Embarking on Whole30

Remember back in May when I said I wasn't quite ready for a Whole30 despite the amazing success I'd seen during my frequent blog stalks? Yeah, I may not have been ready then, but after finishing my #100happydays challenge and truly seeing how unhappy I was with the way I looked and felt, I was ready to fully embrace change in 2015.

Why now? I've read A LOT about Whole30, trying to understand how people have success and what it truly entails. On all the blogs I've surfed and books I read, it all starts out the same. "I felt blah. We were eating poorly. I couldn't lose weight (or put down that bottle of wine)." Reading these blogs was like reading my own diary. So I thought, why not? If these people can do it and change their lives, maybe I can too.

So after much research, reading, planning (and quite honestly, a lot of pre-Whole30 gluttony), Evan and I embarked on our Whole30 challenge on Jan. 20 (I needed to get past a huge and stressful work event in Miami first). We're on Day 5 and so far so good. I'll post a Whole30 wrap-up when I'm done. But in the meantime, check out these awesome blogs and bask in their amazing success.

a peachtree city life
two twenty one

100 happy days: days 1-10

It's been a fun 10 days trying to identify something each day that makes me happy. It really does remind me to pay attention to the small things and challenges me to find something that makes me happy or feel good when I don't have something obvious staring me in the face (brunch, cocktails, dinner plans). There's a couple things I've noticed over the past 10 days about myself:

• A lot of my happy moments involve food and alcohol. I guess I've always known this -- I wholeheartedly embrace a "live to eat" mentality. It's just interesting to see that half of my posts through day 10 involved food and/or drinks. 
• It's A LOT harder to find something to post when I don't have an event planned ... and it's a really good challenge to look for things in every day life. I think this is really what the challenge is about. It's easy to be happy when you're out with friends and family or enjoying your favorite things, but what truly makes you happy the rest of the time? I don't have that answer yet as my other 5 posts have been a hodgepodge of activities. 
• It's hard to post every day. So far, there have been 2 days where I haven't posted and I think it's because there wasn't an obviously happy moment staring me in the face. For those two days I didn't post and it took some reflection the next morning to really come up with a happy moment. 
• I'm embarrassed to take photos. Yep, the constantly-has-her-camera-ready-at-every-moment girl has been shy to whip out my phone and take pictures -- especially of myself. The lesson I take from this is that it's important to live in the moment and I need to stop caring what every one else thinks.
• It's been a lot of fun. My sister decided to join in on the challenge with me after seeing my first post and I have to say that I look forward to seeing what makes her happy every day. It's also a lot of fun trying to challenge myself to create happy moments every day, which lately have translated into some selfish moments for me (hello bubble baths!). I think that's ok and it reminds me that taking care of me and making sure that I'm happy and healthy only improves my relationship with my husband, friends and family. 

100 Happy Days

Down, frustrated, bitter, sad, moody. Call it what you will, I've been in a funk lately. Little things bother me more than they should. I get disappointed too easily. I've been unfocused both at work and at home. I'm temperamental and bitchy. Basically, a real joy to be around. Something needs to change.

I've noticed a couple friends who have posted #100happydays photos and I thought I'd check it out to see if it could help shift my attitude and remind me how good life truly is.

What do I hope to accomplish? I hope to get out of this funk, and appreciate what I have and the little moments in life. I really want to find out what makes me happy. I'll be posting daily photos to Instagram and do a weekly recap here. Wish me luck!

Catching up

Wow. It's been quite a while and it's crazy how much has changed in the two months since I last blogged. Let's catch up and then keep those fingers crossed I can follow up soon with some posts about our landscaping and finishing our office.

In May, I committed (through my blog) to a focus on getting back in shape. It started with a well-intentioned dedication to P90X3. It worked ... for a while. In late June, I began to realize that the workouts just weren't cutting it for me. I wasn't seeing any change. My diet was as far from disciplined as I could get. Bottom line, I wasn't losing weight, I didn't look different and, while I was REALLY committed to wanting to change, wasn't committed to doing the work.

All that changed with a photo taken in mid-July with friends in a cabin in the woods. Sound ominous? It should. That photo scared the crap out of me. It's the first picture I've seen where I've noticed my weight has really caught up to me. All of sudden all that weight I gained wasn't just a number on it a scale; it had found permanence in my arms, my stomach, my hips, my thighs ... hell, even my forearms. It was a wake up call and I can say I'm now REALLY committed to doing the work.

I've changed up my approach to something that worked well for me in the past. It's taken a while to set-up and I'm in the first week of it, so I'd like to keep it my little secret for now. That just means the blog will be diverting back to posts about the transformation of our home. Stay tuned.

Roadblocks in Block Two

Today was a frustrating day. I pulled on a skirt that fit a year ago and it was too tight. I pulled on a pair of pants that are a little snug that used to be looser. I completely freaked out.

How in the world are clothes not beginning to fit better? I'm halfway through block 2 of P90X3 and I feel like I should be seeing more progress. It was pretty devestating.

Then I got into work and realized that the shirt I was wearing was much baggier around my waist and hips. I started wondering if it had gotten stretched in the wash and then remembered all the times it was feeling a little snug and I couldn't get it to stretch. My frown turned upside down and I realized that progress is happening even if I'm not able to see it everywhere and even if ALL of my clothes aren't fitting better.

Of course, seeing progress everywhere would be great (and phenomenal motivation). But that's just not my body. Losing this weight is going to take a long time and a lot of consistency around exercise and diet. I know patience is crucial (and that's REALLY tough for me), so I'll take what I thought was a loss this morning and turn it into a mini win because even if it feels like it's slow going, small changes are happening to my body.

P90X3: Block One Results

It's a little hard to believe block 1 is already over and 4 weeks have flown by. My results aren't quite what I was hoping for, but I met one of the goals I established for myself (4 pound overall weight loss) and am not sure why I didn't hit the other (2 inches lost from waist) as I feel like I had some good overall inches lost. To be fair, these weren't overly ambitious goals, but I needed something I knew I would hit so I could start this off with a success. Block 2 and 3 are much more aggressive in terms of goals for me. 

Results 

Total weight loss: 4 pounds

Total inches lost:

	Block 1 Change
Arms	-.25(R) / 0(L) inches
Chest	-1 inches
Waist	-1.5 inches
Hip	-.75 inches
Thighs	0 inches
Calves	-1(R) / -1.25(L) inches
Total change	-5.75 inches

Lessons learned

Diet is important. I was so, so good with my diet during the week, but then the weekend would arrive and with it came lots of alcohol and overindulgence. I feel like I lost and gained the same 4 pounds over the past four weeks. I'm disappointed in me and know that this weekly battle with the weekend is part of the reason I've not only gained weight, but also failed at losing it. I recently saw a great post from a gal I blog stalk who had amazing results with the Whole30. I don't think I'm there yet, but there is certainly A LOT more I can do around diet to help with my P90X3 journey. Who knows, maybe in 90 days I'll be ready for some massive food changes.

Even without substantial weight loss, I saw changes. So I only lost 4 pounds, but I saw a lot of change in my body even without the discipline I should have had on diet. I saw my stomach shrink, arms slim down, thighs start to take shape and collar bones appear. It's these changes that motivate me everyday to complete my workout (and they should be motivation enough to follow a stricter diet).

It feels good to be working toward something. There are definitely days I have to drag myself to do a workout, but I always, always feel good once I'm done. It feels SO good to look forward to the changes I hope come from finishing my 90-days. This feeling, more than anything, is what I need to hold on to when I'm desperately craving green curry and a bottle glass of wine.

It really is a journey. And, yes, I felt cheesy typing that. There's no quick-fix for losing weight and getting in shape. Part of the reason I'm not ready to fully embrace something like the Whole30 is because I know it's not a sustainable change for me. I live to eat and I need to figure out a good, healthy balance of discipline and enjoyment. This isn't something I can change in its entirety today, but it's something I need to work toward every single day.

What's next? My focus areas for block 2 are to really focus on my diet and to amp up additional cardio outside of the program (walking/hiking with Evan). I also have a week-long business trip to Croatia smack in the middle of block 2, so I need to focus on not blowing my diet and finding ways to work exercise into what promises to be a very, very busy week.

P90X3: Week One Review

I have to confess, I actually did week 1 twice. The first time I completed it, I wasn't able to start week 2 because of business travel, so when I got home I decided to start week 1 over again so I wouldn't miss the benefit of any initial progress.

In terms of working out, week 1 went well. My favorite workouts are definitely The Challenge and Yoga (no shock there). I could do without The Warrior (thank God I only have to do it 3 times during the program). Evan and I have also been taking walks around the neighborhood each night to spend time together and throw in a little more cardio. My muscles were definitely sore, but in that oh-so-good post-workout way.

As far as diet, I don't think I mentioned that I'm following Weight Watchers vs. P90X3's nutrition guide. In the past, Weight Watchers has worked for me and I don't think I can cut wine Thai food out of my diet and still survive. So Weight Watchers it is. I did ok on diet. I stayed on or under my points each day and increased my water intake (and subsequent trips to the restroom). 

Weight loss was ok. In some ways it was better than anticipated and in others a big disappointment -- don't we always want to drop 10 pounds the first week of working out? I lost 4.8 pounds, which I attribute largely to water weight. I know that when starting a new workout program your body likes to do all sorts of funky stuff, so I'm hoping the losing trend continues. Outside of weight loss, I feel really energized (despite some long hours and very early mornings at work) and motivated. On to week 2!

A new journey

Oh man, it’s been a while. April was quite the crazy month. I had two trips for work and have been packing in the hours in the office when I’m not traveling. It hasn’t left a lot of time to work on much with the house, but I did get my dream pendant light for our office for my birthday (thanks, Dad!) and the yard is starting to come in with only minor issues. But those are more posts for another day. 

Here to Home started out as a blog for me to share our journey in building our new house and then turning it into a home … and it still is. But if it’s really about the “journey,” there are other things I want to talk about and share, even if I’m just posting to me. 

If I step back in time to about 16 months ago, Evan and I were packing up our old house and getting ready to sell. Stupidly, we packed up everything that was cluttering our house, which meant all (and I mean all) of our pots and pans got packed up. Looking back, I think we thought the selling process would be much quicker, and it was … once our house got on the market. Not having anything to cook with started a downward spiral on a super unhealthy path that, if I’m being honest, still continues today.

I’ve easily gained 20 pounds … yep 20 pounds in just over a year. That’s pretty much the equivalent of my best friend’s two-year-old. I KNOW I’ve gained weight and I hate how I look, but I haven’t proactively done anything to change it. 

That stops today and this journey of getting healthy is something else I’d like to share on Here to Home. This week, I started P90X3 and am committed to eating healthy. It’s my hope that by posting this publically, I’ll hold myself accountable to meeting my goals, which are: getting back in shape, losing weight and feeling better about myself. 

I hope you’ll join me on this journey whether it’s providing encouragement, holding me accountable or using my journey as motivation for your own. Wish me luck.