Well, we did it. 30 days of Whole30 accomplished. No cheating, no splurging — just 30 days of following the (rather strict) guidelines set out by this plan. I’m very, very proud of both of us. Personally, I feel like I’ve learned a lot about my food habits and when and how I use food as a crutch. I’m sensible enough to know that this will still happen, but I feel like I’ve got enough of a handle on it to realize when it is. I’m okay with an occasional ice cream or Rita’s or Starbucks treat, but I want it to be because I want it, not because it’s there.

Soon after I woke up this morning, even before my coffee (with coconut milk, naturally), I weighed myself, and I was happy to see that I lost 13 pounds on Whole30. Basically, I’m almost back to where we were before our friend Michelle’s wedding when we sort of stopped counting calories.

I’m mostly happy about the fact that all of my capris and shorts from last year fit, with the exception of a pair or two that are a bit too large. All around, a wonderful experience I would recommend — good learning experience with good results.

Chris and I were saying this morning that maybe we should just continue, but we aren’t. We’re beginning our reintroduction today with dairy, and we’ll see how that goes. We’re treating ourselves after a loooong weekend of yardwork to a Starbucks drink that isn’t plain iced tea or coffee and probably frozen yogurt tonight. I’d say I’m equally apprehensive and excited. But the thing is, I know I can do another reset whenever I want to. I mean, I did the first one.

We found some really delicious recipes on Whole30, so that might be another whole blog post on its own. Whether we’re following the program or not, I know that some of these will be staples in our meal planning.

Onto other things non-Whole30-related…

Our long weekend of yardwork deserves its own post, but I’ll just briefly sum up here. The yard was a bit of a musterbluck when I bought the house five years ago. For multiple reasons, not much got done the first year. Then, I unexpectedly took over the mortgage and other bills by myself, so nothing in the budget for things like that when everything was going to silly luxuries like food and heat. After Chris moved in, we slowly started doing things around the house, and with our upcoming small engagement party, we decided it was time to kick the yard into shape. (Yes, the party really is small. I wish we could have invited everyone. Our house is small, and our families and close family friends are large.) The hillside has disappeared under a bed of mulch and edging, the eyesore shrubs were cut down, the ivy has been tackled, blocks have been pulled out by a truck, and the cement path to nowhere is now a nicely filling-in patch of grass. It’s almost ready to be destroyed by 50 of our closest family and friends.

I also accidentally cut a snake into thirds, but that’s another story for another time.

Between the yardwork and my actual job, I haven’t had time to do much of anything, which is why no blogging for so long. So sad. I know you’re sad, too. So sorry. Please take this picture of my cat as an apology.

P.S. I feel like you can see a difference. This is at the end of April…

And a couple days ago…