Are You Done With Your Whole30 Yet?

I am getting to the point in the year when  I usually start slipping a bit with my new year health and fitness goals. I would say in most cases, by about Easter, when the weather is warming up, patios are opening and brunch becomes a weekend requirement that I start preparing to take a flying leap off the proverbial wagon. And also people are asking me "Aren't you done with your Whole30 yet?" which is hella annoying. Umm yes I am, because it's a Whole30 but that doesn't mean I am done done ya know?!!!

The first year I did a Whole30 I actually stayed on the wagon until about May and then I met that one guy and all we did was eat and drink and go out all summer and that was that. So here we are in mid-March and I am about at the 20 lb. weight loss mark. Wooo Hoooo!!! When I say I have been here a bajillion times before I am not exaggerating. But for the sake of this post I wanted to list out some of the good things that seem to start happening to me around the magic 20 lb. mark. I don't know why, it's just magic.

Looser Clothing - All clothing is noticeably looser, to me anyway, unfortunately not to 99.9% of everyone else. This leads to increased time spent in my closet trying on things that don't fit to see how close they actually are to fitting again.  Which leads to planning to stick with it for another however much longer I think it will take for those clothes to fit again. Does anyone else play these mental closet games?  I am still annoyed that no one else can tell I've lost 20 lbs though. Jerks.

Diminished Appetite -  Don't get me wrong, I still get hungry. I definitely think that something about eating garbage food just makes you crave more garbage. To the point where you physically feel hungry when you are not, like all the time. I am sure there are psychological and chemical reasons for this  but all I know is I am less starving. I am consistently more satisfied and able to really discern hunger from craving. #HUGE

Sense of Accomplishment - I think up until I hit 20 lbs. I feel like "I'm not even sure this is working". For some reason in my mind 20 lbs is legitimate weight loss and anything less is not significant. I know, I know that's not right but this is about me so... sorry.

Renewed Commitment -Something about  losing 10 pounds twice makes me feel like hey, I can really do this like multiple times because I actually just did.  Good thing too because as I said before this is where I sometimes want to fall off the wagon.

Exercise Gets Easier - Honestly, this is when I start to notice a difference in my tennis game. Dragging 20 more pounds around on the court is a big deal. I notice that getting to tough shots where I really have to hustle is just a bit easier. Not only can I get there and execute, I feel less winded/tired and able to recover quicker for the next point. Why this always sort of surprises me I still don't know.

The other not so magic-y part about losing 20 lbs. is that here is when I start thinking about all the times I quit and gained it back instead of pushing myself to keep going. In my mind I feel like anyone can lose 20 lbs., it's not that big of a deal but we all know it is. I am just the last person to actually give myself credit for it. I am trying my best to stay off the scale except on the first of the month so I won't really be able to report for sure until then but I am sitting at 18.5 to 19 pounds last weigh in so I am confident that by Easter I will hit and surpass 20. My next goal, just putting it out there, is 30 by June 1 and/or fitting into this one particular pair of white jeans that have been hanging in my closet for 2 seasons.  White jeans.... what was I thinking? They always look so cute on other people and dammit I am going to wear them at least once, comfortably for sure.

Thanks for listening to me ramble:)