Whole 30 Week 1 - Still Enthusiastic

So, I'm 1 week into Whole 30.

Seven days. 

An eternity.

Actually, it's not that bad. Truthfully, I am really enjoying it. And I'm not just saying that to trick myself. I've been feeling very strong, and my six-pack is already starting to come in, so that's fast enough results for me to be a believer. 

Here's my basic life:

Sunday, plan the menu. Prep meals for the week that I can prep. Create a grocery list. Look through ads so I can ad match at Walmart. 

Monday - Friday. Err morning, drink a green smoothie. I pre-packaged frozen fruit, flax seeds, and spinach in ziploc baggies in the freezer, and I just throw one of those and some almond coconut milk in the blender. It is so loud and wakes up probably the whole neighborhood and most likely makes our renters hate me. I hope they wear ear plugs or have a loud fan roaring at them all night and they miss it. For lunch, I have leftovers and an apple and lil cutie. I go home after school, we work out at UVU, and then for dinner, we have whatever I planned :) It's a great life.  Here are the challenges I have faced (and overcome!) so far:

- a donut for Coleman's birthday

- crepes for Danielle's wedding reception uhhhhhh they looked so good!

- also the wedding cake but I don't really like wedding cake and this one was green so that wasn't too hard

- lemon cake for dessert on Sunday - that I made, people.

- candy at Alex's house

- all the candy all the time in my drawers at school

- also all the granola bars!!

- soup, bread, chocolate-covered strawberry, and roll at Zupa's when I went with friends on Saturday. I literally picked off the chocolate and ate the strawberry plain'ol

- all the candy at Stephanie's dessert party for her graduation

- also the Nutter Butters there which for some reason looked so freaking good

- also the chocolate fountain. I just ate strawberries and bananas because that was all I could eat!

- the jelly beans we gave our kids on Sunday

- the Reeses peanut butter cups we gave Aleya (one of our girls at church) for her birthday

- the free popcorn at Ace Hardware where we got fertilizer

It was so hard!!! But also, not that hard at the same time. I don't really miss those foods. If I was hungry I think it would be harder, but I've so far been really good at planning meals and prepping them ahead of time, and so I feel full after meals and enjoy what I'm eating, so it's good. It is also easier because Stephen is doing it with me. We follow some rules but not all. 

- white potatoes are technically allowed, but we don't eat them.

- they limit fruit and I'm like I will never limit fruit, thankyouverymuch

- if you want mayonnaise or almond coconut milk, you have to make your own. .........we do not. 

- they say no beans and I'm like that's stupid, and we eat beans. 

- they also don't allow you to make fries / chips out of sweetotatoes or other vegetables, or like pancakes out of bananas and eggs, because that's tricking yourself and psychologically you still feel like you need those foods. But I'm like whatever, if I'm just slicing my sweetotato and putting salt on it and baking it, then I can have these fake chips. 

- apparently peanut butter is also not allowed, and neither are peanuts. But other nuts are so I don't participate in that discrimination. 

- fruit juice isn't allowed but we welcome it into our smoothies.

Full disclosure, I did have a mini-meltdown this week. Natalie had a play on Thursday, so we got a salad at Wendy's, went to the play, and then didn't get home until 10, and then Stephanie graduated on Friday, so we didn't eat either dinner I had planned for that night, either. So I was starving for basically two days in a row, and on Friday, after Stephanie's graduation party, this conversation went down:

me: I'm soooo hungry. 

Stephen: I'm not even that hungry. I just want to go to bed!

me: Can we please go home? I need food. 

Stephen: Let's just stay here, they have food and it's free!

me: I can't eat any of that! I've literally had nothing but strawberries and bananas and I'm starving!

Stephen: I can make you some eggs?

me: I'm just so hungry. 

Stephen: Well, what do you want? 

me: Okay Stephen I am not a rational person right now! Stop talking to me like you're expecting a logical response! I just want food to be in me! Like this isn't good! I'm supposed to eat! I'M STARVING!

Stephen: Okay, so you want me to make you some eggs, or do you want to go home.....?

Me: What did I just say? I WANT FOOD

Stephen: Well I'm just trying to figure out what you want - 

*Me throwing myself dramatically on the bed*

Stephen: Okay! Okay sorry! I'll make you some eggs.

So he made me eggs and bacon and I stopped being a monster. 

Conclusion? If you're going to do Whole 30, get good at saying no. Also, convince your Stephen to do it with you. He is a fantastic support. 

Missing Husband Alert

Stephen is taking a super-butt-hard classload this semester.

It is so hard that he had to get special permission to take all these classes together because normally that's not allowed, so some guys had to look over his grades and interview him and be like "Are you sure you hate yourself, and having fun, that much?" before they signed off on it.

Also, sometimes his classes make me cry, and I'm not even the one taking them. Except one. Kind of. 

So anyway. Sometimes, he needs to take tests that he studies for all week and all weekend and all day Monday before the test closes on Monday night. It is exhausting, and rough trying to get on a consistent sleeping schedule, and stressful....and I can only imagine how he feels.

Here's how to survive when this happens to your husband:

1. Leave a little lunch of leftovers and a nice note about how smart he is when you go to school. Congratulate yourself the entire drive on how considerate you are.

2. Then proceed to text him all day long with important questions like "Do you want to take a sailing trip in Hawaii?" and "There's a Groupon sale that's ending today, is there anything you want?" and "Do you think you'll take your test in time to go get a sandwich between 4-5 at the Corner Bakery?" Really the more texts the better. He craves those little distractions.

3. On your way home, think of a list of things you can do while he is taking his test. Get really excited about all the "me" time you're going to get!

4. Once you are home, make dinner halfway. You can go grocery shopping together for the rest of the ingredients when he finishes his test. Because, of course that's what he'll want to do!

5. Talk to your sister on the phone for an hour and 26 minutes.

6. Now it's a little later than you were expecting him to be home. Looks like you won't have time to go work out. Oh well....this has happened before. Learn how to make a YouTube playlist of all the songs that get you pumped up so you can work out at home.

7. Get caught up watching videos and let an hour and a half slip away while doing that.

8. Look up and pin all the at-home workouts that feature girls with 6-packs in the picture demonstrations. Since, that's the goal.

9. Get embarrassed that the husband is probably going to get home before you even start your workout.....and quickly start.

10. Finish one workout. The husband is still not aqui.

11. The playlist is still not over.....so do another workout.

12. Get a teeny bit annoyed that he's not going to see you working out when he gets home, so choose another one. Still no husband??

13. Google the UVU Testing Center hours. What?? They closed at 5? It is almost 9! Enter into full panic mode.

14. Call Mama Shimp and calmly ask if the husband is over there. He is not. Calmly hang up the phone saying you'll keep her posted.

15. Begin imagining all sorts of fun scenarios like your car sitting in a crumpled mess on the side of the road in just the right spot for no one to see it for hours, terrorists blowing up the testing center, you sitting in a pile of memorabilia sobbing and planning your husband's funeral, etc. It just adds some suspense.

16. Go back to texting and calling the husband incessantly.

17. Or twice, if he picks up the second time. And answers like nothing is wrong.......

18. Almost start crying because you're so glad he's not dead.

19. Discover that the testing center hours are wrong on the Google machine, but correct on the testing center website. Actually, it doesn't close until 9.

20. Swear off Google. It's stupid. I'm never relying on it again!

Moral of the story? Actually there are two. Communication is key, and don't go to college.