Well, it’s April 1. Day one of my first Whole30 challenge. (And no, this is not an April Fools’ joke.) Some or even most of you may have heard of the Whole30 before… it’s a relatively restrictive diet where, for the next 30 days, I will be eating REAL food. No sugar (or sugar substitutes or even honey), no grains, no legumes and no dairy. But there are plenty of things I can eat, like meat, fish, veggies, fruit and nuts. (If you’re curious for more details, check out the Whole30 web site: whole30.com)
Breakfast day 1: lots of food! Eggs and sausage and veggies and avocado and mandarin! Yum!
What is my motivation? Well, the baby weight lingers, to be honest. Everyone says that when you breastfeed, “it comes right off.” But it’s been weeks since a weigh-in has yielded positive results for me (or should I say negative?). And I’ve now gotten the dreaded question twice: “How far along are you?” Yes… that’s the question no postpartum woman wants to hear. “Well, thank you, but I’m not pregnant. I just still look pregnant. Thank you for affirming me in that insecurity I was already feeling about it.” Now, you can try to say it’s just the loose, empire-wasted clothes I am wearing (as in, the ones I have that fit), but alas, one of these instances was at the Y–and I was wearing a swimsuit. Yep, doesn’t get much worse than that. The sweet, older lady seemed to feel bad that she had asked, and in her thick Latin accent said, “Oh… you are young… you will get your figure back!” Somehow, I didn’t find that encouraging, as again it seemed to affirm that I currently do not have my figure.
(By the way… please refer back to my Inappropriate Pregnancy Commentary blog post. Seriously–both instances have been WOMEN who asked me. How do they not know better?)
All that to say, I don’t actually think I’m fat. And I want to take a moment here to thank my body for the rigors it has endured over the past year, what with pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. (Not to mention the 23,000 miles of bicycle riding in the two years before that.) Which is one reason I have decided to go with the Whole30. I will, over the next 30 days, be giving my body the best foods–nothing fake, all natural, nourishing foods. There are no restrictions on quantity–so no going around hungry, no depriving myself of the calories I need to function (and feed the baby). So… I know it will be difficult, but I’m committed to the task! I will be reporting back at the end of the month to let everyone know how well I survived… and if I actually lose any of the remaining baby bump!
Dinner day 1: salmon, sweet potato and broccoli. Something tells me I’ll be taking a lot of food pictures over the next month!
Also, as a part of my postpartum workout plans, I had decided last June that I wanted to do an Olympic distance triathlon after the baby was born. Conveniently, there is one here in Montgomery in May–the Capital of Dreams Triathlon. So I have begun the 10-week training regimen to an Olympic distance tri. Please note: I opted for the training program that would allow you to FINISH the course, not to be competitive. Because I’m not even trying that hard. But I have always wanted to do an Olympic distance (Dave and I have done two sprint triathlons), and this seemed like the perfect way to get back in shape. In case you’re curious, Olympic distance is a 1000m swim, a 40km bike (~26 miles), and a 10km run (6 miles). I am not being overly hardcore, as I don’t really have time to follow the training to a T, but I am hitting the high points and working myself back into shape. It’s fun to have a goal, and the tri itself will be fun–so that’s the point. Have fun!
So, you’ll be hearing back later on my month of Whole30 and my triathlon training. I hope by then I’m not wishing all of this was an April Fools’ joke!
