I used to be six feet tall and nothing but a bag of bones growing up and all the way through high school. College brought change and I never really focused on my health with the right level of dedication as I slowly added weight.

While I wasn’t grossly overweight, I did always want to get back to a more reasonable level so I’ve spent the last few years trying to lose the excess by thinking that exercise and a bit of healthy eating was the key. While I had heard that the key to getting weight under control was 90% diet and 10% exercise, I just didn’t believe it since as I increased my exercise (typically by running regularly), I was able to shed some weight.

The problem with this was that every time once I dropped five or so pounds, I’d time and time again waver from eating right and justify the occasional ice cream, or other crappy food to reward myself for my good work and progress. This circular journey has repeated itself many, many times of the past several years.

Back tracking to early 2014 and not yet realizing that I was still stuck on the merry-go-round of thinking that I could solve my problems with exercise, I decided to switch up my current routine by switching to a new gym / personal trainer. I had heard several great things about James Newman and his company Quest Fitness here in Guilford so I gave it try.

I’m going to do a separate post about the fun I’ve had both working with him individually but also in the group TRX classes I’ve taken in the last few months but what inspired me to make a change was listening to James and the other clients talk about tackling a Whole30 challenge. I had no idea what this was at first but after seeing a link on Quest’s Facebook page announcing that those that wanted to join in where welcome to it, I started to do some research.

I was skeptical but I bought the book It Starts with Food which isn’t a requirement since the Whole30 website does a great job of getting you started right away. However, I’m glad I did because I think it helped cement my personal need for a drastic change in the way I eat.

So what is the Whole30? The best way that I can put it is that you are electing to reset your eating by choosing to avoid processed foods as well as sugar, grains, dairy and legumes for a 30 day period since, as the book explains, they may be having an impact on your overall well being. Think of it as a big eating experiment where you basically choose to eat healthy and avoid all the easy and processed foods the we are offered day in and day out and you get to see how your body reacts to such a change. I’m completely oversimplifying and I’m sure this sounds like a fad diet but for me it was a simple program that just struck at the right time. Like I said, their website is chock full of info about the how’s and why’s.

For the thirty day period that my fellow classmates were enduring their own Whole30, I read the book, made excuses about why I wasn’t doing it and basically took the easy way out. James was great and each week asked if I had started my own journey yet. It wasn’t until I heard of some of my classmates successes coupled with the desire to just give it a try that I launched into my own trek on June 1. Boy am I glad I did but admittedly, it wasn’t easy.

Several themes within the book and program resonated with me but the biggest was that fact that I finally proved to myself that I use eating as a reward and that I also LOVE anything that is sweet or full of sugar. Ketchup, ice cream, frozen yogurt, etc., etc. were now off limits and I could no longer justify using the logic that “hey, you lost 5 pounds” or “you ran 10 miles this week” as an excuse to go to Sweet Frogs with my kids and chow down. Sugar is my downfall but these past thirty days have proven that I don’t need it nor do I crave it. Honestly, it took almost to the third week to smell something sweet and not want to pounce on it. Now I look at those things and can hold back without instinctively putting it into my mouth.

Replacing all the crap with good food had a bunch of benefits such as finding that I had more energy, I stopped snacking since each meal was filling and I found new things like coconut milk which I never knew had some many uses. I now eat a bunch of salads with either meat or seafood on them, and by spending some time on the weekend to cook a bunch of food, I never really had an issue worrying about what I was going to eat.

Those that know me know that I travel a decent bit and honestly this was one of my concerns early on since one can’t just find a lot of food that is all that healthy on the road. However, I managed to succeed at every turn whether it was finding a great “farm to table” restaurant in Fort Lauderdale to eating basic omelets for breakfast. Yes, it’s not the easiest but with some work, I made it happen each and every time.

So what was the end result and where do I go from here? That part is easy. I think I’ve really made a positive change in the way I look at food and the way in which I eat. As a result, I’m down to my lowest weight in 15 plus years but I know I have some more room to shrink. However, I feel much better about myself and the way in which I look. I plan on continuing to riding this wave at least for the next few weeks before I fully start to reintroduce some of the grains, dairy or legumes.

Part of the reason I am writing this today is not only to spread the word about the Whole30 but more importantly, throw down a marker so that I can come back to this post should the “sugar dragon” ever rear it’s ugly head and take back over my life. I obviously can’t bottle the feeling of being on the right track but perhaps getting this out for the public to see will help me remember it best.

To be continued…