but that is never and has never been my goal. I'm of the mindset we should surrender to the result. Give in to the process and let the results be what they may. It's taken me a long time and a lot of hard work to get to this place and I'm not willing to give that up for a bunch of January resolutioners. So, I'm quitting. I'm quitting the structure, I'm quitting the competition, I'm quitting Whole30 and I'm walking forward to find a balance that works for me and is all about ME. That personal inward focus is what lit a fire under me during that first Whole30 and I'm on a mission to recapture that feeling.
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