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?