Well I guess this is better late than never – I want to finally write about the last week of my Whole30 and a bit about the months following it. I have to say that the last week on the Whole30 – I can’t remember feeling so good physically and mentally in my life before. I was alert, never tired during the day, and I thrived at the gym. If anything, I wished the day had a few more hours in it just so I could use up all of the energy I felt I had. I slept better, so much better that on my own I would wake up between 6:30-7. I would lay in bed thinking go back to sleep!! But my body had a mind of its own, and different plans.
The last day of my Whole30 was bittersweet. I was so happy that I had gotten through the whole 30 days, and so proud of myself for making it through on the first time. But I was scared because I didn’t know what or how I was going to end up eating after the 30 days was done. Was I going to dive into a vat of macaroni and cheese head first and swim my way back to my old habits? Or was I going to mostly stick to my new ways?
Well now that it’s been over 2 months since I did my first Whole30 I have some of those answers. The first month off of the Whole30 I just found myself mostly eating Whole30\Paleo type foods. It was just what my body wanted. Now I did have the occasional treat or treat meal, but mostly everything fell into the Paleo category. I still had lots of energy and felt I could take on anything. By the time I got to the second month though a few bad habits started to break through.
I would eat more fast food then I was before, and with Christmas coming up and Christmas parties I used that as an excuse to eat food I normally wouldn’t touch. By New Years Eve I felt horrible. I was swollen, bloated, my stomach was killing me, and my knees were starting to hurt so bad I was limping. I had no energy, horrible sleeping hours and never wanted to do anything. I knew right then – in January I’m doing the Whole30 again.
I’m on day 7 while I’m writing this and already I feel so much better. I didn’t go through the withdrawals like I did last time, I had a slight headache on day 2 and 3 but they didn’t last long. I had almost no irritability – and I got my energy and sleeping back after the 3rd day! I have also lost almost all of the weight I put on during Christmas, and I’m positive that I’ll only keep losing as the 30 days go on.
What I have learned is that if I stray, trip and fall with my eating – I can stand up, dust myself off and say I can start this over! I can feel good again and reset, and get the best feeling I’ve ever had back! It’s been a great 2015 so far, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year holds for me with all of my new energy.
Tara
3birdsonearth 
I was the exact same way after my first Whole30. I had a lot of anxiety because I felt like I didn’t know what to eat anymore! I think that happens to a lot of people 🙂
Glad to see you are back on a plan. You also look fantastic with the weight loss showing. That was another added benefit of eating healthy. Congrats to you.