Whole 30 & my Diet Plan for May

After spending all of April carb loading (IE, enjoying carbs as often as possible), I can't tell you how ready and excited my body is to start Whole 30 tomorrow (read more about Whole 30 HERE). I love my good friend carby carbs and I will miss having that in my life, but I know firsthand how good it feels to have your "gut" melt away when you stop eating carbs or limit carbs to a minimal part of your day and not the bulk of your day.

What I'll really miss and what will be hardest for me to part with in this 30 days is my best buddy Diet Coke.  Even when I did HCG last spring, I let myself have Diet Coke.  It was my one treat and thing to look forward to and I've loved having it in my life this last year as an alternative to ice cream or candy or a drive thru burrito (not kidding) to pick up when I'm out and about. But Whole 30 asks you stay pure and whole and nutritious and don't consume anything that's not real food.  And, alas, my Diet Coke is nothing real at all.

There's always emotional struggle these first few days of detox and I'm prepared for that this time around.  Food is comforting.  Sugar and carbs do things for my brain that I cannot do for my brain in the way of pep talks.  But I know now exercise can also do good things for my brain!  So despite looking forward to this, yes, I know it will be hard -- especially on Mother's Day and Memorial Day -- but it will be worth it.

• So what exactly is my May plan?  To do Whole 30.  To detox.  The prepare myself for a summer of eating the occasional sugar and a small daily amount of carbs, but mostly staying highly nutritious.  
• To track calories.  I weigh 178lbs and am 5'6" and athletic.  I eat 1800 calories a day when I'm tracking and trying to lose weight.  I used to eat less, but eating more seems to help me lose better especially when those 1800 calories are really, really good foods.
• To focus on short, quality exercise.  After spending April devoted to 4-5 hours of running a week, I'm happy to change up my game.  I still want to run but I also want to get back into T25 and HIIT.  My thought process now is to do 5 cardio days a week where I work at least 20 minutes and no more than 45 minutes.  This still allows me to go for a faster paced 5 mile run if I want to, but takes the pressure off of doing so much work every day.  I could do a 20 minute jog or a T25… whatever.  And if all 5 days are just 20 minutes one week?  That's fine.  The goal is to not burn out.  Exercise is always important and being athletic this month is important to me, but the primary focus is nutrition.  I also want to lift at least 4 days a week.  Ideally the lifts should be 2 days of each focus area… shoulders/back, arms/chest, legs/glutes.  That would be 6 technical days of lifting but sometimes things can be combined into a longer lifting session (full upper body) and leg day being once a week is ok with my since I'm so active with my cardio.

So that's my plan for May! Nutrition primary, athleticism in an easy to maintain way.  My husband has asked how much I hope to lose and I don't really have an answer.  When you do literally everything you can it's kind of just up to your body doing what it's going to do.  I'd love to lose 10lbs, but realistically I'll probably lose 5-7lbs.  I do expect to lose 2 or so inches around my waist though and I think results will be noticeable even if the scale doesn't move much.

And it's not to late to join my DietBet game if you want to!  http://dietbetter.com/mynestinginstincts  It's a small game, but I think it'll be fun and good accountability to have a small group of dieters.  I'd love to see everyone win, recoup their money, and be down 4% of their body weight.  That's truly an all around win right there!

So what about you?  What's your May plan?

My Diet Bet

Well hey! I ran a half marathon yesterday! I'm excited to post about it, but I have a more time sensitive post to write up for you today!

I've been approached by www.dietbetter.com about creating a Diet Bet game and I've accepted!  If you follow me on Instagram you know in April my SOLE focus was athleticism and marathon training.  I have NO regrets about that.  But I did spend most of the month maintaining my weight by going up and down 3lbs.  And I still need to shake the 5lbs I gained over Christmas and the 5lbs I gained at Disney World and the last 5-10lbs I have to lose after that too!  SO for May, I need to reset mentally and get back into a weightloss mindset.

I decided in April I'd do Whole 30 (read more at www.whole30.com) for the month of May as a sugar carb detox/flush and a way to get me mentally back into making the best choices and get to shedding inches (because if I've learned anything this last year it's that carbs and sugar = lots of inches).  Whole 30 is MY diet plan and has nothing to do with what Diet Bet requires or what you should consider if you're doing Diet Bet.  I never recommend specific diets (except Weight Watchers) to people because everyone is different.  When I first cut carbs, sugar, and dairy out of my diet I did so under weekly Doctor and Nutritionist supervision.  If this is something you're considering, make sure you research it and get your Doctor's thoughts on the matter too!

So the Diet Bet!  Basically you go to THIS LINK to see my game.  I've set the buy in VERY low because I know I would NEVER do anything like this if the buy in was high.  And the buy ins are usually high.  So after consulting Diet Bet and my followers on Instagram, I set the buy in at $10.

Basically, you pay $10 and submit your start weight and photos by April 30th.  Then for 28 days (4 weeks) you submit your weighs in and at the end the people in the bet who have lost 4% of their start weight will split the pot! It could be 1 person, it could be 5 people so I can't say how much percent you'll get of the pot, but Diet Better does a good job of keeping everyone in the game really aware of their and everyone else's standings.

I think this can be so fun and such a great accountability!  I know last year when I chose to go to a Nutritionist for weightloss, knowing how much of a financial stank I had put into my weightloss efforts really motivated me!  If you're considering it, please check out my game HERE and be SURE to read the rules HERE so you really understand the game (I would try to explain more, but the company and their rules are so much better at explaining, of course!)  As the host of the game I'll be there supporting you and encouraging you and of course posting yummy food pics and my workouts on Instagram! :)

And if you're like me, you're probably wondering… what if people lie?  Well read the rules.  I did and I realized, "Oh, ok! That's basically impossible."  Throughout this process there will be referees with the Diet Better website and we'll be uploading photos of ourselves and our scales and a daily "word of the day" along with our scales to prove our weight really happened on the day it should have.  I really, really appreciate that accountability system!

So here's to our Diet Bet!  I hope a lot of you play! It'll be super fun and encouraging I think!  :)

Grace, grace, grace and dealing with hard seasons.

Life has been challenging lately.  There's a lot of poor health around me.  My own family had a stomach virus literally all week last week and I still haven't caught the house back up from the chaos we were put in during that time.  Additionally we have gotten bad news in the last week about 2 of our close relatives in relation to cancer.  Stinkin' cancer.

Times like this it can be hard to press on.  In every way.  It's hard to be motivated to clean the house when you feel emotionally overwhelmed.  It's hard to be a fun Mom and want to play with your kids. It's hard to want to cook every meal and not just order pizza.  It's hard to want to run when you just want to sleep.  It's hard not to eat your feelings when they sound so delicious.  It's a hard season.  But after talking to friends today and reading postings from other women in an online Mom's group I'm a part of I realized something.  Most everyone is always facing something hard.  It may not be cancer.  It may be home problems or problems with a kid at school or adjusting to a new baby or raising money for an adoption or to go be a missionary or the normal day in and day out of Motherhood or just LIFE.  But we all have something going on.  We all have something that's heavy we're carrying.

I'm looking for grace this week.  For myself.  For my family.  For others.  I'm counting gifts and blessings and doing my best to embrace all of my life instead of sit and wallow in sorrow.  I may not want to run, but I can run.  My body can be pushed hard physically and I reap the benefits.  It may not sound appealing, but running is something I can do others can't and I shouldn't take that for granted.  And the house may be in chaos, but my kids are playing.  They're imagining.  They're thriving.  The home is standing and being used as it's function: to house us as we live not to be lovely and clean and beautiful.  

Life is hard for everyone at some point or another.  And all the hard seems hard.  I thought being pregnant was hard but it was nothing compared to dealing with my entire family unit puking non-stop which is nothing compared to facing the fact people I love have cancer and are suffering.  In this season of VERY hard I'm reminding myself: grace.  Grace, grace, grace, grace, grace.  Have it. Give it.  Live on.  Love your kids.  Let them play.  Serve others.  Talk to friends.  Talk to GOD.  Clean what you can.  Keep running because you will not regret this race.  Keep cooking healthy meals.  Keep not eating your feelings even though that sounds appealing.  Keep living.  Because you can.  So do it well.  Grace.