I officially finished my first Whole30 on March 22nd, so I weighed myself that night. Since I historically weigh myself in the morning, I stepped on the scale the following morning, too.

As far as I can tell, I have lost about 4 or 5 pounds in my first month, but there is so much more to the list of benefits I chalk up to my nutritional reset:

• I no longer feel like a stuffed sausage in my clothes. I had been bursting out of all of my underwear and jeans, but no more! It feels so great!
• I feel good. All the time. Except when I go too long without protein.
• I have lots of energy. I no longer “flag” in the evening.
• I don’t have that afternoon “slump” I used to have. Some days I still feel a bit of a psychological need to drink some (black decaf) coffee in the afternoons, but I don’t lose energy midday, which means that I don’t have the need to binge on sweets or caffeine!
• I took up running. I started the Couch to 5K program a few weeks ago, and I really enjoy it! I’ll be blogging more about that experience in the future.
• I have the motivation to do regular ab workouts. The battle against belly flab is ON!
• I have learned so much about food. I have realized that poor nutrition is the culprit for so many of life’s difficulties (poor energy, disease, obesity, high blood pressure, inflammation, etc.), and combating it is easy! It seems tough at the beginning, but, once you get the hang of it, it’s easy. Anyone could do it.
• I have (almost) eradicated cravings for refined carbs, aka poison. The Hartwigs (the creators of Whole30) say that the only way to slay the sugar dragon is to starve it. My dragon isn’t dead yet, and unfortunately this past weekend breathed some life back into him, but he won’t survive much longer. If he knows what’s good for him, that is.
• My would-be chronic tailbone pain bothers me much less. I didn’t notice this one until last week. 12 years ago, I fell and injured my tailbone. About 5 or 6 years ago, I started experiencing what became a constant irritation or inflammation in my tailbone that has made long trips and long days of class very uncomfortable, and in some cases unbearable without Advil. Over the last couple of weeks, I stopped taking Advil, and noticed that I wasn’t nearly as bothered about sitting as I used to be. Hmm.
• Potential for reduced PMS symptoms…? I have a slight suspicious hope that my sometimes mama-bear-like PMS symptoms have been reduced with the addition of awesome nutrition. I don’t know if it’s true – only time will tell, but I will continue to hope.

There you have it – my results! I unfortunately didn’t take a first-day picture, so I didn’t bother taking a Day 30 picture. Perhaps I’ll remedy that for my second Whole30, which starts today.

Speaking of which, if you’re interested in what I eat on the Whole30, check out my Whole30 Eats section in the menu bar.